With all the behind-the-scenes, executive suite shenanigans at Days of Our Lives, this bit of casting information managed to sneak under our radar. Veteran soap star Roscoe Born (Trent) has been let go, according to Soap Opera Network. 

I am bummed to see Born, one of  daytime's best actors (hey, he actually made Santa Barbara fans consider Eden being with someone other than Cruz as corporate raider Robert Barr!), out of work again. Hopefully he will be snatched up by One Life to Live to reprise the role of villainous Mitch Laurence. If that doesn't work out, there's always The Young and the Restless. All of Gloria's other hubby's had dopplegangers, why not Terrible Tom? (just kidding)

Like clothes through a spin cycle, so are the Days of Our Lives. Days of  Our Lives released a press release today confirming the appointment of Gary Tomlin as co-executive producer and thanking fired exec Ed Scott for his "contributions" and "amazing energy". 

Hmmm, it's been awhile since I took my undergrad publicity and media affairs course, but I remember something about facing a scandal head on being touted. Instead of skating, make that doing figure eights, around the issue at hand - Scott's alleged re-writing of Dena Higley's scripts and claims that he gave certain actors free reign to do the same - why not issue a firm statement about how Days of Our Lives doesn't condone violations of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA), which is why Days had to come to the "painful decision" to relieve Scott from his duties? I mean, that's how this lil' ol blogger would have handled it. Oh well, again, that would be "too much like right". Here's the spin release, er press release in full:

  Continue Reading...

Sarah Bibel has written an excellent piece called Unhealthy Dialogue about the recent firings of Ed Scott and Josh Griffith and how it cut close to home for her since she worked for both Scott and Griffith in the past. She also points out how only in daytime writers are considered interchangeable and expendable. Here is an excerpt.

"It seems like the writers’ strike ushered in a new era of nastiness in daytime. While the rest of the entertainment industry shut down, daytime, as it has during every other strike, kept going...Daytime writers were the only writers forced to choose between their union and their job, the only ones with anything to gain by leaving the union. If a couple of primetime writers went financial core, NBC wouldn’t have handed them Heroes. It’s only in daytime that writers are considered to be interchangeable and expendable."

Read Unhealthy Dialogue.

Editorial director of Soap Opera Digest and its sister publication Soap Opera Weekly, Lynn Leahey revealed to TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco today that former Weekly editor Carolyn Hinsey won't be replaced.

"There will be no new editor at Soap Opera Weekly," says Leahey. "I will be assuming control of the magazine, while Stephanie Sloane continues as editor at Digest."

As Branco previously reported, budgetary issues were at the root of Hinsey's role being phased out.

"Everyone knows when a new owner steps in, the person with highest salary is the first to go," says Branco. "The same thing happend to Mimi Torchin when Primedia took over."

Soap Opera Weekly and Soap Opera Digest were both acquired by Source Interlink last May when the media corporation purchased Primedia's Enthusiast Media (EM) Division.

Congratulations to One Life to Live's Kamar de los Reyes for winning the Outstanding Performance in a Daytime Drama Series Alma Award.

Kamar beat out fellow One Life to Live star David Fumero, General Hospital's Maurice Bernard, Passions' Galen Gering and Guiding Light's Jessica Leccia.

One Life to Live leading man Trevor St. John (Todd) had to issue a mea culpa following comments he made at a recent Fan Club Luncheon.  Allegedly, when asked about the controversial storyline involving his character Todd Manning and Todd's rape victim Marty Saybrooke (Susan Haskell), St. John replied, "I'm all for gang rape."

The actor issued the following response to SOAPnet.com:

"I regret the way I responded to the question about the upcoming Todd and Marty storyline. It was meant in jest and I should know better than to ever try and make a joke about such a serious subject. I intended no disrepect and apologize to anyone I offended." --Trevor St. John

Today on Daytime Confidential Luke and Jamey visit with General Hospital Script Writer Karen Harris about her new web series Life in General which premieres on Strike TV.

Starring Jordan Bridges, Days of Our Lives' Arianne Zucker, General Hospital's John Ingle, Lindze Leatherman, and Scott Clifton, among others, Life in General is the story of the people who work on the second longest running soap opera on American television, Greenville General.

Join us as we learn the inspiration for Life in General and Greenville General and how their development was born out of the Writers Strike. Read Karen Harris' Strike TV Blog and watch the Life in General Trailer.

Hear about Karen Harris' work on General Hospital: Night Shift and how she loves to write for the Scorpios and Scrubs. Find out what it is like for her, as a writer on the original The Incredible Hulk and Knight Rider, to see the series reborn in film and in primetime.

All this and more on today's special episode of Daytime Confidential.

Note: We just recieved word that the Daytime Confidential Exclusive code for previewing Life In General should be available for 200 lucky Daytime Confidential listeners and readers later this week. Due to the Beta testing it was not yet available at the time of publication for this interview.

Check out these Life in General related links: Life In General MySpace Profile, Life in General Facebook Profile, Karrin Harris' Strike TV Blog, Arianne Zucker's Lowd Suga', Lindze Leatherman Official Website, Scott Clifton Official Website and Strike TV.

Have a question or comment for the Daytime Confidential podcast? Leave us a voicemail by calling (917) 677-9757.

Listen to Daytime Confidential by clicking on the Daytime Confidential Player at the bottom of this post or Download us for FREE via iTunes. Vote for us on Podcast Alley. Add us as a Friend on MySpace. Drop by our sister site TV Fan Online and visit with other soap fans in the TV Fan Online Forums.

 

LIVE BLOGGING: So I'm sitting here blogging away while watching today's One Life to Live and I just have to ask this.

Rex/Bo sleeps with David Vickers' mother, Emma Bradley. Unfortunately, the show's history has Asa as the father of David Vickers and not Bo.

Does Rex/Bo sleeping with Emma Bradley mean that any of the following are possible?

1. Bo and not Asa could be the father of David Vickers?
2. Assuming that Rex and Gigi make it back to the present day at some point, might Rex be David Vickers' father?
3. If either option 1 or 2 is true is it possible that David Vickers no longer exists in the present?
4. Will Rex/Bo sleeping with Emma Bradley have no impact on the present?

I am really enjoying the 1968 storyline. It is actually my favorite storyline on the show, but I have to know what you all think are going to be the repercussions of Rex/Bo sleeping with Emma Bradley.

Last week TV Guide Canda's Nelson Branco handicapped the 2009 Daytime Emmy Lead Actor category. In this week's Nelson Ratings he's handicapping the Supporting Actress category. Here are his picks.

Ellen Dolan (Margo, ATWT)
Marcy Rylan (Lizzie, Guiding Light)
Catherine Hickland (Lindsay/Olympia, One Life to Live)
Kathy Brier (Marcie, OLTL)
Lea Delaria (Madame Delphina/Delbert Fina, OLTL)
Judith Chapman (Gloria, The Young and the Restless)

Wild Cards: The increasingly astonishing and mesmerizing Andrea Evans (Tina, OLTL) not only has a lot of friends in daytime, but she’s also raised her game to new acting heights and artistic depths. Although the Mendorran storyline that ushered her historic comeback was punishingly insulting, Evans has somehow miraculously proved soap actors can indeed turn crap into gold. As aforementioned, if NATAS creates a guest star category, then Delaria may earn a nod there instead.

Be sure to check out the Nelson Ratings for more industry coverage and commentary.

If you had to choose, which five actors do you think would be up for Supporting Actress if you were handicapping next year's Emmy Awards?

Calling all One Life to Live fans to put on your thinking caps. In the next few days we'll be recording our Top 10 Ways to Improve One Life to Live episode as part of our ongoing summer series the Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Favorite Soaps.

Each week as part of our Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Favorite Soaps seires we'll be going in depth and discussing how to improve each show. We had planned to have two shows per episode it turned out that they each need to be their own individual episode.

Make your suggestions by commenting on this post or calling the Daytime Confidential comment line at (917) 677-9757.