Jeff Branson by Jordan Strauss/ WireImage.com
Jeff Branson, familiar to All My Children fans from his run as the troubled Jonathan Lavery, is joining the cast of CBS' Guiding Light in the recast role of Shayne Lewis. Though Branson's first air date as Shayne is Dec. 1, he actually has appeared on GL before, in another capacity — rather effectively playing a young Alan Spaulding in flashbacks surrounding 2004's Carrie Carruthers murder mystery.Shayne most recently was portrayed by Marty West, in August 2004. — Matt Mitovich
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Tristan Rogers by Craig Sjodin/SOAPnet
SOAPnet's General Hospital: Night Shift had an overload of material for its season finale, so the wrap-up is now being presented as a two-parter that ends Oct 21. The plot: Patrick's actions with a patient culminate in an explosion that rocks Port Charles. The finale also boasts a class reunion of GH '80s greats, including Robert (Tristan Rogers), Anna (Finola Hughes), Luke (Tony Geary) and — this is so cool! — Sean (John Reilly) and Tiffany (Sharon Wyatt). — Michael Logan
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Jeanne Cooper by Robert Voets/CBS, Vincent Irizzary by Yolanda Perez/ABC
Storm Warming: A state-of-the-art tornado will hit All My Children's Pine Valley Oct. 16. "We're taking CGI effects to the next level," head writer Chuck Pratt says. "We're not just breaking the fourth wall, we're breaking the third wall, too. It's big, groundbreaking stuff." The devastation continues Oct. 23 when fan fave Vincent Irizarry returns to the soap as evil doc David Hayward.Double trouble: Veteran actress Jeanne Cooper — Kay on The Young and the Restless — finally won her first competitive Emmy this summer, after 11 nominations and a lifetime-achievement award. Will she make it two in a row? Cooper should have won the gold back in 1990 when she doubled as Kay's look-alike Marge, a greasy-spoon waitress with dubious morals, and may finally get her due. My spies tell me Marge will return to the show this fall, just as the unstoppable Cooper turns 80.Boss No More: There's been a big power shift at the No. 1 soap. Josh Griffith is out as exec producer of Y&R aft...
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Robert S. Woods and John-Paul Lavoisier by Donna Svennevik/ABC
Were we too quick to proclaim sainthood on Ron Carlivati? I fear so.The lawyer–turned–soap scribe performed a miracle at One Life to Live last year when he transformed the sad-sack serial into an intelligent, romantic, richly emotional delight. Then this summer he trashed the show with goofy gimmicks — Bo and Rex time-traveling to 1968, the political chicanery in mythical Mendorra — and now we’re left wondering about our wonder boy. How can someone so clearly gifted go so wildly off track? — Michael LoganRelated:• One Life Celebrates No. 40 with Blasts from the Past • Michael Logan's Best of 2007: OLTL "Wonder Boy" Ron Carlivati
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Maurice Benard and Lisa LoCicero in General Hospital by Adam Larkey/ABC
General Hospital's Kate thinks her upcoming wedding to mobster Sonny Corinthos is cursed after finding blood on her reception dress. And now that curse can be confirmed. On Sept. 19, Kate's cousin Olivia — who had a fling with Sonny back in high school — will turn up at the nuptials with some startling scoop about Kate's oh-so-secret past. The role will be played by ABC soap stalwart Lisa LoCicero (Loving, The City, One Life to Live)."Sonny has invited Olivia to the wedding, unbeknownst to Kate," LoCicero says. "He doesn't know there was quite a rivalry between the two women or that Olivia has something under her belt that's going to create big excitement—and a lot of friction."LoCicero nearly made her GH debut in 2004 when she was up for the recast role of Lois. (The gig went to Lesli Kay, now on The Bold and the Beautiful.) As a consolation prize, ABC cast LoCicero on OLTL as Sonia, who was part of a Puerto Rican mob story that annoyed viewers so much it was quickly...
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Matthew Borlenghi by Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Years after Matthew Borlenghi concluded his role as Brian Bodine, he's returning to daytime. Starting September 18, the All My Children alum will join Days of Our Lives as the Mayor of Salem, where he promises that the new guy will be "shaking things up." Borlenghi gave TVGuide.com the scoop on what we can expect from a character he hopes viewers will "love to hate," who he'll be romancing and how long he'll be in office.TVGuide.com: As you get ready to arrive at Days of Our Lives, what can you tell us about your new character?Matthew Borlenghi: All that I can tell you without ending up in the principal's office is I'm playing a dicey mayor, Anthony Marino, who may be a bit unstable, and is coming and shaking things up in the Salem police department. The question is really to what end? What's his motivation? Whether he's doing things for the good of Salem, or for the good of Anthony Marino. TVGuide.com: In what ways will he be unstable?Borlenghi: Maybe a little bit psychologically...
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Matthew Borlenghi by Todd Williamson/WireImage.com
Matt Borlenghi has just been voted in to Days of Our Lives as the mayor of Salem. Borlenghi was long known as Brian Bodine on All My Children , and later portrayed Ziggy Deadmarsh in The Bold and the Beautiful. During his six-year hiatus from the soap scene, the actor guested on shows including Dexter and Without a Trace.Borlenghi will make his return to the genre on Days starting this fall. Are you ready for him to take office? — Anna Dimond
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Jennifer Gareis by Monty Brinton/CBS
Watch out, she's off her meds again. Pam Douglas, the hilarious, bipolar baddie played by Alley Mills on The Bold and the Beautiful, is about to take her villainy one step too far. On August 28–29, she follows her archenemy, Donna (Jennifer Gareis), up to the Forresters' mountain cabin, whereDonna makes the mistake of mocking Pam's famous lemon bars and telling her she's off her rocker. Deeply hurt and outraged, Pam knocks her out, ties her up, douses her with honey and leaves her to be killed by a bear."This tops everything Pam's ever done," says Mills, best known as the mom on The Wonder Years. "For a while, my character was more Lucy Ricardo with her antics, but now that she's stopped taking her medications, she's gone into Sybil land."Though the bear (a 600-pound, 8-foot bruiser named BamBam) is a trained professional with top credits, from CSI: Miami to Jackass, Mills says he "was too dangerous for Jennifer and me to be anywhere near him. We shot our scenes, then the bear ...
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Ed Scott by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
It's been a year since Ed Scott took over as show-runner of Days of Our Lives, and the NBC serial is far better looking, much better acted and infinitely more involving than when he arrived. In fact, the last few weeks have been killer. So why is he out on his ass? Scott, who helmed the top-rated soap The Young and the Restless before coming to Days, was fired on Aug. 15 and replaced by former One Life to Live exec producer Gary Tomlin. Days owner/executive producer Ken Corday tells TV Guide he axed Scott because he clashed with head writer Dena Higley. "For me to deny there was friction between Dena and Ed would be a lie," Corday says. "There was friction and that's not a good thing for a network to perceive. It's not a good thing for the cast and crew, and it's not a good thing for the owner of the show to see." He adds that Scott's ouster "was important to the pick-up of the show." NBC has yet to renew Days after months of budget and licensing talks, but Corday says he now expect...
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Melody Thomas Scott by Robert Voets/CPT/CBS
Melody Thomas Scott of The Young and the Restless is giving the single greatest performance in soaps these days and, word is, we ain't seen nothing yet. This week, her sob-queen character, Nikki, will hit the bottle down in Mexico when she thinks her ex-hubby Victor (Eric Braeden) has died in a boat crash. Great news for us Nikki nuts (we love to see her suffer!), but bad for Nikki, who's been a recovering alcoholic since the early '90s. "When Nikki isn't drowning her sorrows in the local cantina and drunk-dialing Katherine, she's staggering along the beach hoping for some sign of Victor," Scott says. "He finally turns up and we have scenes that are very Scarlett and Rhett, and I don't mean that in a romantic way but in the true sickness that was Scarlett and Rhett. It's really good stuff — like classic Y&R from 20 years ago." — Michael Logan
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