Jerry Douglas and Christian LeBlanc, The Young and the Restless
In today's episode of The Young and the Restless, John Abbott gets a seven-year prison sentence for shooting the vile Tom Fisher (Roscoe Born). Daytime vet Jerry Douglas last airs on March 1, when the Abbott patriarch heads off to the slammer. Is this the bitter end for John? Not necessarily. Here, TVGuide.com gets the soap dish from the man himself.
TVGuide.com: You've had more airtime in this tale than you've had in years! I prefer to watch a pro like you over the teen rookies any day.
Jerry Douglas: Thank you. Even if I die tomorrow, I have had one of the greatest story lines an actor can ask for. I don't need more. If there's more coming, that's great. I think the work we've done will make them write more for John Abbott. I really want you to watch what happens in the da
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Rebecca Budig, All My Children and Ted Shackleford, The Young and the Restless
Seeing Ted Shackleford in CBS' recent Knots Landing reunion reminded me of how much I miss him. Fortunately, the Eye network has invited my fave nighttime soap hunk to take a dip in the daytime suds!
Shackleford begins a short-term stint on The Young and the Restless on Feb. 2 as prosecutor Will Bardwell. He'll throw the book at Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) for the recent shooting murder of Tom Fisher (Roscoe Born). Of course, viewers know Ashley's just covering for the real culprit: her ailing dad, John (Jerry Douglas), who doesn't remember gunning down the creep who menaced his family.
Let's hope Shackleford's verdict on daytime soap work is more favorable than that of his Knots costar Joan Van Ark, who bailed on her gig as Y&R's Gloria back in '04. Yeah, you know I couldn't resist going there. (Keep reading for more Res
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Question: OK, I know you were disappointed with the new season of Desperate Housewives (I was, too) but don't you think that the last three episodes were the best of the season? I especially loved the last one (Jan. 8). The interaction between characters who usually don't share scenes (Gaby-Tom and Lynette-Carlos) was brilliant. And it was great to see (at last) Andrew sharing (hot) kisses with his boyfriend. I was afraid ABC wouldn't let them do this (I can't remember which big networks aired the first kiss between two men or two women). I hope our Wisteria ladies are back for good!
Answer: Got quite a bit of mail, all positive, after last Sunday's comeback episode, and it really was a comeback. Even Susan, arranging the bowling party for Zach and Mike, came off as much less of a ditz than usual. And Bree's conflict with Andrew is certainly juicy, going a lot farther than I ever remember things happening on Knots Landing. All in all, a very fun and saucy hour and a sign that things are
...
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Question: I have seen Desperate Housewives compared to quite a few other past shows but never to the one that I think it most resembles: Picket Fences. What is your opinion about that comparison?
Answer: An interesting idea, but I still think Knots Landing is the closest to a true precursor of what Desperate Housewives seeks to parody. Picket Fences did have elements of soap opera and satire in its often-twisted depiction of the dark undercurrents of society and family life, but it seemed to me more a comment on Americana than of actual suburbia and, being a David E. Kelley show, tended to resolve most stories in the courtroom (RIP, Ray Walston). Desperate Housewives' look and tone is beholden to the classic soap format, and Picket Fences was much harder to pigeonhole ...
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Cady McClain returns to All My Children as the real Dixie on Dec. 23.... William deVry reprises his AMC role as Bianca's late, hated rapist, Michael Cambias, on Jan. 27.... Watch out, Tess! Kerry Butler joins One Life to Live in the recurring role of Nash Brennan's ex-fiancé, Claudia Reston, on Jan. 18.... Guiding Light starlet Crystal Hunt has quit her gig as prissy prima donna Lizzie Spaulding.... Knots Landing and Port Charles alumna Kent Masters King dishes her new contract role on General Hospital in Soaps Q&A. And lastly, happy holidays, suds fans!
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FYI, General Hospital has promoted Kent Masters King from a recurring role to contract player. Word is, the ABC sudser plans to heat up Dr. Lainey Winters' romance with attorney Justus Ward (M'fundo Morrison) and give her some family, too. That's good, because Kent needs a chance to wow soap fans with what she can do as an adult actress. (I still think of her as Julie Williams, the little girl who drowned that rotten wife-beater Danny Waleska on Knots Landing.)
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Question: What did you think of the Knots Landing reunion? It had very much the same setup as the Dallas one, but I think this one was a lot more successful. Maybe it's because the cast seemed to genuinely like each other. Seeing the clips really made me miss it, and as much as I love Desperate Housewives, it can't compete with Knots. As crazy as the plots could sometimes get, the characters were always believable, and I think that is what put it above the rest.
Answer: The Knots reunion was indeed better than the Dallas debacle, but then, the show itself was better than Dallas through most of their concurrent runs. Knots was always my favorite of the classic '80s prime-time soaps, and even when I was alone on that critical limb, I was never ashamed to declare myself a fan. It was the most consistent, the most sustained, the best acted and written and (within reason) the most realistic of the evening soaps, yet also deliciously campy when it chose to be. There's little question that
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Speaking of Knots Landing alums, Kathleen Noone is a busy lady. When she's not playing sassy senior Edna Wallace on Passions, she's recurring on According to Jim as Courtney Thorne-Smith's mother. Noone next appears in Jim's Christmas episode Dec. 13.
And here's some scoop you'll hear only from TVGuide.com's resident soap whisperer: Noone will be in the Jan. 24 episode of WB's
Supernatural. "
Jared Padalecki and
Jensen Ackles (ex-Eric,
Days of our Lives) are delightful, sweet and really cute!" she enthuses. "In the episode, my character's husband is killed by a [ghost] truck that keeps running people off of the road." (Check out this week's
AA for more info on
Supernatural's January guest stars.)
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Knots Landing Reunion: Together AgainI'll say it right away: Knots Landing is my all-time favorite show. So you know I was totally looking forward to this two-hour reunion of the cast of the third-longest-running hourlong drama, which ran from '79 to '93. For the most part, I was not disappointed.
What I loved: - The quick recap of all 14 seasons using several of the actors narrating was hilarious and well written. - Speaking of hilarious — shut up that Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackelford did a Wonder Woman episode right before Knots began. Joan calling Ted's costume a big "silver co
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Question: I wondered if I was correct in reading that CBS' Knots Landing reunion would air this month.
Answer: Actually, there's some late-breaking poop on that front. CBS has just scheduled the reunion for Friday, Dec. 2 from 9 to 11 pm/ET. Apparently, Eye execs opted not to stage a Nicollette/Nicollette face-off by airing it Sunday night opposite Desperate Housewives. Too bad. That would have made a fun story.
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