TVSquad

You could call it bailing from a sinking ship, assuming you think the current changes on Guiding Light are something like being on the Titanic. On the other hand, it may just be a talented actress spreading her wings to take on a new challenge. However you couch it, Guiding Light star Beth Ehlers is bolting the CBS soap for ABC's All My Children. She'll be assuming the role of Liza Colby Chandler, the part most recently played by Marcy Walker (who played Tangie back on Guiding Light in 1993).

This is the second major exit from GL, and it seems that the bottom line reason for the departures is the bottom line. Cost cutting across the board at the P&G soaps -- GL and As the World Turns -- have squeezed the actors salaries. Martha Byrne and Scott Bryce left ATWT in recent months, reportedly in contract disputes, and Ricky Paull Goldin departed GL last month and was quickly snatched up by All My Children. Just like Ehlers.

And how coincidental that they were a major couple in Springfield. They even won a special Daytime Emmy in 2002 as America's Favorite Couple -- GL's Harley and Gus. Well, now they can spark that same chemistry in Pine Valley. Move over, Erica and Adam and Tad and Joe, you've got company.

There's something about the name Carly, I guess. The four actresses that have caught my attention are now or have played a "Carly" on daytime TV. They are all terrific actresses. They've all brought something dynamic and exciting to their characters, even when they are no longer named Carly. The four ladies in question are Laura Wright, the current Carly Corinthos Jacks on General Hospital, Maura West, Carly Tenney Snyder on As the World Turns, Tamara Braun, Carly #2 on GH and currently Ava Vitali on Days of Our Lives, and Sarah Brown, Carly #1 on GH and presently Claudia Zacchara on GH. Each woman has made a lasting impression on daytime, and they continue to rattle the rafters still.

The Daytime Emmy nominations were announced this morning on The View. My initial reaction is this: there are so many repeat nominees! This list is filled with actors who have won multiple times. Are the Daytime Emmys in a rut? I'm afraid so. This list seems very stale to me, not that many of these performers aren't worthy, but a lot of other worthy actors were completely overlooked. Again. Emmy could use an overhaul, but we'll discuss that another time.

Here are the main nominees -- and some comments -- and you can check out the complete list and a photo gallery of the Daytime Emmy nominees at AOL Television. On Friday, June 20, ABC will broadcast the awards in primetime (8-11 p.m. EST) from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Outstanding Daytime Drama
General Hospital
Guiding Light
One Life to Live
The Young & the Restless

Here we have the usual suspects. Last year, Y&R and GL shared the prize. My choice would be OLTL this time around -- they had a great year and have been on the uprise. However, Y&R has a lot of actor nominations and that could mean another Emmy for the Bell show. I'd be flabbergasted if either GH or GL win. Both shows have received critical blasts this past year.

The waiting goes on. Kind of like that spinning planet that symbolizes As the World Turns. TV Squad reported recently that many fans of the soap are anxious to see the two gay lovers, Noah (Jake Silbermann) and Luke (Van Hansis), smooch on screen. There are web sites with a clock ticking, waiting for the next on screen kiss from the fellas. Now comes news that TV Guide's Michael Logan questioned Barbara Bloom, head of CBS Daytime, to find out if the show, the sponsor or the network is afraid to depict a homosexual teen love story in the same way they do a heterosexual one?

For some actors, the soaps are a stepping stone to a career in features. That's how it was for Meg Ryan, who began as Betsy on As the World Turns. For others, like Eva Longoria Parker, the place she made her mark before becoming one of the Desperate Housewives was as Isabella on The Young & the Restless. Allison Janney is another one. She was a lowly -- but brilliant -- maid at the Spaulding mansion on Guiding Light before lighting up the screen as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing and winning four Emmys along the way. Looking at the current crop of actresses at work in daytime today, who are the women, the divas if you will, who are ready for primetime, nay silver screen, success? Here's a list of seven who have caught my eye.

They'll be whistling Dixie in Pine Valley again. Cady McClain is coming back to All My Children. It's not unusual for a soap favorite to return to the show where they once were a prominent player. It happens all the time. Cady has done it before, multiple times. But this time is different. This time she's coming back as a ghost!

You see, last January 2007, Dixie was killed by a serial killer. She returns now because she has a job to do, reuniting Tad with the child they thought they'd lost, Kate.

For the past two decades, give or take a year here and there, actress Martha Byrne has played the character of Lily Snyder on As the World Turns. That all ends next month. According the executive producer Christopher Goutman, "We made Martha an incredibly generous offer in hopes that she would remain. Unfortunately, Martha has decided to leave despite our best efforts to keep her." That's the show's side of the story. Michael Logan spoke with Martha Byrne to hear her side of the story.

It was big news when As the World Turns, CBS and Procter & Gamble's 52-year-old daytime drama, presented a gay love story between two men. When Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) admitted to Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann) that he loved him, it was a major step forward for the soap opera genre. However, fans of the show are upset. No, they're okay with them being gay. They just want them to be more affectionate. They're protesting!

In an AP story about the As the World Turns protest, Roger Newcomb, a die-hard fan, said, "We totally support this show and applaud the show for doing this story line. We just don't understand why they [Luke and Noah] have to be censored or treated differently."

I know what you're thinking. Who would want to work on daytime soaps? They're cheesy and lame. And they're not "real" TV shows. So why would anyone waste their time checking out the NYTVF's panel on "Breaking into Daytime Drama?"

Well, I would. And I'm glad I did. As a writer trying to break into television, I like to know all about potential employers. Besides, it's not like TV shows grow on trees out here in NYC. Us actors, writers, and other creative types have to take what we can get where we can get it.

And as I found out Saturday at the Daytime Drama panel, I'd be darn lucky to land a job on a soap.

Here's some good news for fans of The Young and the Restless, As the World Turns and Guiding Light: CBS is now streaming full episodes on its site. New episodes will hit the Web every day at 6:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., but only for one week.

I predict that bored office workers who never cared about these soaps before will feel compelled to watch them online, resulting in a whole new breed of soap fanatics. I see five men stuffed into one cubicle, each one holding a box of Kleenex and snacking on Pringles as they become more and more engrossed in the storyline. Productivity will plummet, and companies around the United States will be forced to shut down, resulting in massive layoffs and rioting in the streets. I guess what I'm saying is that CBS will destroy us all with this new venture. Or maybe I'm overreacting.

Oh yeah, here's a great idea: allow obsessive soap opera fans to be on stage about ten feet from actors and actresses.

That's the plan for the Daytime Emmy Awards this Friday (9pm on CBS, right after Bob Barker's final episode on The Price Is Right). They're going to have a special red carpet bleacher section on stage, where selected fans will be able to scream and yell and take pictures. And if you think my headline isn't true, here's a quote from Young and the Restless veteran Peter Bergman:

"Just presenting, you could be accosted. Lucky me...it ends up being almost silliness. It's not how I want to celebrate a career achievement."

That's not all. They're also asking fans to send in comments via the web site, and some of these comments will be inserted into award introductions.

An original series created for CBS' internet broadband channel will get to air on the network. The series, Inturn, will air in a special compilation episode on November 24th featuring highlights from the entire reality. Inturn was about eight struggling actors who competed for a role on the soap opera, As the World Turns. All 24 episodes of Inturn have already been broadcast on Innertube, CBS' broadband channel.

Did anybody watch this series?

What's in this week's issue of America's favorite TV mag?

• Lost isn't on the cover, and neither is Desperate Housewives. So it must be Grey's Anatomy.
• How the new season stands so far, the winners and the losers.
• As The World Turns is finally going to deal with the death of soap vet Benjamin Hendrickson, who committed suicide earlier this year. His character Hal Munson will also die on the show.
• Matt Roush likes 1 vs. 100.
• An interview with horror master Wes Craven.
• Will Saxondale be another Brit comedy hit for NBC?
• In the print edition: a look at Ugly Betty (a surprising hit for ABC in the Thursday 8pm slot), and yet another damn article about Dancing with the Stars.

I've been searching my brain Rolodex trying to remember where I knew this name from, and then it hit me: he played Colonal Sanders in Kentucky Fried Chicken TV commercials in the mid-90s!

Of course, he was known for much more than that. He played Dr. Dan Stewart on As The World Turns for 31 years (1960 to the character's death in 1991), appeared in other TV shows such as Law and Order and Dr. Kildare, and had a long career in the theater, appearing in such classics plays as The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, The Birthday Party, and Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

He died last Monday in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Product placement doesn't even begin to describe this doozy. The fashions and furnishings from some television shows and movies will soon be available on a new website, called StarStyle. At least six production companies, including 19 Entertainment, which produces American Idol, will make clothing, furniture and other items seen on the shows available for purchase on the website. You can shop by show, product, or brand name. You can even shop by character, meaning that you can buy the same (but not the exact) Nicole Miller black dress that Kellie Pickler wore last week on Idol. Yes, you can also get the 'Ace' look. There are 'set tours', where you pick out and purchase furnishings from all sorts of shows including As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and The Young and the Restless. Soon, the website will also allow you to shop the fashions in music videos. Does that include gold teeth and Bentleys?