All My Children News & Gossip
News for the week of 05-Mar-2007
Most joyous news. Three-time AMC head writer Megan McTavish has once again been released from her position. ABC Daytime President Brian Scott Frons made the press rounds on March 1 to say how “difficult” it was to do and how important and “crucial” McTavish’s “vision” was for AMC at the time of her third employment. –SoapNet, Breaking News
McTavish did help facilitate AMC’s first-ever improvised transgender support group session featuring Zarf/Zoe (Jeffrey Carlson), and a host of real transgender people, including professor Jennifer Boylan, a transgender writer and activist – tapped to play the session’s facilitator, and airing on March 9.
Zoe’s mother Marje Luper visits March 28. The actress’s name is Becky Ann Baker.
So many of daytime’s finest actors and actresses commit themselves to the cause of the Gabriel Project because it’s a worthy cause, helping underprivileged children in Africa receive life-saving heart surgeries in America. And because it’s helmed by a compassionate, deeply committed man named Mark Melamed, the Gabriel Project’s founder. That’s why AMC’s Jeff Branson (Jonathan) is on board for both of the project’s main, headline-grabbing fundraisers, last week’s Daytime At Nitetime and the upcoming, April 21st luncheon benefit. “Mark Melamed, the founder of The Gabriel Project is so selfless and started this charity at a very small level. His passion is inspirational. It takes fundraisers and awareness in order for an organization like this to be successful,” Branson told me. He’ll be on hand, with co-stars Chrishell Stause* (Amanda) and Melissa Claire Egan (Annie), for the Fourth Hour Productions-presented buffet luncheon benefit in St. Louis, MO, at the Omni Majestic Hotel-Mahogany Grille, noon-3:30 p.m. They’ll answer fans question, sign autographs, pose for pictures and help with the auction and raffle. Information on the $70 tickets, (201) 233-0281.
*Horror of horrors! Major typo on Chrishell Stause’s last name last week. So sorry!
Alexa Havins (Babe) has told the story of how she and husband Justin Bruening (Jamie) acquired their “babies,” a brother and sister teacup Yorkie mix. They were visiting her cousin Lisa at Thanksgiving, Havins cradling Lisa’s twin human babies, going awwww starry-eyed, feeling warm and gushy about when she’d have kids of her own when Bruening cut the cooing short. “Justin took one look at me and went, ‘We’re getting dogs,’” Havins described. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I mean, within two minutes of me holding the babies and feeling some baby fever, he was online looking at Yorkies going, ‘We’re getting puppies tomorrow.’ No exaggeration. [They planned on just one, but then fell in love with the cute and cuddly sibling.]” While Havins busted Bruening’s chops a little about his aversion to kids right this very second, she admitted she also wasn’t yet ready to expand their brood. Their pet brood, however, totals four, including two cats. –Soap Opera Digest, March 6, 2007
Some Thorsten Kaye (Zach) fans took issue with Ryan (and Josh) taking a truth-serum-spiked syringe to his character, going so far as to wish for the Satin Slayer to pay a little retribution for that crime against hunk humanity. As for Kaye, while he took the loyalty of these fans’ concern good-naturedly, he believed Ryan and Josh drugging him into the truth served the story’s purpose well, namely, in giving Ryan a heads-up on his daughter Emma.
Cameron Mathison (Ryan) struggles with the same dilemma of most working fathers. When to find the time to be with his kids, his wife. In a lovely, two-page feature spread in the March 6th issue of Soap Opera Weekly, the actor talks about squeezing in time whenever he can, even taking son Lucas, 4, with him on jaunts to the West Coast for hosting duties, while showing off the photographs he shot of Lucas tenderly kissing his little sister Leila, 8 months (she is so darling with those big brown eyes and pink baby lips!). Both father, mother and big brother are terribly busy. Settling down with down time remains a challenge for Mathison. He’s off doing AMC in New York, hosting SoapNet’s I Wanna Be A Soap Star, Style’s Instant Beauty Pageant and serving as an Extra correspondent in L.A. Wife Vanessa, a model, tends to the children and the homefront while launching a children’s clothing business—Kea + Joby. And firstborn son Lucas does swimming, karate and soccer, attends preschool, wows his teacher as creative and patient. Somewhere in there, Mathison must work himself and some relaxation into the mix. “I work seven days a week right now, so it’s hard for me to rush home only to leave again and go out to dinner,” Mathison said, referring to alone time with the wife. “If we do spend alone time, we take a class together on Thursday nights; that’s a nice time for us. We also try to do alone time when the kids go to sleep. But, truthfully, I could do better.” So could we all, sigh.
Oftentimes, the only child resents the new addition to the household, feeling left out too. But not Mathison’s son Lucas. Mathison and wife Vanessa played it smart, preparing their son for the new baby’s arrival way beforehand, while Leila was still in mommy’s womb. Once “peaceful” Leila arrived and settled into her home, she took to her big brother immediately, and vice versa. Mathison surmised that it’s Leila’s excited reaction to Lucas coming to greet her – and he does every morning, first thing – that reinforces the young boy’s appreciation and love for her.
Melissa “Missy” “Boots” Claire Egan (Annie) didn’t start off gunning for the spotlights young. She dabbled in a spot here (her face on the Girl Talk board game), and there (on AMC with Tom and Livia-1994-as an extra). After she soaked up the pleasures of just being a kid with kid hobbies – swimming, lacrosse – the September 28th-born, Pound Ridge, NY native studied theater at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 2003 and heading to Hollywood to see what she could see. It was only when she found herself an agent, after toiling for two years as a sometimes guest star, waitress and hostess, that she amassed some substantial acting shots, from tryouts on Y&R (Colleen) and ATWT (Lucy) before hitting it big as Annie on AMC (back when she was an extra, she’d tried out for Bianca). Annie’s background intimidates Egan a little, since one’s a mom and the other’s a free-wheeling single gal. “I’m 25! I’m irresponsible! I can’t pay my ConEd bill on time, much less take care of a 4-year-old!” Coming back to AMC, a soap she faithfully followed whenever she could, as a major character this time also provided an unbelievable high. Since working majorly on AMC, Egan made fast friends with Chrishell Stause (Amanda), Alexa Havins (Babe), Sydney Penny (Julia) – they love to party; not so much Penny anymore since she’s with child – and her “sexy beast” of a leading man, Cameron Mathison (Ryan). She has blossomed and relaxed under his big brother tutelage (Egan’s two real brothers, an older and a younger, keep her grounded as one of the boys), goofing around the set, dishing about her dating life, and dragging him to see The View from the sidelines next door.
Okay, Leven Rambin (Lily) is, like, barely out of her teens, and she’s hooked on that decidedly new, adult, FX TV show of Courteney Cox’s, called Dirt—about tabloid journalists? Didn’t Cox’s main character vibrate herself into oblivion and tongue-drive Jennifer Aniston’s guest-starring lesbian character? Ooh.
Rambin’s taste in film also runs toward the brazen, the forbidden. Notes On A Scandal, which earned Cate Blanchett several industry award nominations, really spoke to the young actress of relatable emotions revealed in an uncomfortable relationship between a young woman caught in a fling with a young boy by an older woman. “You can see any person in their day, not doing something so dramatic but being so lonely. It’s all about desperation, friendship and betrayal.” –Soap Opera Weekly, “Culture Club,” March 6, 2007
Many of the West Coast-based soap stars miss the snow of their East Coast origins. But those in the East Coast could, in general, take it or leave it (probably because they have to deal with it all the time during the winter). Sydney Penny (Julia) tolerates snow up to a point, a slushy icy point. Leven Rambin (Lily), who originally hails from sunny Texas, doesn’t appreciate the fashion downer of layering and covering up “like a trash bag with Uggs” against the snowy weather. –Soap Opera Weekly, March 6, 2007
Stacy Haiduk (Hannah Nichols) joined AMC recently in a contract role as Zach’s former lover and the family maid who gave birth to the now-late Ethan, their son. She’ll make Zach’s heart flutter and Kendall’s blood pressure boil starting on March 27th. Her former TV credits include Superboy, Melrose Place, SeaQuest DSV and Heroes.
The Broadway stars of Mary Poppins and Tarzan, Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland respectively, will guest-star March 6.
Gossip for the week of 05-Mar-2007
Cameron Mathison (Ryan) could be…as we speak…screen-testing with bright new soap hopefuls to take over Rebecca Budig’s character, Greenlee. She’ll be an unknown. Psst. They’re cheaper.
Despite doing the right thing and firing head writer Megan McTavish, ABC Daytime’s buttheads will probably turn around and still run AMC to the ground with even more of a focus on the young nothings for the younger demographic. Worst of all, one day soon, they’ll turn around and rehire McTavish all over again, learning nothing. And they wonder why the mainstream entertainment industry laughs at us.
All My Children News & Gossip, Copyright © 2010 Carol Banks Weber. Published by SoapZone.com / Jeff Jungblut. No part of this page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and may not be representative of SoapZone.com or its advertisers. Don't steal scoops.
