One Life to Live News & Gossip
News for the week of 02-Jun-2008
Head writer Ron Carlivati previewed some summer spoilers with the promise of two pregnancies, a marriage proposal, the deaths of two characters and major fave returns. Looks like Todd’s gonna go real bad, real fast. John’s looking to oust Ramsey but may find himself back in Marty’s arms. Tina’s arrival affects Sarah, Cristian, Antonio and Talia.
Michael Easton’s (John) new graphic novel, “Soul Stealer,” will premiere at the Wizard World Chicago Comicon June 27-28. Easton and artist Christopher Shy will be on hand to sign autographs and talk with fans 1 p.m.-3 p.m. both days. Easton’s graphic novel is about a special man searching for Oxania in a universe fraught with evil and blessed with good. This man, Kalan, has been able to live for 3,000-plus years on his undying love alone. He’ll have to battle tremendous forces to get to Oxania, who sounds like the love of his life.
Renee Elise Goldsberry (ex-Evangeline) joined the Broadway musical production of Rent June 16. She will portray Mimi Marquez, taking over for past American Idol finalist Tamyra Gray. New York City’s Nederlander Theatre hosts this Broadway musical, which premiered in 1996 and is still going strong. Tickets range from $45 to $100. TicketMaster: (212) 307-4100.
OLTL’s cast and crew were given a thumbs-up May 7 from the Candie’s Foundation’s annual Event to Prevent benefit celebrating a decade of storytelling focused on teen pregnancies. Kristen Alderson (Starr) was on hand to accept the award and say a few words about helping to make a difference in young viewers’ lives through OLTL’s story.
Both Robert S. Woods (Bo) and Jerry verDorn (Clint) would like nothing more than to welcome back their “Pa,” the inimitable Phil Carey (ex-Asa)…if they could. verDorn thought up a way for Carey to come back, as a ghost haunting Clint.
Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio) didn’t let shoulder surgery keep him from getting back in shape. He trained with LIFTGYM’s Ben Velasquez, who stressed strength training and conditioning, in a low-volume, high-intensity routine an hour a day, three days a week. He lifts weights, does slides, crunches, handstand pushups, squats, leg lifts, the works. At first de los Reyes wasn’t certain if he could hit the gym regularly after his shoulder went out. But once he got started, he enjoyed then benefited from the regular workouts. He also maintains a healthy diet of fruit, grains, fish, vegetables and maybe a waffle with a frozen yogurt and more fruit for a dessert. A good tip from him is to avoid going overboard with protein, because that could cause some insomnia.
Ilene Kristen’s (Roxy) father died from a failing heart at 89—right in the middle of the Grammy’s on February 10. Kristen was visiting her ailing dad and mom in Florida. She said he held on until he could live out the rest of his days at home and wait for her, her sister and a nephew. But when he did finally die, the family decided to just let him rest in peace while they kept him company and Kristen was able to see Amy Winehouse, her performance and her many Grammy wins on TV. It was tough seeing her father in so much pain, watching him sleep and breathe and then finally let go. But afterwards, he visited her when she tried to locate some missing reading glasses (she’d brought several just in case she lost one) at his home. Actually, he visited in her mind. See, she could’ve sworn she put the pairs of glasses on a tabletop but they weren’t there (it was like someone took them and hid them elsewhere, huh?). As she searched high and low for her reading glasses, she distinctly “heard my father’s voice go, ‘Okay, now I’ve got your attention’ and I went, ‘Okay.’ And I heard him say, ‘I don’t like the way you saw me look my last day. That’s not the way I want you to remember me.’ And I said, ‘Okay! What about the glasses?’ And he said, ‘You’ll find them.’ So then I went to get something out of this handbag and there were four pairs of glasses mangled up! And I go, ‘Okay, I got it. I’ll remember you as a 60-year-old or a 50-year-old.” –Soap Opera Digest, “Ilene On Me” by Lauren Flynn, May 27, 2008
There’s been a lot of heavy stuff going on in Ilene Kristen’s (Roxy) life. She broke up with her fiancé, actor Brian Sheridan, her dad died, she had a bad case of sciatica the previous year which laid her up for a time, and on a high note, she’s been pumping with her musical act, fine-tuning some songs, receiving feedback on her club act from fellow musical talent Roscoe Born (ex-Mitch), recording a tune in L.A., even dating again.
Ilene Kristen (Roxy) has done her fair share of memorable and just plain weird commercials in her day. She recounted one for Red Rose Tea, where she was clad in a sexy negligee and citing a list of grievances to an unseen guy—this having nothing to do with the product they were selling. Another one, she remembered was for Us deodorant, featuring her, another girl and four guys as this rock band traveling the country in their van, sweating together. The Gleam toothpaste commercial kept her in the money, about $30,000, for a year’s worth of college.
Robin Strasser (Dorian) was taken aback by the extreme villainy of her character in scenes that will air this week. Dorian will unveil Jared as a Buchanan fraud in a BE shareholders’ meeting and then assert her own power over the Buchanans, changing BE to CE (for Cramer Enterprises, naturally). But the way she went about it—drugging recovering alcoholic Charlie and then just dumping him in an alley—hurt Strasser to do, especially when you consider Dorian was in love with a recovering alcoholic once in Mel Hayes (who is now in heaven). To prepare motivationally for those scenes, Strasser remembered an acting class shared with the great movie legend Jack Lemmon, and how he would purposely do roles that frightened and challenged him. And then the writers chipped in by adding the bit about Dorian asking for Mel’s forgiveness up in heaven, to acknowledge that she does have a heart but feels like this was her only choice. But not everything is bad. Strasser raved about her vamped-up wardrobe—an absolute necessity for a rising CE CEO.
Forbes March (Nash) reacted to his character’s killing (to air this week into the next) with confusion but not really much shock. The writing, as far as he was concerned, was on the wall since August of last year. He noticed his character lacked a substantive storyline and went to executive producer Frank Valentini about the matter several times. Each time, Valentini said everything was fine, March was still on board, nothing bad would happen. After a March and April break of this year, March again sought out his boss Valentini on the status of his postion, but this time was given notice. The actor theorizes that perhaps Nash and Jessica were too happy of a married couple with a child, and in soaps, that doesn’t bode well for longevity. He also just doesn’t understand the choice to pair these two up happily ever after right off. While Nash will die, his spirit may live on for a few more episodes. And who knows, maybe March will find himself auditioning to reprise his Scott character on AMC (the character’s been mentioned a lot lately). In the meantime, he’s in no hurry to find employment right away.
Head writer Ron Carlivati stressed that Nash’s death was storyline-dictated, and hoped fans of Nash wouldn’t hold it against him.
Sometimes, kids, rumors turn out to be news. In the case of Roscoe Born (ex-Mitch; Dean, DOOL), he really was supposed to return to OLTL. At first it was for November, Born said, then January, then the writers’ strike pushed the starting date back even farther to whenever the strike ended. DOOL came calling, it’s shot in California where his daughter resides, and so there you go.
Gossip for the week of 02-Jun-2008
Head writer Ron Carlivati hinted at one or two more fan faves returning this summer. Might they be Mark Derwin (ex-Ben), Jessica Tuck (ex-Megan), Roy Thinnes (ex-Alex, ex-Sloan), Phil Carey (ex-Asa)? Some of them might make it back as spirits for the show’s 40th anniversary.
Is Talia Carlo Hesser’s daughter? Just a thought.
An audition script listing Sasha/Liza in a scene with Sara casts light on an incoming newbie. It may be a Britney recast.
The following spumors are from FanForum.com’s Tara, via Ravenbeauty (May 24, 2008): Viki splits with Charlie after his lies are confessed, but then a psychic encourages her to give him another chance… Charlie appears three sheets to the wind, regressed as an alcoholic, but before Viki can write him off as a hopeless case, she should know that Dorian’s keeping him that way against his will with goofballs… Dorian steals BE and takes it over from Clint, rubbing his face (as well as Nora’s and Viki’s) in her victory… R.J. writes Lindsay a letter about her having offed Spencer and pretending to be insane to get off on murder charges, but Nora gets her hands on it. You know Nora’s running down the aisle to blow Bo and Lindsay’s wedding ceremony with the damning evidence.
One Life to Live News & Gossip, Copyright © 2008 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.
