Soaps News

Get ready for TV's newest reality show: 55-year-old Guiding Light! Starting Feb. 29, the CBS-Procter & Gamble program will abandon the timeworn way of making soaps for a radical, όberauthentic approach that has much of the show shot on location in quaint little Peapack, New Jersey. The production is using the town's streets, homes, parks and businesses, as well as its outskirts. Case in point: The first episode with the new look finds heiress Lizzie Spaulding (the increasingly terrific Marcy Rylan) being dumped in the middle of the woods by her ex-lover Jonathan (Tom Pelphrey). She'll be rescued — soaked and frozen — by her current flame, Bill (Daniel Cosgrove).

GL's soundstage in Manhattan also got an overhaul. Gone are the three-walled sets soaps have used since the 1950s. Now each interior locale has four walls and a ceiling, requiring that all scenes be shot by a fleet-footed crew with minicams.

"We're bringing the viewers right into the experience in a very intimate way," says GL exec producer Ellen Wheeler. Credit the shake-up to a two-year research project P&G is conducting with the GL fans. "Our audience has been very clear with us," Wheeler says. "They don't like the nonreality of soaps — the fake grass, the fact that people in Springfield never seem to go to work or actually do their jobs or take care of their children. They want the stories and characters they love but with the same sense of reality they get from Grey's Anatomy and other nighttime shows."

Wheeler insists CBS wants low-rated GL to remain on the air. "This is not a desperate survival move," she says. "This is a creative, financially efficient way to move soap operas into the future. GL has always led the way." — Michael Logan

Barring an act of God, The Young and the Restless will hit a staggering milestone on Feb. 29: 1,000 consecutive weeks as daytime’s top-rated show. All involved in this super-streak deserve kudos, but I just gotta give a special shout-out to Eric Braeden as ruthless kingpin Victor Newman.

After an unfortunate rough patch where the writers turned his character into a passive, puppy-hugging wuss, Braeden is back on fire these days — truly terrifying during Victor’s brutal divorce from Nikki, tender and heart-shattering during his death vigil for Hope. Who else has such range? We could easily watch this fearless, flawless actor for a thousand more weeks. — Michael Logan

Dancing with the Stars favorite Maksim Chmerkovskiy will guest-star on an upcoming episode of ABC's All My Children — ultimately affording him a reunion with Season 5 hoofer Cameron Mathison.

In the Feb. 26 episode, Maksim (playing himself) will teach the women of Fusion pole-dancing at the bequest of Greenlee, who has decided that her staff needs a fun diversion. Cue the arrival of Mathison's Ryan, who, ABC teases, "will get inspired seeing the Fusion women dancing the pole."

I do not know what that means. Every idea I come up with just sounds all kinds of wrong. — Matt Mitovich

Say it ain't so! On Feb. 11, The Young and the Restless will bring back the marvelous Signy Coleman as blind heroine Hope Adams. But, after just a week, the character — a major fan favorite from the '90s — is going to die on screen from pancreatic cancer.

"It's welcome back, now get the hell out of here!" says Coleman, who got the call to return while shopping in a New Jersey mall. "I was thrilled they want me to play Hope again, but so heartbroken they're killing her off that I just stood there crying in the middle of Barnes & Noble. She's the best character ever. But I'm also very grateful. They allowed me to bring her in, and they're allowing me to take her out."

And there's a big upside to this sad event. Hope's son, Vic, to be played by Chris Engen (Felicity), doesn't know he's the spawn of Genoa City megalomaniac Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). "Hope's last wish is that her son connect with his father," Coleman says. "It's going to be dynamite."

Y&R's younger set will also get a boost from Elizabeth Hendrickson, who was a sensation as All My Children's Maggie. The actress, now sporting a Posh Spice bob, joins the show Feb. 6 as Chloe, whom she describes as a "funky, edgy fashion coordinator. She controls the Fresh Face of Jabot photo shoots — and she's not a very good influence."

High-flying Chloe will get hold of contest winner Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) and expose her to a world of upscale parties, drugs and weight obsession to the point where the kid starts to lose her identity and her soul. Hendrickson can't wait. "I'm always playing the girl next door," she says. "I want to be evil!" — Michael Logan

If you're crazy about General Hospital's Kimberly McCullough — and who isn't? — don't miss the SOAPnet marathon Robin Unwrapped (kicking off Sunday at 10 am/ET). McCullough's character, the HIV-positive Dr. Robin Scorpio, recently became pregnant, and this three-hour homage helps trace her journey to this landmark point.

Getting a replay is the popular 2006 episode when Robin and Patrick (her eventual babydaddy) first admitted their love for each other, as well as the 1996 hour that featured her sweet, steamy frolic with Jason during a Port Charles heat wave.

But best of all is a multi-hanky episode from 1995 in which Robin's AIDS-stricken lover, Stone, is able to focus his eyes and gaze upon her one last time before he dies. McCullough earned the second of her two Emmys for that one. You'll easily see why. — Michael Logan

As the World Turns star Scott Bryce — one of the best badasses in the business — has been fired from his role as Craig Montgomery and fans are furiously bombarding the show with petitions for his return. Alas, it's a moot point, for now anyway. Craig will flee Oakdale Feb. 21 after trying to blow up his archrival Paul (Roger Howarth). Here Bryce — in his only exit interview — talks about his controversial axing. — Michael Logan

TVGuide.com: Your followers, and they are legion, are having coronaries over this!
Scott Bryce: I have to say an enormous thank you for their love and support. I'd started thinking to myself, "Wow, maybe I stink" but the response from the fans has been so amazing and overwhelming that it's helped soften the blow. It's touching and affirming and it means the world to me.

TVGuide.com: Word is, your peeps at ATWT are pretty bummed.
Bryce: The response from the cast and crew has been equally unbelievable. Hugs and kisses and shock and disbelief. This is a real drag because I've never been fired from an acting job before. In fact, the last time I was fired I was flipping burgers at the Big Top Shop in Westport [Connecticut], so this is kind of stunning.

TVGuide.com: You created Craig in 1982, played him off-and-on into the '90s, then came back to the show just last April. It should have been a triumphant return. What went haywire?
Bryce: I've had dozens of relationships with executive producers and this one, with Chris Goutman, was odd and very disconnected. I think we had an inherent disagreement or a different vision of who Craig is. The plots on the show are so much darker than they used to be — dead babies, pornography, methamphetamines — and maybe I didn't fit into that vision. It's not the ATWT I remember from those many years ago. Chris would say to me, "This is your character, run with it." But when I did he never seemed pleased. Craig, as I understood him, has a need for family and love and fulfillment, and at all costs, which is what creates all the mayhem and madness in his life. Yes, he's a villain but he doesn't know that.

TVGuide.com: You've injected an intense amount of heart and humanity into some pretty heinous situations — like when Craig came very close to aborting Meg's fetus. What you accomplished is kind of a miracle, really.
Bryce: One fan wrote to say, "Craig almost killed an unborn baby and I all I wanted to do was hug the guy." How does that happen? I guess that's what makes him so interesting to me and to the audience. It's extremely compelling — like watching a car accident.

TVGuide.com: Do you think the writing may have led to your downfall?
Bryce: This was a very difficult story to sell, frankly. Why is Meg even with Craig? Why did she stay after Paul's supposed death? What's going on with the company? How can you turn over a multi-national corporation with less signatures than it takes to rent a car? All of it was very tough to play. When we finally had the family and the baby stuff it made sense to me and I felt rooted. It had started to work. I think the last several months have been really great, actually. Some of my best work has come out in the last 3 to 4 months. Oh, well.

TV Guide.com: You were in such an oddball quartet.
Bryce: I felt I was in the trenches with Marie Wilson [Meg], Roger Howarth [Paul] and Cady McClain [Rosanna], all consummate professionals. We called ourselves "the Odd Squad," or as the fans call us the "Quad from Hell." We were pretty much stuck in that one story. Craig had only one scene with his sister Katie [Terri Colombino]. He basically ignored her.

TVGuide.com: And we wanted to see more of Craig and Lucinda! You and Liz Hubbard are priceless together.
Bryce: That woman taught me how to do this genre. She's a remarkable actress and an even more remarkable person. Our chemistry is off the charts and I don't know why they wouldn't explore that. There were times where it just felt like plot was more important than people and that gets difficult to play. And it's hard to go to work when you don't really have the support of the captain of the ship, which is what I felt. So when the time came and I was fired, I wasn't shocked. I gave 100 percent. The only thing that kind of annoys me was that I was fired over the phone during the holidays. That felt disrespectful and unnecessary. Did Goutman ever lie to me? Never. Was I misled? Never. I worked hard. I respected the story as much as I could. I played the good soldier and didn't bitch. I called him sir. I showed up on time and did my scenes in one take. [Laughs] That's not enough?

TVGuide.com: Well, nobody can blame you for a ratings decline!
Bryce: The week I came back to ATWT it was rated No. 7. The week I got fired it was tied for No. 3. I hold my head up high. You know, I was very fortunate to work during the heyday of the show under Doug Marland, who was a phenomenal writer and understood romance so deeply. He knew what star-crossed lovers are really all about. His show was always people and relationship-centered. Now it's really about plot over people and they're willing to sabotage history if necessary.

TVGuide.com: There's a hell of a lot of pressure on the soaps these days.
Bryce: I wouldn't want [Goutman's] job. It's impossible. He's being slammed from all sides. He's got budget cuts continuously. There are fewer and fewer viewers. We're now in the era of info-tainment. How can the stories on ATWT beat "Who is the father of Anna Nicole's baby?" That's very, very tough. Reality has become the new soap opera. We now follow the loves of celebrities the way we used to follow the lives of Lily and Holden.

TVGuide.com: Word is, your exit is explosive — literally.
Bryce: I try to kill Paul but he is the Rasputin of daytime and apparently unkillable. I vaporize his car but he lives. Then I take a private plane out of town... possibly to the landlocked island nation of Montega, I don't know.

TVGuide.com: If you had it to do all over again...?
Bryce: Look, if I'd known it was only going to last 10 months, I still probably would have said yes. Would I be surprised if there was someone else playing Craig in three months? No. It wouldn't shock me in the least.

Days of our Lives
Four top characters — Philip, Shawn, Chloe and Belle — will hop a private jet to Ireland to find Belle's kidnapped daughter. And go figure: Philip adds to the stress onboard by demanding Belle choose once and for all between Shawn and him. "Could there be worse timing?" Martha Madison says with a laugh. The actress, who plays the freaked-out mom, promises a "huge reveal in Ireland that will tie up over 20 years of story and explain why the DiMeras have such a vendetta against the Bradys." And we finally learn the true identity of Belle's father, John Black (Drake Hogestyn). "It'll change everything in a big way," Madison promises. "Belle's gonna be a DiMera! Who'da thought?"

All My Children
It's no secret All My Children's Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) likes men — witness her 11 marriages and countless trysts — but she's never enjoyed an interracial romance. Until now. Actor Mario Van Peebles joins the show this week as Erica's new love interest, Samuel Woods, a hell-raising U.S. DA who is intent on making the rich and powerful pay for their crimes. Erica is instantly enticed, unaware that Woods has an ulterior motive — he's secretly investigating her.

As the World Turns
The "Who Killed Dusty?" whodunit takes a weird twist when the killer decides to get revenge against the prime suspect, Lily, and her estranged hubby, Holden, who has taken the blame for the murder. But chaos is good for a broken marriage — before sweeps is over, the couple share a kiss.

The Young & the Restless
BAM fan alert! As AMC lovers Bianca and Maggie — aka BAM — Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson had a huge die-hard following. Now Hendrickson's headed to The Young and the Restless as Chloe, a hotshot fashion guru who becomes a bad influence on sweet, young Lily. Details in next week's TV Guide!

Guiding Light
Harley keeps it all in the family when she has sex with Cyrus, who also happens to be her niece Marina's lover. Gus and Natalia head to the altar.

General Hospital
HIV-positive Robin tells Patrick she's pregnant. Tracy is ejected from the Quartermaine mansion. Jason thinks Coop's "suicide" by hanging looks like the work of the Text Message Killer.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Demented Stephanie counts her hubby Eric's Viagra pills and discovers he didn't end his affair with Donna like he claims. The upshot, according to a show rep, will send B&B into "new and uncharted territory." For a freaky-deaky soap, that's saying something! —Michael Logan

Use our Online Video Guide to find clips of Days of our Lives, All My Children, As the World Turns, The Young & the Restless, Guiding Light, General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful.

In Part 1 of our exclusive first sit-down with Sarah Brown, the three-time Daytime Emmy winner revealed what led her back to General Hospital and the concerns she had about doing so. Here in the conclusion of our Q&A, Sarah previews Claudia Zacchara's first encounter with Sonny, the inevitable face-off between "two Carlys" and the length of her new Port Charles visit. Be sure to take in every bit here, as the "lead" (that is, the truly juicy stuff) sort of got buried at the end. But oh, is it worth it. — Matt Mitovich

TVGuide.com: Of course, Laura Wright is now playing Carly, so you are creating a new role....
Sarah Brown: I'm going to be playing Claudia Zacchara. She is the eldest daughter of Anthony Zacchara.

TVGuide.com: Played by Bruce Weitz....
Brown: Woohoo, I can't wait to work with him!

TVGuide.com: Is Claudia totally a tough cookie or does she have a soft spot somewhere?
Brown: Oh, she has a soft spot, because she's being played by me. [Laughs] I can't fathom playing a one-dimensional tough cookie on a daytime show. I don’t think that works, whereas it might in other mediums, like prime time. So let me tell you about Claudia....

TVGuide.com: Is she a sexual woman?
Brown: Very. She's a very, very sexual woman. That’s what I'm gathering. There are some really wonderful reasons for that. Like any tough cookie she's tough because she's really fragile, and she's really fragile because she has an Achille's heel. She has a couple of them, and they will develop over this first year. But one in particular she comes to town with, and it's a really good one.

TVGuide.com: What's the dynamic between Claudia and Brandon Barash's Johnny?
Brown: It's going to be complicated. Johnny was little, apparently, when I left, so Brandon is playing pretty young, I guess. Johnny was young when I was banished and sent away to live with my mother, who had been banished earlier. But I grew up with my father until I was 16 and Johnny was about 8. I was very protective and loving of my "baby brother," so it's parallel to Into the Wild, though there's a little more scab-picking to be done between the two of us. The brother and sister in that movie are close because they're growing up in a loony bin of a household. There was yelling going on [at the Zaccharas'], a manic-depressive bipolar father.... I haven’t spoken to him since I was banished.

TVGuide.com: So it's not "happy to see me" when her father sees her in Port Charles?
Brown: Oh god, no. It's really not "happy to see me." I'm not coming there for that; I'm coming to set some things straight. Trevor calls me up and brings me out for one agenda, thinking I am the scared, lost little wallflower that got sent away, but I come back having been raised by my uncle and mother and having been taught the business from the ground up. My uncle is big where he's from, and he's taught me how to read men and control men. I don’t think Claudia controls men in the way of like, "I have a bigger... than you!" That doesn’t work, generally, so I'm not going to go there. She's doesn’t need to do that.

TVGuide.com: So who is your first scene with?
Brown: I work with Maurice [Benard] first, as a nice little wink to the audience. We have to do those things. They've got to put us together because there is all this history coming into it. I'm glad my first scenes were with Maurice.

TVGuide.com: Are there other "winks" in the dialogue, like, "You remind me of someone I know" or...?
Brown: [Laughs] There was a line, but it doesn’t end up on the show. It was very similar to what you said, like Sonny says, "This feels familiar," and I say, "Familiarity breeds contempt."

TVGuide.com: Is Sonny necessarily going to be her first major love interest, or might GH go a different way at first?
Brown: I don’t know.... They're going to have to explore everything that’s already going on for him, and see how my character can fit into that. A lot of it will have to do with what works best for their stories. You know how it is on soaps — I'm definitely not ruling it out!

TVGuide.com: What other sort of "reunions" should we be on the lookout for? Are there any scenes with Robin, or the current Carly?
Brown: There are certainly going to be scenes between me and Laura right away, so that will be fun for people. We meet at Metro Court by happenstance and begin to chat about this and that and Kate Howard.... Carly tells me I look familiar; I tell her I get that a lot, wink-wink. We then get into talking about fashion — and powerful men — and we have a really good time together.

TVGuide.com: You know Laura from your circle of Procter & Gamble soap friends.
Brown: I do, I do, and I love and respect her. I knew her even before I got involved with As the World Turns. Laura, I always thought was very good. When she did The City, Laura Wright was one of my favorite actresses from New York. I thought she was top-notch, so when Laura was recast as Carly, I was like, "Yeah, that makes sense!" She's a pro and she knows what she's bringing.

TVGuide.com: Now this is a silly question, but I wonder it myself: Is it at all tricky going through a GH script now and not mistaking the "Carly" lines for your own?
Brown: It is. But I went through that at ATWT, and we had a "Carly" there. But now, having played so many characters, it's not so big a thing. It's not going to not happen that I'll accidentally highlight Carly's lines. [In fact just days after this interview, Sarah admitted to me, "Last night I was highlighting my lines and I actually highlighted all of Laura [Wright]'s lines before I realized what I was doing. I was trying to multitask and I guess I'm not ready to do that with GH scripts yet!

TVGuide.com: During your absence from GH, they brought on Reese, aka the "real" Carly Roberts, the one whose life Caroline Benson stole. Did GH try to get you for that role?
Brown: I wasn’t aware of that, but that may have been the idea of "Carly's evil twin sister" morphing into Reese [ultimately played by Kari Wuhrer]. That's really possible. That sounds right.

TVGuide.com: How long do GH fans have you for?
Brown: Currently, I have a one-year contract, but you never really know. They could fire me if they wanted to, after 26 weeks, but [Sheepishly] I don’t think that's going to happen. I work really hard, so hopefully people will be happy with it and I'll stay around.

TVGuide.com: How is your daughter, Jordan?
Brown: She is wonderful, thank you for asking.

TVGuide.com: What is she into these days?
Brown: She loves horseback riding. She has horses at the equestrian center where Leslie Charleson (Monica) has her horses, so it's always nice to catch up with Leslie. Jordan has taken gymnastics for a few years, which I was into when I was younger.... She's actually taking an acting class and recently got her SAG card — through no fault of my own! Her father was producing a movie and he brought Jordan and Michael Chiklis' daughter onto the movie, at ages 8 and 9. So that’s really sweet.

TVGuide.com: I remember you showed me a Halloween picture, and she is a gorgeous little girl.
Brown: Oh, thank you so much. She's a sweet, wonderful little girl. She's very kind and loving and deeply connected to animals.

TVGuide.com: In that same picture, "Mom" wasn't looking too bad as a mermaid.
Brown: Oh, thank you! You're so sweet....

TVGuide.com: OK, one last tease about what's ahead on GH.
Brown: I'm going to control the world. [Evil laugh] I don’t know what I can tease. I have some bullet points here I can talk about.... Oh, I guess I can tell you that Sonny and I have a one-night stand, because he's reeling from a blowup with Kate, because she declines his wedding proposal. I go into a bar, see Sonny, pick him up, take him back to his hotel room, and we have a wild, crazy, passionate night, and then walk away without telling each other our names. And then we bump into each other at a mob meeting that I've organized. He's sitting across the table from me, and of course I may have left something in his room, so that’s where we're going to go. It's going to be really super. I promised I'd give you some juicy fun stuff!

POLL: What do you think about Sarah's return? Log in and vote here.

A funny thing happened in the six-plus years since Sarah Brown left General Hospital — the role of Carly, the hell-raising, rollerblading tomcat she created back in 1996, was recast. A lot. With Laura Wright now embedded in the role, when Brown resurfaces in Port Charles on Jan. 31, she will have a brand-new vixen to bring to life — Claudia Zacchara, the prodigal daughter of mob boss Anthony. Here in Part 1 of TVGuide.com's exclusive sit-down with Brown, the three-time Daytime Emmy winner shares how her GH return came about and reveals why she is excited to be back. — Matt Webb Mitovich

TVGuide.com: When did the talks to return to GH first start up?
Sarah Brown: Oh, I want to say about five months ago. It was a really interesting happenstance.

TVGuide.com: Was it a call from [ABC Daytime president Brian] Frons or...?
Brown: No, it was nothing like that. First, I haven't seen Maurice [Benard, Sonny] or anybody from the show — except for Tava [Smiley, ex-Chloe] and Stephen Kay (Reginald) here and there — in six or seven years. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I'm at the car wash and Maurice, who lives in my neighborhood, is there. "What's up, Mo?" [Laughs] Meanwhile, I'm running into Kin Shriner (Scotty) every other day at my gym. So Maurice and I chatted for a bit, and then three days later I run into [GH executive producer] Jill Farren Phelps, of all people, at the local cafι. I'm like, "This is weird. General Hospital is everywhere." So I felt like that was a really good time, for a lot of different reasons, to approach Jill and give her a big hug. It built from there.

TVGuide.com: Did you have any reservations about returning to the show? Concerns about "Who's going to have my character's back?"
Brown: A lot of "Who's going to have my back?" went through my mind. It took us five months to really work out all the details. It's been so many years, but right away they let me know that it wasn't ever going to be about me playing Carly, and that's always been interesting to me. They talked to me about that years ago, about a month before I did As the Worlds Turns , like, "[You can be] Carly's evil twin sister!" Because I had really dark hair at that point. We kicked it around, always in good fun, but it was never really something that we got into in terms of negotiations. I'm funny about the way that I work with soaps — I like to figure out creatively what we're going to do, and if it makes sense, I have no issues with the boundaries between daytime and prime time. I see other actors do it. Tamara Tunie does As the World Turns and Law & Order: SVU really successfully, and why not? You should be able to navigate both worlds. So I don't have any reservations about daytime per se. They pitched the hell out of the character and I responded to it right away. "That sounds like fun, sign me up!" [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Did they offer you any reassurances that even with the writers' strike in play, they're trying to put out a quality product?
Brown: Absolutely. They let me know that everybody was still really happy because [head writer] Bob [Guza Jr.] had written so much of the show before [the strike], and before he knew I would take the job he wrote this outline based on how he thought I would play the character. That was wonderful to know. Obviously we hope the writers' strike doesn't go on much longer, because it's exciting to me to work with Bob. I want to get his deep insight into the character.

TVGuide.com: Now I have a Barbara Walters question: "How is the Sarah Brown returning to GH different than the one who left?"
Brown: Oh, I'm so different. I'm older! That's really what it's about. When I was first at General Hospital, I felt like I grew up there, like it was a college for me, whereas VR Troopers was "community college." I spent those years learning to navigate the business, and then I got to go out into the world and have all these wonderful experiences with other actors and directors.... At the time I left GH I was really wide-eyed and full of wonder at the possibilities of the gift I was given to play with. I've had six or seven years to play with it now, so I am coming back with a lot of joy. I left with a lot of joy, but I also left with a lot of fear as to what the future will hold. It was scary, but in an exciting way. Now I feel I can share a lot of my experiences, and that brings up the game level for everyone. Anyone who goes out and searches other techniques and styles and ideas and explores their creativity at the risk of failure comes back richer.

TVGuide.com: Since leaving GH, you have done comedy, procedurals, sci-fi, TV-movies.... What has been the most fun project?
Brown: Oh, that is such a hard question! Wow.... In terms of a great role that I really dug into, I loved The Closer, but K-Ville was really special to me, too.

TVGuide.com: I remember when you got cast on The Closer, I text-messaged you, "You're the killer!" And you replied, "Why do you say that?! Stereotyping!" But sure enough....
Brown: It's because you know me and the kind of roles I like to take.

TVGuide.com: I've always said that about The Closer: that sometimes they tip their hand with the caliber of actor they bring on for a guest spot.
Brown: Yeah, but Steve Culp played the attorney, and he's brilliant and well-used and one of my favorite actors in the world, and he didn't do the crime. The guy that played my husband, also — a fine, fine actor. You know, that's the best set I have ever worked on in terms of the kindnesses. That and the Monk set. I was just doing taxes and I found a letter signed by all of the [Closer] executive producers, thanking me for my work and letting me know when the episode was airing. That is the best place to work in the history of the world. Every single person who comes on their set, there's so much respect.

TVGuide.com: Back to GH: what do you think it means that Carly, a character you created almost 12 years ago, is still around, that the character has endured?
Brown: I think it's because she's well-loved, regardless of who's playing her. It's the character that the audience responds to because she was born into an underdog humanity that a lot of people can relate to. I didn't invent the wheel here. She's just someone that people identify with. The audience in America responds to that type of personality in a woman, sometimes.

But wait, there's so much more. In the Jan. 28 issue of TV Guide magazine, Sarah details Claudia Zacchara's first encounter with Sonny Corinthos* — and the wild aftermath. On Wednesday, in my Mitovich Mega Minute vodcast, I'll share a look at Sarah's first face-off with Laura Wright's Carly. Then later next week, come here for the rest of my in-depth conversation with Sarah, in which we get to the really good stuff as she sheds light on her deliciously dark new role.

* PS. That's where the "wild" in the headline comes into play....

Usually, encores don't take a year and a half. Mary J. Blige will guest on ABC's One Life to Live on Friday, Feb. 15, and Monday, Feb. 18, marking the six-time Grammy winner's second trip to Llanview.

As she did in July 2006 — after which her album sales soared 40 percent — Blige will appear as herself, this time serving as a surprise guest at Starr's sweet-16 party. (OK, well, it was a surprise.) Accompanied by her band, the songstress will perform her Grammy-nominated single "Just Fine," as well as "Hurt Again," a second song from her latest CD.

Remember that wild '90s plot on CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful when famed psychiatrist James Warwick shockingly revealed he was a virgin and the gorgeous Taylor deflowered him in the rubble of a massive earthquake? "Well, I'm about to repay the favor," Ian Buchanan says. The actor returns to his Emmy-winning role as Warwick on Jan. 28 for a short-term stint that has him helping the troubled Taylor (played by Hunter Tylo).

"By the time I arrive, she's hitting the sauce pretty bad and having hallucinations," reports Buchanan, who hopes a cure doesn't come too quickly, what with the writers' strike crippling prime time. "I feel like changing the dialogue to say, 'Gee, Taylor's in worse shape than I thought. This could take me a year.'" — Michael Logan

I knew we were in for a bumpy ride when All My Children started the year by murdering Dixie — the show's heart and soul — with a plate of poisoned pancakes. But hey, that meant more airtime for Zarf, a rude, suffocatingly hammy, penis-flashing transgender rock star who fell in love with Pine Valley's saintly lesbian Bianca. Appropriately, fans on the Internet named the couple "Barf."

In a pathetic attempt to boost ratings, Days of our Lives pretended to kill its most popular male character, John, played by Drake Hogestyn. Even the cast was fooled. But with the Nielsens staying flat, Hogestyn is now back at work and we're left to wonder: How the hell can we ever invest in Days again?

General Hospital viewers had a fit and threatened to stop watching when heartthrob Jax was held hostage and forced into sex by a loony Russian chick. Meanwhile, they didn't seem to mind when a Port Charles strangler killed three women.

Things that made me cringe: Constantine Maroulis on The Bold and the Beautiful; the weepy judges on I Wanna Be a Soap Star; the As the World Turns plot that had Alison — a former porn star and meth addict — offering to donate her eggs so Gwen could get pregnant. But nothing outgrossed Passions' evil hermaphrodite, Vincent, who seduced his own father and wound up pregnant. Not even Nip/Tuck had the nerve to try that.

It was also the year that the Daytime Emmys — plagued by ballot problems, some very suspicious winners and an insulting telecast — officially became irrelevant. As Mario Cantone noted on The View: "It's the only show where people you've never heard of win awards nobody gives a crap about." Being a true-blue soap nut, I should have been outraged by that remark. Except I had to agree.

Lastly, can't we go back to the way things were on The Young and the Restless? Please, we're begging ya, CBS! Under its late, great creator Bill Bell, this hallmark soap was hypnotic, elegant, so romantic it made you woozy, and often so emotionally powerful it felt like it was hitting you way down in your DNA. Not anymore. Under head writer/executive producer Lynn Marie Latham — who seems to have a weird need to mess with success — Y&R is FUBAR and limped through 2007 a sad, hollow, boring, pointless mess. The big questions: Why would the suits at CBS allow this to happen? And what are they going to do about it now?

A "Kiss Campaign" is underway, hoping to coax CBS and Procter & Gamble Productions into giving As the World Turns' Luke and Noah another on-screen liplock (especially since some primo opportunities were conspicuously dodged in recent weeks). "Soaps, like all businesses, live and die by consumer response to a product," campaign founder Jerome writes at AfterElton.com. "And while email complaint letters certainly get noticed, it's the more-grandiose gestures that usually succeed in eliciting a response." Hence, his decision to make like Jericho fans did (showering the Eye with nuts) and call on Luke-Noah supporters to flood CBS Daytime Programs SVP Barbara Bloom with Hershey's Kisses. "The symbolism," Jerome notes, "is obvious."

Let's hope this campaign has a result other than Ms. Bloom's administrative assistant gaining 10 pounds. — Matt Webb Mitovich

Dancing with the Stars semifinalist Cameron Mathison (of All My Children) is offering some lucky lady private dance lessons, and then the opportunity to tango with his six-foot-something self at a soap star-studded Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser to be held March 2 in NYC. The winner of the auction, opening Jan. 10 at (and benefitting) BroadwayCares.org, will be flown to New York "for a few days' rehearsals," Mathison tells the AP, "and I will teach them how to do a dance with myself" — or something along those lines. As Cam adds with a wink, "My [Dancing] partner, Edyta Sliwinska, is going to be coming in and really be the one to teach us." A-ha! A clever variation on the evil twin switcheroo. — Matt Webb Mitovich

SOAPnet on Friday announced a slate of programming pegged to the three big returns coming up on ABC's All My Children.

For starters, AMC: Back in Pine Valley: Greenlee, Angie and Jesse — a half-hour (and colon-heavy) special featuring fresh interviews, classic clips and a behind-the-scenes look at the first days back on set for Rebecca Budig, Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams — debuts Saturday, January 12, at 2 pm/ET. That leads into Why We Love Greenlee!, a petite marathon of three Budig-centric AMC episodes. (Sabine, I am guessing/hoping, will use that opportunity to go catch a movie.)

On Sunday the 13th, starting at 2 pm, AMC: Angie & Jesse are Back! offers a trio of classic Hubbard hours, followed by an encore of the
Back in Pine Valley special. — Matt Webb Mitovich