News Brief

Deadline Hollywood: Writer's Strike Talks Day #4: Producers Present New Media Proposals To Writers; WGA Responds It's A Rollback & Rejects; But Is This The Whole Offer Or Just 1/2 Of It?

New York Daily News: Chloe is back in Salem, which turns out to be a big problem for Belle Friday on "Days of Our Lives." "Belle is coming out of an airport hotel room and she bumps right into Chloe," says Nadia Bjorlin, who just returned as popular Chloe Lane Black. "It's obviously a surprise for both of them. For Belle, it's even more of a surprise. Chloe says, 'Oh, my gosh. You guys are here on your honeymoon! I don't want to bother you, but I'd love to say 'Hi' to Shawn." Unfortunately, newlywed Belle isn't there with her new husband, Shawn. She's there with Chloe's ex, Philip.

Reuters: Two time Emmy nominated actress Colleen Zenk Pinter, best known for her long running role as Barbara Ryan on CBS's "As the World Turns", has teamed up with the Oral CancerFoundation to share the story of her battle against oral cancer, and raisepublic awareness of a disease which kills more Americans each year than morecommonly known cancers.

Hollywood Reporter: John Cusack has signed on to star in "The Factory," a psychological thriller for Dark Castle to be distributed by Warner Bros. Morgan O'Neill, a winner of the Australian "Project Greenlight," co-wrote the script and is directing the feature, which is being produced by Dark Castle's Joel Silver, Susan Downey and David Gambino. O'Neill wrote "Factory" with Paul Leyden, an Australian actor who starred in "As the World Turns" and "LAX." Dark Castle picked up the script preemptively a year ago. The movie is slated to go before cameras in January. Steve Richards and Don Carmody are exec producing. Leyden is co-producing.

Corpus Christi Caller Times: Get ready for beautiful skating, Kerrigan style, coupled with music from Broadway classics Wednesday at the American Bank Center's Selena Auditorium. Ice skating champion Nancy Kerrigan and "Days of Our Lives"/"Hairspray" singing star Kevin Spirtas will headline this musical ice extravaganza. UPDATE: This show has been canceled due to low ticket sales.

Pioneer Press Online: Like most expectant mothers, "Days of Our Lives" star Alison Sweeney gained weight during her pregnancy, but her weight concerns didn't start then. "I have dealt with weight issues my entire life," she said. "I don't have a naturally trim body type, and as an actress, it's always a struggle -- emotionally as well as physically -- to fit in with my super-slim co-stars. I finally reached a breaking point, where I gave up all the fad dieting and decided to commit myself to being healthy instead of making 'skinny' my goal."

C21Media: Network 10 Australia will launch its new high definition channel, Ten-HD, on December 16 with a schedule including several US acquisitions not available on the network's main channel. The new offering will also time-shift Channel Ten programming including Ten News at Five and soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful."

Pride Source: "The SantaLand Diaries" and "Season's Greetings" from award-winning humorist David Sedaris and adapted for the stage by acclaimed director Joe Mantello will open Dec. 13 for a limited engagement. A young man arrives in New York with dreams of being a writer for "One Life to Live" and instead lands a part-time job as a Macy's Christmas elf named Crumpet.

Cinematical: Retro, old-school clips are usually good for a surprise -- seeing that star as a wee, young thing, or just seeing someone we recognize in a different time. But sometimes it's fun to pull something from memory. Back in late '80s, early '90s, I had a thing for ABC soap operas -- Anna and Duke, Eterna, and all the crazy stuff. From 1992-1993, there was a character on "One Life to Live" called Billy Douglas. He was a young, blonde kid who also happened to be gay. That kid was played by Ryan Phillippe, in his first professional gig.

SOD: Catching Up With B&B's Todd McKee.

NBC: Start at the beginning and watch "Coastal Dreams" continuously through episode 18.

Buzzworthy Radio: Audio: "One Life to Live" star Catherine Hickland was interviewed last night.