News Brief

CBS: GUIDING LIGHT Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler talks about the show's new digital production model. " think for anyone who has watched GL for a long time, they will notice that while things are different, things are still the same. We still have Harley's house and Company; we still have the Spaulding Study and the Bauer Kitchen. All the sets viewers have grown up with for generations or in just the past couple of years--Cassie's Farm House, they will still be here. Sets normally don't have a ceiling or walls. So if you are standing back in the studio looking at it, it looks like something that would sit up on a stage during a play. So we took all those pieces that we had and completely finished them, so now the sets have a fourth wall, a ceiling, the lights in the set are not stage lights, but real lights that turn on and off with a switch, if people have a refrigerator it's really plugged in and there is actually food in it. The floor is now a real floor, every set has its real floor, they have tile or carpeting or wood. We took each space and made it complete, somebody's home is really a home; a restaurant is really a restaurant. I think that will be the main change you see. Springfield has really become an extremely real place."

TV Guide Canada: In one of the most important soap interviews you’ll read this year, James Reynolds speaks out about why daytime TV is racist, the future of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, and why it’s hard out there for a minority actor.

Blogging With Carolyn: "Could somebody get the stereotype police on the phone? We have an emergency over on AS THE WORLD TURNS with the new character of Ameera from Iraq. She debuted complete with head scarf, measured speech pattern, and the necessity to walk 10 steps behind a man. As Weekly news editor Mala Bhattacharjee said, "What did they do, check out Writing Muslims For Dummies before they wrote this character?" If Ameera's mother was liberal enough to have an affair with a white colonel, there's no way Ameera would be this blushing violet who's afraid of everyone in Oakdale. And not for nothing, when she was sitting with Noah, Luke came up behind them with a jealous look on his face. Um, Luke? Even though you haven't kissed Noah since September, it has been pretty well established that he's gay. Your competition will never be a girl, and certainly not one whose main topic of conversation is Sadaam Hussein."

Marlena De Lacroix: Patrick Erwin blogs on "AS THE WORLD TURNS’ Men in Love: The Controversy Rages!"

Trek Today: Former soap actors Darlena Tejeiro (ALL MY CHILDREN) and Paul Townsend (THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) have been cast in Star Trek XI.

Contra Costa Times: Playing cocky charmers is a breeze for former ONE LIFE TO LIVE actor Blair Underwood. But playing alpha male Alex, the ultra-aggressive patient on HBO's taut saga of psychotherapy, IN TREATMENT, is a welcome challenge for the 43-year-old actor.

New York Daily News: Tale of blogger updates young-adult soap opera in 'quarterlife' on NBC.