Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place.
1979: Calvin had a big day on Edge of Night.
1985: Ryan's Hope's D.J. celebrated her 16th birthday.
2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam Evans (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place.
1979: Calvin had a big day on Edge of Night.
1985: Ryan's Hope's D.J. celebrated her 16th birthday.
2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam Evans (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place.
1979: Calvin had a big day on Edge of Night.
1985: Ryan's Hope's D.J. celebrated her 16th birthday.
2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam Evans (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place. 1979: Calvin had a big
day on Edge of Night. 1985: Ryan's Hope's Ryan wanted D.J. at
her 16th birthday party. 2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
― Michael Crichton

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam Evans (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

NEWS: Peter Reckell, Kassie DePaiva, Jennifer Landon, James Franco, #SayTheirName

Peter Reckell

Days of our Lives star Peter Reckell: "I’m so proud of the show right now"
"That’s why I’m so proud of the show right now; that’s what they’re doing, giving the audience exactly what they want," says Reckell, who recently returned as Bo Brady. "I’m really proud of these new head writers for heading in that direction."

On Bo's relationship with Ciara: "I just want to say that [Vivian Jovanni] is amazing. That’s difficult, because I’m in love with Lauren [Boles], and to have her replaced, I got to admit, at first I was disappointed. But what they’ve done, the way they’ve handled the character and her growing up, was really cool. She’s a great mixture of the characters of Bo and Hope. I think the audience is really going to connect to their relationship, because we did get to spend a lot of time together, the two characters. She’ll be kind of carrying the mantle of Bo onward."

Kassie DePaiva says it's been a challenge to make Eve Donovan real
"Eve is a very challenging character," DePaiva says. "She's very damaged so it's been challenging to make her real."

General Hospital alum James Franco is teaching high school now
ranco, student of life, teacher of N.Y.U. and U.S.C. film students, guest starrer of soap operas, will next bestow his hard-won wisdom upon a lucky few high-schoolers. Friday night via Instagram, Franco alerted the young citizens of California that he’d be hosting an eight-part film class at Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto High School and encouraged them to join him. “Sign up NOW! 💥” he implored (sunburst emoji his).

The Young and the Restless and As the World Turns actress Jennifer Landon stars in I Spit on Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine
Anchor Bay Entertainment will release the R.D. Braunsten-directed sequel into limited theaters on October 9, 2015. A DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD release will follow on October 20, 2015.

Jennifer Landon (ex-Gwen, ATWT; ex-Heather, Y&R), Doug McKeon and Gabriel Hogan co-star in this unforgiving, unmerciful, and uncut new chapter of one of the most notorious franchises in movie history.

#SayTheirName: British soap EastEnders stirs emotion with Muslim family storyline
Heartbreaking scenes of parents experiencing a stillbirth prompted viewers of British soap opera EastEnders to take to social media to praise the performances of the actors playing the fictional British Muslim family the Masoods.

After the episode was aired by the BBC, Rakhee Thakrar, who plays grief-stricken mum Shabnum Masood, took to Twitter to encourage grieving parents to share the name of their still-born child following the hashtag #SayTheirName.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place. 1979: Calvin had a big
day on Edge of Night. 1985: Ryan's Hope's Ryan wanted D.J. at
her 16th birthday party. 2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam Evans (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left Peyton Place. 1979: Calvin had a big
day on Edge of Night. 1985: Ryan's Hope's Ryan wanted D.J. at
her 16th birthday party. 2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"To believe what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Dark Shadows, Bill (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting with Roger (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan) and Sam (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in Peyton Place.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

1966: Mia Farrow left PEYTON PLACE. 1979: Calvin had a big
day on EDGE OF NIGHT. 1985: Ryan wanted D.J. at her 16th
birthday party. 2006: Sami and Austin's wedding began.

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
― Michael Crichton

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On DARK SHADOWS, Bill (Frank Schofield) set up a meeting for himself, Roger (Louis Edmonds), Burke (Mitchell Ryan), and Sam (David Ford) to settle the manslaughter case once and for all.

1966: Mia Farrow aired for the final time as Allison Mackenzie in PEYTON PLACE.

Andy Williams Dead at 84

Andy Williams, one of America's top pop vocalists and a popular TV variety-show host in the 1960s when he recorded hits such as "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses," has died. He was 84.

Williams, who announced in late 2011 that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, died Tuesday at his home in Branson, Missouri, his family announced.

The Iowa-born Williams began singing professionally as a boy with his three older brothers in the 1930s, and he went solo when the quartet broke up in the early 1950s.

Josh Griffith: 'We've Put Away The Ax For A While' at THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

Josh's Griffith's work as new head writer of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS begins airing next week. In a new interview with TV Guide Magazine he talks about picking up stories where they left off instead of a major reworking of the existing scripts. He also said replacing Lindsay Bushman with Hunter Hayley King as Summer and letting Jennifer Landon go as Heather were the final cast changes. "I think that's it right now. We've put away the ax for a while," Griffith said. He didn't define how long "for a while" meant. Christel Khalil is staying as Lily.

Below are some other interesting tidbits from the interview:

TV Guide Magazine: Did Sony have specific requests as to who got fired?
Griffith: No. They asked Jill and me where we wanted to go with the show. We told them which characters we felt would give us the most heat and which ones wouldn't, and they were fine with our choices. We were inclined to make even more cast cuts but both Sony and CBS wanted to be careful. They felt too much head-lobbing would not bode well for the way the fans see our tenure.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

On this date in...

1974: Christopher Allport aired for the final time as Tim McGowan in ANOTHER WORLD.

1984: Lionel Lockridge (Nicolas Coster) made his first appearance in SANTA BARBARA.

1996: Miriam Parrish aired for the final time as Jamie Caldwell in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.  She is currently married to her former DAYS co-star, Robert Kelker-Kelly.

2006: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Sami and Austin's wedding continued.

Jennifer Landon Joins THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; Won Three Emmys For Work On AS THE WORLD TURNS

Jennifer Landon has best cast in the role of Heather Stevens on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, according to TV Guide Magazine.

Landon previously played Gwen Norbeck (and look-a-like Cleo for a while) on AS THE WORLD TURNS and won three consecutive Emmys.

Y&R's Heather was most recently played by Eden Riegel and Vail Bloom.

Landon begins shooting the soap May 2 and hits the air June 7.

What do you think? Was this a good choice? Or was the character even needed on an already crowded canvas? Let us know your thoughts.

Today in Soap Opera History (August 29)

On this date in...

1984: Lionel Lockridge (Nicolas Coster) made his first appearance on SANTA BARBARA.

2006: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Sami and Austin's wedding continued.