PREVIEW: Tonight's LIFE ON MARS

"Coffee, Tea or Annie" - When Valerie Palmer, a Pan Atlantic air hostess turns up dead, Annie volunteers for a dangerous undercover mission, posing as the murdered woman to help solve the second in a possible series of brutal homicides. Annie, Sam and Ray, working one of Valerie's flights covertly, uncover an unlikely suspect. Then, an invitation to a lurid swingers' party leads to an evening full of sensational surprises - not just for Annie and Sam, attending undercover as a couple, but Lieutenant Hunt also arrives with a special guest to mix it up. Juicy sexual escapades bring the swingers' party to a fever pitch, but will the murderer be revealed? Finally, Annie confronts Hunt with the courage of her convictions about her future at the 1-2-5, on LIFE ON MARS, tonight (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

LIFE ON MARS stars Jason O'Mara as Detective Sam Tyler, Harvey Keitel as Lieutenant Gene Hunt, Michael Imperioli as Detective Ray Carling, Gretchen Mol as Annie Norris and Jonathan Murphy as Detective Chris Skelton.

Guest starring are Gina Gershon as Rita, Mark Linn-Baker as Lincoln James, Mark Deklin as Ronald Harris, Kelli Giddish (ex-Di, ALL MY CHILDREN) as Carol, Keri Lynn Pratt as Leslie, Hamilton Clancy as derelict, Caleb Wallace as young Sammy, Libby George as old lady, Marla Sucharetza as Mrs. Collins, Scott Robertson as doorman and Jim O'Keefe as Detective James Harrison.

News Round-up: GL Stars To Wed, Martha Byrne, Wes Ramsey

Wes Ramsey joins the cast of DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Ramsey (ex-Sam, GL) reports to work at DAYS tomorrow in a role the show is keeping under wraps. The actor first caught the eye of producers last year when he came in to read at the time they were casting for Brady and Rafe.

Felicity to Marcia: Stay Away From New MELROSE PLACE!
"Oh God, no!" Huffman said with a laugh at the premiere of her new movie, Phoebe in Wonderland, when asked if she'd like to see her DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES costar pop up on the MP remake. "She's done it. She's a brilliant actress. She's on to new things."

GL's Bogue and Bruno to marry
Real-life sweethearts and GUIDING LIGHT co-stars Rob Bogue (Mallet) and Mandy Bruno (Marina) recently announced their engagement. The couple has been dating for over a year and plan to marry in Spring of 2010. "Rob's the love of my life," Bruno told Soap Opera Digest in the Feb. 17 issue.

Their characters married on GL in December.

Iranian police arrest pornographic film actors
Police in Iran have arrested a group of mostly female actors who were making pornographic films, a crime that carries the death penalty under the country's Islamic laws, local media reported today. The arrests were made at a house in a middle-class area in the east of Tehran, the pro-reformist website Fararu said. The website did not specify how many actors had been detained, but said most were "beautiful young women".

The legislation states that "producers" and "main elements" of such works could be sentenced as "corrupters of the world", a phrase from the Qu'ran referring to those considered deserving of the death penalty for their crimes. The law followed an outcry over the widespread distribution of an illicit DVD showing Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, a well-known Iranian soap opera star, apparently having sex with her former boyfriend.

Danniella Westbrook returning to EASTENDERS?
Westbrook could be returning to the soap as producers are in talks to bring back old character Sam Mitchell. Show chiefs want vixen Sam to come back to cause havoc for her former husband Ricky Butcher and his ex Bianca, according to The Sun. Westbrook left the show in 2000 after a battle with cocaine addiction and was later replaced by Kim Medcalf, but BBC bosses have thought about bringing back Westbrook as a "shock" for viewers.

EVENT: Byrne, Seganti, Tunie
Former AS THE WORLD TURNS star Martha Byrne is doing a reading of one act plays for the Epic Theatre Company in NYC on April 17th and 18th at 8:00pm. She will be joined by Elizabeth Hubbard, Paolo Seganti and Tamara Tunie on stage. After the performance there will be a screening of the short movie Bye, Bye, Sally she executive produced that stars Malin Ackerman and Paolo Seganti. Paul Leyden wrote and directed the film.

Byrne is currently in the middle of a three month trial as a writer for THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Her first scripts air on April 14 and May 5.

Why LIFE ON MARS was bound to die
Like the British version, the LIFE ON MARS concept was never meant to go too long, says Tim Goodman. "And," he adds, "people lost sight, in the American version, of the fact that the series is first and foremost about existentialism."

ABC Cancels LIFE ON MARS

ABC's LIFE ON MARS won't return for a second season. The network has decided not to renew the series starring Jason O'Mara as 2008 Detective Sam Tyler working as a cop in 1973 New York.

The series, from 20th TV and ABC Studios, will complete its 17-episode freshman series order with the season finale written as a series finale that will wrap the loose story ends, explain how Tyler got transported back in time and (maybe) bring him back to his own time.

LIFE ON MARS enjoyed strong support from ABC brass and was slotted in some of the network's premiere slots, Thursday 10 p.m. after GREY'S ANATOMY and Wednesday 10 p.m. after LOST.

The show, shot in New York, featured a number of local soap stars including Grant Aleksander, Elizabeth Hubbard, Jennifer Ferrin and several others.

News Round-up: Marlena, B&S Ratings, NY Tax Credit

Soap February: Blame Executive Malfeasance!
Marlena De Lacroix writes: "Fans usually blame headwriters when soaps are bad. But ultimately, the real blame lies with daytime network executives who have the final power of approval over what we see on our screens. Last month, judging by the very questionable, sometimes downright illogical and nonprofessional quality of the drama I saw on screen, I’d venture to say that these daytime execs (and their publicity and marketing minions) are very sloppy, asleep at the wheel, or just don’t care at all what they put on screen everyday."

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Jesse Plemons blogs last week's show
"I immediately got sucked into the episode and forgot all about the blogging that was supposed to be happening. It's amazing the things that you catch the second or third time you watch an episode. One of the things I love about our show is that it is full of so many moments and nuances, which really make the show what it is."

2-hour BROTHERS & SISTERS draws 11.9 million viewers
B&S ranked No. 1 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. across all key Adult demos: AD18-34 (3.1/8), AD8-49 (4.1/10) and AD25-54 (5.1/11).

Biz pleads to keep tax credits in N.Y.
LIFE ON MARS stars Harvey Keitel, Jason O'Mara and Michael Imperioli joined labor leaders on a Kaufman Astoria Studios stage Monday to push legislators to continue the funding of New York State production tax credits.

INTERVIEW: DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Renee Jones (Lexie)
"I spoke to our head writer, Dena Higley, whose son has autism, and the show immediately connected me with Autism Speaks so I could learn about it. Autism Speaks connected me with a mother and her little boy. I got to go to his speech therapy class and his occupational therapy, and I [observed] them. Oh, my gosh! Seeing that mother — she was so excited over any little tiny achievement her son made. I was watching her more than him."

BBC: 'All-black' ENDERS 'not unreasonable'
The BBC responded to the concerns raised in an official statement on its complaints website, describing the episode's concentration on 'all-black' characters as "not unusual" and the references to the Notting Hill riots as "absolutely legitimate".

The statement read: "It is not unusual for EASTENDERS to devote a whole episode to a single storyline or set of characters, and this episode was one of these occasions.

"This was an opportunity to explore in some depth the background and experiences of Patrick Trueman, one of EastEnders' longest-standing and most popular characters."

It went on: "There have been many 'all-white' episodes in the show's 24-year history, and we do not believe there is any reason why an 'all-black' episode should not be included within the series.

"Some viewers felt it was unnecessary to raise the subject of the Notting Hill race riots. These form part of the character's experience, as well as British history, and we feel it was absolutely legitimate for these characters to discuss them."

PREVIEW: Tonight's LIFE ON MARS

"Let All the Children Boogie" - Death threats targeting rock sensation Sebastian Grace expose Sam and Chris to the anything-goes rock and roll lifestyle, including Grace's groupie, "Rocket Girl," and an FBI agent known as "The Sorcerer." But is this over-the-top world also out of this world? It certainly seems so after Chris finds Sebastian and "Rocket Girl" watching and waiting for UFOs in a desolate area of New Jersey known as the Meadowlands. The otherworldly mystery builds as the groupie disappears, and Sam believes he may finally have found a way back from the 1970s to 2009, on LIFE ON MARS, Wednesday, February 11 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC Television Network.

LIFE ON MARS stars Jason O'Mara as Detective Sam Tyler, Harvey Keitel as Lieutenant Gene Hunt, Michael Imperioli as Detective Ray Carling, Gretchen Mol as Annie Norris and Jonathan Murphy as Detective Chris Skelton.

Guest starring are Wallace Shawn as "The Sorcerer," Cheyenne Jackson as Sebastian Grace, Alexandra Dadario as "Rocket Girl," Maggie Siff as Maria Belanger, John Cenatiempo as Sizable Ted, AS THE WORLD TURNS' Kristen Connolly as Donna, Manoel Felciano as Bradley Thomas, Duke Valenti as Grizzly, Kristen Connolly as Donna, Isabelle Chester as Lulu, Jessalyn Wanlim as Sweet Jane, Robert Clohessy as Frank Wyatt, Del Pentecost as Carl Stefanski, Kevin Henderson as uniformed New Jersey cop and Robert L. Putterman as desk sergeant.

"Let All the Children Boogie" was written by Phil M. Rosenberg and directed by Michael Katleman.

PREVIEW: Tonight's LIFE ON MARS

"Take a Look at the Lawmen" - A longstanding competition between Lt. Hunt and the detectives of the 1-2-5 and Lt. Anthony Nunzio and his men of the 1-4-4 heats up when the Russian mafia appears to be linked to a bank robbery. The investigation becomes a furious contest of one-upmanship between the two squads. A nine-year-old boy at the crime scene possibly holds the key to cracking the international case, which has Hunt, Sam, Ray and Chris looking over their shoulders not only for possible suspects, but for rival detectives as well. Meanwhile a young, attractive social worker involved catches Sam's eye and he his hooked, on LIFE ON MARS, premiering on its new night, Wednesday, January 28 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC Television Network.

Editors note: This episode repeats on 1/31 at 10:00 p.m., ET. It replaces "The Dark Side of the Mook" on 1/28, which now moves to 2/4.

LIFE ON MARS stars Jason O'Mara as Detective Sam Tyler, Harvey Keitel as Lieutenant Gene Hunt, Michael Imperioli as Detective Ray Carling, Gretchen Mol as Annie Norris and Jonathan Murphy as Detective Chris Skelton.

Guest starring are Maggie Siff as Maria Belanger, Vincent Curatola as Nunzio, John Cenatiempo as Sizable Ted, Joe Badalucco as Carbone, Christopher Tschupp as Fucci, Michael Aronov as Yuri Demidov, Olek Krupa as Vasilli Lukin, Damon Tolstoy as Sasho, Daniel Yelsky as Lexi Voronin, Yelana Shmulenson as Lexi's mother, Jessica Maksimov as Yuri's daughter, Jeff Wiens as Ruben Penzler, Michael Gibson as FBI agent and Bernard Hernandez as James.

"Take a Look at the Lawmen" was written by Sonny Postiglione & David Wilcox and directed by Brad Turner.

The Latest in Soap Videos

Here are some of the latest soap additions to YouTube.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: On last night's exciting episode, creepy Dave burned down the White House bar after choking his therapist to death. It looks like Porter will be blamed for it.

LIFE ON MARS: In case you missed last Thursday's episode, watch the soap guest stars (Elizabeth Hubbard, Grant Aleksander) in the "soap within a soap" part of the show which ends with an old school logo.

GEORGE REINHOLT: In this classic interview with ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, the former ANOTHER WORLD star talked about being broke, his nude pin-up and the ad he placed offering his services as an escort.

I DO: On today's episode of GUIDING LIGHT, Remy and Christina realize they got married.

A Look At The Soap Connection of LIFE ON MARS

Tonight's episode of ABC-TV's LIFE ON MARS (Episode #6 "Tuesdays's Dead") features AS THE WORLD TURNS' Elizabeth Hubbard, GUIDING LIGHT's Grant Aleksander and ALL MY CHILDREN's Alicia Minshew plus the return appearance of former ATWT Emmy nominee Jennifer Ferrin as Rose.

But this isn't the first time the show has featured popular New York soap actors (a la the LAW & ORDER franchise).

Here's a rundown of this season guest stars to date from the soap world.

Episode #1 "Out Here in the Fields"
Phyllis Somerville (ex-Annabelle, AS THE WORLD TURNS)

Episode #2 "The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler"
Lee Tergesen (ex-Peter, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES)

Episode #3 "My Maharishi Is Bigger Than Your Maharishi"
Timothy Adams (ex-Ron, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Casey, SUNSET BEACH)
Matthew Cowles (ex-Billy Clyde, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Eban, LOVING)
André De Shields (ex-Marshall, ANOTHER WORLD)

Episode #4 "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?"
Jennifer Ferrin (ex-Jennifer, AS THE WORLD TURNS)
Matthew Cowles (ex-Billy Clyde, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Eban, LOVING)

Episode #5 "Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead"
Renee Elise Goldsberry (ex-Evangeline, ONE LIFE TO LIVE)

Look for other soap stars to show up in the coming weeks.