NEWS: Ron Carlivati, Eva La Rue, Ally Walker, Will Packer

Ron Carlivati

Ron Carlivati tweets first comments since being fired as head writer of General Hospital
Carlivati tweeted his appreciation on Monday night: "Thanks to everyone @GeneralHospital for 4 wonderful years. And thanks to the #GH fans for all your love & support. It means the world to me."

Former All My Children actress Eva La Rue joins cast of Fuller House
La Rue (ex-Dr. Maria Santos, All My Children) has been cast as Teri, the new wife of Bob Saget’s clean freak Danny, in Netflix's Full House spinoff.

Aly is dead on The Bold and the Beautiful! Killing off soap-opera legacy characters for shock value
Writes Alina Adams: "Soap-opera fans are notorious for hating newbies—new actors, and especially new characters. They want their shows to focus on the core characters already onscreen, or, at the very least, the children of characters they already know and love. Aly was all of those things. And now she’s (presumably) dead."

Will Packer to produce Atlanta-set drama Buckhead For NBC
Written and executive produced by David McMillan, Buckhead is described as a drama about ambition, sex, and revenge set in the extravagant, high-stakes world of Atlanta politics, entertainment, churches and strip clubs. Atlanta native Packer also is executive producing, with Korin Huggins, head of Television for Will Packer Prods., co-executive producing.

Longmire will premiere Thursday, September 10 on Netflix
Season 4 “picks up moments after Season 3’s exciting finale” — which suggested that Branch had been shot by his father or vice versa — and finds Walt succumbing to his darker impulses after learning who was behind the murder of his wife.

On the casting front, Netflix confirms that Ally Walker (ex-Andrea Bedford, Santa Barbara) will recur in an unspecified role, joining returning regulars Robert Taylor, Bailey Chase (ex-Chris Hughes, As the World Turns), Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Cassidy Freeman and Adam Bartley. Gerald McRaney will also reprise his role as Barlow Connally for an arc.

ITV ready for soap battle with BBC after ratings fall
ITV has pledged to pump resources into Coronation Street and Emmerdale to reverse a ratings decline.

NEWS: Niki Flacks, Mishael Morgan, Daniel Polo, Princess Theodora Sayn-Wittgenstei, Katherine Heigl, Ed Sheeran

The Downton Abbey sisterhood goes upmarket for glamorous Harper's Bazaar shoot
In a spread entitled 'The Downton Sisterhood' for August’s edition of Harper's Bazaar, the ladies get their glam-on for a series of gilt-edged shots with photographer posing for Alexi Lubomirski.

What to Watch: July Fourth Weekend Marathon Roundup
Marathons include the following:

Friday, July 4
The Walking Dead (9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, AMC)
Sex and the City (2 p.m.-midnight, E!)

Saturday, July 5
Heroes (11 a.m.-4 p.m., G4)

A&E's 'Longmire' Kicks off Season 3 on June 2

A&E Network's critically acclaimed hit series Longmire returns for a third season on Monday, June 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The series stars Australian actor Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire, the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, along with Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bailey Chase (As The World Turns), Cassidy Freeman and Adam Bartley.

Longmire continues as the network's #1 original drama series of all time in total viewers with season two averaging 6 million, a record for any A&E drama season delivery (based on Live+7 viewing).

[SPOILER ALERT]

In season three of Longmire, Walt finds himself reeling from a series of devastating traumas.

LONGMIRE Renewed For Third Season By A&E

A&E Network has picked up a 10-episode third season of the acclaimed drama series, LONGMIRE starring Robert Taylor, it was announced today by David McKillop, General Manager and Executive Vice President of A&E.

In its second season, LONGMIRE averaged 3.7 million total viewers with the season finale episode on August 26th, 2013 delivering a season high of 4.4 million total viewers.The show continues as A&E's number one original drama series of all time in total viewers.

LONGMIRE & THE GLADES Return May 27

Bailey Chase played Chris Hughes on AS THE WORLD
TURNS. He's now Branch Connally in LONGMIRE.

A&E Network is scheduling in some summer drama this Memorial Day, premiering back-to-back new seasons of its popular scripted series LONGMIRE, from Warner Horizon Television, and THE GLADES, from Fox Television Studios. Season Two of the contemporary crime thriller LONGMIRE premieres Monday, May 27th at 10 p.m. ET/PT immediately following the fourth season premiere of the hit drama THE GLADES at 9 p.m. ET/PT. This year, crime doesn't get a holiday.

Last season, the duo of THE GLADES and LONGMIRE propelled A&E to become the #1 cable network in Total Viewers on Sunday nights from 9-11 p.m. LONGMIR became A&E's #1 original drama of all time in Total Viewers. In its first season, the series averaged 4.0 million total viewers, making it the best freshman season in Total Viewers for any A&E series, scripted or non-fiction, in the network's history. Additionally, the most recent season of THE GLADES was the series' strongest ever, averaging 4.1 million total viewers.

Netflix & Warner Bros. Sign A Deal For Hit Serialized Dramas

Netflix Inc. and Warner Bros. Television Group today announced a licensing agreement allowing U.S. Netflix members to enjoy complete previous seasons of addictive serialized dramas produced by Warner Bros. for top broadcast and cable networks.

Among the shows coming to Netflix next year will be REVOLUTION a drama for NBC from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions set in a post-apocalyptic America which ranks as the #1 new series of the 2012–13 television season; POLITICAL ANIMALS, the USA Network miniseries with Sigourney Weaver in a Golden Globe– and Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated role as a former First Lady serving as Secretary of State; LONGWIRE, A&E's top-rated Western mystery series based on the novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson; and 666 PARK AVENUE, the ABC supernatural thriller starring Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams.

NEWS ROUNDUP: SMASH Honors Marilyn On 50th Anniversary; Plus, Bailey Chase, McG, Graham Shiels, Dr. Dre, Sean Kanan

Stars Of NBC's SMASH Honor Marilyn Monroe On 50th Anniversary Of Her Death
On Sunday, the cast of SMASH honored the 50th anniversary of the death of big screen icon Marilyn Monroe, who died of an overdose on August 5, 1962.

The cast, including Debra Messing, Megan Hilty and Christian Borle, took a break from filming on the New York City set and posed for photos, holding up a handmade sign that read, "Remembering Marilyn."

Messing also shared a Monroe quote on Twitter: "A career is wonderful thing, but you can't snuggle up to it on a cold night."

Sunday Night Ratings: BREAKING BAD & LONGMIRE Reach Series Highs

The Sunday night Nielsen ratings are in with BREAKING BAD and LONGMIRE achieving new series highs. Check out the ratings reports for July 15, 2012 below:

From AMC Network:
Last night’s season five debut of AMC’s BREAKING BAD was the most watched episode in the history of the series. From 10 p.m. – 11 p.m., the network earned a 2.2 HH rating delivering 2.9 million viewers.

NEWS ROUNDUP: On Set With DALLAS, Thom Christopher On Stage, Chris Colfer Book Tour

TV Guide Magazine features two DALLAS covers, reveals on set details
There are some things that ­never change. While John Ross sidles up to the bar and orders a scotch on the rocks, his long-divorced parents are just a few feet away sharing an uncharacteristically tender smooch on the dance floor. "You know something," J.R. tells Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), now a sober political powerhouse eyeing the governor's mansion. "You and me dancing on this lawn almost feels like old times."

"Except, darlin'," she counters, "in case you hadn't noticed, I'm leading."