“I wish she’d tell me what she was thinking” are the first spoken words in the teaser trailer for the upcoming  film “On Air” by Paos Revolution, a new production company formed by Jordi Vilasuso (“All My Children,” “Guidiing Light”) and acting coaches from “AMC” and “General Hospital.” The film will tell the fictionalized story of life after a popular soap opera gets canceled and how the stars of the program are forced to move on.

In the teaser, Vilasuso is joined by former “AMC” co-star Alicia Minshew, whose character says that she “gave ten years of [her] life to that show. I still can’t believe we got canceled.” While the line provides an unintentional punch to soap fans still reeling from the loss of the ABC drama series as Minshew portrayed Kendall Hart on the program for nearly ten years, it does show that life does go on. While we will no longer be seeing some of our favorite stars portraying some of our all-time favorite characters, the business of soaps will continue in one form or another.

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Photo Credit: John Paschal/JPI

Soap Opera Network wishes “The Young and the Restless” star Christian Jules LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin) a very happy birthday as the three time Daytime Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2007, 2009) turns 54 years-old today.

Joining the cast of “Y&R” all the way back in 1991, LeBlanc has enjoyed nearly two decades in Genoa City. Although he departed the role in 1993, LeBlanc returned to the CBS soap in 1997 and has remained there ever since. He brought his character from “Y&R” to “As The World Turns” for a couple of episodes in 2005.

LeBlanc appeared in episodes of “In The Heat of the Night,” “Diagnosis Murder,” and “Cheers.” Along with co-star Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor), the actor appeared in a 2009 episode of “Guiding Light” just as the series was coming to a close.

Note: Starting Saturday, September 1, 2012, Soap Opera Network will begin providing soap fans with a new database system that will house actor biographies, birthdays, and much more. Be on the look out.

Photo Credit: IMDb

Soap Opera Digest is reporting that Marshall Hilliard will appear for eight episodes as a new officer at the Port Charles Police Department. “I call him Officer Marshall,” the actor joked to Digest.

“I’ve shot eight episodes so far and I’m working with Michael Easton [John McBain],” Hilliard said. ”And let me tell you, they run a great production over there. Frank [Valentini, executive producer] is so artistic.”

Last seen in 2011 as Dylan on NBC’s “Days of our Lives,” Hilliard is probably best known as Hart Jessup #4 on CBS’ “Guiding Light” from 1995-1996. He was soon replaced by actor Frank Grillo, who held the role until 1999. Hilliard appeared in a 2010 episode of TNT’s “Hawthorne.” His first airdate on “GH” is scheduled for Thursday, August 30.

Photo Credit: David Lang/Investigation Discovery

Next week Investigation Discovery invites you to spend your afternoons with Josh and Reva Shayne (“Guiding Light“), or at least with their portrayers Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer, as the network launches “Days of our Knives,” a programming initiative aimed at Women 25-54.

“With ID being the #4 network in daytime for Women 25-54*, we realized that soap fans already love ‘The Young and the Restless‘ so let’s give it to them ID-style: the young and the reckless!” said Henry Schleiff, president and general manager, Investigation Discovery upon announcing the new daytime lineup earlier this month.

According to the ID network, each week “Knives” will follow a specific theme that introduces soap stars from past and present into the homes of viewers as they introduce the true-to-life programming based on their scandalous soap opera personalities.

The daytime block debuts on Monday, August 20, when Newman and Zimmer host “Tainted Love” week.

“Days of our Knives” will air Weekdays from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET/PT on Investigation Discovery.

*Source: The Nielsen Company, NHI Calendar, 12/26/11-7/22/12, Daytime M-F 9a-4p, L+SD data, W25-54 delivery, Time Period Based Dayparts, Ad-supported cable. Excluding kids programming.

In its newest issue, TV Guide Magazine has revealed some of televisions highest paid stars. As you can imagine, the list comprises of former daytime soap stars who’ve either gone on to host their own talk show or headline a top ranked primetime series, or in the case of primetime soap stars – gotten richer!

Kelly Ripa tops the list of stars with a soap opera connection as the host of the daytime talk show “Live with Kelly.” According to TV Guide, the former “All My Children” star rakes in an estimated salary of $20 million per year. Meanwhile, Michael Weatherly went from “Loving” in the 1990′s to “NCIS” agent for a cool $175,000 per episode. Mark Harmon, Weatherly’s co-star on “NCIS,” generates an estimated $500,000 per episode and is the highest paid actor (scripted). The magazine, however, does not make note as to whether that amount includes his executive producer credit or if it is based solely on appearance alone. Harmon starred in the short lived 1980′s primetime soap “Flamingo Road,” which preceded his ground breaking role in “St. Elsewhere.”

Adam Rose/FOX

“Guiding Light” turned “White Collar” star Matt Bomer makes an estimated $110,000 per episode of his uber popular USA Network series. Also hailing from “Guiding Light” is Hayden Panettierre, who will take in an estimated $75,000 an episode for her starring role in the upcoming new series “Nashville.” The show stars Connie Britton as a fading country star, but Britton will take in $100,000 per episode for her efforts.

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via Press Release

Investigation Discovery

BELOVED SOAP STARS OF PAST AND PRESENT HOST NEW DAYTIME PROGRAMMING BLOCK ON INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY: DAYS OF OUR KNIVES

– Daytime Block Launches Monday, August 20 from 1-4 PM E/P –

– Includes First Look at DEADLY AFFAIRS with Susan Lucci, Airing September 3 at 1 PM E/P in the Original All My Children Timeslot –

(Beverly Hills, CA) – Walking in on your beau bedding your best friend… Halting your wedding because your evil twin stole your spot at the altar… Discovering that your mortal enemy is really your long-lost sibling. These may seem like the plotlines of a delicious daytime soap, but sensational stories are anything but fiction on Investigation Discovery. Dishing out the drama of blindsided betrayals, mistaken identities, and deadly deceptions, ID is staking its claim on real-life soap operas with the launch of daytime programming block DAYS OF OUR KNIVES on Monday, August 20 from 1-4 PM E/P. By enlisting adored soap stars to host themed programming each weekday, ID will provide a new alternative to devoted soap fans searching for new “stories” to turn to. Hosting the block each day will be talent hailing from the drama that started it all, Guiding Light¸ to the now-longest running soap currently in production, General Hospital.

“Investigation Discovery is already the home of guilty pleasure programming, but perhaps there is no more popular example of a classic guilty pleasure than the soap opera,” said Henry Schleiff, president and general manager of Investigation Discovery. “With ID being the #4 network in daytime for Women 25-54*, we realized that soap fans already love The Young and the Restless so let’s give it to them ID-style: the young and the reckless!”

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Matt Bomer debuts in tonight’s Spring premiere episode of “Glee,” the FOX sensation whose cast recently learned they are one of the Top-10 selling digital artists of all-time according to Nielsen SoundScan. The list included such artists as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas. The “Glee” cast ranks eighth with 32 million songs digitally downloaded.

Best known to mainstream viewers for his portrayal of Neal Caffrey on the USA Network hit series “White Collar,” Bomer actually caught his big break in 2001 when he joined the cast of “Guiding Light” as Ben Reade. Although he left the CBS soap in 2003, the actor went on to become one of the actors to be in the running for the role of Superman, although he didn’t get the part. He also appeared in episodes of “Tru Calling” and “Chuck.” In October 2011, in the role of Henry Hamilton, Bomer helped kickstart the storyline of the film “In Time” starring Justin Timberlake.

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Pictured: Gary Tomlin (Photo: Aaron Montgomery/JPI)

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — With news of Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell‘s ascension to the top of the “Days of our Lives” writing team after the NBC daytime soap let go Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas, Jr., less than a year after the two were hired to replace Dena Higley, Soap Opera Digest in its newest issue (issue dated April 16, 2012) is reporting that Tomlin and Whitesell has added the multiple Emmy award winning talents of veteran writer Lorraine Broderick to its new regime.

Broderick, who most recently enjoyed a stint at ABC’s “One Life to Live” as a breakdown writer shortly after penning the final months of “All My Children” as the soaps head writer – she was hired at “AMC” just days before the network officially announced it had decided to cancel both soaps with “Children” going off the air in September 2011 and “One Life” completing its run in January 2012 - joins “DAYS” in the same position she had at “One Life to Live” until its final episodes were written. “We are excited and look forward to the stories of romance, suspense and intrigue this new dream team plans to tell,” Co-Executive Producer Greg Meng said via Digest.

Broderick’s long career in daytime television as a writer began more than three decades ago when she was hired on as a script writer at “All My Children” in 1979. She held that position until 1981, when she was named Associate Head Writer. She would begin a short stint as the soaps Co-Head Writer in 1987, but would revert back to her former position as Associate Head Writer beginning in 1988 until 1991. She left “AMC” for “Guiding Light” beginning in 1992, where she was hired once again as an Associate Head Writer (1992-1993). After leaving “GL,” Broderick would find herself at numerous daytime soaps in various capacities including the role of Head Writer and/or Associate Head Writer at “Another World,” “As The World Turns,” “One Life to Live” and “Port Charles.”

Before marking her return to “DAYS” later this year, Broderick was previously credited as Head Writer of the soap for just one month (October 1999).

American Media, Inc.

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Although the likelihood was expected thanks to the loss of long-time soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” in 2011 and 2012, which were preceded by the departures of “Guiding Light” and “As The World Turns” in 2009 and 2010, news broke on Thursday, March 22 that after 22 years in publication Soap Opera Weekly would end its successful run as one of the premier soap opera magazines. The final decision to end the mag was just one of many blows the soap opera industry has felt in as many years. Soap Opera Network takes a by the numbers look at Weekly and how its readership levels helped lead to its ultimate demise.

On April 14, 2011 news of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live’s” cancellations created headlines in nearly every trade magazine, newspaper and informational entertainment website you could think of. What the world didn’t know at the time was that same day (morning in fact) American Media, Inc. had signed a licensing deal with Source Interlink, owner of both Weekly and sister mag Soap Opera Digest, in which American Media would control the editorial, advertising, marketing and distribution aspects of both magazines. As part of that deal a number of staffers were let go from both Digest and Weekly, while those who remained were either re-assigned or part of the recent layoffs now effecting the demise of Weekly itself.

According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) data Soap Opera Network has received, Soap Opera Weekly magazine had an average total circulation of nearly 108,000 between subscriptions and single copy sales in the second half of 2011. Single copy sales exceeded subscriptions by just over 5,000 issues. The magazine lost upwards of 40,000 subscribers compared to the second half of 2010, when its total circulation was nearly 146,000 between subscriptions and single copy sales. In November of 2011, in our report announcing the launch of Reality Weekly, we noted that Soap Opera Weekly had recently ceased providing subscriptions:

Dated November 14, 2011:

Although I do not personally subscribe to either Digest or Weekly, it recently came to my attention that Soap Opera Weekly no longer provides subscriptions for soap fans wishing to receive their Weekly at home as it and numerous other magazines have done since their inceptions. This was later confirmed as the magazine no longer provides an online subscription via the Zinio magazine subscription and tablet application service. Digest and Soaps in Depth (both ABC and CBS editions) continue to provide subscriptions, however.

With the magazine no longer providing subscription based readership, sales figures fell to just over 50,000 single copy sales based on the data average of the 15 issues sold during the first half of 2012, according to the ABC. This showed axed subscribers did not opt into buying the magazine at their local supermarket or grocer. By comparison, in the first half of 2001, when there were 10 soaps still on the air (“All My Children,” “As The World Turns,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital,” “Guiding Light”, “One Life to Live,” “Passions,” “Port Charles” and “The Young and the Restless“), Weekly‘s total circulation was 372,000 on average between subscriptions (134,000) and single copy sales (238,000).

Soap Opera Weekly, which launched with its first issue dated November 21, 1989, with maven Mimi Torchin as its founding Editor in Chief, will present a final look into the world of soaps with its last issue dated April 10, 2012, according to an American Media spokesperson. Stephanie Sloane, in her role as the Editor in Chief of both Weekly and Digest, will close the books on the magazine.

Legion College

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — “General Hospital” makes some additions to the writing staff.

Two former “One Life To Live” script writers Scott Sickles and Elizabeth Page has joined the “GH” writing staff.  Also, joining the “GH” team is David Rupel, who is an executive producer for Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills“.  Rupel returns to “GH” where he was a breakdown writer from 1999-2001.  He also wrote for “Guiding Light” in 2002 and from 2006-2009.

Leaving “GH” is Janet Iacobuzio who just rejoined a few months ago.

For discussion on these topics and more, join us in the Writers/Directors thread at the SON Community.