Soap Opera Network has learned that ABC’s “General Hospital” has hired actor Marc Samuel to portray the contract role of Felix, a nursing student friend of Sabrina’s (Teresa Castillo), who helps her get ready for an important meeting. Samuel first airs on Tuesday, December 4. Look for the character to play an integral role in helping return the annual Nurse’s Ball charity event to General Hospital.

On Wednesday, November 7, Kelly Monaco’s professional dance partner on “Dancing with the Stars: All Stars,” Val Chmerkovskiy tweeted, “On my way to @GeneralHospital and its not cause @kellymonaco1 is working… #DaytimeEmmy here I come lol #thrilled #honored.” Monaco followed up his tweet when she said, “So proud of ‪@iamValC [Chmerkovskiy’s Twitter handle]‬ Had his 1st day of shooting on the set of ‪@GeneralHospital‬… from ‪#DWTS‬ to ‪#GH‬ :)” While it was unclear at the time when he would first air, Soap Opera Network has learned that Chmerkovskiy will air on the Monday, December 10 episode of the ABC drama series and that he’ll be playing a boxer that spars with Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Shawn (Sean Blakemore).

For those of you wondering or secretly hoping that Ronn Moss would be back on CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” as Ridge Forrester just before Susan Flannery airs for the final time on the Monday, November 26 episode as Stephanie Forrester, you’re going to have to settle with the fact that it’s not happening.

While millions of fans may love the tantalizing tales of the Forrester’s and the Logan’s on CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” many of them may not think twice about what it takes to make the world’s most watched daytime soap opera come alive each and every weekday. In a new book released earlier this month by Sourcebooks, entitled “Becoming Bold & Beautiful: 25 Years of Making the World’s Most Popular Daytime Soap Opera” with foreword by the soaps “core four” Susan Flannery, John McCook, Ronn Moss and Katherine Kelly Lang, the hardcover release provides detailed insight from the 1987 debut year of the soap to present day. Included throughout are over 200 photographs featuring cast and crew members on Stage 31 of CBS Television City in Los Angeles, and on location in Malibu, Cabo San Lucas, and Aspen.

Michael Nader (“All My Children”), Matt Cedeno (“Days of our Lives”), Jade Harlow (“Passions”), Roark Critchlow (“Days of our Lives”), Bruce Michael Hall (“Passions”) and Kelly Ripa (“All My Children”) are just a few of daytime’s brightest soap stars of recent past, and they have come together for volume 2 of “Soap Sessions Merry Download,” a compilation holiday CD where some of your favorite stars sing (or speak) some of your favorite holiday classics.

For more than 10 years fans of daytime soap operas have been coming to Soap Opera Network to find out how their favorite soap was faring in the weekly ratings report. From time to time we would also provide analysis of how they stacked up when compared to their broadcast counterparts in the talk show and game show genres, but we’ve never looked at how the broadcast soaps (and to a lesser extent the broadcast talk and game shows) compared to syndicated television. Not that it wasn’t easy to provide a comparison, it was just never something we found necessary. In recent months, with the introduction of several syndicated talk shows including “Katie” and “The Steve Harvey Show,” which together took over the 3:00 PM slot from “General Hospital” in much of the country this past September after “GH” moved to 2:00 PM, and the second season without “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” things have changed. Recently, Broadcasting & Cable came out with a report that showed how syndicated programs might be a solid alternative to our soaps in the key demographics when it comes to Madison Avenue buying advertising time. While we wouldn’t want advertisers to give up on our favorite shows, B&C does provide a solid rationalization and even highlights the value of soap operas when it comes to the all important key women demos (Women 18-49, Women 25-54, etc).

On Saturday, November 17, 2012, Gene Bua (“Somerset,” “Love of Life” and “How To Survive a Marriage”) passed away after battling Parkinson’s disease for the past 13 years according to a posting on the actor and his wife Toni’s website Bua Acting for Life. “The great Master Teacher and my hero and Lion King for 47 years, Gene Bua, passed into the Light on Sat. Nov. 17th at 1:40, after battling 13 years of Parkinson’s and yet still going on to teach, write songs, be a mighty friend, and enjoy much of his life. I am surrounded by his power, love and radiance as I walk through these coming days with as much Grace as God will allow me. Very much love to you all,” said Mrs. Bua of her husband on the website.

Just over a week before she airs for the final time after 25 years portraying Stephanie Forrester on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” CBS has released a video montage of Susan Flannery as she got the ultimate send-off from cast and crew of the popular daytime soap opera with some help from other CBS Television City employees, including those from “The Young and the Restless,” “The Price is Right” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”

On the Monday, November 19 episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” entitled “The Stamp Tramp,” Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) returns for another stint as Marshall’s (Jason Segal) old law school classmate Brad. In the episode, Marshall finds out Brad lost his job as a lawyer two years ago after his company downsized. Hoping to help Brad out, Marshall cleans him up just in time for a job interview at Marshall’s firm. Unfortunately for Marshall, Brad screws things up and Marhsall has to do damage control with his boss.

It’s the semi-finals as ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” pays tribute to Michael Jackson and the 25th Anniversary of his “Bad” album. The “Dancing” tribute airs days before the network presents “Michael Jackson: BAD 25,” a documentary special directed by Spike Lee.