As The World Turns

TVLine.com is reporting that Tamara Tunie is returning to daytime television after a two year absence. The actress, who portrayed attorney Jessica Griffin on CBS’ “As The World Turns” from 2000 through 2007 and again in 2009 is scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Days of our Lives” in November as a judge.

On Thursday, July 21, ABC Soaps in Depth reported that Kelly Sullivan had been hired as a recast Kate Howard after more than a year since we last saw the character (last played by Megan Ward). Now Soap Opera Network has learned when you can catch your first glimpse of the actress.

“One Life to Live” star Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer) had many fans in attendance at last weekends “One Life to Live” Fan Club Weekend Luncheon scratching their heads when she said “I was told by our executive producer [Frank Valentini] yesterday, that on Wednesday [August 10] we tied with ‘Y&R.'” Considering “The Young and the Restless” is daytime’s #1 soap, we thought she may have made a mistake too, but it turns out she wasn’t wrong at all.

Soap Opera Network is hearing contradicting reports on what Prospect Park is planning to do with “One Life to Live” once it completes production at the ABC Television Center on 66th St. and West End Ave in New York City.

Best known for her portrayal of Carly Corinthos and later Claudia Zacchara on ABC’s “General Hospital,” Sarah Brown is returning to daytime for another go after being dropped to recurring status earlier this year by CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” where she portrayed Agnes ‘Aggie’ Jones. The three-time Emmy Award winning actress has signed with NBC’s “Days of our Lives” to play the contract role of Madison James beginning Tuesday, October 4.

Beginning on Monday, September 12 look for John O’Hurley to debut in the role of film producer Kit Sterling on “All My Children.” Mr. Sterling will approach Pine Valley’s leading lady Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) in an effort to convince her to turn her new book, “Erica Kane: Uncensored,” into a big-screen production. O’Hurley is best known for the recurring role of Elaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) boss John Peterman on the former NBC mega-hit series “Seinfeld” and his stint on the first season of ABC’s hit reality series “Dancing with the Stars.” He also hosted the popular syndicated game show “Family Fued.”

ABC’s “General Hospital” has announced that effective immediately Garin Wolf will replace outgoing Robert Guza Jr. as its head writer. The announcement was made by Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney/ABC Television Group.

Earlier today, Soap Opera Digest posted breaking news on their website when they reported that actress Cady McClain would be returning to ABC’s “All My Children” in the role of Dixie Cooney. Shortly afterward, Soaps in Depth posted their own version of the news. Who to believe? At this point, it doesn’t matter as long as Dixie’s back! Then again, Cady did return in early 2010 when Dixie, who died via poisoned pancakes (what were the writers thinking?), and her ghost/spirit was used to usher out Palmer Cortlandt, who had “died” on the soap a few months after his real-life portrayer, James Mitchell, passed away.

“One Life to Live’s” Robert S. Woods (Bo) will be among those honored at HeartShare Human Services of New York’s Annual Spring Gala on Thursday, March 24. Woods will be honored withThe Linda Dano Heart Award for his support of the organization, which is “dedicated to improving the lives of people in need of special services and support.”

Time and time again we’ve been asked how daytime shows (those airing only on ABC, CBS and NBC) such as “The View,” “The Price is Right,” “Let’s Make a Deal” and even “The Talk” do in the ratings compared to the daytime soaps that we report on weekly here at Soap Opera Network. So we thought we would compile ratings for daytime programming, separate from just the soaps, and also see how CBS’ “The Talk” is doing when compared to “As The World Turns,” the show it replaced this season.