An ABC representative has confirmed to Soap Opera Network that Maura West (ex-Carly Snyder, “As The World Turns”; ex-Diane Jenkins, “The Young and the Restless”) is joining the cast of “General Hospital” as Ava Jerome. West is scheduled to debut during the week of May 6, which promises viewers will see “tons of exciting things happening that week.”

Fans of “All My Children” will get a blast from the past when opening the May issue of Marie Claire, which features a spread on Jordana Brewster, who formerly played Maria Santos and Mateo Santos’ younger sister, Anita, and now plays Elena Ramos on the primetime soap “Dallas.” And believe it or not, the actress opens up about how she’s dead set on never allowing her children to go into the acting business!

Production on the new ABC Family drama series, “The Fosters” starts today, meaning Sherri Saum (ex-Keri Reynolds, “One Life to Live;” ex-Vanessa Hart, “Sunset Beach”) is back to work! But just what will the actress be doing under executive producer Jennifer Lopez’ command?

Zach Conroy will make a crossover appearance on “The Young and the Restless” as his character, Oliver Jones, from “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

TNA Impact Wrestling Superstars Jessie Godderz (“Big Brother”) and Lisa Marie Varon have joined the ever growing cast of the NYC Brand Productions online series “Tainted Dreams,” created by “All My Children” Supervising Producer Sonia Blangiardo. Godderz, whose wrestling stage name is Mr. PEC-Tacular, is probably best known for his time on CBS’ “Big Brother.” Varon appears in TNA programming with the stage name Tara (aka Tarantula).

Hot off of completing the first round of “All My Children” filming in Connecticut for its online rebirth, Supervising Producer Sonia Blangiardo joined up with Alicia Minshew, the star of [Blangiardo’s] upcoming online drama “Tainted Dreams” for a trip to Texas. The pair landed in the ABC affiliate news studio, WFAA, which airs in the fifth largest media market in America, Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas. Blangiardo and Minshew talked to talk-show host Ron Corning – former host of ABC’s “World News Now” and WNYW’s “Good Day New York” – about both upcoming online projects on the popular morning news program “Daybreak.”

The web comedy “Old Dogs & New Tricks” is in the midst of its second season, and guess what? Not only is “General Hospital’s” Ian Buchanan (Duke Lavery) popping up on the series as Christoph, a Hollywood photographer who becomes a romantic alternative for one of the show’s leads, but it was “The Bold and the Beautiful’s” Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester) who convinced him to join the show!

With just a week to go before production is set to begin once more on “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” after more than a year since both series aired their last episodes on ABC, a number of behind the scenes personnel have been hired on to help spearhead the soaps into the digital world via Hulu and iTunes later this spring.

On Monday, February 11, Paos Revolution, the team behind the upcoming “On Air” film starring “All My Children’s” Jordi Vilasuso (Dr. Griffin Castillo) and Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart) announced the launch of their official website. “The launch of paosrevolution.com is the first step of our plan to connect fans to the soap actors and insiders they love. Founding partners Jordi Vilasuso, Dock (Jeff Dockweiler) and John Homa are committed to creating an interactive actor friendly environment,” said a press release announcing the launch.

With Prospect Park now signing agreements with key unions SAG-AFTRA (actors), the DGA (directors), and the WGA (writers), with an expectation to begin filming episodes of “All My Children” as soon as next month, we wondered who you wanted to see act on the soap when it moves to the web. Your choices can include past actors as well as wishful casting (recast and new characters are welcomed). We also wondered who you want to join the writing team now that thousands of writers are at Prospect Park’s disposal courtesy of their agreement with the WGA, as well as who you want to direct episodes of the series. Keep in mind that Agnes Nixon, who created both “AMC” and “One Life to Live,” is currently working as a consultant for Prospect Park, according to Foz McDermott, head of production for TOLN (Prospect Park’s The Online Network). Also note that actors Jordi Vilasuso (Dr. Griffin Castillo), Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard), Debbi Morgan (Dr. Angela Hubbard), Vincent Irizarry (Dr. David Hayward) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo) are all confirmed as signing on to return to “AMC” when it moves to the web. Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart) has reported that she’s been approached, while Cameron Mathison (ex-Ryan Lavery) hope’s he can be involved. There’s no word yet on the status of Susan Lucci (ex-Erica Kane), who was the only original cast member from the first season of “AMC” that had remained with the show without interruption from its debut on January 5, 1970 through its final ABC broadcast on September 23, 2011.

Emily Squires, who was nominated for fifteen Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards throughout her career based on her work on “As The World Turns,” “Guiding Light,” “Sesame Street” and “Between the Lions,” passed on Wednesday, November 21 at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. She was 71 years old.

Although CBS canceled “Made in Jersey” in early October due to low ratings, the network has since decided to air two unaired episodes of the series beginning with tomorrow’s episode entitled “Camelot,” which follows series stars Janet Montgomery and Kristoffer Polaha as they represent a wealthy woman acting as a surrogate to her comatose sister. After learning the facts of the case, Martina (Montgomery) begins to suspect the husband may be up to no good.

“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.

Soap Opera Network wishes “The Young and the Restless” star Christian 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.

On Saturday, August 18, We Love Soaps Editorial Director Roger Newcomb married Feature Editor in front of the famous Red TKTS Steps in Times Square. The wedding was officiated by Colleen Zenk (ex-Barbara Ryan, “As The World Turns”).

On Tuesday, August 14, Jon Hensley (ex-Holden Snyder, “As The World Turns”) tweeted, “Hi All, B&B has invited me back for a few more episodes, i shoot them next week! No details yet!”

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.

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.

Soap Opera Network has learned that Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas, Jr. were fired and replaced by Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell.

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.