Set to the tune “Too Darn Hot (RAC Mix)” by Ella Fitzgerald, OWN has released a new teaser trailer for season 2 of “Tyler Parry’s The Haves and the Have Nots,” starring former “One Life to Live” actress Tika Sumpter (ex-Layla Williamson). Set to premiere Tuesday, January 7, 2014, the addictive primetime soap opera brings viewers back to Savannah, Georgia and the complicated dynamics between the rich and powerful Cryer family and the friends and enemies they surround themselves by. The series also stars John Schneider, Renee Lawless, Crystal Fox, Eva Tamargo (ex-Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald, “Passions”), Angela Robinson, Peter Parros (ex-Ben Harris, “As The World Turns”; ex-Ben Price, “One Life to Live”), Gavin Houston (ex-Remy Boudreau, “Guiding Light”; ex-Sly Thomas, “General Hospital”), Aaron O’Connell, Tyler Lepley and Jaclyn Betham.

With just 10 days to go before it goes dark for good, one piece of several puzzles surrounding the end of SOAPnet was where some of the shows currently airing on the cable network would land once it said goodbye. In a press release, Pivot announced earlier this week that it has landed the rebroadcast airing rights to “Veronica Mars,” which joined the SOAPnet lineup in March 2012. In announcing its agreement with Warner Bros. Television, producers of the series, the network also announced that it has picked up rerun rights to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which starred former “All My Children” actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (ex-Kendall Hart), as well. “Mars” starred Kristen Bell in the title role.

Ryan Carnes is returning to “General Hospital” as Lucas Jones and now we have an airdate for when fans can expect to see him back in Port Charles.

“General Hospital” head writer Ron Carlivati tweeted about a newcomer hitting Port Charles and now Soap Opera Network has the details! Per a rep for the show, actor/model Ryan Paevey is joining the cast of the soap in the contract role of Nathan West, a detective working for the Port Charles Police Department.

Due to a White House press conference, ABC’s “General Hospital” will be preempted today, December 20, 2013. As a result, episodes will be pushed back and today’s previously scheduled original will instead air on Monday, December 23. In a statement, ABC says, “We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you’ll tune in Monday for a fantastic episode!”

Ratings Report for the Week of December 9-13, 2013

Although it had long been rumored, Disney/ABC Domestic Television made it official today that it has canceled “Katie,” the daytime talker hosted by Katie Couric. “While production will continue on ‘Katie’ through June 2014, we’ve mutually agreed that there will not be a third season of the show,” the company and Couric’s team said in a joint statement. “We’re very proud of everyone’s contributions to making ‘Katie’ the #1 new syndicated talk show of 2012-2013, and we look forward to the rest of the season.”

For the week of December 9-13, 2013, ABC’s “General Hospital” continued to pace for its best season in seven years in total viewers (since 2006/2007 television season), and is turning in its best performance in the key women sales demos in 2 1/2 to 4 years. The soap was number 1 in Women 18-49 for the second consecutive week (779,000/1.2 rating), which is the first back to back win the soap has had in the demo in six-and-a-half years (since week of 5/21/07). “GH” turned in its 2nd-most-watched week in over two years in Women 18-49 and in over two and a half years in Women 25-54 (1.06 million/1.7 rating), behind only last week and since weeks of 8/15/11 and 3/21/11, respectively. Moreover, the past three weeks have been the show’s Top 3 most-watched weeks in nearly three years in Total Viewers – since week of 12/27/10. Additionally, “GH” posted the largest year-to-year increases of any broadcast daytime drama in Women 18-49 (+28% – 779,000 vs. 610,000) and Women 25-54 (+37% – 1.06 million vs. 774,000).

It looks like “Grey’s Anatomy” star Chandra Wilson and hospitals are a match made in heaven: She’s temporarily taking a break from her Seattle hospital and visiting “GH’s” Port Charles!

Ever walk into a room and get a resounding boo? “General Hospital’s” Parry Shen (Brad Cooper) sure has, but the New York native took it in stride. When several people at this year’s “GH” Fan Club weekend shouted their disapproval upon Shen’s arrival to the event, he laughed it off and took it as par for the course.

The cast and crew of “The Young and the Restless” have a major milestone to smile about: The CBS sudser has officially marked its 25 year anniversary of being the number one rated soap opera on national television! In honor of the very special occasion, Soap Opera Network spoke with longtime castmember Doug Davidson (Paul Williams), who’s been with the show since 1978, to discuss the elements that have gone into keeping “Y&R” in the coveted top-notch position for so long.

There’s a rumor going around that former “All My Children” star Vincent Irizarry (ex-David Hayward) has been tapped to play the role of “General Hospital’s” Valentin Cassadine — a role former “AMC” star Matthew Borlenghi (ex-Brian Bodine) had been cast to play before the storyline was scrapped back in 2009. And when Borlenghi caught wind of the supposed recast, his online comments prompted “GH” headscribe, Ron Carlivati, to shed some news on the Irizarry casting rumor!

TVGN is proving why it’s now the “the new way to watch soaps.” With the network already picking up encore airing rights to “The Young and the Restless” this past summer, and “The Bold and the Beautiful” earlier this month, the network plans to provide soap fans with even more “soap” for their viewing pleasure courtesy of the new documentary, “Who Shot the Daytime Soap?” Airing Monday, December 16 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, preceded by airings of “B&B” at 6:30 PM ET/PT and “Y&R” at 7:00 PM ET/PT, the documentary tackles the history of daytime soap operas as told by those who were there during the good times, the bad times and the new times.

Speaking of “General Hospital’s” Emily Wilson (Ellie Trout), the actress announced on Monday, December 9 that she will be appearing on ABC’s “Castle” courtesy of a blurred out Twitter image. While she didn’t post any character information or episode details, a rep for the show confirms to Soap Opera Network that the actress is in fact scheduled to appear in a future episode of the primetime procedural that stars “One Life to Live” alum, Nathan Fillion (ex-Joey Buchanan), as novelist Richard Castle.

An ABC representative confirms to Soap Opera Network that actors Bradford Anderson (Damien Spinelli) and Emily Wilson (Ellie Trout) will soon be departing “General Hospital.” Per the rep, Anderson’s last airdate as Damian Spinell is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, while an exact airdate is unknown for Wilson at this time. However, in its newest issue, Soap Opera Digest spoke with head writer Ron Carlivati, who said of Wilson’s exit, “It’s kind of hinged on Bradford’s desire to move on. We had kind of hitched Ellie’s wagon to Spinelli’s star, so in the desire to want to give him a happy ending, part of that involved Ellie going with him. I think it would have been sad to send him off by himself with this child, and also very hard to make sense, you know, that there was this great PI job that he couldn’t turn down.”

December 2-6, 2013

Each week Soap Opera Network publishes ratings reports that break down the highs and lows of the four remaining daytime soap operas – “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless” – in total viewers and the all important key women sales demos (Women 18-34, Women 18-49 and Women 25-54). Today, with both ABC and CBS noting the success of “GH” and “Y&R,” respectively, TheWrap has published a piece entitled, “If Soaps Are ‘Dead,’ Why Are Their Audiences Growing?” In its report, the publication notes that each of the soaps are up season-to-date in all key ratings categories. Meanwhile, some of the replacements for the canceled ABC versions of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” specifically talk shows, have all “come and gone like, um, sands through the hourglass.”

It looks like “All My Children” and “General Hospital” alum, Eddie Matos (ex-Ricky Torres and ex-Peter Marquez, respectively) is headed to The CW’s popular series, “Hart of Dixie,” and a big dose of romance is coming along with him!

For the week of December 2-6, 2013, ABC’s “General Hospital” continued its ratings momentum from the week prior (week of November 25, 2013) with 3.31 million viewers, a 1.9 rating in Women 25-54 (1.18 million in actuals) and a 1.4 rating in Women 18-49 (880,000 million in actuals), per Nielsen Media Research Live + SD ratings data. This week marked the first time “GH” ranked a solid #1 in Women 25-54 in over six years and its best performance in Women 18-34 and Women 18-49, both since the week of July 16, 2007. The soap attracted its largest numbers since the week of January 21, 2008 in viewers, it’s largest Women 18-49 rating in over two-and-a-half years (since week of March 11, 2011) and best performance in Women 25-54 rating in close to three years (since week of December 27, 2010), respectively. The soap continues to pace for its best season in seven years in total viewers (since 2006/2007 television season).

Like “As The World Turns,” “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “Guiding Light” before it, producers of CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” have announced a new partnership with Pan Macmillan and its digital-first imprint, Momentum, in which the publishing company will release a series of novellas surrounding several characters from “B&B.”