WHAT ABOUT BRAD?

The soap-opera blogosphere has been abuzz for days with the news that DOOL's Austin Peck has been cast as Jack Snyder's brother, Brad, on ATWT.

So now the only question remaining is: Who the heck is Brad Snyder, anyway?

Brad first came to Oakdale in the summer of 1998, played by Nick Kokotakis. By the time he left in August of 1999, he was John Loprieno (ex-Cord; OLTL).

In the span of a single year, Brad managed to have a one-night stand with Camille, kiss Lucinda (and live to tell about it) and marry Carly.

Yes, you read that right. The first Snyder in Carly Tenney Munson Dixon Snyder Lowe Snyder Snyder now Tenney-again's last name is actually Jack's brother, not the G-Man himself.

How did this happen?

One word: blackmail.

Brad found out that Hal, not John, was Parker's biological father. Which meant that Carly, who wed John in order to collect a 50 million dollar trust-fund that specified she must be married to her child's dad, was in breach of the rules and would be forced to give the money up.

Carly, being Carly, did not wish to give the money up. And so she married Brad, though her heart, as always, belonged to Jack.

Carly eventually offered Brad $5 million dollars to divorce her, and he agreed. Then he turned around and, at Hal and Barbara's engagement party, announced to the world that Hal wasn't only a groom-to-be, he was also a Daddy.

Brad left town soon after. Now that he's back, will Brad continue with his interest in Carly? Considering that Austin Peck won't arrive until 2007, which is also when actress Maura West (Carly) is due to deliver her fourth child, I daresay inquiring minds need to ponder some other possibilities.

ATWT Scriptwriter Susan Dansby (she wrote those fantastic Carly/Jack break-up scenes earlier in the year) has always said that she believes Jack's attraction to Carly stems from his complicated relationship with his mother, Dolores, a scheming, self-centered blonde who lied and cheated on his father, but whom he loves, anyway.

Well, Brad was raised by the same mother. And if its a scheming, self-centered, not averse to telling a lie when it suits her purposes blonde that he craves, there is at least one other woman in Oakdale who currently fits that bill quite nicely, no?

TIME IN FOR LYMAN

Primetime fans know her as off-the-shoulder-blouse-Queen Naomi Harper on Mama's Family. Daytime fans best remember the role that won her two Daytime Emmy Awards, Opal Gardner on All My Children (1981-1983).

But actress/director Dorothy Lyman actually got her soap opera start on two P&G shows. From 1972-1973 she was Elly Jo Jaimson on The Edge of Night, and from 1976-1980 she was Gwen Parrish Frame on Another World.

The daughter of a New York socialite, Gwen arrived in Bay City to work as an architect. Her first conquest was neighbor Mac Cory, recently separated from his wife, Rachel. Next, she squared off with Mac's daughter, Iris, over lawyer Brian Bancroft (and when I say "squared off" I mean, there was hair-pulling involved).

Next came Rachel's ex-husband, Russ Matthews, and, finally, marriage to Rachel's former brother-in-law, Willis Frame. (What can I say, Gwen and Rachel had similar tastes in men).

When Willis cheated on Gwen, the architect, in an attempt to save her marriage, hired him to construct a building she was designing. Because there's nothing, apparently, like working together night and day to keep a couple from each other's throats...

How did it work out for Gwen and Willis Frame? Check out Dorothy Lyman on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel's broadcast of Another World and see for yourselves!

ACTOR APPEARANCE: COLLEEN ZENK PINTER

Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara; ATWT) and her husband Mark Pinter (ex-Brian; ATWT, Grant; AW) will appear in a benefit performance of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters on Friday, November 10 through Sunday, November 12 at her alma mater, the Catholic University of America.

The performance will take place at the Callan Theater in the University's Hartke building, located on Harewood Road in Washington D.C.

For ticket information please visit www.cua.edu or call (202) 319-5600.

Also during this weekend, the Pinters will perform the same play at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington D.C. for the veterans, free of charge.

Love Letters is the story of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party thank-you notes and summer camp postcards. They continue to exchange letters through the boarding school and college years, where Andy goes on to excel at Yale, while Melissa flunks out of a series of schools. While Andy is off at war, Melissa marries someone else, but her attachment to Andy remains strong and she continues to keep in touch as he marries, becomes a successful attorney, gets involved in politics and, eventually, is elected to the U.S. Senate. (Which, in today's political climate, would probably lead to a Congressional probe but, don't worry, in the play, is still considered charming).

Other soap couples who have performed this work include Kassie and James DePaiva (OLTL), Charles Keating and Victoria Wyndham (AW), Nancy Grahn (GH) directed by former SB co-star Lane Davies, and Kim Zimmer (Reva; GL) with former Doctors co-star Alec Baldwin as a fundraiser for Michael Zaslow's (Roger; GL) ALS Charity, ZasAngels.

HE SAID/SHE SAID

TJ Linnard (Young Jeffrey) and Alice Kremelberg (Young Olivia) return to Guiding Light the week of November 6th to help unravel what exactly happened the night they first met.

While neither party is lying precisely, let's just say that Jeffrey (Bradley Cole) and Olivia's (Crystal Chappell) memories of that fateful encounter diverge just a bit in the details. Which is what tends to happen when alcohol and sex (especially with underage girls) is involved.

PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY AND... FAITH?

The roles of ATWT's second cousins, Faith and Sage Snyder, have been slightly aged and recast.

Holden and Lily's daughter, Faith, will be played, starting Wednesday, November 22, by Ashlee Marie Greiner. Ashlee has previously guest-starred on the primetime shows Rescue Me, Third Watch, and ironically, Hope & Faith. (Longtime ATWT viewers will remember that when Faith was first born, the evil David Stenbeck switched her with another baby, whom Holden and Lily called Hope. When the Snyders recovered their actual child, they named the tot Faith).

Meanwhile, Allie Gorenc will begin playing the role of Jack and Carly's daughter, Sage, on Thursday, December 7th.

THE NAME GAME

Having already outted myself as a name buff, I thought it would be fun to speculate about the effect popular soap characters had on naming trends in the U.S.

For instance, As The World Turns was the number one rated soap opera from 1958 to 1978, averaging around 10 million viewers a day. For the bulk of that time, Lisa was the show's front-burner bitch, becoming so popular that, in 1965, she even warranted the only daytime to primetime spin-off ever, Our Private World.

According to Social Security records, the name Lisa entered the Top Ten of favorite girl's names in 1959, hit #1 in 1962, and stayed there for a whopping eight years. Lisa didn't fall out of the Top Ten until 1977. (It is currently ranked 493rd for 2005).

Coincidence? Maybe.

Let's keep looking.

The show that usurped ATWT's #1 slot atop the ratings in the late 1970s/early 1980s was General Hospital, featuring the uber-popular, Laura. Interestingly enough, that name hit the Top Ten in 1969 and was on its way down by the time GH took the world by storm. At the height of Luke and Laura mania, Laura ranked 21st in 1980 and 1981. (Those were also the best years for Lucas, 98 and 87, until the new millennium).

Ashley Abbott debuted on the soon-to-be-number-one Young & Restless in 1982. That year, the name was ranked #17 on the popularity scale. The following year it was #4, hitting #1 in 1991 and staying there for two years. (It's still in the Top Ten today).

Strangely, however, despite actress Charita Bauer's over thirty years of popularity on Guiding Light, the name Bert never really caught on for girls. Even Bert's own granddaughter, originally named Bertha Bauer Ramsey after her grandmother and nicknamed Bibi, was soon redubbed Michelle Bauer.

I guess Bert could motivate thousands of women to go for their first Pap smear, but to name their daughters Bertha... that was asking for a bit too much.

TALES OF ATWT PAST

Not a true Halloween photo, but it fits the spirit of the day, so I'm going with it.

Back in 1982, when Barbara (Colleen Zenk Pinter) was still trying to make her marriage to James (Anthony Herrera) work, she thought hiring a medium to entertain at one of their parties would spice the relationship up a bit.

It certainly did. Soon after her experience of visiting "the other side," Barbara started having sexy, eighteenth century visions. A shame that, in the visions, she was Bianca, unhappily married to Jason (a dead-ringer for James) and pining for the dashing Geoffrey (Hugo Napier).

Things got even more interesting when Geoffrey's double appeared in the present day and introduced himself as James' long-lost first cousin, Gunnar. (Gunnar actually turned out to be the real heir to the Stenbeck fortune; details here).

Barbara's visions of Bianca and Geoffrey got more and more detailed (almost like a soap opera, you could say), and she and Gunnar eventually fell in love.

Barbara left James and he proceeded to try and drive her crazy by recreating her visions and making her seem an unfit mother for Paul.

Though James lost that particular round, as we all know by now, Barbara did eventually go off the deep end (several times) and her fitness as a mother, to Paul or any of her other children, is a topic up for infinite debate.

HALLOWEEN FLASHBACK: GL

It was a case of I've Got You, Drew, when Drew Jacobs (Tammy Blanchard) and her boyfriend, Jesse Blue (Paolo Benedeti), made like Sonny and Cher (see photo above).

When last heard from, in the Summer of 2000, Drew and Jesse were living in New York City together. Jesse even announced his intention to convert to Judaism so he could marry Drew.

Which, of course, begs the natural question: Is she now known as Mrs. Drew Blue?

AW, HOW CUTE IS THIS...

I know, I know, I'm a sucker for kids, but, seriously, how cute is this?

Aaron Hart as Jude Cooper-Bauer on Guiding Light. Check out our little Captain America on GL's special Halloween episode Wednesday, November 1.

APOLOGIES GALORE!

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the lack of posts today. Blogger was on the fritz all morning. Evil application. Like democracy, it is absolutely the worst system except for all the others.

ANGLO-SAXON

In October of 1976, English-born actress Frances Fisher made her Edge of Night debut in the role of Police Detective Deborah Saxon (take a moment to groan at my title pun -- Anglo=English, Saxon=her name; it's okay, I'll wait).

During her five years in Monticello, Deborah managed to be drugged, kidnapped, kidnapped and drugged, and kidnapped and nearly drowned.

She left town in 1981 (can you blame her?)

Apparently tired of being everybody's favorite victim, Fisher's next daytime stint (see photo above) was as Guiding Light record producer Suzette Saxon (no word if she and Deborah were related), who, in 1985, plotted to keep Lujak away from his true love, Beth, for the good of Lujak's singing career.

These days, Fisher is best known for playing Lucille Ball in the TV-movie Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter opposite GH heartthrob Maurice Benard as Desi, Rose's social-climbing mom in the blockbuster Titanic, and as Clint Eastwood's one-time girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Francesca.

But to see where it all began, check out Frances Fisher in the episodes of Edge of Night currently airing on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel!

CONFIDENTIAL - AGAIN

At ATWT's Halloween Ball, publishing diva Lucinda urges Katie to come up with a sequel to her runaway best-seller, Oakdale Confidential.

Katie isn't sure she wants to (her last foray into creative writing led to a skeleton, a kidnapping, and a dead Nick). But then, at the ball, something gets Katie's creative juices flowing.

Watch closely and see if you can figure out what Oakdale secret Katie decides to spill next....

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY!

On November 1, 2006, Guiding Light has a little Halloween fun by giving supermom/supercop/superwife Harley some genuine super-powers.

For a video preview of the special episode, click here!

NEW YORK CARES...

And so do the casts of ATWT and GL.

Saturday, October 21, 2006, as part of the 15th Annual New York Cares Day, actors from both P&G shows joined more than 8,000 caring New Yorkers to help revitalize 117 New York City public schools.

In just one day, the dedicated New York Cares volunteers were able to paint hundreds of classrooms and hallways, organize 50 libraries, paint over 350 murals, and raise $180,000 dollars!

To learn more about New York Cares, click here!

WHERE TO FIND THE GL COMIC BOOK

1 hour of Guiding Light a day not enough for you? Then pick up the 4-part comic book series from Marvel at a specialty store near you!

Here are the dates and names of issues that will feature the special, GL insert:

10/25
CIVIL WAR: CHOOSING SIDES
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE 11
MARVEL SELECT FLIP MAGAZINE 18
MARVEL TALES FLIP MAGAZINE 17

11/1
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN 21
SPIDER-MAN AND POWER PACK 1
MARVEL ADVENTURES FLIP MAGAZINE 18
MARVEL HEROES FLIP MAGAZINE 18

11/8
AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL 2
FRANKLIN RICHARDS: HAPPY FRANKSGIVING!
MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR 18

11/15
ULTIMATE MARVEL FLIP MAGAZINE 19
ULTIMATE TALES FLIP MAGAZINE 19

HOW FAST THEY GROW!

Doesn't it seem as if it were only last month that ATWT's Will and Gwen, and Casey and Maddie were engaged in typical teen-age hijinks like running away from a crazed serial killer?

Now they're all grown up and ready to make the scene at a high-society, grown-up function like the Halloween Ball.

Also at the soiree will be Will and Casey's mutual half-brother, Adam (Will and Adam share a dad; Casey and Adam a mom).

Adam has been out in California making a name for himself in the music business. Now that he's back in Oakdale, his presence is destined to cause a major stumbling block for one of our hot, young couples.

Want to know which one? Tune in to ATWT and see for yourselves!

DAYTIME AT NIGHTTIME!

The stars came out to support Ellen Dolan's (Margo; ATWT) 2nd Annual Daytime at Nighttime cabaret to benefit the WorkShop Theater Company.

Featured in the photos above:

PHOTO #1: Dolan and Kim Zimmer (Reva; GL)

PHOTO #2: Robert Newman (Josh; GL) and Stephanie Gatschet (Tammy; GL)

PHOTO #3: Jennifer Landon (Gwen; ATWT), Van Hansis (Luke; ATWT) and Elena Goode (Jade; ATWT)

All photos by Steven Bergman.

DAVE DOWN

For all those of you with a yen to punch out GL Headwriter David Kreizman (and I know who you are; many by name and ISP address), Wednesday, November 1, 2006, is your chance to do so vicariously.

Dave plays a thug who tangles with superhero Harley during her Marvel Comic book inspired Inside the Light.

The episode, titled, She’s a Marvel, was written by Kreizman.

The story focuses on mild mannered and harried Harley. Zapped by an electrical current, she finds herself imbued with the powers of a superhero. How will her new powers affect her life as a cop, a mother and a wife?

"Joining forces with Marvel is such a natural fit for us because comic books and soap operas have so much in common,” says Kreizman. “We both feature long running characters and larger than life stories that appeal to a loyal and passionate fan base. We hope that our viewers will be excited to see their favorites in the pages of a comic book and that Marvel fans will tune in to see how we put our twist on a classic superhero story. What working mom hasn’t wished for superpowers every now and then?”

ALL ROADS LEAD TO CRAIG...

At the ATWT Halloween Ball the week of Monday, October 30, Craig has a plan for:

Dusty, involving Tom.

Emily, involving Paul.

Meg, involving a kiss.

Now here is a man who used his downtime in jail wisely.

And, this being the PGP Classic Soaps Blog where we love all soap things classic and trivial. I thought it would be fun to look back at the last time all of our players -- Craig, Dusty, Tom, Emily, Paul and Meg -- were on the canvas together.

Exactly 20 years ago, in 1987, Craig (Scott Bryce) was celebrating the birth of his first son, Bryant, after proving that the boy's legal father, Sierra's husband, Tonio, was not, in fact, the biological dad.

Meg (Jennifer Ashe) married the wealthy Tonio to keep him from being deported -- though her disappointed family declined to attend the wedding.

Dusty (Brian Bloom) was taking Lily's virginity, while Paul (Andrew Kavovit) was losing his to his father's mistress, Emily (Melanie Smith), and Tom (Scott Holmes) was reconciling with Margo following her fling with Hal.

I guess, in Oakdale, the more things change, the more they stay the same...

CARLY'S FORK IN THE ROAD

You know how in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, every once in a while Bugs would have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each whispering seductively what he should do next?

The week of ATWT's Halloween Ball, Carly (Maura West) faces a similar dilemma.

Only in her case, the angel and the devil are Jack (Michael Park) and Simon (Paul Leyden). (I'd tell you which one was which, but that seems pretty obvious).

Simon has a scheme to help him and Carly get out of their financial mess. It includes a trip back in time to the less than noble profession that first brought Simon to Oakdale. Jack suspects that something is up and, in his chosen profession as a cop, attempts to keep Carly from making a huge mistake.

Which leaves Carly with a choice: Listen to the angel... or the devil.

If you were Carly, which one (and which man) would you choose?