One Life to Live's Ilene Kristen performed "Love is Leaving You" at the Triad earlier this month. In October Daytime Confidential interviewed Kristen, if you haven't listened to the interview you can find out more HERE.

Keep smiling. Keep shining. Knowing you can always count on...soap stars to do their part help raise money for the fight of AIDS . Some of our fav-or-ite, Manhattan-based daytime drama kings and queens are scheduled to appear at POZ's Bacharach to the Future, a fund-raiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Life to Live's Ilene Kristen, Kevin Spirtas and BethAnn Bonner are all scheduled to make appearances. Bacharach to the Future will celebrate the career of prolific composer Burt Bacharach, who penned the classic 80's feel good tune "That's What Friends Are For", which this blogger has performed numerous times at various karaoke bars across the U.S., both with and without the benefit of Crown and Coke! Proceeds from "That's What Friends Are For" went to The Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR)  Bacharach also produced the musical Promises, Promises.

Bacharach to the Future will be held at 7:30 pm, Dec. 1, 2008 at New World Stages, 340 W. 50^th St, New York, NY. Pricing for the event is:

$51.50--Balcony seating

$66.50--Orchestra seating

$251.50--Gold Circle Seating VIP seats with admission into the post-show
Cocktail Reception. READ MORE

One Life to Live's Ilene Kristen dropped by Daytime Confidential to discuss her upcoming appearance as ACME This Week's host on Saturday, October 18th at 8pm and an appearance at Cops for Causes on Thursday, October 16th.

During our visit we talk about Ilene's time on Ryan's Hope, what it was like to work with Claire Labine and whether or not "The Powers That Be" at ABC are interested in giving a wink to fans by having her and former Ryan's Hope co-star Ron Hale (General Hospital's Mike Corbin) reunite on One Life to Live or General Hospital.

Ilene reveals why Roxie and Max Holden's relationship was cut short and shares how she recently took Kristen Alderson (Starr, One Life to Live) to a Madonna concert. We discuss who Rex's father might be and Ilene talks about how September 11th affected her acting career.

To buy tickets for Saturday's ACME This Week CLICK HERE.

Related Links: Ilene Kristen on MySpace l ACME This Week l Cops for Causes

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Check out this trailer of Manhattanites, the upcoming film produced by We Love Soaps'  Roger Newcomb. Starring All My Children's Aiden Turner and One Life to Lives' David Fumero, Forbes March and Ilene Kristen Manhattanites follows the lives of a group of "Manhattanites" who are faced with life changing circumstances.

Every once in a while a soap produces a story arc that renews one's faith in the genre.

One Life to Live's "Who Wants to Be Shane Morasco's Father?" may have been a stunt but they were also episodes that managed to do right just about everything the 40th anniversary episodes got wrong.

In the bargain, they did everything the anniversary episodes did right just a few notches better. I know this kind of thing is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'll take this little detour the way Star Trek's Captain Picard likes his Earl Grey: Hot!

Borrowing the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? set, OLTL took what was rapidly becoming a hoary cliche — the near death out of body experience — and instantly breathed new life into it. While Viki's latest visit to "heaven" here and the shared Chris/Allison/Aaron Fellini-esque versions on As the World Turns were done very well, the staging and production of Rex's game show experience lent the entire sequence an air of immediacy that a cheesy in-house set would have been unable to accomplish. READ MORE

Grumblings about post-40th anniversary writing on One Life to Live have been growing recently. Even Ron Carlivati's biggest fans and cheerleaders are scratching their heads about a perceived drop in quality, including some like our friend Nelson Branco and TV Guide's Michael Logan. Personally, I'm not 100% on board with that specific criticism. I think the day to day writing is pretty much OK and very entertaining, with some glaring missteps in plotting. Unfortunately, Carlivati has developed a tendency to Guza-fy it up a bit with endless repetition of some themes ("Who's your daddy?" indeed) and his Paul Rauch-era 80's fetish does get a bit tiring. But that's not my biggest gripe.

Why in Sam Hill are so many actors chewing scenery as if it were part of an all you can eat Red Lobster buffet? Seriously, ever since the 40th anniversary and the end of the Writers' Strike, every episode seems to have at least two or three actors who floated in on a lifeboat from the good ship SS Passions and docked in Llanview Harbor. But here is the thing: I don't really fault the actors. Bear with me and I'll tell you why. READ MORE