On today's CBS and Days of Our Lives Daytime Confidential episode Luke, Mike, Jamey and Melodie discuss the latest news and recaps for As the World Turns, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light and The Young and the Restless including...

Predictions on how much Grant Alexsander's return will bump ratings up or down. Melodie has an update on her spoilers from December. It's not Kim Zimmer's fault that Guiding Light has gone down hill, should she have to take a pay cut during this next go around? Could GL survive without Reva if Zimmer didn't accept pay cuts and left the show?

As the Recasts Turns is systematically breaking Douglas Marland's rules on how not to wreck a soap and it's making it hard to watch so many new faces.

Who knew that all it took to have a successful fashion show was Donna in a knit bikini? Mike goes ballistic and isn't going to take it from The Bold and the Beautiful anymore. Kyle Lowder and Ronn Moss pop up on The Soup. Rick and Steffy are so cliche it hurts.

What is up with The Young and the Restless trying to put almost every boring character in one scene? Neil's wedding featured Karen and Victoria, not to mention a the character castrated JT all in one scene. Gloria discovers Katherine in jail. Jamey thinks that Maria Arena Bell has a check list of all of LML's debacles and is fixing everything one, by one by one.

Could Daniel and Chloe be the next big Days of Our Lives couple? Jamey seems to think so. Imagine if Dena Higley was writing your life ala Stranger Than Fiction?

Help support and improve the Daytime Confidential podcast: Take a few minutes to fill out the two Daytime Confidential listener surveys: Listener Survey A l Listener Survey B

Be sure to leave your comments on all the latest goings on in the world of soaps by calling the Daytime Confidential comment line by calling 917-677-9757.

Listen to Daytime Confidential by clicking on the Daytime Confidential Player at the bottom of this post or Download us for FREE via iTunes. Vote for us on Podcast Alley. Add us as a Friend on MySpace and Facebook.

I’m entering 2009 with a sense of dread when it comes to The Bold and the Beautiful. I’m scratching my head, trying to remember if there has ever been such an unappealing set of couples onscreen at once. READ MORE

At the beginning of the week, Rick (Kyle Lowder) vowed to change and make his family proud. This doesn't bode well - if he’s going to follow the moral code of his family, he’s either going to start coming to work dressed like a hooker or start straddling Nick Marone.

Phoebe’s death continued to stir up animosity between Stephanie and Brooke, and again both Katherine Kelly Lang and Susan Flannery rocked their scenes. Taylor blamed herself and, in my opinion, Hunter Tylo was great in what must be an incredibly hard storyline for her to play out. READ MORE

At the rehearsal dinner for his wedding to Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang), things took a turn for the worse when Ridge (Ronn Moss) rushed in and broke the news of Phoebe’s death. Just an aside, but why would they even need a rehearsal – those two have been married half-a-dozen times before. What exactly needed rehearsing?

Thankfully, Ridge saying “Phoebe’s dead” was muted, and we were treated to an orchestral soundtrack as we saw the looks of shock and sadness on everyone’s faces. Or, in Marcus’s case, a look that said did I remember to put my pants on?

Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Ridge visited the mortuary to say their last goodbyes to Curly Sue. For once, I was hoping Phoebe would liven up proceedings and burst into song. As things transpired, it was grief, grief and more grief, culminating in Steffy standing on a balcony wailing. Fun stuff. I can appreciate a good soap death as much as anyone else, but this was all rather silly. READ MORE