Agent Rayner is making his return to Port Charles! Soap Opera Digest reports  Mark Pinter will reprise his role as the FBI agent on January 26th. Does his return have to do with Franco, or the town's resident mobsters Sonny and Jason? With Bob Guza at the helm you never know.

For almost 32 years, she's dazzled As The World Turns audiences as the unforgettable Barbara Ryan. On this episode of the Daytime Confidential podcast, it's Luke and Jamey, Colleen Zenk Pinter has under her spell. The soap superstar joins the guys to talk about her amazing daytime career, working opposite the likes of Anthony Herrera (ex-James) and the late Benjamin Hendrickson (ex-Hal), and how she balances it all with her real life love affair with husband and fellow soap veteran Mark Pinter.

Zenk Pinter also talks about what it's been like to finally have Babs back front and center, in a steamy, comic, cougar storyline with Trent Dawson's Henry and Lynn Herring's Audrey. She also shares how her oral cancer diagnosis has changed the way she looks at her life and career. It's an interview Oakdale lovers won't wanna miss!

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I'm back, gentle readers, and not a moment too soon. Since we were last together, real life has provided more plot twists than an episode of Lost, but I've still managed to faithfully watch the stories day in and day out. While there are a few larger topics that I'll be addressing in the next few days and weeks, it turns out a little time and distance provides the opportunity for a bit of clarity and perspective on issues that one might have been previously too close to appreciate. In that spirit, here are a few completely random observations about the five soaps I normally watch that I've noticed in the little over a month since I last posted. These observations generally are not a part of the usual list of talking points, but just a number of things that have popped in my head. Without further ado... READ MORE

Yes! They have undeniable sexual chemistry.

As long as Sam showered before sleeping with someone else, they might be the next big couple.

No! Agent Rainer is too old for Sam.

As the World Turns is something of a mystery to me these days. I haven't been blogging regularly about the show because, honestly, I am kind of flummoxed about what to actually write about from day to day.

I love ATWT. The show is blessed with some of daytime's strongest actors. In this age of massive cost cutting, ATWT found an arguably better production alternative than Procter & Gamble sister show Guiding Light. Speaking for myself, I find most days, most characters, most stories and most events to be sufficiently captivating to keep me coming back.

Nonetheless, something is badly amiss in Oakdale. The usual criticisms of ATWT are all-too-familiar: far too many recasts, underused vets, storylines that turn on a dime, compressed storytelling and ever shrinking production values to name a few. While those issues are real and important, they are only symptons of several larger problems that encapsulate the issues that I, other Daytime Confidential bloggers and commentators all over the internet have found themselves dismayed about over the last several months. After trying to put a finger on these issues while attempting to "figure out" what's going on at ATWT from a larger perspective, several things have jumped out as serious structural flaws, like a cracked foundation in a beloved old home. READ MORE

Here's the Scoop! 01.23.09

Not much out there today... typical Friday.

Nikolas "sees" Emily. It's Rebecca and he drops the phone to chase after her.

Kate is sneaking around Sonny's... She' s there looking for the DVD's and Kate wants Olivia to help her warn Sonny about his wife. Kate gets all the goods on Claudia and heads to the fundraiser to tell Sonny. Road blocks? Of course! Olivia gets in Kate's way at Carly's request. Kate asks Lulu to get to Sonny for her, but we all know Lulu is not a stellar employee. More fighting for the Falconari cousins. Kate goes down thanks to the toxin but what happens to the DVD she has with her?

Who will live and who will die? Leyla and Trevor are the two names that have popped up over and over again. Dr. Andy from Night Shift is a casualty and one more person should be taking a dirt nap. Most likely an extra/day player but we'll be lead to believe that a few characters are knocking on heaven's door.

The Jackal is SUPPOSED to get the goods that clears his name and gets the feds off Jason 's back. Will he offer to work for Agent Rayner?

Questions I didn't get to yesterday...

Do we know anything more about these two Regan? How their story lines cross through out this crisis?

This question was about Jason and Sam… They’ll work together to figure out who is behind the crisis. READ MORE