From the moment she crooned onto the scene in the early 80's, the world knew it had found a superstar in Whitney Houston. On today's Pop Confidential, Jamey Giddens, Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe, Regan Cellura and Melodie Aikels look back on the life and legacy of Whitney Elizabeth Houston, the world's most-awarded musical act of all time.

The PC gang charts the early success of Houston's self-titled debut album Whitney Houston, released on Valentine's Day in 1985,  producing such unforgettable jams as "You Give Good Love," "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know" and "The Greatest Love of All."

Then they reflect on Houston's second record, 1987's pop-heavy Whitney, which yielded a whopping four Number One hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?," making Houston the first female singer to achieve such a feat.

Next they discuss Houston's third album, the R&B-tinged I'm Your Baby Tonight from 1990, produced by uber producers L.A. Reid and Babyface. While this record didn't have the crossover appeal of Whitney, Houston's third effort produced several notable songs the gang fondly remembers, including the title track “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and Jamey's favorite kiss-off song "My Name Is Not Susan."

It was Houston's next musical collection, coupled with her big screen debut, which cemented her status as a pop culture deity. In 1992, the diva starred opposite Kevin Costner in the interracial romantic thriller The Bodyguard. It was for that hit film's soundtrack Houston recorded what would become her most popular track of all time. Her sultry version of country music legend Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" became the best-selling single by a female artist of all time.

In addition to "I Will Always Love You," cuts like "Run to You," "I Have Nothing," "Queen of the Night" and Houston's remake of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman," helped The Bodyguard soundtrack become the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time. Tune in to hear Mel, Jillian and the rest of the PC gang recall what The Bodyguard phenomenon was like for them.

After the twin successes of The Bodyguard and its soundtrack, Houston continued to release music in conjunction with her work as an actress for years to come. In 1995, she starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon in the film adaptation of Terry McMillan's New York Times’ Best-Selling novel Waiting to Exhale and performed the title track “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” for the ultimate chick flick’s soundtrack. Tune in to hear PC’s Regan speak about how Exhale’s message of women being sick and tired of their guys’ b.s. transcended color barriers.

The next year, Houston—by this point one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses—starred opposite Denzel Washington in The Preacher’s Wife, a remake of the classic film The Bishop’s Wife. The accompanying soundtrack became the best-selling gospel CD of all-time, and even made a fan of our generally pop culture-challenged Luke, who at the time was tucked away at boarding school, rocking out to Houston’s soul-stirring jams. You’ll want to download this podcast to hear Jillian, Jamey, Regan and Mel’s stunned reactions to that particular revelation! READ MORE

You love her as Veronica, the feisty, sexy next door neighbor and best friend to those incorrigible Gallagher's on Showtime's hit dramedy Shameless. The outrageous Shanola Hampton joins Jamey Giddens and Luke Kerr on this episode of the Pop Confidential Podcast!

Tune in to hear the striking, mocha-hued, dreadlocked thespian reveal how she managed to nab the scene-stealing role of V, which is played by a white actress in the original U.K. version of Shameless. Does she think it's getting better for actresses of color in Hollyweird?

Listen as Hampton shares a laugh-out-loud story about what happened when a fan recognized her as the uninhibited Veronica, and decided to admonish her about her character's onscreen sexual antics with hubby Kev, played by Steve Howey! Speaking of Howey, you'll want to hear this funny lady talk about the first time they worked together—on the WB series Reba—and what special memento they brought to their Shameless set from the hit sitcom. How did Howey feel about having Hampton wielding gardening shears at his junk in a recent episode of Shameless? Only one way to find out, and that's to tune in!

The podcast takes a soapy twist when Hampton reveals she grew up watching General Hospital, One Life to Live, The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless with her Southern grandmother. Find out which soap seductress she thinks is a much bigger ho than Hampton's Shameless character!  Hear how she reacted to Sonny and Brenda's latest love meltdown, as well as how she feels about the revolving door of Carlys on General Hospital. Learn the six degrees of soaperation between All My Children supercouple Jesse and Angie and Veronica’s mom on Shameless.

How does Hampton feel about playing essentially the moral center and voice of reason for Fiona and her wild siblings? Are she and Fiona's portrayer Emmy Rossum and the rest of the Shameless cast, as close offscreen as they are on? You'll have to download the interview to find out all of this and much more!

  READ MORE

On today’s Daytime Confidential podcast Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe and Regan Cellura discuss the latest in The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and The Young and the Restless storylines and headlines, including:

Jack Wagner is taken off contract at The Bold and the Beautiful. Regan shares her first impressions of B&B as a new viewer and weighs in on Steffy/Liam/Hope and Brooke/Ridge/Taylor.  If you were Steffy, would you sign the annulment papers or stick it to Liam? Karen Spencer returns to town with a daughter, Caroline. 

Chandler Massey and Alison Sweeney have been on fire as Will and Sami on Days of Our Lives. Their scenes have pulled on history and provided many emotional moments for the characters. John and Hope discover they are still married. Contract negotiations between Nadia Bjorlin and DAYS fall apart. Is the DC gang feeling Rafe and Carrie? Some are enjoying it more than others.
  READ MORE

On today’s Daytime Confidential podcast Luke Kerr, Jamey Giddens, Jillian Bowe, Regan Cellura and Melodie Aikels  discuss One Life to Live’s final week and episode finale.  From their favorite moments, to the prison break and the show’s shocking cliffhanger, the DC gang discusses it all. 

They then dive into ABC daytime–post One Life to Live–including OLTL stars joining General Hospital. ABC hoped it would find ratings success with The Revolution, but the new show’s ratings have tanked. Do daytime viewer’s want to be told how to live their lives?

RELATED: Listen to other OLTL viewer’s memories and thoughts on the final episode.

  READ MORE

On today’s Daytime Confidential podcast One Life to Live viewers share their favorite memories of Llanview and its residents from its forty-three years on air.

Listen as fellow OLTL fans react to OLTL’s cliffhanger finale and weigh in on everything from Viki  and Clint to the revelation Victor is alive.  

  READ MORE

We've been following him since her covered soaps for TV Guide. Now one of the magazine's senior writers, Damian Holbrook, is back to talk all things boob tube with the Pop Confidential gang!

During the zany hour, Holbrook dishes the latest dirt from the Winter TCA press tour, proving PC's Jamey Giddens, Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe, Regan Cellura and Melodie Aikels with more tea than Queen Elizabeth could drink, about such shows as Once Upon a Time, GCB, Grimm and of course the gang's guiltiest pleasure — Revenge!

Who does Holbrook think died that night on the beach in the Hamptons? You'll have to download the eppy to find out!

Holbrook also breaks down what went wrong with Are You There, Chelsea? How could a series based on such a hilarious book by funny lady Chelsea Handler have turned out so badly?

Speaking of things that turned out badly, Holbrook gives insider deets on how the amount of rape jokes that made their way into the scripts of the CBS sitcom Two Broke Girls landed the sitcom in hot water!

What did Holbrook think of little Lily's cursing fit on Modern Family? How is he coping with the approaching end of his beloved One Tree Hill? Does he believe Smash can save NBC? Considering he's seen the first four episodes of the musical soap, you'll wanna hear what he has to say about it and so much more!

  READ MORE