Deal or No Deal

Game On!

Jennifer, Colin, & Lindsay
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

Oprah Tops Forbes' Celebrity 100

Oprah Winfrey is still the most powerful celebrity on the planet. According to the latest The Celebrity 100 list published by Forbes Magazine each year, Oprah remained enthroned at the top of the list at No. 1, earning over $275 million dollars from June 2007 - June 2008.

It should be noted that money is not the only factor in Forbes calculations when determining its rankings.

According to USATODAY Forbes "estimates celebrity earnings, then factors in media metrics like Google hits, press mentions as compiled by Factiva, TV/radio mentions from Lexis/Nexis and the number of times an A-lister appears on the cover of more than 50 consumer magazines."

At least nine other stars with daytime connections made The Celebrity 100 list.

Jennifer Aniston, the daughter of Days of Our Lives' star John Aniston, made the top 20. She notched a spot at No. 17 with $27 million in earnings.

Oprah's protege Dr. Phil survived the Britney Spears fiasco coming in at No. 30 with $13 million.

Judge Judy Sheindlin, whose legal empire is estimated in the hundreds of millions, ranked No. 40 with $45 million in 2008.

Tyra Banks, who has her eye on building an Oprah style empire of her own, mustered up a No. 68 ranking and $23 million.

Former Young and Restless star Eva Longoria Parker leveraged her Desperate Housewives stardom to the tune of $9 million and a No. 70 ranking.

Ellen DeGeneres, who has seen her popularity rise in recent years, just missed making the Top 70 coming in at No. 71 though she earned $20 million in 2008.

TV show host extraordinaire Regis Philbin talked his way to No. 74 and $21 million.

Nurtured by Oprah Rachael Ray pulled in $18 million and a spot at No. 76.

Wrapping up the list of celebrities with a connection to daytime who made the list is former daytime talk show host Howie Mandel who placed No. 90 and earned $14 million.

Combined, these stars pulled in a whopping $465 million dollars in 2008.