Soap Opera Digest is reporting that TV and film icon Frances Fisher has landed a role on Days of Our Lives. Fisher, best known for her work in Academy Award-winning films Unforgiven and Titanic,  (and being Clint Eastwood's baby mama) will play Gladys, a neighbour of Sami's (Alison Sweeney). Fisher will begin airing in Feb. 2011. The actress is no stranger to daytime television; she starred as Det. Deborah Saxon on The Edge of Night from 1976-81 and made an appearance on Guiding Light back in 1985 as Suzette.

Photo by PR Photos

Several days ago, I posted an entry about the fallout from the death of Dr. Reid Oliver (Eric Sheffer Stevens) on As The World Turns. There were three central ideas in that piece. First, despite the very legitimate complaints that any given fan might have, ATWT is providing great human drama here at the end of its run. Second, Reid’s tragic passing and donation of his heart to Chris (Daniel Cosgrove) encapsulated that goal mainly by thrusting the Hughes’— the show’s core family since its very debut— front and center toward its conclusion. Third, given the soap opera wrapped production months ago, the idea of kicking a dead horse with unrelenting criticism isn’t going to make it win the Kentucky Derby.

I have not budged one iota from any of those positions and I am about to incur the wrath of a whole lot more of you by making what I know will be a very controversial statement to many: I believe that in these final days, executive producer Christopher Goutman has made mostly the right decisions.

READ MORE

Watching the ABC daytime lineup lately has been a little déjà vu for this old time soap viewer. Perhaps “copying” is too strong a term. Maybe “homage” would be a better word or, perhaps, “sticky fingers.” On the other hand, the stories in question here are different from either classic soap opera tropes (boy/girl-meets-hates-falls-in-love-with-girl/boy stuff) or classic soap cliches (supervillain-returns-from-the-dead-with-an-evil-twin shenanigans) because of their very specificity.

All three of the ABC’s daytime dramas currently are airing stories or arcs that have been a little too close to the mark of several cancelled Proctor & Gamble shows, begging the question “Does Brian Frons really admire those old, now defunct serials as much as he loves pilfering CBS soap stars?” Let us count the ways: READ MORE

One Life to Live's original Dorian Lord, Nancy Pinkerton Peabody, passed away on March 4 at the age of 69, according to the East Hampton Star. Peabody also appeared on The Edge of Night, On Somerset, The Doctors, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. Our thoughts are with her family.

Another daytime great has passed away. David Froman died Feb. 8. He was 71. While the beloved character actor was a staple of such prime time series as Simon & Simon, TJ Hooker, Trapper John MD, 21 Jump Street, Diagnosis Murder and Matlock, Froman was probably best known for his stellar work as Gunther Wagner on the legendary Edge of Night.

Although Gunther (who's real identity was Bruno Wagner, Gunther's identical twin) was a villainous thug, who once attempted to rape Jody Travis (then-newcomer Lori Loughlin) and was later murdered in one of Edge's signature byzantine plot twists, Froman was so popular among fans he was brought back later to play the real Gunther, a lovable lug who was snarky before snark was cool. Froman played the latter role until the end of Edge's run in 1984.

After Matlock (on which he appeared for its entire run) ended, Froman retired from acting and taught drama at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Oklahoma until the time of his death from cancer. Froman will be missed by his fans, who can visit his Facebook memorial page.  Check out a clip of "The Murder of Gunther Wagner, Part 1" from  Edge of Night after the jump. READ MORE

The final part of a highly personal, non-objective series highlighting various aspects of the last episodes of Guiding Light, which which ended its 72 year run on September 18th.

What was it that got me first?

Was it the opening flurry of Guiding Light's logos throughout it's 72 year history or was it the show's last "Only Love" opening featuring the most of the current cast as it had never done before? Whatever it was that first triggered a torrent of emotions that ran through me, this is what happened on Guiding Light today:

In the wake of Alan Spaulding's death, Fletcher whisked Alexandra away to see the world. Doris pulled strings and got Ashlee into a writer's program at Berkeley; Daisy and Ashley went to California together for school, while James stayed behind and bonded with his father. Mindy informed Billy that she was moving back to Springfield. Remy and a newly pregnant Christina got married in the quickest wedding in soap opera history. Olivia & Natalia settled on a name for the baby — Francesca, named after Frank. Maureen played matchmaker for Matt and one of her pretty school teachers. After weeks of online dating, Frank & Blake finally hooked up for their date, with seemingly all of Springfield stalking him. Beth gave Phillip, who once had great dreams of being a writer, a journal in which to put his every thought.

Finally, there was everything involving Josh (Robert Newman) & Reva (Kim Zimmer).

It wasn't what happened "today" that was most important; it was what happened "one year later" in Springfield that truly mattered. As I sit a home, with the television now turned off and with more than a few tears in my cynical eyes, I cannot help but be amazed that I bore witness to what I believe was one of the greatest series finales of an American institution as has been produced during the long — and now endangered — life of a uniquely American genre. READ MORE