* Patti
LaBelle will appear in four episodes of
American Horror Story: Freak Show, playing the mother of Gabourey Sidibe’s character
 |
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan in Neighbours.
Photo Credit: FremantleMedia/Rex Features |
* Kylie Minogue became famous playing Charlene Robinson in Australian soap opera
Neighbours before leaving to launch her music career, but another ex-star has let the cat out of the bag that the pop princess may make a return for the show's 30th anniversary celebrations next year. Anne Charleston, who played Charlene's mum Madge Bishop, told the
Daily Mirror: "The
Neighbours special 30th anniversary is coming up. I will probably be involved and it will go to air in March. I think
Kylie is on board for the special and I imagine everyone will be in on it because it's a big occasion."
*
Devious Maids star
Ana Ortiz will guest-star on ABC's upcoming drama How to Get Away With Murder.
*
The Bold and the Beautiful's Kim Matula says
Wyatt is the man for Hope. "Somewhere, deep down, Hope must have wanted this to happen so she wouldn't have to make the decision for herself," Matula says. "For years she's been telling herself she belongs with Liam. They share so much history. They make sense together. And she does love him. But it's Wyatt she really wants."
*
Spy Kids starlet-turned-
Tomorrow People agent Alexa Vega is
joining Nashville Season 3 for a multi-episode arc. [SPOILER ALERT] The actress will play Kiley, Gunnar’s first love and high school sweetheart who is now a struggling single mother. She arrives in Nashville with the intention of providing some stability for her (suspiciously-aged) 10-year-old son.
*
Venice star and former
Days of our Live actress
Nadia Bjorlin is engaged to new beau Grant Turnbull.
* What is it about the web that helps diverse voices find an audience, and what are some of the great shows to make their mark?
East Los High and
32 other web dramas are upstaging TV with their diversity. A watershed moment came in 2010, when
We Love Soaps inaugurated the Indie Soap Awards, now entering its fifth year. The first winners speak to the incredible diversity in the market: Taking home the top prize was Robert Townsend’s Monica Calhoun-starrer
Diary of a Single Mom, which like East Los High found sponsorship through non-profit initiatives to provide education for social change. Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward took home the writing prize for their tenderly executed lesbian-led and racially diverse teen drama,
Anyone But Me.
* Showtime is taking a page from the broadcast networks' playbook, launching the upcoming fourth season of drama
Homeland with
two back-to-back-episodes for a two-hour premiere on October 5.
Homeland was supposed to run by itself for two weeks, until joined by Showtime's newest drama series,
The Affair, originally slated to follow
Homeland beginning October 19. Its debut is now being moved up a week, to October 12.
*
Homeland and
Rome alumna Zuleikha Robinson is
joining the Fox drama series The Following as a new regular and a pivotal character in Season 3. She will play Gwen, an ER doctor and the mother of a 7-year-old girl. She is also the love of FBI Agent Hardy’s (Kevin Bacon) life — and his first real chance at a family and true happiness.
* It's become
very chilly for the Crawley family as
Downton Abbey's Christmas Special continues filming. The award-winning ITV period drama - which has moved from the usual Downton Abbey estate to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland to film the snowy special - has transformed the castle and the village into a magical winter wonderland, despite the heat of August.
*
Medium star David Cubitt, who played Detective Lee Scanlon on the CBS procedural, has
landed a meaty guest role in CW comic-book drama
Arrow's third season as Mark Shaw, who becomes Manhunter. Cubitt is slated to appear in the third episode.
* Leslie Moonves says his CBS Corp. is
interested in buying the CNN news channel if it becomes available. Getting between Rupert Murdoch and Time Warner is another matter.
*
Game of Thrones actor
J.J. Murphy died on Friday at the age of 86. While the Irish actor had yet to make his debut on the HBO hit series, he was set to take on the role of Knights Watch member Ser Denys Mallister in the upcoming fifth season and died just four days after filming his first scenes for the show.
* Filming for the hit HBO show
Boardwalk Empire made Far Rockaway look like Atlantic City in the 19th Century. The crew was
filming flashback scenes that revolve around Steve Buscemi's character, Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson.
* How bad will Nikki's drinking get on
The Young and the Restless? [SPOILER ALERT] Says actress Melody Thomas Scott, "Pretty bad, I hear. For weeks now she's been leading up to this. She's been staring at vodka bottles and playing with cocktail glasses, running her finger longingly around the rim...like foreplay. Her need for a drink is becoming more and more urgent and inevitable. [Laughs] And I am delighted! A big part of Nikki's appeal is that she's a wealthy, high-society woman who seemingly has everything, yet
she's a drunk in the gutter. The audience enjoys seeing her suffer — and I am happy to accommodate!"
* Linda Dano on the death of her former
Another World co-star, Charles Keating: "Charles was a man of many colors - both on screen and off. His incredible talent and devoted friendship were the hallmarks of who he was. It's so hard to think of the vibrant man we all knew as having to deal with illness but he did with his usual resolve. My heart goes out to his wife of over 50 years and his sons. To all of you who loved him as we did, please know that
he was everything you thought he was!"
*
The Young and the Restless actress
Judith Chapman is bringing Rick Foster’s one-woman show “Vivien: A Journey into the Triumph and Madness of Vivien Leigh” to Greenville's Centre Stage for three performances this weekend.
* In the
first trailer for Kingdom, we’re introduced to a family drama set in the world of mixed martial arts. At the center of it all is Warrior star Frank Grillo, who once again plays a trainer and the owner of a gym. Nick Jonas stars as Grillo’s prize-fighting son, while Jonathan Tucker plays Jonas’ older, slightly darker brother.
Friday Night Light‘s Matt Lauria also comes into play as a fighter recently released on parole and trying to come back into their world.
As Nikki Newman went from impoverished stripper to resourceful, vivacious heroine—with missteps as gripping as her triumphs—Melody became a household name, enthralling audiences across the globe. But her road to stardom also had to be one to freedom marked by an escape fit for cinema. In "Always Young and Restless," Melody tells of her troubled, untraditional upbringing for the first time.
The Young and the Restless will mark the one-year anniversary of Katherine's death with a remembrance ceremony in Chancellor Park on the August 26-27 episodes. 
