LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- GOSSIP by Lynda Hirsch on Creators.com

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LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- SUMMARY BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL: Steffy turns to Taylor for comfort when she tells her mother about Ridge trying to talk her into signing annulment papers so Hope and Liam can get married. Ridge secretly informs Brooke that he doesn't think that Hope and Liam …Read more. LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- GOSSIP In the mid 1980s, I received a press release from "As the World Turns." The show was trumpeting that the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and the niece of Dionne Warwick was going to appear on the show. Who was she? I thought. In …Read more. LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- Q AND A Q: How did the fundraiser that Bradley Bell, the producer of "Bold and Beautiful," held for President Obama go? — Arleta in Mill Valley, Calif. A: The event was held on Feb. 15 at the main Spanish style house of the Holmby Hills …Read more. LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- SUMMARY BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL: Fresh from liberating himself from Steffy, Liam and Hope promise to spend the rest of their lives together. Steffy has not lost hope of a future with Liam, thinking that he just needs time away to realize she is the one for him. …Read more.

LYNDA HIRSCH ON SOAPS -- GOSSIP

It appears that "All My Children" is "thisclose" to signing its new head writing team. It does not appear that the job is going to Lorraine Broderick who was hired to get the show back in shape after the recent axing of Chuck Pratt Jr. If the rumor of who is being hired as the new writing team is true, then the show is going into the really rotten Rolodex of former soap opera scribes. The rumor floating around is that the team that destroyed "Guiding Light" and then went on to "As the World Turns" has the gig. Say it isn't so, ABC. At present, ABC isn't saying anything. It will neither confirm nor deny the rumors. Please let it be a rumor.

One thing that is not a rumor is the word that Cady McClain will return to "AMC" to play Dixie in a short-term arc slated for February sweeps. It will be a story line with Tad. So is Dixie dead? Last time she came back was as a ghost. Alive? Dixie has sprung back to life more than once. Or just someone who comes to Tad in his dreams as he's tried to go on with his life without her? No word so far.

On a sad note, the five-year marriage of Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) and former "Bachelorette" contest Bob Guiney appears over. In People magazine, the couple said, "We are still best friends and love each other." Budig was seen without her wedding ring at a recent press event.

When Budig was asked, she said she forgot to put it on the morning of the conference.

Erika Slezak (Viki) is taking a month's leave from "One Life to Live." Slezak, scheduled for back surgery at the end of the month, timed it with "OLTL's" move to "AMC's" former studio. In the story line, the character will be in England.

Back-at-work Eric Braeden (Victor, "Young and Restless") says no one on the set is very close. Braeden suggests the actors do their work, go to their dressing rooms and that is about it. Of course, when Braden was off the show after refusing a pay cut, he made statements that made it appear as if the show was one big love fest. There are actors who really enjoy working together: Jeanne Cooper (Kay) and Jess Walton (Jill), for example. As for Braeden, he says it does not matter if people on the set are friends; it only matter if the on-air work is good. He does have a point, but you can have both. Just ask "AMC's" Michael E. Knight (Tad) and Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake). They are a hoot on screen and get along off screen as well. Of course, it helps that neither is a prima donna.

"Y&R's" Adrienne Frantz (Amber) and Scott Bailey (Ex-Scott, "Guiding Light") got engaged last week.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.