New Developments

Remember a couple of days ago when I said I was going to make a new post for all soap-related information either at the beginning of the month or when I got enough information? Well this weekend has brought it in spades so let's get started, shall we? Finally some news from the AMC aisle, and we've got some developments.

--Firstly, after news broke earlier this month that Susan Lucci was going to reprise her role as Erica for at least one episode, we got a slight backtrack of it today in which she mentioned that it was actually up in the air due to scheduling conflicts, which we were pretty aware of before.

--Last month, Alicia Minshew (Kendall Slater) told TVLine that while nothing has been confirmed yet due to--you guessed it--scheduling conflicts, the lines of communication between her camp and PP have been left open hopefully for her to join later. So we can still hold out hope for that Zendall reunion! **update 3/8:** Alicia will be back for a one-day cameo! It's beginning to look up for a long-term return by the summer due to the other projects, but we do have confirmation that she'll be back. Yay!

--Another core character is returning to the canvas with the show for this spring's reboot; Ray MacDonnell (Joe Martin), who actually retired before the show ended in 2011, confirmed that he will be bringing the Martin patriarch back to our screens. It hasn't been released for how long he'll be there, but he will be there hopefully for the first episode.

--We finally have our new face to place with JR's name--PP released the info that Ryan Bittle (ex-Logan, AMC coincidentally lol) will be taking over the part of Adam's long-troubled son. I'm trying to remember who Logan was on the show, but I'm drawing a blank. Guess this works in my favor; I won't be trying to separate him from the character he played before because I don't remember him! LOL

--I told you all earlier this month that Cassandra Foster, Angie's daughter, would be returning to Pine Valley when the show reboots later, and now we have a face to place with her. Another Top Model alum will be taking over the role; if you're familiar with ANTM then Saleisha Stowers' face should also be familiar when you see it!

--Petey Cortlandt has a new face too! Last time we saw the character he was being portrayed by Daniel Kennedy, but boy has Petey grown up since 2009 LOL, Scott Wilson (Price is Right fans should remember this one), the first male model to be featured on Price is Right, will be joining the cast. I gotta admit, I kinda liked Petey the nerd. Petey the hunk is going to be something to get used to....but I'm not complaining---Scott Wilson's abs are marvelous. I hope he takes his shirt off. Often. Anyway....

--In typical soap fashion, PP has SORAS'd the character of Miranda Montgomery and made her a teenager, bringing Denyse Tontz on board to play her. I guess the teen scene needs to be revamped; the teens that were there years ago have since grown up and are already doing other things anyway. But she won't be coming alone, because...

--Eden Riegel has released confirmation that she and Bianca will be returning to the show when it relaunches this spring. I don't know that she'll be returning permanently; they're calling it a "guest arc" perhaps to get the show off the ground with core characters on board, but I guess we'll see.

--Speaking of characters who are getting SORAS'd, Little A, or AJ Chandler, will also be given a boost into his teen years, with Eric Nelsen taking over the role. Geez, the only Chandler I'll recognize is Adam Sr.

--Now the reason why most of these younger characters have been so rapidly SORAS'd is because the show itself has been rapidly aged. It's been aged 5 years, to be exact. Soapcentral's Dan Kroll has some excellent insight into why this might actually be a good thing. Why it's been aged is simple enough; in the year and a half that has elapsed since the ending of the show, most of the performers have since signed on to other projects and are no longer available for the reboot. Jumping 5 years into the future is a perfect way to explain these absences, some of them notable and others that honestly can probably be overlooked. So I guess we won't get that drama-filled first episode right after the shot rang out. That gives me a case of the sads.

--update 3/11: The first airdates for both OLTL and AMC are being listed as April 29th. Check the link if you want more details, but in short each show has been cut down to 30 minutes, and will broadcast a new episode Monday through Thursday at noon EST on Hulu and iTunes. And I used to get mad at B&B for never moving up to an hour show. Smh.

--update 3/14: Former High School Musical star Corbin Bleu is joining the cast of OLTL in the newly-created role of Jeffrey King, a friend of Matthew and Destiny's who works for Viki as a Banner reporter.-

--update 3/19: Ricky Paull Goldin, AMC's Jake, is returning to daytime but......not with AMC. Goldin confirmed that despite taking an acting hiatus and has since gone on to host HGTV's Spontaneous Construction, he has also taken a role on B&B, the episodes of which begin airing later this spring. On the topic of Jake, what are your thoughts? Leave the character off-canvas or recast?

--update 3/28: So turns out that the 3 OLTL implants will be returning for the relaunch as they are under contract to Prospect Park and will return to GH, but in different roles. What does this mean for the current storylines that Starr, John & Todd are involved in, I can't say. But their portrayers will be returning to the show.

--update 4/4: You can catch AMC on Hulu here and take a gander at the cast, so save this link! The Hulu link for OLTL is here. iTunes will be broadcasting OLTL here and AMC's iTunes link is here.

--update 4/19: Well we have a character that won't be returning to AMC later on this month; Chrishell Stause just confirmed on Twitter that she has joined the cast of DAYS. She doesn't rule out a return in the future, but it won't be happening anytime soon. In bigger news, the fight over the OLTL characters on GH has turned into a war, with Prospect Park suing ABC for breach of contract!

Thoughts?

*As always, I'll update this post with more info as it becomes available.