As we all know, “The Guiding Light” is over, “As the World Turns” will end this September and “All My Children” fled to the other coast, leaving “One Life to Live” as New York City’s sole surviving Daytime Drama. Considering that daytime TV racks up between 2-4 million viewers per day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, what are these network people thinking?

In addition, the ABC cable station SoapNet airs the same day episodes of “All My Children,” “One Life to Live,” “General Hospital,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Young an the Restless,” in addition to “Ryan’s Hope,” “One Tree Hill,” “The OC” and the original “Beverly Hills 90210.”  Not to mention original series, such as “Being Erica.” Reality check, network people!

P.S. WE’RE NOT HAPPY!!!

It seems that stalwart publication, the New York Daily News (“all the news that fits, we print!”) has cancelled Carolyn Hinsey’s wonderful “Soap Suds” column in the TV magazine, for an apparently misguided Vue that “soaps are dead!” Well, Miss Editor Thing (who shall go nameless), they ain’t dead, yet! Not only are soaps alive and well on TV, but also on the internet. Now look what you’ve done! You have forced me to dedicate an entire future column to internet soaps. Maybe the Post will pick up “Soap Suds” … if they’re smart!

Soap Dish…ok, rumors…whatever…

David Canary to be leaving “All My Children” sometime in March, 2010? Cady McClain returns as Dixie. I know she’s dead, but this IS daytime! Julia Barr is also back as Brooke. Between Greenlee & Brooke, can Erica stand a chance?

Sag Awards were pretty much what the Golden Globes were; same people, different clothes, almost the same winners. Thank God for Betty White who left no question as to why she w on the Lifetime Achievement Award! And more Betty White! According to the Hollywood Reporter, four TV vets have just inked deals to star in the new TV Land comedy pilot “Hot in Cleveland.” Among those joining the show are Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and “Frasier”s Jane Leeves as three best friends from LA who get trapped in Cleveland, then decide to stay when they realize the locals think they're hot. Also on board is Emmy winner Betty White, who will play the trio's "grumpy" and "opinionated" neighbor (how very Sophia Petrillo of her). No word yet on a premiere date.

BEST OF THE NEW SHOWS & RETURNS

“Caprica” This prequel to “Battlestar Galactica” follows the fathers of the Adama & Graystone families as they attempt to deal with the loss of their respective daughters to a terrorist attack. With Esai Morales as Joseph Adama and Eric Stoltz as Daniel Graystone, I don’t know how this series can lose. As the weeks progress, we’ll learn just how the Cylons came to be and what shaped the life of William Adama

“The Deep End” This new show is “Grey’s Anatomy” for the legal set. Too soon to make a decision, but the first episode caught my eye. More later.

“Life Unexpected” Following in the path of the recently trendy “Find My Family” mode, but as a prime time drama, “Life Unexpected” is about a kid who was never adopted (due to a heart ailment) after being given up by her mother and grew up in the foster care system. She attempts to become emancipated, but winds up in the custody of her birth parents, who seem to need parenting more than she does.

“Being Erica” If you know about my obsession with time travel, then you already know that I love seeing this show back for a second season. This Canadian import, which is presented as an original series produced by SoapNet, “Being Erica” takes us into the world of Erica Strange, who with the aid of “Dr. Tom” returns to various moments in her past to see them through different eyes. This is a must see!

COULD IT BE?

Steven Spielberg, the man behind sci-fi movie classics like E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is producing an alien-invasion drama pilot for TNT. The unnamed series would potentially take place on Earth six months after evil aliens wipe out most of humanity. We still don't know if Spielberg will direct the pilot, but the award-winning filmmaker reportedly wants to cast Noah Wyle to play the potential series' lead. The former ER star would play the leader of a group of human rebels trying to bring down the big bad aliens. Guess doing all those Librarian films helped Wyle become an action hero

IN MEMORIAM

James Mitchell

Actor and dancer James Mitchell who most notably played tycoon Palmer Cortlandt on “All My Children” for more than 30 years, has passed away at the age of 89. Mitchell died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which was complicated by a bout of pneumonia, his longtime partner Albert Wolsky said. Mitchell was last seen on ”AMC” for the show's 40^th Anniversary episode on January 5. He first joined the cast in 1979, and was nominated for three Soap Opera Digest Awards and seven Daytime Emmy Awards for the role, but never took home a trophy. Mitchell enjoyed playing the icy, wealthy Palmer, who wielded power over his children and the show's fictional town of Pine Valley. "He loved playing mean," Wolsky said. "A soap gives an actor a chance to develop something because it goes on for so long." While TV audiences will most likely associate Mitchell with his role on “All My Children,” he was also an accomplished dancer and stage actor, who danced in films and acted on Broadway. His performing career began with the American Ballet Theatre, and he had a long-standing collaboration with renowned choreographer Agnes de Mille. He worked with de Mille as dancer and assistant choreographer in various film and stage projects, including the Broadway productions of Bloomer Girl, Brigadoon (for which he won the Theatre World Award), Paint your Wagon, Come Summer and perhaps, most notably, in the 1955 film version of Oklahoma, where Mitchell starred as the “Dream Curly.” Mitchell's theatrical credits also include the 1961 Broadway production of Carnival!, Mack & Mabel and Annie Get Your Gun. Off-Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera, Winkelberg, and Livin' the Life. He toured with productions of The Rainmaker, The King & I, Funny Girl and The Threepenny Opera. Mitchell also worked with Jerome Robbins in the Broadway production of Billion Dollar Baby. Other film credits include The Turning Point, with Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine and The Bandwagon, with Fred Astaire. Throughout his career, Mitchell also worked as a director and choreographer, staging shows in regional theatres such as the Paper Mill Playhouse, and with the American Ballet Theatre. Mitchell also taught movement for actors at Yale University and Drake University, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate.

See you next week…a column for all the “Losties”

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