Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

On Thursday in Hollywood, James Franco received his very own star on the Walk of Fame! The former General Hospital recurring guest star, as well as a guest arc special guest on Hollywood Heights, is currently starring in the motion picture, Oz: The Great and Powerful!

The multi-faceted star, whose creative projects and energies knows no bound, brought along his mother, Betsy (who also played “Franco’s” mom on GH), brother Dave ( who is quickly becoming one of the most sought after hotties in Hollywood) and good friend and actor,Seth Rogan to the presentation.

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

As Emme Rylan departed her role as Abby Newman on The Young and the Restless for General Hospital to play Lulu Spencer, the CBS soap recast the role right away with former Hollywood Heights star, Melissa Ordway, according to a report from Daytime Confidential!

Ordway most recently played Chloe on Nick at Nite’s Hollywood Heights, and this marks the third performer from former Hollywood Heights and current Y&R executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, who has been in a recast in a role on the number one soap.  Melissa Ordway follows Robert Adamson (Noah) and Hunter King (Summer).  According to DC, Ordway will first appear on the April 22nd episode as the new Newman heiress! (more…)

Courtesy/ABC

What a year 2012 was for soap fans! After trying to cope with the loss of another canceled soap, all types of new daytime programming other than soaps emerging on the daytime landscape, the bad rap that soaps are dying from the mainstream, it’s a wonder everyone did not need two Xanax before they sat down to watch the remaining soaps on the air for fear that at any given moment the networks might levy the boom and cancel those too!

However, what 2012 proved the most is that, say what you will, daytime soaps and the genre is surviving with renewed interest.  In the case of most of our hit list for the year, the performances and creative energy abound, has given the genre its own back-from-the-dead new lease on life!  Once again, On-Air On-Soaps pays tribute to the tremendous work of the talented men and women in front of the camera and behind the scenes, whose tireless efforts in the grind of producing and acting in this genre’s format is more than just respectable!  But of course, in addition to the best moments of the year, there were several not so stellar moments, characters, or storylines that get the dubious honor of some of the “Worst’s” of 2012.

So with that said, On-Air On-Soaps presents our fifth annual Best and Worst of the Year.  As you will read, we try to dissect it all in our annual look back at the year in review. In several categories, it was almost too tight a race to call, and so, we had to call it a “tie”.   In other cases, there were several runner-ups that deserved recognition and those are included, as well.

Now, while we know many of you have your own picks and choices, and may disagree or agree with our picks, we encourage you to let us know your thoughts as well.  And most of all, we want to wish all our soapers a healthy, prosperous, and fantastic New Year!  It is you, the fans, who have willed this daytime industry to continue!

So here we go … after the jump, we reveal the list of the Best and Worst in Soaps 2012! (more…)