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Desperate Housewives' Kathryn Joosten Dies At Age 72 After Long Battle with Lung Cancer!

By Michael Fairman

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Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Very sad news to report tonight, as news spread across the entertainment world.   Kathryn Joosten who played Mrs. McCluskey on Desperate Housewives died today in Los Angeles at age 72 after her long battle with lung cancer surrounded by her family at the time of her death.  Joosten “was surrounded by love and humor ’til the end,” her family said in a statement. “We are laughing through our tears.”

Joosten won two Emmy awards in 2005 and 2008 for her portrayal of Karen McCluskey.  Desperate Housewives ended its eight-year run last month with a series finale in which Joosten’s character passed away.  Karen’s battle with cancer was a storyline in the show.

Prior to her Housewives success, Joosten was best known for playing Mrs. Landingham, secretary to Martin Sheen’s President Bartlet, on The West Wing.  She also had roles on such shows as Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, Joan of Arcadia, and Dharma & Greg.

Recently, soap fans saw Kathryn in a special guest appearance for the The Bold and the Beautiful’s 6,000th episode as Stephanie (Susan Flannery) formed a support group to help her deal with her cancer diagnosis.  Stephanie had real-life cancer survivors in her home to hear their stories.  Joosten played herself.  Kathryn also appeared on General Hospital during her career.

Desperate Housewives executive producer Marc Cherry released a statement today about the death of Kathryn Joosten,  “The character of Mrs. McCluskey was created for a single episode.  We then cast Kathryn Joosten and she infused the part with so much feisty wit and curmudgeonly bravado, we knew we had to move her onto Wisteria Lane for the run of the series. I will forever miss her, as a co-worker and as a friend.”

On-Air On-Soaps sends our thoughts and prayers to Joosten’s family and friends.

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Rest in Peace.

I thought she was superb and so courageous & gracious in the finale. It had to be difficult to play out those scenes knowing it was just a matter of time before it was really going to be happening. RIP – Kathryn

She was one of the ones we will forever remember, she left her mark, tje best any of us can wish to do.

my thoughts & prayers are with her family…………..♥

May Kathryn’s family & friends be comforted in knowing the impact she had on so many.
I was always thrilled to watch her in any role! Bravo Kathryn for a life well lived! You will be missed.

She was a sweetheart, RIP Mrs Mclusky & Kathryn Joosten. I loved when she stuck her nose in everyone’s business.

I fell in love with her on The West Wing…she was so good on that show. And she brought her magic to Desperate Housewives…and I’m sure to every other role she played. She will be missed!

Such a wondeful lady. Loved her character of Mrs. KM on DH very much. RIP! Kathryn. You will be remembered by your fans world-wide for a very, very long time.

RIP

I feared when I heard her cancer came back that it would not be good. I am very saddened to hear she lost the battle with her lung cancer.

I watched several seasons of Desperate Housewives, but stopped a few years ago so I did not know that they killed off her character too. I agree with Grace, that had to be hard playing out those scenes. So sad.

Never watched Desperate Housewives……………My friend watched it… Wasn’t interested enough to watch………………

I watched it till this last season, because I was boycotting abc/disney, It was good but sometimes it was dumb, However Mrs.Mcklusy was a riot, she won a emmy for her role, I always said that’s because she was the only one on that show that was the REAL actress, Ok bree and the one with all the kids, and Vanessa Williams could act to but the rest, Questionable.

oh, she sure will be missed! She was such a hoot to watch, and did a fine job at serious acting as well. She’s out of pain, but I bet she has everyonein in stiches up “there”!

Beyond the Gates

‘Beyond the Gates’ Emmy Winner Ambyr Michelle Wants to Compete on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: ‘Pick Me’ (Exclusive)

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Ambyr Michelle

Soap opera fans are always clamoring for when Dancing with the Stars reveals their cast each season, that they would include a familiar face from daytime drama, but it rarely happens, if ever, anymore.

Over the last several years, the series has leaned heavily into casting celebrities with massive TikTok or Instagram followers, which in turn, have helped this season and last have their best ratings numbers in years.

But, how about for next season’s cast of Dancing with the Stars, that it could include newly-awarded Daytime Emmy winner, Ambyr Michelle (Eva Thomas) of Beyond the Gates?

Ambyr Michelle

Photo: CBS

LOVE OF DANCE TO LOVE OF ACTING

Michael Fairman TV spoke to Michelle about her dance background and if she would love a shot at lifting the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy during Wednesday’s November 11, livestream chat on the Michael Fairman Channel.

Ambyr explained to fans (who joined in on the live chat), how she began her show business career. “I started off as a dancer, first and foremost. Acting wasn’t really something I wanted to go after. I did plays when I was younger, but it was just something we did in school, but I really wanted to be a dancer. I moved out to LA to dance, and I fell out of love with dance, which was so weird.”

This year’s Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series winner, added, “I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I moved all the way out here for dance. I found I was forcing myself to go to dance class, and I just didn’t have the passion for it. I was working at this restaurant at the time, and one of my coworker was like, ‘What about taking an acting class out here?'”

Next, Ambyr took the coworker up on the idea. “So, I took an acting class and I fell in love with it that day,” shared Michelle. “I was like, ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life.’ I thought, I would love to book a role, of course, as a dancer, but I think acting has a little bit more longevity.”

Photo: ABC

A SHOT AT THE LEN GOODMAN MIRRORBALL TROPHY

When the talked turned to if Ambyr would consider or be interested in appearing on the ballroom dance competition series, she piped up with, “I would love to do Dancing with the Stars! Pick me!”

As those in the live chat rallied around this idea, it made us think, Ambyr could be the first contestant from Beyond the Gates, and someone representing the soaps. It checks off so many boxes! To which Ambyr replied, “That would be beautiful.”

You can check out the full conversation with Ambyr below.

So, what do you think soap fans? Can we make sure Ambyr’s name gets in front of the producers and casting director for next season’s Dancing with the Stars? Would you like to see her in the competition? If so, who would be your dream pro professional dance partner for her? Let us know in the comment section.

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Beyond the Gates

RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Inches Closer to ‘General Hospital’ in Total Viewers

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Beyond the Gates and General Hospital

The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.

According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.

Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.

Photo: CBS

MORE BY THE NUMBERS

In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .

BEYOND THE GATES

Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:

Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).

Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.

Photo: ABC

GENERAL HOSPITAL

Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:

Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.

Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.

Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.

Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a  benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.

However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.

So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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General Hospital

Antonio Sabáto Jr. Breaks Silence on His Son’s Arrest for Fatal Hit-and-Run

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Antonio Sabato Jr.

Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.

Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU  Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.

The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”

Jack Sabato

Photo: NBC

Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”

He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”

The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”

Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.

Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.

This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.

So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.

 

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A post shared by Antonio Sabato Jr (@antoniosabatojr)

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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