News
The Meredith Vieira Show A Firm Go For Fall 2014! Stations Picking It Up Due To KATIE's Looming Axe!

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
According to Broadcasting & Cable this morning, “The Meredith Vieira Show is the first syndicated first-run show to get a firm go for next fall. NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution has sold Vieira in more than 60% of the U.S.for its broadcast syndication debut next September, said Ed Swindler, president, NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution and president, NBC Broadcast Operations.
The NBC Owned Stations staked their claim to Vieira in July, soon after NBCU decided to pick the show up to series. Besides NBC, stations from Hearst Television, Sinclair, LIN Media, Cordillera Communications, Gray Television, Post-Newsweek, Schurz Communications, London Broadcasting, Hubbard Broadcasting, Bonneville, Meredith, Young, Raycom, Quincy, Cox and other groups have acquired the show.
According to sources, many stations are picking up Vieira to hedge their bets if Disney-ABC’s Katie does not return for a third season. Hearst, which owns 13 ABC affiliates, is ABC’s biggest affiliate group.
The NBC Owned Stations are expected to air Vieira at 2 p.m. in many markets, leading into the group’s two established talkers: NBCU’s Steve Harvey at 3 and Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres at 4. Those stations have holes at 2 p.m. after CBS Television Distribution ended the low-rated run of Jeff Probst after only one year. The show will be produced in New York, with Vieira serving as an executive producer as well as host, and will be produced and distributed by NBCU DTD.”
So, what do you think of stations clearing Meredith Vieria in case Katie Couric’s show falls by the wayside? Would you be at all interested in watching a Meredith talker over a Katie talker? Yes, we all know we would prefer to have a soap on, but that is not likely to happen any time soon, unfortunately!
This will not have any impact in the NYC media market re: WABC /Katie since it looks like it will be on WNBC at 2:00. What about Days of our lives?
dool now comes on at 12:00 noon on the east coast………………
Not in NYC.
oh – well it does in philadelphia………..
Another boring show same topics different host. Katie might as well stay on the air.
I know, right. I don’t understand why soap bloggers are so adamant about slamming Katie Couric.
No. 1: “General Hospital” was NEVER cancelled because of her talk show (which airs on NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates all over the country).
No. 2: If/when it is axed, another talk show will take it’s place, not the return of a soap.
If you want to blame some shows, blame “The Chew” and “Revolution.”
Too many talk shows already. That would be three hours of talk, talk, talk. You hear the same thing over and over with the same set of ” EXPERTS”. Too much. Stop trying to replace Oprah not possible!!!
No thanks. I cannot remember the last time I even watched a talk show. I watch the CBS morning show and news for a few minutes each morning. Bring back OLTL.
I wonder what that means for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”,which M.V. used to host and is now hosted by Cedric The Entertainer,since it airs in the 2PM slot after DAYS on KNBC in Los Angeles.
I love meredith vieria her talk show will be a huge hit. cancel days of our lives. its really boring now.
right on anna i totally agree with you. days of our lives will be gone soon. i smell a cancellation coming soon. meredith seems like a nice lady. katie couric puts me to sleep. i have never liked that woman. she is really full of herself
meridith i love that woman so much. her show will have good ratings. i hope this means katie will be cancelled. i hate katie so much. katie is greedy, i cannot believe they threw 20 million dollars to katie. what a waste of money. where people are starving all over the world. katie is dumb dumb. people don’t care for her anymore.
JUST MY OPINION: It boggles my mind that you are in a soap opera website, yet you are writing or wishing that Days of our Lives gets cancelled!!??? People lets support our serial dramas, regardless if we watch that show or not..I for one am hoping the genre continues to regrow..If people are wishing that certain soaps should be cancelled, then why be on a website about soaps?? JUST MY OPINION
You do realize that this is a blog that promotes the soap genre,don’t you?
At least we can expect her to be soap positive (as KATIE was, surprisingly). If we can’t do anything about these talk shows, they should at least be good vehicles for promoting the remaining soaps. CBS sibling show THE TALK is obviously the best at this, but KATIE promoted both DAYS and GH milestones and produced a prime time special. As long as Meredith does the same, I can’t complain. It’s not like AW is coming back to NBC 🙁
I say “can expect” given Meredith’s fandom of GH and her multiple appearances as Bree, the former madame (who was taught the business by OLTL’s Renee, we learned) turned Lucy Coe-assistant/confidante. She seems to have a good relationship with soaps which would hopefully lead to some synergy, if not for GH, then for DAYS, which needs it. It has no “TALK” and deserves much better ratings lately, than it’s been getting. Get some cross promotion going!
What makes them think one will succeed where the other failed? Too many talkers as it is. Somebody needs to come up with a new way to score daytime viewers. Soaps evidently aren’t doing it, but neither was Katie.
While I really like MV and dislike Katie, I still
will not tune in.GH is the only daytime
Show I will watch.I wonder if ABC understands
How bad they messed up!!Miss my soaps.
I want action…not talk…i only watch soaps and reruns of Match Game on GSN!!!
why doesn’t some one come up with another soap opera that would be nice instead of another talk show who needs them to many already
It would be nice to see a new soap but they are too costly to produce…i doubt any network would be interested!
Katie still took the money out of OLTL, in essence. Damage done.
She gets the money too, 1%.
Also, she treated her staff and crew like crap, so who cares. She still wins big.
Doesn’t matter to me because I watch Ellen when Katie is on. I like Katie but Ellen is such an amazing host.
I think you should change the title of your website to Michael fairman on air soaps and talk shows.Your website is constantly giving free advertising to these stupid talk shows.The soaps are dying stop writing about the dumb talk shows.Your website should only talk about the soaps.The cackling hens of the talk get more publicity on your site then the soaps.Your site needs to start talking about how to keep these soaps alive.This is supposedly your bread and butter in life.The real reason all my children is not taping is because there is no money.The soaps are extremely expensive to produce.They need advertizers with lots of cash to save them.Concentrate on our soaps and stop giving free publicity to these dumb talk shows!
you sound bitter and miserable. talk shows are daytime as well. if you don’t like it. leave the site. plain simple. go have your breakfast you need it. lmao
Love Meredith Vieria and so glad she is in and Katie maybe out! I find Meredith to be a breath of fresh of air as opposed to Katie who really is more into herself! I am so unhappy Meredith does not do the Millionaire Show and miss her tremendously. Congratulations Meredith! You rock!
i love meredith too. she is a very openminded person. and also everyone loves her. katie couric is fake. watch it folks katie will stab you in the back. lol
ONE LIFE TO LIVE is all I will say.
ONe life to live , I agree
DITTO!!!!!
DITTO!:)
No thanks–won’t watch !!Bring back OLTL and AMC to abc !!
that will never happen. abc wants out of the soap business. oltl and amc will never come back to abc or any other network. lets all accept OLTL will never come back again. prospect park are idiots flakes, and are playing games with us.
still not watching another boring talk show, they are so stupid putting money on failed talk shows, BRING BACK ONE LIFE TO LIVE , if they want ratings ugh stupid asses
I agree 100%…
I agree—another boring talk show.
When OLTL and AMC were canceled you could not give them away to any network tv station or cable..
None/No network stepped up to take them, none..
The networks and even cable do not want the expense and huge undertaking to air a soap opera..
Seems they are a taboo to all networks to invest in them..
Thank all powers that their are still 4 soaps remaining
Daytime tv struggling to keep alive.. Cooking shows are the lowest budget there is to be had, next to nothing to produce/air. a cooking show.
Second is the cheap category are talk shows..
Soon, during daytime air time we will be seeing infomercials to pay the bills..
If not for the networks running cheap talk and cooking shows during daytime tv there would be no money to keep the very expensive daytime soaps on the air..
So– air cheap talk and cooking shows to keep a budget run/produce the soaps..
Without the gawd awful cheap talk and cooking shows there would be no money for the huge expense to air the soaps..
We need the pitiful very low budget cooking and talk shoes to keep the soaps alive!!
Stop with the talk shows. Enough already. Bring back OLTL. That’s what we all want.
LOL@ everyone here saying “not another talk show”. These are the same jilted lovers who still haven’t gotten over their beloved soaps leaving them, yet if they thought about it would realize that for ages and ages, said soaps were also on 3 hours a day on every network. No different.
I adore Meredith. She’s one in a million people whose talk show I would consider watching. That’s not because I love talk shows, but I do love Meredith. In a perfect world, she should be a news anchor again and leave daytime to scripted programming.
I will not be watching Meredith.. Another talk show please! And Queen Laifa has a talk show also now. Why do they keep putting out these talk shows? I am not interested at all. I rather watch a soap opera over a talk show any day.. I watch GH and when it is over at three, I put in my dvd player one of my movies to watch..
talk shows ,cooking shows will become extinct , GH prooved there is still life in soaps , abc should swallow there high almighty pride with stuck up execs , bring back our soaps to loyal fans who watched and made them rich if it wasn’t for us!!!! , ……more failed programming to come …abc can eat it like lucy cole on gh said:)
prospect park are lying asses too,…..
I would watch Meredith, but bring back OLTLand AMC too. Please don’t get rid of the other soaps that are on right now . The fans have spoken and what they want so try to find a way to do what the fans want and you will all be heroes.
i feel sorry for meredith , i like her , its obvious her show won’t stick ,its going to be the same as katie , i wish her well she seems like a great person 🙂
The problem isn’t the programming the problem is the whole network system is failing. Gone are the days where people had only three networks to choose from and those three networks could guarantee their advertisers large audiences to watch their ads. Slowly but surely, network television will be gone– replaced by a more a on demand format, where the consumers chooses which product to watch and when, and advertiser will target ads to individuals– by the kind of show they choose– sort of like what Google does now by targeting ads based on which websites you visit. Right now we are in this stage where the glory days of the Big Three are fading fast—- and they are trying for dear life to hold unto what little audience they once had but for cheapest amount possible. Until the network system dies completely, we will endure more of the same. Reinvention is the only long term solution to the problem.
Agree, and-
I can not understand how some people can hope for OLTL and AMC to return to any network tv station, it will never happen, never..
We are very fortunate to still have the 4 remaining soaps..
Daytime will soon be cheap tv, I even see infomercials coming to daytime to help keep it alive..
And yet, some people think OLTL and AMC could return to daytime haaa haa!!
(god bless those silly people lol)
I would much rather watch Meredith than Katie. My fear is that they’re actually going to put her on in place of General Hospital. I won’t watch her if that’s the case!
Like Meredith…but please, no more talk shows!
daytime tv is dying.. it’s the networks night time programming keeping daytime alive, money wise..
low budget very cheap talk and cooking shows are what is keeping money in the bank to produce our very expensive soaps on the air..
—- taking from hand to put in the other ..
Yawn, yet another talk show I’ll never watch… At this point, with all the talk shows and “reality” programming, a soap would be about the most original thing a network could offer.
I enjoy Katie when she has programming worth watching, or a celebrity I care about. But otherwise, I don’t tune in. Hopefully Meredith has a stronger go!! Wishing her all the success!!
Personality-wise, give me Meredith Vieira over that Katie Couric ANY DAY!!!!! Meredith is such a wonderful breath of fresh air…and…she knows how to keep it R-E-A-L!!!!! Unlike Katie, who is so fake and annoying. And the sound of Katie’s voice is EVEN MORE ANNOYING!!!!! No Thank You. TEAM MEREDITH VIEIRA!!!!!!!
Most likely I will not tune in as there are too many talk shows. I prefer good daytime drama like OLTL and AMC that ABC cancelled. Also there are too many cooking shows on too like that silly Chew. If ABC wants to cancel a show, chew up the Chew. Long live General Hospital!
Another boring talk show that will be cancelled like Katie!
Unfortunately, we all need to accept the fact that our soaps are gone for good. At some point, a really good soap will get going on the Internet. People are trying hard to make that happen. I get tired of people critizing PP. No one wants to bring the soaps back more than PP. They have invested a lot of money into the soaps. They had no idea how hard a task this was going to be. They are having to pave the way for themselves and others. I ,too, get frustrated with the lack of info from PP. I have accepted that PP may not be successful in bringing back our soaps but applaud them for trying and breaking down some barriers.
I think Michael needs to change the name of this site. I understand that since soaps are being cancelled, he needs to expand into the talk shows. I am happy that he does this because it does allow us to discuss these awful shows. He lets us speak unlike ABC. ABC kicked me off their chat room because I said I hated the Chew. I will always boycott ABC. It is so funny watching ABC try to win us back by bringing in some of our favorite characters, the latest being Delia. I will never watch ABC again no matter how they try to lure me.
Thank you Michael Fairman and Prospect Park. ABC….I hope you fail.
There are already too many talk shows on every channel. Just leave DOOL and GH alone. I have been watching them since I was a child. I used to watch these shows with my mother and grandmother. Talk shows need to get their own forum.
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing, during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).
On last week’s episodes of GH, Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door, he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned.
Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC
HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT
Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where Dante and Elizabeth previously, recalling, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, ‘Well, so much for that!'”
Fast-forward to early 2025 and as Zamprogna remembered it, “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said, ‘We’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth,’ My internal monologue is going, ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is … or not.”
Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprogna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric … and a big fan base with with Jason … and you know, you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Photo: ABC
DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES
In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is 100% down for. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.”
Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit, The buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other, and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect: Ric, Sonny, Lulu. There’s so much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”
You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.
Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither guy for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.
Beyond the Gates
‘Beyond the Gates’ Star Mike Manning Lands Role in Indie Horror Feature ‘Deify’

While Smitty tries to hold the fort down in his marriage to congressman Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) and their two teenaged children, Samantha (Najah Jackson) and Tyrell (Jaden Lucas Miller) on Beyond the Gates, Emmy-winner Mike Manning has also landed another feature film role.
According to Deadline, Manning has joined the cast of Deify with 6 other new cast members for the indie psychological horror film starring Neal McDonough and Skeet Ulrich, which was previously announced last week.
Joining Manning as the latest cast addition are: Dennis Haysbert, Ashley Greene, Casey Harnett, Kirk Avecdo, Anji White, anf Nicholas Chimera who’s directing the pic also has a part in the film.
WHAT’S THE STORY OF DEIFY?
Taking to his Instagram with the news of his casting, Manning shared, “A movie about a cult? What could possibly go wrong? Come for the enlightenment. Stay because they won’t let you leave. DEIFY is coming…”
The movie is currently shooting in Chicago and in story, “a cult leader is put on trial after causing his devoted followers to be burned alive. The film is inspired in part by events surrounding the 1993 Waco, Texas, standoff between members of the Branch Davidians church and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of the largest civilian firefights ever recorded on American soil.”
MIKE MANNING IS A DAYTIME EMMY NOMINEE
In addition, the multi-talented Manning is a producer on the feature. Previously, Mike was nominated last month in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards. He previously won an Emmy for his role on The Bay and for being a producer on the digital drama.
Mike’s previous credits include the role of Charlie Dale on Days of Our Lives and the Manny on This Is Us, plus various primetime and screen credits.
So intrigued to find what role Mike will play in the upcoming horror/cult film, Deify? Enjoying him as Smitty on Beyond the Gates? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
General Hospital
GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.
However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.
Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC
FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG
Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!
Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”
MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL
Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).
Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI
PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY
Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”
It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”
A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons
IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS
As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”
He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”
Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.”
So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.
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