Connect with us

News

vertTV Mobile-First Streaming App Launches with Microdramas Featuring Soap Notables: Vivica A. Fox, Josh Henderson, Krista Allen, John Brotheron, Jason Shane-Scott

By Michael Fairman

Published

on

Photo: JPI and IMDb

On Wednesday, a new microdrama company enters the space of the burgeoning world of verticals with the the release of vertTV, a mobile-first streaming app and production studio featuring an original development slate starring several actors with a soap opera past or present.

Vivica A. Fox (Stephanie Simmons, Y&R), John Brotherton (ex-Jared Banks, OLTL), Josh Henderson (ex-John Ross Ewing III, TNT’s Dallas), Barbara Crampton (ex-Leanna Love, Y&R), Jason-Shane Scott (ex-Will Rappaport, OLTL), Krista Allen (ex-Taylor Hayes, B&B), Brittany Underwood (ex-Langston Hughes, OLTL) and Jessica Morris (ex-Jennifer Rappaport, OLTL) and Russell Todd (ex-Jamie Frame, Another World) are all in new or upcoming microdramas for the company.

Hollywood vets Jeffrey Schenck, Barry Barnholtz, and Peter Sullivan launched vertTV (vertTV.com) as a premium filmmaker-led studio delivering high-stakes, cinematic genre television for mobile audiences. The app has been created for on-the-go viewing, and the subscription platform features snackable, fast-paced vertical episodes.

Photo: vertTV

vertTV Slate of Microdrama Premieres

In conjunction with the July 22 rollout, vertTV has unveiled an extensive development slate of original premieres and those in development including:

Finding Hope: Written and directed by multi-hyphenate Marla Sokoloff, this premium small-town drama reunites Fuller House stars Jodie Sweetin and John Brotherton, along with Richard Karn (Home Improvement). The series follows Emily Harper (Sweetin), a successful big-city doctor who returns home to save the family’s crumbling clinic after her father suffers a stroke, forcing her to navigate the local crisis alongside a skeptical hometown EMT (Brotherton) while choosing between her high-flying career and the community she left behind.

Wicked Wives: Executive produced by and starring Vivica A. Fox this glamorous, high-stakes ensemble murder-mystery centers on an NBA wife and ICU nurse who relocates to Atlanta’s most exclusive Black gated community and is quickly drawn into a world of secrets, infidelity, and murder led by a powerful circle of elite neighborhood wives.

Lone Star Hearts: Set in the cutthroat, wealthy world of Texas oil, this soapy romance and corporate thriller stars Josh Henderson as charismatic tycoon Cooper Vale and Hallmark Channel star Cindy Busby as his sharp-witted ex, Isabelle. The plot centers around the daughter of a businessman whose life was destroyed by Vale. When she infiltrates the powerful tycoon’s company to clear her father’s name, she unexpectedly falls for the man she came to destroy.

Bad Blood: Tailored for a Gen Z audience hungry for dark academia and supernatural suspense, this thriller centers around a scholarship student investigating the suspicious murder of her best friend at the prestigious Weddington University. Her search leads her to The Crimson Circle, a secret society hiding centuries-old vampire bloodlines, where she finds herself torn between a fellow student with secrets of his own and a magnetic insider whose connection to the society runs far deeper than she realizes. The series also features horror icons Barbara Crampton, and Russell Todd reuniting on the 40th Anniversary of their cult classic, Chopping Mall.

As Hollywood continues to embrace the 1-2 minute episode storytelling made for scrolling on your iPhone or Android devices, will you be jumping into the world of verticals especially now after seeing some of these names from the soaps and more, or is it a hard pass? Let us know via the comment section below.

Click to comment

0 Comments
oldest
newest

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Jeff Kober Accepts His Daytime Emmy Award After Being Unable to Attend the Ceremony

Published

on

By

Jeff Kober

Last night at the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Jeff Kober’s name was called as the winner of the Outstanding Guest Performer in a Daytime Drama Series for his role as murderer and all around misunderstood bad guy, Cyrus Renault on General Hospital.

Kober added a second Daytime Emmy to his collection for playing Laura Collins’ Genie Francis) half-brother. He previously won in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2022. He was also nominated the year prior.

Due to appearing in a “theater gig,” the actor revealed in a videotaped acceptance speech why he couldn’t be at the Hollywood Palladium on October 30 for the livestreamed ceremony.

Genie Francis and Jeff Kober

Photo: ABC

In his acceptance speech, Kober shared, “I want to say thank you to all of the actors who made this happen, and thank you especially to GH and my GH family. What a treat it has been to be with them. Sorry I wasn’t there last night. I had a prior commitment with a theater gig.”

He added, “I’m really sorry I didn’t get to see Genie (Francis) and the recognition by the Emmys she so richly deserves. Love you guys. Oh, also, congratulations to my pal, Roger Howarth (Matt, Y&R, and ex-Franco, GH). Maybe now GH will bring our characters back from the dead. Who knows? I see a storyline. Love to all. Thanks.”‘

Roger Howarth

Photo: JPI

Last night, Genie Francis received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Television of Arts and Sciences for her body of work since she joined GH initially in 1977 as a young teenaged Laura Vining.

Meanwhile, Howarth made history for the longest gap between Emmy wins for actors. It had been 32 years since he won Outstanding Younger Actor for his performance as Todd Manning in One Life to Live back in 1994.

You can check out Jeff Kober’s video acceptance speech below. Then let us know, what you think about the idea of Cyrus Renault returning from the dead, via the comment section.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s Wil Traval Revealed to Be Jude Jacks; the Son of the Nefarious Jerry Jacks

Published

on

By

Wil Traval

On the October 29 episode of General Hospital, viewers learned that Jude is actually Jude Jacks, the son of Jerry Jacks (last played by Sebastian Roché) ending all the theories of just who his new mystery man played by Australian-born actor Wil Traval.

The reveal came when Jude came a calling to the Quartermaines. Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton), Jason (Steve Burton) and Tracy (Jane Elliot) were in for a shock when he introduced himself as Jude Jacks, the son of Jerry, cousin of Josslyn (Eden McCoy) and father of baby Phoebe!

In the story, Jude explained that he’d been searching for Delilah Wilson for many months and tracked her down to Port Charles. Sadly, he leaned she died, and he never signed his parental rights away so he wants his daughter. Later, Jude showed up at Miller & Davis law office to speak to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) about an urgent legal matter and she was floored to learn he was Jerry Jacks’ son too.

Photo: ABC

Wil Traval spoke to TV Insider about finding out he would be playing another member of the Jacks family who has quite the storied history in Port Charles.

“When they told me about the role, they said, ‘Audiences won’t see what’s coming with this guy. Just think of a James Bond villain and James Bond mixed.’ And then they told me the storylines and how I was connected to the entire world, and the history of my family. I was given a run-through of who the Jackses were, and I was like, ‘I must be one of the luckiest people, right?’ It’s such a gift to be so well entrenched and connected to the Port Charles universe and the GH universe that it feels like I’ve been there for 100 years. It’s so good.”

However, Traval knows there are no fans like soap fans and that speculation was running high he might be Jerry Jacks with a new face or some other incarnation.

FAN THEORIES IMP

Wil expressed, “I have a little thing about reading things before I’m on the air. I didn’t want to read too much in case it affected anything I was doing before we got into the swing of things, but I vaguely saw little snippets here and there of people going, ‘Oh, he’s gotta be part of the Jacks family.’ The GH audience isn’t stupid. They know what’s up, and I think they’re pretty clever, and they can read between the lines, which is good.”

As for how far the apple falls from the tree, Jerry’s son, Jude may not be too far behind his father in skullduggery, but time will tell. Traval said of Jude, “He knows how to get things done. And if he doesn’t get it done, then he knows that there are other routes, probably not so legal or ethical.”

Traval noted, “When you’re thinking about who his father is, think about the kind of man Jude might have been brought up to be. Always keep that in your back pocket.”

So, what do you think about Jude turning about to the the son of Jerry Jacks? Do you like the story twist? Who is Hudson Parker to Jude Jacks, since Hudson went and tracked down Ethan Lovett before Jude even showed up in town Weigh-in via the comment section below. But first, check out the scenes where Jude reveals himself to the Quartermaines.

Continue Reading

Breaking News

Who Should Win Outstanding Lead Actor at the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards? (Poll)

Published

on

By

Lead Actor Emmy Nominees

The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmys are just a day away, and one of the more hotly-contested contests is which of your favorite leading men will walk away with the gold statuette for Outstanding Lead Actor?

The 5 actors who are going for gold each have had quite the history with the Daytime Emmys with several already having racked up several wins. Let’s take a look and the take our Michael Fairman TV poll at the bottom of the post and vote for who you think most deserves this year’s Lead Actor Emmy.

The nominees are: Eric Braeden (Victor Newman, The Young and the Restless), Steve Burton (Jason Morgan, General Hospital), Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer, The Bold and the Beautiful), Thorsten Kaye (Ridge Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Christian Jules Le Blanc (Michael Baldwin, The Young and the Restless).

Scott Clifton

Photo: JPI

FIVE ACTORS HAVE ALL PREVIOUSLY WON GOLD

As far as the actors Emmy resumes: Eric Braeden has been nominated nine times for Lead Actor and won once in 1998. Steve Burton is a two-time Daytime Emmy winner, both in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category for GH as Jason Morgan and Y&R as Dylan McAvoy. This nomination makes it Steve’s 10th overall, and his third time in the the Lead Actor category.

Scott Clifton has won three times previously in 2011, 2013 and 2017 and has the distinction of being the only actor to win in Younger Actor, Supporting and Lead. This is his 8th nomination Thorsten Kaye is a two-time Lead Actor winner in 2023 and 2024, while Christian LeBlanc has also won three times as Lead Actor in 2005, 2007 and 2009 and this is his first nod in over a decade.

The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards are set to be handed out in a ceremony on Friday night, October 30 beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California. And while there is no network television broadcast partner this year, fans can watch the ceremonies livestreamed on the NATAS/Daytime Emmys You Tube Channel.

Now below, cast your vote for who you think should win Outstanding Lead Actor tomorrow night, and then in the comment section let us know who you are rooting for on Emmy night.

Continue Reading

Video Du Jour

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

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Heather Tom

The Bold and the Beautiful

Airdate: 7-24-2026

Popular

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x