Brandon's Buzz Brandons Buzz

A longtime friend of Brandon's Buzz, the incredible Laura Bonarrigo --- best known for her role as Cassie Callison Carpenter Buchanan on ABC's classic soap One Life to Live --- has put show business on the back burner and transitioned into a new role as a life coach.  Inspiried in part by the dissolution of her own relationship, Bonarrigo has recently created an online course to help her clients navigate the treacherous waters of divorce, and she is stopping by the Buzz to give us all the details!

LINKS:

doingdivorceschool.com

laurabonarrigo.com

@laura_bonarrigo -- Twitter

@laura_bonarrigo -- Instagram

 

A soap sensation in the early 1990s with her starring role as Darlene 'Luna' Moody Holden on ABC's One Life to Live, the incredible SUSAN BATTEN left the suds grind far behind two decades ago in search of fulfilling other facets of her creative spirit.  Now a burgeoning mover-and-shaker behind the scenes, Batten's latest project --- a charming Lifetime film entitled Showing Roots, which takes a personal look at continuing racism in a small Louisiana town in the late 1970s --- has just arrived on DVD, and she is stopping by the Buzz with her former One Life co-star --- and fellow Roots co-producer --- KASSIE DePAIVA to discuss Showing's roots and to dish on their daytime television salad days. 

On the occasion of Guiding Light's heart-wrenching series finale in 2009, the show's fiercely brilliant former headwriter PAMELA K. LONG --- who sent the soap's ratings into the ionosphere throughout the 1980s with her incredible, inspired characters and couplings --- stopped by the Buzz for a rollicking two-hour gabfest which continues to rank among our top ten most downloaded episodes ever.  Long has been laying low of late in the entertainment world, but a couple of years ago, fate tossed her into country icon Dolly Parton's orbit when the opportunity to adapt Dolly's classic smash 'Coat of Many Colors' into a television movie for NBC landed in her lap.  The film was an instant hit, and a sequel quickly followed; both films have just been released on DVD, and now Long is returning to Brandon's Buzz to discuss how these projects came to life and to (hopefully!) clear up a few lingering soap-related questions from our first conversation. 

In 1980, partly spurred on by the advice of his pal Dabney Coleman, who urged him not to dismiss acting on a soap opera as beneath him, the great ERIC BRAEDEN --- who had already made quite a name for himself throughout the 1970s playing featured roles in films and guesting on the prime-time series of the day --- accepted what was originally intended to be a three-month role as a villain on The Young and the Restless.  Little did Mr. Braeden know at that time that his short-term part --- that of ruthless billionaire corporate raider Victor Newman --- would catch fire with the audience, and that Victor would still be the primary mover and shaker among the Genoa City society elite a full thirty-seven years later.

Eric has just documented the story of all of the above --- as well as how he made the journey from war-torn Germany, where he was born, to the wilds of Hollywood --- in his brand new memoir, I’ll Be Damned, a spectacularly dishy, rip-snorting read which has just landed in bookstores via the HarperCollins, and he is stopping by the Buzz to talk about why he decided this was the right time to a publish an autobiography, to reflect on various of his co-stars from throughout his four decades on Y&R, and to discuss how he feels about the current turbulent political climate in this country in the months since last November's stunning presidential election!

With six Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actress, she is easily the most decorated and most respected performer in the history of American soap opera, and her four decades spent standing in Victoria Lord Riley Burke Buchanan Carpenter Davidson Banks Buchanan's regal shoes have made her a television icon.  Now, in part two of her first-ever longform podcast interview, the Queen of Llanview herself --- One Life to Live's incredible, electrifying ERIKA SLEZAK --- comes to Brandon's Buzz for an extended conversation full of reflections and memories regarding forty years of co-stars (Phil Carey, Robin Strasser, and Nathan Fillion, among many others) and producers (Paul Rauch, Linda Gottlieb, Frank Valentini, anyone?).  PLUS: Slezak reveals how she got the word about One Life's cancellation, and spills more than a little tea on the chaotic and ill-fated 2013 online reboot of the classic soap.

With six Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actress, she is easily the most decorated and most respected performer in the history of American soap opera, and her four decades spent standing in Victoria Lord Riley Burke Buchanan Carpenter Davidson Banks Buchanan's regal shoes have made her a television icon.  Now, in part one of her first-ever longform podcast interview, the Queen of Llanview herself --- One Life to Live's incredible, electrifying ERIKA SLEZAK --- comes to Brandon's Buzz for an extended conversation about her early life growing up in the shadow of her Tony-winning father, why she decided to forge her own path as a performer, and how she made her way --- fortunately for us all --- to the world of daytime television.