— Here’s your scorecard on the Neil Patrick Harris vs. Eric Braeden controversy. Last Friday, Braeden (Victor, The Young and the Restless) pulled out of his How I Met Your Mother guest stint because he felt that two lines of dialogue weren’t substantial enough for him. For the record, they asked him to do the stint at the last minute. Braeden originally appeared as Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) father in November 2008, while Alan Thicke portrayed her “father” in a Robin Sparkes video. The actor recently had back surgery (which explains his Y&R absence in recent weeks) and was busy with his Y&R workload (30 to 50 pages a day) and felt that he didn’t feel it was worth it to return to HIMYM for two lines. NPH tweeted that “Eric Braeden is a D-Bag. The actor (Robin’s dad) agreed to a cameo, then last night bailed, saying the part wasn’t ‘substantial’ enough.” The show recast the role with Ray Wise (Reaper).
Braeden responded to NPH via Entertainment Weekly with a statement, that only the Great Victor Newman could come up with: “His choice of words bothered me. It seems to me like a young whippersnapper, having seen himself on a few covers, who’s received a few awards, is now suddenly suffering from the first signs of hubris. I’ve been in the business for 50 years. I’ve seen people come and go and I’m still here.” Still laughing with the EW reporter, Braeden concluded that “If he’s worthy adversary, he’d better not cross my path. I will let bygones be bygones.”
NPH later regretted his tweet and updated his status with “Now I feel bad for the D-bag comment. Don’t know the guy personally. I’m just fiercely protective of our show.”
— Meanwhile, Jeff Branson (Ronan) has extended his stay at Y&R.
— Laura Lee Bell will return in mid-January as Christine for a storyline involving Ronan’s health.
— Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) will guest star on Castle as a wealthy client of a murder victim. Her episode will air on January 3rd.
— Melissa Hayden has been cast as Agnes on Y&R and she’ll make her debut on January 6th (Canadian episode). The actress won an Emmy while playing Bridget Reardon on Guiding Light in the 90s.
— Texas Battle (Marcus) will take a break from The Bold and the Beautiful this January to film the MTV new series, Death Valley.
— Days of our Lives has cast Francisco San Martin as Rafe and Gabi’s never-before-mentioned brother, Dario. The actor briefly appeared in November as a patient that was treated by Nathan and Melanie.
— Michael Park (ex-Jack, As the World Turns) will star alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The play, which opens March 27th also stars Tammy Blanchard (ex-Drew, Guiding Light) and John Larroquette.
— General Hospital is adding a couple of recurring players next month. Khary Payton will play Terrell, a new pediatrician beginning the week of January 3rd while Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo reunites with her Las Vegas co-star, Suzanne Whang, who’ll appear as Carol beginning the week of January 10th.
Spoiler Talk: Come next week, you’ll find out that Amber (Adrienne Frantz) is pregnant on The Bold and the Beautiful. The baby-daddy is expected to be Oliver (Zach Conroy), but her mother Tawny (Andrea Evans) will convince her to pass the baby off as Liam’s (Scott Clifton), so the kid will be the heir to the Spencer fortune. If B&B was smart, they would have had Amber and Rick (Kyle Lowder) also have had a tryst so that once the Liam/Oliver fallout is over with, the baby drama could bring her back into the Forrester fold, the one place where this troublemaker really belongs. Either way, that would be one retcon that I’m sure fans wouldn’t have a problem with. Besides, it’s not like we know what Rick’s been up to these days. Also, how unfortunate is it that Amber and Daniel broke up on Y&R because she wanted kids and he didn’t? Less than a year later, Amber’s knocked up by a man she doesn’t love while Daniel’s having a kid he doesn’t want with that dreadful Daisy (or so it seems that way).
