Fancast: Inside TV

On who he’d cast to play Marcus’s so far unknown father: Shemar Moore (ex-Malcolm Y&R) or Kristoff St. John (Neil Y&R). I think the fans would go crazy if one of [their characters] turned out to be the father.

On his co-stars: From my first day there, everyone accepted me. It’s like family. I can’t say that anybody stands out because I like working with everybody. On the weekends, I enjoy the time off but part of me wants to get back to work. And a lot of that is because I want to see my friends.

On Marcus and Steffi’s relationship: He likes Steffi. He’s attracted to her. But she’s a Forrester. Marcus is kind of stuck in the middle – between his Mom [and the family.] Things are starting to get warm. It’s going to turn into fire!

On how the Forresters will react when they find out Marcus is Donna’s son: When Steffi Forrester finds out Marcus is Donna’s son, there’s not just going to be fireworks. There’s going to be eruptions. There’s going to be hot, molten lava. Marcus is a nice guy. But you don’t violate a man’s privacy. Marcus is going to snap a little bit. Marcus and Pam, they’ll [become] rivals. Ridge is going to have a strong reaction to the situation. Marcus hadn’t understood why Donna wants to keep [his existence] a big secret. But seeing how these Forresters act, that they’re spoiled, bitter people, he starts to understand.

On whether Marcus wants a piece of the Forrester pie: Marcus came to L.A. with only one thing on his mind – to find his birth Mom. He doesn’t care that she’s wealthy. His original intention was to find her then go back to Texas.

On Brad Bell and the writers: They’ve used a lot of my history [in developing the character.] I was a basketball player in college. I got injured. They worked that into the storyline. That’s mind-boggling to me. That sort of thing doesn’t happen too much. It shows that Brad is taking an interest in this character. He wants to make sure I’m comfortable with the situation. Every Tuesday morning we talk about my character, we talk about my storyline.

On his favorite non B&B Entertainment: Two-And-A-Half Men, comedies and horror movies – the Final Destination series.

On the future of B&B: I want B&B to overtake Y&R [and become] the #1 soap [in the U.S]. We have the cast to compete with Y&R. We’re already #1 worldwide.

On his personal life: Texas Battle is single and looking for love! Come holla at me on MySpace: www.myspace.com/texasbattle

Ask The (Currently Unemployed) Soap Writer

Paul: Ms. Bibel,
You had me up until this post, the tenor of which dismays me. I see little of critical value in picking apart a story that has yet to air; indeed, Nash died just last week, and already your comment is, "but I have to wonder if it was worth it." That's a question that ought to be asked when all is said and done. Not at the beginning of a story. Not when there are innumerable signs that the fallout and repercussions will be felt far and wide across the canvas; not when the head writer has already proved to play an amount, texture and variety of beats per story that continues to outstrip, in my opinion, every other Daytime show on air; and especially not from another writer. I would think that you of all people would know from experience that even with the culture of spoilers, we fans often have less than the full story….

You make a very good point. In retrospect, I did pre-judge this story. Killing Nash may turn out to be a brilliant decision. As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, I am a huge One Life To Live fan. Other readers have criticized my constant praise of the show. I am attempting to remain spoiler free, so I don’t know where the story is going. You also rightly called me out for my embarrassing misspelling of the name Buchanan. I swear that it was a momentary brain lapse. I usually know how to spell. I think it’s great that you are enjoying OLTL so much. My concern about the story stems from my affection for the show. I’m thrilled that it’s been #2 in the key Women 18-49 demographic for the past few weeks and I want OLTL to continue to do well. I hope you’ll keep reading and commenting.

Dee: Were you writing for Y&R the week Kristen was exposed in 1997? What did the Y&R writing staff think of DOOL’s [high] ratings that week?

In 1997 I was working in the research department at Columbia-TriStar/Sony, the studio that produces both DOOL and Y&R. I don’t know how the writers at Y&R felt, but Sony was delighted to have the two top soaps on the air – especially since DOOL was most popular with younger viewers while older viewers favored Y&R. That meant that Sony’s soaps were #1 in every demographic.