Nicolas Coster's character will be the mayor on "The Bay"

Here at BRBTV, we've been eagerly awaiting the debut of "The Bay," partly because we're curious, from a historical television perspective, as to how this whole web soap thing is going to fly, but mostly because of the three "Santa Barbara" stars who will be featured on the series, as we reported recently. (And there's a possibility of more "SB" stars popping up, but we can't tell ya just yet what our roving reporter Tracy has learned!)

The series premieres on Wednesday, September 15 at 3 p.m. Eastern on the LANYFilms YouTube channel, and will repeat that evening in higher-res on Blip TV.

The production company released some info this morning, including the formal intro to our beloved former Lionel Lockridge, correcting previously released info on the name of Coster's character:

"We are proud to announce two additional stars who will be guest appearing on the first season of 'The Bay.' Seasoned film and television icon and 9x soap opera veteran Nicolas Coster (best known to the daytime world as Lionel Lockridge, 'Santa Barbara') will make a special guest appearance in Chapter 6 of the series as Mayor Jack Madison, alongside soap stud Brody Hutzler (Patrick Lockhart, 'Days of Our Lives,' Cody Dixon, 'The Young and the Restless') in the role of Press Secretary Kenneth Allen. Additional soap stars will also be joining Coster and Hutzler in Chapter 6 to introduce a potential spin-off of 'The Bay,' tentatively scheduled for an early 2011 premiere."

It's certainly an ambitious endeavor that producer Gregori J. Martin is embarking on, and we can't wait.

TGIF Toys: Watch that table talk, J.R.

The object: Be the first to accumulate $20 million in holdings of assets and / or cash.
The method: Relentlessly steal from your opponents and deviously protect your own holdings.
The inspiration: J.R. Ewing, of course.

From Mego Corp., maker of those fine 8-inch dolls from the '70s and '80s (and a set of prototype 4" figures from "Dallas," by the way) comes this card game, snagged on eBay several years ago. For two to four players age 8 and up (isn't that a little young?!), the game features cash cards and asset cards for "wheeling, dealing and stealing." Great, deal us in.

Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Spotted: David Hedison

BRBTV has been powering through the classic "Wonder Woman" episodes on DVD in order to provide synopses at the IMDb (and in order, of course, to indulge our love of classic TV!), and whom do we spot the other day but a star from our beloved "Dynasty" spinoff, "The Colbys." David Hedison portrayed the dashing Roger Langdon, a lord by title and the onetime commander of Francesca Colby's heart.

On the second-season "Wonder Woman" episode "The Queen and the Thief," Hedison is every bit as charming and every bit as indicative of that international verve'. Cloaked in the cover of a secret agent, he quickly wins the trust of an enchantingly-blue-eyed Juliet Mills as Queen Kathryn, American-born monarch of the exotic Malachar (is that where they mine malachite? OK, sorry). But Hedison's character, Evan Robley, is really a suave thief after the queen's jewels! He sure makes Wonder Woman work hard to convince the queen he's a phony! Ooooh-la-la!

A decade before he returned to Colbyland to try to win back Francesca, Hedison is young, refined, cultured, and all classy-crook in this role. See the October 1977 ep for yourself at the WB, and read the full BRBTV synopsis at the IMDb.

John Callahan, Nicolas Coster and Lane Davies join cast of web soap

Oooh, we love such a fine round-up of news on a Monday morning ... It's a mini-"Santa Barbara" reunion. Lane Davies, our own original Mason Capwell, along with Nicolas Coster (Lionel Lockridge) and John Callahan (Craig Hunt), are part of the cast of a new web soap premiering this fall.

"Following the life of socialite Sara Garrett and the people around her, 'The Bay' is a new independent soap opera in the vein of Aaron Spelling's 1980's classic primetime hit, 'Dynasty,'" says the description on the show's home page, which includes buttons for donations.

Callahan will start out on the show, which began shooting this month, then Davies and Coster will join in subsequent chapters. Coster's character name is Frank Perkins, while Callahan is portraying Mackenzie Johnson. Davies is to-be-determined (can we offer suggestions????).

Interesting concept, this whole web soap thing. And we're detecting a rather "classic" touch on this one, complete with '80s/'90s music and '80s/'90s stars. We'll be sure to check it out.

And that's not all! Catch Callahan in this weekend's creature feature on Syfy, "Dinocroc vs. Supergator." It's 9 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Callahan also just appeared in this month's "The A-Team."

"SB" castmate Terri Garber, meanwhile (Suzanne Collier), will return to her character Iris Dumbrowski on "As the World Turns" in mid-July.

BRBTV News Blog Blip: Patrick Duffy, our beloved Bobby Ewing of "Dallas," will appear on this Friday's episode of "Price is Right" with host Drew Carey. Catch a little more at Soaps.com.

TGIF Toys: Not just another boy next door!

Isn't he such a little sweetie-pie? He really is such a little sweetie-pie! (We tell him that as often as we can, you know.) He's our guy Arch, and he's actually not that little. He's about 18" high and crafted by Presents from 1987. He was one of our great finds back when the (Internet) world was young and we were so deeply infatuated with eBay, long before we had to curb our addiction and any search on "Archie Comics" would yield such yummy, varied results of odds and ends we'd never before laid eyes on! Oh, to be that young again!!!!

Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Spotted: Ted Shackelford

He has the nice distinction of being about the only man on the 1970s show "Wonder Woman" to actually call poor Diana Prince pretty. He's the young taxi driver, Pete, who meets Diana when she arrives in Los Angeles on a mission to find Steve Trevor. He's also Ted Shackelford, known to us as the second, and permanent, Gary Ewing of "Dallas" and its spinoff, "Knots Landing."

Pete doesn't shy away from adventure in this second-season episode, "Knockout," which originally aired in October 1977, not long before Shackelford saddled up on "Dallas." When Diana warns him that their cab is being followed and he may be in danger, he not only hangs onto his fare -- he punches the bad guys for her! Wonder Woman then steps in to help, and he's appropriately stunned by the Amazon beauty.

Shackelford is friendly, noble and street-smart in the role, as well as California-blond handsome and an ex-Marine. Ironically, his young son in the episode is named Ted. Watch it yourself at the WB, and find BRBTV synopses of this and the other "Wonder Woman" episodes at the IMDb.

By the way, Shackelford worked in one more episode of the "WW" series before heading off to Texas.

TGIF Toys: A vintage Rooby-Doo!

This lovable stuffed poochie, complete with original tag dated 1980, was secured at a Michigan antiques mall for about $6 in the late ‘90s. Worth every heckin' penny. Like last week's photo, we shot this for the BRBTV Report on the show (the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!", you understand -- we're purists around here! though we haven't been known to turn down a good "Pup Named Scooby-Doo" episode!).





Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

John Schneider to appear on the "Huckabee" show, and more

Thanks once again to Phyllis at the John Schneider Unofficial Fan Club on Facebook (which Schneider just joined, by the way) for this great update on the current projects of our own Bo Duke of "The Dukes of Hazzard":

- Schneider will be filming the "Huckabee" show in New York City on June 26. It will air on June 26 and June 27 on Fox News at 8 p.m. Eastern. Tune in to hear John singing "The Promise"!

- Schneider is in Santa Clarita, California, filming a web-based sci-fi show called "10,000 Days." There will be 10 episodes, two of which have already been shot.

- The movie "WWJD," in which Schneider portrays a drifter, can be purchased now at http://www.wwjdmovie.com/.

- The movie "Wild Things: Foursome," in which John portrays Det. Frank Walker, is also available now. Check it out at places like Amazon.com.

- Don't forget to watch John on "Hot In Cleveland" on June 16 at 10 p.m. Eastern.

- For personal appearances, Schneider will be meeting fans at the Chicago Comic Con on August 21 and 22. For more information go to http://www.wizardworld.com/home-ch.html.

Catch the new Comics Continuum TV show, and catch BRB doing some fun interviews

Once upon a time, a decade or so ago, Billie Rae Bates did some writing and photography for the Comics Continuum website, which began its life as the Comic Book Continuum under the umbrella of The Detroit News, before branching out on its own. The site, wildly popular over the years, has now become a TV show. Debuting on Detroit's Channel 20 (MyTV) this past Saturday afternoon, the half-hour weekly series mixes what's going on in the world of comic books with the latest in film, TV and animation.

If you catch the Comics Continuum TV show, and if you watch the website, you'll see BRB doing video interviews like the one below. She spent this past weekend at HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., working on some great footage to be seen in the coming weeks and months. Click here to see her chatting with writer Christos Gage about his work on the upcoming Kevin Sorbo movie "Paradox."

If you're in Metro Detroit, tune in to the show at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays!

TGIF Toys: Futuristic Bat-villains on the loose!!!!

This is not your father's Joker ... maybe your grandkid's, instead. This is a member of the Jokerz gang from a half-century in the future, to be exact, along with Inque, Derek Powers / Blight, and a few Batmen Beyond to keep 'em in line!

This fun gang is from Burger King’s 2000 Kids’ Meal toys, in celebration of the "Batman Beyond" show when it was in its second season on the Kids WB! We shot this photo for our BRBTV Report on the show: Inque is a keychain, the Jokerz' bike spins off the pad with a pull cord, and Derek Powers' "suit" breaks in half to reveal the glowing supervillain within. Oh, and that red top-thingie spins and lights up, if we recall correctly (the toys are now safely in storage!).

All in all, sooooo worth multiple trips to Burger King a decade ago ...




Photo by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Joan Collins to appear at FanExpo in Canada

Joan Collins at a con? You betcha -- our "Dynasty" grande dame is forever a part of "Star Trek" lore for doing that blockbuster original episode "City on the Edge of Forever." Canada's FanExpo is pretty keen on that; Collins is on the guest list for the event, August 27-29, in Toronto.

For good measure, her "City" co-star William Shatner is on the guest list, as well, along with Adam West, Burt Ward (nice to see them both at the same con -- kinda rare, actually), Leslie Neilsen and more. The con, beyond the typical comics guests, also explores the genres of sci fi, horror, anime and gaming.