Scene & Heard – Soap Opera Digest

DAYS’s Sal Stowers (ex-Lani) and Lamon Archey (ex-Eli) appreciated working with their high-wattage co-stars, Jackée Harry (Paulina) and Marla Gibbs (Olivia). “That was great,” raves Archey. “I was super-happy to work with legends like Marla Gibbs and Jackée. They’ve done so much for the culture. Just having them come in and be a part of the show and bring their star power to DAYS was great. It was a pleasure to work with them. I’ll also hold onto the memories that I built with them and the talks that we had. I’ll be able to look back at pictures and say, ‘Oh man. I watched these people growing up, and I got to work with them myself and really see how they are as humans.’ To see that they are just as good humans as they are actors was great.” Stowers adds, “It made me feel so special and so honored. I was over the moon [when they brought Jackée and Marla on the show]. I was like, ‘Wow! They’re bringing these strong characters on to elevate my story, to elevate Lani, to elevate “Elani”.’ ” It just made me feel like, ‘Okay, I’m doing something right here.’ I couldn’t have been more thankful.”

Joshua Morrow (Nick, Y&R) did a fun improv after Tessa and Mariah’s wedding — a happy dance in front of Sharon Case (Sharon), Camryn Grimes (Mariah) and Cait Fairbanks (Tessa) just before the scene went to commercial. “Yeah, that was unscripted, nobody on the set expected that,” Morrow chuckles. “First of all, I was in a good mood because it wasn’t Nick’s wedding. I usually end up standing on my feet all day and my back is killing me but for this, I was having a great time so I just started doing it. I was trying to make Camryn laugh, but she just basically stared at me with those ‘Halloween’ eyes. She’s like this freak, you know. I think I was doing the dance by Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights. At least, that’s who I was trying to channel, I think. Of course, I could’ve come off as a complete dork, but Cait saved me because she started matching my moves, while Camryn and Sharon looked like bumps on a log.

GH’s Tajh Bellow is happy about the expansion of his storyline life now that TJ is out of medical school. When the show touched on TJ’s emotions in the wake of losing his first patient, “I felt like that was a very important moment for him in his development,” Bellow notes. “I was very happy that they wrote that.” Those scenes gave him the chance to share emotional material with Kelly Thiebaud (Britt). “Kelly, she’s amazing, hence her Emmy for Supporting Actress,” the actor smiles. “She’s so much fun to walk to work with, and she really lives in every moment. Like, she doesn’t need lines to act; her body and her eyes are already aligned with the work that we’re doing.” When TJ is in doctor mode and working with patients, Bellow shares, “I have to learn so many things, on the day, to authentically represent and portray what it is to be a doctor, to work with the medical equipment. We work with a medical consultant who instructs me on what to do. So, I know I’m not actually a doctor, but I am learning some of the techniques to look believable! It’s so much fun.”

Sean Kanan (Deacon, B&B) is hard at work on a fourth book, one that he hopes will inspire people as much as his other three have. “It just kind of sneaked up on me,” he notes. “I’m humbled and I’m honored, and I’m just touched from the bottom of my heart hearing from people. I really do love writing and I’m very moved by the subject matter at the time, and I think I have more to say. I’m already outlining the next book and my hope is that it may be out during the first quarter of next year. This is like a movement. I love seeing the people become they best that they can become, the most authentic of who they are meant to be and if I can help in any way, that helps me along my own way. I learn as much as I try to give, and this has been a great journey.”