A new Day for Muldoon!

After 15 years away from DAYS, the hunky Patrick Muldoon is set to return as Austin Reed, the role he originated back in 1992. Muldoon joins a number of DAYS vets returning to the canvas, as part of the restructuring plans of executive producer Ken Corday. This fall, the sudser will experience a casting facelift, in an effort to return it to more character-based stories. The return of a heartthrob like Muldoon could certainly entice former viewers to return.

After leaving Salem, Muldoon went on to steal hearts on television in the primetime soap Melrose Place and in feature films, including Starship Troopers. Muldoon's daytime departure paved the way for the introduction of Austin Peck, who took over as Austin, a role he played for just over 10 years. Peck now resides in Llanview in the recurring role of OLTL's Rick Powers. While Muldoon's Austin was a furry-chested hottie, Peck's Austin did away with his chest hair, giving fans a smooth, muscle-bound Adonis.

We'll be keeping our eye out for Austin Reed's current chesty choice when the character returns in the fall. Muldoon will reappear in Salem, along with his former co-star, Christie Clark, this September.

Austin Peck gains new Life!

In breaking soap news, Austin will bring his award-winning pecs to Llanview! That's the word from Soap Opera Digest, which is reporting that Austin Peck is joining One Life to Live in a new contract role.

Peck is best known for his stints on DAYS and ATWT. The 9-time Soaphunks.net Award winner scored a Best Hunk award for his role as the often-shirtless Austin Reed on DAYS. Peck followed up that role by showing off not just his hot body, but also his acting chops, when he took on the role of Brad Snyder on ATWT. Now, Peck will complete the network trifecta as he joins the hunky cast of OLTL.

Peck made waves during his ATWT stint due to his reported off-screen romance with co-star Terri Conn, who also recently joined OLTL as the scheming Aubrey. There's no word yet on who Peck will be playing, or whether he'll interact with his real-life love on the series. One thing's for sure: OLTL has a tradition of making good use of their soap hunks and it shouldn't be long before Peck is showing off his pecs in Llanview.

Peck begins filming at the end of January.

Mr. Peck teams up with Mr. PEC-tacular

Former DAYS and ATWT hottie Austin Peck has found a new business partner: bodybuilding champion and two-time competitor on the hit CBS reality show Big Brother, Jessie Godderz.

According to the website Wrestle Zone, Peck (a six-time nominee & two-time winner for Best Pecs on this site's Soaphunks.net Awards) appears in Godderz' workout DVD The Mr. PEC-Tacular Jessie Godderz Arm & Chest Workout, which is expected to be released by Thanksgiving.

As if that project weren't exciting enough, Peck and Godderz just finished filming a television pilot in New York called The Peck-ing Order.

Keep showing off your perfect pecs, Mr. Peck!

Austin Peck axed from ATWT

Nine-time Soaphunks.net Award winner Austin Peck has been dismissed from ATWT, in a move being confirmed by everyone except the show itself.

It seems safe to say that Peck's release was not under amicable circumstances, as TV Guide's Nelson Branco is reporting that Peck did not even sit with his ATWT co-stars at last week's Emmys. (Instead he resided with his former compatriots from DAYS.) Where might Peck end up next? Obviously DAYS would be the most logical destination, but no word yet.

Get more of the lowdown in Branco's column.

35th Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations Announced

The nominees for the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced this morning. Of the three people I was really rooting for this year (ATWT's Austin Peck and OLTL's Kathy Brier & John-Paul Lavoisier), a grand total of NONE of them got included. So ho-hum, here's this year's list of the (mostly) usual suspects:

Outstanding Drama Series
General Hospital (ABC)
Guiding Light (CBS)
One Life to Live (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Lead Actor
Peter Bergman, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
David Canary, All My Children (ABC)
Anthony Geary, General Hospital (ABC)
Christian LeBlanc, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Thaao Penghlis, Days of our Lives (NBC)

Outstanding Lead Actress
Crystal Chappell, Guiding Light (CBS)
Jeanne Cooper, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Nicole Forester, Guiding Light (CBS)
Michelle Stafford, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Maura West, As the World Turns (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Daniel Cosgrove, Guiding Light (CBS)
Trent Dawson, As the World Turns (CBS)
Brian Kerwin, One Life to Live (ABC)
Greg Rikaart, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Kristoff St. John, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Tracey Bregman, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Judi Evans, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Kelley Menighan Hensley, As the World Turns (CBS)
Gina Tognoni, Guiding Light (CBS)
Heather Tom, The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)

Outstanding Younger Actor
Darin Brooks, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Van Hansis, As the World Turns (CBS)
Bryton McClure, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Tom Pelphrey, Guiding Light (CBS)
Jesse Soffer, As the World Turns (CBS)

Outstanding Younger Actress
Vail Bloom, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Jennifer Landon, As the World Turns (CBS)
Rachel Melvin, Days of our Lives (NBC)
Emily O'Brien, The Young and the Restless (CBS)
Tamin Sursok, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Daytime Drama Writing Team
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
Guiding Light (CBS)
One Life to Live (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Daytime Drama Directing Team
All My Children (ABC)
The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
One Life to Live (ABC)

Overpraised: Y&R, which even its fans said had an off year. You'd never know it from its annual truckload of nominations. If it was so damn good, why did Lynn Marie Latham just get shown the door?

Underpraised: OLTL, which nabbed a deserved Best Show nom, but only one acting nom to go with it. How Trevor St. John, Tuc Watkins, John-Paul Lavoisier, and ESPECIALLY Kathy Brier got the shaft is beyond me.

Duly praised: ATWT, which was not worthy of a Show or Writing nomination, and got neither. However, its large cast of strong actors got plenty of mentions, although Austin Peck was the show's most compelling performer this year and was likely just sidelined because of his past work on DAYS. Wake up Academy: Peck was the man most deserving that was left wanting this morning. He certainly had more to offer than Dawson (an actor I adore), who was mostly relegated to pouring coffee at the diner in 2007.

Right amount of praise but to the wrong people: DAYS hasn't had four acting nominations in the same year in eons, so I'm thrilled to see it back in contention. But some of the choices here still boggle the mind. Judi Evans? Thaao Penghlis? What about Alison Sweeney or James Scott? Darin Brooks over Blake Berris? Rachel Melvin is the only one I can really see.

Join us tonight in chat (10pm ET/7pm PT) to get my full snarky commentary on this decidedly uninspired set of nominations.

9th Annual Soaphunks.net Award Nominations Announced!

The nominations for the 9th Annual Soaphunks.net Awards were unveiled today at soaphunks.net. 16 categories, 80 nominations, and limitless soaphunkery!

Check out the Flash nominations show here, or just refer to the text list here. Complete year-by-year history of the awards is also available online.

Matching last year's number, a total of 37 soap hunks were recognized this year. DAYS led all shows with 17 nominations, and CBS & NBC tied for the network lead with 28 noms each. This is the first year that CBS has ever been in the lead; ABC had 24 nods.

DAYS' Brandon Beemer & Marcus Patrick tied with PASSIONS' Adrian Bellani for the individual nominations lead, with 6 nods each.

The Best Hunk nominations went to Beemer and Bellani, as well as AMC's Cameron Mathison, ATWT's Austin Peck, and DAYS' James Scott. The latter three are all former winners in that top category.

As always, voting begins December 1 and runs about three weeks into the month.