The “Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart” podcast continues in August with fresh episodes featuring the likes of Maurice Benard (“General Hospital”), Heather Tom and Lawrence Saint-Victor from “The Bold and the Beutiful,” “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry, and “The Young and the Restless” stars Christian LeBlanc and Tracey Bregman.
Benard will appear in the fifth episode of the audio/video podcast, releasing on Tuesday, August 5, while Tom and Saint-Victor’s episode drops on Tuesday, August 12. One week later, Cherry will speak with Budig and Rikaart on Tuesday, August 19, with LeBlanc and Bregman closing out August on Tuesday, August 26.
The joint interviews featuring Tom/Saint-Victor and LeBlanc/Bregman mark the first time the podcast includes joint interviews in an episode. Prior episodes have seen individual interviews, including Eric Braeden (“The Young and the Restless”), Deidre Hall (“Days of our Lives”) and “Beyond the Gates” executive producer Sheila Ducksworth.
More recently, the Tuesday, July 29 episode of “Soapy” sees Lauralee Bell from “The Young and the Restless” discuss her soap opera career, the stories her father, the late William J. Bell, wrote for her, and whether or not another soap tried to poach her from the long-running series. She also talks about starting on soaps as a teenager and her mother (the late Lee Phillip Bell) and father’s working relationship.
Watch Lauralee Bell’s full interview below.
Hosted by Rebecca Budig (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) and Greg Rikaart (“Days of our Lives”), “Soapy” is a new audio and video podcast that dives deep into the legacy, fandom, and enduring appeal of soap operas. Available on Audacy or wherever podcasts are found, full video episodes are released every Tuesday through September 30 on the CBS brand YouTube channel.
“We decided, since we knew each other so well, that we should interview all the people that we know, and people that we don’t know, in this genre,” said Budig in the first-ever episode of “Soapy,” explaining why she and Rikaart decided to do the podcast. Chiming in, Rikaart noted, the podcast was also a way to “celebrate our genre, coming from a place of love and reverence, and respect, for the incredibly challenging, hard and fun work that we get to do in daytime soaps.”
Future episodes will include interviews with Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer, “The Bold and the Beautiful”), Eva LaRue (Natalia Ramirez, “General Hospital”), Cameron Mathison (Drew Cain, “General Hospital”), Karla Mosley (Dani Dupree, “Beyond the Gates”), Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman, “The Young and the Restless”) and Tamara Tunie (Anita Dupree, “Beyond the Gates”).
Produced by the Paramount Multiplatform Production Group, “Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart” is executive produced by Mike Benson. Andrew Pemberton-Fowler serves as producer.