Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 97

Wheeler has reportedly split from her husband, former "AW" co-star Tom Eplin (who played Jake McKinnon). We had unaffectionately dubbed the pair Mr. and Mrs. A (for Attitude!) during their reclusive last months on Others in the soap press felt that he, not she, had the attitude problem. At least we now have the far more talented of the two back.

Out of the Past YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE. When you give to the Red Cross, you take on a great responsibility: saving thousands of lives. Maybe even your own. American Red Cross Wheeler Dealer "All My Children," suddenly the hot soap to watch since its summer rejuvenation under the helm of new producer Stephen Schenkel and writer Agnes Nixon, keeps getting better. Now the show has hired Ellen Wheeler, the remarkable young actress who left "Another World" directly after a 1986 Emmy win for her haunting portrayals of twins Marley and Victoria Love.

On "AMC" she'll play a beautician named Cindy, who falls we were watching low-life entertainment. All that has changed, of course, and now NBC is officially sanctioning -no, encouraging soap watching on campus. NBC has just mailed 100,000 full-color 1987-88 poster calendars (with shots of "Santa Barbara" 's Rick Edwards, "Days of Our Lives" 's Melissa Brennan and Billy Warlock and "Another World" 's Linda Dano) to students around the country with this enclosed invitation: "Take a break from the books and indulge yourself in your wildest fantasies. After all, there's more to life than lecture notes." Says John Miller, NBC's VP of advertising and promotion, "Many viewing habits are cemented in college, but college audiences can be tough to reach. The poster is likely to be displayed on dorm walls and will hopefully, serve as a reminder to tune into our programs." If someone would have told us in 1971 that a soap stars poster would someday replace R.

Crumb's immortal "Keep on Truckin' as the dorm's most common wall decoration, we would have most sincerely retorted, "Are you tripping?" WA DAY AT THE COVE" CHOICE OF HAIR COLOR PERMANENT HAIR CUT MANICURE LUNCH MINI FACIAL $1 9A95S Am I MAKE-UP SESSION GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE 688-4616 I'. Si fjtzn (zoire 80 19-a Soqutt Dr. Soap Bits MICHAEL J. FOX, GENIE FRANCIS, GEORGE C. SCOTT, ESTELLE GETTY Just a few of the celebrities you'll get to know in TV UPDATE.

Every week in TV UPDATE, we give you an 'up close and personal' look at your favorite stars. We also have the latest celebrity news, colorful cover features and the most complete and accurate program schedules anywhere. Horan: comeback time? James Horan is also staging a comeback of sorts on "AMC." You'll remember he played Bret Madison on "General Hospital" and Denny Hobson on "Another World." Horan's specialty, is those snively types, and on "AMC" he has just started to play Creed Kelly, someone from the past of former prostitute Elizabeth Carlyle (played by Lisa Eichhorn). Assisting Creed in lowdown deeds will be his nephew Nico Kelly (played by Maurice Bernard). Horan so resembles "AMC" cast-mate Larkin Malloy (who plays Travis Montgomery) that he temporarily filled in for him as Sky Whitney on "Edge of Night" when Malloy was recuperating from a car cident five years ago.

We don't know if their "AMC" characters will be crossing paths, but the resemblance could confuse the audience. Dorms of Our Lives When we were in college in the early 1970s, protest and drugs were in and watching soap operas was most definitely out. So far out that we personally hid in our closet with our miniature TV every Friday afternoon, for fear someom would find out Wheeler returns in love with Stuart Chandler (played by David Canary). Stuart is mildy retarded, so it will be interesting to see how the show handles this unusual love story especially since New York's Village Voice newspaper reported that Cindy will be the character who suffers and dies from AIDS in' the show's supposedly secret upcoming story line. (The ABC publicity department's comment on the leak was "No one told us about this.

The show really slipped it by No one could ask for better casting in this delicate story line. Dur-. ing her "AW" days, Wheeler demonstrated she was the best young actress to debut on soaps in the last five years. So, Wheeler Nixon AIDS will probably add up to be the best soap story line of 1987-88. Since we last her, THE MAGAZINE THAT WORKS ALL WEEK.

Megnot ties the knot Roya Megnot (who plays Ava Alden on will be marrying realtor Keith Schumann next month, not long after Ava ties the knot with former inlaw Clay Alden (played by Randolph Mantooth) on the Tracey Bregman (who plays Lauren Fenmore on "The Young and the and fiance Ron Recht will wed on Dec. 19. BY CONNIE PAS3ALACQUA THE SENTINEL 4.