By Nic Baird

The golden era of soap operas didn’t really end in the nineties. When TNT revitalized Dallas last year, it gave fans hope for a new wave of the serial dramas. Genre loyalists might have felt threatened when NBC ended Passions in 2007, but they’ve responded with an interesting mid-season replacement this winter.

Katherine LaNasa stars as Sophia Bowers in Deception, which premieres tonight at 10/9c. This soap opera centers on the mystery of a famous dead socialite, Vivian Bowers, and her childhood best friend, Joanna Padget Locasto, a narcotics detective who returns to uncover the true story of her friend’s death. LaNasa, who recently starred in the summer comedy The Campaign as a peppy and ambitious senator’s wife, now plays the much more sombre and maleficent stepmother of the Bowers’ family. She describes her character as dark, brooding, smart, alcoholic, tricky and slippery. “It’s a fun role to play,” she says. …On the edge of your seat? Click here for more.