Fear not, KATHLEEN NOONE (Bette) fans: her bittersweet Beach experience -- loved the show, hated its cancellation -- hasn't soured her on soaps. "It doesn't mean I'm stepping away from daytime," she says. "I love daytime. I have always loved daytime. And if daytime calls again, I'll be there." In the meantime, the versatile actress continues to rack up an impressive array of extracurricular credits. In addition to her recurring gig as Ellie Bennett on FOX's Party of Five, she'll appear this Friday, November 5 on NBC's Cold Feet and has taped an upcoming episode of CBS's Diagnosis Murder. The inimitable Noone spoke with Digest Online about Sunset Beach as a groundbreaking -- and sometimes heartbreaking -- adventure.

DIGEST ONLINE: Your career is a great example for newcomers who fear being pigeonholed as "soap people". You're a soap person with a positively enviable primetime career - multigenre, multinetwork.
NOONE: First of all, my hat is off to [Executive Producer] Gary Tomlin for giving me the space to do that. Whenever something came up, they always worked the schedule around it. When I was asked to go back on Ellen, where I had a recurring role, they worked the schedule out. And Gary understands that it's an important for an actor to keep all the acting juices alive. It keeps you from getting into a rut, and it challenges you in another way. You then return to the daytime set refreshed; you've had a little shot in the arm. Secondly, I always want to encourage other soap people coming up: "Don't discount your talent; don't let anybody dictate what that is to you, if your inside is telling you to explore and expand, go do it." And there is a lot of room in primetime and film for people from daytime. Know your craft and behave like a professional, and there is a space for you.

DIGEST ONLINE: Is there a message you'd like to send to Beach fans?
NOONE: Sunset Beach had the most extraordinary, wonderful, loyal, enthusiastic fans I have ever seen for any show, and I mean this sincerely. They all deserve many, many kudos. This show would not have survived even the three years we did without their support. It was absolutely key in keeping it alive. And the shame of it is, in the last six months, when we started to turn the stories around, the network had already truly decided to let us go.

DIGEST ONLINE: So you believe there was nothing the fans could have done, that NBC had already made up its mind to cancel Beach when they announced the six-month extension in April?
NOONE: Yes. They were just doing it [reducing its daytime lineup] by increments: Another World first, then us. They were going around telling the affiliates they were going to drop us, but not telling us. And just when we had turned it around. It's very sad.

DIGEST ONLINE: Had you hoped another network might pick up the show?
NOONE: Yes. And I think it's a very sad moment that no other network did. It's not insightful -- another network should have picked us up. I think we would have done much, much better on another network. I have to be real, real frank with you about that. It's common knowledge, I think. I was hoping FOX would pick us up. One, FOX needs a daytime show. Two, we are that wonderful, wacky, wild show and we do good stories and we also are not afraid.

DIGEST ONLINE: Beach wasn't afraid to be different, but, as we've seen in recent weeks, it also wasn't afraid to reinvent itself, to admit its mistakes.
NOONE: Yes. I was a little offended, taken aback, by an interview I saw with the people at Passions, who were saying that daytime needs to be different. I tell you, we did everything different in the book and learned, like everybody else, there is no substitute for good story. You must have good, cohesive stories built on relationships, and then you bring in your events. And as far as that goes, we did a lot of ground-breaking work to try to introduce new things to daytime. My feeling is that a lot of good things came out of our show. Many, many good things. And also, I must tell you, it's one of the nicest groups of people, and enthusiastic and hard-working. We made our mistakes in front of everybody, and that's not an easy thing to do. But we picked ourselves up, changed it around. The great thing is, the changes showed. And as the show grew, we grew. I wish Passions well. I hope they can do the same thing. Having been in that position [in danger of cancellation] on our show.... I don't want to see the demise of the daytime industry. I want us to keep shows on the air. And let's find out whatever we have to do to do that!

DIGEST ONLINE: I'm sure you have some thoughts on that topic. Care to share any?
NOONE: Too much interference is happening from the people who run the demographics, and not enough is happening with the creative people who create the stories. We've got to get back to a better balance on that, folks. It can't all be about numbers, because if you're writing the good story, the numbers will show up. Just look at Sela Ward's show [Once and Again], and Providence. They're nice little shows tucked away in the corner, and boom! They're smashes. People want emotional attachment, and it has nothing to do with age. The feeding frenzy on viewers 12-18 is absolutely absurd, and it's biting them on the tail. I was [on All My Children] when Cap Cities came in and took over [ABC]. When Cap Cities stepped in, micromanagement took over. They were running it like it was a paper-pushing company. It's absolute stupidity. I want to say, "Who's minding the ship?" And the answer is, nobody.

DIGEST ONLINE: Well, I'm sure I'm not the first person who's told you this, but Bette will be missed. She's a blast.
NOONE: She is a blast. They didn't use her properly on the show, but she was a blast. I'm sorry they didn't have the insight to do that, but they didn't. But on we go, you know? At least I got a chance to create her. And maybe I'll play something like this someplace else. . .