“Who are these people I keep hearing about? Burt and… Laura?”
— the marvelous A, requesting more information on the greatest love story in the history of American soap opera — that of Luke and Laura on “General Hospital” — after listening to my interview with former “GH” star Lynn Herring on Brandon’s Buzz Radio. (Gotta love him!)
I have no idea why no one else online seems to have gotten their hands on this nugget of information, so I’m breaking big soap casting news right here on Brandon’s Buzz tonight: I’m thrilled to announce that one of the Buzz’s favorite actors, the magnificently dashing Gordon Thomson (with whom I had a riveting two-hour chat back in January on Brandon’s Buzz Radio, and who will likely be returning to my hot seat sometime in May), has just joined the cast of “Days of Our Lives” in a recurring role. Thomson — best known as slick, sinister Adam Carrington on the ’80s classic primetime soap “Dynasty,” and as the finest and most wittily erudite of the three Mason Capwells on the late, great “Santa Barbara” — will be portraying Walter, the father of Owen, the mysterious new character being played by Latter Days star (and “Guiding Light” alum) Wes Ramsey. As of now, Thomson is only slated for five episodes, but is hopeful that the role will be expanded. (A first airdate is not yet known; Gordon relayed to me that he has just begun filming, so Walter should show up in Salem just in time for some May sweeps madness.)
Growing up, I was an NBC kid.
To this day, I have clear memories of getting home from half-day preschool just in time to catch the closing minutes of “Texas,” have lunch, and settle in at my mother’s knee for a full afternoon of “Days of Our Lives” and “Another World.” That marvelous lineup of daytime entertainment underwent multiple changes as time marched forward — “Texas” (the first soap cancellation I ever survived, funnily enough) left the air in 1982 (just as it was getting good!) around the same time that “Search for Tomorrow” came over from CBS to finish out its legendary life, and my beloved “Santa Barbara” came along in 1984 for a remarkable nine-year run — but throughout my formative years as a television fan, NBC — with its softly glowing series (didn’t you always love the way “Days” looked just a tad fuzzy back then, almost as though it were shot through a thin film of super-sheer pantyhose?) and its magnificently endearing characters (Marlena! Roman! Felicia! Cass! Rachel! Cruz! Mason! Julia!) — was always home.
Dear Mr. Obama,
I understand you’re kinda new at this racket, so let me say at the outset that I’m willing to give your shameful ignorance the benefit of the doubt, and willing to believe your silly, impetuous actions on Friday will never again be repeated. But, sir, you’ve been president-elect for barely a week, and you’ve already made no fewer than one enormous miscalculation, one which, try as I might, I simply can’t allow to stand.
I’m sure what follows is funny to no one but me, but the beauty of having my own blog is that I have the power to indulge myself in that which amuses me greatly.
Earlier this year, Ellen Wheeler, the executive producer of the 71-year-old American institution “Guiding Light,” spearheaded a radical revamp of the classic soap, switching to handheld digital cameras and adopting a more “natural” shooting style. In addition, the show’s home base was moved from its traditional Manhattan studio out to Peapack, New Jersey, several of whose locales — churches, municipal buildings, gas stations, and residences — now double for those in fictional Springfield, the town in which the show is based.
In late February, when the show’s new production model was unveiled, Wheeler gave a multitude of interviews to the mainstream press trumpeting the enormous changes, and expressing profuse joy over being able to now show the soap’s characters driving real cars, waving from real porches, and primping in real salons. (As she herself intoned excitedly, “Now when a character is getting down on one knee to propose, he doesn’t have a patch of fake grass sliding out from under him in the studio. It’s there in the beautiful park and believable!”)
Over the past few months, I’ve become great pals with a fabulous woman name of JoAnn Kubasek, who hosts a fascinating online talk show called Stardish on the BlogTalkRadio network. Although of late, the show has branched out into the worlds of film and Broadway, Stardish’s main beat is the soaps; JoAnn has recently landed terrific interviews with industry icons like Linda Dano, Catherine Hickland, Michael E. Knight, Ilene Kristen, and countless others, and she has done yeoman’s work in constructing this amazing forum for the fans to connect with their favorites.
I’ve had the immense honor of participating in the evolution of this show, both on air (it’s been great fun being able to pick the brains of some of my favorite stars, and — although I did no such thing — JoAnn likes to credit me with “saving her ass” the night she had soap legend Judi Evans, whose acclaimed work she was unfamiliar with, as a guest) and behind the scenes (I’ve done some freelance writing on behalf of the show in recent weeks, and eagerly anticipate further assignments).
Depending on the lineup of guests, Stardish airs most weeknights at 10pm EDT (9 here in Texas, y’all) and can be heard at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stardish. I’m quite excited to be co-moderating a soap chat on the show tonight, and you’re all invited to attend and throw your two cents in!
“This… inferiority complex that daytime [television] has with regard to prime time, I think, is hurting it, especially because, ironically, prime time has become so much more like daytime! It’s almost like soap operas lost the battle and won the war, because, with the exception of a few police procedural-type shows, I can’t think of a single prime time or cable show that doesn’t have soap opera elements.”
— former “Young and the Restless” writer Sara Bibel, discussing daytime’s woes on the BlogTalkRadio show “In the Zone”
Sure, it’s not in the same league as the impeccably rendered coffee table scrapbook that Gary Warner assembled for the soap’s 30th anniversary in 1998, but considering the sorry state of affairs that is daytime television these days, I gratefully choose to appreciate the fact that we get even this much.
In The “One Life to Live” 40th Anniversary Trivia Book, longtime soap journalist Gerald Waggett delves into the legendary soap opera’s rich history and, alongside the standard year-by-year plot recaps, character bios, and Emmy data, manages to dig up a few kernels that even I didn’t know (and I pride myself on knowing everything about this show!), including the revelation that executive producer Paul Rauch, despite his vehement protestations to the contrary back then, was trying to lure Robin Strasser (who had left the show on bad terms with Rauch a few years prior) back to her signature role as Dorian Lord in 1990 but was instead forced to recast with Elaine Princi after Strasser turned him down flat, or that the passionate objections of my forever fave Hillary B. Smith convinced head writer Michael Malone to change the ending of his spectacular 1993 gang rape storyline (the trial was originally slated to conclude with a not guilty verdict, but after Smith — who played Nora Gannon, the attorney defending the rapists — intervened, Malone had Nora realize her clients’ guilt and deliberately throw the case during summation, thereby causing a mistrial).
As is typical with Waggett’s soap-related books (of which I own four, including this one), this one contains some frustrating factual errors (Claire Labine didn’t replace Malone as head writer, but rather the disastrous team of Peggy Sloane and Leah Laiman; Sloan Carpenter wrote Lord of the Banner in 1993, not 1992) that a true daytime expert wouldn’t have allowed, but all things considered, this is a nice way for both new viewers to get a crash course on the show’s history and for freakish devotees like myself to take a lazy stroll down mem’ry lane.
“Aaron [Spelling] and I set out to try to do a serial to be competitive with ‘Dallas.’ Someone at ABC actually suggested we do a show called ‘Fort Worth,’ which we said, ‘Noooo… I don’t think that’s a very good idea.’”
— “Dynasty” producer Douglas S. Cramer, recalling the television classic’s dubious origins
In what is shaping up as a watershed, telltale year — one marked by radically slashed budgets, by a crumbling ratings, by a series of breath-stealing actor dismissals, and by entire shows coasting on the fumes of asinine plot-propelled drivel (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” anyone?) — for a uniquely American art form — the serialized daytime drama — let’s pause to toast the one soap that’s more or less getting it exactly right: ABC’s “One Life to Live.” The show marked its fortieth year on the air on July 15, and today and tomorrow, they’re pulling out all the stops to mark the occasion by revisiting three of “One Life’s” most successful and most beloved storylines: Tina Lord Roberts’ 1987 tumble over an Argentinian waterfall (today, it’ll be her daughter Sarah taking that plunge); Viki Lord’s infamous trip to Heaven that same year (she’s going back, but this time around she’ll only encounter the folks — like her former father-in-law (and second favorite sparring partner) Asa Buchanan, her dear friend Mel Hayes, and her late husband Ben Davidson — who have died since her first visit); and Clint Buchanan’s lavishly brilliant time-travelling adventure (twenty years ago, he fell off his horse — seriously, you just had to be there — and landed in Arizona in the late 19th century; this month, Bo and Rex are struck by lightning and wake up in 1968 — the year this series hit the air, wink, wink — and faced with a choice to either change the future — will Asa’s bastard son David Vickers even be born? Will Bo not be drafted and sent to Vietnam after all? — or leave it alone). Soaps are all about execution, of course, so the final verdict will be out for a bit, but this ploy feels like a spectacular way to both honor this show’s rich, bountiful history and to re-engage the attention of lapsed fans who have been alienated over the years by shoddy writing and boneheaded plot twists (how many besides me are still infuriated about Nora sleeping with Sam Rappaport ten years ago?!). Contrast this celebration with fellow ABC soap “General Hospital” — which marked its 45th anniversary on April 1 with a dopey thirty-second clip reel tacked onto the end of that day’s episode — and you get the distinct feeling that its network no longer considers “One Life” to be the redheaded stepchild of its daytime lineup.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a soap. It’s a perfectly legitimate form. I acted in soap operas in the day, to make my living. I did a lot of those! I remember, I played a cad in one of them. I was trying to seduce a girl… it took us about thirteen weeks in one rumble seat to get anywhere. But it was the same plot as we see on TV now.”
— the estimable Orson Welles, discussing life and art with Merv Griffin mere hours before dying of a heart attack in 1985
“You can actually, on a soap opera, marry eight to ten men and not be considered a tramp at all.“
— the marvelous Kelly Ripa, explaining to David Letterman in 2001 why her oft-wedded “All My Children” character isn’t, ahem, easy
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