Posts with tag Days of our Lives
Posted Nov 21st 2008 3:07PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Just a couple of weeks ago, all was fine and dandy in
Days of Our Lives-world. Or so it seemed. The big fan shindig at Universal in Hollywood seemed to signal that the status quo was holding that the lone NBC soap still in production would be able to use the 18-month renewal granted by NBC to climb in the ratings and return to past glory. Now comes the shocking news that NBC
has fired Days of Our Lives' two biggest stars, Deidre Hall (Marlena) and Drake Hogestyn (John)
. By the way, Deidre and Drake were at the fanfest. You think they knew the pink slips were on the way? Um, no.
This is all about money, folks, and instead of seeking other ways to trim costs, Executive Producer Ken Corday and company have used a hatchet and chopped off the top salaries. Don't be shocked to hear that more is coming. That could be Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso -- Bo and Hope -- the other iconic romantic couple on the show, right after Marlena and John.
Continue reading Days of Our Lives shake-up: It's all about money
Posted Oct 1st 2008 8:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Ratings, Reality-Free
Did you see
Mad Men recently? As part of Harry's creating a TV division at the Sterling Cooper ad agency, he was made responsible for screening scripts of TV fare so that the content pleased/satisfied/supported the advertisers' desires. Interestingly, it was Joan -- the office manager/head secretary -- who was given the scripts to read and her main focus of
As the World Turns.
She became completely engrossed in the 1962 Oakdale story in which a character came to from a coma with a new personality. Her enthusiasm for the soap story convinced the advertisers to back
As the World Turns rather than
Love of Life, another CBS soap at the time.
Mad Men was historically accurate about
As the World Turns. It was the top-rated soap opera for 20 years -- 1958-1978 -- and in 1962 (the year in which
Mad Men is currently set),
ATWT had increased its share from 47.7 to 53.7 in just a year. It was the soap on the rise and over half all TVs on in daytime were watching this CBS soap.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: SOAPnet's boom and a Mad Men memory
Posted Aug 26th 2008 11:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
Everyone thinks they can write. No, really. If you talk to anyone who likes TV and movies, invariably you'll hear that they have a great story. Well, some do and some don't. In the soap business, just about every kind of story has been told.
A show like
Passions, which has recently come to an end, told wild tales about witches and sorcery and dwarfs and demons.
General Hospital has been firmly set in plots about mobsters in the manner of
The Godfather, with Sonny Corinthos a latter day Michael Corleone.
As the World Turns, currently in its 52nd year, is rooted in traditional love stories and family conflicts, although you have to give them props for
Luke and Noah, a frontline gay romance which is definitely a 21st century development.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Have I got a story for you...
Posted Aug 6th 2008 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Cancellations, Reality-Free
Perhaps the strangest soap opera of all time has come to an end now that
Passions has been canceled by DirecTV. The gothic, modern psycho-drama set in a small Maine town replete with witches, elves, zombies and even some regular people, lasted nine years on the air. In primetime terms, that would be a hell of a run. For soaps, it characterizes
Passions as a noble -- to some -- failure.
I never cared for
Passions. It turned me off in the first season, 1999, but it wasn't because of the outre elements. I was actually interested in the gothic stuff because I'd grown up enjoying
Dark Shadows with Barnabus and Quentin and Angelique and all those horror classic reinterpretations on a next-to-nothing budget -- furniture provided by Stern's Department Store, as I recall -- including werewolves,
Frankenstein's monster and
The Innocents, and parallel universes.
Dark Shadows remains a vivid, happy memory.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Passions played out
Posted Jul 10th 2008 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
Soap operas are a funny form of television fiction. They have rules all its own, they can tell all kinds of stories and do them in the most unusual ways. Here's a few things I've noticed lately, things that seem to only be possible, on a soap.
Only on a soap...can a medical clinic be conceived, built and stocked in less than a month. It's true. It happened in Port Charles. On
General Hospital, soon after Emily died -- and Nikolas stopped seeing visions of her thanks to a brain tumor -- he decided to dedicate a health clinic in her memory. Since Nikolas is a royalty, some kind of prince, cost was no object. He never met with an architect or designer, never spoke to contractors, never searched for a location and dealt with permits. He did have a fight with the mayor for a couple of shows about opening the clinic after it was already completed. If only all construction projects could be done so easily. Jeff Lewis on Bravo's
Flipping Out doesn't even work that fast!
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Only on a soap...
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 10:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, TV Squad Lists, Casting, Reality-Free
It was big news in the world of daytime when Joseph Mascolo exited
Days of Our Lives a few months ago. After all, Mascolo's Stefano Dimera was hailed as the
number one villain of all time in daytime by Soap Opera Digest.
His return to
Days was supposed to be long-term, but it didn't work out that way. In a surprising, some would say typical, soap way, the phoenix will rise again. Stefano Dimera, in the form of Joseph Mascolo, is coming back to
Days of Our Lives. His reign of terror will commence once more -- in early August. Meanwhile, the other big time evil-doer on the show, Victor Kiriakis, will become more moderate and good by comparison.
Evil on the soaps is, well, a necessary evil. You can't have characters who are happy and blissful all the time. You need the selfish, the greedy, the vengeful, all those evil types to keep the stories interesting.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Evil abounds
Posted Jun 26th 2008 10:22AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Emmys, Reality-Free
Did you enjoy the
Daytime Emmy Awards last week? Were you happy to see grand soap stars like Anthony Geary and Jeanne Cooper honored? I have no complaints with the winners -- and as I mentioned in previous posts, I had predicted some of them correctly. But I do have qualms about so many actors and actresses who weren't even nominated.
A lot of great performances weren't recognized. Therefore, I've decided to recognize a few actors and actresses who should be on the ballot in 2009! That's right, this is a pre-emptive list of six who should be included in next year's Daytime Emmy nominations.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: My Emmy nominations for 2009
Posted Jun 17th 2008 4:21PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Reality-Free
Death on a daytime soap is kind of like death in science fiction: it may be the real thing, but then again, maybe not. Fans of
One Life to Live were recently stunned by the death of Nash Brennan. His was truly a case of sudden death. One minute he was a vital part of the scene, negotiating to keep the land for his vineyard, the next he was taking a swing at Jared, falling through a skylight and fatally injured.
The chances that Nash's death is not the real thing seems remote. He was shown on his deathbed in the hospital, saying goodbye to his wife Jessica, making a heart with his finger to show her that he'll always love her. It was sad and poignant and final. At least, I think it was final. You can't always be sure on soaps, as I said.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Dead but not gone
Posted Jun 5th 2008 11:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Emmys, Reality-Free
The Daytime Emmys are coming.
The nominations have been announced and ABC plans to broadcast the award presentation on June 20 at 8 p.m. (EST) with Sherri Shephard and Cameron Mathison sharing the hosting duties. One of the things that invariably drives soap fans nuts is not being able to see the Emmy submissions; that is, the actual shows that the Blue Ribbon Panels are seeing when they choose the Emmy winner from the set of nominees.
Well, in a landmark move -- one more reason to love the web -- the
National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has teamed with YouTube to create venue to see most of the nominating clips and judge for yourself. That's what I've done and I've decided to handicap the big Daytime Emmys contests. Tell me what you think, if you judge these clips the way I have.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: You judge the Emmy submissions
Posted May 1st 2008 10:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
There's something about the name Carly, I guess. The four actresses that have caught my attention are now or have played a "Carly" on daytime TV. They are all terrific actresses. They've all brought something dynamic and exciting to their characters, even when they are no longer named Carly. The four ladies in question are Laura Wright, the current Carly Corinthos Jacks on
General Hospital, Maura West, Carly Tenney Snyder on
As the World Turns, Tamara Braun, Carly #2 on
GH and currently Ava Vitali on
Days of Our Lives, and Sarah Brown, Carly #1 on
GH and presently Claudia Zacchara on
GH. Each woman has made a lasting impression on daytime, and they continue to rattle the rafters still.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: The Carlys of my life
Posted Apr 30th 2008 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Talk Show, Emmys, Reality-Free
The Daytime Emmy nominations were announced this morning on
The View. My initial reaction is this: there are so many repeat nominees! This list is filled with actors who have won multiple times. Are the Daytime Emmys in a rut? I'm afraid so. This list seems very stale to me, not that many of these performers aren't worthy, but a lot of other worthy actors were completely overlooked. Again. Emmy could use an overhaul, but we'll discuss that another time.
Here are the main nominees -- and some comments -- and you can check out the complete list and a photo gallery of the
Daytime Emmy nominees at AOL Television. On Friday, June 20, ABC will broadcast the awards in primetime (8-11 p.m. EST) from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
Outstanding Daytime Drama General Hospital
Guiding Light
One Life to Live
The Young & the Restless Here we have the usual suspects. Last year,
Y&R and
GL shared the prize. My choice would be
OLTL this time around -- they had a great year and have been on the uprise. However,
Y&R has a lot of actor nominations and that could mean another Emmy for the Bell show. I'd be flabbergasted if either
GH or
GL win. Both shows have received critical blasts this past year.
Continue reading The Daytime Emmy nominations announced
Posted Apr 30th 2008 9:22AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Monk, Casting, Reality-Free
With the untimely death of actor
Stanley Kamel, USA Network and the producers of
Monk were compelled to find another actor to play a psychiatrist for the OCD detective.
TV Guide has gotten the exclusive word that
Hector Elizondo has been cast as Monk's new shrink. The veteran actor -- you'll recognize him from every Garry Marshall movie from
Pretty Woman to
The Princess Diaries -- was most recently on
Cane. As Michael Ausiello points out, if Hector's doing
Monk, chances are that CBS has officially canned
Cane, even if they haven't announced it yet.
Continue reading Monk gets a new psychiatrist
Posted Apr 23rd 2008 12:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Ratings, Reality-Free
You might be surprised to learn that the results of a new poll by AOL.com found that the
number one soap opera among web searchers is Day of Our Lives. According to the
Nielsen ratings for the soaps,
The Young and the Restless is the top daytime drama -- and has been for over a thousand weeks. But I'm not surprised to read these AOL results, which shows
Days, General Hospital and
All My Children at the top of the list.
Y&R is number eight. Also getting a lot of search engine hits is a Spanish telenovela,
Fuego en la Sangre, from Mexico.
Continue reading Days of Our Lives tops poll as most searched soap
Posted Apr 16th 2008 1:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
Let me start this TV Squad Soap Report by saying that I have a soft spot in my heart for
Days of Our Lives. It's the first soap I remember watching as a kid and I've always stuck with it, even when it's gone through some dark times. And if you're a
Days fan, you know just what I mean (more on that later).
Right now I'm beginning to see a pattern on
Days of Our Lives that's kind of upsetting. The show seems to be stuck in retro mode. They've been bringing back characters by the boat load. This is nothing new. All soaps do it. On
All My Children, they just brought
Cady McLain back -- and her character Dixie, who's supposedly dead.
One Life to Live is resurrecting greatest Tina of all,
Andrea Evans. So what's the big deal with what
Days doing it? Nothing. It's perfectly legitimate. I support it...to a point. When it reaches a point to where new characters are not taking hold and more and more of the past is becoming the present.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: The retro Days of Our Lives
Posted Apr 1st 2008 10:20AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Daytime, Cancellations
Usually when you talk about death on soap operas, you have to know that like science fiction, death doesn't mean the end of the story. After all, many characters have come back from the dead thanks to mistaken identity, bizarre abductions, switched coffins, et. al. But when I tell you now that the NBC soap opera
Passions is dead, I really mean it. Really.
There is no chance that Passions is coming back to NBC. The soap was yanked from the daytime lineup last year, but in a deal with DirecTV,
Passions has remained in production. The satellite provider has been showing episodes of the bizarrely-plotted show for months. However, in a recent development, DirecTV has decided to pull the plug. Universal Media Studios, which produces the one-hours, has been trying to find a new place on the dial for
Passions without any luck.
Continue reading Passions is dead...for real this time
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