Posts with tag GuidingLight
Posted Jul 16th 2008 8:32AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Casting, Reality-Free, Army Wives
If there's one thing about success in the entertainment business it's this: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That means if something is working on another show, steal/borrow the idea. As I've pointed out before,
the soaps are inspired by movies and TV shows all the time, including
Ugly Betty and
The Devil Wears Prada and
24 and anything else that the daytime dramas can adapt into the soap opera format.
The latest form of flattery will be on
All My Children with the introduction of Beth Ehlers as a new character in Pine Valley, Lieutenant Taylor McBride, a U.S. Army vet who has recently been deployed in Iraq.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Beth Ehlers reporting for duty to All My Children
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 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 Jun 2nd 2008 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Daytime, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
The headwriter carousel is spinning in the world of soaps and two shows have tapped new scribes for their shows. Only they're not new, really, only new to these shows. See, in soaps, everything old is new again when it comes to headwriters. The names are usually the same, just the soaps are different.
First,
All My Children has brought in the super-experienced Charles Pratt, Jr. to take over the script duties. He being June 23, but with the lead time for soaps, his stories won't begin unfolding for about six weeks. Still, ABC daytime prez Brian Frons, was singing Chuck's praises in the announcement, saying, "Charles Pratt, Jr. is a master storyteller. His talents in writing today's biggest primetime hits in conjunction with his vast experience with daytime dramas will undoubtedly elevate
All My Children stories in new and exciting directions."
Pratt does have extensive experience, including
Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Melrose Place, Santa Barbara, and back in 2002,
General Hospital. The guy can spin a yarn and joining
All My Children he'll have lots of great characters to explore. He's also coming in just as two major stars have been added to
the All My Children cast, Guiding Light transplants Beth Ehlers and Ricky Paull Goldin.
Continue reading New (old) headwriters for All My Children & Y&R
Posted May 29th 2008 10:24AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
What constitutes a good kid these days? I ask because if I go by the standards put forth by some of the daytime soaps, it's a pretty low bar that's been set. Take, for example, a good kid on
Guiding Light. Daisy, Harley's daughter, was told last week that she would not be allowed to graduate with her high school class. Her mother was dismayed. How could they do that to her daughter? Daisy is such a good kid, Harley said again and again. She'd worked hard to get her grades up and she deserved to graduate with her classmates.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Let's hear it for good kids!
Posted May 16th 2008 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
You could call it bailing from a sinking ship, assuming you think the current changes on
Guiding Light are something like being on the Titanic. On the other hand, it may just be a talented actress spreading her wings to take on a new challenge. However you couch it,
Guiding Light star Beth Ehlers is bolting the CBS soap for ABC's All My Children. She'll be assuming the role of Liza Colby Chandler, the part most recently played by Marcy Walker (who played Tangie back on
Guiding Light in 1993).
This is the second major exit from
GL, and it seems that the bottom line reason for the departures is the bottom line. Cost cutting across the board at the P&G soaps --
GL and
As the World Turns -- have squeezed the actors salaries.
Martha Byrne and Scott Bryce left
ATWT in recent months, reportedly in contract disputes, and Ricky Paull Goldin departed
GL last month and was quickly snatched up by
All My Children. Just like Ehlers.
And how coincidental that they were a major couple in Springfield. They even won a special Daytime Emmy in 2002 as America's Favorite Couple --
GL's Harley and Gus. Well, now they can spark that same chemistry in Pine Valley. Move over, Erica and Adam and Tad and Joe, you've got company.
Continue reading Beth Ehlers bolts Guiding Light for All My Children
Posted May 8th 2008 11:06AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Obituaries, Reality-Free
There are many, many good actors and actresses in daytime. Some shine brighter than others simply because they are so supremely talented that they raise the level of the drama they are creating. There are two women I'm writing about now. They are both daytime actresses of the highest order. One celebrated her birthday yesterday, May 7th. She's
One Life to Live's inimitable Dorian Cramer, actress Robin Strasser. The other, I'm sad to report, passed away last weekend. The incomparable
Beverlee McKinsey was famous for two characters: Iris Carrington on
Another World and Alexandra Spaulding on
Guiding Light. Ms. McKinsey, who'd retired from daytime -- and acting overall -- in 1992 (except for a brief cameo on
General Hospital) died on Friday evening from kidney failure after undergoing a transplant.
I remember vividly watching
Another World when Beverlee McKinsey was front and center. She was a dynamic actress, a real scene stealer. She commanded your attention as the spoiled, grown daughter of millionaire scion MacKenzie Cory, Iris, on
Another World. Her voice saying, "Daddy," is embedded in my memory.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Two of daytime's all-time best
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 18th 2008 5:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
It's with a big sigh of relief that I report that Michael Logan at
TV Guide has confirmed that
CBS has booked Guiding Light for one more year. That'll make it 72 years of continuous broadcasting -- radio and television. No program can match
Guiding Light's longevity, and I would hate to see CBS cancel a show with this kind of legacy.
That said,
Guiding Light needs to have a better year going forth than they've had looking back. In fact, since tying with
The Young and the Restless last June as Outstanding Daytime Drama at the Emmys, the show has been going through major transitions.
The new style of filming, shooting on locations in a New Jersey town that's being used as the fictional Springfield, began on February 29, and it hasn't been welcomed by the critics or viewers.
Continue reading CBS renews Guiding Light for another year
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 1:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
On February 29, 2008,
a new era began for Guiding Light. Daytime television's longest running serial drama -- 71 years old this year -- burst out of the confines of a New York studio to begin shooting on location and on the fly in makeshift, portable sets and real places. The idea on paper was not only exciting, it seemed revolutionary. If they succeeded,
Guiding Light could truly be a "guiding light" to the rest of the soap industry.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: The new Guiding Light is not working
Posted Mar 26th 2008 9:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, TV Squad Lists
For some actors, the soaps are a stepping stone to a career in features. That's how it was for Meg Ryan, who began as Betsy on
As the World Turns. For others, like Eva Longoria Parker, the place she made her mark before becoming one of the
Desperate Housewives was as Isabella on
The Young & the Restless. Allison Janney is another one. She was a lowly -- but brilliant -- maid at the Spaulding mansion on
Guiding Light before lighting up the screen as C.J. Cregg on
The West Wing and winning four Emmys along the way. Looking at the current crop of actresses at work in daytime today, who are the women, the divas if you will, who are ready for primetime, nay silver screen, success? Here's a list of seven who have caught my eye.
Continue reading Seven soap divas ready for primetime
Posted Feb 28th 2008 10:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Prison Break, In the Limelight
Mysterious. Mesmerizing. Interesting. Dynamic. Compelling. Any and all of these words accurately describe actress Michelle Forbes. She is one of the finest actresses in television, and yet she has maintained a distinct quality that makes her as elusive a performer to come around since Garbo! Intensely private, there's not much known about the Austin, Texas native. (However, I can tell you that she collects clocks -- broken clocks. As she told me, quoting the movie
Withnail and I, "Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.")
She's currently making HBO's new drama
In Treatment appointment TV, drawing her loyal following to find her latest work as she did in
24, Prison Break, Homicide and
Battlestar Galactica. And that doesn't even take into account the millions who first discovered this chameleon when she first burst onto the scene in
Guiding Light, and then
Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Continue reading Michelle Forbes: In the Limelight
Posted Feb 17th 2008 10:24AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Ratings, Emmys
CBS's daytime drama
Guiding Light celebrated its 71st year on the air on January 25. First, on radio, then and now on television, this grand old soap opera has never stopped telling its stories, making broadcast history. Production goes on, but starting February 29, 2008, viewers will be seeing
Guiding Light in a brand new light. Led by innovative Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler,
Guiding Light it busting out of the studio to starting filming in a more realistic,
cinema verite style. "Soap operas have been shot, by and large, the same way since the 1950's, the same way
I Love Lucy was shot - with pedestal cameras, in just a few interior sets," said Ms. Wheeler
recently. According to her, the "[it's] old-fashioned, and it isn't working anymore."
Continue reading Guiding Light is getting a new look
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