one life to live-related stories
Posted Oct 5th 2009 1:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Video, Casting, Reality-Free
Ever since the announcement that
All My Children was leaving New York, moving from the studios where it's been shot since the premiere in 1970, the big question among fans has been
who will be staying with All My Children when it moves west... and who won't.
The good news is that
Susan Lucci has decided to stay with the show, even if she's not giving up her New York home. Susan, as well as costar Vincert Irizarry, have decided to commute to Los Angeles, with
AMC arranging the schedule to make it more convenient for the veterans.
There's bad news, however, and it involves three big
AMC stars. Thorsten Kaye, who plays Zach, has decided not to relocate. In addition, Beth Ehlers (Taylor) and Aiden Turner (Aidan) have been let go. In other words, they have
not been invited to go west.
Continue reading All My Children fallout: who's in and who's out
Posted Aug 8th 2009 7:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
First,
Paula Abdul walks away from American Idol (or was she shoved out by the producers a bit?), now comes news that
Susan Lucci's not sure about sticking with All My Children when the ABC soap relocates to Los Angeles in December. My thought was there's no way La Lucci was going to pass on the chance to keep on working, but she's saying it's a tough decision. "I don't know ... I love the show and I love playing Erica, but I'm just now going to have a couple of days off. It's a lot to think about."
Could Susan truly be thinking anything but, "Yes, I'm going"? Seriously,
All My Children has been her mainstay for 39 years. That's right, nearly four decades of continuous employment in essentially a starring role.
Continue reading Is Susan Lucci quitting All My Children?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
For nearly a week, ABC denied that there was any truth to the rumor that
All My Children was moving to the West Coast. Then yesterday the network just announced the cross-country relocation. ABC Daytime released a statement explaining that this December,
All My Children -- which has been produced in New York City for 39 years -- is going to Los Angeles. And
One Life to Live, also a New York soap, is getting
All My Children's studio. Yes, a hand-me down facility, but just don't think of it that way.
While the move for
AMC and
OLTL will mean better facilities and more space, what about the casts and crews? Will all the actors on
AMC make the move west -- or is this a way to cost cut and drop a few players along the way? Susan Lucci is a given; she'll go west.
Continue reading All My Children and One Life to Live on the move
Posted Mar 2nd 2009 2:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
Did you know that double Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro acted in soap operas? It's true. Many of today's biggest stars honed their craft by doing New York soaps like
As the World Turns and
Another World. Before she was
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,
Sarah Michelle Gellar was Susan Lucci's daughter on
All My Children.
Hollywood soaps like
Days of Our Lives,
General Hospital, and
The Young and the Restless also produced stars.
Tom Selleck, for instance, was a
Y&R hunk before becoming
Magnum, P.I. There are a lot of current stars right now on hit shows who were daytime characters just a few years ago. After the jump, we count down the top ten primetime stars who started in soaps.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Primetime stars who started in soaps
Posted Feb 10th 2009 2:29PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Many years ago, while trying to figure out some way to convince my mom that she should watch what I wanted to watch instead of her stupid soap operas, I got hooked on soap operas. My main soap (sorry, "daytime drama") was
Guiding Light (which I've started to watch again since
an old favorite returned yesterday), but I also watched
One Life To Live every single day for many years too. And then, well, I didn't. I probably couldn't tell you what the hell was happening on the show if I turned it on today, though I'm sure many of the same characters and actors are still on the show.
Except two. This has been a bad week for the Buchanan family as two of the top former actors from the passed away within just days of each other.
Continue reading Half of One Life To Live's Buchanan family passed away this week
Posted Dec 6th 2008 1:37PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Daytime, Reality-Free
You would think that with higher unemployment and more people spending more time at home during business hours that networks would be throwing money at their daytime TV divisions. (insert ominous organ music that implies trouble is ahead here)
You would be wrong. Networks are starting to scale back on their daytime soaps including some stars' salaries, according to
USA Today.
ABC has been doing the most axe-chopping to their daytime lineup. Long running favorites like
General Hospital and
One Life to Live have been ordered to make some serious cutbacks and
All My Children stars Susan Lucci, Michael E. Knight and Ray MacDonnell are seeing paychecks with George Costanza-like shrinkage.
Continue reading Could the networks drop the soaps?
Posted Sep 11th 2008 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
Executive experience. We've been hearing an awful lot in the media lately about what constitutes executive experience and how important it is when a person gets the chance at an important position. Well, you know what I've learned while watching soap operas? Experience is overrated. Anyone can be a CEO or mayor or run a company, it's easy.
Take Donna on
The Bold and the Beautiful. Until recently, Donna was a model. She used her beautiful body, great features and dazzling smile to show the finest in Forrester Creations. Now, due to her husband's heart attack which resulted in a coma, Donna has taken over the company and appointed herself CEO. It doesn't matter than Donna's never designed a thing or knows how to mass produce, market and distribute a clothing line. Never mind that she couldn't balance her checkbook let alone the bottom line of an international fashion business. Because she had Eric's power of attorney, she took control of the company. Executive leadership was something that she absorbed from Eric, right? Like osmosis or transference. Yeah, right.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: No experience necessary
Posted Sep 4th 2008 2:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
When I heard about the pregnancy, I was shocked. It was so unexpected, such a surprise, a complete unplanned occurrence that had me scratching my head and wondering what was going on. No, I'm not talking about the revelation that John McCain's choice for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin's unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant.
I'm talking about
Guiding Light's Reva Shayne's stunning discovery that she's having a baby well into her 40's and after a near-fatal bout with breast cancer.
Seriously, I was floored by that turn in the storyline. The writers had me and every other viewer fearful that Reva's breast cancer had returned. On the brink of her marrying Jeffrey, Reva learned that the drugs she'd been taking had actually acted like fertility pills and, bada-bing, bada-boom, Reva's having a baby.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Baby mama fever
Posted Aug 13th 2008 3:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Casting, Reality-Free
It's not unusual anymore when a primetime star suddenly makes the jump into daytime. Recently,
Michael Gross has signed on to The Young and the Restless. Patrick Duffy is a semi-regular on
The Bold and the Beautiful, Bruce Weitz is a Mafioso kingpin on
General Hospital, and if you tuned in yesterday you got to see John James terrorize half a dozen Oakdale residents on
As the World Turns as a deranged doctor. If you're keeping score, they were previously the stars from
Family Ties, Dallas, Hill Street Blues and
Dynasty, respectively. So, really, a primetimer coming to daytime is SOP (standard operating procedure) these days.
However, when a daytimer goes to primetime and then returns to daytime, that can be interesting. Sarah Brown's return to
GH qualifies and so does this one:
A Martinez is joining One Life to Live. For the last decade, A's been a regular guest or regular on
Viva Laughlin, Raines, CSI, Huff, JAG and
Profiler. All good roles, but nothing to match his daytime experience.
Continue reading A Martinez says yes to One Life to Live
Posted Jul 30th 2008 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
A few weeks back, I enthusiastically reported the plans for
One Life to Live's 40th anniversary celebration. Viki was going to have a near death experience and heaven; a classic
OLTL moment would be re-created, the Iguaza Falls plunge; and in an elongated mini-arc, Bo and Rex would be transported back in time to 1968, the year
OLTL began. It was an ambitious undertaking, but it was still nice to hear that they were thinking big, as opposed to
General Hospital which did virtually nothing to commemorate their 45th anniversary in April.
So, now that Viki's visit to heaven -- which did not include Pearly Gates -- has concluded and Sarah and Cristian have gone over the falls -- and look to be dead -- I felt compelled to comment. First, Viki. I really, really like Erika Slezak. She's the Meryl Streep of daytime, able to take on all kinds of stories and make them work. Fortunately for Erika, she didn't have to sing any crappy ABBA songs like poor Meryl in
Mamma Mia!Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Heavenly fun on One Life to Live
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 12th 2008 4:41PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Reality-Free
I don't know about you, but I was kind of ticked off that
General Hospital decided that 45 years on the air wasn't a good enough reason for a special episode. They had a cake -- good for them -- but generally speaking, the media celebrated the
GH anniversary more than the show did. Well, ABC and
One Life to Live are doing just the opposite for four decades of broadcasting.
One Life to Live will celebrate its 40th anniversary -- officially July 15th -- with three special, out of this world storylines. It all starts on July 21. How out of this world? Well, it will be celestial.
Headwriter Ron Carlivati told
TV Guide that his plans, which are extensive, include sending Viki back to Heaven. Longtime fans will recall that in 1987, Viki "died" and went to Heaven, which was inspired by
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and looked very sci-fi.
Continue reading One Life to Live plans amazing 40th anniversary shows
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
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