Snark Weighs In

P&G Classic Soaps Channel Shutting Down

Thursday, 1 January 2009 7:33 P GMT-04
The P&G Classic Soaps Channel on AOL's website has shut down.  P&G says they hope to find an alternative quickly.  Well, they already have a relationship with Hulu...

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2008: The Year in Blogging

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 3:43 P GMT-04

Greetings!  Welcome to another blog-based year in review.  This is where I post links to all major (and some beloved minor) blog entries for the year.  It's one more way to romp through the year in soaps -- and I know that if there's one more thing my audience wants, it's to be reminded of 2008 one more time, in detail!

Before we get started, let's look back at what I wrote to introduce last year's review: 

WORST. YEAR. EVER.  That's how 2007 will be remembered by most soap fans.  As many shows continued to sink further into the abyss of inane storytelling, the real plot twists were happening behind the scenes.  As the year ends, the very existence of daytime itself is threatened by the writers' strike to end all writers' strikes.

Now, am I crazy, or can I basically say the same thing about 2008?  It does, in fact seem that each year in soap is worse than the year before.  and we say, "Well, at least things can;t get any worse than last year!"  And then the New Year comes, and beats you over the head with how wrong you were--with a bag of bricks.  So, this year I'm going to try something a little different.  Something undignified that will perhaps fool the soap gods into making 2009 a better year.  If nudity offends you, please cover your eyes now.

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Maaaaaan!  Man!  2008 was awesome!  2008 was the year that soaps totally turned around!  Nothing was bad at all!  Every episode of every show was fit for a Daytime Emmy!  Budgets were increased exponentially!  The production values were awesome!  The writing top-notch!  The acting superb! Every couple clicked!  And the mainstream press picked up on it too!  All of the articles were positive!  Ad revenue went up!  In fact, DAYS was making so much money, that it's supporting the entire NBC network now! 

And you know how it happened?  Teamwork.  Everyone behind the scenes buttoned-down and focused on doing their job.  Brian Frons and Barbara Bloom didn't put their foot in their mouth once.  Chris Goutman turned ATWT into such a sparkling production, that by the end of the year, CBS was asking if he'd like to go to six days a week.  "Six?", Goutman said incredulously.  "Why not seven!  God knows we've got the audience for it." 

On the other end of the P&G spectrum was GL Exec. Producer Ellen Wheeler, who defined the role of serious but optimistic soap exec in 2008.  Faced with a somewhat reduced budget, Wheeler made lemonade in 2008, by refocusing GL as the daytime equivalent of independent, low-budget (but not low-quality) film-making.  Free of such old-timey soap notions as coherent storylines and clear sound, the new GL's focus on random conversations between people standing in fields has earned comparisons to EastEnders and Friday Night Lights.

Finally, no year in rewind would be complete without a mention of daytime's two fairy godfathers, Ed Scott and Josh Griffith. Both of these men took on leadership positions at their troubled shows, DAYS and Y&R, respectively.  Like true professionals, they collaborated with the writers, the actors, and the technical crew to turn out th best shows possible.  They gave so much and were not the slightest bit territorial.  And when they had done their part, they didn't overstay their welcome. Instead, they left, not in disgrace, no, not in disgrace, but with their heads held high.  they stepped out of their studios, opened their umbrellas, and flew off into the night.  Well, done, Scott and Griffith--our two Mary Poppins of 2008!

So, that's daytime in 2008--a hot plate of awesome covered in awesome sauce!  Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to save this genre!  Can't wait for 2009! 
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Forgive me, readers!  I know that shameless act of prostitution was more graphic than anything on Cinemax after dark.  But, if it fools the soap gods into making 2009 even slightly more bearable than 2008, it's worth it.

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And now, the year in blogging, a.k.a. what actually happened:

 

 










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Finally, I want to wish a Happy New Year to all my readers!  Thank you for for your readership, your commenting, your e-mailing, and your camadrie throughout 2008.  Thank you for continuing to drive this blog's growth, even during those down periods.  Hopefully, I can get back to more regular blogging in 2009.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Matthew Weaver Interviews...

Wednesday, 17 December 2008 12:44 P GMT-04

Matthew Weaver Interviews...

 

 

...Hugo Napier. 

 

"Tell me something, you can tell me this: Am I dead or not?"

Hugo Napier hasn't really kept up with the soap operas since his last day on GENERAL HOSPITAL as Lord Larry Ashton.

That's Napier, asking about the current whereabouts of the father of Ned Ashton (then-played by Kurt Robin McKinney) and Tracy Quartermaine's first husband, whom he played from 1988-1991. He also sounded quite amused and intrigued to learn Tracy is now married to Luke Spencer.

"Oh, did she really?" he said. "Oh, how interesting, OK. I'm completely out of the picture and don't watch the soaps."

Born in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, Napier came from an acting family. When he arrived in New York City at the age of 22, he hoped to continue the tradition.

"If you live in New York and you study acting, one of the most obvious things to do to make a living is to do the soaps," he said.

Napier began in daytime as Gunnar St. Clair on AS THE WORLD TURNS, in the early 1980s. Gunnar was the true heir to the Stenbeck family fortune and Dusty Donovan's father, who died in a ballooning accident.

"It was quite exciting and I made lots of money," Napier said. "Lots more money than I had ever made before. But it's a work a day world. I always thought of myself as in a manufacturing job, where I manufactured a show and I was part of a team. Rather like if you were on a production line in an automobile factory. We just churned out shows every day, but it was a lot of fun to do."

From ATWT, Napier hopped to ALL MY CHILDREN, where he replaced Nicolas Surovy as Mike Roy for a year beginning in 1984.

"I was Mike Roy the Second, exactly," Napier said. "That was a lot of fun because I got to work with Susan Lucci, which was great, and I got to work with Jane Elliot, some. I made a lot of friends on that show that I still have."

Mike was allegedly killed on AMC, and Napier joined GENERAL HOSPITAL in 1988 as Larry Ashton, a member of the quirky Quartermaine family.

"It was fun, they're a good bunch of people and professionals, great to work with," he said.

Six months after he started, the show's executives informed him he would be working again with Elliot, who would be reprising her signature part of Tracy Quartermaine.

"I couldn't have been more pleased," Napier said. "That was one of the most pleasurable periods of time I ever spent on television, working with her."

Napier keeps in touch with Elliot, although he hasn't spoken with her in a little while.

In 1991, Gloria Monty returned to GH as executive producer. She had previously helmed the days of Luke and Laura and is credited with the show's enormous success in the early 1980s. Napier was one of many in a major casting overhaul to be let go.

"I was upset, because I thought I was doing good work, but I had to admit that at that time my storyline wasn't going anywhere," he said. "That's the bottom line: People want to watch you or they don't want to watch you. If they want to watch you, the writers make sure your storyline goes somewhere so you're visible."

Napier believes the public consensus was that not enough people wanted to watch Larry, although he is certain he had a following.

"Soap opera characters divide up into those who come and go, and those who stay," he said. "I certainly fell into the former category."

But for a while, it wasn't clear whether Napier was actually leaving or not.

Monty could not decide whether or not she wanted to fire him or not, he said, and so he kept getting called back onto the set.

"I think they all took a real long look at me and they said to themselves, ‘Do we really want to have this guy on the show or not?'" he said. "I guess the consensus was they really didn't."

The last time Larry was on screen, he interrupted the 1991 honeymoon of Robert and Anna Scorpio in France, something Napier said was quite cobbled together.

Because Napier was often with the Quartermaines and not in other storylines, it was really the first time he got to work with Tristan Rogers and Finola Hughes (Robert and Anna).

"What was really nice is I suddenly started to work with them and after three years, I kind of got to know them," he said. "Those two people were in a different group than mine. I was on my side of the tracks and they were on theirs. Although I didn't like being dragged back to do a scene which had no bearing on anything, it was kind of nice to have worked with them."

Upon leaving GH, Napier went to London, deciding to start all over in the acting profession, including a role in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Then he decided to quit acting.

"I wasn't making enough money," he said. "I just decided I would go into a regular job for a while, which is what I'm still doing. That's all worked out extremely well. I was very happy I have the flexibility to not be stuck being an actor for the rest of my life."

Napier advises his fellow actors that, regardless of their talent or abilities, work may not come to those who deserve it or feel they deserve it.

"I think people have to be flexible in their life," he said. "If they want to choose something which is really kind of shaking, like the acting profession, they need to be able to segue quite quickly and smartly into something else, make a go of that and always keep their mind open."

Napier has performed in several theatrical productions in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he now resides, and considers them successful.

"I realized I could still do it," he said. "In fact, I could do it better, because as life progresses, you learn more and your abilities increase."

Napier now plays the saxophone and guitar with his son, Orlando Napier, in the band Orlando Napier and the Cats and Dogs. Orlando is currently working on a record and coming to the attention of the musical industry in a big way, Hugo said.

"He's really good, very dedicated and extremely professional, so I would say it's a tremendous professional," he said of Orlando. "I put my instruments down for quite a long time, then when he started to perform and become talented ... I picked up my instruments again and started to play. The whole thing has been extremely satisfactory."

If he doesn't eventually go on the road with his son, Napier is open to returning to soap operas.

"Yes, I might very well," he said. "I have a lot to offer that medium. I may just come down to L.A., go back and bang on the door over at GENERAL HOSPITAL or one of those other shows and say, ‘Come on, you didn't kill me off yet, did you?'"

Assured that his character is alive and well, Napier was quickly briefed on a storyline twist Monty apparently intended, if we go by old Soap Opera Digest synopses of the day: To have Larry Ashton be the silent partner to Leopold Taub, Harlan Barrett and Cesar Faison, who comprised the villainous cartel wreaking havoc on Port Charles at the time of his exit. He laughed heartily.

"It never went anywhere," he said. "That was another famous soap opera red herring, of which I have been a part of many."

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Just Add This to the Pile of Crazy

Tuesday, 16 December 2008 9:41 P GMT-04

From The New York Post, via We Love Soaps

A two-time Emmy-winning set designer for the soap opera "Guiding Light" was pounded on the head with a frying pan and hammer early yesterday in a squabble with his elderly wife, law-enforcement sources said.

Harry B. Miller, 84, dashed out of his Upper East Side apartment at around 2 a.m. after his 79-year-old wife, Zdenka Kral, assaulted him, sources said. A doorman called cops.

When police arrived, they broke down a bedroom door, and found Kral, a doctor, unconscious after apparently taking prescription drugs, sources said.

Both were taken to Lenox Hill Hospital. Miller was later released but his wife remained hospitalized.

Now, as a bonus to you, the reader, here are some suggested quips to use when discussing this story on better message boards everywhere -- free of charge.

"You know why this happened?  GL doesn't have sets anymore, so he's at home all the time, and his wife just got sick of him!"

"CBS should just cancel GL, and make a reality show about these two.  It would probably attract a younger demographic."

"Forget Snark--I think Zdenka Kral just made the most gratitous GL slam of all time."

"Are you sure it wasn't Nathaniel Marston?"

"You know what Ellen Wheeler did after she heard this story?  She cried.  And we all know how rare that is."

"Oh, wacky world of daytime--will your madcap antics ever end?"

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Matthew Weaver Strikes Again

Tuesday, 16 December 2008 11:26 A GMT-04

Our old buddy Matthew Weaver has landed another interview with a former General Hospital star...although he's arguably better known for his work on As the World Turns.  And, of course, some Pine Valley fans may recall him as well.  We'll have that interview tomorrow.  Until then, here's a tease:

“I think they all took a real long look at me and they said to themselves, ‘Do we really want to have this guy on the show or not?'  I guess the consensus was they really didn’t.”

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Opposing Viewpoints

Saturday, 13 December 2008 7:45 P GMT-04

...there is actually a fate worse than cancellation. It is disembowelling these shows--cutting casts, cutting sets, cutting pay (thereby killing morale). We actually see this latter process happening right now...and it ain't pretty.

But what about Erica and Marlena and Luke and Laura and Victor and Nikki and Kim and Bob and all these beautiful, iconic "people" with whom we shared every day for so many years?

Well, beyond saying goodbye, it sure would be nice to say goodbye with our heads up...with planned endings on a high note.

--MarkH's Soap Musings

"This is a really difficult time to be in television. I’m just proud of every single day we’re still on the air.  If I make it one more week, or three more months, or one more year, I consider that a huge win."

--Guiding Light Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler

So, what say you?  Is what's happening at GL and other soaps really, as MarkH says, a fate worse than cancellation?  Or is Ellen Wheeler right when she says that every day a soap stays on the air is a huge win--period?

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What Does Y&R Have OLTL Doesn't?

Saturday, 6 December 2008 11:30 P GMT-04

There's been a lot of discussion in Soap Land over the past couple of weeks about how November sweeps was mostly November sleeps this year.  The general consensus was that only two soaps brought it last month -- The Young and the Restless and One Life to Live.  Both have generally gotten very favorable reviews for their respective awesomeness.

Personally, I don't feel that OLTL was anywhere in Y&R's league last month.  Y&R had a good location shoot that laid the groundwork for future story; had a well-done mini-event with Kay's funeral which featured meaningful returns from old faces & laid the groundwork for future story; finally got Victor off the "woe is me" train and back into fighting spirit; is bringing back Phyllis' dark side without rushing it; is mixing old and new characters well; and even knew enough to get rid of the "actress" playing Eden.

I do think Y&R swung a little too abruptly from Kay's health issues to Kay and Marge's not-so-excellent car trip; you could feel the wheels grinding in the lead-up to that one.  I also question how Y&R could bring back so many old faces, but couldn't get one of the fifteen girls who played Mac to show up for a couple of days.  But the fallout from Kay's "death" and the reading of her will and the change in Esther's status, and the range of emotions from Jill and Nikki have more than made up for it to me.  I think the range of emotions from the characters in general is what has brought Y&R back for me.  I'm not going to pretend that Y&R is doing groundbreaking, original stories.  But, they have been expert at showing how emotionally invested the characters are in their respective predicaments.  They seem like flesh-and-blood people again.

OLTL's characters do not seem like flesh-and-blood characters.  They seem like chess pieces moved around from plot point to plot point by the grand gamesmaster, Ron Carlivati.  Indeed, much of the adoration for OLTL's Nov. sweeps has mentioned how expertly Carlivati set everything up, so that the secret room saga, Tarty, and the baby switch all crashed together at the same time, creating an exciting month. 

(Why it was so exciting it even got stingy Frons to shell out the money for OLTL to have end-of-show previews again.  I wonder how Lucci feels about part of her salary going to reinstate OLTL's previews?  But I'm digressing.)

Sweeps was superfically exciting: Marty learned the awful truth about Todd, and even pulled a gun on him!; Natalie and Jared were rescued from the secret room, but not before a bomb situation; Tess gave birth to a dead baby, and we were treated to endless closeups of the body (You stay classy, OLTL!).  This caused the emergence of Bess--yes, Bess!--the "Jean Randolph" of Jessica's alters, who, switched babies with Starr's baby, Hope.  Now Starr and her family think Starr's baby died, which has lead distraught characters to exclaim such howlers as "I can't believe our Hope is gone!" or "Hope is dead!"  I'll admit it:  Every time someone says a line like that, I laugh like a sick bastard.  It's one of the few bits of enjoyment OLTL still gives me.

Oh!  Lest I forget, we also got the end of the only truly interesting storyline on OLTL as the escalating feud between Clint and Dorian ended with a whimper, as Clint had a sudden change of heart about having Dorian's adopted daughter Langston sent off to live with her uncle Ray if Dorian didn't give back Buchanan Enterprises.  Nora then threatened to prosecute Dorian for hiring a hit man to kill Ray, even though she too changed her mind, and there was no evidence for trial.  In order to avoid this, Dorian gave back B.E.

Personally, I think Ron Carlivatii's tenure at OLTL has been over-hyped in general, and went off the rails months ago.  It's generally accepted that OLTL got off track during the endless(ly dumb) 40'th anniversary celebration, but I believe happened before that.  After the writers' strike, Team Ron seemed to return with a fire in their belly and something to prove.  The result was several weeks of good, solid shows.  Not call your friends over to your house, pop up the champagne and caviar good, but good, and it seemed to be building to something.  The something appeared to happen when dastardly Dorian took over B.E. at the annual company shareholders meeting, exposing multiple family secrets in the process, which led to Nash's untimely demise.  This was a great setup for potentially years of messy drama. 

Instead, we got the most predictable, least interesting story choice as Jessica turned back into lame-o split personality Tess, in a replay of the 1995 secret room story mixed with a replay of the God-awful 2002 Niki Smith returns story.  Instead of Natalie and Jared having to deal with the consequences of their actions, and watching the Buchanan family feud and fight and then come back together over an extended period of time, they were terrorized by Looney Tunes-Tess.  And once the terrorizing was over, they were instantly forgiven by their family members, cause they endured so much, and gosh, the family was probably too hard on Natalie and Jared in the first place, when in reality, they weren't. 

And how much better would it have been to see Jessica stay emotionally strong and deal with her tragedy without dragging out the old D.I.D. device for the 73'rd time?  Especially since Bree Williamson is no Erika Slezak when it comes to portraying multiple personalities.  Her Tess is about as subtle as Yosemite Sam (and the use of bombs and dynamite didn't help); and as for Bess--Williamson needs to learn that there's a difference betwen emotionless and bored.

This story reminded me of the recent Storm's suicide tale on B&B.  All that setup and no good follow-through.  What a waste.

As for Tarty, I said my piece here, and nothing happened in November that changed my mind.  One emerging train of thought seems to be that "Yeah, Tarty was wrong, but it's okay because Todd got his ass kicked and everybody told him off, and they're calling it rape not romance, and besides, that Susan Haskell sure can act."  Of course, these are all things that I stated last month, and I still don't think that it was worth re-victimizing Marty and having her behave in completely stupid, plot-conveinient ways in order to have a storyline that has no other goal then to tell the audience that Todd is a sicko for the 104th time.  Dear OLTL writers--anybody in the audience that still doesn't understand Todd is sick doesn't want to, so stop beating the rest of us over the head with it. 

Now we get to be treated to endless scenes of Marty beating herself up for never questioning what Todd told her, or calling 911, or stepping outside, or wondering why Todd never mentioned that weird Jessica person, or just generally not having the sense God gave a goose.  These scenes, of course, make nice bookends with those scenes of Viki beating herself up for not being able to figure out that Tess was back.

Oh, and Sweeps also waved goodbye to Tina as Andrea Evans ended her stint.  Much of Evans return saw Tina involved in a silly, widely panned rehash of the Mendorra storyline from the early 90's, but that was a kindness compared to Tina's involvement in Secret Room Redux, in which Tina allowed her mentally ill niece to hold her other niece and said niece's boyfriend hostage, because crazy niece threatened to call Tina's old mobster enemy Carlo, and tell him where Tina's daughter, Sarah was.  Because, without Tess' help, there's no way Carlo would ever go after Sarah again, right?  That was the lamest plot point ever, so lame that Viki shot it down five seconds after hearing it.  Unfortunately, this came off more like the scriptwriter commenting on how stupid the plot points are--just like Viki and Marty's hand-wringing does.

OLTL still has a pretty solid cast.  Susan Haskell brings such a rawness to her performances that she's always fascinating to watch even in her trainwreck storyline; Slezak can still being it as she did in her pre-Thanksgiving episode in her intense scenes where Viki broke down at Victor's tomb.  (Although, again, the writing seemed more like "We should add some sub-text to all this, and also pad Slezak's emmy reel.")  The cast in general is a group of fine actors, and I wish they had actual characters to sink their teeth into, instead of playing chess pieces that are moved about from one plot to the next. 

Ron Carlivati certainly knows Soap 101 basics, like planning for Sweeps months, building to a superfically exciting climax, pacing reveals (the Tarty climax played out over five episodes), and even making sure most episodes feature two or three characters just talking to each other (that always has a nice, homey feel, even when I don't give a damn about the characters that are talking or what they're talking about).  But I find his characters made of cardboard, and his stories to be hollow re-treads mixed with occasional shock-u-drama antics that wouldn't have been out of place during Dena Higley's run.  When he does move towards genuine drama, he quickly swerves out of it and back into camp and melodrama.

Meanwhile, Y&R is using its plot points and campy moments to reveal that it has what OLTL desperately needs: Characters with heart, humanity, and genuine emotion.

So, in judging Nov Sweeps, I'd say it's clearly Y&R for the win.  OLTL is, at best, a distant second.  And by distant, I merely refer to the distance between one side of the Grand Canyon and the other. 

Keep it up, Genoa City, and keep trying, Llanview.

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Jeff Gives Daytime One Last Chance

Wednesday, 3 December 2008 6:59 P GMT-04

With a headline like that, you're probably thinking..."Who the hell is Jeff?!" 

Well, Jeff is a long-time Snark reader and a long-time soap fan, which means he's okay in my book.  He's started a new soap blog, and you should probably read it while you can, because I believe it's going to be short-lived.  Now, that's no knock on Jeff's writing talent; it's simply the nature of what Jeff is planning to do.  You see, Jeff stopped watching soaps on a regular basis years ago.  But he has come to realize that he misses his old friend, the daytime drama.  (Don't we all, Jeff?) 

Yes, Jeff knows that the genre is, er, not doing so well these days.  Yes, he knows that the writing, the acting, the directing, the production, the sets, the dressing rooms, even the restrooms of daytime are not what they once were.  Yes, he knows that the budgets are so tight that Brian Frons and Barbara Bloom are going to Congress to ask for a bailout.  Yes, he knows that his all-time favorite soap, Guiding Light, is so broke that they've fired the entire cast, and replaced them with Ellen Wheeler doing shadowpuppets.  Yes, he even knows that I just used his blog as the catalyst for gratitious GL slam no. 93.

Still...STILL!  Jeff is giving it one more shot.  Beginning this past Monday, Jeff is watching one soap every day for the next eight weeks.  This week, it's All My Children.  Next week, As the World Turns, and so on, and so forth. 

Jeff ends his first entry by asking the question, "Will any of them hook me? Can I be a soap fan again?"  I would put on my best Odd Couple announcer voice, and ask "Can Jeff survive watching any of these soaps without driving himself crazy?"

The blog is called Daytime Direct.  Read it while it lasts, won't you?

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