bellcurve

HIT THE BRICKS!

WIN!

Sara for me was so f*cking dull and just BLAH. The only good thing she ever did was when she and Maria would go at it or when she would hurl insults at Tess.

You wanna talk about a great role for Shawn Batten? That was her role as Natalia on MTV's Spyder Games. She was, from the start, a lead actress.

I saw that today and, seriously, even though it was a bit extreme for her to call Sharron Angle out, that ad(that SHE approved) was racist, disgusting, and divisive. I can't blame the raging liberal in Joy for getting pissed off about that and about her.

Joy is probably getting irritated with being on The View because, again, even though it looks on the surface like there are four liberals ganging up on the Neo-Con, a closer look will reveal that The View is basically a platform for the Republican Party, courtesy of Bill Geddie. And Frons likes it because the controversy brings in the numbers.

Pathetic. I used to love this show.

THE VIEW took over THE CITY's studio. When the talk show launched, to save money they used loft penthouse set from THE CITY (which actually was the Alden mansion from LOVING, a set that dated back to the debut in 1983)

Did they really recycle the Alden Mansion for Sydney's Penthouse?! That's a cool bit of trivia!

I hate that Soapnet never aired repeats of Loving/The City. It seemed so obvious especially when the network first launched and they didnt have much content

I'm hoping they upload The City to HuluPlus, so they can monetize it.

I was watching clips of The City the other night on YouTube(Tracy Q stuff) and Jane Elliot's chemistry with everyone, especially Amy Van Horne, was off the damn charts. They should have given this show at LEAST three more years to find an audience.

The background scores(by Scott Schreer) were great, some albeit cheesy in retrospect. I loved all the "intrigue" cues.

The directing on that show was incredibly beautiful and the cameras were fluid. It's not difficult to see why other shows were so jealous and tried to mimick what The City was doing. Even their outdoor stuff was pretty cool.

Thanks for the articles, CarlD2, especially the one about Beach facing cancellation:

TC: Why do you think daytime's audience is disappearing?

GT: I don't know if people are just turning away, or if it's partially because some of the shows have chosen not to really drive story ,and there's more focus on people just doing scenes. Obviously, you want to strike a balance where you are driving story and exploring the emotions and the texture of the characters. I think Sunset manages to strike that balance, whereas others don't.

Interesting that Tomlin does not mention Beach's overnight airings as a reason why his audience may/may not have dwindled. I remember reading his thoughts on SOAPnet when he was EP of OLTL and he was pissed about the "Don't Watch Now, Watch Later" ads that would pop up during the middle of his program.

TC: Have you made long-term plans for Sunset?

GT: Absolutely; We're forging right ahead, and have even done new opening credits. We did two versions, because we just had too many people to showcase. The characters get much more of their due, and I even managed to work Margarita (Cordova; Carmen) in there because she has been such a force to reckon with on the show.

"New opening credits" meaning re-editing shots and adding cheap looking taped poses in with the ones that were filmed. Yeah, those are "new opening credits" allright.

TC: What new storylines are in the works?

GT: We've got some really wild stuff planned. After Ricardo's stroke, the Ricardo/Gabi/Antonio stuff gets very interesting, especially because Ricardo and Gabi's relationship takes a shocking turn. There are some wonderful moments, especially those that occur in Ricardo's head. It's pretty sick stuff, but so much fun. The Meg/Ben/Maria stuff blows up thanks to Tess. Also, we know that Tess isn't who she appears to be, but as far as who Benjy is - that's still a question that depends on a lot of things. Gregory's "death" will continue affecting everyone, and we are toying with a bizarre way of weaving Gregory back into the canvas. We are also working on something for Bette and A.J. Annie, of course, will continue being very Annie, and we hope to bring on a new love interest for her. There's also some really great stuff happening with Amy, Emily, Brad and Sean. Amy, as we already know, got a love potion and spiked Sean's drink with it. That has led the way for the start of what looks to be a very nice Amy/Sean/Emily triangle.

TC: Wasn't there a promise made to explore the younger set?

GT: Essentially, the decision was made last year, when we had five stories going, to focus on only three. That's what Chris and Maggie (Whitesell and De Priest, Sunset's head writers) have been doing, and I think the show has been better for it. It's easier to follow, and we've tried to interweave some of the other characters into the main stories. Unfortunately, the kids suffered a bit, because we were trying to build the momentum of the other stories.

TC: What about Vanessa and Michael? We haven't seen them for a while.

GT: They will be very heavily involved in the Ricardo/Gabi storyline, and through that they will experience their own romantic story. Again, what it boils down to is that we will not have four or five stories going on.

Lies, lies. Love Tomlin, but Michael/Vanessa were never heavily involved in Ricardo's story. I think they were pretty much off the map until they planned their wedding close to the series finale.

TC: Why the decision to recast Susan Ward (Meg)?

GT: The minute Susan said she wanted to do the movie, I decided that we really should keep Meg on the canvas, and immediately went after Sydney Penny. She's absolutely terrific and I felt having her step in would be something that the audience would accept. I think it's terrific for the show, and Sydney will have a good time. It's a fun place to work.

I also read in Digest from Tomlin himself that he wanted Victoria Rowell to temp for Meg. THAT would have been hilarious and totally something up Tomlin/Sunset Beach's alley.

Sydney Penny was great as Meg. She showed more growth, more depth, and more maturity playing the role of Meg than Ward did in her entire run. Especially towards the last year, after Susan Ward got those huge knockers of hers, she became bitchy, irritated, and arrogant and she played Meg the same way.

TC: And Eddie Cibrian's (Cole) departure?

GT: He has a prime-time series for NBC that he begins shooting in August. Unfortunately, it's shooting in New York, but he's going to do both until his contract is up at the end of the year. At this time, there are no plans to recast the role of Cole. We don't want to leave ourselves in the lurch, though, when Eddie leaves, so we have hired Sean Kanan (ex-AJ, GH) to sort of fill that hunk void.

How diplomatic of him. In another post-Beach interview, Tomlin also talked about how pissed he was when NBC let Eddie Cibrian out of his contract to do Third Watch. Gotta love how he bit his tongue there.

Wonder if he felt the same way about Derwin being allowed to leave OLTL for Life With Bonnie(Pretty sure that happened under Tomlin's regime too).

TC: When do you find out about being picked up?

GT: It could be as early as late August or it could be as late as the first week in October. It's interesting. I think much of our future hinges on what happens with Passions' debut. It will be interesting to see, also, how the time-slot change will affect us. We're on at 2 p.m. on the West Coast. What I've heard they may do is put Days of Our Lives back in its original time slot, follow it with Passions, and then us. It would leave us in the time slot that we are in, but we wouldn't have Days as a lead-in anymore. Our time slot is going to change in a lot of the country. I was here years ago when NBC flipped all the time slots. Days came back, but the other shows never managed to make a comeback. We'll just have to see what happens.

Again, more rose-colored glasses talk. Sunset Beach was yanked for Passions in many timeslots, left with its only airing being in late-night in some areas and then by the end of the summer, they replaced the second airing of Beach with a repeat of Conan O'Brien. So Beach had low affiliate clearance by the time the show ended, hence the 1.2 household by the end.

Very interesting article. I think they should have ended both shows in June, so affiliates would have time to get replacement programming in there instead of doing that mid-season.

I also think it was a colossal mistake to get rid of Leeza and let Paramount move it to syndication. Later Today bombed and Leeza was as much a part of NBC Daytime as Days was. Leeza was a way to pimp NBC soaps, especially DAYS. Knowing how closely tied both audiences were to each other, especially during the height of Passions(The Ethan/Theresa wedding drew in record numbers in terms of their own success, IIRC), using Leeza as a vehicle to promote both shows wouldn't have hurt. Today/NBC's news division would never promote the daytime lineup the way Leeza did. They should have given her, at least, a few additional seasons.

Still watching the first uploaded episode from YouTube, but here's the deal: Tribes is far from high art or the pinnacle of soap, but Leah Laiman and the people behind this project have to at least be applauded for their efforts to bring the soap opera to a younger audience. This project was well before its time.

Tribes(unlike soaps that were designed for a younger audience that would come after it, like The City, Sunset Beach) doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. Yes, there's the wannabe hip and less melodramatic music, but the directing/camerawork doesn't attempt to portray itself as being above the soap. It does its intended purpose(soap opera's intended purpose) which is to tell someone's story. The show effectively does this without the razzle-dazzle. This show is mighty preachy, but I wouldn't expect anything less than a show geared for a younger audience.

And unlike Generations(which wasted precious time on long, narrative exposition instead of combining that with compelling story), Tribes at leas throws you in the middle of the action, even if the characters are one-dimensional.

I wish FOX would get station clearance to do a daytime or late-night soap project. As a network, they are in the perfect position to do so.

I think I am most excited to see Kim Valentine play a heroine/sweet girl, especially considering she(along with Marley Shelton) played such a stuck up, nasty cheerleader bitch to Laura on Family Matters with such perfection.

HOLY CRAP! Tribes finally made it to YouTube. Can't wait to see how good(or how BAD) this was!

"Mother's Plea" must be one of the most haunting, wonderful scores they've ever done. Been on repeat on my IPod all day.

+1

Share your feeling but have a look at my previous.

BTW, if you don't have the Y&R soundrack yet, check eBay... The compilation is a tad too swoonsome for my taste but it opens beuatifully with Nadia's theme and closes with the long closing titles...

Swoonsome is the right word for it.

The Y&R Compilation that came out in 1998 really sucked balls. The '98 DAYS CD(released by the same distributor) had some good stuff on it, but not everything I wanted. Too much Princess Gina and the Swamp Girl Shitt on it.

It's totally weird that they don't have the theme on it.. but they do have "Beautiful and Bold" which has opened many a B&B episode lol

There's also the Waltz arrangement of the theme too at the very end.

I doubt they do one with the drama scores, GH and Y&R both excluded them as well when they released they soundtracks in the 90s. My guess is that the target group is woman (once again) and they think they'll only be interested in the romance department. Maybe if sales are ok (an ITunes release must be dirt cheap so each sale should mean $$$ for the show), we'll get another one.

Ah, c'mon: that Rick & Steffy theme has such a nice rhytm. It's not artistic in any way but has i's appeal. I wanted to convert that Jackie M-theme as my ringtune but ITunes totally cut my plans. I always get some error message - and yet Apple is always considered superior. Whatever. (I still love my IPhone though)

That's a very good point...I never thought about them targeting the female demo. I'm just surprised I am just now finding out about it...according to iTunes, the CD's been out since June.

And you're right about the money meaning the sales go towards the show: the CD was released by BBL Distribution and not a third party company, which is smart on their part. The show and the artists get the money and no one else.

The only cellphone I've had success with modding ringtones for my cellphone was my Motorola Razr, because they let you use PhoneTools to edit and upload your own ringtones.

And I'll never accept Rick and Steffy's theme. I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, "You canNOT be serious. Really?!"

Bought it - actually the first time that I bought anything from ITunes - and love it.

It's worth the money, they really produced long scores and not just those short snippets like on Y&R's soundtrack (which is still good). Each track is about 3 minutes and makes great listening, I particularly like the modern scores for Jackie and the Rick&Steffy theme. They are just sooooo raunchy. LOL!

However, they left out the Ridge&Caroline theme (the Ridge & Taylor one as well) which is downright criminal because it is one of their best scores. I was also surprised the title theme is NOT on this recording but maybe it was not composed by Allocco & Kurth alone?

Yep. This collection broke my iTunes cherry too.

I would have loved having the closing title theme on this, particularly the first one with the dramatic saxophone bridge. The "waltz" version of theme is good too.

Jackie's Theme is okay, but really?! You like the disaster known as Rick and Steffy's Low Rent Kenny G Bump and Grind? I'm just happy Mother's Plea and Black Night Blues are in this collection.

I'm just stunned they actually did this. I guess enough people requested a collection of themes or scores or they at least saw enough interest from hardcore fans to do it(given that DAYS just recently did one through LaLaLand Records). I hope they do another one with some of their other cues, their more dramatic/suspenseful stuff.

Did any of you guys know B&B released an album of background music/scores to iTunes?! I really hope this signals a trend for other soaps to do so. I stumbled upon the information on the B&B Page on CBS.com.

I'm listening to it right now and it starts out with "Mother's Plea," also known by many as the cue they used for Storm's Death.

After previewing it(to make sure that my chain wasn't being yanked and that the original music was actual scores and not original songs), I went ahead and purchased it(I know, surprise, surprise!). One of my alltime favorites that I always refer to as "The Scandal Cue" is on this CD as well(titled "Black Night Blues."). Some other recognizable pieces are on here, including the utterly gagworthy "Rick and Steffy's Theme." There's something at the very end called the "Bold and Beautiful Waltz," which is a fun, slower arrangement of the main title theme(that I think they often use in establishing shots of Forrester weddings and bashes). I wish the original main title theme was on it instead, but hey...I'm happy with what I have.

It doesn't have the punchy suspense cues, just the more emotional ones. And it's stuff that's more recent, but aside from Jackie M's Theme and maybe Rick/Steffy's Kenny G barf-fest, nothing from the more recent. At least from what I can tell. I'm surprised they even released these.

Highly recommended for fans of the show and fans of background music. Hopefully, they'll feel compelled to do another iTunes collection down the road with other stuff.

Poor Dax Griffin. Can't even land an Olive Garden commercial.

I hope not either, but it's definitely a possibility.

I don't think Obama is Worst president ever, I think he's like Jimmy Carter, too idealstic for his own good. He needs to really play dirty. But Bellcurve, I agree with you TOTALLY about the gulf. I can say with complete certainty, that I will NEVER eat gulf seafood again for the rest of my life ( I rarely ate it to begin with, only the occasional shrimp). I feel this has poisoned the gulf FOREVER. Any seafood I eat will come from the pacific, case closed. And the only fish I eat comes from my pond, anyway. I certainly would never go DOWN there with all those chemicals that have been applied, ridiculous.. Michelle's promo ops reminds me of those 50's cigarette commercials that featured DOCTORS.

I'm pretty sure your fish got a little taste of Corexit in them as that Hurricane Alex system passed over Missouri. And if it didn't then, then it will soon.

Just for fun, and because I haven't been around here in so long, I think I'll bump this thread with the following:

Barack Obama: Worst President EVER.

I'm not gonna say "Worst President EVER" yet, but the response to this Oil Spill and the way BP has dicked over the Gulf and has been allowed to hoodwink the public by bribing media outlets with ad buys and by refusing to let journalists, bloggers, and photographers down there to see what the hell is REALLY going on is the tragedy and embarrassment in and of itself. The sad thing is that this would have happened on anyone's watch because all of our politicians are in deep with big oil.

And for Michelle Obama to have the nerve to tell people to risk their health and their lives by telling people, "OOOH YEAH! COME ON IN BABY! It's cool. No oil, you know! See all these people behind me?" Yeah, YOU risk your life First Lady and I'll follow suit. You put on your bikini and take Sasha and Malia down there to dig sand, swim in that water, and get the occassional tarball on their foot. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it? Continuing to allow shrimping and fishing in Florida and Texas, not knowing or being aware of whether BP has dumped Corexit there as a pre-emptive strike. I know that these people rely on seafood as an industry, but I don't understand why a ban was not placed on Texas or Florida? Do they want people to get sick?

I am so f*cking irate with the level of ignorance people have where this is concerned. The gusher is capped, but this is far from over. There are allegedly leaks of oil in the seafloor by the gusher and even the overabundant presence of methane gas in the water which is probably what caused the damn rig to explode to begin with. And they are just NOW dealing with the methane being a huge problem because of the cap(something they should have placed on the damn thing from day one) allowing all of this to be seen?

This is way worse than alot of people know. The bloggers, whistleblowers, and concerned citizens are being painted by BP, the Feds, and people who don't give a damn as overzealous non-scientists, Obama haters, etc. The evidence of what this is doing to stuff and people is already out there if people take the time to research this for five seconds. People down there are getting sick, there's already reports of plants, crops, and grass with chemical burns on them, and no one is even concerned that the oil in the water and chemical dispersant that they are spraying on the water and the sand and probably's people's homes are doing this? There's also the citizen journalist reports out of the gulf that BP pulls workers out of the spill when the cameras stop rolling and the politicans go home AND even reports of BP or local leaders in Pensacola and other areas covering up tarballs with sand in Pensacola. BP is probably still using Corexit in the water to break up the oil, which doesn't get rid of it, but makes it less visible and makes it sink to the ocean as an oil plume.

I am not pleased at all. Not with the media coverage, not with our government, not with BP, not with any of it.

And now I'm watching Diane Sawyer and they say the oil spill has shrunk. How the hell is that happening if BP is cutting costs and corners? Are they still using Corexit in the water?

Something just doesn't feel right with this at all. I just hope I, along with other people, are totally wrong about this. I'd be happy to eat this piece of crow.

I just watched the recent upload of AW to Hulu and man...it was a bit of a chore to sit through. I didn't pay attention to the writer credits, but noticed that Casey Childs directed and I guessed him the moment I saw camera sweep from Paulina's date with the DA to Vicky/Ryan. It so seemed his style. I hate that he's reduced to being all about gimmick instead of conveying story these days(as evident in his AMC directing).

Also, I never quite understood the Jensen Buchanan hate...until I watched Anne Heche play Vicky on Another World. Jensen's Vicky was a completely different character altogether. It was almost like she was trying TOO hard to be Vicky, i.e. Laura Wright Syndrome. It's not difficult to see why they Marley-fied her over the next couple of years.

And Jesus, can we just skip to the JFP years already? The production values are just completely horrendous.

SOW reported the following actresses were in the mix for the recast of Phyllis that eventually went to Sandra Nelson

Yvonne Perry (ex Rosanna ATWT)

Mary Ellen Stewart (ex Frannie ATWT)

Ellen Wheeler (ex Vicky/Marley AW,ex Cindy AMC)

Cindy Ambuehl (ex Kim B&

Linda Dona (ex Nancy GH)

This is an unpopular opinion, but I would have loved seeing Ellen Wheeler as Phyllis. She was great as psycho out-of-character Marley.

I can't see any of them as Phyllis. Then again I don't know Linda Dona.

Wasn't Kimberly Simms mentioned for several roles in the mid/late 90s but never actually made it past auditions? I think she auditioned as Jennifer Horton when Melissa Reeves left.

I read in Digest that Noelle Beck was also being considered for the Jennifer Recast. Typical, cheap DAYS going with Langan's Trainer's Lookalike Girlfriend.

I <3 some good, cheesy adult contemporary. This song is no exception. Love Paul Carrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ZOIixboiU

The Dems last hope of winning 2012?

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/28/vice-president-hillary-clinton/