j swift

That was another time, but I would hope today most writers and network executives would reject those types of portrayals of craven bisexual men as not the types of representation that we are looking for in soaps; which is why I would also not look forward to triangulated bisexual stories, the association of bisexuality and adultery is neither empowering nor respectful.

Like most I want more LGBTQIA representation. However there are some practical limitations, beyond the need for more LGBTQIA writers and producers, in order to tell modern stories. Hollyoaks is a perfect example of these issues. Problem #1: While there are a lot of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters, the small population, coupled with being set in a tiny village, means that they've all dated each other in some permutation. There's a joke in West Hollywood that by 30 everyone has already dated everyone else in town yet, in Hollyoaks it is actually true. Characters who have nothing in common, except for their sexuality, are in relationships because there are no other options. Straight male and female characters come to town in droves, but the same few LGBTQIA characters are stuck with each other for eternity. Problem #2 is that most Hollyoaks stories for LGBTQIA couples are too similar to their straight counterparts. They all want to get married, and then they all want babies. I am old enough to recall when the leading gay magazine's tagline was "the paper for the alternative lifestyle." There are no alternative in Hollyoaks, or DAYS, when every gay character longs for the same relationship ideals of every straight character and every gay character somehow winds up with children. Problem #3: Every coming out story need to have a character in opposition to gay rights in order to play all sides of the issue. Older characters regularly get thrown under the homophobia bus just so the audience can hear someone take the opposite position. Coming out is always played as a single event, and it is either met with total acceptance or total rejection. I recall actors who were gay in real life having to play homophobic jerks and I felt bad for them having to react in a way that we would never expect other minority actors to have to play. Problem #4: Historically, all soaps seem to only have three stories to tell for gay/bi male characters (a) they are the wedding planner/gossip columnist/gay best friend whose only personality trait is flamboyance (b) they are baiting gay characters to get want they need, but really desire a straight relationship, or (c) they are dying of AIDS without the support of anyone but their sudden gay ally in town. So, yes I want more LGBTQIA+ stories in daytime, but not until there is some maturity in how the stories are told.

From Rachel to Victoria and Felicia most women in Bay City tempered their inner bitch for the love of a good man. It is my least liked soap trope, (and not specific to AW necessarily), but I don't think most writers feel that a female character can sustain if she is unlikable. Speaking of Rachel, and where she lived with Ada, I recall watching an episode from the early 1980's when Mac and Rachel were fighting over custody of the kids. Ada visited Rachel in an apartment to discuss the supervised visitation issues that were being fought for in the divorce. At that time, Rachel was living in an apartment and I wondered how long that set lasted as her abode?

Totally agree. I remember watching Rachel and Mac's double wedding with Blaine and Sandy, and Felicia was very unsympathetic. She was bullying Julia and making catty remarks. Very unlike how she was later written.

DAYS Phillip brings to mind a type of character that soap writers in general struggle to write; the rich nice guy/prince charming type. Loving’s Jack, AMC’s Chuck, (as well as Greg and Cliff) Capital’s Tyler, and to some degree GH’s Jax were all good guys that were in triangles with either a good girl and a bad girl, or a poor girl and guy from her old neighborhood. But what they all lacked was a personality. I don’t think it was just their portrayals, I think the writing for those characters lacked humor or well-rounded sensibility. When Lujack wooed Beth always from Phillip on GL there was no question that he was the more interesting guy. Tyler and Jack went missing and nobody noticed for weeks because of how little charisma they brought to a scene. In hindsight there’s always the question of what did people see in these guys to begin with, other than their inheritance? The female versions of these characters are often written with more depth, think of OLTL Viki or AMC’s Anne. It just seems like a nice rich guy is always just a hero and never given anything more to play.

Isn't Basic Black a division of Alamain Industries? If I remember the novelizations correctly (A Stirring in Salem & A Secret in Salem which didn't actually take place in Salem, and don't seem to be cannon given that there is an unmentioned offspring), Basic Black was just one part of the overall Alamain Empire focusing on fashion.

Not to go too far into the weeds on the AW analogy, but the Bayview Courts apartments on Another World was another attempt at trying to tie twentysomething characters together based on living in a communal space rather than within a family unit (very Melrose Place). However, even in the 90's, it would have been rare for a rich woman like Sydney Chase to live in the same building as an editor's assistant like Ally. And I don't know many municipal building officials would allow a permit for a new drop-in clinic to be next door to a dive bar. In retrospect, perhaps the writers of The City thought too small by having everyone live within feet of each other rather than using the entirety of Greenwich Village, or the borough of Manhattan, as a backdrop?

Does that mean Lindsay Hartley doesn't really read scripts in her hot tub with then-boyfriend Jason Shane Scott in a speedo?

I just randomly remembered that Dorian's sister Melinda and her ex-lover David Rinaldi (not Vickers) were both pianists. I don't recall any mention made of the coincidence, and given that David/Cassie were retconed into Dorian history it was probably not planned. However, it would have been an interesting introduction if Dorian mentioned that she met David through her sister. Melinda was hospitalized in the asylum in 1981, and David was introduced in 1983, but I guess given the changes in writers and producers it was a lifetime apart.

One of the many dropped threads from the syndicated show Rituals was that the Chapins owned a football team. At one point Taylor was low in funds so the team had to move into the mansion and Lacey (Philece Sampler) the PE teacher at the college did aerobics with them. Also, Asa Buchanan owned a football team at point on OLTL and Mimi King was one of the cheerleaders (around the time of the cultural phenomenon of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders).

then, of course this happened I'm guessing PFS aced every executive interview to get the job, and then couldn't manage the office politics, because I've never heard of anyone who had such short tenures at so many shows...

Although between the generically named "Men's Line" and anachronistic "Brash & Sassy" they needed a stronger marketing department. And, how many makeup lines produce their own photography ads in-house? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Christy Turlington wasn't being shot by her uncle in the basement of the Calvin Klein building.

Wouldn't this whole Vinny situation be the perfect opportunity for Brooke Logan to remember her career in laboratory science? At the very least she should know how to interpret a validate a test result!

The internet may have phased the need for private investigators, but we'll always need experts to remember the real backstory on these boards - thanks for your contribution - but I still don't know what they do at Newman to get so rich...

The Feds always make hyperbolic statements like those about Jen. Selling bad customer listings is not the same as stealing and seems difficult to prove. A simple re-watch of Glengarry Glen Ross would demonstrate how companies buy bad listings all the time to try to make sales. Someone would have to be able to show receipts that Jen knew the lists were faulty and sold them anyway. However, the fact that she and her assistant were actually arrested is shocking! Andy noted that they are currently filming. So, it will be a schadenfreude-fest to watch the reactions of the other women to Jen's situation.

In the beginning, everyone on soaps had an understandable career; doctor, lawyer, homemaker, occasional blue collar worker. Then, in the 1980's everyone in soaps got rich. I know some people hate business stories, my opinion is that they are often useful as a backdrop for Romeo/Juliet sagas and revenge plots. Yet, I was scratching my head about how some of these companies created generational wealth? AMC - Chandler Enterprises: Adam came to town as a media magnate. He financed the movie based on Erica's autobiography, owned the local tv station, and later acquired the print magazine Tempo. However, at some point along the way Chandler also created faulty airline parts. If the brakes in my car were manufactured by Disney, I would be greatly concerned. So, what were the enterprises of Chandler? OLTL - Lord/Manning: It made sense that a soap set in Pennsylvania would establish a manufacturing plant based storyline. However, by the 2000's Viki's only assets seemed to be The Banner and Lord Manor (I'm a poet). What happened to Lord/Manning? Why didn't Todd get a share of the company? Couldn't one of Star's boyfriends have worked in the plant? After Harry went to jail did the whole plant just close? And while it made sense that Asa Buchanan traded in oil futures, it defied logic why their headquarters were in Llandview and London. GH - ELQ - Other than the issue of how the Q's made money before Edward started ELQ, came the question of what did that company do? In the 1990's they seemed to be a shipping company when Mac tried to sink their oil tanker named after Tracy (which is hardly an honor). However, by the 2000's they were manufacturing faulty condoms. Did they lube the condoms using the leftover crude? I'm not even going to discuss how the Cassadines afford the world's largest R&D department that experimented in everything from climate change to IVF, without ever making a profit by selling their contraptions! ATWT - WE - Lucinda came to Oakdale to buy The Argus, but eventually her offices became known as Walsh Enterprises, a management consulting firm that was always competing to get the elusive Kingsly-Malta account. Of course, Connor and Evan ousted Lucinda from Walsh and she founded Worldwide. Which begs the question, why would a small town whose largest industries seemed to be a fashion house, a hospital, and a farm need two management consulting firms? And why didn't Lily help her grandmother Emma make cutting squash into an international business? SB - Capwell Industries - Capwell is a real quandary because the company morphed a couple times depending on the plot. At first it seemed like a real estate development firm which built casinos, restaurants, and hotels. But then, it also owned an offshore oil well, a pharmaceutical company, and later a computer manufacturing firm. No wonder none of CC's kids wanted to work for him, they couldn't figure out what the hell he did for living. Y&R - Newman Enterprises - another international conglomerate with no known source of income. Victor came to town to work for Kay at Chancellor Industries after the death of their founder Phillip. Somewhere along the way he quit Chancellor, founded his own company, and amassed enough wealth to buy Jabot. Later his children sued him and we were told he was worth nearly one billion dollars. But, other than selling shampoo made from an elusive Oriental flower, what do they do at Newman? DAYS - We know Salem is the site of many murders and at least two major organized crime families. However, does a small town really support this many private investigators? In the age of Google, does anyone still hire a private investigator? If you're not married to a doctor, can you really support a family as a private investigator? Which then leads to the question about the professions of multiple adults in Salem. What do Jen, Patch, and Chloe do for a career? Do they have offices? Do they engage in watercooler talk about the vasts amounts of local gossip? I know most real estate in Salem is passed down through families and friends, but I don't know how these adults pay taxes and afford food, let alone the number of formal occasions and foreign trips they need to take annually.

It could never truly be the worst because that distinction will forever be held by Guiding Light's final theme "Only Love" with the horrible lyric Everybody wants truth Everybody wants hope Everybody clings to sex like soap on a rope

I like the mid century pencil illustrations the best, even though the shading makes it look like every actress could cut a steak with those sharp cheekbones

At first Anderson seemed to be a construction firm, but then it morphed into a manufacturing industry. Kellam Chandler, (Liz's father, Marlena's rapist), took over the company after Bob's death when Mary struggled to maintain the company with Chris from the intrusion of her stepmother. Chris developed a solar energy thing-a-ma-jig, Kellam tried to steal it. Chris stole it back. I think Chris was always a lawyer, but he was more interested in entrepreneurship, like owning the gym and later Shenanigans. Kellam was backing Don's political career in order to get him out of town and leave Marlena vulnerable. Soon afterward he was shot by his son Todd. Presumably, Todd and Liz inherited the company. Given Todd's drug addiction and Liz's singing career neither was interested in running the company. Not to mention that the terrible head writer of that story was fired. However, given the takeover, Bob's family inherited the profits from the sale of Anderson, (which is why Alex tried to marry Mary), but they no longer owned the plant. Mary's death at the hands of the Salem strangler ended that line of inheritance, with the exception of Melissa. So, it would seem that there is not much left of the company to be brought back. The real shame is loss of Bob Anderson's house set. It was mid century perfection. Micky lived there for a while while raising Melissa. Then the set went unused. But, I still recall that cantilevered staircase and the horizontal wood paneling. So cool!

I enjoyed these so much that I decided to make a game. - Who's that supposed to be? Name the soap, the character(s), and the actor for each picture. Try to submit your answers using the spoiler button (it looks like an eye), so that there's no cheating. I've added the soap using the spoiler button if you need a hint. #1 - We'll start easy with a classic Sandy Dvore image from #2 may look like a comic book but it's from #3 from the same ad #4 I included both members of this couple because she is unrecognizable to me in illustrated form #5 The other part of this couple would have given it away too easily #6 She's dressed for bed, not a black tie event #7 Looks like a generic image of a soap actor, but the character was so popular that he was on more than one show #8 - Does the headpiece give it away (or the eyebrows)? #9 a classic TV Guide caricature (hint not Falcon Crest) #10 To be fair, the covers of these novelizations were probably intentionally obscure in order to avoid paying the actors for their images. So, bonus points if you can guess which characters they are trying to portray. The winner gets a trip to Roman and Diana's Greek Wedding (time machine, airfare, and hotel not included).

It's a funny thing about Hope and Jennifer, they were often given dialogue about being cousins, but it is difficult to recall scenes that demonstrated their friendship. For example, I don't recall Jen helping Hope when she got addicted to sleeping pills (aka nighttime Hope), or Hope intervening when Jen began drink too much. When they were single each would warn the other about potential bad boyfriends. However, it is a shame that they were never given a story where they solved a mystery together, or saved each other from harm, or teamed up against a villain. Jennifer and Carly had that type of friendship, but she and Hope were really a missed opportunity.

While looking at the TV Guide ad for Capitol that I posted in the Capitol thread, I fell into a google-hole of soap print ads It was interesting to look at how CBS ads changed with the decades (Can you match the names with their images in the GL ad, and was India the only woman in the history of soaps who wanted to look older than her age?) NBC ads went from earnest (what does it mean to be "half in love"?) to amusing When I think of NBC I think of their classic illustrated ads - like this Cecile ad from the 90s (where the unrealistic perspective of the compact really annoys me), but check out the copy on the DAYS ad for a sizzling half sibling romance I also enjoyed the classic NBC contest ads (Would you rather attend Felicia, Sally, or Kayla's wedding? & Are they trying to trick us by showing the DAYS bride as a brunette?) ABC changed over the years but seemed to be influenced by the NBC illustrations Some illustrators may not have been as talented as others which lead to these odd images - Does RH Jill have a sidegig as Sandy in Grease? What's with Siobhan's large hand? And why is SFT Suzy marrying Grant Show from RH? Dynasty's odd illustrations matched the oddity of the Two Krystal's plot (was Krystal being played by a ventriloquist dummy?) And Kim Zimmer must have been pleased when CBS switched from illustration to photos

For the 39th anniversary of the primetime premiere of Capitol I thought it would be fun to revisit the TV Guide artwork for the CBS ad. In comparison to Photoshop work in modern ads, this looks like hieroglyphics. But, here's challenge: If this was the cover of a novelization of the script of Capitol who do you think they were trying to depict? I'm going with Tyler and Julie as the central couple, Sam & Myrna in the upper left, and Mark & Paula in the upper right. The woman running in sunglasses (and Ice skates?) may have been Clarissa (in the premiere scene where she is almost run over by Trey's limo while jogging) And the woman in the bottom right would be Sloane (if she was played by Susan Keith).

It seems like it would be difficult to write for characters like Sonny and Jason who were created using such strict rules. Sonny's in the mob, but he can't be involved with drugs, racketeering, or murder. Jason's a leading man, but he has a brain injury which prevents him from expressing emotion. Maxie needs a family based storyline, but it was established that she couldn't bare children. Some writers have the unfortunate circumstance of inheriting characters that have already been written into a proverbial corner. Y&R has Adam who is supposed to be able to be in romantic scenarios, but has a rap sheet of kidnapping, loose retinas, and gay baiting. DAYS is in a similar situation with Ben. OLTL Viki had a history of mental illness, but still needed to be portrayed as a reliable head of her family. AW Felicia never had kids on screen, so long lost children suddenly had to appear out of thin air. Through no fault of the current headwriter, they have to do plot gymnastics to create ongoing drama for popular actors playing characters that are uniquely trapped by their own history.