Planet Soap

Wow this is unexpected! Grew up with her on Passions. Much too young.

yes he did, when Reeva tried to break him and Annie up. At 16:45

My vote is OLTL during the Gary Tomlin era from 2001-2002. Funny moments from Todd, Asa, Nikki Smith and Alex especially during this period. It balanced the comedy drama aspect and the show won an emmy.

Erica, AMC: "Saint Maria of Wildwind, tending to the sick in her push up bra" "Tone deaf little girls with eye glasses like coke bottles and ankles the size of logs" "What's the matter Brooke, can't take it? well, I know it hurts being third rate, but aren't you a custom to it yet?" "....who have contributed to my undoing" Others: "trapped inside the shell of an aging whore". Viki OLTL. "you'll go after anything in pants so long as it gets you what you want. Just like when you were a little girl, Reeva, remember, you like that man touch you?"~ Josh GL "Since that fabric you haven't produced very much...except for procreating which you do so well. But as far as producing something other than an unwanted pregnancy..." ~ Stephanie (to Brooke) B&B.

Agreed. They can't give up one day out of 300+ to show actual quality soap? Lol.

Yeah Y&R's attempts at social issues felt very after schhol special-ish, especially for a soap rooted in grounded storytelling. Ironically the show featuring rocks and weather machines was more adept at tackling matters like AIDS.

The sassy snarky girl (sometimes mean girl) Victoria Y&R, Fallon DYNASTY

I'm speaking about "American Crime Story" as in The People vs OJ Simpson and Impeachment, not "American Horror Story". 2 different shows.

I genuinely want to know if Brad Bell does not see the issue with the repetition in his writing? Is he not privy to the repeated frustration with the repeated triangle? When Brook Ridge and Taylor were doing the merry go round, was it every single year like this? When you mix and match relationships this frequently, it makes it meaningless and unimpactful to the audience. Somehow, this is one of the last soaps to survive the purge???

Good for him! I wonder why Murphy didnt do this or Dahmer under the brand of American Crime Story on FX. I'm also surprised that they are revisiting the story when Law and Order True Crime did a pretty decent job of tackling the Menendez brothers trial. I was hoping American crime story would cover one of (or both of) the Michael Jackson trials.

Exactly my thoughts on so many HBO shows. I like that soaps make you feel warm. I have tried to get into succession, but a lot of the financial talk, feels esoteric. I have tried to get into succession, but a lot of the financial talk, feels esoteric. Maybe I haven't watched it enough, and perhaps it's like the Sopranos were the best parts of the show have to deal with Tony's personal and family drama. It's very refreshing to read an article with beyond surface level knowledge of soaps like Luke & Laura and Erica Kane. I was amazed at the past and present knowledge and analysis the author provided. I love the comparison that shows like GH tried to copy primetime but fates reversed in that a lot of streaming content takes serial and plot elements of soaps.

Makes sense.

Early Carly on ATWT! Types: Benevolent Matriarch (Burt GL, Viki OLTL) Femme Fatale (Claudia GH) Grand dame (Alexandra GL, Kay Y&R) Domineering patriarch (Asa OLTL, Palmer AMC, Victor Y&R) Social climbing scheming Girl [often from the wrong side of the tracks] (Carly GH, Tina OLTL) Psycottic villain (Cameron Y&R, Mitch OLTL) Methodical/mental villain (Adam Y&R) Supervillain (James Stenbeck, Stefano Dinera)

Yes Y&R was the best with charachters like Lynn, Miguel, Carole, Phyllis's babysitter, John Silva, Esther and others. Regularly seeing the same faces as secretaries, lawyers or maids, adds another level of consistency to a show. I think that's why I find it so hard to follow old school ATWT, because there are so many characters that I know nothing about . The cast wasn't as segregated as Y&R, so everyone has some connection to everyone which gets hard to follow. Way too many, who serve no purpose. At least on Y&R all of the recurrings has a set function. Esther was support for Katherine, Lynn was Paul's right hand, Phyllis's babysitter Joni served as her talk to as well as low level accomplice. GH has a whole bunch of faces who are there either as stunt casts or people that get a storyline for a week which picks up again a month later.

Given GH's emotional and humanist storytelling in the nineties, I wonder how Claire Labine and/or Bill Levinson under Wendy Riche would work on AMC. I've heard a lot of controversial stuff about how Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati handle shows. Who do you think is more so the problem between them? Furthermore considering that Frank and Ron's OLTL got canceled, why would ABC consider them to save GH? (Which they did a decent job of in 2012).

Interesting thread. I'm curious as to what a Frank Valentini/Ron Carlivati run on Y&R would look like in the post Bill Bell era. I'm sure that pairing would be able to capture Y&R's's old school, dark vibe, sort of what they brought to OLTL's in the 2000s. William J Bell could write for AMC. Grounded storylines with sort of a glamour/business aspect and middle aged characters. I'd put put Aaron Spelling on B&B.

Ironic that we're talking about the early 2000s as I finally took the time to watch some of Soap Fanatic's Deacon and Amber material from about 2000. This was the shows silver era, completely tabloid! If I have my facts straight, Rick basically brought Deacon to town only for Deacon to sleep with both his sister and mother!

Great interview, but one thing that stood out is Linden liking the rushed storyline pace. He also enjoyed that Cameron came to town fully crazy not methodical or playing mind games. There in lies the problem. As he acknowledged, for a medium that airs five episodes weekly, burning through material quickly isn't in their best interest. They're rushing through this storyline to return to a state of stasis. Very B&B of them. I don't mind that Cameron returned ready for action, but the plot didn't have to get resolved so rapidly, especially because this is the most excitement they've had in years.

The same with Mitch Lawrence and Alison Perkins on OLTL! The writers pulled a Michael Baldwin and a JT by having Cameron dig a tunnel to get into the Newman house. Back in the day however, we would have seen Cameron's methodical process in building the tunnel. Example, the 90s we saw Michael chipping through the wall over days, we saw Sheila putting together the puzzle pieces, we even saw Marge testing a forged signature at the bank before replacing Katherine. Today, villains say they did XYZ and we don't see any process that goes into their plot. Please God no. It would be one thing to do a twin story if Cameron was killed off back in the day (like Matt Clark, or Cassie were ). It would be stupid to immediately bring his twin to town just after killing this relatively legacy character. Overall, I like the story, but it was rushed. The Golden Era writers would've been able to stretch Cameron's return over a year or two and not have it be boring.

Amazing crying scene from Sharon Case. Given the right material she can work it. I didn't expect to care about seeing Nick and Sharon together again but it feels good seeing them work together for Faith. It feels even better seeing Victor stand up for Sharon again. It's becoming evident that this Cameron plot may be a catalyst to bring the couple back together. If they do, it has to be endgame and neither of those two characters need any more children. It's crazy that Sharon still lives on her ex-husband's ranch despite her complications with his family. I also love that her house has virtually maintained the same appearance for nearly the last thirty years.

I used the term "eventually" and hesitated to say "rapid" because I remember Bill Bell wanting to cancel the show as it didn't do well at first. What factors do you all think lead ATWT to loose It's number one spot and not make it back into the top three for the 80s? From what I see with the yearly soap opera ratings on Wikipedia, AMC overtook them first in '78, 5hen GH solidified the number one spot by '79 (the obvious answer being Gloria Monty's changes). ATWT wasn't listed as reaching into the top three for the remainder of the decade.

With this whole Cameron thing, living on a ranch I'm surprised Sharon (or Nikki) doesn't own a gun. Victor has always been a more fist fighting and using his power kind of guy so that probably lines up.

Thanks. Y&R is one of the few examples of a successful 12:30 soap. It's dark shadowy tone IMO fits for a late afternoon 4pm soap as well.

What do you all think it was about Y&R that eventually made it perform so well for new soap in the late 70s into the 80s?

Good question. I'm wondering if they will cross paths in 2023. This would also be an interesting time to re-introduce Sheila to the Y&R's canvas given all these villains that are coming back.