Everything posted by Contessa Donatella
- GH: January 2025 Discussion Thread
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DAYS: January 2025 Spoilers
- DAYS: January 2025 Discussion Thread
- Another World Discussion Thread
Some of his stuff is archived. TV Guide Magazine, I think is what includes some of his stuff. Of course over time he wrote for so many different media outlets.- As The World Turns Discussion Thread
Look at all that hair! Never seen it like that.- Another World Discussion Thread
That is one of my favorite books! Her explanation and exploration of the network expansion is better than anyone, well, except perhaps my own. She does not go into AW's 90 minute experiment, at all, but, besides that, except for a paragraph from Pete Lemay, she covers it 100% 4x4square, ... She has a bias, but that's because she became a fan of GH at a tender age. You know the AWHP doc abt the creation of AW, she did part of the reporting on that story. I'll try to think what else is a highlight. She's another person I email with on occasion. It's not in the book but she agrees that Lin Bolen IS Diana in NETWORK.- DAYS: January 2025 Discussion Thread
The absolutely phenomenal story by that wonderful Canadian woman whose name is right on the tip - oh I know, Margaret Atwood - anyway, what I am trying to say is that there is nothing going on in DAYS that is in any way like THE HANDMAID'S TALE. Basically it's about 2 things. 1. Nationalistic "Christians" who think the US should be run as a theocracy but who pervert the teachings of Jesus Christ in a variety of ways but that all favor wealthy white men. And, 2. something has happened in this civilization causing a whole segment of the population of women to be 100% barren while a different segment of females are very fertile. So, those in power take young fertile women prisoner & use them as baby-making machines, presumably impregnated in a ritualistic mating although many of those men are also infertile so many of those babies are actually the product of young fertile males working as guards, drivers or gardeners. To me, what this compares to is the US 1950s.- Your daily (or nightly) thought
Sounds delicious!- BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos
- The Politics Thread
You remind me of all of these people posting about lifetime expected to be living, or whatever that phrase is. The point is that they are all wishing fervently that he reaches his shelf life and SOON.- GH: January 2025 Discussion Thread
- Guiding Light Discussion Thread
It's so funny to me - and by that I mean ODD. When he first began doing this it seemed he was good at it. Then time passed and it was like, meh, smh, why isn't he asking the question I am typing into the chat? and so on. Then, even more time passed & we reach the point where we have actual criticisms .... I am forced to admit that the old adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt." really does have something to it!!!!- As The World Turns Discussion Thread
I know they did the deed at least once. It was very clear. But, I do not disagree with you when it comes to P&G & guts! After all, we can never discount the fact that they did Pete Lemay dirty over a gay storyline that was to have been told in the 70s. I have a video clips of Jessica Leccia in a WLW sex scene that would possibly burn out your eye sockets.- James Lipton Chapter 8 Interviews with Soap Actors
"As long as I was on that show, I could continue to study. It was the perfect subsidy. So, why wouldn't I stay with it?" - James Lipton "When Irna created ANOTHER WORLD, P&G said to her, 'You can't write 3 shows.' So she decided the person she trusted was me. She had 3 people she was developing -- Bill Bell, Agnes Nixon & me." - James Lipton "By the time I began writing soap operas, I was doing another thing. It was the perfect subsidy for me. P&G was wonderful to me. They knew I was doing a musical." - James Lipton "I did CAPITOL as a favor to John Conboy." - James Lipton "Irna couldn't write dialogue to save her life. She had these squares. Days of the week down one side. Characters down the other side. But, boy, could she plot." - James Lipton "You're asking too many questions about soap operas." - James Lipton These quotes come from an Interview site, with different video clips. Unfortunately, the link & I have become separated from each other. If I find it later I will add it. For some reason this offends me. I suppose it's two things. 1. Comparing Lipton to Bell & Nixon is absurd. 2. The idea that of all the people in the world Irna would've trusted HIM.- DAYS: January 2025 Discussion Thread
Hip Hip Hooray! I'm not kidding. It was such a relief to me that Marlena was used this way, which is a good & also appropriate way. Also, I think this is the first time we've really seen her & Tate relate to one another, which is kinda crazy since they live in the same TINY apartment. Me, too, I detest her mother! But, unfortunately I also detest this whole storyline. This is not the 50s. This is 2025. Can we say dated, trite, cliched? I think we can!!! And, while I'm at it, why not have either Tate or Sofia cite the statistics of people who responsibly use birth control but still become pregnant? I mean, why not? Sorry but I disagree here. I think Shelle is dead & gone.- As The World Turns Discussion Thread
This is something I just posted in the Another World topic, but it pertains to ATWT & so I thought you might be interested in it. You may know this already. One thing I have been told is that when ATWT wanted to tell Luke's story, they intentionally & specifically approached one of the writers of AMC Bianca's coming out storyline, Jean Passanante, and they asked her: Can you do this again but with a guy? She, of course, said she could. And, the rest, as they say, is history.- Another World Discussion Thread
What a great article!! Is there a link? It refers to more & I am interested. Also, thanks for finding this & then posting.- ALL: Errors, Myths, Omissions & Firsts that weren't
Yes, and I thought that this was already clear. but if not, the missing factor is ERROR on info from Internet sources. Plainly Feb 70 is WRONG.- BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos
I'm running a poll on several platforms. If anyone here is interested, you can vote just by replying with the # you best feel represents your Point of View. Where do you stand on Beyond The Gates at this moment? 1-Definitely will be watching 2-Yes I plan to check it out 3-Wait & see 4-Give it maybe 2 weeks 5-Not interested 6-I just do not have the time to add another soap. That's it! Have fun!- BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos
- ALL: Errors, Myths, Omissions & Firsts that weren't
The reason is simple & it's because "unknown date in 1972" is not at all useful to me when I can ask these people in Syracuse to search through 3 folders of scripts. I need to narrow that down substantially which is why I asked the question from the perspective of the marriage proposal.- ALL: Errors, Myths, Omissions & Firsts that weren't
Before I write back to Syracuse, I wanted to take a stab at narrowing down a date. So this is what we know. We know that Scott proposed to Kathy & she told him she'd had an abortion the day before. Information tells me that he proposed on Feb. 13, 1970. Is there any way anyone here can confirm or deny? The date I mean. And, thanks. This information is going to be checked against the script at Syracuse.- Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread
I'm doing research on Kathy's abortion. We know that Scott proposed to her & she told him she'd had an abortion the day before. Information tells me that he proposed on Feb. 13, 1970. Is there any way anyone here can confirm or deny? The date I mean. And, thanks. This information is going to be checked against the script.- James Lipton Chapter 8 Interviews with Soap Actors
All of the appearances on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” are the subject of James Lipton’s book INSIDE INSIDE. He was eager to speak with all of the actors in Chapter 8 about their time working on soap operas. Christopher Reeve, LOL Christopher Reeve, in his wheelchair, LOVE OF LIFE, Dan Harper, “taking us back to the old touring companies” “I was in a restaurant and this woman came up to me, took a vicious swipe at me with her handbag and said, ‘How dare you treat your mother that way!'” Lipton 170. Tommy Lee Jones, OLTL “It was wonderful! Yeah, it was wonderful because I was able to pay rent & I could not have done those 14 plays that I did in the 7 years I lived here if I had not been on the soap.” “What else did it do?” he mused. “You know, I’d never performed for over 500 people in my life. And I remember on the first day, looking at one of the producers & saying, ‘How many people do you think will be watching us on TV today? She said about 13 and a half million. I thought WHOA! It was really hard to get your mind around that idea. It was a good way to learn to not ‘pressure up’.” “It’s kept a lot of us going, kept a lot of us alive & thank god for them. And, it’s something that happens every day, which is really really good for actors. If you believe in theatre, and you believe in acting, it’s important to the quality of cultural life that our actors stay busy. I kept auditioning for plays & the casting directors would say ‘We think you’re a really good actor, but we need more of a box office name.’ The message was ‘You’re not famous enough to get this role.’ So, my question was, ‘How do you get famous?’ And they would point to the soap opera stars who were getting jobs on Broadway.” Lawrence Fishburne, OLTL Lawrence Fishburne made his soap opera debut – and TV history – at the age of 11, as a member of one of daytime’s first black families. “It was incredible for me for a couple of reasons. First, because I was suddenly in the presence of real actors. Al Freeman, Jr. used to come up to me every day & go, ‘Concentrate, kid!’ Because I was goofing around. But what really impressed me was watching Tommy Lee Jones work, because Tommy Lee & I were on the same show. You’d come in, in the morning, it’d be 7 o’clock & we’d have the read-through and Tommy would just be beside himself, ripping through the pages, going ‘I can’t possibly say this!’ And he’d rewrite the things that didn’t make sense & demand that things be made clearer & that his character have proper motivation. It was something that stuck with me, that I wound up doing later on, without ever realizing that I had learned to do it there.” Kevin Kline, SFT Kevin Kline recalled vowing when he got to New York never ever to do either a commercial or a soap opera because they demeaned the art of acting & great acting came from playing great parts in great dramatic literature. After about 6 months of unemployment, someone said to me, ‘You know actors have to eat. That’s one of their first duties: to eat.’ I was offered a recurring role on a little thing called Search For Tomorrow at 800 dollars an episode! And it was a 6-block walk from my house. I went in at 8 in the morning, got out at 3, and then as my agent said, ‘You know you can work now, off-Broadway or on-Broadway. You can be an artist. You can support that habit by doing this work which you think is so demeaning.'” Julianne Moore, EON, ATWT Julianne Moore appeared on EON playing Carmen Engler, a Swiss-French girl. She was Swiss-French because they couldn’t decide where she was from. First I was French. Then they said, “Well, if her father is Swiss, maybe she’s Swiss.” So, the accent would kind of go back & forth. But it was so exciting. I was so happy. It was a job! ATWT offered Julianne an even greater challenge, “playing Franny Hughes, who was the daughter of the chief of staff of the hospital. The chief of staff always has a daughter. And she’s always in trouble.” “And on that show somebody’s always named Hughes. That was the family –.” “Yeah, that character had been born on the show. And they wanted to bring me on & make Franny Hughes bad for the first time. And it didn’t fly! People got really upset & they had to do a major character shift. For two months I was snapping at people & wearing sexy clothes & then one day I came in and all my clothes were pink & white & very demure. They just changed it. And then they spun her off into her half-sister Sabrina, who was English & wore a wig & glasses & contact lenses & all that kind of thing & I was kidnapped …” The students were laughing by now & had a profound understanding. “I had amnesia. I slept with my own boyfriend. Because he said it was dark & he couldn’t tell the difference. That was my favorite line. Yeah, the lights are off, how can you tell?” For this miraculous double role, she won an award. “I did, I won a Daytime Emmy. It was nice.” Morgan Freeman, AW Perhaps the last name one would associate with soap opera is the august Morgan Freeman, but he, too, put in his time, as the architect Roy Bingham on Another World, who, as Morgan recalled, “eventually got married & went off to Europeon a honeymoon & never came back.” Salma Hayek Salma Hayek occupied a prominent place as the eponymous Teresa in the torrid world of the telenovela in Mexico. If American audiencescome to feel they own their own soap opera characters body & soul, the Latin American audiences take it even further. “Teresa was a schemer & she was also a social climber. I was living in this house with a Professor & his sister. I had lied about my background. My mother came to visit me. I pretended she was my maid. So, I was in a restaurant with my real mother & & my family when this woman comes over to our table & takes her purse, clearly her weapon of choice, & begins to hit me with it. She’s saying, “Bad daughter! Bad daughter! You’re going to hell! It is terrible what you did to your mother–because of her background! And my mother says to this woman, “What did she do? What did she do?!” And the woman is too busy hitting me to reply. So, I said, “Wait a minute! Get a hold of yourself!” Salma described the furor when she left that adulation to begin at the bottom in Hollywood. “Why would I leave Mexico if I was doing so well?! They just couldn’t understand that I would leave a successful career in Mexico, to work in the United States as an extra. And, so, they started making up all kinds of theories: I was having an affair with the president of Mexico & we had a fight & I had to leave the country.” Susan Sarandon, A World Apart, SFT Susan Sarandon valued her time on a short-lived serial called A World Apart. “I thought it was great because I hadn’t studied acting & this was kind of a combination of theatre & film, because basically you’re performing live, but you’re dealing with all this equipment. On World Apart I was the one that everything happened to. I can’t even begin to tell you the things that happened to me as the character, but I learned alot & I worked with good people. Then when asked if she also was on SFT: “I did. Yeah, that was a really good one because the main characters, who’d been on for about 50 years, was being held captive in a cabin & she’d lost her sight. I was always at the Laundromat. I was always calling my mom at the Laundromat. Mostly my boy friend was the bad one. My boy friend & I were brought in to kill the guy that was keeping her captive in this cabin. And then she ran out to get help & fell off the cliff & got her sight back.” (Lipton’s suspension of disbelief is at a high level. She went on, as caught up in her narrative as we were.) “It didn’t end there. We went into town & my boyfriend became her gardener. Now there was something vaguely familiar about this guy to this woman but of course she couldn’t recognize him because she’d been blind. It ended with a big shoot-out in a kiddie park. They made the whole set. Now, the only problem was that the guy who played my boyfriend was not used to doing soaps. He was a theatre actor & it was very stressful to him to learn all these lines, you know, every day. So, in the last episode he had everyone at gunpoint. He wept throughout the entire show. And everyone thought it was brilliant. That’s when I learned about tears because it had nothing to do with what was going on. He was actually having a nervous breakdown. But they thought it was brilliant.” Teri Hatcher, Capitol (My exchange with Teri Hatcher on the subject of soap operas was the briefest in the show’s 12-year history.) “You ever do a soap opera?” “For about 2 minutes.” “Why only 2 minutes?” “I was fired.” “What was the soap opera?” “Capitol.” “I was writing it.” Meg Ryan, ATWT Meg Ryan was a soap opera star of the firt magnitude on As the World Turns. When I asked her character’s name her dazzling smile appeared & she pronounced every syllable with evident pride. “I was Betsy Stewart Montgomery Andropoulos. That’s everyone I was ever married to.” (When asked to tell us about Betsy …) Meg settled into her chair, clasping her hands as she warmed to her subject. “Well–they got me on the show & they gave me like this little family tree, which is a very complicated kind of diagram of how everyone was related to everybody. It was insane. And then they said to me, in kind of hushed tones, ‘You know your mother, your real mother, died falling up the stairs.’ And I thought, ‘That’s it. She’s a complicated babe, honey.’ I mean she went up … ? (Did they ever explain it?) “No, it was left for me to think about–for a long time. But then every time Betsy would do something totally out of character, which happened often during the writers’ strikes, I’d go up the stairs. Up, that’s right, because her mother died going up the stairs. It explained a lot, it was useful.” (Were you ever kidnapped?) “I have to defer to you. Was I?” (Well, everybody was. On a soap opera, you’re alway kidnapped eventually.”) “That’s true. True.” (And you were pregnant.) “Yes! But not by my husband!” Gripping the armrests & coming half out of the chair. “No, because he was both sterile & impotent. But he thought I wouldn’t get it, you know? Like he thought I could just …” Meg sprawled back in her chair, overwhelmed by Andropoulos’s presumption. “It was unbelievable!” (Wasn’t he also psychotic & a paraplegic?) “Yes! he was faking the paraplegia!” (Oh.) “And I was pregnant!” (Was he faking the impotence?) “I don’t think he was faking the impotence,” Meg said, with her brow knotted in serious reflection. (But then you got pregnant.) “Yes, by my Greek construction worker lover. In Spain.” (You got pregnant in Spain.) “In Spain, that’s where it happened.” (Didn’t Mr. Andropoulos end up in a jail in Greece?) “Eventually, on another remote trip. You know, the other thing that happened on the soap opera … I really fell in love with actors. It was so much fun to be around these people because everyone was so out front with all their stuff. There was such a soap opera in this studio on East Seventy-sixth Street.” (On The Guiding Light I romanced or married everybody on the show but my mother.) Blog 44 v2.0 Published 10-12-23 From <https://shallotpeelblog.org/2023/10/12/blog-44-famous-graduates-of-daytime-3/>- GH: January 2025 Discussion Thread
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