Jump to content

All: TV Guide's "The Worst in Soaps 2008"


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Trying to be fresh and hip, Guiding Light switched from a classic, studio-bound soap to one shot on location in drab, charmless Peapack, New Jersey, with jumpy, nausea-inducing minicams, tinny sound and harsh, unflattering lighting(Kim Zimmer, call your lawyer!)

CBS defended the makeover as "a work in progress" and since then much of this artsy-fartsy, indie-flick stuff has been dropped, but why should we be patient while a show gets its act together? The message--that viewers are that unimportant--just seemed so rude. Foolish too. Ratings have dropped 21 percent since the "progress" began.

Suicide is Painful

Watching Days of Our Lives owner Ken Corday systematically destroy his soap--by sticking with his dreadful headwriter Dean Higley, axing his dynamic show-runner Ed Scott and dumping his two most popular stars, Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn--has been unbearably sad. And, clearly NBC is too mired in its own problems to care.

Mad Men

Head Writer Ron Carlavati and exec producer Frank Valentini beautifully resurrected the flailing One Life to Live, then trashed it by sending Bo and Rex time-traveling to 1968 and rehasing a 20-year-old storyline about the crown jewels of Mendorra. The latter--with criminally bad acting by Andrea Evans(Tina) and Kevin Spirtas(Jonas)--was the dumbest, most exhausting plot of the year.

Flack Attack

Proctor & Gamble's PR department publicly blasted Soapnet.com for posting a Perez Hilton item that outed a top As the World Turns star. Then P&G took out ads promoting ATWT on Perez's Web site.

And the Winner Is....

Apparantly nobody. CBS and ABC have refused to broadcast the Daytime Emmys in 2009 and, at press time, there were no other takers. Not even Soapnet wants the damn thing. Now how pathetic is that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 24
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Michael Logan has always seemed to me to be the only true soap journalist in the biz. He's always got the best scoops and his insights and opinions I usually agree with. And he doesn't have to announce himself as a "thinking" columnist either because you can read his columns and know that for yourself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The thing that I don't get is how people keep saying that the firing of Edward Scott was a bad thing at Days or even the firing of Hogan Sheffer for that matter.

I don't even watch the show as often as others do and I can see that it wasn't totally a bad thing. Yes they brought a few good things to the show in particular good direction and good dialogue. But they were also responsible for just as much bad.

Sheffer's stories were terrible, and not only that the show didn't even have the feel of Days of Our Lives while he was there. It seemed like some other show. And characters like Stefano didn't even seem like Stefano. The Stefano that Sheffer wrote was some castrated Stefano who couldn't instill fear in a fly.

Then Ed Scott was evidently responsible for some backstage upheaval in much the same way that evidently Josh Griffith was at Y&R. Things were so uneven for so long, and although they aren't perfect right now things seem to have stablized backstage and it is even seen onscreen.

I agree that Higley needs to go, but keeping Ed Scott was bad for the show. Corday and Scott could not work togehter and as long as Scott was there nothing would ever stablize on the show. Corday was never going to allow a writer in there that Scott trusted as he wanted someone in the studio that has his interest at heart. Scott didn't.

I think it is funny too that if Days does survive the next contract cycle that as bad as Higley is - everyone may owe Days salvation to her. She did something that Sheffer couldn't do and that was stablilize Days ratings. If she was the one who wrote during the strike and everyone says she was things really started to turn around for Days in February. And then since the Olympics things have really been good. And despite all the bad that is being said - you do hear good from many people who said just what I did that right now even with it's problems it does feel like you are watching Days when you turn it on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Nope, it was not just you, I had the same issues. Most either disagreed with me, or just ignored my comments. But, I most definitely would have liked for them to take another route, even to add sheer variety in the storytelling. It is what it is, the story is a hit with the fans...
    • You may be a casual watcher, but you got SO much right.
    • I've been eagerly awaiting Kate's first episode under the new writers, and I wasn't disappointed. I started reminiscing about all of Kate's misdeeds when she said how good of a liar she was and how she saw right through Roman's lying. I really buy this matured, but still wise Kate in 2025, and the fact that you know under the right circumstances, the more ruthless side is always there, under the surface. Hopefully, with Roman about to confess, we get the full truth about just what the hell happened with Johnny the night EJ was shot, then all the major suspects will be eliminated, just for the writers to throw in that wrench that's waiting for it's time to shine. Everytime Brady thaws even a little bit towards Kristen I immediately get concerned. I was entertained by their fight, and it was smart to mention Kirsten having no friends, let alone positive female relationships except for Lani in regards to why Rachel is such a loser. As a viewer, do you think Stacy Haiduk as Kristen was at all thinking about her former friendships with Jennifer and Billie in that moment? I wonder if she's even aware that they were, or who Billie even is. Anyway, I do wish Kristen could have also thrown in Brady's face that he's literally the biggest slut in Salem. Rachel seeing and possibly hearing about him going from woman to woman would also negatively affect Rachel's negative ideals about women, and possibly her own self-hatred. I thought Doug's favourite class being English lit was a good through line from how impressed he was with grandpa Doug's poetry book to Julie. Hearing he dropped out because no one at home cared just made me yearn for more information about Charles LeClair as a father and person. Maybe it was this time that Robert LeClair was dying so Charles was distracted and it all fell apart after that? Alex with Kristen today is the most interesting I've seen him written. He was smarmy and cold and for a quick second looked like he was enjoying playing with Kristen clearly throwing herself at him, but when she dropped her facade he became merciful, but still unwilling to budge. He would have fit in well in the more complex 70s era as a cad with a heart underneath his bravado. However, and I can't stress this enough, I absolutely despise whenever he calls Philip, 'Phil.' It just itches my brain in all the wrong ways.
    • U.S. soaps don't use calendar years. Nor do they use their debut anniversary as season markers anymore, athough they may have done so at one time long long ago. Although GH first debuted in April, Y&R and B&B in March, and Days in November, their current seasons are considered to be starting each autumn. Edit insert to clarify: the soaps still each celebrate their debut anniversary date as an anniversary, but it's not the season end/start marker anymore. --- Soap seasons on the US broadcast networks and Peacock are currently considered to start in late August, in September, or in early October. (the autumn). Tamara Tunie said on her IG today that the current season of BTG ends at the end of August.  Then Season Two begins. https://www.instagram.com/p/DJkCcNQRxBR/ So basically, for any new soap starting from now on, Season One is a partial year that ends in the autumn, and then all following seasons go twelve months starting each autumn. Edit to add: You would think that Y&R and B&B would start their seasons on the exact same day each autumn, but due to lots of news events in the past few years, B&B has had more full preemptions than Y&R, which has thrown off their season start/end dates.  So as a result, Y&R and B&B sometimes debut their new seasons in different weeks each autumn.
    • The biggest project in my professional life is on the horizon. Feeling blessed and excited. Creative energies are dominating my whole being.

      Please register in order to view this content

    • This is what happens when you write for character over actor.
    • I assume Holly is Nicole's kid, right?  If so, the casting on the actress was spot on since she totally had some of Nicole's mannerisms/aura. Kristen is being shown as human again.. which we haven't seen from the character since Eileen's 1 year return back in the early 2010s. Kate is now running the Brady Pub?  
    • I think most people's knowledge of DNA tests comes from Maury. I dont think she nor most people would even think to consider genetic markers
    • Calendar year, at least going by when the Season Numbers have changed in the past several years on GH and on DAYS it's been calendar years. What their start dates are though haven't necessarily made inherent sense to me.  Hmm, interesting point. I'm used to being for underdogs, as well, but I am very invested in the Duprees. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy