ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1982
Soap battling 'General' By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
NEW YORK (AP) - Top-ranked “General Hospital,” keeps “The Guiding Light” trying harder in the battle for more and younger day time viewers. The CBS soap opera has gone in for elaborately staged fantasy sequences, more location shooting and a new eye-catching montage for the show’s opening credits in an effort to catch ABC’s “General Hospital,” which it faces in most television markets. The keenness of competition has paid off for “Light,” at least as far as the National Daytime Emmy Awards are concerned. It’s the only CBS nominee for the season’s outstanding daytime dramatic series. The other three Emmy nominees for best series — “Ryan’s Hope," “All My Children,” and “General Hospital” — are all on ABC The winner will be announced Friday at ceremonies that will be broadcast nationally by CBS, 3 p.m. EDT
Leading “Light's” quest for higher ratings is the show’s executive producer, Allen M. Potter, a 28-year veteran of the soap operas wars, whose credits include such shows as “Brighter Day,” “As the World Turns” and “Another World.” He joined “The Guiding Light” six years ago. “In those days, there was a lot of talk about what went on, mostly over coffee cups," he said “The characters were middle-aged or beyond with usually a token young person ” Today, they are mostly younger — “the bulk of our show is now age 17 to middle 20s," says Potter “We made a massive change in the last year when we let some of the older people go.That was a sad parting but we feel that it's necessary in this day and age to tell the stories of the young because they are the ones who are giving the shows ratings these days.”
Not only are the characters younger but the locales are frequently becoming more exotic Potter spoke in a telephone interview from St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands where the show was taping a number of scenes, including underwater shots and a search for a golden temple that, according to the producer, “is going to reveal all kinds of things The episodes will air in July. The stories, written by head writer Douglas Marland, move faster, too. Marland created the enormously popular characters of Luke and Laura on “General Hospital." before joining "The Guiding Light ” On “Light,” he created a series of fantasy sequences for the willful Nola Reardon, who besides being the series’ "bad girl,” has a penchant for old movies and an active imagination Marland placed her in "Wuthering Heights,” "Dracula,” and even a Busby Berkeley style number with dancers on a battleship, reminiscent of “Anchors Aweigh.” Fortunately, Lisa Brown, who plays Nola Reardon, is an expert musical comedy performer, who later this summer will take over the ingenue lead in the Broadway musical, "42nd Street.”
The show’s introduction has also changed. For years, it began with a shot of a lighthouse and stately organ music. “After that we opened with a pattern of leaves and a slow, melodic kind of music," said Potter “We felt a need for a change. So we created our present opening. I think it's the sharpest thing we’ve got in daytime (drama) today.” It’s a montage, one- or two-second action shots from recent shows that are intercut rapidly on the screen to faster, uptempo music, he said. The scenes will be periodically updated Marland also built plot lines around a discotype nightclub called “Wired for Sound.” which allows for more music on the show and the appearance of people not usually seen on soap operas Recent performers at the club have included the punk rock group, the B-52s, and Jennifer Holliday who won a Tony Award this week for her performance in the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls.”
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Paul Raven ·
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