Your Version of Daytime's Power Players

[soapguy1]

After reading Nelson's Daytime Power List, I decided to compiled my own list. I'd like to read yours!

All you need to do is rank your Top 15 and give the reason why.

Here's my list:

My Daytime Top 15

15. The Online Community: They can bitch, moan, criticize, and make suggestions that would actually make many of these shows better. But the shows like to act as if they don’t exist…but their opinions do matter. Pay attention!

14. Melody Thomas Scott (Y&R): She refused to take Y&R’s mandated pay cut and remained on the show (after intense contract negotiations & Nikki being “killed off”). Long live Nikki Newman.

13. Victoria Rowell (ex-Y&R): She’s been off the canvas for two years, but she still commands the headlines. I'd hate to be her enemy!

12. Michael Logan (TV Guide): He blasted Ellen Wheeler for her lies during her last interview with his magazine. Watch out, shady executives!

11. Lynn Leahey (Soap Digest): She has the power to put anyone on the cover of her magazine. Why doesn’t she share the love with the other soaps? I’m sure B&B and OLTL would love the attention!

10. James Sarnoff (Daytime’s Super Agent): If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t get a job writing or producing a soap opera, you need this guy.

9. Susan Lucci (AMC): She took a pay cut; it is rumored she won’t re-locate LA. The show is (begrudgingly) allowing her to fly to LA to shoot her scenes. They need her. Let’s be honest, without Erica, there’s no show.

8. Agnes Nixon (AMC): Agnes proves to the world that good writing can save anything. We all know that Agnes wrote the Angie/Jesse reunion & it was stellar. Come back full time, Agnes! Your baby needs you.

7. Gary Tomlin & Christopher Whitesell (DAYS): The show has rebounded under their watch. Good job.

6. Barbara Bloom (CBS): She may not own her soaps, but the buck stops with her. If only she’d convince her bosses to stop cutting her soaps’ budget with every contract renewal…

5. Brad Bell (B&: He won the Emmy for Best Show, but it still needs a lot of work. But hey, at least there are black people on his show who aren’t cops.

4. Brian Frons (ABC): If he would actually fire the executive producers & head writers for GH & AMC, maybe they would have a renaissance. Let’s face it; GH & AMC are almost unwatchable.

3. Talk shows & judge shows: They’ve encroached on the soaps’ turf and have never achieved the same level of ratings (except for Oprah & Dr. Phil). They’re never very original (Rachael Ray? Really…), but they can get lower ratings and still make money…which is taken away from the soaps. That’s one hell of a power move.

2. Maria Arena Bell (Y&R): She took daytime’s champ & made it as strong as it was before LML. However, the show was struggled a bit in terms of story. I say fire Hogan Sheffer…he writes the same mess on every show & it’s always a mess. Maria, get Kay Alden. This woman knows the show! (My biggest quibble: Doesn't Jill own something like 25% of Jabot. If she lost all of her money, she’d still have that. Jabot is a publicly traded company that most like pays a quarterly dividend. She may be cash poor, but she’s far from broke!)

1. TeleNext Media (P&G): They created the genre & are single handily destroying it. Let's just hope they don't pull all of their advertising dollars out of the soaps. If they do, we're in trouble! Now, that’s real power.