Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer

[EricMontreal22]

Well with the fact that (for good and bad) internet porn is "normalizing" porn even mroe than the mainstream burst in the 70s briefly did, you're probably right.

[SFK]

Of all the types of pornstar one could be, I'm assuming that a straight male pornstar has the best chance in daytime. Of course the world is changing, but if I try to get into the mind of a rather conservative middle American woman for a split second (generalizing, of course), I'd guess that she doesn't want to know that her hunks have diddled other hunks and she'd be less likely to get behind a heroine who has given her behind (she'd be okay as the recurring villainess though). I agree that the stigma of porn is something no crossover actor will EVER live down. And look at whatshername from Sunset Beach who just did that porn last year, I wonder what that's done for her career.

[EricMontreal22]

I forgot that that Sunset Beach star went porno... hrmmm

I am sure that with the plethora of "amateur" sites online it will become more and more common that someone will have a porn past, but... (And of course there's that awful "actor" on Dante's Cove and its sorta spin off--who's a big gay porno star, but that's a different case IMHO)

Or more to the point, the way a tv exec would IMAGINE a conservative female viewer would think...

[SFK]

Right right... I've known more than a few women (straight/bi/lesbian) who are turned on by the idea of two men just as many straight guys are turned on by the idea of two women. It's been said a million times, but there is something very conservative/old Hollywood studio system about the soaps when it comes to sex.

[DRW50]

The arrival of soap actors, none of whom ever became big stars in daytime, but still, the number of soap actors in the 90s who had also done some form or another of softcore porn was a bit jarring. Krista Allen, Lesli Kay, Jay Pickett, Kevin Spirtas, et al. That's not the same as hardcore porn, of course. That just amounts to the one who played Beth on Passions, who did softcore and Playboy before Passions, and now is in hardcore. And then you had moments I thought were shocking that didn't raise an eyebrow, like Katherine Kelly Lang, well into her starring years on B&B, showing everything and having simulated sex scenes in a bad Showtime "thriller".

I think there has been a certain cultural image of porn stars who hit mainstream, the women may need to have large fake breasts and a lot of plastic surgery, and it will help if they're ashamed of their past. The men, like Ron Jeremy, have to be unattractive or slovenly, to be a funnier, safer image, as that takes away the fear that American society at large has had of a sexually attractive man. I think as the public becomes more and more comfortable with the idea that yes, men can be hot, and can be objectified, it makes it easier for a man who does a lot of porn to be attractive to a larger public. The joke used to be that all the men in porn were ugly and the male viewers didn't want to see hot guys, and the guys were only known for their endowments, the rest had to look bad, but I don't think that's true these days.

It's both easier and more difficult for a woman to get past porn, because the culture at large objectifies attractive women, but that is more the idea of pornography (more mainstreaming of what were once seen as very kinky sexual practices, and stripper poles, and women making out) than the women in pornography. A specific woman breaking through may be more difficult.

[EricMontreal22]

I think softcore porn is a non issue nowadays--it's kinda just assumed that most direct to DVD erotic thrillers, etc, are softcore porn (post Red Shoe Diaries, etc).

"as the public becomes more and more comfortable with the idea that yes, men can be hot, and can be objectified, it makes it easier for a man who does a lot of porn to be attractive to a larger public. The joke used to be that all the men in porn were ugly and the male viewers didn't want to see hot guys, and the guys were only known for their endowments, the rest had to look bad, but I don't think that's true these days. "

With people my age or younger, again this is a much different issue. Guys ARE objectified nearly asmuch as women (witness the fact that nearly any shirtless guy on tv now needs to have a six pack--I went back to my high school to help with a drama production and was amused and horrified at how, well, groomed ALL the guys were--that wouldn't have been true 15 years back).

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah, that's something the Japanese have known for years (hence the amount of YAOI manga, etc, that'sbeen around since the70s--explicit,erotic gay male material mainly by and for women), and really people shouldhave caughton to here by now (I had a close straight female friend who admitted to watching gay porn cuz the guys were hotter and there was no obnoxious screaming long finger nailed woman to get in the way of the fantasy--similarly I remember when the original UK Queer as Folk premiered, I was trying to get a copy--this was before files on the internet, and joineda forum where someone from my small city said she had an NTSC copy she had gotten converted and would happily make me a copy. I was 17 and met her at the hair salon where she worked--she was this super conservative middle aged MOTHER, who then insisted we have coffee and dish about who we thought were the hottest couples on the show!)

[DRW50]

It does seem like a nonissue now, although that depends on the type. For instance, a lot of cable shows that are respectable have what used to be seen more in softcore only (like the sex scenes on True Blood, or some of the shocking sex scenes they used to have on the Sopranos). The softcore anthology type shows that used to host a lot of actors who would show up elsewhere seem to be gone. A lot of the people who did softcore in the 90s weren't hardcore porn stars, whereas now it seems like most of them are. They stay within that genre. You won't see them suddenly appear on B&B, although, with Jennifer Gareis there, I guess you don't need them anyway...

Yeah, that's something which may eventually trickle into the mainstream media more. There was an article at Afterelton last week called The Mainstreaming of Homoeroticism. That's one of the only ways for the media and pop culture to be kicked forward, is when younger people are blase about what they were supposed to see as shocking or inappropriate. These days it's more and more difficult to shock people, especially when we have real problems in the world, whereas the 90s were more of a bubble.

I do hope that eventually men stop thinking they have to get rid of most of their body hair. That look doesn't do anything for me.

[EricMontreal22]

As a hairy guy (who has gone through waxing periods, etc) so do I. I remember like over 5 years now, the New York Times declared hairy chests as back in, finally... It never really happened (though now with the popularity with young people for trimmed beards, etc, it is becoming morenormal to have at least some chest hair so it is slowly happening Ithink, just not as quickly as expected). Of course the smooth chest look thing wasone of the first male body image things to start in the gay culture and quickly seep into the mainstream. I know for me, I finally stopped all that silliness when I realized that it was hypocritical to prefer guys with some body hair, and yet be so self conscious to remove it from myself... lol

I'm all for guys taking better care fotheir appearance, but I have to admit it's probably not too healthy that instead of it getting BETTER for women (that things like being super thin aren't the most important trait an actress could have) it's simply gotten more image conscious for men. I suppose things are vening out, but notin a healthy way particularly. Ah well

[DRW50]

I'm glad to hear you say that. I hate the peer pressure or society "norms" that preach one thing or another. If someone wants to be smooth then fine but I hate the idea that it is the ideal, as I hated all the "metrosexual" press coverage, which just seemed like a way to look hip and to plug various expensive products.

Poor Lorraine Broderick, I hope she doesn't click onto the last few pages

[EricMontreal22]

I think it's easy to get it into your head that, even if you know advertising, etc, is trying to tell you one look or one way is "hot" and you don't buy it, that other people feel that way too, if that makes sense. I mean even the people I find attractive on soaps don't tend to be the ones that were cast solely on their looks (coff, Ford on OLTL, coff)

(Though really I should just have been born in the 60s and come of age in the 70s--with my chest hair, the fact that if I don't keep my head hair as short as I do it'd look like a brunette Chris Atkins, and disco love )

HAHA poor Lorraine indeed

[Jonathan]

Video interview of Susan Lucci praising the writing:

http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/03/12/the-show-girl-justified-minute-to-win-it-all-my-children/

[Adam]

It won't let me watch it. What exactly did Susan have to say?

[Jonathan]

She said that "these writers" are terrific. She's happy to be getting material that is exciting for her to play as an actress. She didn't specifically name names.

ETA: I pasted a new link. It should work now.

[Adam]

Thanks! I can see it now, my god that host is ANNOYING! Anyway, I think Susan is making more of a general comment more than anything.... because she didn't seem to mention anything specific. Either way though you can tell as of late Susan is perhaps putting just a bit more into her work than she had been for the months before. I felt the same way when Pratt first came aboard and immediately made her and Adam the centre of the show. Susan hadn't had that much fire in YEARS! I loved those first few months where they were in each other's orbit constantly.