Ken Corday(and others)talk about changes they'd make

[Paul Raven]

The question posed was 'What would you change about daytime if you could?'

Industry names who replied included Megan McTavish,Jeanne Cooper,Felicia Minei Behr,Michael Malone,Stephen Schnetzer,Jason Bonderoff(SOD) and Robert Rorke(SOW),

In light of all that has happened since,their replies are interesting.Looking forward to Son posters take on them.

Here's what Corday had to say:

"I would ask every producer and headwriter to look to their social conscience and try to balance their shows with not only tittilating entertainment but also with a positive reinforced message that loves does conquer all and that good does triumph over evil.There needs to be something for everyone,and soaps need to strive to acheive the right balance between aesthetic entertainment and social value.

Next,I think the genre needs to stay true to iys form if its going to remain ongoing and successful.Our roots are in Dickens and Shakespeare and emotional and familial storytelling.We're not primetime Tv,and we're not MTV.people want more than sound-bite storytelling.

I think actors should sign contracts for four to seven years as opposed to 18 months to three years.In primetime,actors are forced to decide whether the show is one whether the show is one they're going to hang their hat on,and it needs to be true in daytime as well.If you want to be on a soap,then commit to it.I don't think soaps should be seen as a springboard to a primetime career.Daytime provides actors with a very secure,financially stable career in and of itself.

daytime actors should also lose the 'out' clause in their contracts.Even though it's great for actors to be able to get out thre and do other things,it makes it very difficult on us in terms of production,especially if they're involved in a front burner storyline."

Corday seems to talk the talk,but what happens on Days doesn't always reflect those comments.

He forgets that primetime actors may sign long term contracts,but they have several months off each year to pursue other projects if they wish.the very thing he is railing against.

Also,apart from Deidre Hall,I can't recall many DOOL actors who took time off.I've read that actors have to give a lot of lead time to get time off and it doesn't have to be granted.

And Corday has often fired actors way before their contracts are up,so loyalty and commitment seem to sometimes be one sided.

Anyway,what do you think?

(I'll add the other comments soon)

[quartermainefan]

His views are very self serving. If actors did not look at soaps as stepping stones to better things, James Earl Jones would have never gone on to play Darth Vader,get to the Field of Dreams, become a huge name on Broadway, or even get to say "THIS is CNN". And the world would have been lesser for it.

[Paul Raven]

Megan McTavish(then headwriter Guiding Light)

"I would figure out a way for there to be more money available for us to spend.If we had more money,we could train more writers,pay set designers what they're truly worth...And it would allow us to do some really wonderful things in terms of production.The effect across the board would be tremendous".

Methinks Megan wanted more money to be paid to headwriters!

And by the way,Megan,budget blowouts are one of the reasons soaps are fighting for their lives today.

[Khan]

More money, eh? You know, I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched the Mardi Gras explosion several years ago - "If only AMC had had more money, imagine how much more crap Megan McTavish and Julie Hanan Carruthers could blow up!"

[EricMontreal22]

Thanks for posting these--can't wait to see what Behr and Malone say.

[Paul Raven]

Felicia Minei Behr Exec producer AMC

"I'd get rid of VCR's!We've found it increasingly difficult to keep the audience interested in those emotional scenes that build.They are crucial to daytime.They're our building blocks.Yet,if the audience has taped the show and they perceive in the first 10 seconds of a scene that there's no 'action' taking place,they zip past it.Then when we get to the crux of the story,they're asking,'What's going on?I don't understand.What was that about?'.because they haven't taken the time to watch the scenes we've so carefully built leading to that denouement"

I know where she's coming from with that sentiment and you can see in the years that followed,the edict seem to come down from execs to drop the'filler'scenes and move the plot along.We see it now on Y&R where so many beats are missed because of the perception that the audience will be bored.

However,to say 'get rid of VCR's' is hardly constructive.I guess she was joking and perhaps frustrated.It seems she's blaming viewers and there is some truth to that,but I really think it's the 'focus groups' and 'research' so beloved of execs that she's railing against.

[jcar03]

I don't know about in 1995 but Primetime stars don't necessarily sign that long of contracts anymore.

[EricMontreal22]

I think she was half joking--in some ways VCRs helped keep soaps around longer than they might have. I have to admit I've never been one of those fans who can fast forward a scene (Ok there was a stretch during Higley's OLTL where I would get ready to watch my video of an episode, and then decide to just not bother that day and read a recap) Sure I'll find myself picking up the paper to rewad an article if a scene with a character or plot I find really boring comes on but I guess I have some perverse sense of loyalty that I owe it to them to at least watch how it was meant to be watched.

[You're Soaking in it]

Okay, I just barely caught the "1996" part...

[Paul Raven]

Jeanne Cooper(Katherine Y&R)

"I'd forget about competing with talk shows.The freakishness of talk shows is what pulls people in,and soaps feel they have to compete.That must change.

Soaps need to bring back romance.It has been proven that blatant sex on daytime does not attract viewers.Soaps also need to strive for balance:Viewers need-and want-to see different types of people of different ages interacting in all different ways.That's real;that's what life is all about.We need to return to the original formula that made daytime successful-which is telling stories that people can relate to.

Daytime also needs to specifically train young writers in the genre.It is a highly specialized kind of writing.not everyone can do it,and writing talent alone just isn't enough.These writers have to master the craft of it".

I guess today,you could replace her comment about talk shows with reality shows as the sensational talk shows have died out.I think La Cooper is write about daytime returning to its roots.Trying to follow trends of other genres has never worked.If anything primetime imitated the soaps with the continuing storylines.

[Khan]

RE: Jeanne Cooper's comments - The more things change....

RE: Felicia Minei Behr's comments - On the one hand, I think she was right about the "damage" VCR's have done to the construction and pacing of soaps. OTOH, it seems to me that most who do tape or DVR their soaps FF, not b/c they don't want to bother with the so-called "filler scenes", but b/c, depending on who's actually in a scene, they'd rather not waste their time. IOW, TPTB have to figure out what and who the audience actually wants to see, and then give that to them (but they won't, so my argument is moot).

[JaneAusten]

I'd love to see the answers today? I bet they wouldn't be a whole lot different.

[CSF]

Jeanne Cooper's comments were the only practical comments. I kinda agree a little with FMB. I'm assuming McTavish was referring to her time when she was HW at Guiding Light since this was from 1996.

[EricMontreal22]

McTavish had a fairly lavish budget at AMC (and to her credit wrote, IMHo, the best location shoot ever with the Budapest story--why the Hell isn't any of that on youtube?), so I assume so too

[cct]

Cooper makes a heckuva lotta sense.

It's interesting that Behr made this comment. For a period of time in the nineties, AMC was the most VCR-recorded program. And that's the way I've watched and transferred over to DVR-watching a few years ago. It's rare the times I've caught it live.

I'm with you, Eric. I just can't ff a scene. Even if I don't care about who's in it or think it's filler. What is wrong with me? I could've saved so much time over the years...

And I'm also curious why no Destiny on the Danube on Youtube. Definitely one of my fave storylines of AMC. I especially want the scene where Erica complains on the phone to Dimitri that horrible Edmund has kidnapped her, even though she and Edmund are in cahoots.

Edmund tells her, "You should get an Oscar for that performance."

Lucci replies, "I'd settle for an Emmy."

I think she was on try 13 or 14 at the time. ;-)