An Open Letter from Ken Corday to Marlena De Lacroix

[SFK]

That was a great post Jay, I find your point of view very interesting (and agreeable). And I admit to doing a bit of a silent cheer when you referred to the soap mags as "parasites". I've enjoyed great interviews and featurey stories they've done over the years, but I've been turned off by some of the behind the scenes goings on I've read about and in some cases I think the only thing separating some of the staff members from your stereotypical kooky soap fans is the paycheck.

The worst spoiler moment I've ever experienced was watching Tammy hold on by a thread on GL and at the commercial break an ad for SID plugging their article on Tammy's shocking death. WOW.

[Sylph]

I think the magazine died partly because of self-loathing. Whether a substantial or non-substantial portion of people working there in reality felt contempt for soaps or were just embarrassed for watching them, it really doesn't matter, but it was one of the reasons it ultimately crashed.

[DRW50]

Believe me, SPW did you a favor there...

[Jay]

Thanks.

Does SOW no longer exist? I didn't realize.

Well, they certainly gave me back an hour a day for four or five years.

[DRW50]

You didn't miss a whole lot on OLTL in those 4-5 years. What you did miss you can find on Youtube.

I guess I see detailed spoilers as a preventative measure. I can't think of much of anything on soaps in the last 15 years that I wish I hadn't been spoiled about. What I enjoyed I enjoyed with spoilers and what I hated, I was very happy to know what was going to happen in advance. Imagine not having any idea that my favorite character on GL, Nadine Cooper, was going to be bludgeoned to death by a bad drag queen. I at least kept with the show, thanks to advance knowledge. A few years before that, I was so annoyed when Maureen suddenly died that I could barely sit through the show for months and months on end.

I think if spoilers hadn't become more detailed soaps would have even lower ratings than they do now.

[Jay]

Isn't that something. To me, they mean I don't have to watch the show. I can't imagine anything more maddening than trying to sit through such plot-heavy material as a soap opera when I know what's going to happen. I'd rather do anything else I need or want to do.

[DRW50]

For me, plot-heavy material sucks whether you know spoilers or not. If the material is character-based, then it still works, even if you know what's going to happen. I think that's one of the reasons there's such an interest online in old soap clips, even though people already know most of what is to be.

[Jay]

I don't mind them with ATWT right now. I think of them as little promotional vehicles that remind me which days to watch. This week, zap2it mentions Reid will be on on Thursday. So I know enough to be sure to watch that day. But I check out enough of each episode on cbs.com to know whether they're going to be on on other days. zap2it very frequently fails to mention whether Luke, Reid, or Noah is going to be on.

I don't want to watch one extra minute watching ATWT otherwise, except perhaps for Bob and Kim. And John, when and if he returns. Also, I loved the idea someone put forth about all the Snyders coming home when Emma has a heart attack. That I would watch. Douglas Marland just should not have died. That's what the problem is.

N.B. They finally added Eric Sheffer Stevens to the ATWT cast list on zap2it. But they didn't bother to alphabetize it, and just stuck it at the end. http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/as-the-world-turns/EP00000412

[Khan]

Really? Oh, thank you!

I've said this many times before, but I almost always knew what would happen next in any given storyline on any given show. Not because I was clairvoyant, lol, but b/c to me, the hallmark of good storytelling is that you understand characters' histories and motivations thoroughly enough to almost predict how they would respond to circumstances. As far as soaps are concerned, therefore, the question is not what will happen next, but when it will happen, and what will be explored in the meantime.

[R Sinclair]

Mimi, who? Mimi Leahey?

[SFK]

I meant Mimi Torchin, she used to sign her little "Letter From the Editor" on one of the first pages. I had serious OLTL Lord saga on the brain back then and it always tricked my eye.

But SO not mad at you for having that script on hand.