Excluding the cast and crew of cancelled soaps, what other individuals in the soap industry do you feel sorry for? Here is a list of people I can think of:
*Michael Zaslow--Obviously, I feel sorry for him the most of all. The way he was treated by MADD after getting ALS is completely unforgiveable.
*Douglass Watson--I consider Mr. Watson to be perhaps the finest performer in soap history. His 1989 heart attack death (while on vacation) was absolutely devastating to the entire industry, and AW was never the same without him.
*Laura Malone--Ms. Malone was a great actress, and her character of Blaine Ewing was much needed on the AW canvas. Unfortunately, some idiot at P&G decided to fire her because she was a little chubby after her pregnancy; the character of Blaine was recast by a much inferior actress, who lasted about a year. (And after that point, Blaine was never seen again.)
*Harding Lemay--Given that Lemay took AW to new ratings (and creative) heights, it was a complete travesty for Mr. Lemay's own soap--Lovers and Friends--to be taken off the air after only three months, only to then be retooled as For Richer, For Poorer (which would last another mere nine months). What is beyond comprehension is that NBC gave virtually zero support to Lemay's soap(s), while they gave such intense support to Passions. (And regarless of JERs achievements, Lemay did more for NBC Daytime than JER did.)
*The Actors of AMC--I feel so sorry that these actors had to completely uproot their lives (and the lives of their families) by moving 3,000 miles from the NYC area to the LA area (only to see their show cancelled less than two years later).
*JER--Just to be clear, I hated JER (and still do), because I believe that he more than anyone else caused so much damage to the industry. However, no matter what sins he committed, it is incredibly sad that he died at the age of 60. I personally see JER as a tragic figure: he initially accomplished great success, but then (largely as the result of carelessness and ego) had a string of spectacular failures. Given that his death came so soon after Passions' demise, he no doubt died a completely broken man.
*Brian Frons--Personally, I will be shocked if anybody else feels sorry for Frons, but I do. While he is undoubtedly very incompetent and egotistical, I feel the executives at P&G were even worse (but they are not vilified anywhere near the extent Frons is, because the P&G soap fans are so quiet). Also, I believe that Frons was made the fallguy by the higher-ups at ABC (who actually made the decision to cancel AMC and OLTL, as opposed to Frons). Furthermore, I sometimes read these conspiracy theories that it was Frons' goal all along to destroy the ABC soaps; such theories are absurd because Frons is just not competent enough to pull off such a scheme. When it comes to Frons, I really believe that he felt all his ideas were excellent (which is not a stretch for one to think, given his ego) and would be exactly what the viewers would want to see.
Excluding the cast and crew of cancelled soaps, what other individuals in the soap industry do you feel sorry for? Here is a list of people I can think of:
*Michael Zaslow--Obviously, I feel sorry for him the most of all. The way he was treated by MADD after getting ALS is completely unforgiveable.
*Douglass Watson--I consider Mr. Watson to be perhaps the finest performer in soap history. His 1989 heart attack death (while on vacation) was absolutely devastating to the entire industry, and AW was never the same without him.
*Laura Malone--Ms. Malone was a great actress, and her character of Blaine Ewing was much needed on the AW canvas. Unfortunately, some idiot at P&G decided to fire her because she was a little chubby after her pregnancy; the character of Blaine was recast by a much inferior actress, who lasted about a year. (And after that point, Blaine was never seen again.)
*Harding Lemay--Given that Lemay took AW to new ratings (and creative) heights, it was a complete travesty for Mr. Lemay's own soap--Lovers and Friends--to be taken off the air after only three months, only to then be retooled as For Richer, For Poorer (which would last another mere nine months). What is beyond comprehension is that NBC gave virtually zero support to Lemay's soap(s), while they gave such intense support to Passions. (And regarless of JERs achievements, Lemay did more for NBC Daytime than JER did.)
*The Actors of AMC--I feel so sorry that these actors had to completely uproot their lives (and the lives of their families) by moving 3,000 miles from the NYC area to the LA area (only to see their show cancelled less than two years later).
*JER--Just to be clear, I hated JER (and still do), because I believe that he more than anyone else caused so much damage to the industry. However, no matter what sins he committed, it is incredibly sad that he died at the age of 60. I personally see JER as a tragic figure: he initially accomplished great success, but then (largely as the result of carelessness and ego) had a string of spectacular failures. Given that his death came so soon after Passions' demise, he no doubt died a completely broken man.
*Brian Frons--Personally, I will be shocked if anybody else feels sorry for Frons, but I do. While he is undoubtedly very incompetent and egotistical, I feel the executives at P&G were even worse (but they are not vilified anywhere near the extent Frons is, because the P&G soap fans are so quiet). Also, I believe that Frons was made the fallguy by the higher-ups at ABC (who actually made the decision to cancel AMC and OLTL, as opposed to Frons). Furthermore, I sometimes read these conspiracy theories that it was Frons' goal all along to destroy the ABC soaps; such theories are absurd because Frons is just not competent enough to pull off such a scheme. When it comes to Frons, I really believe that he felt all his ideas were excellent (which is not a stretch for one to think, given his ego) and would be exactly what the viewers would want to see.
Edited by Max