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 September 13, 201114 yr by Max

How long was she on as Meta? I remember I watched during her introduction--and loved it (i was particularly thrilled as I had just around that time listened to those 90 or so very early 1950s radio episodes of GL where Meta really was the star, and a troublemaker, what with the death of Chuckie, her insanity fuelled killing of his father, etc). But I seem to remember soon afterwards it seemed like she had disappeared.

She appeared in late 1996 and early 1997, and then she was infrequently seen for the next few years. I think Mary was battling cancer at this time. I'm not sure. When the Labines became headwriters, Meta began to appear more often, and was on fairly frequently in 2000 and 2001. Mary passed away in early 2002. In her last few years, P&G had a party for her, in honor of her special Emmy. I still wish they'd actually had a funeral for Meta the character, but I guess Mary really was the character by that time - Meta herself could have just been a new character.

I always thought they should have brought someone like Helen Gallagher in as Trudy Bauer, during the times Mary was ill, and after her passing, as the show had so little warmth or family feeling.

Did McTavish actually bring in Mary as Meta? Anyway it was a smart decision, even if maybe not used as much as it could be--and I agree about Trudy.

McTavish may have had some input but she was gone by the time Meta arrived. There were odd rumors at the time that Michael Laibson wanted his mother to play Meta (he denied that).

Mary Stuart was On From 96-2002 as Meta

I realize Mary was on GL but that was a good 10 years after Search. I think it would have been nice if in 87 a role was created for Mary,just to recognize her status.

Actually,in an interview she mentioned there was talk of an earlier GL role of Hannah Bauer,but that never materialized.This was possibly the Lainie Bauer character that Teri Keane played.

When SFT left NBC in 86 I heard P&G said she could go to another P&G show right away but it didnt happen

She was a crooked Judge on OLTL in 1988, Judge Webber

Any acto or actress not playing a character named Jason, Sonny, or Carly in the last 8-9 years.

I'm sorry about so many victims of ageism over the years - when you go back and look at the work from people like Launa Sanders and Joe Gallison, you wonder why any show would ever let them go.

And poor Phil Carey, who, after contributing so much to ABC Daytime for 25 years, was subjected to a condescending lecture by Carolyn Hinsey in SOD about how ABC Daytime has no obligation to their older actors.

Not even getting into Anna Lee.

There is no such thing as ageism on soaps. Soaps are primarly about sex and adventure which doesn't leave room for vets. I have little pity for most actors in this situation because they generally replaced an older actor in terms of airtime. Y&R, as well as most of ABC daytime, were youth-centric at the start and this is why the shows did well. One could argure that ATWT lost the top slot in the 1970s due to an ageing, has been cast.

Older actors are great in supporting roles and make for great power brokers; however, there isn't enough room on any canvus for a bunch of has beens. I know you were a big ATWT fan--imagine if TPTB had big stories going for Bob, Kim, Nancy and Lisa all at the same time? The show would have felt like a hour long Depends advert. A great example is Fulton never evolving into an actor capable of playing a character her own age. The 70 year old sex kitten routine was painful to watch and she lacked the depth to take Lisa to the next level. I don't blame Goutman because she had this issue under Marland, too. Now imagine if ATWT had retained other former big stars like Penny, Don and Ellen? There would be no room for new additions and, in the process, no new fans. I'm starting to think all soaps should have been cancelled at 30, and replaced by a new show. This would have prevented the stagnation as well as hurt feeling that suround the remaining soaps.

I don't think all vets, by any means, should be fired but we all know when it is time to leave center stage. Bell, Dixon and Irma all understood this and that is why thier shows did well. We might still have a genre if the writers still understood when to break with the past.

Edited September 16, 201114 yr by Saving ATWT

I'm sorry but I don't believe that stories for older people = Depends. If you feel that way, you have a right to your opinion, and clearly we are never going to agree.

I'm sorry but I don't believe that stories for older people = Depends. If you feel that way, you have a right to your opinion, and clearly we are never going to agree.

No, we never will but I still like you 'cause we like the same shows.

Goutman goof troup of kids didn't help the show, either. I just think 'love in the afternoon' is key and older characters can't generally fit into this theme. I'm starting to think the 'stars' were the eventual undoing of most soaps: Erica, AMC; Reva, GL; Dorian, OLTL--the shows relied to strongly on these characters, while viewers weren't turned on by watching them sweat. Romantically, Zimmer added something to GL in the 80s but did the exact opposite in 2007.

Demos, Demos, Demos....

Now imagine if ATWT had retained other former big stars like Penny, Don and Ellen? There would be no room for new additions and, in the process, no new fans. I'm starting to think all soaps should have been cancelled at 30, and replaced by a new show. This would have prevented the stagnation as well as hurt feeling that suround the remaining soaps.

I don't think all vets, by any means, should be fired but we all know when it is time to leave center stage. Bell, Dixon and Irma all understood this and that is why thier shows did well. We might still have a genre if the writers still understood when to break with the past.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with your comments about older vets being useless and not being worthy of leading story. I can think of a lot of great moments where veteran characters/actors were used and were amazing in those storylines. Erica Kane reliving her rape in 2003, Luke Spencer pulling his son off of a respirator in 2005, Erika Slezak's work in the Heart of the Lord storyline and her resulting work as Viki for the last decade or so. These were all phenomenal stories and they were all leads in them.

I will agree with you on one thing though soaps should definitely have phased characters out once they've full filled their usefulness in terms of story. I've felt that way about soo many characters for so long and I don't understand why soaps continue on with a character even after they've proven their usefulness and continue to clog up the canvas with characters who are virtually useless. They just become plot contrivances and they wind up doing things that are completely out of character and diminish who they were originally meant to be. I can think of at least four characters off the top of my head who could have been written off a certain soap 7 years ago yet they and their group still persist on this show and are still going strong. Why?

Edited September 16, 201114 yr by Skin

I don't believe the problem is soaps not wanting to break from the past. I think the problem is soaps creating a worthless present.

The only soap currently on the air I would criticize for never trying to break from the past is B&B. Every other soap has often happily junked most of what them unique in order to hype a generic idea of what some mythical white 18 year old filthy rich girl wants to see.

Soaps are primarly about sex and adventure which doesn't leave room for vets.

Perhaps. But I think there's something wrong if soaps are, or have become, "primarily about sex and adventure."

Soaps are primarly about sex and adventure which doesn't leave room for vets.

No.

Edited September 16, 201114 yr by All My Shadows