Columnist Michael Musto Talks How Bad Soaps Are & Makes Fun Of Claire Labine's Remarks at WGA

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2012/02/a_lament_for_th.php

That's nothing, just a little sarcastic bit of fluff from Michael Musto, there's no need to put columnist in quotes, that's what he is and a well known one at that in New York.

Yeah, Michael Musto has been a columnist at the Voice for decades and his comments aren't even so far out there. I applaud him for saying this

Nah! Then how would you explain the popularity of reality shows (a way lower form than the soap because you're supposed to believe all the melodrama is really happening)?

I needed this guy in the OT forum last month! Anyway, he has decent credentials

Musto began his Village Voice column in 1984, after having already written some feature stories for the publication.^[2] He is a recurring guest on several nationally broadcast television programs including Countdown with Keith Olbermann and others on A&E and PBS, also having appeared on E!, VH1, Real Housewives of New York, The Daily Show, and The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson. He is openly gay and is published regularly in several LGTB publications. He appeared in drag in a blue dress in the all drag queen music video for Cyndi Lauper's single "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)", and as a reporter in the film Garbo Talks. He wrote several articles in the Village Voice regarding the murder of Angel Melendez, bringing national attention to a case that resulted in the trial and conviction of Michael Alig and Robert "Freez" Riggs. He was the first to report Alig's firing from the Limelight club by owner Peter Gatien, and to allude to a missing club kid. When his blind item describing the buzz on the details of the crime got picked up by The New York Post's "Page Six" gossip column, the story grew to larger proportions.

I needed this guy in the OT forum last month!

LOL!

MM is pretty intelligent. Kind of a bitch in person when I've met him out a few times, and he can spot an 18 year old boy in the club from a mile away, but he is intelligent nonetheless.

Just dont care for some of the cheap jokes on Daytime

Just dont care for some of the cheap jokes on Daytime

It's his nature. He's snarky on every single subject he discusses.

Just dont care for some of the cheap jokes on Daytime

maybe daytime should stop making it so easy.

maybe daytime should stop making it so easy.

BA-ZING.

maybe daytime should stop making it so easy.

I don't think it would matter. Even when soaps were probably at their peak in quality, they were still seen as crap. I think those in daytime who were so ashamed of soaps are probably what killed it most.

I don't think it would matter. Even when soaps were probably at their peak in quality, they were still seen as crap. I think those in daytime who were so ashamed of soaps are probably what killed it most.

while soaps always had a stigma, looking at outside soap publications they were def treated miles ahead of what they are today back in the day when they were daring and progressive. they became a joke in the late 8-'s and as they got worse, so did the critics. You wouldnt see them landing on the cover of a typical People or getting a feature & cover story in TIME today, or even TV Guide, thats for sure.

He's right. And he's hardly "crapping" on daytime drama, he's saying what many of us have been saying for years: the soaps killed themselves.

Maybe the soaps just needed some restructuring and rethinking rather than death by firing squad.

True but the people who get defensive when someone criticizes the genre are the same ones who never wanted it to change.

Edited February 24, 201214 yr by marceline

while soaps always had a stigma, looking at outside soap publications they were def treated miles ahead of what they are today back in the day when they were daring and progressive. they became a joke in the late 8-'s and as they got worse, so did the critics. You wouldnt see them landing on the cover of a typical People or getting a feature & cover story in TIME today, or even TV Guide, thats for sure.

The media in general now is about sneering and sarcasm, and it affects coverage of any show (the only time you get a positive review is if a show is seen as hip - and aside from GH during the Luke and Laura days, and Passions, for a year or two, soaps have never been seen as hip).

Soaps were given more respectful coverage when there was a stronger press, but even then, they were best known as the unspoken secret Mary Hartman parodied.

Edited February 24, 201214 yr by CarlD2

I don't think it would matter. Even when soaps were probably at their peak in quality, they were still seen as crap. I think those in daytime who were so ashamed of soaps are probably what killed it most.

Soaps were/are seen as primarily women's entertainment; women, for all their advancements in society, are still viewed by many males as second class citizens, thus their entertainment is "second class" or "crap." Not so for all the men and their sports (NASCAR, NFL, etc.), though. Yet another double-standard.

That's crapping on daytime? We do worse here on the board on a daily basis? That column seemed rather tame and nothing too upsetting