Heart and Soul of Soaps

[cct]

Marceline, I've never told you this, but...

you crack my [[email protected]#$%^&*] up

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You guys mean Kelly Sullivan isn't the heart and soul of the entire industry right now?

[cct]

The Heart and Soul of Soaps are work-a-day actors like:

Esther Linder (Y&R)

Jennifer Bassey (AMC)

James Reynolds (DAYS)

Those actors who never really received acclaim for their roles, and didn't attempt to leave the genre, although I don't fault actors for trying to move on.

THOSE committed to their roles, bring all they have each time, and stick around, even when times are bleak. THESE are the Heart and Soul of Soaps.

[Greg]

I think the heart and soul was some of the greats that we lost through the years like

GH's Steve Hardy and Lila Quartermaine

AMC's Mona Tyler, Grandma Kate, Aunt Phoebe

OLTL's Asa

DAYS's Alice and Tom

ATWT's Nancy

[chicklitsandfantasies]

Kate Linder has the perfect contract. She's plays a character who would qualify as reoccurring and is is free to do whatever outside projects she pleases.

[marceline]

I think the real problem is that soaps simply don't have heart or soul anymore. Occasional glimpses yes, but now it's all about shock value and buzz. That said, and as much as I hate to agree with Branco on anything, I can see the case for Kimberly McCullough. It's a bit much to call her the heart and soul but she grew up on-screen and the audience has been deeply invested in Robin for years. I knew that even though I never watched GH.

Whatever failings the show had, I think that AMC managed to hang on to its heart and soul better than its contemporaries. I also think that they had characters who epitomized heart and soul right up until the end: Ruth, Opal and especially Angie.

[theherowithin]

^^^^

This says it all!

[Mr. Vixen]

Sharon Case? Sharon [[email protected]#$%^&*] Case? No

I agree with Kim McCullough but not the others.

Robin Strasser, Erika Slezak, Denise Alexander, Jackie Zeman, Leslie Charleson....Those types are.

[All My Shadows]

Damn, I didn't realize people hate KKL and Sharon Case so much. "Heart and soul" is a bit much (though I would need further explanation of what he means by that), but I wouldn't write those two off as irrelevant.

[DRW50]

I will always have a soft spot for KKL, and I would agree she is one of the main hearts of B&B. Sharon Case, I don't think that can be said after the last few years of Y&R. I think she was included because Branco is friendly with her.

[Soapsuds]

When you talk about Heart and Soul I thought this was a topic about when the soaps lost it. I would have said in 95 when the soaps started dropping in the ratings and writers and producers lost focus what soaps were all about and tried getting ratings by using gimmics...or anything they could think of to raise ratings.

[marceline]

I don't think there's a moment when all soaps lost their heart. I think that moment is different for each show. For example, I think that in the case of GL it was Maureen's death. IMO, that was a first example of long term story being sacrificed for short term plot.

[Mr. Vixen]

I think GH lost it's heart in '98 but that doesn't mean all the soaps did.

[y&r_fan]

If we're talking about actors that shows would fall apart without, I would say Eric Braeden and Katherine Kelly Lang.

[Khan]

Again, this is why soaps are dying.