Llanview In The Afternoon: An Oral History of One Life to Live, by Jeff Giles out today

[~bl~]

It is a written interview not a podcast. I think Jeff should have used a picture from Harrisburg, PA on the cover to match the 80s era opening instead of Philadelphia.

[EricMontreal22]

I finally got my print copy. You can tell that it is a Amazon self print--no publisher, no page numbers, but well put together. About a quarter in and I'm sure I'll comment more--I've read some of the Kindle but ignored most of this post so not to spoil it.

[SFK]

I wish he hadn't even mentioned the part about things being off the record because of course I'm dying to know what was said.

[SFK]

I know a handful of soap actors personally, none of them "big" daytime stars, but this book got me to thinking about some sort of collaborative soap opera oral history book with contributions made by several interviewers. We were talking about this a few months ago on SON, I believe marceline started the thread. It could be a huge Les Mis sized book. I tend to believe that professionals in the soap field don't think that the public at large cares about their stories and experiences and they are more inclined to share.

[Steve]

I finally started reading this and I'm about halfway through it. I loved reading what the actors thought of all the producer and stylistic changes, which to me as a viewer were jarring and led me to frequently check out what was happening on ATWT instead. I found it interesting how unpopular Joe Stuart was with the cast since he was the EP when I started watching and I thought his period at the show was much better than Paul Rauch's. It's too bad Jean Arley didn't get more of a chance to make the show her own.

[EricMontreal22]

People must have thought enough of Stuart--at least the execs since he was moved so he could become the first EP of Loving.

[John]

I believe Stuart was good at budget issues so ABC moved him there so Loving could start out on good footing financially

[SFK]

I would be interested in hearing someone compare and contrast Stuart and Rauch.

[EricMontreal22]

Well creatively it was very strong under him. And wouldn't it be Agnes' decision--she owned Loving and Dramatic Creations (Horizons?)

I would love to hear more about Agnes and Don Wallace her first EP. I alwaysw ondered why he as often listed as a co-HW. It sounds like she wanted and expected him to help her write the show at first, and he didn't want to and their visions clashed (remember at the time for 8 or so months she was still having to write AW.) She just sorta cuts her interview quick with "let's stop talking about him. he's a nice man."

[John]

Right so maybe Agnes was the one that wanted Stuart based on how he kept OTL under budget

[AMCHistory]

I read this book in one sitting... man is it a treasure! I wish I could one day do one for AMC of equal caliber.

It's funny how in his interview, the author says it was one of two stars that got him in touch with other stars. I feel like that was the same with my AMC Project. I got to speak to some awesome people because of references from one star. I wish I kept up with it, it could have been something amazing.

[ellabelle]

I would LOVE to see an AMC book like this!

[allmc2008]

I have always wondered what the cast felt about JHC and McTavish. I wonder what Susan would have to say about certain writers???????

[ellabelle]

If you can get Susan to sit down for an in-depth interview about her time on AMC, I will buy you the good champagne you'll need to ply her with to get her to step outside of her talking points and be brutally honest. I have no doubt that she has plenty of good stories she could tell, but after reading her book, I don't see her actually spilling the beans on anything really scandalous...but if you got a good scoop from someone else, maybe she'd comment on it or confirm it.

[YRfan23]

I would still love a Y&R book for this.