Best/Worst Soaps to Work on(through the years)

[NothinButAttitude]

How about SEARCH? Or Somerset? Texas? Or even older soaps like LIAMST, Where the Heart Is, The Doctors, etc.? Anyone know if there were any backstage problems/feuds on those shows?

All I've heard about SEARCH is that Mary Stuart didn't agree/like the Hursleys when they wrote the show. That's it.

[cassadine1991]

What about that rumored affair (still unsure if true) of Roger Howarth/Marie Wilson

[amybrickwallace]

I've heard that Mary Stuart was also unhappy in the mid-80s when the McCleary family ate the show, and felt Jo's importance was being diminished. But then the show was cancelled, making the problem moot.

[amybrickwallace]

Khan, Louise Shaffer would definitely vouch for you about EON. She's said on FB more than once that EON was the happiest soap set she'd ever worked on.

[kalbir]

I remember reading that in the 1980s there were substance abuse problems at the ABC and P&G shows, but not much was mentioned about the Bell shows and Days. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bill Bell had a zero tolerance policy at his shows.

[amybrickwallace]

He may very well have had one. Didn't Jeanne Cooper go into rehab for alcoholism during her first decade or so at Y&R?

[John]

yes and I believe that was n 86 when Giselle Mackenzie filled in

[amybrickwallace]

Oh, I didn't know that someone temped for her at that point. I thought that Katherine had been written off temporarily until Jeanne was ready to come back.

[soapsnstuds]

One would think there would be little harmony on those soaps that were always at the bottom of the ratings (Loving/The City, Sunset Beach, Port Charles etc.) as I'm sure they were constantly checking out the latest ratings, seeing what was working and what wasn't and always being told they were going to get the can if those ratings didn't rise.

[Khan]

I think the only "substance" that DAYS' actresses abused throughout the 1980's was food. Some of those sisters looked kinda hefty. (Or was it just the poofiness of their outfits and hair?)

[amybrickwallace]

At least they had meat on their bones and looked like normal women the audience could relate to. Although the 80s fashions and hair may have had something to do with it!!

[YRfan23]

Despite the fact that it was always in the bottom of the ratings and how insane the stories got, Passions always seemed like the most happiest place to work on.....The whole cast seemed very close as I recalled during those wrap party photos they had, and it also seemed like the most funnest set to work on....

I won't bore everyone with the same rubbish we hear about the Y&R set, though I wish some of those people would just get over themselves already ("coughBraedenCough") but I'm at least happy that B&B is a happy set for the most part.

I've heard mixed things about Days and the ABC soap sets, but I don't think any of them are as bad as Y&R can be....though I agree that OLTL seemed like a depressing place to work in the early days......I can't get over how evil Joe Stuart and Paul Rauch seemed from all those stories I heard....

[amybrickwallace]

Tracey Ross (Eve) confirmed that Passions was indeed a very happy place to work on FB. The actors were very tight, as were the actors with the crew. Of course, they were all shattered by the loss of Josh Ryan Evans (Timmy), but it made their bond even tighter.

And as I've stated before, Santa Barbara is another place where the actors really bonded, and (with a few exceptions) had good relationships with the producers and writers. A Martinez said in a podcast interview recently that each member of the company was dedicated to making each and every scene as good as it could be.

[amybrickwallace]

On the flip side, I can't imagine that working at PP-run AMC and OLTL is a bowl of cherries at this point.

[John]

Actually a lot of the actors loved PP while they were filming AMC & OLTL

Its only after the hiatuses and PP not telling actors what was what, that soured some