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

[DRW50]

Ernie Townsend wrote a little about some of his problems on the show when he was there around 1984 or so. I don't have the exact article at the moment, but a quick summary:

I get the feeling the show was a tough slog in the early 80s.

Tonya Pinkins had some problems with Robert Calhoun during their year or so on the show together.

DAYS seemed to have huge, ugly backstage drama in the late 70s, and then during Crystal Chappell's years on the show. I don't know about otherwise, although some of the producers sound vindictive to me.

[amybrickwallace]

The same Ernie Townsend from EON?

[DRW50]

Yes.

[amybrickwallace]

Thought so - thanks!!

[chicklitsandfantasies]

Exactly! I remember SK being a source of bts gossip at B&B. Like when he got his castmate pregnant and denied he was the father until DNA results came back.

[amybrickwallace]

Are we sure Maury didn't deliver the results? I also believe that news helped bust up SK's marriage, if I'm not mistaken.

[Khan]

SAY WHAT???

[amybrickwallace]

Hey, if they put on a show about the behind the scenes of the Bell soaps, it would get ratings of Super Bowl-like proportions. Maybe.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

Oh yeah! I always forget that he was married and cheating on his wife when it went down.

[amybrickwallace]

He and Gladys Jiminez were castmates on B&B (he as Deacon, she as Carmen), and their baby girl was born in the summer of 2001. SK was still married to his first wife at the time. He has since remarried (not to Gladys Jiminez) and they have a combined family situation. He has his daughter and his new wife has four kids.

[DRW50]

It sounds like it was rarely a happy place; likely happier in the early days, but not all that happy (Janice Lynde didn't seem to have a happy departure; JLB said the backstage conditions were terrible and she was one of the people who tried to fight to improve it; Bill Bell and John Conboy parted on extremely bad terms).

I keep thinking of that story where MTS supposedly didn't speak to Jeanne Cooper for several years, and Jeanne didn't know why. Then one day MTS started speaking to her again.

And these were two of the people on the show who got along well.

[amybrickwallace]

Yeah, Jeanne wrote about the MTS situation in her book (that's where I heard about it).

[DeeeDee]

The irony is most of the actors had such respect for Bill they didn't allow their backstage drama to become a huge issue (however once Bill stepped down & Sony began exerting increasing influence everything changed).

[aMLCproduction]

I'd imagine B&B is a great place to work at now work load wise and good pay compared to the hour shows. I'd always thought Y&R was a good place based upon actor interviews and reading Bell's book but some here seem to allude otherwise. I bet Days had to be tough esp during JER 2.0 and anything in the 2000's.

AW their last few years had to be tough.

GL when they started filming in my backyard and EW became EP had to be a major morale blow.

[amybrickwallace]

Oh yeah - in Kim Zimmer's book, she goes through the whole ugly story. Ellen Wheeler didn't lose her temper all that often, but once she did, she would completely explode. Probably not surprising, considering how much pressure was on her.