Classic SOD Tumblr Goodies

[Franko]

I'm willing to try, maybe include the link in parenthesis for easy access.

[j swift]

https://classicsodnews.tumblr.com/

 

It's January 22, 1991, the lead up to Desert Storm continues and soon all of the soaps will be preempted.

 

The headline of the issue is that Tony Geary is returning with Gloria Monty, (although not as a writer/producer like it was rumored in the last issue).  Tony is playing a new character because being Luke would mean "going backward."  The initial pitch is that he may be involved with Bobbi (gross).  Meanwhile, Tristin Rogers wants to leave because he's tired of being a good guy and wants to try a show called Super Force.  I want to call BS on two items in this story: (1) the idea that Tony Geary focused on "serious stage work" during his time off from GH, and (2) actors who get bored being heroic (Is crafting a character for a decade really less appealing than working with Ken Olandt or was it a cash grab Tristen?).

 

The Patsy Pease Trashfest Update of the issue:  Patsy was given the opportunity to pen her own story about the traumatic birth of her son - but they chopped it up and published it in two parts.  Also, recent rapist Lawrence Alamain is being teased as her romantic interest.

 

Sarah Horton is being SORASed from 13 to 18, so in 2019 she would be 46.  She is still amazingly young and fertile looking; thanks to those Countess Wilhelmina Cosmetics.

The return of the Dobson's to SB gets third billing.  There aren't many details and they neglected to get a quote from either the current producer or writer.  The Dobsons also promised that there would be no "blood bath" of characters leaving the show, but they hadn't watched the SB since they left.  I guess their oath to the truth stopped at the courtroom door.  They sued for $172 million, we don't know the financial settlement, but we do know that they never worked in soaps again after their next firing, and they seem to be doing well 29 years later, so they must have been paid well.                                                                                                                                                                                       

The fact that from the casting notice, GH wanted Mac Scorpio to be Australian, and then hired John York, who lost his bad accent in a month, is amusing.  Similarly, Kip Niven has been cast in the much-discussed role of Nat Olenoff, father of Tonya Walker's Alex Olenoff.  Nat had been described in the casting notice as a Burt Reynolds type who may be paired with Viki Lord.  However, Niven was the son of David Niven who was the opposite of Burt Reynolds in every way.  Six years later, Kip Niven sought $6 million in his divorce from Linda Lavin (star of tv's Alice), but the judge ruled that Niven had contributed nothing financially to the marriage and ordered Lavin to pay only $675,000.  If only he had written a soap...

 

I think we learn an interesting lesson from these casting decisions.  Writers can create characters that seem interesting on the page, but if the producers approve the casting of an actor with a totally different skills than the writing is going to seem odd or forced.  Every soap failure comes down to poor collaboration. 

[Darn]

How soon after leaving AMC the second time did Michael Knight return?

 

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How many soaps followed through on this promise? GH, to me, is the one that made the most radical shift from 80s action/adventure storytelling to more modern social issue stories. OLTL would be somewhere in there too. Y&R was always more grounded but even it held on the business stories of the 80s well into the early 2000s. Some might say even now (not nearly as well told of course).

 

 

Who are the black people in the left corner of this? I know that's Sandra Chamberlain as a recast Angie but who are the other people?

[Khan]

The others are Lee Chamberlin (ex-Pat, Angie's mom) and Count Stovall (ex-Dr. Cal Cummings; ex-Roy, ATWT).

 

Unfortunately, DAYS, which had forsaken more grounded storytelling at the start of the '80's, became even MORE unrealistic in the '90's; and in the wake of its' success, and as a reaction to the post-O.J. trial ratings, soaps pretty much threw reality out the old window.

[DRW50]

 

2 years.

[Khan]

 

God bless MEK, but he finally saw the light and realized there was no future for him outside the soaps.

[DRW50]

 

I'm trying to remember if he later said he regretted going back.

 

He probably should have stuck it out rather than returning in the late '80s. But some people never really "make it," and never would have, so it may not have mattered. 

[Darn]

 

Thanks.

 

He looked miserable for the most of his last decade or so on the show. He's one of those actors whose contempt for the work showed in every scene. Besides looking miserable he also looked bad but that's a whole other story.

[Franko]

This. Many, many times this. 

[Franko]

This was the issue with Patsy Pease jumping for joy at coming back:

https://classicsodcovers.tumblr.com/image/177799389893

I was bummed the Tumblr didn't include all of her article, but I guess it didn't count as news.

 

The idea of Bill Eckert "embroiled in a long-standing family vendetta with Bobbie" sounds more interesting that what played out on screen. If I recall, she was his nurse after the S.S. Tracy explosion. They went on at least one date -- which grossed out fans -- because she was on the outs with Tony after the revelation of Lucas' shady adoption.

 

I'd love to know the identity of the two soaps (one NYC, one LA) that wanted Geary. I've got no proof, but I'm willing to bet the L.A. one was Santa Barbara. Geary as Mason?

 

Tristan Rogers: "Why is (Robert Scorpio) still so popular? It beats the hell out of me." Um, because he represented another thing soaps -- GH in particular -- ended up losing in the 1990s, an upstanding hero.

 

Good God, Rachel & Ken was revised seven times, "due to changing signals from the network"?!

 

The Dobsons' welcome back article isn't as in-depth as I'd like. Then again, I guess they emerged victorious -- rich and sans JFP.

 

It's hard to get too excited about Sarah Horton's SORASing, or the arrival of Tanner Scofield, once you have knowledge of how the 90s played out on Days. Carrie Brady's gone for now, giving Sarah and eventually Molly Brinker a chance at succeeding Jennifer as the young heroine. Unlike the perfectly calibrated assembly line of supercouples, it took a while to get a successful teen-young adult scene going.

 

Side note: Am I the only one who sees a little bit of Timothée Chalamet in photos of young Michael Eaton?

 

Today I learned -- and verified on IMDB -- that Steve Zahn was a dayplayer on AMC.

 

AMC gets the primer, although B&B (which will get the penultimate entry if my predictions hold) gets a baby one with the article marveling at its ratings gain and stability after less than four years on the air.

 

The article on telenovelas was fun, but it feels like it was just there as filler. It would be nice if SOD periodically checked back in on them through the '90s. Speaking of the times, I can't stop weeping at what could have been (namely compelling but realistic storytelling). Damn you, O.J. And JER!

[Darn]

 

Oh gross. Why would you date a man who has the same face as your brother?

[Franko]

I know, right?

[j swift]

SOD - February 5, 1991 - the culture is moving from retro late-'60s references to patriotism in the run-up to Desert Storm - Sweat (Gonna Make You) is on the radio and Oliver Stone's overrated The Doors is on the big screen, last summer's paisley fashions gives way to red, white, and blue stripes.

 

Jason Bonderoff dusts off some old material to write about rejected soap proposals, not to be confused with his previous article on unproduced soap pilots.  Days and GH are cited most frequently as soaps that tried to spin-off their super couples into another show.  There are times in the early Sonny era when fans may have mollified by 30 minutes of the coffee connection and 30 minutes in the hospital.  Personally, I think it would be a mistake to ever create a show around a couple, given the peripatetic nature of most actors.  However, the Calliope and Eugene Show called either Sunny Side Up or Keeping Up with the Joneses, doesn't inspire me as much as a Judith Kranz's Rituals soap did.  Brian Frons gets several mentions.  I am a Frons apologist because I think many bad things have been projected upon him erroneously by fans. It is interesting to note that while he nixed Rituals, he was actively developing soaps during his tenures at NBC and ABC. 

 

I also think there's the unwritten issue here, soap actors would need to be paid commensurate with the primetime allies in order to want a spin-off.  Most of the big acting names who left in the prior twelve months wanted the promise of more money (Michael E Kight, Kim Zimmer, Stephen Nicols).  Peter Rekell mentioned a spin-off offer for the same money and a production credit; that and a dime won't buy a cup of coffee.   I recall Beverly McKinsey saying that the 90 minutes episodes were ways to get them to do twice the work for half the pay. If NBC wanted Eugene than they were going to need to pay him some of that Start Trek money.  Which is probably a big barrier to getting any of these produced.  But it didn't stop a lot of old soap writers from getting a hefty development deal.

 

Executive Producer Shelly Curtis is leaving DAYS to Tom Langan, thus beginning a new period on that show.  I wonder if it is a chicken or egg situation that so many actors leave before a soap producer also quits?  Once again, poor reporting from SOD, we get plenty of quotes from Shelly but NBC didn't seem to pick up the phone to make a statement.  I also wonder if there was just less fan concern over changes in executives at the time or if DAYS was trying to maintain ratings during the shift by trying not to attract attention; unlike today when every new producer at DAYS is met by SOD and three wise men carrying gifts.   For those keeping scores, Shelly Curtis and Pam Long have both "left" (no specification of firing or quitting) their shows and were allowed to do so without any questioning from SOD.  We don't know if they were fired, or couldn't negotiate, or wanted to film the sequel to the Doors.

 

Gloria Monty's promises for GH each issue are beginning to sound like a certain federal politician.  She complains about the same writers and actors going from soap to soap.  She's going to drain the swamp by getting rid of breakdown writers to freshen up scripts.  Who has she hired to do this?  Her sister and the writer from the last time she was at GH.  And who is her first actor hired to act on the show?  The same actor from the last time she produced the show.  Given her propensity for Russian spy stories,  I will not be surprised if Gloria Monty wants to build a wall around the Post Charles riverfront in the next issue. 

 

Finally a note about OLTL's rap music story.  It's been significantly downgraded from prior mentions.  However,I would pay just to watch the negotiations between Kurtis BLow and Paul Rauch.  OLTL was the only network show to play Blow's Chrismtas Wrap besides the Top of the Pops in the UK

[Franko]

I'm finally here!

 

"... Jackie Babbin assures us that Dane Hammond's money troubles will be dealt with in Donald Trump style ..."

I didn't know Vladimir Putin was on Loving.

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The thing about Days that I noticed was Al Rabin's promise that 1991 would include several characters tying the knot. There were four pairs, according to Jason47's site. Jack and Eve, followed by Victor and Carly, Jack and Jennifer and (off-screen) Abe and Lexie. You could make an argument for Bo and Carly's symbolic wedding in Mexico?

 

Generations is officially dead, but that's mentioned only in an announcement about the last episode.

 

I don't know if anyone's ever asked Linda Gottlieb how she felt about OLTL having a rap story. You'd think she'd either be all over that -- didn't she do an all-music Valentine's episode? -- or the first thing she'd nix upon assuming the executive producer title.

 

All this and Kimberly McCullough racking up a no doubt expensive bill on the GH makeup room's phone.

 

 

[j swift]

It is February 19th, 1991 in the SOD timeline  https://classicsodnews.tumblr.com/

 

A pivotal time for several soaps.  NBC aired the final episode of Generations and did not replace it with another soap in the timeslot.  Gloria Monty is returning to GH and The Dobsons are back at Santa Barbara.  At the same time, SOD has begun to address that the Gulf War is going to interrupt all of the soaps for unspecified amounts of time. 

 

There are two contrasting stories of actors in this issue that became soap legend.  Anthony Geary is coming back to GH as a mystery character; not Luke.  Tony is quoted as saying that Luke had "become a minor icon of anti-heroism in the 1980's" (a nonsense statement that demonstrates why it was a good idea not to let Tony write for the show as had been hinted at in prior issues) , but he hated the character's anger and arrogance and found him very "taxing" to play.  Given that he only played Bill for two years until Luke returns with Laura, that is a long time to play someone you don't like being and seems like a very unpleasant way to spend the next two decades.  Maureen Garrett played the opposite side of the rape story on GL that week when Holly and Roger went to Acapulco and had their two-hander episode to discuss Roger's assault on Holly.  However, Maureen says that although Pam Long promised her that Holly would not come out looking like a victim, she was dissatisfied with the way the scenes were written because of Roger's lack of culpability for also raping Rita and his violent treatment of women.  I was shocked reading GL's producer Robert Calhoun response was that Holly and Roger remembered things differently, but Roger was not "unprovoked."  It is interesting that Tony Geary's remarks are simply reported, but Maureen Garrett's complaints about the lack of exploration of Roger's motivation are dismissed as happening before Calhoun's time.   

 

Jon Hensley is dating Renee Props which gives SOD an opportunity to list the myriad of soap actresses that he dated.  Props to Jon for having a great time during his time as a soap hunk.

 

Also, good luck to Kristoff St. John who fresh off of Generations is cast in a non-contract role on Y&R; hope it works out for him.

 

All talk of recasting Rick Bauer have been abandoned as Phillip is marrying Beth with Alan-Michael as his best man in his Aunt Alex's new living room.   

 

I'll let @franko decide if February 1991 is a good time to start watching GH (Is this your predicted sequence?)