Classic SOD Tumblr Goodies

[Khan]

I'd almost support or endorse a complete phase-out of the Abbott clan if it meant no more "Aunt Jack."

[Bright Eyes]

 

It's interesting to speculate on what would have happened on the show if Bill Bell killed Jack off after Terry Lester left.

[Soaplovers]

 

Why?  You should know your lines.  If you don't, than you can't get into the part.  Could he have phrased it more tactfully... Yes.. but he isn't off base.

[YRfan23]

I agree knowing your lines is important..but I just didn't like how he said it...LOL

[j swift]

She lost me in the sex article where is quoted as saying that she hates titillating an audience with an explicit sex scene - says the woman whose reputation was built on the Luke & Laura rape scene set to Herb Alpert's Rise.

 

Also, Carol Lawrence was never going to be Roseanne.

 

Terrell Anthony's off-broadway play gets it's second plug of the year.  I wonder if it has ever toured?

 

A picture of Steve Bond in a bed - yes, regardless of it's saliency to the article.  

[j swift]

Agreed, I think if she wanted to produce a contemporary soap in 1991 then she shouldn't have hired her sister to write it the way she did in 1978, (even with the use of new words like "ecosystem" and "rain forest").

 

That's a very smart idea because I liked single-working-mom-Anna the best.

 

Is this the year that Finola was late to the Daytime Emmys and jokingly blamed it on Gloria in her speech?

 

I have the same response to Jenny as I had to Dekker, a bad haircut is not enough to base a character upon (this joke requires an image but I am too lazy to google one, sorry).  

 

 

Finally, did anyone notice that SOD keeps trying to make Twin Peaks into a soap?  There's at least one editor there who watched it and keeps trying to sneak in a reference every issue.

[Franko]

To the best of my knowledge, no. As of last night, there is one copy of the Quiet on the Set script at Amazon.

 

Which reminds me, we're at the moment where Robert and Anna's relationship has re-ignited.

 

Good catch. I go back to my complaint that Twin Peaks is getting semi-coverage, while 90210 isn't.

[EricMontreal22]

Twin Peaks is included in a number of soap books I have from the early 90s (ones that cover prime time soaps...) and the original show WAS modeled after soaps, so I think it's... somewhat fair (they cover Dallas and Knots), though I suspect it is largely done to seem trendy and with it.

I know DAYS was using a teleprompter into the 2000s (for all I know they still are--the direction and acting style on that show have always been so static, it would be easier to pull off) but I think for the most part they meant cuecards/teleprompters as the same thing.  I know it was a big deal when AMC got rid of them in the mid 70s (the producer makes a big proud comment about it in the book All Her Children).  I've also read it was considered a necessity when soaps were still live (understandable if someone completely blanks out you need someway to get them back into the scene). 

It'sprobably telling too that the shows that are listed as still using cue cards are ALL Hollywood based and not NY based shows.  In theory East Coast shows would hire more actors with theatre background who were used to memorizing long scenes--west coast models, movie and primetime actors would not be as experienced with such lengthy and quick memorizations.

[Franko]

Side note -- Soap Opera History, from 1991, had such beautiful photos. I used to love checking it out from the library.

 

Yeah, cuecards and teleprompters were most likely meant as one and the same. I also noticed the LA/NYC distinction.

 

[j swift]

Not to go too far into the weeds on this cue card issue but, actors on radio soaps regularly read their scripts while recording.  Christopher Schemerling (sp?) mentions in his book that it was a skill for early tv actors who transitioned from radio to learn how to emote to the camera while reading from a card.  I would argue that style of acting seemed old fashioned by 1991, but it should not be attributed to laziness as suggested by the guy who had a lucrative side hustle saying that he wasn't a doctor but he played one on tv (is that reference too old?).  Also, there are over 30 minutes of bloopers from SB that I was watching just last night on YT, so if they used cue cards it wasn't always more efficient. 

[EricMontreal22]

Right.  I've also heard that Ruth Warrick insisted on cue cards even after AMC had officially dropped them and, of course, they obliged.  I think with older actors like her and Jeanne Cooper, there was no shame in using them as they were in the industry when they were the norm.

And that's a good point about radio soaps.  I'm a fan of BBC radio's insanely long running The Archers and they still always read the scripts when recording (I'm always amazed we don't hear pages turning).

[Franko]

Something I just realized about the new-GH piece: There's plenty of discussion about Geary, but not even one sentence noting that Genie Francis is on AMC now. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but I think it says something about respect.

[j swift]

So, I went back to see the first Monty/Geary episodes.  A couple of thoughts: (a) I totally forgot that there was a cousin Joey Moscini (I thought he was the first AJ when I saw him) (b) It's like the start of a totally new show tonally, Bobbi was weeping over Tony and baby Lucas for weeks, now she's bopping around and calling Ruby to break a patient's confidentiality (c) Ruby's baritone when she says, "he's not Luke."

 

I think I recall the Eckerts 2.0 when Bill was a blond living in a lighthouse and Jenny was a nurse.

 

BTW the follow-up interview on Pure Soap two years later is also a must watch.

 

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[Franko]

Seeing Bill and Sly like this just reminds me of how badly their relationship deteriorated in 1993. And how about Bill's claim to Robert that he didn't know Luke all that well? The family feud stuff is a bit silly and might have been aided with some subtlety rather than Ruby and Fred instantly on the warpath. No comment on Jenny's hair.

 

[titan1978]

The things is, Monty wasn’t wrong in the show needing to be more of the moment.  Her instincts were just off on how fast, and the talent to do it with.  We got it with acclaim once Wendy Riche arrived.  Even before Labine, the stories and characters got more depth.

 

I remember how jarring I felt her first six months back were.  Just really all over the place.  And I thought Mac was attractive, but he could not carry the troubled son/brother role at all.  Rascal Mac teasing and fighting with Felicia and fighting Ryan?  Great.  But not tortured.

 

And Bill was a mess.  Jenny too.  But I loved her fighting with Tracy.

 

I think Steve Burton was Monty’s last hire that is still on the show in a major way today.  

 

I love when they tell stories about Monty though.  The terror of her heels coming from the production office to the stage floor.  And that awful story about the Heather before Mattson. 

 

I wish someone would do one of those oral history style books like the OLTL one about GH.