The Story of Soaps Primetime Special

[Marco Dane]

Is ABC giving hints or something... Just bring the damn soaps back!

 

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[te.]

Nice to see soaps get some prime time action, too bad it took a pandemic for it to happen.

 

I wonder where ABC dug this up from though? I can't imagine it having been aired on ABC ordinairly, so I wonder what channel they originally produced this for.

[full hearts]

When they posted it on Twitter they @/People mag. Seemed like a joint project. Nice to see a new soap special. 

[Forever8]

According to someone on Twitter. It was suppose to air back in December/January 

[Mona Kane Croft]

I hate it when they immediately start talking about big stars who got their starts on soap operas. It's insulting to the genre.  I'd much rather hear about the wonderful actors who spent entire careers on daytime.  Those are the actors we love.  

[Forever8]

I do hope they acknowledge Irna Phillips as the pioneer of the genre. 

 

I always said ABC should look into producing cost-effective 30 minute daytime soaps with a few soap veterans in the cast. 

 

I wonder is Susan Lucci apart of this ? 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Forever8

[Errol]

ABC to Air Two-Hour Primetime Special, ‘The Story of Soaps’

https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/2020/04/abc-people-the-story-of-soaps-primetime-special

 

These are the people set to appear in the special:

 

• Abigail De Kosnik, author 
• Agnes Nixon, creator of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live”
• Alec Baldwin, actor (“The Doctors”)
• Allan Sugarman, co-founder of Soap Opera Festivals Inc. 
• Andy Cohen, creator (“The Real Housewives” franchise)
• Angela Shapiro-Mathes, executive (ABC Daytime, NBC Daytime)
• Bradley P. Bell, executive director and head writer (“The Bold and the Beautiful”)
• Bryan Cranston, actor (“Loving”)
• Carol Burnett, actor 
• Chandra Wilson, actor (“Grey’s Anatomy”)
• Chris Van Etten, writer (“General Hospital”)
• David Jacobs, creator 
• Deidre Hall, actor (“Days of our Lives”)
• Denise Richards, actor (“The Bold and the Beautiful”)
• Donna Mills, actor 
• Drake Hogestyn, actor (“Days of our Lives”)
• Eddie Mills, actor 
• Eileen Davidson, actor and reality star (“The Young and the Restless”)
• Erika Jayne, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” 
• Erika Slezak, actor (“One Life to Live”)
• Finola Hughes, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Genie Francis, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Greg Vaughan, actor (“Days of our Lives”)
• James Harmon Brown, writer 
• Jill Farren Phelps, executive producer (“Another World,” et. al)
• John Aniston, actor (“Days of our Lives”)
• John McCook, actor (“The Bold and the Beautiful”)
• John Stamos, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Jon Hamm, actor 
• Jonathan Murray, executive producer 
• Joyce Becker, co-founder of Soap Opera Festivals Inc. 
• Kate Coyne, editorial director, entertainment, PEOPLE 
• Ken Olin, executive producer 
• Krista Smith, consultant 
• Laura Wright, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Lorraine Broderick, head writer (“All My Children,” et. al)
• Marc Anthony Samuel, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Marc Cherry, creator 
• Mark Teschner, casting director (“General Hospital”)
• Mary Crosby, actor 
• Maurice Benard, actor (“General Hospital”)
• Melody Thomas Scott, actor (“The Young and the Restless”)
• Shelly Altman, head writer (“General Hospital,” et. al) 
• Susan Lucci, actor (“All My Children”)
• Susan Sullivan, actor 
• Vivica A. Fox, actor (“The Young and the Restless”)
• Yhane Smith, creator of “Harlem Queen”

 

I got an email from someone at Meredith Corporation about this in September. It didn't seem like it would  have been ready to air at that time. I'm just happy that it'll air during May sweeps even though that isn't much of a thing anymore, especially now.

[BoldRestless]

Pleasantly surprised it's not just actors from ABC. Solid lineup overall.

 

Cringing that Denise Richards, who's not even a blip in the soap world, gets included because she's a "star" and that Eileen Davidson gets double-billed because she's a "reality star."

Edited April 23, 2020 by BoldRestless

[YRfan23]

I’m always happy they still do things like this acknowledge soaps but I remember being disappointed when POP did the special a few years ago so I hope this is somewhat of an improvement...

 

I agree about Denise Richards...she’s just on because she’s a “name”.

[All My Shadows]

I'm excited that this exists, and of course I'll watch, but that promo turns me off a lot. First of all, what the fck I need Andy Cohen telling me anything about soaps for? Second, the first thing out of his mouth is "When people think about soaps, they think about daytime - that's not the whole story." So that already tells me that the majority of this will be about two things: people who started on soaps and went on to other things and looking back at primetime TV of the last 20 years because basically everything is serialized.

I'll watch it, but I'll be grouchy the entire time.

[te.]

 

While I'm sure they'll dedicate a lot of airtime to how daytime influenced prime time to be more serialized, they do at least mention how female writers started at doing radio soaps in the description. With that said, I could do without Andy Cohen talking about how brilliant he is for creating those trashy housewives reality shows.

[KMan101]

 

SAME

 

I have no interest in this special. The promo turned me off because it's mostly going to be "big names" talking about soaps, etc. No thanks.

[DramatistDreamer]

This could generate some interest but it's a long way from a thoughtful documentary that traces the roots and the evolution of the daytime drama. It is what it is and perhaps this may lead to something substantial down the road.

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

I'd leave that to PBS. 

[All My Shadows]

If it, in some miraculous world, is what jump starts a return of AMC and OLTL, I'll take it, but I feel like this special has already been done. If anything, I'll be watching to see if there are any new insights from the real soap stars and, most important for me, if they roll out any classic clips that we might not have seen already. I understand, though, that this is probably targeted to casual fans or non-fans, not us, so I can't get mad at them for not catering to what we want.