"The Story of Soaps" - Live Feed

Was that Joanna Lumley?

thanks for the reminder, just set record on my dvr - missed the first 20 minutes though

Mad Men isn't a soap opera, so why Jon Hamm is on this is confusing.

CW IS BRING BACK DARK SHADOWS!!!!!!😎😎😎😎

[quote] Mad Men isn't a soap opera, so why Jon Hamm is on this is confusing.

It is because of daytime soaps that shows like Mad Men could exist.

It's kinda sad. The virus may be the end of soaps. Will they be able to come back? What soap was Brad Pitt on?

R5 Yes, I am glad they are making that argument. I'm so fucking tired of people watching and loving serialized prime-time dramas, but acting like soaps are beneath them.

R6 Another World - because he was living with one of the MALE writers on the show at the time

This is great!!

La Lucci!

OMG, Marc Cherry. lol

"Slee" isn't aging well attall!

Let’s get to the five faces of Eileen!

Where's Constance Ford?

Karen Lynn Gorney, who was arguably soap's first biggest breakout movie star?

Judith Light?

Susan Flannery?

Kim Zimmer?

Linda FUCKING Dano?

Deidre Hall?

R14 Deidre Hall was on at the beginning

Susan Flannery doesn't do interviews - she is retired and doesn't want to be in front of a camera again.

Does anyone really give a shit what Andy Cohen has to say?

That's what I can stand about these retrospectives, is that they bring in a bunch of random big name celebs just to talk gibberish when they could have on actual soap stars to talk about their experience.

They better have the Judith Light breakdown courrtoom scene. That's one of best pieces of acting ever done on television, period.

Ryan Phillippe flaming.

I had never seen the Luke & Laura disco floor rape scene before. No ambiguity about it. Kind of amazing that they retroactively made it a seduction for a number of years.

Why are the quality of the clips they're using so terrible?

[quote] I had never seen the Luke & Laura disco floor rape scene before

It is on YouTube

I was at a bar when Rosalind fell down the elevator shaft. It was at the end of the show and We were only half watching, so were wondering if that actually happened. It was pre-internet, so I did not get confirmation until I went to work the next morning.

Jon Hamm, really? Why?

[quote] Karen Lynn Gorney, who was arguably soap's first biggest breakout movie star

Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Ellen Burstyn, James Earl Jones and many others came before Karen Lynn Gorney. And unlike her, they all have more than one successful movie role on their resumes.

This is better than I thought it would be TBH.

Andy is fucking ruining it. He just HAD to include shots of him signing copies of his book. Bitch, please!

[quote] Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Ellen Burstyn, James Earl Jones and many others came before Karen Lynn Gorney. And unlike her, they all have more than one successful movie role on their resumes.

…and Julianne Moore, seriously.

Andy Cohen will show up to the opening of an envelope at this point.

Where is BRENDAD?

You have to remember this was a co-branded production between ABC and People. Andy Cohen and People are close, his reality shows are a leading part of their coverage. Consequently, it makes major sense that People would include him in this.

R29 So? Andy is an unwelcome face at his own birthday parties.

ABC needs to bring back One Life to Live & All My Children

It won't happen. They're too expensive and not enough people watch.

Prospect(less) Park was the last shot we had. They couldn't get it together and most older fans refused to accept changes to "their stories" and wouldn't watch.

It's true about Andy and People, but honestly, it was irresponsible not to point out that Andy has a conflict of interest saying reality shows are the new soaps.

Reality shows like the housewives programs can best be described in the 30 Rock spoof in which Jane Krakowski got dressed up in a gown, held a glass of wine and kept saying: I'm ready to throw my drink now.

ALL the 'drama' on the reality shows are staged.

It was an okay special; some good stuff, but no McKinsey? Please.

If AMC and OLTL had been cancelled in 2018, ABC probably would have moved them to Hulu. They were just too far ahead of the curve in the streaming world - they aired online BEFORE Netflix even had original series. Today would be a different story as all outlets are scrouging for content.

Unfortunately, now it has been too long.

Yes -- the thing that bugged me about the discussion of the reality shows saying how it was stranger than anything that could be made up, is that most of what you see is staged and made-up. They are about as real as a 5 foot, 30 year old woman finally making it big as a super model.

R34 sums it up well. Prospect Park might have worked if it was a few years later (although am not sure how well run the company was) and now too much time has passed. It is going on 9 years since they have been on the air.

Andy Cohen is so ugly and annoying. He needs to go away.

Wonky-eyed Cohen had more screen time on this special than La Lucia, Slezak and Dee Dee Halls combined. It reminded me of the Mary Tyler Moore tribute starring Oprah. Both made the respective topics all about themselves.

The problem really was Prospect Park and the lawsuits. Prospect Park put OLTL and AMC on hulu, at the time, and they did great business on it and the itunes store. If the rights hadn't been caught up in legal limbo, I think hulu would have stepped in and continued to produce them in some form. But after the lawsuits and the time passed, it became less attractive to them.

It seems like soaps are having a moment, right now. It was just announced that for the first time in many years the Daytime Emmy Awards will return to primetime network tv, with a live virtual presentation on CBS, June 26.

for Laura Wright, they omitted all her other soaps except GH but for Greg Vaughn, they included his non ABC soaps

Laura Wight is lucky (she even admits it) that she started working on soaps in 1991 and has been employed full-time for almost 30 years!

The only gap is three months between her stints from The City to Guiding Light (during that time she did the play "Our Town" out of town!)

In fairness to Wright she has said the only thing she ever wanted to do in life was to be a soap opera actress.

Luke's scenes were only with Laura. I wonder what TG thought of that? (If he sees it.)

No, Tristan Rogers? Only Finola

It was good for about the first 45 mins. They could’ve done a lot more.

[quote]It seems like soaps are having a moment, right now. It was just announced that for the first time in many years the Daytime Emmy Awards will return to primetime network tv, with a live virtual presentation on CBS, June 26.

I think that's more a function of the lack of available new material to broadcast due to the shutdown. And let's not forget Daytime Emmy Awards are not just about soaps.

Steve Carell On All My Children

They should've had him on special last night

Greg Vaughn's hot!

[quote] And let's not forget Daytime Emmy Awards are not just about soaps.

Yeah, but they are what people watch it for. Just like the Oscars are about the movie industry, as a whole, but all most people care about are the four acting categories, Best Picture, and occasionally Best Director.

R23 How many of them played main characters for several years?

Tara Martin was a huge deal on AMC. Phil and Tara were SOAP's IT couple before Luke and Laura.

The show sucked.

Reality TV shows are not Soap's and having a majority of the show focused on that garbage ruined what could have been a fun expose on daytime and nighttime soap operas. Andy Cohen ruining another thing.

Which movie actor was Erika referring to who left the show because he couldn't cope with the pace?

They spent too much time on O.J. Simpson.

R49 I didn't mind them being included, if only to remind people that watch reality shows but sneer at soaps, that they are really watching a soap. Just an inferior trashier version.

[quote]Phil and Tara were SOAP's IT couple before Luke and Laura.

Excuse me?

I haven't seen it yet. Weren't Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes soap's first super couple? Were they mentioned?

The show had its good moments, but way too much time was devoted to “reality” TV and the always odious Andy Cohen.

I was pleasantly surprised that the usually forgotten Generations got a mention.

No discussion but at least there were a couple of Dark Shadows clips. If you blinked you missed them, but it was better than nothing.

Just like on most GH episodes, there was too much Sonny Corinthos in the GH clips; but I’ll even take that over another Housewives clip. And unlike Cohen, Maurice Benard wasn’t annoying in his interview moments.

Sorry, Tony Geary. Despite your attempts to distance yourself from it in your last decade on the show, it’s still clear that your value to GH was as one half of Luke & Laura. No clips from the anti-Laura era that you and Jill Phelps championed for so long.

I, too, am curious who ES was referring to regarding the actor who freaked out and asked out of his OLTL contract.

[quote] Greg Vaughn's hot!

Can you blame Kristen for wanting to rape him?

[quote] I, too, am curious who ES was referring to regarding the actor who freaked out and asked out of his OLTL contract

Farley Granger.

[quote] Weren't Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes soap's first super couple?

Excuse me?

I thought Bob and Lisa were the first super couple.

Penny and Jeff precede Bob and Lisa.

r14

Linda FUCKING Dano?

AGREED

Didn't see it. I assume the emphasis was on ABC soaps?

The emphasis was on Andy Cohen's wonkey eye.

Emma Snyder thread has been Murieled.

I think I read on one of these threads that when Farley Granger was on OLTL, he and Lee Patterson used to "share boys".

It was okay. Could have been better.

The Soap Opera Santa Barbara had an episode where they BLASTED GH "Luke & Laura" rape storyline

Here rape victim Eden takes offense at "Link & Laurie" on General Operation who join her on a TV panel to discuss rape - as "Laurie" fell in loves with her rapist "Link"

Go 3:30 into video to watch

R67 Was that when the Dobsons were writing? It would make sense they would be upset at GH considering they were fired from the show and Bridget's parents created it.

There was no mention of Peyton Place and it was the first prime time soap and it was on ABC. I wonder why they didn't mention it?

R68 no, that was when Anne Howard Bailey was writing

Jill Farren Phelps was sole producer

Where the fuck is CELESTE TALBERT?

R69 It was especially glaring, because not only was it on ABC, they now own it. It was produced by 20th Century Fox. It is one property they could easily reboot, either on ABC or as a prestige drama for hulu.

BREAKING NEWS ...

WEHT Martha Byrnes of ATWT? I saw her on an old episode of In The Heat of the Night yesterday.

Mary Crosby incorrectly said that Dallas was the first primetime soap opera

Aside from Peyton Place there was the primetime soap spin-off, Her Private World, of As The World Turns, focusing on Lisa

R74 She has an online soap “Anacostia.”

Did they mention "As the Stomach Turns"?

I'm so sorry to do this R75 but the prime time ATWT spin off was titled Our Private World. I would to see those episodes.

There is an episode or two out there. But the one I saw had no Lisa!!

Did they mention Dark Shadows?

R80 No, but they showed a few clips.

r77, I lived for As the Stomach Turns and Mother Marcus. LOL!!!

I was there my darlings. I was thrilled to receive Andy Cohen’s invitation to appear ahead of my debut as the new Katherine Chancellor on Y&R. What fun I had!