Is ABC Daytime Copying Old Proctor & Gamble Soaps?
O, BROTHERS, WHERE ART THOU?
The Soaps: One Life to Live vs. Search for Tomorrow
The Story Arc: Mired in or near last place in the Nielsen ratings, a beloved but struggling soap goes through a sudden, jarring reinvention by ditching a portion of its characters, cast & several storylines and shifts about 65% of its tone. A major component of this renovation is the rapid introduction and elevation of three agreeably handsome brothers (upping the hunk factor considerably) and their salt of the earth mother, who immediately ingratiate themselves onto the canvas. The hope is that these new babe magnets & their mama grizzly will help drag up the show’s pathetic ratings from the depths of despair and save it from (rumored) impending cancellation.
How Do the Stories Compare Overall?: Before Search for Tomorrow — then on NBC in 1984 — tried its last big stunt by literally flooding and rebuilding the entire town of Henderson (how is that for being subtle?), the McCleary brothers were quite obviously meant to be SFT’s saviors. (There also was a sister, Adair, but nobody remembers her.) Played by now-soap veterans David Forsyth (Hogan), Jeffrey Meek (Quinn) and Matthew Ashford (Cagney), all three men were a combination of the then-red hot As the World Turns’ rambunctious Snyders and then-redder-hotter Buchanans of One Life to Live only with way-deep Irish roots (perhaps as a nod to ABC timeslot competitor Ryan’s Hope). Their mother Kate (the legendary Maeve McGuire from The Edge of Night) was also meant to bring in viewers by casting an actresss who had been a hit with fans as part of a massively popular super-couple on a freshly cancelled soap. Starting to sound familiar?
What’s different? For one thing, the Ford brothers (Robert and James, played by David Gregory and Nicholas Robuck, respectively) along with newly discovered sibling Nate Salinger (Lenny Platt) and hottie mama Inez (Jessica Leccia, best known as Natalia from the Olivia/Natalia codename "Otalia" supercouple of GL) are all quite younger than any of the McClearys. Plus, the two older brothers are Abercrombie & Fitch half-naked. All the freakin' time.
Strengths: For OLTL’s sake, few viewers seem to actually remember much about the final years of Search besides the aforementioned flood. Though new to the canvas on Search, the McCleary clan was populated by a deeply talented cast, which included the aforementioned actors including Patrick Tovatt (best known ATWT’s Cal Strickland) as the patriarch Malcolm. The OLTL Ford/Salinger clan...well, they certainly look pretty.
Weaknesses: Search for Tomorrow did not benefit from the luck of the McCleary Irish and went off the air in 1986. Oops.
OLTL Grade: C-, mostly for the confusion surrounding which brother is trying to hook up with Starr and/or Langston at any given time.
THAT FRAME (UP) DIDN’T COME FROM TARGET
The Soaps: General Hospital vs. The Edge of Night
The Story: Opposite sides of the law collide when a shooting in self-defense turns into frame-up of the shooter when a third party with a vendetta against the other side hides the gun that was used by the assailant.
How Do the Stories Compare Overall?: GH currently is telling a funhouse mirror reversal of one of Edge’s more topical stories of the late 70’s/early 80’s. To wit, in the EON version, good guy hero cop Steve Guthrie (Denny Albee) catches Justin Beiber-esque thug Joey Dials (Joey Jerome) attempting to mug someone on broad daylight. Steve gives chase; the young man turns around with what appears to be a gun and Steve shoots him in the chest. Joey dies in the arms of his shady brother, Mickey Dials (Vasili Bogazianos) and Joey’s “gun” turns out to be a toy. Mickey uses that information to disgrace Steve and the Monticello police department for shooting an unarmed kid. What follows are months of soul searching by Steve, protests against police force, and the revelation that Mickey — in his hatred for the police — switched Joey’s real gun with the fake one!
In the GH version, mobster Sonny Corrinthos (Maurice Benard) has the Steve Guthrie role, Johnny Zacarra (Brandon Barash) gets plugged in the chest like Joey, and Ronnie Dimestico (the much underrated Ronnie Marmo) is the cop who takes on the Mickey Dials slot by — in his hatred for the mob — hiding the gun that Johnny pulled on Sonny and using that information to bring down Sonny by claiming the Dimpled Don shot an unarmed man.
Strengths: Oddly, The Edge of Night’s location filming of the shooting of Joey Dials in 1979 trounces General Hospital’s studio based shooting of Johnny Zaccara in 2010 by a long shot! Back then, EON’s production team took steadicams on the streets of New York and filmed a foot chase that was as exciting, thrilling and brilliantly edited as any prime time cop show, much less daytime. Sonny’s point blank shooting of Johnny Z. certainly had a certain shock value, but having two mobsters who were already trying to kill each other on a soap where there is a shootout every third episode doesn’t have quite the punch of a show’s hero cop shooting a (then presumed) unarmed teenager to death.
Weaknesses: Edge viewers found out about Mickey’s deception early into the story but it was never clear if or how Steve would be exonerated, which happened several months later. With GH, we know it won’t long before poor Ronnie is locked up with Mickey Dials and Sonny will be free to once again to chase Brenda Bada Clink-Boom Bada Bing Barrett (Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo) and/or impregnate the women of upstate New York.
GH Grade: Incomplete. As always.
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Comments
27 December 2007
2 days 35 min
Great Read I enjoyed the analogies very creative too...
Re GH
Exactly, they just did a storyline with Sonny shooting Dante in the chest point blank and now another one? Not to mention the drive by a week prior...
the WoW factor is gone..(although Brandon's acting was good on this one after he was shot)
the writing is stale on this show and you can't keep up with these mob tales with the new sweep new villian...they need to space them out....its the same ole' story...
the new Promo "Plight of the Mob Boss" is good though it makes me want to watch the show they reel me in then same ole' cah-cah...
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=QNwMHY9I7lY&vq=large
12 February 2010
22 hours 50 min
Great article, and I wish to add my OWN little insight:
As I have said before: I wish someone would pay ME $35,000 a week to repeat myself ad nauseum, while never bringing ANY original ideas to the table and simply phoning it in!!! Lather, rinse, repeat......There are SOOOOO many wonderful writers out there who I am sure could do WONDERS with this show, yet we get KREIZMAN, who is certainly not earning his massive paycheck by ANY stretch of the imagination.
Yeah, he's better than Pratt, but that's shallow praise. Pratt was practically INCAPABLE of telling good story in ANY capacity!!!
Ryan and Madison are a CONTRIVED mess...COMPLETELY UNBELIEVABLE, no chemistry. Hell, they seem more like sister and brother than a COUPLE for me!! Well, not sister and brother, but it's still kinda creepy. I just am not feeling this pairing, as much as I am a fan of Cameron and Stephanie. Please go back to the drawing board and quit trying to force this ridiculous pairing down my throat!!
Damon and Colby are cute. Jake and Amanda are sooooooo cutesy and boring that it hurts to watch them sometimes. Get rid of Randi, put Madison with FRANKIE, put Ryan with Liza or ANYONE ELSE BUT GREENLEE OR KENDALL!!!!!! Humanize David Hayward. Keep Marissa and JR APART!!!! Put Annie and JR together. FIND SOMETHING FOR NATALIA AND BROT TO DO!!!!!! And I hope LaKane comes back soon.
I have TRIED to give Kreizman a chance, but AMC is a solid 5 out of 10, not much else. I am enjoying Angie's storyline, but they are turning David Hayward into a ridiculous cartoon character, and Greenlee is dumber than a box of rocks lately.
Speaking of things that are dumber than a box of rocks, why the HELL is he putting RYLEE back together???? Would all the fans of this played out couple PLEASE stand up?????...... (silence and crickets chirping in the background!)
AMC needs a COMPLETE creative overhaul. Hell, I hate to say this, but they might as well bring back McTrashy!!! Since they aren't gonna find someone NEW and FRESH, why not give her a FOURTH go round to jam the knife even DEEPER into the heart of this ailing show????
Of course, I am being sarcastic, but AMC needs help!!!
8 April 2010
2 years 17 weeks
McTrashy?
8 May 2008
6 weeks 5 days
Hired fresh, new talent for ABC daytime soaps, LOL, yeah right.
1 July 2009
29 min 25 sec
I've said it before and I will say it again get rid of Frons and go from there.
12 February 2010
22 hours 50 min
Kcgeban--
McTrashy is Megan McTavish. And I was JOKING. I don't want to see that train wreck come back anymore than I want to see Pratt come back. She only wrote a FEW good stories in all her years on AMC!!!!!!
8 April 2010
2 years 17 weeks
A few seconds after hitting SAVE, I guessed you were talking about McTavish. I was too lazy to go back and edit though.
25 March 2010
2 years 29 weeks
Ok, first things first. As a nearly 40 year GL viewer, the show under Wheeler/Kreizman was a daily train wreck. Kim Zimmer, a daytime diva of epic proportions had more than a few ham sandwiches during that overbearing story line, remember first we had to believe that she could get pregnant without a uterus. That being said, Le Kreizman is well versed at being green, look at some of the end story lines over at the next serial he wrote into the ground, ATWT. Anyone else noticing the 'writing on the wall' similarities to the "Reid has an accident and gives his heart to someone who just very recently found out they needed a heart" a la Gus and Olivia? I realize that until sometime in the next two weeks this is still a spoiler/rumer, but even After Elton and the other boards are spilling the story. There are no more original stories out there because the same people are writing all the shows. I don't care how beautifully acted they might be. The last Nielsen ratings had AMC and ATWT neck and neck, which for all of you ABC fans should be very, very alarming. Jean Passanante is over at OLTL now and they are continue to be below ATWT in the ratings again and again. Frons can make all the statements he wants about costs being under control and how much they value their seriels, but the bottom line is the same creative teams that wrote the P&G shows into the ground (remember, Jean P wrote for Another World at the end) are now in charge of two ABC shows. All the soaps are expensive. There aren't enough of them anymore to develop new talent, and if you look at it objectively the visionaries all learned under/or with Irna Philips decades ago - Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, Doug Marland, the Cordays, and more. Who is left today? Chris Goutman? Julie Carruthers? The Baby Bells? None of them know how to craft real stories. And sadly all of them are racing against time to try and keep their shows relevant in a world that watches Judge Judy and The View. All I have to say to that is God bless, and God speed.
26 February 2009
39 weeks 4 days
The whole heart story has been done to death on many primetime and daytime shows. I actually thought the GL one was interesting only because Olivia was in love with Gus and chased after him while she was dying, then she ended up getting his heart. The Reid/Chris story is even more contrived than that, and ridiculous and pointless, because Reid has no real connection to Chris besides petty bickering, and because Ricky Paul Goldin was leaving GL and they needed an exit, whereas ATWT was ending and they could have kept Reid around if they wanted to.
As for Jean Passannante, don't forget that she was at ABC for years before she went to ATWT. She was mediocre at best at OLTL and then she ran AMC into the ground in 2000 and 2001 with stories like Gabriel kept in a cage and raised as a dog.
OLTL's ratings problems can be traced to the failing ABC lineup, which means to Frons, and also to the show's lack of interest in finishing storylines, and their obsession with bored, unpleasant leading men who barely make eye contact with anyone.
11 April 2009
1 hour 54 min
Angie's storyline is 100x better than Reva's ridiculous cancer storyline when she hid her cancer from Josh. That was crap.
I'm REALLY enjoying Debbi Morgan's portrayal of Angie. Where else on TV do we get this kind of performance and leading dramatic story featuring a black woman?? Nowhere! Y&R's Lily had cancer but it was badly done. Primetime network TV has no black actresses in leading dramatic roles. None. Zip. Zilch.
11 April 2009
1 hour 54 min
AMC is much better written now versus Pratt. But, I think Pratt's sensationalist plots drew more viewers.
Ultimately, some soap has to be in last place. You could have just two soaps and unless they tied, one would do better than the other in the ratings.
11 April 2009
1 hour 54 min
AMC is much better written now versus Pratt. But, I think Pratt's sensationalist plots drew more viewers.
Ultimately, some soap has to be in last place. You could have just two soaps and unless they tied, one would do better than the other in the ratings.
4 May 2009
2 hours 45 min
Soaps will never survive unless they bring in some new blood to shake things up. There are six shows and seven head writers... a musical chairs of the same old, same old. When daytime dramas finally die, they have no one to blame but themselves.
15 January 2009
1 hour 3 min
I find today that AMC is the only soap I look forward to watching. I give it an 8 out of 10.
#1 They don't waste the black characters as they are all equally important to the drama. A lesser actress like Denise Vasi is played the way Y&R's CK should be played as long as we have to deal with her. She is in and out of the scene quicker than you say the entire ABC's. They could recast the character with Daphnee Samuel and i'm sure she could turn Randi into the black Erica Kane. But the plots and subplots being developed and played out are watchable. And they don't put the black characters in the storyline ghetto. 3 to 5 days a week Debbie and Darnell are driving storyline, Natalia actually POPS, and a new love triangle with Frankie seems to be on the horizon. What more can I say?
Yet since the lovely actress who plays Mayor Blanco has a primetime job why not recast that role with OLTL's Florencia L and invest in her as the new town villainess.
2. JR/Annie have drawn me in big time. In fact I can't name one other soap lately that has had this kind of push/pull of a relationship. On the other hand they could recast Marissa with Heidi Mueller (ex-Kay, Passions)and we'd have the real spawn of David/Krystal and give her a bad-Lexie (Days) like transition.
3. The Cortland vs Chandler war on the horizon is good. Now all you need is Skye back to swoop in run the company for Adam and you have makings of a new chapter in their lives.
4. Tad is gold or should I say Michael E. Knight. PV's father figure is also being played front and center and his scenes whenever fighting with Liza are off the chain. Of course Liza could be recast with Kim Johnston Ulrich (ex-Ivy, Passions) but the current portrayal by Jamie Lunar is solid.
These are just some of things I am liking about AMC where I find 70-80% good overall. AMC is really a solid soap now. It's not 5 stars yet but it's far from the 1 to 2 star CBS series called Y&R where they produce a good episode or two once in a blue moon.
19 February 2009
2 years 19 weeks
Eli isn't the Ford brothers' father.
8 May 2008
6 weeks 5 days
#1 They don't waste the black characters as they are all equally important to the drama. A lesser actress like Denise Vasi is played the way Y&R's CK should be played as long as we have to deal with her. She is in and out of the scene quicker than you say the entire ABC's. They could recast the character with Daphnee Samuel and i'm sure she could turn Randi into the black Erica Kane. But the plots and subplots being developed and played out are watchable. And they don't put the black characters in the storyline ghetto. 3 to 5 days a week Debbie and Darnell are driving storyline, Natalia actually POPS, and a new love triangle with Frankie seems to be on the horizon. What more can I say?
Yet since the lovely actress who plays Mayor Blanco has a primetime job why not recast that role with OLTL's Florencia L and invest in her as the new town villainess.
2. JR/Annie have drawn me in big time. In fact I can't name one other soap lately that has had this kind of push/pull of a relationship. On the other hand they could recast Marissa with Heidi Mueller (ex-Kay, Passions)and we'd have the real spawn of David/Krystal and give her a bad-Lexie (Days) like transition.
3. The Cortland vs Chandler war on the horizon is good. Now all you need is Skye back to swoop in run the company for Adam and you have makings of a new chapter in their lives.
4. Tad is gold or should I say Michael E. Knight. PV's father figure is also being played front and center and his scenes whenever fighting with Liza are off the chain. Of course Liza could be recast with Kim Johnston Ulrich (ex-Ivy, Passions) but the current portrayal by Jamie Lunar is solid.
These are just some of things I am liking about AMC where I find 70-80% good overall. AMC is really a solid soap now. It's not 5 stars yet but it's far from the 1 to 2 star CBS series called Y&R where they produce a good episode or two once in a blue moon.
^^^^^^^^^
David, couldn't agree with you more. It is kinda boring, but the acting is so on point and the characters draw you in. The rest all in lala land right now.
14 December 2008
4 days 9 hours
Thanks for the article, J. Bernard. The only original storyline I knew about being recycled was Reva's cancer storyline. And I agree with you, even though AMC's story is a carbon copy the acting is simply fantastic! I have to wonder though is Brian Frons even intellignet enough to know which soaps his writers are copying from? He certianly doesn't to care about soap history.
Alstonboy, Kreizman is recycling Rylee because they're one of Fronzie's *favourite* couples. *rolls eyes*