Paula's Soapbox

On Wednesday evening soap viewers received two rather unexpected announcements. The first came in the form of a tweet from OLTL's Robin Strasser (Dorian) who told her fans that she would have to end her run on the show sooner than expected, meaning she will not be there when the show ends early next year. Strasser said " I'll have to leave OLTL sooner than the cancellation date, for compelling health reasons. Unable 2 meet high standards I owe our great show." She then went on to say "BUMMER! Darn right. WISDOM indicates a GRACE-full exit, before I fall on my bum. "Always leave 'em laughin". With Tuc and luck, hope I will!"  So far no announcement has been made about when her last day of taping will be and certainly no final airdate has been determined, but I will keep you posted. In other, perhaps bigger news, Robert Guza, Jr. has been replaced as headwriter by Garin Wolf. Wolf, as you might recall, was responsible for the storylines we saw...

Early Tuesday morning I noticed several tweets regarding Matthew Ashford's DOOL return. And although I kind of suspected he might come back to the show one day, given that Jack has been mentioned in almost every scene since Melissa Reeves came back, I was still skeptical. This was partially because I could not and have still not been able to confirm that this announcement originated on Ashford's official facebook page, as many claimed. It would appear now, however, that it did considering that news of his return was reported by Soap Opera Digest  just hours later. DOOL also gave me reason to be skeptical of Ashford's return because for months it seemed like the show was trying to discredit Jack, implying that he abandoned his family to go find himself and never looked back. I assumed this was an attempt to get the audience to hate him so that they would be more receptive to the Jennifer/Daniel pairing, because as we all know Jack and Jennifer were among th...

The battle rages on in the fight to save the soaps. Tomorrow, May 17th soap fans will hold a protest rally outside Lincoln Center in New York City from 2-6pm. Several daytime favorites have expressed an interest in attending the rally and/or offering their support. The following is an e-mail announcement I received from the Soap Fans United website. It will tell you everything you need to know about tomorrow's rally. Also be sure to stop by and join the Soap Fans United site @ http://www.soapfansunited.com to stay up to date on everything that is being done to save the soaps. Dear Fellow Soap Supporter: A demonstration protesting the cancellations of the ABC soap operas All My Children and One Life To Live has been planned for May 17, 2011 outside Lincoln Center in New York City. The rally will be held from 2:00 pm-6:00 pm to target the advertisers arriving at Avery Fisher Hall for ABC's Upfront Presentation starting at 4:00 pm. Since advertisers will be present to see...

Nominations for the 38th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced last week. The following is a list of the categories that you will be most interested in, along with a few that you probably won't be and will likely never see announced during the Emmy telecast. For more information and to see a complete list of nominees go to http://www.emmyonline.org Outstanding Lead Actress Alicia Minshew (Kendall) AMC Debbi Morgan (Angie) AMC Colleen Zenk (Barbara) ATWT Susan Flannery (Stephanie) B&B Laura Wright (Carly) GH Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) Y&R Outstanding Lead Actor Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake) AMC Michael Park (Jack) ATWT James Scott (EJ) DOOL Maurice Benard (Sonny) GH Christian LeBlanc (Michael) Y&R Supporting Actress Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) AMC Julie Pinson (Janet) ATWT Heather Tom (Katie) B&B Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) GH Bree Williamson (Jessica) OLTL Tricia Cast (Nina) Y&R Supporting Actor Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) GH Jason Thompson (Patrick) GH...

Let me preface this by saying I don't really watch the cyber soaps, as I suspect many people don't. Even though shows like Gotham and Venice have managed to gather a respectable following, as well as Emmy nods, the Internet is still a new medium for the soap genre and it takes effort and commitment to regularly follow an online show, even a favorite one. In addition, for those who have a slow connection, online viewing may seem like a rather daunting task. In fact I'm sure many people think "who has the time?" or "why bother?" Enter the web series The Bay . I only became familiar with The Bay after reading an article about it on TV Guide's website. Apparently there is a distinct possibility that it will eventually land on television. Still, having heard nothing of the show, I thought how good could it be? As it turns out it is good...very good in fact. Created by Gregori J. Martin, the show stars some of daytime's most beloved actor...

It has been almost two weeks since Tamara Braun took over the role of Taylor Walker, replacing Natalia Livingston who had inhabited the role since late January. I never really understood the need for this sudden casting change, but being a fan of both actresses I kept an open mind. Sometimes these types of changes take a while to get used to, particularly when they are as ill-timed as this one, or as ill-timed as the switch from new Lucky to original Lucky on GH, or from Drew Garrett to Chad Duell in the role of Michael, but I digress. DOOL used the standard excuse of taking the character in a different direction to explain the Taylor casting change. To be perfectly honest I have never really understood this explanation. Soaps use it all the time and it never makes much sense. Actors act - if a show decides to take a character in a different direction the actor should, by definition, be able to act accordingly. If there is a chemistry problem between the actors and...

Loyal Guiding Light fans have undoubtedly heard of Tina Sloan's (Lillian) book Changing Shoes and her one-woman play of the same title. In fact they have probably read the book from cover to cover several times and are making plans to attend her play later this month. If Michele Dargan's recent interview with Tina is any indication, fans have good reason to be excited about the actress's latest projects. I have not read Changing Shoes yet but I can tell you that after reading this interview I will definitely be adding it to my list of must-read books. Even if you never watched a single episode of Guiding Light I encourage everyone to take a moment to read Michele's interview, as Tina explains the life changes and struggles that served as her inspiration. Trust me you'll only want to read more.  To read Michele Dargan's interview with Tina Sloan click here . If you would like to purchase a copy of Changing Shoes from amazon.com y...

For those of you who were undoubtedly worried about my sanity after reading my first blog post about Rafe 2.0, worry no more, because after this week's episodes I am officially disenchanted with him. Just as I predicted DOOL has gone too far with the evil twin thing, although much sooner than I expected. Rafe 2.0 was pretty good at providing some comic relief the first few days he was on, but this storyline keeps getting progressively worse and Rafe 2.0 keeps getting more evil. In short...I hate him. I never liked the fact that Stefano and EJ were threatening to take Ally away from Sami, but I thought, or perhaps hoped these were just empty threats designed to make Rafe cooperate. I never really expected them to risk raising suspicion by following through. Granted EJ had a change of heart, but he didn't put forth much of an effort to ensure Ally's safety. I'm sure Stefano would never be able to reach her in Hong Kong if he wanted to. At this point I'm not ...

Never underestimate the power of a fan campaign! I know I never will again after Friday's announcement that Rebecca Herbst (Liz) is indeed staying on GH. The buzz started early Friday morning that Herbst would be staying on the show when ABC Soaps in Depth tweeted the following: "Breaking news: Becky Herbst (Liz) NOT leaving #GH? You heard it here first! Details soon...." Then later in the day soapoperadigest.com confirmed the decision reversal. I've seen a lot of soap opera fan campaigns come and go and most are unsuccessful, so the fact that one appears to have succeeded is quite shocking. However it renews hope for the future of this genre that fans still have a voice, at least given the right circumstances. It also proves that fans must provide feedback for their shows, both positive and negative. It can't all be left up to the ratings because as we all know once ratings drop past a certain point it is very difficult for them to recover and soaps get cancell...

Like a lot of viewers I looked forward to Natalia Livingston's debut on Days as Nicole's sister, Taylor. I was already a fan, having seen her play both Emily and Rebecca on GH. And she seemed like she would be a good addition to the Days cast. When her first scenes aired a few weeks ago I initially thought that Taylor would make a good love interest for Brady, until I saw Natalia's scenes with James Scott. Then I became enchanted with the whole idea of an EJ and Taylor pairing. On the surface their meet-cute probably seemed a little cheesy to some, the whole idea of them falling in love at first sight. However, this is something that we haven't seen on soaps in a while. There was something very sweet and sort of old-fashioned about their first meeting, a complete contradiction to EJ at the moment. And I liked the idea of him being paired with someone who brings out his best qualities, as Taylor likely would have. Regardless of how much chemistry he might have with Nicol...

I've been a fan of "Hot in Cleveland" since before it started airing on TVLand last year. I mean Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, Valerie Bertinelli, and Betty White, what's not to love? Then to find out that Wendie Malick's character was a former soap star, well, that was just icing on the cake. I assumed that this would be the extent of the soap opera references though. I thought there would probably be running jokes about Victoria Chase's glory days as a soap actress and that would be it. I certainly never anticipated a crossover event that would bring AMC's Susan Lucci, Michael E. Knight, and Darnell Williams to this show and would bring Wendie Malick to AMC. The beginning of this crossover happened last Wednesday when Malick's Victoria Chase went to L.A. to tape a guest spot for AMC alongside her longtime rival Susan Lucci. Obviously the purpose of this event is to boost ratings since soaps are relevant to the character, but it also proves that soaps a...

I must admit that I feel kind of validated because two of my GH predictions have proven correct this week and that almost never happens. As you might recall I have suspected that Suzanne was somehow connected to the Balkan ever since she and Brenda were in Rome. As a result it was relatively easy to make the assumption that she was the one who cut up Brenda's wedding dress. So since these predictions turned out to be correct I thought I would press my luck and try for a few more. For about the past month or so Carly has been planning to destroy Brenda and Dante with the information she has about "their" baby. I have never actually thought that Brenda and Dante conceived a child together. I think Carly was quick to jump to that conclusion because she wants it to be true. I also do not believe that Brenda's child is dead. I think Suzanne and Theo are keeping him somewhere for one of two reasons. First, either the baby was Alexander's or they believe it was Alexander...

Want to see Kim Zimmer (Echo, OLTL, Reva, GL) in the new Off-Broadway show "Love, Loss, and What I Wore Thursday"? Well, here's your chance! Michele Dargan over at Soapbox1   has all the information on how you can get tickets at discount prices! So head on over to Soapbox1   right now for all the details!

If you are like me and grew up watching Stefano manipulate and otherwise destroy the Bradys in various science fiction inspired plots, it wasn't too difficult to see the Rafe double coming. Once I realized that Stefano and EJ were planning to bring in a Rafe replacement I thought "great, here we go again, the evil twin plot." While this plot device is another soap staple it is also often used by critics of this genre to point out the absurdity of it. And since DOOL has a tendency to go overboard with this sort of thing that opinion becomes difficult to refute. I can still recall each of Eileen Davidson's 5 simultaneous roles on the show and I was not looking forward to the prospect of Galen Gering repeating that history. I have to admit though that after seeing this "evil twin" in action I am cautiously optimistic about this additional Rafe. I'm not thrilled with the fact that Stefano and EJ are using Ally as a pawn, in fact I hate it. I'm tire...

Those of us who spend our free time either blogging about soaps, hosting soap-themed radio shows, or operating various soap sites do much of our work behind the scenes. People see or hear our finished product but they usually know relatively little about us or the work that goes into maintaining a soap site. This occurred to me the other day when I was talking to Carly, one of the hosts of the increasingly popular blog talk radio show "Daytime After Dark." At some point during our conversation we decided it might be fun if I interviewed her. Hopefully it will offer some incite into why so many of us devote our attention to the soap opera genre. Carly hosts "Daytime After Dark" alongside Terri and occasionally acts as co-host of "Liason Radio" and "The Rant Room. Like so many other soap sites, Carly tells me she formed "Daytime After Dark" because she felt like daytime viewers needed a voice. She's been doing the show since 2009 an...

When I watched Friday's GH I was positive Carly destroyed Brenda's wedding dress. She's been acting a little crazy lately anyway and I was sure that Michael's problems finally pushed her over the edge when I heard her conversation with Sonny. I'm sure there was a big part of her that thought it was in Michael's best interest to tell Sonny what happened to him. However it was clear that her primary motivation for talking to Sonny before Michael had a chance to was to make sure he blamed Dante. When that didn't happen she turned her attention to Brenda, implying that she would hurt Sonny, which would in turn hurt Michael. Of course Brenda hurting Sonny is primarily contingent on Carly telling him about Brenda's baby at the wedding. Carly is so worried about how Sonny's reaction to hearing this news will affect Michael, yet she is the one who insists on delivering it and in the worst possible way. Obviously Carly has issues with Brenda and with seeing ...

Ever since Michael got attacked in prison there was little doubt that he was actually raped. The only uncertainty, it seemed, was whether this would ever be acknowledged by any of the characters. Now that Michael has taken the brave first step of letting people know what happened to him, the question now is what effect will this have on the rest of the characters and storylines? This revelation is most certainly a pivotal moment for GH because the fallout has the potential to either make or break the show. Fellow soap blogger Silas Kain at Soapbox1 discusses the possible ways in which GH could address Michael's rape in a new blog post titled "This is your moment, Michael Corinthos." In this post Silas also discusses what the possible ramifications could be for other core characters if this storyline unfolds the way it should. Click here to read "This is your moment, Michael Corinthos" by Silas Kain and enjoy vintage clips of the show.

Ever wonder what the leading ladies of Llanview are like in their downtime? Well, look no further than Soapbox1! This month fellow soap blogger Silas Kain interviewed three of daytime's biggest stars on his blog talk radio show "Lathered Up." Join Silas as he chats with Catherine Hickland (Lindsay), Hillary B. Smith (Nora), and Ilene Kristen (Roxy)! Visit Soapbox1 for all the details!

Everyone knows that soap fans are among the most passionate groups of people, especially when it comes to their favorite soap couple. Some fans channel this passion by creating websites, blogs, or forums devoted to a particular couple. Other fans channel their passion by waging fan campaigns aimed at getting their couple more screen time, and still other fans simply wage war on each other. It is rare, in fact, to see one soap fan base getting along with another. However, several devoted Days fans have found a way to not only get along, but are using their passion for the show to make a difference in the lives of others. Soap fan Alycia is a long-time fan of Danloe, which, for those in the know, stands for Daniel and Chloe, the Days supercouple played by actors Shawn Christian and Nadia Bjorlin. Once Alycia had a chance to meet them at a charity event she became inspired and formed the group "Shawn Christian Angels" with the intention of helping those in need. Since then the g...

I think we can all agree that this has been a tumultuous week for daytime television and its fans. We have received news nearly every day of a soap actor or actress who has either been fired or has chosen to leave their respective shows. If you were one of the many fans on twitter after the news broke that GH's Rebecca Herbst had been, as they say, "let go" you know how heated some of the discussions about her departure became. So many people were angered by this news and viewed it as one more slap in the face to daytime and its fans. People understandably wanted someone to blame and wanted to find a way to keep Rebecca on the show. If you were one of these people or are just looking to find something positive in all the negative that has happened in daytime recently, check out the post " GH Fans We Are Our Own Worst Enemies " by fellow soap blogger Silas Kain over at Soapbox1 . In this post Silas not only discusses the firing of Rebecca Herbst, but James Franc...