Paula's Soapbox

Baby switches are nothing new in daytime. They provide months, if not years, of story, keeping viewers on pins and needles waiting for the "big reveal." Most are quite memorable and prompt hard-to-forget performances...when they're done correctly, like the As the World Turns baby switch between Gwen and Jennifer.  This was a beautifully-crafted, heartbreaking storyline where Gwen and Casey's baby died, but Craig switched their baby for his and Jennifer's. Hence, Jennifer thought her baby was dead, when really Gwen was raising him as a single parent. This baby switch worked because people sympathized with both parties. Viewers desperately wanted to see Jennifer reunited with her son, but felt sorry for Gwen and the inevitable loss she would face when that happened. Fortunately Gwen found support and comfort with her newly-discovered sister Carly and loving boyfriend Will. The ATWT baby switch stands in stark contrast to the one currently airing on G...

This week marks the official beginning of the new fall television season and there are no shortage of premieres that I'm looking forward to, including season two of the web series Broken at Love. I recently chatted with creator and star of the series, Karolina Sivas, who talked about the show and her plans for season two. Karolina Sivas, Pamela Bowen (Ava, Vivienne's mother), and Rob Healy Photo courtesy of Karolina Sivas What made you decide to create your own web series? Honestly, I don't know when it was, but in late 2008 I started my own production company and started creating projects. Sometime after that point I knew I wanted to star in a web series and possibly create it, although I didn't mind just being cast in someone else's show. As an actor, a web series parallels a television show. You get to explore playing a character that evolves and grows on a regular basis and that's what attracted me to the format. I have done a ...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have really been enjoying the introduction of the Jeromes on GH (particularly Ava and Julian --- Kiki I could take or leave). In fact it's really the only storyline I can even tolerate right now. It doesn't really make sense to me that Kate/Connie or whoever she is these days is now a journalist and has this mysterious boss whom no one has ever heard of in the form of "Derek Wells"; but I can overlook that if it keeps Maura West and William DeVry on my screen. It's amazing what a difference it makes to a storyline when dynamic, captivating actors are a part of it. We need a little more of that and less of the Sabrina/Felix/Patrick/Brad/Britt mess. I don't know whose idea it was to put them front and center for so long, but please put us out of our misery. Enough is enough!  I'm also seeing potential with the Luke/Holly storyline. I'll admit I wasn't watching GH when Sean Donely was on, but if the ...

You know something is wrong on a soap when even the stars are complaining. Yesterday former GH star Jack Wagner (Frisco) took to twitter to vent about his disappointment in the handling of his character during the show's 50th and his regret that he didn't do something to rectify the situation. Here is one of his tweets below: 

Don't forget very soon I will be adding web series Broken at Love to the weekly caption contests! If you haven't seen it yet you can view all eight episodes of Season 1 at  http://www.brokenatlovetheseries.com   And don't worry, it only takes about an hour and a half to catch up --- episodes are very short...and entertaining!   Also coming soon, I 'll be chatting with series creator, writer, co-executive producer, director, and star Karolina Sivas, so keep an eye out for that! 

Former soap star Kevin Spirtas (Craig, DOOL;Jonas, OLTL;Les, Y&R) is set to star in Legacy Falls, a musical comedy about the soap genre. Legacy Falls is a part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, with performances beginning next month. This looks like it will be a fun and entertaining production, so if you plan on being in the area be sure to check it out.! Tickets are just $25! For more information please visit their website at  http://www.nymf.org/tickets/2013-events/legacy-falls/

Freddie Smith (Sonny, DOOL) Chandler Massey (Will, DOOL) Bryton James (Devon, YR) Max Ehrich (Fenmore, YR) Who do you think will win?  Who do you think should win?  The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

Kristen Alderson (Starr, GH) Lindsey Morgan (Kristina, GH) Jacqueline Macinnes Wood (Steffy, BB) Hunter Haley King (Summer, YR) Who do you think will win?  Who do you think should win?  The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

Bradford Anderson (Spinelli, GH) Jeff Branson (Ronan,YR) Scott Clifton (Liam, BB) Billy Miller (Billy, YR) Who do you think will win?  Who do you think should win?  The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

Michael Muhney (Adam, YR) Peter Bergman (Jack, YR) Jason Thompson (Patrick, GH) Doug Davidson (Paul, YR) Who do you think will win?   Who do you think should win?   The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea, YR) Arianne Zucker (Nicole,DOOL) Jessica Collins (Avery, YR) Julie Marie Berman (Lulu, GH) Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, BB) Who do you think will win? Who do you think should win? The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

Susan Flannery (Stephanie, BB) Peggy McCay (Caroline, DOOL) Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, YR) Heather Tom (Katie) Who do you think will win? Who do you think should win? The 40th Annual Daytime Emmys Air Sunday, June 16th @ 7:30/6:30c on HLN!

I think I speak for most people when I say that GH revisiting the Franco storyline is beyond terrible. It appears that they are trying to redeem this character, not a foreign concept in soaps. Villains turn heroes all the time in this genre; but Franco is not redeemable.  Even if we were to take his DVDs at face value and assume he didn't want Michael hurt, he wasn't beyond exploiting the rape to torture Jason --- remember Francophenia? The writers don't seem to, or they just don't care, which is worse. They would also have us believe that Franco only did the things he did because Jason somehow rejected him.    How could that be? Franco was torturing Jason before Jason ever knew he existed! And don't get me started on how every character thinks Franco looks exactly the same as he did a few years ago. Franco doesn't look like Todd and Kiki doesn't look like Starr, just add some hair dye and the audience will be none the wiser...right!  On top of the Franco...

So I took the last couple of days to catch up on OLTL on Hulu. Just a reminder Hulu is free if you watch on your computer. Anyway I watched every episode, then read through viewer comments to see what the feedback was. The reaction was pretty much what I expected, even before the first episode ever aired. I knew enough about what the plans were for the show to know what viewers would most likely like or dislike, but this is what I observed. The production quality is much better than what I expected, not at all comparable to most online shows. The cast is much smaller than it was on ABC, which is to be expected. I'm sure this bothers a lot of viewers, but I sort of like it this way. It brings all the focus to three or four storylines instead of splitting that focus in a dozen different directions (I'm looking at you GH). I've seen a lot of complaints about the cussing. There's definitely more cussing than the original OLTL. The Internet doesn't carry the same types o...

Today it was announced via The Online Network that All My Children and One Life to Live will now air twice a week on Hulu and iTunes as opposed to the previous four times a week. This is so the audience might more easily follow these shows long-term. It was determined that it may be too hard for people to fit in both of these shows in their daily tv viewing schedule, despite the fact that each episode of both shows is only 30 min. long. Below is an excerpt of the press release:  we have chosen to revise our scheduling model beginning this Monday, May 20th by introducing two new episodes from  OLTL  and  AMC  each week- new episodes of AMC will now run on Mondays and Wednesdays, and fresh episodes of  OLTL  will post Tuesdays and Thursdays. MORE, our behind the scenes series, will run as a single show on Fridays. This allows us to introduce a new episode of quality television every Monday through Friday and gives the audience a chance to catc...

The drama continues between Prospect Park and ABC. According to  Deadline.com   Prospect Park is suing ABC for $25 million dollars. Prospect Park claims that ABC is in "breach of contract" over the OLTL characters who were essentially on loan from them. Reportedly this will not affect the re-launching of OLTL and AMC on April 29th. Of course it remains to be seen what if any impact this will have on General Hospital and the characters that Roger Howarth, Michael Easton, and Kristen Alderson will ultimately play when they return to the show. You can read the full article by clicking on the deadline.com link above. I'll post updates as they become available. 

We've been wondering when it was going to happen and now General Hospital is bringing Morgan home from military school. The character has been recast. Actor Bryan Craig (pictured left) will now inhabit the role. Though no air date has been announced  Soap Opera Digest   states that the actor has already begun taping.  With an already full canvas, it will be interesting to see how GH plans to incorporate this character. Wouldn't it be a strange twist if they pair him with Kristen Alderson's yet-to-be-named character when she returns to the show?  Whatever GH plans to do with him the actor seems excited about his new job. He sent the following tweet out earlier this week: 

Actress Amber Tamblyn, who originated the role of Emily Quartermaine on General Hospital, released an eloquent statement on the show's 50th anniversary and what being a part of its history means to her. On her  facebook  page Amber writes about how the soap helped her hone her craft and allowed her to form meaningful and lasting relationships. Read the full statement below:   

General Hospital stars celebrated 50 years on air today with multiple television appearances. Below are events you may have missed. Enjoy!

The legal mess between Prospect Park and ABC continues and it's creating a lot of drama. According to  TV Guide.com   Michael Easton, Roger Howarth, and Kristen Alderson will be returning to General Hospital as planned, however they will most likely be playing entirely different characters. While I have been hoping these three actors would return to GH, I can't say I'm happy about the prospect of them playing new characters. In my opinion this is worse than if the actors had simply left the show. I really can't foresee any creative solution to this problem, especially in the case of Michael Easton, who has already played dual roles on GH, one of which was a vampire. Yes, soap viewers routinely suspend the reality of disbelief, but since Starr, Todd, and John have become such significant characters on GH I don't see how they can possibly come back as different characters anytime soon. I might be able to get on board with one actor returning in this capacity, but thre...

The wait is almost over! All My Children and One Life to Live will be returning April 29th on Hulu and iTunes. For those of you who don't like watching programs on your computer you can watch these shows on your tv if you have a Hulu Plus subscription and a device capable of streaming Hulu (apple tv, xbox, wii, various blu-ray players and tvs). Hulu is currently offering a free one week trial, after that it is about $8 a month. I'm assuming you can still watch these shows for free on basic Hulu but it will require you to view them on your computer. As for iTunes, I'm not sure what the specifications will be for watching these shows, but when I find out I will post details here immediately. In the meantime, here are a few links you will find helpful:  Hulu Plus Supported Devices for Hulu Plus Watch All My Children on Hulu Watch One Life to Live on Hulu

UPDATE:  Michael Fairman Soaps   is reporting that Barash's management team has now confirmed his exit. No word yet on when his last air date will be or how his character will exit the show. Barash's character Johnny is currently serving time in Pentonville so they may simply let him slip off the canvas. As soon as more details emerge I'll post them on here.  A few hours ago actor Brandon Barash, who plays Johnny Zacchara on General Hospital saddened and confused fans when he announced he was leaving the show to pursue a career in the NBA. So far there have been no official announcements from show representatives, so was this a twisted joke on Barash's part or is he really leaving the show he has been a part of since 2007? Read his tweet below and decide for yourself: 

In the People Magazine Collector's Edition, which celebrates 50 years of General Hospital, Brianna Brown (ex-Lisa Niles) was named one of the soap's best villains. The actress shared her excitement over this news with fans via  facebook  : According to multiple websites the special edition of People is on newsstands now. A hardcover version is also expected to be released on March 12th! 

OLTL Co-Head Writer Thom Racina has been taking to facebook  to give fans insight on what they can expect from their beloved soap when it begins airing again next month via The Online Network. In this latest video from Racina he teases fans about the new direction of the show and what the freedom of the Internet will mean for the show's storylines.

Next month previously canceled soaps All My Children and One Life to Live will begin airing again online. Recently stars of the shows marked their comeback with a photo shoot and it was documented by Entertainment Tonight . Watch the behind the scenes video below:

I guess the rumors were true --  ABC Soaps in Depth   has announced that Julie Marie Berman, who has played Lulu on General Hospital since 2005 is now exiting the show. Apparently Berman just taped her final episode yesterday. The actress made the following statement on twitter about her departure:  There is no word yet on whether GH intends to recast the character. 

It looks like soap fans will once again have a reason to watch Dancing with the Stars when the show returns March 18th. According to  Access Hollywood ,   on-again/off-again GH star Ingo Rademacher (Jax) will be competing on the hit ABC show alongside professional dancer Kym Johnson.  Other cast members include Kellie Pickler, Wynona Judd, and Andy Dick. For a complete list of contestants go to  http://www.accesshollywood.com/dancing-with-the-stars-cast-revealed_article_76351   Will you be rooting for Ingo this season? 

I have tons of updates to tell you about on the AMC reboot. First off Jill Larson (Opal) announced via  facebook   AJ has been aged and will be played by actor Eric Nelson (pictured below). Larson also posted a pic of the new Cassandra, played by Sal Stowers... a pic of Miranda played by Denyse Tontz... and a pic of Opal's son Petey, played by Rob Wilson... Also Jordi Vilasuso (Griffin, ex-Tony, GL) posted a video tour of the new dressing rooms:  In addition  Soap Opera Network   is reporting that actor Ryan Bittle will be playing JR Chandler: photo by Hallmark Channel  Also,  Soap Opera Digest   is reporting that Ray MacDonnell (Dr. Joe Martin) will be appearing in the reboot.  In other news Susan Lucci appearing on The View this morning and talked about the possibility of returning to AMC. See a clip below:  Also  ABC Soaps in Dept...

Earlier today actress Kassie DePaiva (Blair, OLTL) tweeted her excitement for the OLTL reboot, set to begin production later this month.  It's difficult not to get excited about the renewal of these soaps when the stars are this enthused. Despite the fact that many people don't like watching tv online, I really hope AMC and OLTL can defy the odds and build an audience, making history in the process. Now that we are down to only four soaps on network tv the success of these shows online is imperative to the future of the genre.  According to  ABC Soaps in Depth   AMC and OLTL will alternate their tapings in Connecticut until both shows have filmed for 17 weeks.