Paula's Soapbox

Veteran soap actor Sean Kanan is launching a new web series this week called "Studio City." The show, which is described as 'a love letter to soaps' brings together many of daytime's brightest, including Tristan Rogers, Sarah Brown, Patrika Darbo, and Carolyn Hennessy. The entire first season of "Studio City" will begin streaming on Amazon Prime December 20th. On a side note, I will be chatting with Sean tomorrow on my show Paula's Soapbox LIVE at 6|5c 3pm PST .   The interview will stream directly on  YouTube and will be available to watch in its entirety following the LIVE broadcast. 

If you follow this blog and/or my LIVE interviews with any regularity, you may recall that last year I chatted with Morgan Englund about his crowdfunding campaign to make a music video for his song Homeward Bound (A Firefighter's Song). Englund was a firefighter and paramedic for years before deciding to pursue his long-held dream of becoming a singer/songwriter and musician. Homeward Bound is a tribute to Englund's fellow first responders and marks his first video in what will surely be a successful career in the music industry.  Regarding his song, Englund writes:  I hung up my axe and stethescope. But I offer this song to first responders everywhere. You do an amazing job, you sacrifice way more than the average person realizes. I will ever be proud and grateful to have been counted among you. I chatted with Englund just days before the official video release and you can watch that interview here: The video for Homeward Boun...

As you may have seen on Instagram , Facebook , and twitter I had scheduled a YouTube LIVE interview with Kathleen Gati (Dr. Obrecht, GH; Margaret Cranston, Ladies of the Lake: Return to Avalon). Unfortunately due to an unusual amount of technical difficulties we couldn't do the LIVE video chat as planned. We did, however, move the interview to twitter for an impromptu Q&A. In case you missed it or aren't on twitter, I have saved the tweets so you can see them!

TMI Hollywood will be hosting the first ever soap opera episode at the Acme Comedy Theatre in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, June 14th. Tickets are available at tmihollywood.com . OLTL, Guiding Light Alum, and star of POP TV's Queens of Drama, Crystal Hunt will be hosting. Several other soap opera faves will also be in attendance, including GH Alum Kelly Thiebaud, Passions, GH Alum and star of Queens of Drama, Chrystee Pharris, and OLTL Alum John Paul Lavoisier. Creator and star of the web series Broken at Love, Karolina Sivas will be participating as well. Check out the flyer below for more details: 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just have to take a moment to comment on the overall quality of General Hospital. It has been years since I have watched a soap opera and felt like every aspect of that soap came together in exactly the right way. It is easy to spot the shows that work hard to bring their viewers the best possible entertainment and right now General Hospital is one of those shows. And if you have read any of my previous blog posts about General Hospital you know that I am not just referring to this week's carnival event. However one of the reasons this event has been so entertaining to watch is because GH took the necessary amount of time to build up the storylines that were going to be affected by it. This is what good storytelling is all about. Viewers have to care about what happens. Soaps cannot just throw in a handful of dramatic moments every once in a while, thinking that the shock value they provide will somehow make up for the lack of storyli...

The Daytime Emmy Awards are coming up at the end of the month, August 30th to be exact, so I wanted to take a moment to look at the list of nominees and offer my predictions of the winners and welcome yours. Let's begin with the lead actress category. This year the nominess are Jeanne Cooper (Katherine, Y&R), Maura West (Carly, ATWT), Susan Flannery (Stephanie, B&B), Susan Haskell (Marty, OLTL), and Debbi Morgan (Angie, AMC). Jeanne Cooper won last year and has followed up that win with a lot more storyline on Y&R so it is possible she could win again this year, but Susan Haskell may give Cooper a run for her money. Out of all the other nominees I think that Haskell is the one to most likely beat out Cooper for this year's Emmy. Haskell returned to OLTL this year to replace her replacement. This was a long awaited return and she dove right in with some intense material without missing a beat. Ultimately I think that Jeanne Cooper will pull out another win, but I wou...

As you may have read in one of my earlier posts I have decided to stop watching Y&R due to the fact that the writing has made the show unwatchable on many different levels. I have not watched the show in well over a month and from what I have been reading on various message boards I am not alone. Many longtime fans of this once beloved show seem to be very unhappy with the quality of the writing and have either decided to stop watching altogether or complain to as many people as they think will listen, or both. In reading through several of these complaints I discovered that Y&R's writing sunk to yet another low when they decided to not only kill off Victor's dog, but actually show the dog as he was dying after being poisoned. Again, I have not been watching the show but if what I have read in these postings is true, then Y&R is going to have their work cut out for them if they ever decide to restore the integrity and quality of their writing. I cannot imagine why a...

I cannot say enough positive things about the last two episodes of GH. I think the Karoke night at Jake's was just what this show needed to liven things up a little bit while they are trying to build up their storylines, which seem to be picking up some momentum. With the introduction of the Dante character and his persistence in infiltrating Sonny's organization I am anxious to see how the show reveals that he is Sonny's son. I have been wondering if it is possible that Dante already knows that Sonny is his father, but just hasn't told his mother he knows. That may be why he is so desperate to get inside Sonny's inner circle. I have to say though that I was somewhat taken aback by the kiss that Sonny and Olivia shared on Monday's episode. Obviously Olivia has had Sonny on her mind for a while now, but I just have not seen Sonny being pulled in her direction the same way. I think there probably should have been a little more build up to this reunion of sorts. Th...

I have always been a fan of the soap opera genre. I grew up watching Days of Our Lives during its glory days when the term “super-couple” was personified in Bo and Hope, “Patch” and Kayla, and Roman and Marlena. I have fond memories of watching this and many other soaps with my mom. Santa Barbara was also a favorite of ours and every time I see Nancy Lee Grahn on General Hospital I am reminded of what a great soap opera that was. My grandmother was also a big fan of soaps. I miss watching Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Bold and the Beautiful, As the World Turns, and the now defunct Another World with her. Many of our conversations were based on characters and plotlines of our favorite soap of the moment and when I watch these soaps today I am reminded of her. Those of us who have been longtime fans of this genre and have grown up watching soaps with family members know how easily they become a part of your life. Many people can recall being introduced to them at an early ag...