Soap Opera Uncensored: Issue 28, Page 2
Nelson Branco
Steffy in a race to the top of a mountain in Aspen where they each hope to land Liam, the man of their dreams. The location footage is lovely and all misty-moody but the situation is soap-opera ludicrous, especially when Steffy phones hotshot mogul Bill Spencer a thousand miles away in L.A. and demands that he stop Hope's gondola mid-air — and he does! The next two episodes have Stephanie, the show's social crusader, visiting a group home for kids who've aged out of the foster-care system and have nowhere else to go. Their conversations are revelatory, Susan Flannery (who deserves another Emmy for these eps), is magnificent and the real-life kids couldn't be cooler or more inspiring. Guaranteed to make you cry buckets, this is B&B at its best.
Chance of a nomination: The group-home episodes are so strong the judges will overlook the Aspen silliness. Besides, versatility should count for something. What other soap is so high-minded and low-brow?
Y&R: What the hell were they thinking? Y&R submitted its pretentious film-noir episode from the "Who Killed Diane?" plot in which the corpse narrates — in snoozy detail — how pretty much everyone in Genoa City had reason to kill her. It is, in a word, endless. Episode 2 is yet another been-there-done-that Christmas Eve riff on "It's a Wonderful Life," this time with Nikki arriving too late for her daughter's wedding. The church is empty except for a guardian angel who takes Nikki through a series of vintage flashbacks (always a cheat in Emmy reels) to show her she's not the hopeless loser-boozer she thinks she is. Melody Thomas Scott was, as always, fantastic, but the hour was severely hampered by the dreadful, Farrah Fawcett-tressed actress who played the angel, clearly a friend of one of the higher-ups at Y&R (there's no other explanation for the inept casting). How the mighty have fallen.
Chance of a nomination: It's going to take a Christmas miracle.
CRYSTAL (CHAPPELL’s) BALL(S)
The 39th Annual DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS
UNCENSORED saw the pre-nom Emmy reels, and with that Intel, here are my pick who will more than likely find themselves on the hard ballot Friday. Cross your appendages!
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
AMC
B&B
GH
ONE LIFE
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS
Crystal Chappell, DAYS
Debbi Morgan, AMC
Heather Tom, B&B
Laura Wright, GH
Erika Slezak, ONE LIFE
Jeanne Cooper, Y&R
Dark Horse: Melody Thomas Scott, Y&R
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR
Maurice Benard, GH
Steve Burton, GH
Vincent Irizarry, AMC
Michael Muhney, Y&R
Darnell Williams, AMC
Anthony Geary, GH
Dark Horse: John McCook, B&B
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Claire Egan, AMC
Genie Francis, Y&R
Nancy Lee Grahn, GH
Rebecca Herbst, GH
Debbi Morgan, Y&R
Gina Tognoni, ONE LIFE
Dark Horses: Ari Zucker, DAYS; Nadia Bjorlin, DAYS
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matthew Ashford, DAYS
Sean Blakemore, GH
Jonathan Jackson, GH
Michael E. Knight, AMC
John Wesley Shipp, ONE LIFE
Billy Miller, Y&R
Dark Horse: Scott Clifton, B&B
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS
Lexi Ainsworth, GH
Molly Burnett, DAYS
Natalie Hall, AMC
Christel Kahlil, Y&R
Kate Mansi, DAYS
Dark Horse: Haley Pullos, GH
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR
Eddie Alderson, ONE LIFE
Casey Deidrick, DAYS
Chad Duell, GH
Bryton James, Y&R
Chandler Massey, DAYS
Dark Horses: David A. Gregory, ONE LIFE; Nathan Parsons, GH
THE FALL OF THE RAT HOUSE
Another Frons Minion Out! GH Publicist Out?
It seems everyone Brian Frons hired — or was responsible for securing his job as ABC’s Daytime President — has left the Mouse House building. DAYTIMECONFIDENTIAL.COM is reporting that Adam Rockmore, former senior vice-president of marketing for ABC Daytime and SOAPnet, is done-zo!
Jamey Giddens wrote:
According to my sources, Rockmore is telling people he quit the gig — much like his ex-boss Brian Frons quit. For those who didn't know, Rockmore was the dude who came up with the disastrous ‘Real Greenlee’ campaign for the return of Rebecca Budig to AMC in 2008.
Rockmore, who allegedly told anyone who would listen he wasn't a "big soap fan" (So why was he ever hired to market a channel dedicated to them?), had a background in lifestyle and foodie programming. He oversaw all marketing efforts to transition ABC Daytime away from soaps, and into a hub for shows like THE CHEW and THE REVOLUTION. Good riddance!
If you add AMC publicist Michael Cohen, ABC’s Daytime PR Head Jori Peterson — who have all left their ABC daytime PR posts, it’s all a little shady. Moreover, UNCENSORED hears Mitch Messenger is leaving his multiple-year gig as GH’s publicist. Please, dear God, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, replace Messenger with ONE LIFE’s former publicist, Lauri Hogan, in the position. Hogan, who is regarded as the daytime’s worst publicist in history, did nothing to promote ONE LIFE before working her magic on THE REVOLUTION. ‘Nuff said. Anyway, GH doesn’t need a publicist — it has Carolyn Hinsey!
COVER STORY
DEVANE INTERVENTION
How Finola Hughes is saving daytime TV — one (hair) layer at a time!
Finola Hughes seems to grow in beauty and bankability by the day. What’s her secret? Finola is, of course, a serious actress. She has gravitas. So while Finola’s timeless, epic beauty has been endlessly coveted, at 50-ish, it's her classic, expressive talent that is most compelling.
Sure, Finola has a Daytime Emmy and two SOAP OPERA DIGEST Awards, a devoted husband, and three fetching children, but it’s the actress’s remarkable ability to reinvent herself that lends to her old-soul quality.
Whether she’s hosting the latest style show of the moment; populating international fashion runways; dancing with John Travolta in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER sequel, STAYING ALIVE; landing recurring guest-star gigs on hit shows like CHARMED or BLOSSOM; kicking acting butt on GH these days; or stalking Madonna (or me) with her pal, Kelly Ripa; daytime TV is very lucky to have an artist of Finola’s calibre back on the boob tube – especially during these arduous, uncertain times.
Savvy, sexy, sassy and so sublime, Hughes is living her best life right now. “I’m very happy,” she confirms. Because, like, we found each other and stuff.
UNCENSORED burned a few phone lines recently talking to my new favourite soap goddess (please accept my apologies, Crystal Chappell, Katherine Kelly Lang, Catherine Hickland, Andrea Evans, and Florencia Lozano; see, I have excellent taste, ‘yo!).
Strange to believe, but I’ve never interviewed the eighth wonder of the world before despite the fact that we have a very famous friend in common: Kelly Ripa. In fact, in 2004, Ripa invited both La Hughes and I to a taping of LIVE! WITH REGIS AND KELLY when Madonna was a guest. We even sat next to each other but my eyes were solely focused on the Material Girl for me to say even, “Ciao,” to the GH stunner. I’m still not sure which English accent was more fake or effected: Madonna’s or Hughes’s! Oh, I kid.
Although I like to tease and joke that I have a punishing sexual and romantic crush on Fin on Twitter, it’s not too far from the truth. Since returning to GH, Finola has single-handedly made the show watchable for this disenfranchised, cynical fan. As a die-hard ONE LIFE fan, I must say, despite the influx of Llanview characters, it’s a GH legacy character, Anna Devane, who has me on my knees every weekday at 2 P.M. salivating for more.
With her epic beauty and fierce acting chops, Hughes is stealing the entire show. Not bad since she was only asked back short-term to help write off Robin when Anna’s daught
er was originally scheduled to die of AIDS (that has since been rewritten; viewers learned Robin is indeed alive after “perishing” in a chemical lab explosion).
After all, and let’s face it, knowing ABC Daytime, it could have gone the other way.
“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Hughes-Young-Branco acknowledges. “I’ve wanted to return to GH for a really long time. The best person for me to be working with is [executive producer] Frank Valentini, along with everyone else. It feels very comfortable and much energized. Everything you guys are feeling watching the show, we’re feeling as a cast. It’s kind of exciting here right now.”
The London, England native is thrilled that Cartini decided not to have Robin die of AIDS, as originally planned.
Recently, a dear friend of mine passed away from AIDS complications, which was surreal because, who dies of the disease anymore? It was an important wake-up call. But for Robin to die out of the blue would have equaled soap opera suicide — especially since Robin is a doctor and has been on her meds for the past 15 years rather successfully. Give or take a psycho stealing her meds.
“When I read about your friend on Twitter,” sets up Hughes, “and you wrote, ‘people still die of AIDS,’ I turned to my husband and asked him when our friend had died of AIDS. He said, ‘10 years ago.’ When you hear things like that, it makes me very sad. It makes me worry so incredibly about the world, especially poor countries. I’m so happy that GH changed course. And luckily, I didn’t get to see that damn HIV-syringe story a few months back. I mean, who thought of that? How did that get through the network and into scripts in the first place?”
Good question, Fin-erella.
Chance of a nomination: The group-home episodes are so strong the judges will overlook the Aspen silliness. Besides, versatility should count for something. What other soap is so high-minded and low-brow?
Y&R: What the hell were they thinking? Y&R submitted its pretentious film-noir episode from the "Who Killed Diane?" plot in which the corpse narrates — in snoozy detail — how pretty much everyone in Genoa City had reason to kill her. It is, in a word, endless. Episode 2 is yet another been-there-done-that Christmas Eve riff on "It's a Wonderful Life," this time with Nikki arriving too late for her daughter's wedding. The church is empty except for a guardian angel who takes Nikki through a series of vintage flashbacks (always a cheat in Emmy reels) to show her she's not the hopeless loser-boozer she thinks she is. Melody Thomas Scott was, as always, fantastic, but the hour was severely hampered by the dreadful, Farrah Fawcett-tressed actress who played the angel, clearly a friend of one of the higher-ups at Y&R (there's no other explanation for the inept casting). How the mighty have fallen.
Chance of a nomination: It's going to take a Christmas miracle.
CRYSTAL (CHAPPELL’s) BALL(S)
The 39th Annual DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS
UNCENSORED saw the pre-nom Emmy reels, and with that Intel, here are my pick who will more than likely find themselves on the hard ballot Friday. Cross your appendages!
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
AMC
B&B
GH
ONE LIFE
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS
Crystal Chappell, DAYS
Debbi Morgan, AMC
Heather Tom, B&B
Laura Wright, GH
Erika Slezak, ONE LIFE
Jeanne Cooper, Y&R
Dark Horse: Melody Thomas Scott, Y&R
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR
Maurice Benard, GH
Steve Burton, GH
Vincent Irizarry, AMC
Michael Muhney, Y&R
Darnell Williams, AMC
Anthony Geary, GH
Dark Horse: John McCook, B&B
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Claire Egan, AMC
Genie Francis, Y&R
Nancy Lee Grahn, GH
Rebecca Herbst, GH
Debbi Morgan, Y&R
Gina Tognoni, ONE LIFE
Dark Horses: Ari Zucker, DAYS; Nadia Bjorlin, DAYS
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matthew Ashford, DAYS
Sean Blakemore, GH
Jonathan Jackson, GH
Michael E. Knight, AMC
John Wesley Shipp, ONE LIFE
Billy Miller, Y&R
Dark Horse: Scott Clifton, B&B
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS
Lexi Ainsworth, GH
Molly Burnett, DAYS
Natalie Hall, AMC
Christel Kahlil, Y&R
Kate Mansi, DAYS
Dark Horse: Haley Pullos, GH
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR
Eddie Alderson, ONE LIFE
Casey Deidrick, DAYS
Chad Duell, GH
Bryton James, Y&R
Chandler Massey, DAYS
Dark Horses: David A. Gregory, ONE LIFE; Nathan Parsons, GH
THE FALL OF THE RAT HOUSE
Another Frons Minion Out! GH Publicist Out?
It seems everyone Brian Frons hired — or was responsible for securing his job as ABC’s Daytime President — has left the Mouse House building. DAYTIMECONFIDENTIAL.COM is reporting that Adam Rockmore, former senior vice-president of marketing for ABC Daytime and SOAPnet, is done-zo!
Jamey Giddens wrote:
According to my sources, Rockmore is telling people he quit the gig — much like his ex-boss Brian Frons quit. For those who didn't know, Rockmore was the dude who came up with the disastrous ‘Real Greenlee’ campaign for the return of Rebecca Budig to AMC in 2008.
Rockmore, who allegedly told anyone who would listen he wasn't a "big soap fan" (So why was he ever hired to market a channel dedicated to them?), had a background in lifestyle and foodie programming. He oversaw all marketing efforts to transition ABC Daytime away from soaps, and into a hub for shows like THE CHEW and THE REVOLUTION. Good riddance!
If you add AMC publicist Michael Cohen, ABC’s Daytime PR Head Jori Peterson — who have all left their ABC daytime PR posts, it’s all a little shady. Moreover, UNCENSORED hears Mitch Messenger is leaving his multiple-year gig as GH’s publicist. Please, dear God, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, replace Messenger with ONE LIFE’s former publicist, Lauri Hogan, in the position. Hogan, who is regarded as the daytime’s worst publicist in history, did nothing to promote ONE LIFE before working her magic on THE REVOLUTION. ‘Nuff said. Anyway, GH doesn’t need a publicist — it has Carolyn Hinsey!
COVER STORY
DEVANE INTERVENTION
How Finola Hughes is saving daytime TV — one (hair) layer at a time!
Finola Hughes seems to grow in beauty and bankability by the day. What’s her secret? Finola is, of course, a serious actress. She has gravitas. So while Finola’s timeless, epic beauty has been endlessly coveted, at 50-ish, it's her classic, expressive talent that is most compelling.
Sure, Finola has a Daytime Emmy and two SOAP OPERA DIGEST Awards, a devoted husband, and three fetching children, but it’s the actress’s remarkable ability to reinvent herself that lends to her old-soul quality.
Whether she’s hosting the latest style show of the moment; populating international fashion runways; dancing with John Travolta in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER sequel, STAYING ALIVE; landing recurring guest-star gigs on hit shows like CHARMED or BLOSSOM; kicking acting butt on GH these days; or stalking Madonna (or me) with her pal, Kelly Ripa; daytime TV is very lucky to have an artist of Finola’s calibre back on the boob tube – especially during these arduous, uncertain times.
Savvy, sexy, sassy and so sublime, Hughes is living her best life right now. “I’m very happy,” she confirms. Because, like, we found each other and stuff.
UNCENSORED burned a few phone lines recently talking to my new favourite soap goddess (please accept my apologies, Crystal Chappell, Katherine Kelly Lang, Catherine Hickland, Andrea Evans, and Florencia Lozano; see, I have excellent taste, ‘yo!).
Strange to believe, but I’ve never interviewed the eighth wonder of the world before despite the fact that we have a very famous friend in common: Kelly Ripa. In fact, in 2004, Ripa invited both La Hughes and I to a taping of LIVE! WITH REGIS AND KELLY when Madonna was a guest. We even sat next to each other but my eyes were solely focused on the Material Girl for me to say even, “Ciao,” to the GH stunner. I’m still not sure which English accent was more fake or effected: Madonna’s or Hughes’s! Oh, I kid.
Although I like to tease and joke that I have a punishing sexual and romantic crush on Fin on Twitter, it’s not too far from the truth. Since returning to GH, Finola has single-handedly made the show watchable for this disenfranchised, cynical fan. As a die-hard ONE LIFE fan, I must say, despite the influx of Llanview characters, it’s a GH legacy character, Anna Devane, who has me on my knees every weekday at 2 P.M. salivating for more.
With her epic beauty and fierce acting chops, Hughes is stealing the entire show. Not bad since she was only asked back short-term to help write off Robin when Anna’s daught
er was originally scheduled to die of AIDS (that has since been rewritten; viewers learned Robin is indeed alive after “perishing” in a chemical lab explosion).
After all, and let’s face it, knowing ABC Daytime, it could have gone the other way.
“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Hughes-Young-Branco acknowledges. “I’ve wanted to return to GH for a really long time. The best person for me to be working with is [executive producer] Frank Valentini, along with everyone else. It feels very comfortable and much energized. Everything you guys are feeling watching the show, we’re feeling as a cast. It’s kind of exciting here right now.”
The London, England native is thrilled that Cartini decided not to have Robin die of AIDS, as originally planned.
Recently, a dear friend of mine passed away from AIDS complications, which was surreal because, who dies of the disease anymore? It was an important wake-up call. But for Robin to die out of the blue would have equaled soap opera suicide — especially since Robin is a doctor and has been on her meds for the past 15 years rather successfully. Give or take a psycho stealing her meds.
“When I read about your friend on Twitter,” sets up Hughes, “and you wrote, ‘people still die of AIDS,’ I turned to my husband and asked him when our friend had died of AIDS. He said, ‘10 years ago.’ When you hear things like that, it makes me very sad. It makes me worry so incredibly about the world, especially poor countries. I’m so happy that GH changed course. And luckily, I didn’t get to see that damn HIV-syringe story a few months back. I mean, who thought of that? How did that get through the network and into scripts in the first place?”
Good question, Fin-erella.
