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It’s one of those weeks. A lot has happened in the world of soapdom that’s caught my attention, and I’ll do my best to squeeze it all in. But, I warn you, I’ll be all over the map. So strap yourselves in, but remember—as long as I’m here with you, it doesn’t matter where here is.
Guiding Light is a mess. In fact, it’s bordering on unwatchable. What few actual storylines are taking place are boring little tales populated by a plethora of new characters, many of whom are played by actors who can’t act. I had hope that Claire Labine and company, while not perfect, could restore some of the Light’s lost brightness. It hasn’t happened. Even Labine’s trademark witty dialogue is nearly absent, replaced instead by crude humor and comic situations lifted from Weekend at Bernie’s. Check virtually any GL board, and there is a huge backlash against the current state of Guiding Light. Household ratings recently hit a 3.1, the lowest in GL’s history. (And the demos weren’t hot either; only Port Charles ranked lower in that department.) But who is to blame? Claire Labine, and her writing team? Executive Producer Paul Rauch? CBS Daytime? Proctor and Gamble? Kim Zimmer? The fans? Where does the buck stop in regards to Guiding Light? Who is in charge?
The problem with Guiding Light may be that no one is in charge, or at least willing to take charge. Take a look at two recent firings which are causing no end of fodder for the soap press, and message boards. Patti“Bite Me!” D’Arbanville (Selena), and Anthony Addabo(Jim) were recently let go from GL. No huge shocker here. Both have only been on the show a relatively short period of time, and are not really core characters. Yet, the situations surrounding their firing are interesting to say the least.
After languishing on the backburner for much of the year, D’ Arbanville finally seemed to be getting a storyline in the early days of the Labine takeover. However, something must have gone wrong, because D’Arbanville soon feared for her job. In recent press accounts, D’ Arbanville claims she went to Labine and asked her point-blank if she (D’ Arbanville) was going to be let go. Apparently, D’ Arbanville had other job offers on the line, and didn’t want to reject them, if she was going to be fired. Labine apparently reassured D’ Arbanville that she was safe. A week later, D’ Arbanville was given her pink slip not by Labine or Rauch, but by an associate producer.
In interviews following the firing, D’ Arbaville has been very complimentary to Paul Rauch, going so far as to call him a straight-shooter. She’s been very derogatory to Labine, whom she feels flat-out lied to her. Now, it’s entirely possible that Labine knew D’Arbanville was on the chopping block when she was asked. Or maybe she didn’t. Writers who simply run out of story can dictate actors’ departures. Or they can be decided by executive producers, who feel it’s best to let a certain actor go. My understanding was that the ultimate responsibility for that type of thing rested with executive producers. Does Labine really wield that much power? And if Rauch is such astraight shooter, why didn’t he wait until he personally could meet with D’ Arbanville, and fire her himself? Who does the buck stop with at GL? It gets better. Remember Anthony Addabo has also been let go. In a recent interview with Soap Opera Digest, Addabo claims that he was let go by Rauch, in person. But, did Rauch feel it was time for Addabo to move on? According to Addabo, Rauch claimed that it was the writers doing. “The writers control everything forthe first six months”, Rauch allegedly said. Rauch also mentioned that writers get bonuses for each new long-term character that they create.
Since then, Rauch himself has spoken with SOD, and says that he never told Addabo that writers get new bonuses. Rauch says he told Addabo that it was a joint decision to release him. Following the Rauch interview, SOD decided to further investigate the writing bonus story. They got in touch with the Writers Guild. They turned SOD over to a representative that could straighten them out on the matter. The representative? Eleanor Labine, Claire Labine’s daughter, and a current writer for GL. She in turn turned SOD over to Procter and Gamble. At press time, SOD still didn’t have a definitive answer to a relatively simple question: Do writers get bonuses for creating long-term characters on soap operas?
What’s going on here? From the moment Claire Labine took over, there have been conflicting reports on just how much power she wields over Guiding Light. Apparently, Patti D’ Arbanville and Anthony Addabo are under the impression that Labine wields total power. One can understand why D’ Arbanville is upset—she was reassured by Labine one week, and got kicked out the next. While it may not be right to praise Rauch, and bury Labine, it’s understandable. However, why would Addabo, who was let go personally by Rauch, make up a story that fingers the Labines? And if Addabo’s story is true, why has Rauch swiftly denied it? And who is in control? Rauch? Labine? Rauch and Labine? Someone else entirely? And what about the writing bonuses? The waters have become so muddied that simple day-to-day procedures of soapdom, such as firing actors and dealing with the press, have turned into public relations nightmares.
Who is in charge of Guiding Light’s current state? I don’t know. But, we all know whose in charge of the remote. You are. And more and more of you are choosing not to watch GL.
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With all the unpredictability and madness that is the soap industry, one thing is for sure: You can’t be sure of anything. I’ve pretty much adopted this credo when following the backstage shenanigans of daytime. But, every once in a while, I’ll hear something that I like to call “heart-attack news”. It’s a story that comes so swiftly and stuns me so much, it’s akin to having a mild heart attack. Such was the case with Mimi Torchin.
In case you haven’t heard, Mimi Torchin, editor-in-chief of Soap Opera Weekly since it’s inception nearly eleven years ago, has been let go. Both SOW and its chief competitor, SOD are owned by Primedia. Primedia has decided to make changes at SOW, and take it in a new (read: tacky) direction.
If you think this is going to be a love fest for Torchin, save the Kleenex. I don’t particularly care for Torchin. Frankly, I think her editorials were the worst part of the magazine. I still have whiplash from a 1998 editorial where Torchin explains how AMC is one of the most consistent soaps on the air, even though it had just made the transition from Lorraine Broderick to Megan McTavish as head writer. Or the verbal gymnastics Torchin did trying to both praise Esensten and Brown’s Guiding Light and simultaneously agree with the fans that were trashing it. And who could forget Torchin labeling last fall’s lame “Haunting of Dorian” storyline as one of the reasons why OLTL is a Gothic masterpiece, and ranks with Y&R as the best soap on TV? God knows I’ve tried to forget it. Not every one of Torchin’s editorials is a bust, though. In a 1997 piece, Torchin gave a simple yet brilliant description of the revolving door practice of hiring writers and producers: incestuous.
So, why will I miss Torchin? Well, she’s been hinting for a while at the new direction Primedia wants to take SOW, (basically make it another SOD), and I don’t like it. While I often found Torchin’s editorials so gushing, I questioned if she was on the take, I need only look at the rest of the magazine to prove that wrong. Maybe SOW didn’t always hit as hard as it could have, but it was the only soap magazine willing to actually hit. Torchin was not afraid to let views that differed from her appear. Columns like “Hit or Miss” and the invaluable “Critical Condition” went far beyond the fluff, and seriously analyzed soaps and their storylines. In fact, SOW is the only mag out there that has even attempted to consistently cover the industry seriously, and treat its fans with respect. As such, it attracted a higher caliber of fan. Finally, a letters section who had far more intelligent thoughts than “I can’t believe Brenda wants to be with Sonny/Jax!”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that they wouldn’t buy SOW because it was printed on cheap paper, or looked like a tabloid. Instead,they’d buy SOD. Fools. You don’t know what you’ve missed. SOW looks like a tabloid, but SOD is one. When SOD bothers to do any serious reporting, it’s all taken care of in the first ten pages. More often, SOD’s big stories are the latest rumors of Vanessa Marcil kinda sorta thinking about returning to GH in the year Two Thousand and Never. And the rest of the magazine is filled with pages of pictures, ho-hum interviews, gossip, and insipid letters. This is not what I want every soap mag to become.
It’s funny, though. While I pretty much hate SOD’s content, I almost always agree with their lead editorial.