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On April 2'nd, As the World Turns celebrated its' forty-fifth anniversary, and did so in style. No, not with a prime-time showing, or a special clip-filled episode. (Both of which were certainly warranted for such an occasion.) Instead, ATWT did what its' been doing for the past several months; it aired a regular episode. But, under the new, energetic team of Head Writer Hogan Sheffer and Executive Producer Chris Goutman, a regular episode of ATWT is not like a regular episode of any other soap opera. ATWT sparkles with life. Like the days of old, ATWT fans are being treated to a writer with a unique vision, who is being allowed to play it out. And as with any writer's vision, I don't always agree with it. (Holden and Rose, even momentarily, was a sickening pairing. And am I supposed to feel sympathy for Craig? It would help if the writers-and Hunt Block-could make him multi-dimensional.) But, it keeps me entertained, and wondering what happens next. (Kudos to whomever at ATWT is not giving TOO much away in the spoilers.) Despite those who swear that soap viewers are being much too hard on our soaps, the ability to entertain and hold our interest is really all we want. Is that too much to ask from an entertainment genre? (Not an artistic genre, as I recently told someone in e-mail.) It's not too much to ask from ATWT.
ATWT is not the only good soap on right now, but I do believe its' the best. The Young and the Restless is solid and dependable, but can also move slower than it needs to, and can become dull for long stretches of time. (As is the case now. But, it will bounce back.) The Bold and the Beautiful is fun and frantic, but it's never engrossing drama like ATWT can be. B&B is pure camp. (Unlike Passions, which pretends to be camp, but is actually some other four-letter words.)
When you stop and consider that it was less than a year ago that ATWT was a completely unwatchable parody of Gilligan's Island, with screeching villains, attempted rape, and hints of incest put in as throwaway jokes, ATWT's rise from the ashes is even more astounding. Perhaps TPTB did celebrate the latest milestone in Oakdale history in the best way possible: by simply treating it as it were another day.
Now the bad news: I am very worried about ATWT, not from a creative standpoint, but from a ratings standpoint. While ATWT holds its' own in household ratings, it's scraping bottom in the key demo. That's not good. TPTB took a big gamble in hiring Sheffer, a soap opera novice, to head write the show. It has paid off for the viewers, but not for TPTB's bottom line. Yes, ATWT did pick up a lot of Emmy nominations. But, if Emmy nominations and wins were worth much, Santa Barbara would still be on the air. I didn't think ATWT would shoot of into the ratings stratosphere overnight, but I had hoped for a more noticeable improvement by now. Without ATWT having major ratings success, there has been no encouragement for other soaps to hire outside the same pool of soap writers they've been dipping into. Since Sheffer arrived at ATWT, All My Children, Port Charles, General Hospital, and One Life to Live have all hired new Head Writers-and they're all from the same pool.
But, since I'm so thrilled about ATWT, I'll leave the doom and gloom to one paragraph. In fact, ATWT's turnaround gives me hope that the other soaps can do it, too. The genre still has a chance. For that alone, I wish ATWT a belated, but heartfelt happy anniversary, and many more to come.
. ALSO, ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY…
It was also on April 2, 1956 that the one-of-a-kind soap opera The Edge of Night was born. Daytime's finest crime and mystery serial attracted an audience that most soaps never get. (At one point, Edge's audience was half male.) Edge was also the first soap to switch networks, moving from CBS to ABC in 1975.
Finally, on April 2, 1971 ABC aired the final episode of Dark Shadows. DS too was one of a kind. And treue to its' subject matter, DS has refused to die, instead living on through videotape, syndication, PBS stations, and now, a home on the Sci-Fi Channel. Kudos to Dan Curtis for saving the videotapes. Thank God ABC never got their hands on them, or DS would be nothing more than a vivid memory.
. INSIDE PINE VALLEY
On Thursday night, A&E aired an episode of "Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden." In this installment, Joan took us behind the doors of-you guessed it!-All My Children. The segment was basically like any other behind-the-scenes segment-fluff. However, there are a few things worth noting.
--Joan certainly picked the right days to come. It seemed all of the older and recurring actors were there. Even creator Agnes Nixon took some time off from her oh so busy job as ABC daytime consultant (or the behind-the-scenes answer to Linda Dano) to put in an appearance. How often does the mightily unbalanced AMC have a full house like that?
--I loved the old clips, though most of them were aired out of context, in machine-gun style.
--I would kill for an unedited copy of the videotape featuring the writers' meeting.
--Didn't Executive Producer Jean Dadario Burke look SOOOO great in that leather jacket and all black wardrobe? How very chic! How very New York! What very appropriate wear for a show we all should be mourning! JDB certainly looks like she's trying to fit in with ABC's youth kick.
--Speaking of JDB, when asked if there's any sort of formula to producing soap opera, she responded: "You always want to have something happening on a Friday, because there's a long weekend in between. You want to promise something and deliver it on Monday. And, then, you want every show to be exciting." The show then immediately cut to clips of the plane crash, which was probably the last time there was a big Friday cliffhanger worth coming back for. Like so many in the soap biz, JDB says all the pretty words, but doesn't seem to live by them.
THAT SAID… I enjoyed AMC on Friday. For the first time in a long time, I was actually interested in the whole show. From David's mental highs and lows, to genuine human conversations between Tad and Dixie & Leo and Greenlee, to the fun of Ryan and Gillian's surprise wedding, Friday was a show that moved along. Even the presence of Anthony "The Labines are in charge for the first six months" Addabo as the new Dimitri didn't ruin it for me.
AMC had competition, though. B&B was also smoking on Friday, as well. While the Rick and Amber storyline continues to be ridiculous, the confrontation scene between Rick and Brooke was priceless. What an incredible, but totally believable hypocrite Brooke has turned out to be. Meanwhile, the (ugh) reformed but still likable Deacon and Amber took a trip to Las Vegas. And while I've never hit the jackpot for $25, 000 plus, I did hit a machine once that had to be refilled because it ran out of quarters. Ah, the joys of being an underage gambler in Atlantic City!
Of course, the centerpiece of the day was the Taylor Held Hostage storyline. While anyone else in Taylor's position would yank that flimsy prop B&B laughingly calls a chain until she was free, Taylor prefers to use her captivity as an excuse for mental exercise. Whether constantly preying on weak-minded Tim or having Steffi call Ridge (without realizing that receiving a brief call from your "dead" daughter would send most men over the edge), Taylor has no shortage of brain activity. But, this week, Taylor hit her most grand scheme yet: she simply had Steffi draw a picture describing the situation, signed Steffi's name, and stuck it on the inside of Morgan's bag.
Now, the chances of Ridge discovering the picture BEFORE Morgan were at least one in a hundred. Yet, that's exactly what happened. Why? Because Ridge is eagle-eyed? Because God was with Taylor? Because the writers were just plain tired of this scenario, and wanted out? Who cares! Ridge "Dumbest Man Alive" Forrester not only discovered the picture, he actually realized that since it was in Morgan's bag, she might have something to do with this! Guess that's why he started throttling her.
And so ends another column. I've bared my soul for three pages. What, that isn't enough? You want more? Okay, you twisted my arm. You can e-mail me at snarkieposter@yahoo.com if you want to discuss more. Or look for me on Napster. Got to get those songs downloaded, before they're gone, yo!