BEFORE THEY WERE SOAP STARS
By Alina Adams
Judith Chapman, who turns 65 years old today and is currently playing Gloria on Y&R, has a phenomenally impressive soap resume.
She started off on ATWT as Natalie, Tom Hughes' first legal client - and eventually his first wife. Then she was Charlotte on Ryan's Hope, a part of some overly complicated Irish vendetta against Frank that really had to do with his mother (I hated the character so much, that when she got stabbed and spent, I swear, it was literally a week, writhing on the floor, trying to get to a phone, I giggled through the whole thing).
She was Ginny on General Hospital, where she somehow got to enchant both Mark Goddard as Derek (those who remember my earlier confessed love of Lost in Space, will understand my confusion) and Chris Robinson as Rick Webber. At the time, I thought it was the worst story ever written for Rick. Little did I know of what havoc would be wreaked when he returned to the show years later, only to be killed off by Laura and his body dragged around town, nearly Weekend at Bernie's style, by his grandsons, Lucky and Nikolas.
Next, she played Anjelica on Days of Our Lives. In this case, I had loved Jane Elliot's take on the role, and never warmed up to her subsequent portrayers. The same thing happened with Y&R's Gloria.
But, the thing that utterly stunned me was when I recently found out that Judith Chapman had also appeared on the classic Galactica 1980 episode, The Return of Starbuck (as Dr. Z's mother), a show I adored as a child. (Don't tell me it was cheesy. I know it was cheesy. My love was able to overlook that. Or maybe, at 10, I just had no clue). Thankfully, to keep things consistent, I hated that character, too.
Check out the video clip below!
Monday, November 15, 2010
DAYTIME DISH-ER
As the World Turns writer Susan Dansby talks Carjack, Nuke, Lure, the last days of ATWT, the golden age of GL, the future of soaps and, most importantly how you can be a part of them, in her interview at Dayplayer Dish.
Listen to the complete show, here!
ANOTHER WORLD TODAY EPISODE #80-1GQ told Jen, "Get this: The Bauers filed an injunction forbidding me from suing for custody until the Assisted Suicide case is settled. They argue that, until I know whether or not I'm going to jail, I can't claim to be capable of providing Hudson with a stable home. So not only did Allie deprive me of my son in the first place, now she's the indirect reason I can't immediately fight for him, too."
"But, Gregory's case might not come on the docket for weeks, maybe even months."
"Sucks to be me," GQ agreed. "Let's not even get into the fact that every day Hudson spends with the Bauers is another day they can point to and claim he's too settled in with them to be moved."
"GQ..." Jen began tentatively; no longer because she was afraid of giving unsolicited advice, but because she really wasn't sure how she felt about the advice she was about to offer. "I — I assume, when this all first went down, that Chase Hamilton offered you the same deal he offered the rest of us."
It took GQ a moment to comprehend what she was saying. Once he did, though, he appeared even more scared of the words and their potential than Jen had been. "No... Jen... I — I couldn't..."
***
Read the latest episode and vote at: http://www.anotherworldtoday.com/aw_today.html
Friday, November 12, 2010
GUIDING LIGHT SYNOPSIS NOVEMBER 8-12, 2010Via: http://twitter.com/melindasuelewis
Mindy met with GQ, who stressed to her that he was sorry to be hurting her, but he deserved to raise his child. And Hudson deserved to be raised as what he was - a Black man.
Mindy put her foot in her mouth when she pointed out that Hudson doesn't look Black, so wouldn't it be better for him to live a life with her and Rick that even GQ admitted would be simpler and less complicated?
GQ didn't see it that way. Mel filed papers declaring the adoption null and void and demanding that Mindy and Rick turn Hudson over to his biological father immediately.
Beth countered with the reminder that GQ was currently facing charges in Bay City in regards to Gregory's Assisted Suicide (http://www.anotherworldtoday.com/2010/2010_67p1.html). Until that criminal issue was settled, GQ couldn't claim to be capable of providing Hudson with a stable home.
Mindy went crying to Billy about how she'd screwed up everything. Billy wondered, if GQ were sent to jail, that would make things easier for Billy's Princess, wouldn't it....
Don't like reading backwards? Go to: http://www.soapopera451.com/msl/ to read Mindy's latest Tweets in chronological order.
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MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: ANOTHER WORLD COUPLES PART #1
By Nicole Walker
Ryan and Frankie: Blasphemous, I’m sure, to the Cass/Frankie and Ryan/Vicky factions, but Ryan and Frankie were such tight BFFs, such fun partners with real chemistry, that I enjoyed the idea of them becoming more than friends and making the transition to lovers much more than each staying with their respective partners. The potential was always there and both Cass and Vicky knew it- and fretted about it- but Ryan and Frankie were true-blue to their significant others (you wouldn’t expect anything else with them being the stand-up heroes that they were) and Fryan never came to be. On one hand, I applaud TPTB for resisting the urge to take every male/female interaction down the torrid lovers path which seems to happen sooner or later to every male/female couple on every soap, but on the other…
By Nicole Walker
Ryan and Frankie: Blasphemous, I’m sure, to the Cass/Frankie and Ryan/Vicky factions, but Ryan and Frankie were such tight BFFs, such fun partners with real chemistry, that I enjoyed the idea of them becoming more than friends and making the transition to lovers much more than each staying with their respective partners. The potential was always there and both Cass and Vicky knew it- and fretted about it- but Ryan and Frankie were true-blue to their significant others (you wouldn’t expect anything else with them being the stand-up heroes that they were) and Fryan never came to be. On one hand, I applaud TPTB for resisting the urge to take every male/female interaction down the torrid lovers path which seems to happen sooner or later to every male/female couple on every soap, but on the other…
All things said, while Cass and Felicia were the standard for a (mostly) platonic friendship between a men and a woman, Ryan and Frankie were in a class all their own. You just knew that when Frankie met her untimely (and brutal) death that Ryan was the first one waiting on the other side to welcome her and do his best to comfort her, support her and see her through, just like always...
Below, Vicky (Anne Heche) is jealous of Ryan and Frankie's closeness.
Donna and Grant: The snark! The wit! The sparks! This once and future dark power couple of Bay City could have been a force to be reckoned with by any who dared cross their paths. Between Grant’s ruthlessness and Donna’s high scheming and plotting IQ, there would be nothing these two couldn’t accomplish and no one they couldn’t crush. Or at least torture very, very painfully.
It would all start so innocently; Donna, in an effort to wedge Vicky and Grant apart, would take one for the team and set out to seduce Grant and draw his attention away from her daughter, only in the process she becomes charmed by the Senator, beguiled by his passion and ambition, and finds herself taking a liking to him even as she thoroughly believes he would be the biggest mistake Vicky could ever make. Grant would resist Donna’s attempts initially, still feeling a pull to the youthful Vicky, but he too would fall under the spell of the more confident, mature, fearless Donna, a woman who was intellectually stimulating, capable, experienced, and connected. A true partner in every way, the Lady to his MacBeth, in what would have most assuredly a torrid, tragic, mesmerizing car-crash of an affair.
Imagine! Dueling Power Couples Grant and Donna vs. Carl and Rachel! The battles these two dynamic duos could’ve had to determine who would reign supreme in Bay City!
Funnily enough we kind of DID get Donna and Grant together as a couple, only they were Greenlee Smythe’s parents (well, in Roger's case, presumed parent) on All My Children...
***
Nicole Walker is the Associate Producer of Another World Today.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
ANOTHER WORLD TODAY EPISODE #79-2: PRICE TO BE PAID"I love Cass," Felicia asserted. "And I love Frankie. I think they have been amazing parents to Lori Ann, especially under the horrible circumstances. But, on the other hand, the very qualities that made Frankie capable of taking in her cousin's child and raising Lori Ann as her own, are also the ones that are now making me reconsider her fitness for the job. Frankie is a loving, good-hearted, open, forgiving person. Which is wonderful. Up to a point."
"And what might that be, may I ask?"
"The one where her forgiving nature extends to sympathy for the Devil. Or, in this case, Donna Love."
Carl's countenance shook with rage. "She what?"
"Apparently, Donna came up to her at Gregory's funeral. It was a horrible occasion; you know how close Frankie is to both Sharlene and John, and she adored Gregory. She was clearly vulnerable, obviously not thinking straight at all. Donna pleaded her case. She had the audacity to compare her own keeping Jenna from you to Frankie's protecting Charlie from Cecile, and the lengths that Cass went to — "
"That bitch!" Carl exploded.
"You know how Frankie is. She prides herself on seeing the good in anyone. I admire her for it. But, if it leads to her eventually coming around and allowing Donna any sort of standing in Lori Ann's life — "
"Unacceptable," Carl sputtered. "Never. It would be a perversion."
"Exactly," Felicia agreed. "Which is why, for a variety of reasons, I believe it would be best for everyone if Lori Ann were returned to her father...."
***
Lila inadvertently gives Grant an idea for protecting Marley, Alice refuses to let Spencer and Kevin plot out her future, Jamie and Morgan disagree over Lorna's course of treatment, while Felicia and Carl continue with their plot against Donna.
Read the latest at: http://www.anotherworldtoday.com/2010/2010_79p2.html
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010
DOPPELGANGER DWARFS
By Alina Adams
When we talk about diversity on daytime, it's easy to forget that even among the minimum representation of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and gay characters, one group that's rarely ever seen is the differently-abled.
Sure, there are the periodic attacks of trauma-induced and/or hysterical blindness/deafness/muteness/paralysis. But, hardly anyone stays that way for long. (Unless they are played by a genuinely disabled actor, such as Tom Sullivan on Search for Tomorrow or Mitch Longley on Another World). Guiding Light hired a hearing-impaired actress, Amy Englund, to play Abby, but both the character and performer received a chochlear implant. (For more on that story and deafness on daytime in general, click here.) Even Lily's autism on All My Children seemed to come and go as the storyline called for it. (She's nonverbal! She's hyperverbal! She panics at the color red! No, today, she's fine...)
Brent Collins was an actor who suffered from dwarfism and, ironically, also Marfan's Syndrome, the same disease that killed Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar and vollyball star Flo Hyman.
He made his 1982 debut on As The World Turns in a role that was basically a (rather tasteless, IMHO) short joke, portraying Mr. Big (get it? It's funny, because he's a dwarf!), a mob kingpin who tortured Tom and Margo in his secluded European castle and then through Africa (in my ATWT tie-in novel, The Man From Oakdale, I pay tribute to the storyline and the start of the Hughes' romance; I was 12 when it aired. I thought it was awesome.)
As you can see for yourself in the classic clip below, the part consisted mostly of evil cackling:
But, just like Margo Hughes (not the one in the clip above; but we're soap viewers we know how to roll with these kinds of punches) turned out to have a doppelganger in Springfield (video evidence, here), so did Mr. Big have a (much nicer; for a change) twin in Bay City.
In 1984, Brent Collins assumed the role of Wallingford on AW, Felicia Gallant's confidant, business partner and occasional partner in crime.
And while the role was quite an improvement over Mr. Big (for one thing, there was a lot less cackling... and torture), the fact is, for the duration of his run, Wallingford was primarily used for comic relief, as a supportive shoulder and a "cuteness" factor, that proved soaps still have a long way to go when it comes to those who are different... in any way.
(This piece was in no way intended to be a comprehensive overview of disability portrayals on daytime. If you have a story that you think was handled particularly well over the years... or particularly badly, please let us know in the Comments!)
By Alina Adams
When we talk about diversity on daytime, it's easy to forget that even among the minimum representation of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and gay characters, one group that's rarely ever seen is the differently-abled.
Sure, there are the periodic attacks of trauma-induced and/or hysterical blindness/deafness/muteness/paralysis. But, hardly anyone stays that way for long. (Unless they are played by a genuinely disabled actor, such as Tom Sullivan on Search for Tomorrow or Mitch Longley on Another World). Guiding Light hired a hearing-impaired actress, Amy Englund, to play Abby, but both the character and performer received a chochlear implant. (For more on that story and deafness on daytime in general, click here.) Even Lily's autism on All My Children seemed to come and go as the storyline called for it. (She's nonverbal! She's hyperverbal! She panics at the color red! No, today, she's fine...)
Brent Collins was an actor who suffered from dwarfism and, ironically, also Marfan's Syndrome, the same disease that killed Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar and vollyball star Flo Hyman.
He made his 1982 debut on As The World Turns in a role that was basically a (rather tasteless, IMHO) short joke, portraying Mr. Big (get it? It's funny, because he's a dwarf!), a mob kingpin who tortured Tom and Margo in his secluded European castle and then through Africa (in my ATWT tie-in novel, The Man From Oakdale, I pay tribute to the storyline and the start of the Hughes' romance; I was 12 when it aired. I thought it was awesome.)
As you can see for yourself in the classic clip below, the part consisted mostly of evil cackling:
But, just like Margo Hughes (not the one in the clip above; but we're soap viewers we know how to roll with these kinds of punches) turned out to have a doppelganger in Springfield (video evidence, here), so did Mr. Big have a (much nicer; for a change) twin in Bay City.
In 1984, Brent Collins assumed the role of Wallingford on AW, Felicia Gallant's confidant, business partner and occasional partner in crime.
And while the role was quite an improvement over Mr. Big (for one thing, there was a lot less cackling... and torture), the fact is, for the duration of his run, Wallingford was primarily used for comic relief, as a supportive shoulder and a "cuteness" factor, that proved soaps still have a long way to go when it comes to those who are different... in any way.
(This piece was in no way intended to be a comprehensive overview of disability portrayals on daytime. If you have a story that you think was handled particularly well over the years... or particularly badly, please let us know in the Comments!)
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