Eye on Soaps

By Sage Bourland

Here y’go!   [This post was edited after it was posted to include a GH note]

AMC

Amanda Baker (Babe) laments that as soon as she got settled back in Los Angeles after Babe was killed off, she got a call from All My Children’s Executive Producer asking if she was up for a ghostly return. Figures, I guess. Nope, I hear they do not pay airfare.

We’ve seen the new DA, Henry North, (played by Kieran Campion) who is out for blood in prosecuting Kendall, but now we meet his wife, Madison, played by Stephanie Gatsched (ex-Tammy on GL) who will be portrayed as having a gambling problem.

Randi has a secret. It has to do with DA North. Jesse finds out what it is. He keeps it from Angie. Trouble.

In the June 15th issue of ABC Soaps In Depth, Alicia Minishew defends Kendall’s recent behavior saying, “Tahts’ the way that Kendall is dealing with things right now. It’s screwy, but she’s screwy right now. She hasn’t been right since she woke up [from her coma]. She’s different. She’s shifted. She’s colder…and she’s sort of a bitch!” Honestly, for all of the over-lauded promise of Kendall waking up a different person, she doesn’t seem all that much changed to me.

OLTL

Dorian isn’t the only one heartsick over the departure of A. Martinez’s character, Ray Montez. Turns out Robin Strasser (Dorian) is very sad about it as well. Unfortunately, OLTL says there are no plans for a return of the character at a later date.

In the scene where Todd is beating the crap out of Scott Clifton for his character messing with Starr, the actor had no idea that Trevor St. John would grab his nose. That was all ad-libbed.

When fans heard that Guiding Light was being canceled, the held breath heard ’round the world began as to whether or not Gina Tognoni(ex-Kelly, OLTL and Dinah on GL) would be offered a chance to return to Llanview once GL winds down. Rumors are gaining steam that such might actually be the case in late Fall.

Kristen Alderson (Starr) admits to being disappointed that she did not receive a Daytime Emmy Award nomination this year. Jaws dropped all across the country when her name was conspicuously missing from the Outstanding Younger Actress category. She says, “I really did believe this was my year. Of any year in my entire life, this was the year I was going to win an Emmy, because I hands-down believed that I deserved it. I have been on the show for 11 years. I never expected to be nominated, and I never felt that my work was up to par. And now I did work that I don’t think I could top in my entire life and I wasn’t nominated for it.” (Soap Opera Weekly – June 9, 2009). Word, honey. Word.

[Post-posing edit]

GH

I don’t normally comment on GH here, but this time, I feel there is something that needs to be said.  I know I may suffer some slings and arrows for this, but so be it.  Being popular or having people agree with me is just not an intense need I possess any more.

Once you’re cured of that Need to Please Disease, you’re pretty much immune.

I happened to be scanning around on the message boards looking for information on the upcoming GH Fan Club Weekend.  I was stunned at what I saw and honestly, more than a little ashamed for the people involved.

Evidently, several of the GH stars are taking full advantage of the fact that the GH Fan Club is gathering together probably the largest number of GH fans to assemble each year to host their own events, as they do events, as they do every year at this time..  While this is understandable that the actors would do this and a real boon to their fans, there are a few stars who are only hosting their own event and choosing not to attend the GH Fan Club Weekend Kick Off Party and the GH Fan Club Weekend Main Luncheon.

I don’t really care if I am out of line in saying this, but doesn’t that seem like a fairly shitty thing to do?  They take full advantage of the fact that the GH Fan Club has brought all of these fans to one location to pimp their own causes and (in some cases) raise money for themselves, but refuse to support the club in return??  Does anyone else see a problem with that or is it just me?

So far, the names I have heard mentioned who are doing this are Rick Hearst, Nancy Lee Grahn, Tyler Christopher and Sarah Brown.  To my knowledge, only Tyler Christopher has been confirmed publically by his event organizers as shunning the Fan Club events and  it is even widely publicized by his “people” that Tyler’s event is the ONLY place where you can see him.  The others are rumored to not be attending as nearly as I can tell.  [Note from Katrina:  It's true that Rick Hearst will not be at the Main Luncheon.  He is now on Bold & Beautiful and CBS considers it to be a conflict of interest for him to appear at a GH function.]

You know, there are a lot of GH Fans who are spending more than they can afford already on airfare and hotel costs just to come to this weekend at all.  Some of them are unable to afford to attend several events and will choose to go to the ones where the most number of actors will be seen.  That does not mean that they are any less of a fan because they do not have the financial means to go to everyone’s event.

When you go to these events, you can almost always count on Tony Geary not attending.  In July, when the Fan Club Weekend takes place, he is on vacation in Amsterdam every year.  Ingo Rademacher will never attend.  Jackie Zeman is often off on humanitarian trips during the summer since she is rarely scheduled to tape GH any more.  Yet, although these actors do not attend the events, you don’t see them scheduling their own private events around the weekend to make sure they steal their slice of the pie for their own interests.

It breaks my heart and honestly, offends me on the behalf of these dedicated (and since Guza took over, abused) GH lovers who stretch their budgets to attend the weekend, that some of the actors think so little of the fans who support them that they will only cater to the ones who can afford to go to *their* event and give *their* causes money.   Is it so difficult to show appreciation to ALL of the GH fans who cared enough to come to the weekend and be present at the official GH Fan Club events?  It’s one day and one night out of the whole year that they have the opportunity to give back to the fans who appreciate their work without attaching a paycheck to the appearance.  This says to me that it’s all about the money for this handful of greedy actors and that any affection the fans have for them is only important if they can squeeze the dollars out of them.

Shame on all of them.

I can hear the inevitible pitty patter of stones on my windows as the flashback begins with people taking issue with how the events are run at the Fan Club Weekend and how this actor doesn’t like this person or how their personal little needs were not met in some way or there were green M&Ms in the bowl in the Green Room when they specifically asked for only the red ones.  The excuses don’t fly with me.  This particular weekend is about the fans and their dedication to the show.  All of that should rise above the petty slights, real and imagined, and the stars should take one moment of their time to honor the attention that is lavished on them via television viewing and campaigning and letter writing for just that day and night out of the year.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

 

You can read more of the GH portion of this column at www.sagesplace.com and can purchase a membership for $5 per month (or less!) to read more of Sage’s writing (including an expanded version of this column).

June 10th, 2009 | Tags: all my children, Gossip, one life to live, Sage, sage bourland, The Gossip, The News Flashes | Category: All My Children, One Life to Live | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL