SOAP OPERA UNCENSORED
Volume 02, Issue 36 (No. 46)
BY NELSON BRANCO
Copyright 2012 Nelson Branco
INSIDE — Exclusive Interview with Daytime Television’s Most Talented Writer: Patrick Mulcahey on the Crossroads BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Is Facing, The Ridge Fiasco, His Artistic Process, and The Future of Soaps!— Did B&B’s Ronn Moss Buy His Twitter Followers? Plus: Brooke and Ridge Wed Before Ridge Leaves! Antonio Sabato’s Message To GH! Do-Or-Die Time Slot Change Today For GH! Soapers At TIFF: Catch-Up Interviews With ONE LIFE’s Brett Claywell and Y&R’s Tonya Lee Williams! Kassie DePaiva Returning to GH! Susan Lucci Starring in a Reality-TV Series? Y&R Hires Non-Soap Writer! Fans Fly Plane Over CBS Studios In Support of Christel Khalil! Which ONE LIFE Star Is Having A Nervous Breakdown? Last Week's Reviews, Unbelievable Blind Items!
UNCENSORED MASTHEAD:
FOUNDER/EDITOR: Nelson Branco
EDITOR AT LARGE: Denette Wilford
Follow Soap Opera Uncensored at: @nelliebranco or @SoapUncensored
NOTE FROM EDITOR/FOUNDER:
You asked — and it’s happening. For more information on subscribing to daytime’s first weekly e-zine SOAP OPERA UNCENSORED, email
[email protected] 1 Year: $24.99 (*normally $129.48)
*Based on $2.49 issue price
COMING SOON: VENICE — UNCENSORED
To pre-order your upcoming book VENICE THE SERIES: UNCENSORED for a special price email:
[email protected]. The Sapphic tome, which will be out this fall, chronicles the web soap’s meteoric rise, punctuates and analyzes its relevance in serial storytelling and its groundbreaking achievements in the online and soap opera medium. With every single Crystal Chappell interview I’ve ever conducted in one e-book — and those of her VENICE co-stars/directors — this is one must-buy keepsake in addition to episode synopses and reviews, top ten lists, fearless predictions, translated quotes, humour, and exclusive season four previews. Plus: Tributes to GUIDING LIGHT’s Otalia and new interviews! Order your copy now!
Say What?
UNCENSORED QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
"I think she needs to eat more because she’s so thin."
—Katie Couric on Kate Middleton’s weight
Translation: Just like my ratings, no doubt.
"We're not going back at all. We don't want to jerk the audience out of a comfort zone that they have with their Y&R. That being said, we have fabulous stories to tell."
— New Y&R executive producer Jill Farren Phelps in SOAPS IN DEPTH
Translation: None of them will be about Victor Newman.
"There's a whole lot to wrap up quickly. My timing isn't the greatest, but I can't control that. I gotta live my life."
— Steve Burton on his GH exit story
Translation: Sorry Liason fans, but my ego is more important!
“Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”
— Clint Eastwood defends his RNC speech
Translation: That, and the fact that daytime drama is dead.
“It’s been a year of mourning. It really has been a mourning period.”
—Susan Lucci in an interview with A.J. Hammer on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT
Translation: Why hasn’t someone beat the shit out of Brian Frons yet?
“Okay, Im gonna say it. Watch the dang ABC line up THE CHEW, GENERAL HOSPITAL, and KATIE. It's to GH's advantage if this trio works.”
—GH’s Nancy Lee Grahn loses it on Twitter
Translation: I’ve finally jumped the shark.
“And they’ve been able to make this show into an ensemble. Which it’s never been. If I had the old ego, I might be upset. But I love it. It just adds spice to life. To me, if the show’s better, that’s what matters.”
—Maurice Benard in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY on the new GH
Translation: Steve Burton’s ego couldn’t handle it.
“Ron [Carlivati, GH head writer] is, was and always has been a very big GH fan and loves the show.”
—GH executive producer Frank Valentini in a DIGEST interview
Translation: Back off, GH fans! And yes, we doth protest too much.
“The reason I’m excited is because it really seems like the network is 150 percent behind us.”
—Valentini in the same interview
Translation: Just like ABC was with ONE LIFE.
“I consider myself extremely fortunate and I work with a wonderful cast.”
—Speaking to DIGEST, Eric Braeden enthused about Y&R’s 10K episode celebration at the Paley Center
Translation: With the exception of that bitch Sharon Case.
“I was watching last week and thought, ‘This is a damn good show.’”
—More Braeden delusions
Translation: During my scenes.
Cover Story
SAINT PATRICK’S DAY: A SOAP OPERA NAMED DESIRE
B&B’s Master Poet Patrick Mulcahey checks in
“Kill all my demons, and my angels might die too.”
—Tennessee Williams
He’s regarded as one of the — if not the best — writers in daytime-TV history. After a brief stint on TEXAS, Mulcahey made a name for himself in arguably his most memorable and entertaining stint on cult soap, SANTA BARBARA.
After leaving the NBC serial, Mulcahey went on to work alongside one of the masters of the genre, the late, great Douglas Marland on GUIDING LIGHT making him one of the most coveted writers in the business. He next jumped over to GL’s timeslot competitor, GH, for a relatively lackluster gig but it was Mulcahey’s next career move that surprised many: the Yale University grad found a permanent home penning scripts for B&B, daytime’s campiest soap. With Patrick’s help, an Emmy-less Brad Bell finally went on to win two consecutive Writing Emmys and three back-to-back Best Drama Series Emmys.
The five-time Daytime Emmy Award winner is also one of the business’s nicest and coolest guys. His peer, Michele Val Jean, who writes with Mulcahey on B&B, attempted to describe his unique talent and style that is as poetic as it is recognizable to UNCENSORED:
“Patrick is the Tennessee Williams of daytime,” she pronounces. “He set a standard with the Capwell Dinner Party from Hell on SANTA BARBARA many years ago that I have tried (and sadly, failed — even on my best days) to live up to. He is my writing idol — but better yet — he is my friend, and I love him dearly. Colour me beyond thrilled to be working with him again.”
With the 25-year-old sudser at a variety of crossroads with two of its original core cast members leaving (Susan Flannery and Ronn Moss), the insufferable Hope/Liam/Steffy triangle eating up the show, UNCENSORED thought it was a perfect time to catch up with the scribe.
Every once in a while a Patrick Mulcahey script will have everyone talking. Your style is so distinctive and recognizable. I never have to check the show’s writing credits to see if you wrote a certain show. Yesterday’s show was another home run when Liam and Bill discussed Master Spencer’s cray-cray love life.
Yeah, yesterday’s air show was good. But you know what? Scott Clifton and Don Diamont knocked it out of the park.
Are you inspired by the father-son dynamic Scott and Don boast? Earlier this year, you wrote one of the best scripts on any daytime drama when Liam told Bill to fuck off after learning of his dad’s machinations.
If you remember back to SANTA BARBARA with Mason and C.C., you know that’s nothing new with me. Obviously, the father-and-son dynamic is really interesting to me. Yes, I suppose I have my own psychological reasons for it but what our network people often forget — not [B&B Chief] Brad Bell — is that soap
operas are not just romances; they are also a fantasy of family and community stories. That’s what really gives soaps guts. In fact, I don’t think romances really work unless they are family stories at the same time. So, yes, that dynamic really gets to me but I think Scott Clifton is an incredible young actor with such amazing intelligence, sensitivity, literacy and instincts. He and Don are just… and Don is such a forceful performer as well. They have great chemistry. I always look forward to writing for them.
I agree. ONE LIFE/GH head writer Ron Carlivati is also obsessed with the father-son dynamic but it always comes off campy and heavy-handed but, with you, it’s organic and poetic. While I think daytime could use more traditional romance — and way more sex — I believe daytime is a love story of the human condition in all its forms. I see hints of that on B&B. Speaking about one of the most intense love stories on daytime, Ridge and Stephanie, are you worried that the Oedipal relationship of B&B — which gave birth to the catalytic romance between Ridge and Brooke —will be no more? And