SOAP OPERA: UNCENSORED
Volume 1, Issue 1
BY NELSON BRANCO
Copyright 2011 Nelson Branco
INSIDE: Crystal Chappell Exclusive – Life After DAYS! Also: Why Venice is recasting Gina Tognoni and Wes Ramsey! Plus: Molly Burnett and Christian LeBlanc join Gina and Company! Exclusive: Major Daytime Emmy Award changes! Melody Thomas Scott VS. Sony: What really happened! Is James Scott leaving DAYS? Alleged Stalker Shocker Involving — Wait For It — John Driscoll! Andrea Evans’s Cancer Victory! Inside Dirty Soap! Is Eden Riegel AMC-bound? The truth behind Megan Ward’s GH firing! Drama at THE CHEW! Y&R’s Christel Khalil divorce drama! More turmoil at THE TALK? Four Decades Later: DAYS Chief Ken Corday finally gets a clue! Last week’s Soap Reviews; Next Week’s Preview Cheat Sheet! And every week: Blind Items!
LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER/EDITOR
Uncensored, Soap-style!
Follow Soap Opera Uncensored at: @nelliebranco or @SoapUncensored
UNCENSORED QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
“Watching @TheChew right now on ABC. Looking good...and yummy. I'm glad the soaps are over.”
—(Now former) Live With Regis and Kelly publicist Brittany Forgione on Twitter
Translation: OMFG: Brian Frons hacked my Twitter account!
“Well you know, people come back from the dead in soaps all the time, I don't see why soaps can't come back from the dead!”
--Emmy winner Sarah Brown to Welovesoaps.net
Translation: Bring back GH’s Claudia, damn it! Or fire Laura Wright!
“With a few exceptions, there have been no successors matching the stature of great soap opera writers.”
—DAYS executive producer Ken Corday in his updated memoir “The Days of our Lives: The Untold Story Of One Family’s Dream And The True History of Days of Our Lives” (whew; take a breath here!) via Soap Opera Digest
Translation: And you can blame me for recycling talent and not investing in a writers’ development program!
“The fans are pissed.”
—Alicia Minshew on her fans, who are angry she may not sign a contract but opt for recurring in Prospect Park’s online version of AMC in Soap Opera Digest
Translation: I want to star in Ringer, damn it!
INSIDE SUDS: Golden Showers — NATAS Finally Commits To Best in Show!
Did hell freeze over? Well soapers, get your skates out because you’ll more than likely ice-skating it to the Emmys next year. According to several National Academy of Television Arts and Science sources, it looks like next year’s Daytime Emmy Awards are getting a much-needed golden makeover. Does that mean the Daytime Emmys will — gasp! — actually honor the best in daytime? Egads — it sure looks that way. Thanks to actors like Y&R’s Michael Muhney, who has been spearheading the revolution (Former Soap Opera Weekly editor Mimi Torchin and her New Emmy Committee crew would be proud) and it looks like a lot of progress has already been made in the maligned system. According to insiders, below are the tentative, unapproved changes:
—A Guest-Star Category: This potentially resurrected male and female category is intended for recurring stars and/or guest-stars. Sean Young and Betty White just shared an orgasm.
—Ciao Emmy bait: That sound you hear may be B&B chief Brad Bell and Y&R’s Christian Le Blanc screaming, “Noooo,” and cradling their myriad Emmy statues while eating a pint of ice cream. And here’s why: It looks like reels will consist of a 15-minute offering from any show during the calendar year for final Emmy judgment; approximately 2 minutes in the pre-nom round (which will be watched online; you can not vote unless you have seen the reel; nor will you learn the nominees name until you view a sample of their work). G-E-N-I-U-S!
—Pre-Noms: Will consist of the top ten vote getters per category. There will be no limit as to how many nominees can enter in one category. Ie. GH can enter five leading actors if it chooses to. The male divas over at GH and Y&R are jumping for joy!
—Younger Actors: Will continue to be for actors 25 and under.
—Green Emmys: There will be no paper ballot; all voting and viewing is done online.
—Prime Peers: Prime-time TV actors may be allowed to vote (see below because this is highly unlikely, but it definitely adds a What-Will-Happen factor? to the ceremony).
However, as Soap Opera: Uncensored went to press a NATAS insider gave us the latest 411 on the changes, saying: “There was an Awards Committee meeting earlier in the week, and there is one particular item change we all wanted, including our Awards Chair, that the rest of the committee did not pass. We are hoping there’s some recourse before the Trustees finalize it all for the coming year. At least I can report that the pre-nom process update has been approved.”
Stay tuned for more Emmy dish! Let’s pray this will end decades of unfair, head-scratching, defeatist practices when it comes to honoring our hard-working best.
COVER STORY: A New Day for Crystal Chappell
What do Days of our Lives and Crystal Chappell have in common? For starters, they’re both beginning new chapters in their lives after parting ways this past summer. In one of the most shocking firings ever, DAYS let the insanely popular Emmy winner go after the NBC serial got a clue and decided to invest in its future by taking advantage of the legions of AMC orphans. Unfortunately, executive producer Ken Corday hired two new head writers who didn’t think one of the soap’s most popular heroines ever was a part of their vision. Who’s to blame? Well, that’s up for debate, Tea Party fans! Whatever happened — Chappell’s Carly was sadly one of the causalities. Soap Opera: Uncensored caught up with the beautiful and talented soap legend about what to expect on the upcoming third season of Venice and her historic (and second) Emmy win!
“We’ve finished filming 95 percent of season three Venice,” says Chappell. “I have three shoot days in October (7, 8, and 9th) because of actor and set availability. It’s exciting. My crew is already editing. It’s an ambitious season. We shot 146 pages in five and a half day last year… but I kept things to set this season with a smaller cast and scenes shorter. This year, we have bigger, longer scenes. Season three is 70 pages more than last season.”
For the first time since creating, writing, producing and starring in Venice, Chappell filmed the new season without having a day job to work around. “I can honestly say that this season — given the amount of material in Venice, along with our production company developing new shows, which includes web design and website building — that I’m actually busier,” she exclaims. “In fact, it was a blessing that I was as available because I couldn’t get everything done. We were already a couple of months behind due to [co-creator] Kim Turrisi and my decision to go our separate ways with the company [Open Book Productions]. So we had to kick our butts to get season three out by the end of the year. Yes, in a weird way, it wall worked out.”
Creatively, Chappell is swimming in her groove now — especially since she has a writing team behind her. “I wrote the story, and I literally handed it over to good writers. I’ve known Jill Lorie Hurst for a very long time, and she’s very old-school soap opera. I have a writer from Prime Suspect working for me, too. I handed everything to them, but I made sure all the relationship dynamics were all in tact. I did write a few scenes though. They made me look so much better than I actually am. If I can sit down and read the whole thing, and I can laugh and cry, then I know it’s exciting. The actors felt the same way, too. It all starts with the writing. We also have the same crew [from past seasons] — and that makes all the difference. We always have so much fun. Each time we wrap, the crew offers to come back next season so that’s a good thing.”
Now that Chappell’s Venice machine is operating at full capacity now, Chappell can breathe easier. ??
? It was nice not to have to be on set all the time and just enjoy the acting part of my job and the producing element,” she relays.
Winning the Daytime Emmy Award for producing Venice in the Outstanding Special Class Short Format category was a career high for Chappell. “I was so tired when we got to our category [at the ceremony],” chuckles Chappell. “We were all hungry. I was looking for a snack at the bottom of my shirt. You never know… especially when you’re competing against [corporate giant] Disney. But it was fantastic and exciting! The Emmy certainly brought more eyeballs to our show — and that’s a good and bad thing. The good thing is that the Emmy lends a little bit more credibility to Venice and the web genre in general. The bad thing is that people still don’t understand that a web serial is very different from a network production, so in some instances, you get the wrong eyeballs sizing up your production. We — the web genre — need another two or three years to grow… that’s my opinion and expectation. Hey, you never know what will happen thanks to Prospect Park [and its acquisition of One Life and AMC].”
Chappell’s second Emmy is already known as one of the loosest women in daytime (move over, Chloe Lane!). The statue has found itself in enveloped by the likes of Eric Martsolf . “My Emmy is like a beacon of light,” concurs Chappell. Yep, it’s the Emmy that will travel. “I had the Emmy on the Venice set every single day because it really belongs to all of us. Some people have never seen an Emmy before so it was a fun addition to our family. We’re all proud of it.”
While a big award win sometimes equals career death, Chappell’s Emmy has actually brought new subscriptions to Venice! “We have more unique visitors visiting our site and we’re getting new subscriptions,” she reports. “It’s very good.”
Despite winning an Emmy for Venice, Chappell still has to deal with the cruel realities of show business. But hey, what’s a soap without cast changes? My boyfriend Eric Martsolf has joined the Sapphic web serial as a recast. The DAYS hunk will be replacing Wes Ramsey, who is currently in New York City shooting The Playboy Club. “Eric’s wonderful in this,” compliments Chappell. “Eric’s always been supportive of the show. I had to shoot this character with or without Wes, so I sent the script to Eric, and luckily he agreed to do it. It was so much fun to see actors I love and respect in different parts. And you can talk to Eric about this — but this was a part he was born to play!” Also, don’t expect Gina Tognoni back as Sami. “She can’t do it,” sighs Chappell. “So I have to recast the role. I have someone in mind, but I can’t say who.”
It won’t be Chappell’s favorite soap daughter, Molly Burnett, because she has already joined the cast. Deets, please! “Molly is on Venice,” confirms Chappell. “She only shot a day so far. She’s opposite Christian LeBlanc. In season three, I’m introducing their characters, which will lead into a big story in season four. Peter Reckell will be involved. Listen, I’m selfish in some ways because I just like to have people around me whom I love and work well with. I think these relationships lends itself to great work.”
Ideally where does Chappell want to see Venice headed. “I have a big sponsorship meeting in November… so we’ll see. Ideally I know the exact number of dollars I need to not only make this work, but also pay everyone. I’d like to have that big chunk of change. All I need is $200, 000 to make sure everyone is covered. I want to continue to create online programming. If I can cover my costs and get people paid, I’ll keep doing it.”
Does the pressure ever get to Chappell? Surely, it can’t be easy leading the way from TV to the web like soap creator Irna Phillips did with radio and the tube. Chappell sighs, “At the end of the day, all you can hope for is a good product and experience. And you want that for everyone – not just for yourself. I try not to worry too much about the bigger picture. As long as we’re growing — which we are — that’s all the encouragement I need. I’m a workhorse anyway. I keep very busy. I don’t sweat the pressure too much. Heading into pre-production is stressful because there is so much to pay attention to and do. It’s more time consuming than anything. I can tell you that my children were very happy when the shoot was done! It is what it is. And for some odd reason, I enjoy it.”
As for Venice: Season Three spoilers: “It’s packed! Jill told me, ‘You have material here for two seasons!’ We see Ani and Gina’s past relationship in love. We also see their difficulties. That’s where the brother comes into play. The Colonel meets new friends. He meets a woman who is gay and who drops her partner… and has a 9-year-old boy with issues at school because of his mother’s sexual orientation. The Colonel is forced into this situation, which I think turns out really nice. I really appreciate this story. Owen and Sami are still in love… but Van is still trying undermine everything that is Owen. Let me put it this way: it all ends in a big bang.”
Hopefully! What could be better than Galen Gering and Eric Martsolf feuding? Oh right, Eric Martsolf feuding with Mama Bjorlin. Bam!
For part two of my chat with Chappell tune in this Friday… and find out how she feels about DAYS’s reboot.
SOAPILEAKS: This week’s hottest news and gossip!
All My Children, TheOnlineNetwork.com — More Prospects for Prospect!
—Good news: There appears to be a home for canceled AMC and One Life! The Online Network is expected to launch in January 2012 “with the goal of eventually providing viewers with a full programming selection of first-run, long form content on an anytime, anywhere basis,” boasts the press release. The URL is TheOnlineNetwork.com/TOLN.com.
“We are creating TOLN to conveniently deliver fans of quality television long-form programming anytime and anywhere,” said Prospect Park founders Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz in a statement. “With broadband availability in 70% of US households and the proliferation of Internet enabled televisions, DVRs and wireless devices, ultimately we believe that online distribution provides the best platform to access 30 and 60 minute entertainment content. The viewer response to the shows we have licensed has been tremendous, and we have much more in development to appeal to a broad audience base.”
—Emmy winner Julia Barr was injured in a car accident in mid-September, reports Soap Opera Digest. The actress is recovering nicely. Whew.
—The numbers are in for AMC’s finale! Or are they? In some American markets, AMC’s finale aired Monday, September 26 so these numbers are probably not accurate (like The Nielsen Ratings ever are!). AMC’s last airing was watched by nearly 3 million viewers; and gained half a million viewers during its final week besting As The World Turns and Guiding Light’s retarded swan songs. It was Agnes Nixon’s favorite child’s biggest audience in more than four years and it’s the first time it place second in households in 16 years and viewers in 7 years.
*Total Viewers: Sept. 19-23
1. Y&R 4,348,000 (+99,000/-705,000)
2. AMC 2,990,000 (+499,000/+720,000)
3. B&B 2,843,000 (+201,000/-208,000)
4. OLTL 2,778,000 (+110,000/+558,000)
5. GH 2,542,000 (+103,000/+164,000)
6. DAYS 2,311,000 (-11,000/-65,000)