Connect with us

All My Children

Brian Frons on the upshot of the decision to end SOAPnet!

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

Soap fans are in an uproar today, and with good reason.  The one and only 24 hour cable destination, that in its heyday, offered up original soap opera programming, SOAPnet, as well as day and date repeats of five of the current seven daytime dramas is being sent to soap opera cable heaven.  In its place, coming in 2012, Disney Junior a channel aimed at preschoolers.

Brian Frons President, Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group, spoke this afternoon to Soap Opera Digest about what this means for the future of ABC daytime.

Frons if fans should be worried about AMC, OLTL, and GH: “They shouldn’t be worried. Over the years, Disney has made a lot of commitment to the Disney brand. As they looked out in the marketplace, they really felt they needed to be in the preschool space with a full-branded channel. Given the way technology has gone, where you can DVR your soap, watch it on Hulu and abc.com, it was felt that the original purpose of SOAPnet — today’s soaps tonight — could sort of be fulfilled in different ways. Frankly, financially it will be better for us, because if you watch on daytime, we actually make more money than if the same person watches on SOAPnet, just because rates are that different between the network world and the cable world.”

Frons on if this signals the end of the ABC Daytime line-up: “No, it really doesn’t. We’ve known about this for a while internally and that hasn’t stopped us from moving All My Children to the West Coast, to giving One Life to Live a bigger stage, to continuing to commit to big events for these shows, whether it’s shooting an upcoming sequence with James Franco [Franco, GH] at the Pacific Design Center or doing the three-day musical on One Life to Live. So, the commitment to the shows, the commitment to making them the best they can be, is still the same.”

Frons on what happens now: “We’re going to continue to celebrate the form, in particular the ABC shows. We are not reducing our marketing spend one dollar. If you think about it, we’ll actually be spending more on marketing our soaps because we’re not going to be doing any new original programming, other than the new season of  Being Erica. So, we’re going to take those dollars and put them against the soap operas. I think the positive here is that we can more clearly drive viewers to the core destination of ABC.

Click to comment

avatar
Mary
Guest
Mary

How do I feel about Frons’ assurances that the All Bum’s Company is committed to their soaps? In the words of the great comedian David Steinberg: “Bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit!”

SOAPNet has its flaws, but there are shows that will never be anywhere else. Here we are, soap fans, once again shown that we are the redheaded stepchild of the television industry.

jean miller
Guest
jean miller

Where’s Drew that’s all i care about bring him back and i will start watching again and LET my family and friends watch! HEY IM AT WAR!!!

Shelley
Guest
Shelley

GRRR! It’s all about the money, not about the fans!

MDiaz
Guest
MDiaz

I think this is a terrible idea. I know the decision has been made but there are so many children shows available and with all of us baby boomers retiring I think the decision was made at a bad time I love soapnet now that i can enjoy my soaps whenever i want. Soooooooooosad!

Lee Lee
Guest
Lee Lee

I have never seen anyone talk out of both sides of his mouth as much as this guy has. Everytime he opens his mouth BS comes flowing out. Disney needs to fire hime before they lose ABC entirely. DWTS is about the only thing they have anymore. The Bachelor Sucks. They had three of the best soaps and Frons axed them. It just goes to show. You can’t fix stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!

ronald seasholtz
Guest
ronald seasholtz

we feel brian frons should be fired to for taking the soaps off of channel 6 and soapnet. we are now retired and could watch them but not now he screwed that up just like everything else in this world to put stupid stuff on .

All My Children

Pride Month Celebrating LGBTQ+ Soap Supercouples: Nuke, Kish, Otalia & WilSon … Which Stands the Test of Time?

June is Pride Month, the time when across the U.S and the world there are celebrations and commemorations to recognize all who identify as LGBTQ and their allies.

Daytime soap operas have had a rocky road when it comes to the representation of same-sex couples.  The soaps have been at one time leaders in portraying key social issues of our time, as well as treading lightly on other subjects, as to its concerns to ‘turn-off’ its core audiences.

When you look back at the groundbreaking first same-sex weddings, and the first gay kiss, the soaps have come far in some ways in their representations of gay characters, but there is always work to be done to serve and to shed light on the under-represented.

As we reflect back to the then and the now, which LGBTQ soap supercouple remains your favorite and had made a lasting impact? Let’s take a look at four duos who captivated many viewers.

Nuke  – Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer – As the World Turns

Van Hansis (Luke) and Jake Silbermann (Noah) were a key part of the evolution of, and representation of LGBTQ character on the soaps.  ‘Nuke’, as they were known as, became the first gay male soap couple to share an on-screen kiss back in 2007.  ATWT also became known as the first soap to depict a fully realized romantic male couple as an integral part of the show.  There was plenty of backlash along the way for the long-awaited kiss to happen, but when it did, the show moved forward to tell their love story.

Otalia – Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera Aitoro – Guiding Light

When Crystal Chappell (Olivia) and Jessica Leccia (Natalia) began to play the love story of Otalia, they had to show their affection by a kiss on the head, or holding hands.  It took quite some time for GL to move forward to have two women, two moms, no less, share a lip lock. The complicated love story featured Natalia being conflicted to face her true romantic feelings for Olivia, because of her value system and religions upbringing, and that made this all the more riveting and frustrating at the same time.  In the end, the rabid fan base for this duo was so great that Chappell wound up creating her own series, Venice, to honor and serve them, remaining one of the LGBTQ communities greatest allies.

Kish – Kyle Lewis and Oliver Fish – One Life to Live

In 2009, One Life to Live’s Kyle Lewis (Brett Claywell) was an out lab tech in Llanview, who back in college had a relationship with Officer Oliver Fish (Scott Evans).  It imploded when Oliver denied he was gay.  For years, Oliver remained in the closet, before finally coming out to himself and Kyle.

Kish had been a big success with the media and One Life’s gay audience. LGBTQ-advocacy groups honored the couple and the story.  However, Kish was cut short when the network felt that the data showed that the storyline was not resonating with the show’s core audience.

WilSon – Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis – Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives delivered daytime’s first-ever gay male wedding in 2014, between Will (then played by Guy Wilson) and Sonny (then played by Freddie Smith).

In an interview with EW, Days of our Lives executive producer, Ken Corday shared on the union, “Will and Sonny have been together for a while and it was the natural progression of their love story. We didn’t feel like there was anything we could or couldn’t do, we treated them like any other couple on the canvas and continued to grow their romance as such.”

In addition, the coming out story of Will Horton was critically praised and noteworthy for the performances of Chandler Massey, who won three Daytime Emmys for his work in the Outstanding Younger Actor category 2012, 2013 and 2014.  Freddie Smith also won in the same category in 2015.  Will has been played over the years by Chandler Massey and Guy Wilson, while Sonny has been portrayed by Freddie Smith and Zach Tinker.

There have been several other key LGBTQ couples throughout the course of daytime history including All My Children’s Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Reese (Tamara Braun). These two characters were involved in the first same-sex lesbian wedding on daytime. Problem was … Reese kissed Zach (Thorsten Kaye) before the wedding, making this infuriating for viewers at home.

Other notable LGBTQ couples through the years have included: Bianca and Maggie on All My Children, Mariah and Tessa of The Young and the Restless played bv Camryn Grimes and Cait Fairbanks, Maya and Rick on The Bold and the Beautiful, Lucas and Brad on General Hospital and others.

Which couple do you think has had the most lasting impact on the history of LGBTQ representation on daytime soap operas? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Continue Reading

All My Children

Chrishell Stause and G Flip Tie the Knot

Selling Sunset star and soap alum, Chrishell Stause is married after one-year of dating to Australian-born musician, G Flip.

Stause, who formerly appeared on the soap operas; All My Children, Days of our Lives, and The Young and the Restless, took to her Instagram with a montage of photos sharing the news of her union with G Flip.

Photo: CStauseIG

The marriage was confirmed by Stause’s rep to PEOPLE.  Chrishell’s post also was used to promote G Flip’s brand new single, “Be Your Man” with a look at their year together in photos. The single was written by G Flip about their relationship with Stause.

The real estate broker/reality star shared: “Love doesn’t always go as planned … Sometimes it’s immeasurably better. Be Your Man is out now & linked in stories. If you ever get the pleasure of meeting G, know that you are meeting one of the kindest, funniest & most talented hard working people out there.  Please go stream! I love you so much @gflip ❤️‍🔥 #BeYourMan”

Previously, Chrishell was in a relationship for four years to Justin Hartley (ex-This Is Us, Y&R, Passions) before getting married.  The two eventually tied the knot in 2017 and were divorced in 2019.

Share your congratulations, thoughts, or well-wishes for Stause and G Flip on their marriage in the comment section below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chrishell (@chrishell.stause)

Continue Reading

All My Children

Mark Consuelos Debut Week on ‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ Scores Highest Rating for Show Since Mid-January

They are off to a good start! Former All My Children stars, real-life husband and wife, and now co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark, fared well in Mark Consuelos’ (ex-Mateo) debut week.

Consuelos took over from Ryan Seacrest in the co-host chair opposite Ripa (ex-Hayley) on April 17th.  The couple’s debut-week landed them solid ratings, plus the syndicated morning series largest audience in three months.

According to Nielsen’s live+same-day data, Live with Kelly and Mark scored 2.4M viewers and a 1.7 Household rating.

Those stats make it the highest for both since the week of January 16.  The pairing also scored well on Live’s year-over-year averages in both total viewers and in the key demo. Live with Kelly and Mark was up 6% in ratings and 8% in total viewers.

In addition, Kelly and Mark were shown the love in the New York City market. The premiere week brought with it Live‘s most-watched week in nearly three years. Formerly, May of 2020 was the biggest numbers for a NY state of mind audience.

So, how do you like Kelly and Mark together as co-hosts thus far on ‘Live’? Let us know in the comment section below.

Continue Reading

Video du Jour

Peter Reckell returns for a second visit with Michael Fairman following the wrap-up of his recent run as Bo Brady on Days of our Lives.Leave A Comment

The Michael Channel

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Réal Andrews as Taggert & Finola Hughes as Anna

General Hospital

Airdates: 5-31-2023

Popular