General Hospital
James Franco on the art of soap acting and more!


Courtesy/NY Festival
I have to say, James Franco is doing a fantastic job bringing attention to soaps right now, not only with his acting, charisma, and performance art connections, but also his writing. Check out his entry in a new piece out today by the actor entitled, The Limits of Control which is on Lapham’s Quarterly website. In the piece, he details the control actors have in certain parts of the medium they work in, which adds to their performances or possibly subtracts. Franco wrote these words below, which to soapers, means he completely “gets” the soap actor’s style and what they have to work with.
Franco, Recently, I performed in the soap opera General Hospital. It is easy to make fun of soaps, with their melodramatic plot lines, constant exposition, unnatural lighting, swelling music, and lack of action. Most of these aspects are due to the extreme speed at which soaps are produced. With five episodes a week, at least sixty pages need to be shot in a day. That’s a feature film’s worth of material shot every two days. This pace allows for very few takes, usually one. Soap acting is generally considered inferior to other acting, with the lack of takes cited as the reason. However, there are many fine film performances that are made up of just a few takes: Clint Eastwood is famous for doing one or two takes when directing; Robert Altman was very loose with his direction, always looking for spontaneity and truth; Gus Van Sant does very few set-ups, and very few takes. Innumerable directors of Oscar-winning films have used such techniques. The reason that soap actors look the way they do is context—how they are filmed, what they are saying, and how they are blocked. There is absolutely no way to act in a soap and pull off a performance like Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice, or Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. These incredible performances are supported by the incredible filmmaking that is behind them. They are given the time, dialogue, space, and aesthetic of films made by great directors.
This isn’t to say that soap opera performers are worse than film actors, or that their performances are inferior. The soap opera performance should always be perceived in context: it involves actors working in a tradition that soap audiences have come to expect and love. Soap actors are delivering exactly what they are supposed to—they are in tune with their audience and they are not attempting to transcend it. If Brando had tried to play Terry Malloy in a soap, he wouldn’t have had the time to sculpt the performance into the brooding, tortured, nuanced emotional force that won him an Oscar. The contender wouldn’t have been a somebody, instead he’d just have been another mumbling dope with bad eye makeup.”
So what do you think of Franco’s thoughts on soap acting?
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Friday night at the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, the night’s big winners in daytime drama, talk shows and more, shared their first moments of their victories in the press room where they were greeted by the paparazzi, journalists and electronic media outlets from around the country.
Getting their first snaps with Emmy gold were General Hospital winners: Frank Valentini (Drama Series), Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Younger Performer), Jeff Kober (Supporting Actor), Kelly Thiebaud (Supporting Actress) along with Allison Reames Smith and Phideaux Xavier (Directing Drama Series).
Days of our Lives was represented with a win for Ron Carlivati and his writing team, while The Bold and the Beautiful long-running cast member, John McCook finally received the Lead Actor top prize, while The Young and the Restless’ Mishael Morgan made Daytime Emmy-history taking home the gold in the Lead Actress category. Talk show host, Tamron Hall celebrated her win as well.
Take a look at some of those moments in our ‘Winners Circle’ Photo gallery below.
Now, let us know, which of these winners were you most happy to see receive a gold statuette? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Photos: JPI

The 49th Annual Daytime Emmys were held on Friday night and for the first time since 2019 and the coronavirus pandemic, the event was live and the red carpet was back in full swing.
Many of your favorites from Days of our Lives, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful showed their glam side and celebrated being part of the genre with their own fashion statements. In addition, many notables from daytime talk shows, game shows and more were on-hand and also walked the carpet.
After the arrivals, the nominated guests, cast members, and colleagues went inside to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium for the presentation of the awards which were live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. (Find out who won here)
Now below, check out some of the red carpet arrivals from daytime’s biggest night of the year.
Then, let us know, who do you think was the Best Dressed? Who looked most dashing? Which couple complimented each others look, well? Share your picks and thoughts via the comment section.

Breaking News
49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards: General Hospital, B&B’s John McCook and Y&R’s Mishael Morgan Take Top Honors

Friday night, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ (NATAS) 49th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were handed out in 15 categories on a live telecast on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. When the dust settled, it was ABC’s General Hospital who took the night’s top prize for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series.
This marks GH’s continued record-breaking number of wins in this category and brings it up to 15 victories for the iconic show, which is currently in its 59th year on the air. GH’s executive producer, Frank Valentini accepted the award on behalf of everyone connected with the show, when Drew Barrymore presented the final award of the night.

Photo: JPI
The night also brought with it the historic win of The Young and the Restless’ Mishael Morgan (Amanda Sinclair). The actress became the first black actress in Daytime Emmy history to ever take home the Lead Actress Daytime Emmy. In the emotional highpoint of the evening, in terms of acceptance speeches and significance, Morgan spoke to the current generation breaking glass ceilings.
Morgan expressed: “We are breaking glass ceilings left right and center and I am so honored to be a vessel and to experience this moment. Everybody out there today, we can do this thing called equality and unity together.” In her speech, Mishael shared: “I was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean, and I’m now standing on an international stage and I am being honored regardless of the color of my skin, regardless of my passport, for being the best at what I do, Now there are little girls around the world and no matter what the industry, the vocation they can strive to be the best.”
Veteran actor, John McCook who has played Eric Forrrester on The Bold and the Beautiful for over 35 years, finally won his first ever Emmy after four previous nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Courtesy/CBS
The Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series trophies went to two standouts from General Hospital, Kelly Thiebaud (Britt) and Jeff Kober (Cyrus), while Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Spencer), added another mantle to the GH trophy case with his first win for Outstanding Younger Performer.
Days of our Lives writing team led by Ron Carlivati took home the gold for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, while GH won for Direction.
The biggest winner in terms of total gold belonged to The Kelly Clarkson Show. When all was said and done, between the Creative Arts ceremonies held last weekend, and last night, the talk show took home 7 awards including: Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show and Talk Show Host. General Hospital followed with five total wins for Daytime Emmys 2022.
The ceremonies featured DAYS Suzanne Rogers (Maggie) anchoring the Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to her longtime co-star John Aniston (Victor), who was not present, with the help of John’s daughter, Jennifer Aniston, who was seen on tape.
Susan Lucci (Ex-Erica, All My Children) made her first public appearance since the passing of her beloved husband, Helmut Huber and introduced the In Memoriam segment. Grammy-winner Michael Bolton performed his classic tune “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” during the tribute.
Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner were the hosts for the telecast, and with the overturning of the Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision on everyone’s mind last night, Turner gave a nod to how she and so many others felt, when Frazier told her how nice she looked in her dress. Nishcelle commented, “I chose this dress. It was my choice.” That moment received huge applause from the audience in attendance.
Check out the full winners circle list from last night’s 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards below.
Then let us know, are you happy with the results? Who were you most thrilled to see take home an Emmy? What did you think of the telecast? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
General Hospital
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama, Actress
Mishael Morgan, The Young and the Restless
Outstanding Lead Performance In A Daytime Drama, Actor
John McCook, The Bold and the Beautiful
Outstanding Supporting Performance, Actor, in a Daytime Drama
Jeff Kober, General Hospital
Outstanding Supporting Performance, Actress, in a Daytime Drama
Kelly Thiebaud, General Hospital
Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series
Nicholas Chavez, General Hospital
Outstanding Writing Team For a Daytime Drama
Days of Our Lives
Outstanding Directing Team for a Drama Series
General Hospital
Outstanding Game Show Host
Steve Harvey, Family Feud
Outstanding Game Show
Jeopardy!
Outstanding Entertainment News Series
Entertainment Tonight
Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host
Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show
Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show
Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show
Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host
Tamron Hall, Tamron Hall
Outstanding Informative Talk Show
Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts

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James franco is so full of it. This whole article is somehow “justifying” his film star self going into soaps. And it’s quite backhanded. Can’t he say “I went to soaps so I could try all kinds of mediums. Period.” and then he could shut up abt it forever. He’s saying that soaps are crappy bec that’s what the audience expects them to be. Certainly majority, if not all of the soaps are in bad, crappy states, and the ratings reflect that. There’s a lot of disatisfaction now bec of the bad writing and worse performances. But most probably nothing… Read more »