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All My Children

Soap pundits speak on state of soaps to ABC National Radio Australia!

July 12, 2011

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

The ABC National Radio news program, Future Tense, out of Australia late last week had a segment led by series host, Anthony Fennell, who interviewed a diverse cross-section of  panelists including American soap journalists and pundits. The segment included soundbytes from The Red Room’s and US- based soap critic, Lynn Liccardo, and Sam Ford, Director of Digital Strategy for Peppercom Strategic Communications, a research affiliate with MIT’s Convergence Culture Consortium, and co-editor of the book The Survival of Soap Opera.

Many issues were brought to light including: the social impact of soaps worldwide, the state of the storytelling, the demographic of the audience, and where soaps went into a downward spiral.  We particularly found some of thought-provoking comments of Liccardo of interest.   See below!

Liccardo addressing the demographic of soaps and the stigmas attached to them: A significant portion of viewers of soaps have always been men. Last time I looked at the numbers it was 24%. That notwithstanding, soap opera’s always been seen as something attached to women. And in the US culture anyway, anything that’s tagged as feminine is valued differently than what’s perceived as masculine. As an example, a few years back a woman I didn’t know especially well, but who knew that I watched soaps, turned to me and regarding nothing we were talking about, she just asked, ‘Who’s Dotty Thornton’s mother?’ And I replied, ‘Edna.’ I didn’t have to think about it. A bystander overheard, turns around, and says, ‘What are you two talking about?’ And we said, ‘All My children.’ And he was like, ‘Ugh! I can’t believe you two remember that kind of detail!’ And was dripping sarcasm and contempt. So I decided to try a little experiment. I said, ’56 games.’ And he shot back, ‘Jo DiMaggio’s hitting streak’ (baseball player). It still stands after 75 years, so the value is really in the eye of the beholder, and as I say, if it’s attached to women it tends to be valued as less important than what’s tagged as masculine. But the fact of that marginalisation and the reason behind it is a lot less important than understanding the insidious impact it’s had, both on how soaps have been perceived and what the genre has become.

Liccardo addressing, as the show calls it,The Enemy Within! “The self-loathing — and I actually prefer the term internalized marginalization, my editors like self-loathing — but you have the grandmother: she never misses an episode of Young and restless but when she’s watching with her grandson she reminds him that this show is ‘utter trash’. A newspaper reporter, a television critic, mocks soaps in her articles consistently but in ways that make it clear she has been, and possibly still is, a viewer.

And for those who make soaps: there’s Harding Lemay, before he became Another world head writer in 1970, he was an author and a playwright. Yet, he finds out that his editor’s wife is a fan, and he wonders why she’s wasting her time watching the show that he’s writing. But kind of the granddaddy of all of it was in 1978, Anthony Geary is asked to become part of General Hospital by Gloria Monty, the producer, who revitalized the show, and he says to her, ‘I hate soaps.’ Monty replies, ‘Honey, so do I. I want you to help me change that.’ Which they did, with enormous success. They introduced these adventure stories and comic books — fantasies like The Ice Princess. And what happened was other shows tried to replicate the success. They jumped on what came to be known as the ‘We’re not your mother soap opera anymore’ bandwagon. They pushed veteran performers aside, undermined the multi-generational storytelling that had been the heart of soaps and, in doing so, reinforced the idea that in order to survive, soaps had to abandon their roots.

Liccardo on how the state of soaps is driven by the bottom line…dollars! A big part of it’s driven by money. You know, scripted storytelling is very expensive to create, especially when compared to reality television, which is extraordinarily inexpensive to create. And episodic shows, which is to say shows that have a beginning, middle and end, shows where you don’t need to know what happened before to understand what you’re going to see in the next hour or so — they are very lucrative for producers because they’ve worked in syndication. I mean in the States you can sit down and watch 12 hours of Law and Order in a row, just one after the other. And they make a lot of money for the producers. You can’t do that with serialized television. They just don’t attract the kind of audience because you have to make that commitment to watching the whole thing. Money’s always a big part of this.

You can listen to the complete segment featuring all the guests,  or read the transcript by clicking here!

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This article is so right on the money when OLTL & AMC got cancelled my sister sent a sarcastic message saying what is the world coming to? I responded with all the actors that have come from soaps who now have Academy Awards.

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What was said about soaps being perceived as feminine and by turn less valuable in our male patriarchal society is so true. It amazes me how consistent this message is. Being a vegetarian, I see a persistent and controlled message on tv and popular culture about vegetarianism being a feminist trait. In turn, this must be a bad thing and mocked at all times. Every character on tv that becomes a vegetarian (usually a girl) is mocked, and the meat eaters all decide that soy or tofu tastes like nothing and then eat meat. An entire philosophy called feminist vegetarianism has sprung from this. I believe soaps are suffering the same patriarchal stigma. It is so pervasive that even its viewers and those in the industry have little respect for it. There is still perception that all viewers are 70 year old women who do not buy things, and do not know how to use the internet. Reality shows that as much as 20% of viewers are men. People grow up watching the shows with their grandmas. They develop loyalties. The go to school and get jobs. They can’t watch at 1 or 2 pm, so they have to watch online. There are more than 2.5 million viewers daily for OLTL, Neilsen just isn’t able to capture who watches them. There is no fight about the show being taken away, because patriarchal society views them as outdated mindless, terribly acted trash to occupy Grandma’s time. I think there is potential for OLTL to find a bigger audience online then daily airings on ABC at 2pm. I just wish ABC wasn’t still going to profit from the shows. If OLTL continues in the quality of the writing, acting, and social storytelling it has been telling….then the future is not bleak. There are concerns about the costs……but I pray there is a way to make it work. I keep up with all my shows on Hulu now. I would gladly pay for a soap channel that aired episodes online. They could save money on the expensive sets. I do not tune in for fires….guns….tornados…and explosions. I tune in for dramatic explosions like the big reveal at the twin Buchanan girls wedding. We fans were waiting for that moment for months. It was better than the Super Bowl. NOw we have the Tale of Two Todds. I would not miss their meeting nor the fallout from that big reveal if my life depended on it. And by the way, I am a man…..and a vegetarian.

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All My Children

Billy Miller Memorial Scholarship Endowment Created at His Alma Mater to Help Others ‘Realize Their Dreams’

November 21, 2023

Two months since three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor, Billy Miller passed away, the beloved All My Children (ex-Richie), General Hospital (ex-Jason/Drew) and The Young and the Restless (ex-Billy) star, will now have a permanent scholarship endowment in his honor at the University of Texas at Austin which was Miller’s alma mater.

Through the scholarship, it will be able to help radio/television and film undergraduate students with financial need. Billy’s family and friends have established this permanent scholarship in his memory, naming it the William Jon Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship. They hope the endowment will be a legacy to his life and love of acting.

Before becoming soap-famous, Billy graduated from the the university’s department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) at the Moody College of Communication. On its official website, they shared the news of this special memorial scholarship and how Miller died at the age of 43 after surrendering his life to bipolar depression, which he struggled with his whole life.

Photo: JPI

Megan Hubbell, Billy’s sister, expressed, “We want something positive to be held in his name in perpetuity through the University he loved. He would be honored to know that even in death, he can help someone else realize their dreams.”

She added how she hoped her immensely talented brother will be remembered: “I hope BJ (as Billy was known by to his friends and family) is remembered for the kind-hearted, silly, funny, goofy, generous, beautiful soul that he was His megawatt smile, deep belly laugh and gorgeous mug were gifts on screen, but his true self was a bright light that will be carried with us forever.”

Photo: JPI

According to Miller’s family, Billy had his picks of schools and UT was his first choice. When he first came to the university, Billy started in the zoology program before switching to radio-television-film, where he felt he belonged. Miller was one of just 20 students at the time accepted into the department’s prestigious production-sequence program.

“BJ was extremely proud to be a Texas Longhorn and always remembered his time there fondly,” Hubbell said. “The time he spent at UT allowed him the space to explore who he wanted to be and what he wanted to accomplish.”

Photo: JPI

In honoring her brother’s work and strength to persevere in the often heartbreaking world of entertainment, Megan related: “I always admired the guts it took to go after a dream in Hollywood that so many people tried to discourage. He heard, ‘You’ll never make it’ more times than I care to count, but he used those comments as fuel and said, ‘Watch me.’”

Miller’s roles went far beyond those on daytime soap operas, as throughout his career he played major parts in primetime’s Suits, Ray Donovan and Castle to name but a few.

Photo: JPI

In his death, Billy’s family is encouraging people to take stock of their own mental health. “BJ would want anyone struggling with intrusive thoughts to seek professional help,” Hubbell said. “Do not suffer in silence or try to muscle through on your own. Mental health is vitally important and shouldn’t be spoken about in silos behind closed doors but rather in open forums with open arms. Shame has no place in the discussion to seek help.”

To donate to the William John Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship click here.

Share your thoughts on Billy’s family and friends, along with his alma mater, setting up this memorial scholarship endowment to help other talented young people in financial need get a shot at realizing their dreams via the comment section below.

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All My Children

‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ Scores Touchdown in Ratings with Taylor Swift-Inspired ‘Halloween: The Eras Show’ Delivering Largest Audience In Over A Year

November 15, 2023

More great numbers for Live with Kelly and Mark. The talk shows Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show scored an impressive 2.9M total viewers on October 31, making it the most-watched Halloween episode in four years, according to the Nielsen ratings.

The episode also delivered some of the highest ratings in seven months for the morning show, particularly among women 18-49 and 25-54. Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show also pulled in a 1.92 household rating, as well as a 0.47 among women in the key 18 to 49 demo and a 0.69 among women 25 to 54. Those are up over the last two years of Halloween episodes and since Consuelos first started in the co-host chair back in April.

According to Deadline, Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show, also pulled in the largest audience numbers for a single episode in more than a year and half.

Photo: Disney/ABC

As is tradition with “Live’s Halloween” episodes, they are always filled with costume and pop culture moments and special guest surprises. Ripa and Consuelos were right in step with the biggest social media love story at the moment; that of Swift and her burgeoning romance with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End, Travis Kelce.

During Halloween week which started on Monday, October 30, Live was up up 11% versus the week prior in total viewers, and averaged 2.6 million viewers throughout the week.  Year-over-year, the talk show was up that week by 15% in terms of total viewers.  It looks like the former All My Children’s alum on-screen chemistry is just as palpable as it off-screen; as the two marrieds are making quite a successful run together on morning television.

Photo: Disney/ABC

So, what do you think of the impressive numbers for the Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on ‘Live’? Did you enjoy their recent Halloween episode? Share your comments below.

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All My Children

‘All My Children’ Star Peter White Dead at 86

November 4, 2023

Peter White, best known to soap fans as All My Children’s Linc Tyler, passed away this week at the age of 86. The cause of death was revealed to be melanoma.

The late actor’s former AMC co-star Kathleen Noone (ex-Ellen Shepherd Dalton) confirmed the news to multiple outlets sharing that White died in his home in Los Angeles of melanoma on Wednesday, November 1st. His death was first reported by Soap Hub.

White’s first soap opera role was actually on The Secret Storm in 1965-66. Then in 1971, he joined CBS’ Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, where he took on the role of Dr. Sanford Hiller. However, he became soap-famous for his role as Linc on All My Children which he began in 1976 and it would be a role he would play on and off till 2005.

Photo: ABC

In story, Linc was in love with Kitty Cole and later her sister Kelly (both played by Francesca James), despite his mother Phoebe’s constant interference and disapproval.

Peter later appeared in numerous primetime shows including: The Colbys, Knots Landing, Dallas, Sisters, Hill Street Blues, The Jeffersons, The Paper Chase, The West Wing, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sisters, and more.  His film roles included: Dave, Flubber, Armageddon, Thirteen Days and First Daughter.  

Photo: BroadwayWorld

However, White jumpstarted his entire acting career in 1968 with the starring role as Alan McCarthy in Matt Crowley’s original Off-Broadway production of The Boys in the Band.  Later, the drama was made into a landmark 1970 film, White and his original co-stars were all featured in it.

Share your condolences and remembrances of All My Children’s Peter White via the comment section below. But first, check out this clip when Linc was trying to help Kelly after the murder of Eddie Dorrance.

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