SUDSIEST QUOTES OF THE WEEKEND
“You know, James Reilly was one of a kind. I think it’s often forgotten that Passions came about because of the popularity of Marlena’s possession on DAYS. NBC literally handed Reilly their daytime lineup and said, ‘Here, steer the wheel’, or so I’ve been told, and sure, a lot of people complained, but since then you’ve had vampires in Port Charles and other wacky stuff on Passions, of course. He kept us entertained. You definitely couldn’t call the guy unoriginal. It took courage to stand out from the crowd and say, ‘I’m gonna do it this way.’ I’ve been to Canada for several fan events, and there seems to be more Passions fans there than Y&R fans. It’s insane. The fans of the show really loved it, and that’s a testament to James Reilly.”
–DAYS’s super-hunk Eric Martsolf in an interview with Daytimeconfidential.com’s Jamey Giddens promoting his ACME comedy stand-up show
Translation: There were no adults at my Canadian personal appearances!
“I appreciate you for recognizing that, because I have definitely tried to incorporate Drake’s swagger, as you call it [laughs], into Brady. One of the last things he said to me before leaving [the show] was, ‘Carry the torch kid’ and I knew exactly what he meant. He meant don’t let the whole John Black persona die. So I said, ‘Let’s bring in some of John’s traits. Let’s bring in the leather jacket.” That was important to me, and I felt it would be important to the fans.”
—In the same interview, Martsolf comments on carrying on the torch for his former co-star, Drake Hogestyn
Translation: My eyebrow is very tired …
“I was very happy that she came. I’ve always respected her enormously, and I wish that she was back on the show.”
—Y&R Emmy winner Eric Braeden in Soaps In Depth when Victoria Rowell showed up at his 30th anniversary party
Translation: You got that?!
WEEKEND SUDS FLASHES
Julianne Moore’s World Turns cameo a go!
• On the heels of her 30 Rock story arc and rumours she may headline a U.S. reboot of Prime Suspect, it appears Julianne Moore, who recently graced New York Times’ fashion magazine, is making a permanent move from the big screen to the tube. As Suds Report teased months ago (and fearless predicted in January), sources confirmed to Entertainment Weekly exclusively that Moore will reprise her role as Frannie and Sabrina Hughes for one day on the recently cancelled World Turns. Reportedly, Moore will tape her episode this Wednesday. The multiple Oscar-nominated actress got her start on World Turns in 1985 by playing the half-sisters, which netted her a Daytime Emmy in 1988, the year she left the sudser.
• Dancing With The Stars unveiled their new 2010 lineup — and believe it or not, ex-AMCer Aiden Turner will be dancing for his dinner. More on Friday.
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• Wanna help bring back Victoria Rowell back to Y&R? Be proactive and sign this petition, soapers — and let’s make it happen.
Meanwhile, La Rowell tells Soapgeist that when she attended Eric Braeden’s 30th anniversary party last month, an executive said, “We miss you.” The 11-time NAACP winner and Emmy-nominated superstar simply responded, “Bring me back!” His answer? “It would be too complicated …” Classic.
• Speaking of the NAACP, this past weekend Debbi Morgan and Cornelius Smith took home well-deserved best actress and actor honours, respectively. Congrats. |
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AWARDS SHOW CENTRAL
Did the new Emmy rules have any impact this year?
Game change, much? Every year, NATAS changes their controversial rules in order to ensure the most accurate results, but it appears one modification may have actually — egad! — worked in the Academy’s favour this time. While some, if not all soaps, still bloc-voted in some manner (a few actors told Soapgeist they were unaware of the rule changes and only voted in their in-studio pre-nom vote and not the real ballot — d'oh!), the majority of show runners were shocked to see who made the industry approved pre-nom ballot after the reveal Friday.
As we all know, certain agendas, politics, and personal issues interfere with nominating the most deserving of performers (for example, Eric Braeden and Trevor St. John), but it was a different story this year when the soap business voted and not just the individual show casts.
As you may have read, this year any performer could submit himself or herself in to the race without the approval of the cast. One Life is the best example of how the new system rules changed the whole game.
Reportedly, the cast voted on these pre-nominees:
Actress — Hillary Smith, Erika Slezak
Actor — Bob Woods, Jerry ver Dorn
Supporting Actress — Florencia Lozano, Bree Williamson
Supporting Actor — Mark Lawson, Brian Kerwin
Young Actress — Kristen Alderson, Farah Fath
Young Actor — Eddie Alderson, Brandon Buddy
By agreement, anyone who was voted by the cast for a pre-nom didn’t have to pay the $175 NATAS fee as long as they made the final pre-nom list. Unexpectedly, self-submitted stars like Crystal Hunt paid their own fee and ended up making the final ballot. Here’s how the industry voted (changes in italics):
Actress — Hillary Smith, Erika Slezak
Actor — Bob Woods, Jerry ver Dorn
Supporting Actress — Ilene Kristen, Bree Williamson
Supporting Actor — Mark Lawson, Brian Kerwin, Brett Claywell
Young Actress — Crystal Hunt, Farah Fath
Young Actor — Scott Clifton, Scott Evans
Do you see the difference? I see the difference. This proves what a misguided decision it was for NATAS to institute a cast pre-nom round. Had One Life’s original cast-approved ballot gone out into the industry for final nominations, it’s clear that half their nominees would never have made the nomination ballot.
By letting the industry vote, it’s clear which pre-nominees have the best chance of earning final nominations without getting anyone’s hopes up unfairly. It’s too bad Trevor St. John, who consistently failed to win the support of his cast come Emmy time, didn’t throw his name in for contention because he’s highly respected and loved by other soaps.
However, this “new” rule doesn’t always work for everyone. Over the weekend, Soapgeist learned that Y&R king Eric Braeden did submit himself for Emmy consideration but failed to show up on the pre-nom ballot.
Until the pre-nominees choose their reels, Soapgeist will refrain from predicting which performers will make the final ballot when they are announced on May 12.
DREAM EMMY PRESENTERS
To ensure the highest ratings, and the most entertainment for our buck, TVGuide.ca suggest this foolproof star lineup.
Host — Rosie O’Donnell
Daytime Serial — Betty White
Daytime Writing — Susan Flannery, Victoria Rowell and Eric Braeden
Talk Show — Susan Lucci
Talk Show Host — Alison Sweeney
Directing — Brett Claywell, Ilene Kristen and Scott Evans
Lead Actress — James Franco and Steve Burton
Lead Actor — Kim Zimmer
Supporting Actress — Nancy Lee Grahn and Debbi Morgan
Supporting Actor — Crystal Chappell, Jessica Leccia and Peter Reckell
Younger Actress — Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann
Younger Actor — Sarah Brown, Jonathan Jackson and Eden Riegel
CASTING COACH
The Great Victoria Newman
Now that Sarah Brown, Tamara Braun and Gina Tognoni have moved on to new TV roles, if I were CBS, I’d get on the phone with Maura West and demand that she move to L.A. to take on Victoria Newman!
SOAP SYLLABUS
One Life — Who knew? Mr. Big directed Fraternity Row!
More genius from Paul Rauch. During One Life’s 1988 Fraternity Row Parade, none other than Sex and the City/Good Wife hunk Chris Noth played one of the soap-within-a-soap’s directors! Even back in the late ‘80s, One Life did a better job at local location shoots than GL’s Ellen Wheeler and World Turns’s Christopher Goutman do in the new millennium.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Thom Bierdz’s Americana
(photo credit — JPI Studios)
Click here to purchase and/or peruse the former Y&R star’s artwork. |
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SUDS POLL
Who should have been pre-nominated for an Emmy Award? Click here to vote.
—Eric Braeden
—Trevor St. John
—Robin Strasser
—Michael Muhney
—Nelson Branco
—Florencia Lozano
—Van Hansis
—Louise Sorel
—Jessica Leccia
—Kimberly McCullough
Editor’s Note — Some readers are having trouble accessing our polls on Firefox, so use Safari instead.
SAVE ONE LIFE CAMPAIGN
Write ABC — let your voices be heard!
Brian Scott Frons, Daytime President
Anne Sweeney, ABC President
President, Daytime Disney-ABC Television Group, ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521-4551
Phone numbers: (818) 560-1000 or (212) 456-7777
THE NELSON RATINGS
Can’t watch all the soaps this week? No worries — here’s a cheat sheet!
Top 3 Soaps to Watch:
1. One Life To Live, ABC
2. Days of our Lives, NBC/Global
3. The Young and the Restless, CBS/Global
Top 3 Storylines to Watch:
1. The Jig Is Up for Adam Newman, Y&R
2. Reports of Sydney’s Death Were Greatly Exaggerated, DAYS
3. A Cramer Family Tragedy, One Life
Top 5 Actresses to Watch:
1. Robin Strasser (Dorian, One Life)
2. Crystal Chappell (Carly, DAYS)
3. Alison Sweeney (Sami, DAYS)
4. Melissa Fumero (Bitchy Bangs, One Life)
5. Cady McClain (Dixie, AMC)
Top 5 Actors to Watch:
1. Michael Muhney (Adam, Y&R)
2. Stephen Nichols (Tucker, Y&R)
3. Dominic Zamprogna (Dante, GH)
4. Paolo Seganti (Damian, World Turns)
5. Jacob Young (JR, AMC)
Top 4 Most Entertaining Performers:
1. Amanda Setton (Kim, One Life)
2. Tuc Watkins (David, One Life)
3. Louise Sorel (Vivian, DAYS)
4. Eric Sheffer Stevens (Reid, World Turns)
Top 3 Duos to Watch:
1. Lulu and Dante, GH
2. Layla and Cris, One Life
3. Fish and Kyle, One Life
Top 3 Dream Couples:
1. Kelly and David, One Life
2. EJ and Anna, DAYS
3. Alexis and Diane, GH
Top 3 Rivals:
1. Mitch vs. The Cramers, One Life
2. EJ vs. Sami, DAYS
2. Vivian vs. Carly, DAYS
Top 3 Triangles to Watch:
1. Lucky/Liz/Nikolas, GH
2. Jess/Cris/Layla, One Life
3. EJ/Sami/Rafe, DAYS
Top 3 Guilty Pleasures:
1. Jessica’s 17 again, One Life
2. Dixie’s heavenly new hair colour, AMC
3. Reid’s anti-Oakhell hate, World Turns
Top 3 Families To Watch:
1. The Cramers, One Life
2. The Kiriakises, DAYS
3. The Newmans, Y&R
Top 3 New Duos To Watch:
1. Clint and Kim, One Life
2. Holden and Molly, World Turns
3. John and Natalie, One Life
Top 3 Duos To Avoid Like the Plague:
1. John and Marty, One Life
2. Owen and Bridget, B&B
3. Lisa and Patrick, GH
Top 3 Young Actors:
1. Drew Garrett (Michael, GH)
2. Shenell Edmonds (Destiny, One Life)
3. Brittany Underwood (Langston, One Life)
Top 3 Biggest Wastes of Talent:
1. Renee Jones (Lexie, DAYS)
—tie—James Reynolds (Abe, DAYS)
3. Pamela Peyton Wright (Addie, One Life)
Top 3 Hair Models:
1. Jackie MacInnes Wood (Steffy, B&B)
2. Denise Vasi (Randi, AMC)
3. Texas Battle (Marcus, B&B)
Top 3 Soap Magazine Covers (based on art direction):
1. CBS Soap In Depth — Y&R’s Eric Braeden
2. Soap Opera Weekly — DAYS’s Sami and Sydney
3. Soap Opera Digest — Y&R’s Sharon/Adam/Ashley
Top 3 Best Reads/Buys at the Newsstand:
1. Soap Opera Weekly
2. Soap Opera Digest
—tie— CBS Soaps In Depth
Top 3 Soap Moments To Watch:
1. Tuesday: Dante and Lulu decide to do naughty things in bed together on GH! “Just don’t give me any of that Corinthos sperm,” warns Lulu.
2. Tuesday: Y&R’s Billy and Jill search for evidence to bring down Mother Tucker. “Look, I found a patch,” points out Jill.
3. Wednesday: DAYS’s Alison Sweeney guest-stars on Mercy. “I’m the biggest winner of them all,” shouts Ali from the NBC commissary.
Want to dish the soaps with Nelson Branco? Join The Suds Report discussion group today on Facebook.
Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and fab magazine, along with spearheading the soap coverage for TVGuide.ca's popular daytime TV hub. After graduating from Ryerson University in 1997, he moved from Toronto to New York in 1998 to take on the roles as senior news editor at Soap Opera Update. Branco first freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly as an intern in 1994, and after leaving Soap Update to help create and launch Bauer Publishing's In Touch Weekly in 2003, Branco continued to freelance occasionally for its sister publication, Soaps In Depth. Most recently, he helped create and launch Canada's first celebrity magazine, Weekly Scoop in 2005 as its news and entertainment director. Branco is also a contributor to a new TV show titled Planet Soap to air in Canada and America.
