WEEKEND SUDS FLASHES
Kanan still on Y&R! Webster checks into Castle! Rogers kills Reality Bytes!
• Castle gets even more Canadian! Alberta native Victor Webster has joined the cast as Josh Davidson, Beckett’s new love interest. Series leads Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic also hail from Canada. Look for the ex-DAYS hunk to debut in this season’s fourth episode in a recurring capacity, reports EW.com’s Michael Ausiello.
• Y&R’s Sean Kanan tells Soapgeist he’s still recurring on Y&R and has at least five more tape dates this month. Good thing because Deacon and Phyllis are hot. Kanan jokes, “It’s hate sex right now, but maybe it’ll develop into more.”
• Tristan Rogers announced on Twitter yesterday that he is resigning as creator, star, and producer of upstart web soap Reality Bytes essentially killing the series all together.
• One Life’s Matt Walton and wife Alecia welcomed a baby boy, Greyson James, on Aug. 4. Greyson joins Walton’s daughter, Ava, 5. From the looks of how One Life is writing Walton, the daddy of two may need to start auditioning very soon.
• GH's sexy mom-and-son duo Lisa LoCicero and Dominic Zamprogna are Toronto-bound during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 11 at a Children's Wish Fundraiser. Click here for more information. As previously reported, Y&R's Daniel Goddard and Sean Kanan will be in town as well. Lucky LoCicero!
THE IDIOT RATINGS — August 2-6/10
Losers: AMC/Y&R/DAYS take major hits!
Numbers are based on Live+Same Day ratings (Compared to Last Week/Compared to Last Year)
Courtesy of Soap Opera Network
Total Viewers
1. Y&R 4,868,000 (-102,000/+165,000)
2. B&B 3,174,000 (+8,000/-193,000)
3. GH 2,561,000 (-59,000/+119,000)
4. DAYS 2,409,000 (-155,000/-122,000)
5. AMC 2,377,000 (-175,000/-33,000)
6. OLTL 2,365,000 (+34,000/-111,000)
7. ATWT 2,304,000 (+16,000/+78,000)
Households
1. Y&R 3.5/11 (+.1/+.1)
2. B&B 2.2/7 (-.1/-.2)
3. GH 1.9/6 (-.1/same)
4. AMC 1.8/6 (-.1/-.1)
4. *DAYS 1.8/6 (same/same)
6. OLTL 1.7/6 (-.1/-.2)
7. **ATWT 1.6/5 (same/same)
* ties low rating (5th straight week)
** ties low rating (4th straight week)
Women 18-49 Viewers
1. Y&R 1,113,000 (-17,000/+24,000)
2. GH 810,000 (-16,000/+43,000)
3. B&B 692,000 (-21,000/-57,000)
4. OLTL 688,000 (+60,000/-65,000)
5. DAYS 673,000 (-62,000/+24,000)
6. AMC 615,000 (-4,000/-120,000)
7. ATWT 535,000 (-16,000/+3,000)
Women 18-49 Rating
1. Y&R 1.7/11 (same/+.1)
2. GH 1.2/8 (same/same)
3. DAYS 1.0/7 (-.1/same)
3. B&B 1.0/7 (-.1/-.1)
3. OLTL 1.0/7 (same/-.1)
6. AMC 0.9/6 (same/-.2)
7. ATWT 0.8/5 (same/same)
SUDS FUNNIES
Live from Hollywood, it’s Nadia Bjorlin!
ACME Saturday Night is the closest thing the soap world will get to our own Saturday Night Live showcase. The latest suds star to host was DAYS/Venice star Nadia Bjorlin. And guess what? Bitch is funny when she’s sober! Look for a very gay cameo from her other half, Brandon Beemer, during the show.
REMOTE CONTROL — The triumphs! The malfunctions! And the crimes against soap humanity!
II PAUSE:
General Hospital: Brenda The Great
On Aug. 10, ABC preempted their entire soap lineup to air three classic Brenda Barrett episodes. Was it a wise decision? Well, yes and no. While it was probably the best three hours of soap opera I’ve watched all year, it was bittersweet to be reminded of how mesmerizing GH of yore truly was. From the rich dialogue, multi-dimensional characterizations, myriad veteran actors populating the canvas, a balanced narrative, extras in the background, and lush sets, it was both beautiful and depressing to witness ABC all but confirm that the daytime industry is only getting worse — not better — over time. Conversely, the sitcom genre was all but pronounced dead a few years back, but the medium evolved and revitalized itself with the dramedy format — and now the sitcom has made a comeback. Soaps really need to enrol in an overnight Darwinian lesson STAT.
But back to Port Barrett. While GH has been on fire for most of the year, it’s been burning on autopilot ever since the Franco Fiasco. So after relishing in three classic episodes of Brenda, it was disconcerting to see Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo’s come back to GH with a whimper, not a roar. There was far too much foreshadowing. Given the unheard-of marketing and promotion heralding Mrs. Giovinazzo’s return, GH would have been better served by opening the Aug. 11 episode with Brenda in a lush location shoot (GH should have scrapped the MOMA shoot and saved those pennies for Giovinazzo). With all due respect to GH’s Emmy-winning directors, Brenda’s attack was painfully amateurish and clumsy to watch. The subsequent reveal that the raven-haired beauty was Brenda was beyond anticlimatic and simply a waste of time for this viewer —especially after watching three hours of spectacular soap opera the day before. Let’s hope this week Brenda’s return to reclaim what is rightfully hers proves more successful. As long as we have Brenda, there is hope.
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<< REW:
The Young and the Restless: Sins of the Son
The National Post’s Shinan Govani emailed me to rave about how the series of episodes where Adam’s journey from Little Orphan Newman to The Greatest Villain on Daytime were inspired, much like Y&R’s Emmy-winning It’s A Wonderful Life special episodes during the holiday season. It’s clear Y&R is investing in Michael Muhney as the future of the show by re-filming key Adam scenes played by his predecessor Chris Engen, all but erasing the memory of its originating adult actor.
Govani wrote, “I have to say the [Canadian episodes on] Thursday and Friday episodes of Y&R boasted an unusual level of sophistication in the writing, themes of redemption, how to forgive, the load that the past pays, and the sins of the father, etc. It was like, whoa ... holy philosophical. This is what a soap can do really well — playing on decades of story and character, that no other medium can do.”
Next week, I’ll wax soap-style on these well-written and acted episodes once they air in the U.S. |
SUDS POLL
Who do you want Sami from DAYS to end up with? Click here to vote.
—EJ
—Lucas
—Rafe
—Someone new
Editor’s Note — Some readers are having trouble accessing our polls on Firefox, so use Safari instead
THE NELSON RATINGS
Can’t watch all the soaps this week? No worries — here’s a cheat sheet!
Top 3 Soaps to Watch:
1. General Hospital, ABC/A
2. Days of our Lives, NBC/Global
3. The Young and the Restless, CBS/Global
Top 3 Storylines to Watch:
1. Brenda! Brenda! Brenda!, GH
2. Who is Liam’s Father? B&B
3. Adam’s Revenge, Y&R
Top 5 Actresses to Watch:
1. Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo (Brenda, GH)
2. Debbi Morgan (Angie, AMC)
3. Susan Seaforth Hayes (Joanna, Y&R)
4. Florencia Lozano (Téa, One Life)
5. Julia Pace Mitchell (Sofia, Y&R)
Top 5 Actors to Watch:
1. Michael Muhney (Adam, Y&R)
2. Brad Rowe (Mitchell, GH)
3. Trevor St. John (Todd, One Life)
4. Tuc Watkins (David, One Life)
5. James Scott (EJ, DAYS)
Top 3 Duos to Watch:
1. David and Dorian, One Life
2. Brenda and Sonny, GH
3. Rafe and Nicole, DAYS
Top 3 Couples to Fast-Forward Through:
1. Nick and Aggie, B&B
2. Maxie and Matt, GH
3. Jill and Lauren, Y&R
Top 3 New Duos to Watch:
1. Tucker and Ash, Y&R
2. Chloe and Ronan, Y&R
3. Meggie and Nikki, Y&R
Top 3 Rivals:
1. EJ vs. Rafe, DAYS
2. Chloe vs. Heather, Y&R
3. Brook Lynn vs. Lulu, GH
Top 3 Love Triangles to Watch:
1. EJ/Sami/Rafe, DAYS
2. Reid/Luke/Noah, World Turns
3. Brook Lynn/Dante/Lulu, GH
Top 3 Soap Magazine Covers (based on art direction):
1. CBS Soaps In Depth: Y&R’s Nina/Chance/Chloe/Ronan
2. Soap Opera Weekly: The Truth Comes Out on Y&R/DAYS/B&B
3. Soap Opera Digest: GH’s Brenda and Sonny
Top 3 Best Reads/Buys at the Newsstand:
1. Soap Opera Digest
2. Soap Opera Weekly
3. CBS Soaps In Depth
Top 3 Soap Moments To Watch:
1. Wednesday: Reid covers for Chris at a hospital party on World Turns. Should Luke be worried? Noah thinks so!
2. Thursday: Kate’s flashback on DAYS reveals who Chad’s father is. Knowing Jessica Tuck, it’s probably a lesbian vampire!
3. Tuesday: GH’s Robin realizes her HIV medication has been stolen. What Lisa should be stealing is an unemployment cheque.
Want to dish the soaps with Nelson Branco? Join The Suds Report discussion group today on Facebook.
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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. |
