Not a bad list, but I would have included Melody Thomas Scott, who took a stand against the paycut they tried to force on her and won. She may have still had to take some kind of cut, but obviously she got them to back down from their stance and agree to something that satisfied her. These days, thats a major power-play.
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Posts: 6121 | Location: Florida | Registered: July 05, 2006
Um. I cannot speak for Nelson, but if you go back to Nelson's old columns he had some not so nice things to say about MTS and her ploys during her contract "negotiations".... (I am a HUGE MTS fan, but it was still enlightening, and made me understand why she is supposedly not well liked behind the scenes) And I although Eric Braeden is probably my favorite actor alive (daytime, nightime, movies) I am not getting how he is one of the most powerful people in daytime.. The most disappointing thing to me is Nelson's (and I LOVE Nelson, mind you) kindness to Y&R. Nelson this show is unrecognizeable and absolutely WORSE than when LML was running it. Y&R gets away with murder critically. I am sure it is tough to be an outspoken journalist and not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you.. BUT... Y&R has been a disaster for 3-4 months now, minimum.
Posts: 149 | Location: Boston, Ma | Registered: February 02, 2008
Good list overall (esp. Chappell at #1) and I want to give a shout out to us the fans, b/c even though they don't like it I think we have the ultimate power. I think we should've knock out Geary, but whatever lol.
Posts: 5356 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
Originally posted by nbgemini: MTS took a pay cut. Not sure where you read she didn't. And Y&R wrote her out. They were willing to let her go, 'yo!
OK, then. I guess I mis-read something along the way because I thought that they backed down when it came to her. Well, my bad. Screw that powerless wench. LOL
Posts: 6121 | Location: Florida | Registered: July 05, 2006
You should have added Gina Tognoni. THREE soaps were after her, she was probably the most in demand actress after GL's cancellation was announced. She could have had a role on any soap before agreeing to go back to OLTL.
Bierdz proves that you can hire an out gay actor in a key role n daytime. That's called influence. Read my intro. There's more to power than just money. I stand by him. Also, his gay story influenced One Life to do their own, etc with Scott Evans.
Yeah, I'm not sure I agree with Bierdz either. He may be an out actor in a major contract role, but his return was botched, his performances sucked, and he was quickly tossed to the backburner. Not exactly powerful stuff.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Thom Bierdz is merely a gay prop on Y&R. Maria and Hogan pimped him out to finally get viewers off their backs about the show NEVER having a gay character on the show's canvas.
I recently have been tuning into OLTL to see how Frank and Ron are handling the Fish/Kyle story, and while i applaud both actors in their roles, the writing is very stereotypical and bland.
Why does every gay story have to about the disapproving parents? The testoserone induced father who thinks his son is "going through a phase." The loving mother who adhere's to what her husband says. Not every gay person has parents like that.
How nice it would have been if Fish's parents were PFLAG members..loving supportive parents who love their son for who he is. How about having Fish's mother try and set her son up on a date with another gay man she knows???
And no offense to Scott Evan's mom, but the show should have hired a real actress to play Fish's mom, not Evans' own mother (whether she has a theatre background or not). Her performances were very stiff. But this is a Brian Frons show, that cheapo will save money wherever he can.
Originally posted by nbgemini: Bierdz proves that you can hire an out gay actor in a key role n daytime. That's called influence. Read my intro. There's more to power than just money. I stand by him. Also, his gay story influenced One Life to do their own, etc with Scott Evans.
If anyone should receive the power plug for the hiring, it's MAB, not Bierdz. She was the one who was able to orchestrate that and her move influenced others. Following your logic, why not give some love to Clementine Ford? She's out and in just as pivotal of a role.
Bierdz' lacklustre acting quickly became his undoing. Frankly, no one cared or was wowed by his return. It fizzled very quickly. He went as quickly as he came - at least from the looks of it.
With that said, I hope I'm not sounding too nitpicky. I love your list - and whether I agree or disagree with the choices, I always appreciate the passion, respect, and intelligence with which you report on the industry!
Originally posted by prettygoodyear: The most disappointing thing to me is Nelson's (and I LOVE Nelson, mind you) kindness to Y&R. Nelson this show is unrecognizeable and absolutely WORSE than when LML was running it. Y&R gets away with murder critically. I am sure it is tough to be an outspoken journalist and not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you.. BUT... Y&R has been a disaster for 3-4 months now, minimum.
Agreed, Y&R has been an utter mess for the past 4 or 5 months. The show actually gets WORSE month after month. I have very little or no faith that Maria Arena Bell or her henchmen can turn any of this around. Many of these problems existed from the beginning of their time with the show and have only gotten worse with time. The writing for black people, the writing for women, the writing for gays, useless killings of legacy characters, rushed pacing, crappy execution of stories, etc.
It's time Y&R was called out for the crap it's become. The show used to be in a league of it's own? Now? It's as bad or worse than AMC, ATWT, or B&B are.
The only list Maria Arena Bell deserves to be on is an unemployment list. Though, I do agree, the bitch must be powerful. Too bad she's drunk off the same power and it's hurting her show creatively.
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Originally posted by MARKPGH: I recently have been tuning into OLTL to see how Frank and Ron are handling the Fish/Kyle story, and while i applaud both actors in their roles, the writing is very stereotypical and bland.
I interrupt the currently scheduled discussion to say, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Based on your reasonings for why Crystal Chappell's number 1, I'd agree. She seems to be developing into a multi hyphenate, and she can act, so great for her. It's great that Valentini is there, and he gave one of the best speeches at the Emmys. His bf/hubby/partner must be one lucky guy. Romanovich maybe should've ranked higher considering he actually got the Emmys to air! Where's Mulcahey and his interview?
It is your list, so you'd probably be accused of self-promotion and lauding yourself, but I do think you and Michael Logan should've at least tied somewhere on that list. Your columns and scoop breakage are more entertaining than most soaps, and fans follow those instead of the actual serials.
Where's KKL though? Her acting was the centerpiece of B&B's first ever Emmy winning reel. She seems pretty magnanimous and not an egocentric diva on the B&B set, and has carried the show as its heroine, and she's popular overseas (her commercials, spas, performing on DWTS Italy). Her liabilities would be her lack of power usage: asking for new storyline directions, being more aggressive in her Emmy reels, etc. If she was a diva, there'd be major changes on B&B. As for Brad Bell, you didn't include a major liability: still no gay storyline.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: bottomchef,
Originally posted by bottomchef: Based on your reasonings for why Crystal Chappell's number 1, I'd agree. She seems to be developing into a multi hyphenate, and she can act, so great for her. It's great that Valentini is there, and he gave one of the best speeches at the Emmys. His bf/hubby/partner must be one lucky guy. Romanovich maybe should've ranked higher considering he actually got the Emmys to air! Where's Mulcahey and his interview?
It is your list, so you'd probably be accused of self-promotion and lauding yourself, but I do think you and Michael Logan should've at least tied somewhere on that list. Your columns and scoop breakage are more entertaining than most soaps, and fans follow those instead of the actual serials.
Where's KKL though? Her acting was the centerpiece of B&B's first ever Emmy winning reel. She seems pretty magnanimous and not an egocentric diva on the B&B set, and has carried the show as its heroine, and she's popular overseas (her commercials, spas, performing on DWTS Italy). Her liabilities would be her lack of power usage: asking for new storyline directions, being more aggressive in her Emmy reels, etc. If she was a diva, there'd be major changes on B&B. As for Brad Bell, you didn't include a major liability: still no gay storyline.
