"And when they ask us what we're doing, you can say, We're remembering...." (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)
Friday, February 29, 2008
Articles about Guiding Light's new production format here, here, here and here.
Read all about it, then make sure you tune in for today's grand unveiling!
It's soap for the 21st Century!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
ATWT: CUTE BABY PICTURE!
Really. Who doesn't love a cute baby picture?
Hallie Jennifer Munson: Cute baby.
BN: Do you still get fans who come up to you from your stint on Another World?
AC: Oh sure. It's funny because that was...17 years ago. Wow, I'm that old ... that's crazy (laughing). People still come up to me and say, "Lorna, Lorna, Lorna" and don't know that I've done anything else. It's very funny.
BN: Is the daytime TV schedule as much of a grind as people say?
AC: Daytime is tough. Daytime is hard. I still believe to this day that daytime is a brilliant training ground and I learned so much in my time there that I think every actor should be made to do it. It is a grind because it is 50 weeks out of the year, it's every day, Monday through Friday, and it's shooting an episode a day. I was learning sometimes 30 pages of dialogue a night.
BN: I have to ask you, where do you keep your Soap Opera Digest Award? AC: It's in my office/guest room/play room/junk room. It's on a beautiful mantle, right next to my husband's "longest drive" trophy. It's in good company.
More at BostonNow.com.Wednesday, February 27, 2008
In fact, survival is why Heche became an actress. "It was the only job I could get to pay the rent," she said. Her big Hollywood break came early with her dual role as twins Vicky and Marley in the soap "Another World" (1987-91).
She said she found out she loved her craft. "It was just a beautiful way to express my feelings. I just try to be the most truthful embodiment of a character."
Entire article, here.She was Scotty Baldwin's mother on GH, Aunt Rose on Another World, Josie on Search for Tomorrow and Agatha, a date of Billy's, on Guiding Light.
So where is actress Elizabeth MacRae now? Hanging out in Mayberry with Gomer Pyle... (Details, here)
As Guiding Light prepares to reinvent itself and its place on television, take a look back at the very early days of radio soaps, here!
(Although it is fun to learn that tie-in merchandising didn't begin with Disney or QVC.)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
And now, a pause from the “Mama Drama…”
Debbie Morgan and Darnell Williams are fabulous actors and it’s thrilling to see the evolution of their characters’ teen romance to mature love. Alas, we will never get to see whatever happened to “Calvin & DiDi” because Edge of Night is no longer on the air – and the wonderfully talented Irving Allen Lee (Calvin), who passed away several years ago – is no longer with us. But when last we saw them on EON ’s final episode, DiDi announced to Calvin that she was pregnant, so I’d like to imagine that....
URL: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=0jf77690kMI
________________________________________________________________
URL: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=zT07rhvjBMs
The significance of the 20-plus year old storylines of “Angie & Jesse” and “Calvin & DiDi” is given new relevance by Procter and Gamble’s My Black Is Beautiful initiative launched last year to address the dissatisfaction felt by many African-American women in the way they currently see themselves portrayed in the media.
Monday, February 25, 2008
If Guiding Light's little Will decides not to follow in the footsteps of his Daddy-killing cousin, Jonathan, there's always Alan Spaulding to look up to.
Heck, of a resemblance, isn't there?
Bates Park, like others in the area, was named for someone who had an impact on the community. In this case, the person was Ernest “Jim” Bates, who was Woodstock’s director of utilities for nearly 40 years. What some people don’t realize is that Bates was African-American, and for most of his life, his family members were the only blacks in the city.... Woodstock Public Works Director John Isbell said Bates’ 60- or 70-hour work weeks were evidence of his dedication to the city and his job.
“He was very hands-on,” said Isbell, who began working for the city in 1984. “He wanted to make sure that he knew what the operations were directly.”
But Bates always tried to make it home in the middle of the day to catch one of his favorite shows, the soap opera “As the World Turns,” Robyn said.
Read the entire article, here.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBS
Martha Byrne (Lily)
Terri Colombino (Katie)
Maura West (Carly)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
Crystal Chappell (Olivia)
Nicole Forester (Cassie)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBS
Scott Bryce (Craig)
Jon Hensley (Holden)
Michael Park (Jack)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus)
Robert Newman (Josh)
Ron Raines (Alan)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBS
Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily)
Marie Wilson (Meg)
Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
Beth Chamberlin (Beth)
Marcy Rylan (Lizzie)
Gina Tognoni (Dinah)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBS
Trent Dawson (Henry)
Grayson McCouch (Dusty)
Austin Peck (Brad)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
Murray Bartlett (Cyrus)
Jordan Clarke (Billy)
Daniel Cosgrove (Bill)
Outstanding Younger Actress In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBS
Alexandra Chando (Maddie)
Jennifer Landon (Gwen)
Marnie Schulenburg (Alison)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
Mandy Bruno (Marina)
Bonnie Dennison (Daisy)
Caitlin Van Zandt (Ashlee)
Outstanding Younger Actor In A Drama Series
AS THE WORLD TURNS * CBSVan Hansis (Luke)
Jake Silbermann (Noah)
Jesse Lee Soffer (Will)
GUIDING LIGHT * CBS
John Driscoll (Coop)
Tom Pelphrey (Jonathan)
Lawrence Saint-Victor (Remy)
The above pre-nominations are the result of in-house voting. Actors on each show vote on who they think deserves an Emmy nomination from their own show.
The next step is each of the pre-nominees above picks one tape to go to a larger pool of Academy voters. (At this level, actors can only judge actors who are not on their own or a sister show. I.e. ATWT actors can't judge ATWT or GL actors, Y&R actors can't judge Y&R or B&B actors, ABC actors can't judge other ABC actors. DOOL actors can judge anyone they want.)
The top vote getters from among the pre-nominees become the official Emmy nominees. Emmy nominees submit two episodes to another panel. The winner of that run-off is announced at the Daytime Emmy Awards.
Complete list of pre-nominees, here.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Question: Which album by rock band, The Kinks, was inspired by P&G Classic Soap, The Edge of Night?
Answer: In the 1970s, The Kinks' frontman, Ray Davies, had an actress friend on The Edge of Night. Her story of how the actors would sometimes sing their lines during rehearsal to entertain themselves, prompted Davies to release a concept album titled The Kinks Present a Soap Opera.
Read all about the album, here.
Listen to sample tracks, here.
And to watch the show that started it all, click here!
BREAST IS BEST
Frank Dicopoulos (Frank; GL) will appear at the Reach to Recovery Breast Cancer Benefit on Sunday, April 6 at 550 Cherrington Parkway, located in Coraopolis, PA.
Tickets and more information available at www.breastcancerbenefit.org.
ATWT: PHOTO PREVIEW
Chris Hartl and Will Poston appear as Chad and Grant, two frat boys who make trouble for Luke, Noah and Ameera on Thursday, February 28.
Although actor Van Hansis (Luke; above) doesn't seem too worse for wear after his traumatic experience.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
All in all, ten different actors played the role of Another World's Jamie Frame, son of the show's signature couple, Rachel and Steve (apologies in advance to those who believe Steve and Alice were the ones with the rooting value. If Steve couldn't decide one way or the other, why should we?)
Though such stars as Russell Todd, Laurence Lau (ex-Greg; AMC, ex-Sam; OLTL), and Richard Beakins made the biggest splash as Adult Jamie(s), the actor who was actually in the role the longest, was young Bobby Doran, who played Jamie from 1973 to 1978, starting when he was just 14 years old.
Well, Robert Doran is all grown up now, and starring in Love Letters in New Canaan.
Read the entire story, here. And check out Another World on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel, here!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
One very small boy, one very large support staff.
Seamus Davey Fitzpatrick prepares to unleash some classic Will evil, surrounded by Guiding Light's crew.
Now that Ameera is on her way to Oakdale, time to take a look back at the first time a Muslim heroine was introduced on daytime.
The year was 1980, and the show was Another World as it prepared to spin off Texas...
Details, here.
Mama Mia!
"My daughters tried to send me to rehab, but I said..." (3 hand claps)
"No, No-no, No!!"
In fact I'm thinking of doing a geriatric spoof of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" video and putting it up on YouTube :-) Just kidding…but if any of you want to take that idea and run with it, feel free!
After my 91 year-old mom’s recent recovery from pneumonia, her doctors sent her to a rehabilitation facility after her release from the hospital so that she could regain enough strength in her legs to allow her to safely be able to use her walker, again. But Mom hated rehab and said she either wanted to go home or she wanted to die and refused to eat the whole time she was there.
Because of her stroke a few years ago, which caused a problem with her swallowing mechanism, Mom will probably have to have a feeding tube for the rest of her life in order to get enough nourishment, and she will always be at risk for pneumonia because of her tendency to aspirate (food particles and even her own saliva getting into her lungs), and she may never be ambulatory again, even with a walker. But she will be able to feed herself and eat regular food…enough to at least be able to enjoy the taste of it.
A lot of you have experienced what I'm going through and understand what this time has been like for my sister and me...and for those of you who haven't...but for whom the time may someday come, perhaps you will be able to draw strength from my sharing of this experience with you.
In closing... Life is precious...enjoy every minute of it and don't sweat the small stuff (and in the grand scheme of things, it's ALL small stuff). Keep your sense of humor....and remember that "uhhh…’excrement’ happens"...but it doesn't have to stick...and while it might stink some, the odor doesn't have to linger if you flush real fast and quickly open a window and take a real deep breath.
Keep the faith!
Mariann
Mariann also blogs at : Lee Bailey’s Electronic Urban Report
Monday, February 18, 2008
Doris (Orlagh Cassidy) and Buzz (Justin Deas) have already run against each other for mayor. How would they do in a race for president?
Doris Wolfe:
Election Cliche: Former D.A. is tough on crime. (That stance did wonders for Rudy Giuliani, didn't it?)
Pros: No Dan Quayle type rants against single moms.
Cons: Wants to turn entire world into a mall.
Special Interests: Alan Spaulding.
Buzz Cooper:
Election Cliche: Vietnam vet. (See John Kerry/John McCain)
Pros: Son, daughter and granddaughter are cops, so he can kind of be tough on crime, too. If son Coop weren't a recent criminal (to be fair, so is Doris' daughter, Ashlee).
Cons: Having abandoned his kids for 20 years, can't really run on Family Values platform. (Though Ronald Regan was divorced. And John Kennedy and Bill Clinton weren't exactly monks.)
Special Interests: His own family. (Basically, Buzz is all for development, as long as it doesn't affect his diner on his street.)
If these two were running for president, who would get your vote?
Tell us below!
In honor of Presidents' Day, we take a look at the intersection of First Ladies and As The World Turns...
Mamie Eisenhower's favorite show of all time was ATWT. Her husband, the Ike that everyone liked, noted that As the World Turns "initiated the Television Era in the White House."
When Annie Stewart Ward gave birth to quadruplets in 1982, her character received a congratulatory call from then President Reagan. Annie and her husband Jeff named the youngest of their quads Nancy, after family friend Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner; above), and First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Margaret Colin (ex-Margo) made her Broadway debut as the title Kennedy in the comedy, Jackie, and as the First Lady to President Michael Keaton in the movie, First Daughter.
Claire Bloom (ex-Orlena) appeared as Edith Wilson in Backstairs at the White House, while Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda) won an Emmy for playing the same Mrs. Woodrow on First Ladies' Diaries. (Step aside, Hillary, many historians believe that Edith Wilson was actually our first female president, when she stepped in for her stroke-stricken husband. Talk about a juicy soap opera!)
Mary McDonnell, who made her television debut in 1980 on ATWT as Claudia Colfax, little Paul's adoptive mother (yes, obsessive mama Barbara once gave her firstborn up for adoption, details here), played the doomed First Lady in the sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day. Where her husband's press secretary was portrayed by the previously mentioned Margaret Colin.
It's such a small, soapy, Presidential, turning world...
Friday, February 15, 2008
Modest Dress: On February 25, Ameera (left), a young woman from Iraq, approaches Noah and Luke with some interesting information about Colonel Meyer.
Less Modest Dress: Vienna's (right) version of appropriate work-place attire.
That's what we love about As The World Turns -- It has a little something for everyone.
Her goal is to have a regular role on a soap opera, preferably her all-time favorite, "The Guiding Light." After graduation, she plans to enroll in acting school in New York.
Read the entire story, here.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
GL: VALENTINE'S DAY
Somebody's getting a very special Valentine's gift from Lizzie (Marcy Rylan) on today's episode of Guiding Light... tune in to find out who!
THIS IS MY BROTHER MIKE, AND THIS IS MY OTHER BROTHER...
ESPN Radio co-hosts Mike Greensburg and Mike Golic will appear as two brothers who go head-to-head with Guiding Light's Reva (Kim Zimmer) and Josh (Robert Newman) on Wednesday, February 20.
Hopefully, both brothers will not be named Mike, just for clarity's sake.
(Fun fact: Mike Bauer, father of Hope, grandfather of Alan-Michael, was named at the request of Charita Bauer, the actress playing his mother, Bert. Her real-life son was called Michael, and she didn't want to get confused.)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
ATWT VALENTINE'S DAY PREVIEW
Tom and Margo's Valentine's Day fantasy asks the question: What If... Tom was prosecuting Emily while Margo defended her?
Curious what crime Emily is accused of committing? Check out the photo spoilers above for a clue!
(And for those who wrote to ask for photos of Jack and Carly's What If... we're keeping those an extra special surprise. You'll just have to tune in on Valentine's Day and find out!)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
ATWT: VALENTINE'S DAY PREVIEW
What If... Noah (Jake Silbermann) had never met Luke (Van Hansis) and instead gone ahead and joined the military like his father wanted?
Tune in on Thursday, February 14 for As The World Turns' take on the classic musical, On the Town... with an Oakdale twist.
MARIANN’S MIDLIFE MAYHEM & MISCELLANY: The Mouse that Roared
As a little girl, my big dream was to someday be a “Mouseketeer.” Fuggedabout Romper Room, or Ding-Dong School, or Captain Kangaroo! The Mickey Mouse Club was my favorite television show of all time.
Of course, I could never just watch the show. Nooooo….I had to perform all the little songs and dances in front of the TV set, just like I was a regular member of the cast.
To this day, I remember most of the songs and the weekly line-up. I was especially fond of “Anything Can Happen” Day, because if anything could happen, that meant that someday I could become a Mouseketeer. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was probably my first “autosuggestion”…with Mickey Mouse acting as a hypnotist!
I am not being facetious. That little rodent gave me hope. Because of Mickey Mouse, I could imagine a joy-filled world of laughter and song – a world where parents didn’t argue and mommies weren’t sad. Some of my fondest memories are when my mom would watch the show with me, which she sometimes did, because it came on right after her favorite program, the soap opera, Edge Of Night.
Well, eventually I grew up, and The Mickey Mouse Club went off the air, and I missed out on the chance at my big dream.
But isn’t it curious, that some twenty years later, I would end up as one of the stars of Edge Of Night?
I’d auditioned for a lot of soap operas in New York…how is it that I ended up on that one? Had an image of it been imprinted on my subconscious mind from hours of watching it with my mother? Did I manifest being on it because of its strong positive associations for me? Did the Universe give it to me because, as an adult, the closest equivalent to The Mickey Mouse Club it could come up with was an acting gig on a show in its formerly adjacent time slot? With all that I learned about the subconscious mind during my training to become a hypnotherapist, I wouldn’t doubt it.
The great lesson in dreaming a BIG dream (and believe me, for a poor, little black girl from the five-block-by-nine-block Village of Phoenix, Illinois, being on The Mickey Mouse Club was a very big dream) is that BIG dreams stretch your imagination of what is possible. When you dream a “little” dream, you only pump up the volume of what you’ve already had; but when you dream a BIG dream, you embrace the possibility of something you’ve never had before.
Even if you don’t get your BIG dream, you still end up better off than settling for a little one. When you aim for the stars, chances are, that at the very least, you’ll reach the moon; but when your goal is only as far as Palm Springs, you might only make it to Pacoima.
Listen to the voice of experience: I never got my BIG dream. I never made it to The Mickey Mouse Club. But I did get to be on Edge Of Night. And you know what? When you DREAM BIG, second best ain’t half bad.
Keep believin’!
Mariann
www.mariannaalda.com
(Mariann also blogs at Lee Bailey’s Electronic Urban Report)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Ever wanted to experience Springfield from the inside out?
Guiding Light needs you to become a crucial member of our team!
We are looking for dedicated, passionate fans of Guiding Light to help us shape the next generation GL fan community!!
As you may know, Guiding Light will be undergoing some exciting changes beginning February 29th, and in conjunction, we will be launching a new and improved website to give you a more intimate, realistic view of all the happenings in Springfield!
As a valued and active member of our current fan community, Procter & Gamble Productions would like to invite you to become a leading force in the establishment of Springfield’s new multi-dimensional, interactive community!
Launching in March, this new, robust community section on www.guidinglight.net will allow its members unprecedented access to the cast and crew of GL as well as the opportunity to build connections and network with other fans just like you!
Highlights of the community will include personal fan profiles, blogs, private groups, and the opportunity to win exclusive GL prizes!
Our viewers are of the highest value to us so we are establishing the Springfield community in hopes of bringing you as close to your favorite Guiding Light characters as possible.
To kick off, we’re inviting you to join the Guiding Light community with the special role of “ambassador”. As an ambassador, you will be given a vast array of special opportunities and privileges, including the opportunity to interact with your favorite GL actors! The ambassadors will act as the leaders and mentors of our community and will help us shape the way new and old fans alike share their love and appreciation for Springfield and its residents.
We feel with your support and knowledge of GL, we’ll be able to create the community and camaraderie you and all other Guiding Light fans deserve.
To learn more about becoming an ambassador for the new Guiding Light community, please email us at pgpwebmaster@televest.com and tell us a little about yourself and why you should be a Guiding Light fan ambassador!
We hope to hear from you soon!
ATWT VALENTINE'S DAY PREVIEW
On Valentine's Day, find out What If...
Will (Jesse Lee Soffer) had met Gwen (Jennifer Landon) before she slept with Casey (Billy Magnussen; who, yes, I realize would have been Zach Roerig at the time, but you've got to go with the flow).
Find out on Thursday, February 14, only on As The World Turns!
Coming up next: What If... Luke and Noah.
Friday, February 08, 2008
ATWT: VALENTINE'S DAY 2008 PREVIEW
What If...
Evan's needle had been the end of Lily (Martha Byrne), and Holden (Jon Hensley) was forced to carry on alone?
Yeah. Right. As if Lily would let a little thing like death keep her away from the love of her life (not to mention her kids. Like Lucinda, Lily is, shall we say, a bit over-involved with her off-spring)...
Watch Oakdale's version of Ghost, next week on As The World Turns!
Coming up Monday... What If: Gwen and Will.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
ROBERT NEWMAN (JOSH; GL)
He's been on Guiding Light (on and off) since 1981.
So how the heck (sorry, Reverend) is Robert Newman (Josh) still so hot?
Exhibit A: His latest photo shoot, above.
ATWT: PHOTO SPOILER
On Thursday, February 14, As The World Turns offers fans an out of time Valentine's Day episode asking the question "What If..."
Tom (Scott Holmes) and Margo (Ellen Dolan) made like Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib, with Tom as the crusading District Attorney and Margo for the defense... of accused murderess Emily (Kelley Menighan Hensley)?
Tomorrow: "What If..." Holden and Lily.