SOAP STARS ON HOLLYWOOD'S WALK OF FAME (You'll be shocked who is - and who isn't!)

On May 19, 2016, Deidre Hall, who has played Marlena on Days of Our Lives on and off for almost 40 years now, received her star on the world-famous Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Of course, Hall isn’t the only soap-opera actor honored along that glittering stretch of street. There, the daytime denizens can be divided into three major categories.

Find out what they are at Entertainment Weekly: http://community.ew.com/2016/05/31/which-soap-opera-stars-are-on-hollywoods-walk-of-fame/

FANS PICK THEIR FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM 'GENERAL HOSPITAL'S' NURSES' BALL

It’s time, once again, for the Nurse’s Ball on General Hospital! First held in 1994 as an on-screen fundraiser for the titular institution’s Pediatric AIDS Unit and Outreach Programs, the Nurse’s Ball has served as an annual (through 2001 and then again starting in 2013) showcase for doctors, nurses, administrators, their friends and family, as well as occasional mobsters, to unveil heretofore hidden musical and dramatic gifts on par with… trained actors.

Though one outlier on Twitter confessed to disliking the Nurse’s Ball, the majority of those surveyed responded enthusiastically when asked to name their favorite moments from previous years’  festivities.

Watch the top 5 vote getters at Entertainment Weekly and have a great long weekend!

TOP 10 SOAP OPERA STAND ALONE EPISODES

Last week on Days of Our Lives, viewers found out that the presumed dead Aiden was – like so many previous residents of Salem – actually alive. But instead of getting the story of where he’s been (spoiler: held prisoner, talking to a dead bird that somehow managed not to decompose over a period of months) via dialogue, or through watching Aiden in his pen all this time, viewers were treated to a stand-alone episode that began with Aiden’s kidnapping on his wedding day, and went all the way through his escape back to Salem. They also got to watch actor Daniel Cosgrove grow facial hair.

Stand-alone episodes are obviously a departure for daytime, where a typical show will feature multiple storylines happening in near-real time (though if characters are flying from the United States to Europe, that might happen during a commercial break). DOOL wasn’t the first show to break format in such a manner. Check out some previous classic episodes at Entertainment Weekly, here.

ALICIA COPPOLA TALKS 'ANOTHER WORLD' (AND ME)

Michael Fairman (an old friend since our days of working on Pure Soap together) has a wonderful interview with Alicia Coppola (ex-Lorna; AW) about her new role as Dr. Meredith Gates on The Young & the Restless. Read the whole thing, here.

This is the part where I come up in conversation:

Lorna’s rape story was so powerful.  How was going through that experience as an actress?

ALICIA:  It was very draining, and also controversial. Alina Adams, an Entertainment Weekly Contributor, a wonderful writer, wrote a compelling article on Rape in Soaps. She highlights the message that soaps, intentionally or otherwise send, that women being raped instantly makes them better people; the notion that rape tames and subdues “difficult” women to make them likeable and softer.  All of this I completely disagreed with.  In her piece, she writes of Lorna’s rape.  I wrote to Alina and said (I am paraphrasing, of course…) “First of all, Lorna was always a bitch.  She was raw, and she was damaged.  She didn’t all of sudden become Mary, mother of Christ, because she was raped.  That’s nonsense.  She was a force to be reckoned with.  She was a badass, before the rape and after the rape.  So you can’t say rape tamed her, because that is what you are implying.”  Alina, as an amazing journalist, was so open to this dialogue and we did an interview addressing this.  Speaking from experience, I can promise you rape tames no woman, no one…quite the opposite in fact.  This was a very important storyline to me.

To read the entirety of what Alicia had to say on the subject, go to this Entertainment Weekly Community post.

FREE 'GETTING INTO NYC KINDERGARTEN' ADVICE RIGHT IN YOUR OWN HOME!

You've heard of Tupperware parties (is that still a thing)?

Well, here's a variation on that theme: My Getting Into NYC Kindergarten workshops in public venues have been filling up so quickly, I've decided to expand into private homes, to make it more convenient for even more people to attend and get the full scoop on how the process works and when they should start preparing for it (spoiler: It's a lot earlier than most parents realize).

Here's how it will work: Round up a minimum of 10 people and I will come to your home at a mutually agreed upon time and date to do a free, hour long Getting Into NYC Kindergarten workshop.

And to thank you for hosting, I will throw in a complimentary, 30 minutes personal consult about your particular situation right afterwards!

Interested? Contact me at: AlinaAdams@gmail.com for further details.

In the meantime, you can find a listing of my upcoming public workshops, as well as podcasts covering a variety of Getting Into NYC Kindergarten topics at: www.AlinaAdams.com.

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH 'BOLD & BEAUTIFUL' STORY - NOW IN ONE CONVENIENT LOCATION!

The Bold & The Beautiful had a classic, soapy story brewing. Ridge married Caroline, only to learn that she was pregnant with his son, Thomas’, child, the result of a drunken hook-up when Ridge and Caroline were briefly on a break. (It was all Ridge’s fault, he dumped Caroline because he couldn’t give her the children she wanted. Then he got over it.) Caroline and Ridge assume the baby is Thomas’, because Ridge had a vasectomy (and those certainly never, ever go wrongon daytime). Ridge bullied Caroline into keeping the truth from Thomas and raising her baby boy as theirs, and Caroline went along because she truly loves her husband. And because Ridge bullied her.

But secrets never stay secrets on soaps for long, and viewers knew that little Douglas’ paternity was bound to come out sooner or later.

But did it have to be in such a clumsy and plot-driven manner?

How clumsy and plot-driven was it? Let me count the ways at Entertainment Weekly....

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: TOP 5 MOST MEMORABLE SOAP OPERA PROMS

When the Days of Our Lives teen set began preparing for prom in April, I was afraid that we were in for a Passions-like long celebration (parties on Passions which were supposed to last one night on-screen were known to stretch out for literally months of episodes). I feared it would go on through June, which is when most real-life high-schools hold their proms.

Turns out all that worrying was for nothing. Prom Night in Salem barely lasted a week. Ciara went with Theo, despite an earlier fight with Mark. Mark rigged the King and Queen of the Prom voting so that Ciara and Theo were named the winners then, when they went up to get their crowns, playing an embarrassing slide show about the two (guess the prom-supply store was all out of the traditional pig’s blood).

In retaliation, Ciara spray-painted Mark’s car. Except that said car actually belonged to Mark’s dad, a judge, and Ciara, along with the friends who helped her, were all arrested.

An eventful prom-night, but not really up there with the daytime classics. (Heck, it’s not even up there with 2000 when Phillip – yes, the one who’s now hooking up with Claire’s mom, Belle, took the school’s official Ghoul Girl, Chloe, to the Last Blast Dance. Chloe arrived dressed to the nines and looking fabulous, but that still didn’t stop her from almost getting soaked by the traditional pig’s blood bucket. Luckily, Shawn – yes, Claire’s dad – pulled her out of the way in time. Both Shawn and Belle were also at the dance. Don’t ask how it was only 16 years ago and they were childless teens, but now their daughter, Claire, is 17. It’s the magic of SORAS!) 

So which soap-opera proms really do stand the test of time? Click here to find out!

HOW THE REST OF THE WORLD SEES 'GETTING INTO NYC KINDERGARTEN'

When I tell people who aren't from New York City (or whose kids are too young yet) about what getting into NYC Kindergarten is like, they think I'm exaggerating, or just plain old making it up.

That's why I say that I'm selling my book, Getting Into NYC Kindergarten, as a how-to in NYC... and as farce everywhere else.

The process is now so ridiculous, overwhelming and expensive (yes, even if you just want to go to your local public school), that Thomson Reuters' Asia division produced a television segment on it for the overseas market... which I helped them with and appeared in.

Check it out below!



And if you're not adequately terrified by that, you might want to pick up a copy of Getting Into NYC Kindergarten for a detailed account of what you've got ahead of you...



To learn about my upcoming FREE Getting Into NYC Kindergarten workshops, go to www.AlinaAdams.com for dates and times, and to RSVP (space is limited).

ALICIA COPPOLA'S FAVORITE SOAP-OPERA MEMORY

Yesterday saw actress Alicia Coppola (Lorna; Another World) return to daytime as Dr. Meredith Gates on The Young & the Restless.

When I spoke to Linda Dano (Felicia; Another World) for my book, Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama's Greatest Moments, about her favorite scene, Dano cited Felicia's intervention storyline and praised, "I also worked with a wonderful cast who supported each other in any way they could.  Especially on Another World, we were a tightly knit group.  My co-stars in this storyline were the best at their craft.  Stephen Schnetzer, Alicia Coppola, John Aprea, Victoria Wyndham should all take equal credit for making this story work as well as it did."

With turnabout being fair play, I asked Coppola the same question. Check out our interview below!

Alina Adams: What moment/scene/story do you think exemplifies soap-operas at the very top of their game? Why would you say it shows soaps at their best?

Alicia Coppola: I think there are a plethora of scenes to choose from every one of the soaps. For me, playing Lorna Devon on Another World, there are two very memorable scenes. The first was when Lorna sat at Lucas’s (John Aprea) deathbed and the second was when we find out Lorna had been raped.

Both scenes, both storylines, actually, pull from two of life’s most difficult, demanding and devastating life moments. In these moments, I think the writers, directors and actors of Another World told very truthful, sincere stories with dignity and integrity. That is Soap Opera work at its very finest.

AA: What was it like shooting those scenes? How did you prepare? How much was carefully planned out and how much spontaneously rose up in the moment?
        
AC: This is an interesting question. Prior to shooting the Lucas dying scenes, I was very scared because my own father had passed away two months before I got the job as Lorna. I sat with my father as he lay dying in life and then had to go to work and do the same thing. I don’t think the producers and writers knew what I had just been thru, so it really was a strong case of Art imitating Life. I remember Janet Iacabuzio, one of the writers who wrote the scenes, wrote me a letter telling me she had no idea that I had lost my father and that she was there to support me and love me through these very difficult days of work. I still have that letter and whenever I find myself having a blue day, I reread it. It has become an inspirational touchstone for me.

Those scenes, holding John’s hands, staring into a face that coincidentally resembled that of my dad’s, and feeling those feelings of loss and abandonment all over again, was at once cathartic and emotionally psychological torture. I recall John trying not to cry during the scenes and me trying not to vomit. John was enormously kind, supportive and loving and took care of me in those scenes the way my own father did right before he died. In his silence, in his stillness was a strength that I was able to pull from. Those scenes are some of my favorite work.

To read Coppola's memories of Lorna's rape storyline, click here. 

And for other soap-opera memories from daytime's top actors, writers and producers, get a free preview of Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime's Greatest Moments at this link.       

SOAP OPERA CHARACTERS WHO GOT AWAY WITH RAPE

Last week on The Bold & the Beautiful, Wyatt finally found out that his mother, Quinn, had been holding the amnesiac Liam more or less prisoner, telling him that they were married and making plans to run away together. (Allegedly, it was in the interest of giving Wyatt a clear shot at Liam’s girlfriend, Steffy, but, as time went on, Quinn found herself falling for the dumb lug who didn’t realize Quinn was off her cuckoo for Cocoa Puff rocker.)

Despite his mother’s best efforts to convince him otherwise, Wyatt locked Quinn in the closet and sped Liam back to Steffy (whom Wyatt had married in the interim, because the love of one’s life apparently doesn’t come along as rarely as they used to anymore).

As of earlier this week, Quinn still thought she could wriggle her way out of what, to most people, would look like some serious jail-time. Is this yet another example of her utter and complete break with reality? Or has Quinn simply watched enough soap-operas to know the lay of the land.

Soap-opera characters – if pretty and popular enough – can pretty much wriggle their way out of anything. Murder. Kidnapping. Rape.

Because even though Scott Clifton, who plays Liam deniesthat his character was, in fact raped - what else would you call knowingly having sex with a brain-damaged individual incapable of giving consent?

But that’s still okay. Soap-opera male rapists have been getting away with – and even rewarded for – their crimes going on 50 years now. Why shouldn’t women share in the equal opportunity redemption?

If/when Quinn’s case ever goes to trial (even in the court of public opinion) she’ll always have these precedents to invoke...

Read them all at Entertainment Weekly!

NYC HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENT WRITERS WANTED

Last April, I released Getting Into NYC Kindergarten, the book that explains all your NYC school options - and how to get them. (For a list of my upcoming Getting Into NYC Kindergarten workshops, click here.)

This year, I am preparing the companion book, Getting Into NYC High School. (Spoiler: NYC High-School admissions makes Kindergarten admissions feel like puppies and kittens in a basket.)

The high-school book will be a little different in that, in addition to general information about how to apply to NYC specialized high-schools, selective high-schools, screened/unscreeneed high-schools, charter high-schools, private high-schools, religious high-schools, etc... I will be including first-person accounts from the kids about their experience.

I want to hear about how they chose the schools they applied to, how they ranked them, and what the process - test, interview, portfolio, audition - was like. (Something like this, but in their own, original voice.)

Are you a teen with writing ambitions who'd like to get a publishing credit before graduating high-school? Are you the parent of a teen who you think might have writing ambitions, would like a publishing credit and/or something cool to put on their college resume?

Please contact me at: AlinaAdams@gmail.com for more information.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

WHAT'S AS COMMON AS A COLD - AND TAKES AS LONG TO RECOVER FROM? SOAP OPERA PARALYSIS!

Last week on Days of Our Lives, after a tumble down the stairs (the leading cause of soap-opera miscarriages), Maggie woke up in the hospital to utter the time-honored phrase, “I can’t feel my legs!” (Tumbling down the stairs is the second leading cause of soap-opera paralysis.)

Naturally, Maggie was devastated by this turn of events. But you’d think the woman who was first introduced as a crippled farm-girl who was eventually cured of her condition by love (well, okay, surgery was also involved… but it was mostly love) would be the first to realize that, on soaps, paralysis is rarely permanent.

Click here for some of daytime’s most famous medical cases… and how they turned out

DAYTIME EMMYS 2016: I'VE SEEN YOUR FACE BEFORE (HAT-TIP: LES MIZ)

The 2016 Daytime Emmy nominations were announced last Thursday and, for the soaps, it was old home week, as category after category was dominated by past winners and nominees, with only a smattering of first-time fresh faces, primarily in the Younger Actor and Actress division.

Even in the newbie categories of Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series, Outstanding Actress in a Digital Drama Series, and Outstanding Actor in a Digital Drama Series, beloved soap-opera vets rule. 

Read all about it at Entertainment Weekly: http://community.ew.com/2016/03/29/daytime-emmy-2016-nominees/

TIPS FOR A PROFITABLE BOOK SELLING EVENT

I am quoted in Publisher's Weekly about how to hold a successful Author event:

“The key to a successful event is lining up partner organizations that have as much to gain from a good turnout as you do,” says Alina Adams, author of the book Getting into NYC Kindergarten, published last April. She hosts workshops on navigating New York’s school application system at local businesses that are interested in getting her target market—parents of children ages newborn to four years old—through their doors. “Hosting my workshop allows them to advertise themselves in a new way, while I get access to a customer base I might not have otherwise,” she says.

Read the entire article at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/69770-the-indie-authors-guide-to-organizing-author-events.html

THE FIDDLER ON THE ROOF... AND ME

The latest revival of Fiddler on the Roof, currently playing at the Broadway Theatre, opens with Danny Burnstein in modern dress, standing beneath a train station sign announcing “Anatevka” in Russian. He takes out a book and reads the opening lines of the show out loud as if from a diary, before taking off the 21^st Century clothes and assuming the role of Tevye the Milkman. At the very end, as the villagers are heading out after having been evicted, Burnstein returns wearing his present day outfit, picks up the handles of the cart Tevye was previously dragging, and moves on with the rest of them.

Passover is next month. One of the edicts to celebrate by reading the familiar story of the Jewish exodus is for every participant to feel “as if you personally had come out of Egypt.” That’s what this new opening and closing made me think of.

Luckily, it’s a snap for me to put myself in Tevye and Co’s shoes. Find out why (and even see a picture) at: https://www.tdf.org/stages/article/1410/what-becomes-of-the-family-in-fiddler

SOAP OPERA CLIFF-HANGERS WHERE CHARACTERS HANG OFF CLIFFS

Monday, March 21 marked the 36^th anniversary of the greatest soap-opera cliffhanger the world had ever seen: Dallas’ Who Shot JR? It raised the bar for television cliffhangers, both primetime and daytime and though multiple attempts have been made since – including the TNT reboot having him shot and, this time, killed, and their ironic first season tag which literally featured the character of Cliff… in a (plane) hanger – no show has proven able to duplicate the international hysteria the original triggered.

Not that daytime hasn’t given it the old college try, repeatedly. Often by sending someone flailing off an actual cliff. Just last week, as they went into their March Madness hiatus, The Bold & the Beautiful had Quinn give Deacon the old heave-ho in order to keep him quiet about Quinn’s keeping an amnesiac Liam away from his loved ones (especially the ex-fiancée who was about to marry Liam’s brother – Quinn’s son).

Will viewers ever see Deacon again now that he’s falling many hundreds of feet into the Pacific Ocean? We calculate the odds based on previous cliffhanging cliff-topplers from shows including GH, DAYS, Y&R, GL, OLTL, AMC and more at Entertainment Weekly: http://community.ew.com/2016/03/22/soap-opera-cliffhangers/

TOP 5 SOAP OPERA SUPPERVILLAINS

Soap-opera villains come in two flavors. There are your Young & Restless Victors and General Hospital Sonnys, who bellow and stomp their feet and attack innocent glassware in fits of rage when things (i.e. business, women, children) don’t go exactly their way. But they, along with the women who fake pregnancies and drug men into thinking they had sex despite being unconscious, are still, more or less, within the realm of reality and actions that actual human beings might, under some very particular circumstances, engage in. Even Days of Our Live’s newest daddy for John (yes, there have been quite a few of them) is still teetering on the precipice. At the moment, kidnapping babies, holding leading men prisoner and wanting to drain all of his son’s blood for a transfusion still falls under acceptable crazy status.

Then there are the supervillains. Bad guys – and gals – who aren’t constrained by space, time, gravity, science, or weather. They’re the ones who, in theory, could take down a soap town’s Big Bad on Campus – not just Victor and Sonny, but DAYS’ own Victor, even the Bold & the Beautiful’s face-morphing Sheila – without breaking a sweat… or a nail. The fact that they don’t has to mean they either don’t see these merely mortal villains as a threat. Or just don’t believe getting rid of them would be sporting. And/or worth their time.

So who are these comic-book worthy foes, and what has lifted them into the pantheon above run-of-the-mill schemers and thugs? We count down our Top 5 Favorites at Entertainment Weekly, here: http://community.ew.com/2016/03/15/soap-opera-supervillains/

IMAGES OF JEWS ON TV: OF KINGS AND PROPHETS

While I’ve written before about how Jewish women get theshort end of the stick on TV, it’s not like Jewish men do much better. Woody Allen set the standard, and the nebbish, hyper-intellectual loser with girls cliché still sticks (let’s not talk about how the majority of Jewish male characters on TV are married to or involved with non-Jewish women – that’s a whole other post topic for another time).

That’s why I was intrigued to hear that ABC was launching a weekly series, Of Kings & Prophets, based on the Biblical story of King Saul, that uppity shepherd, David, the prophet Samuel, presumed heir apparent Jonathan, conflicted princess Michal and assorted other supporting players (no word yet if Batsheba will be making an appearance down the line).

It’s going to be pretty hard to drop stereotypical New York Jews with their whiny, nasal drawls, proudly un-athletic physiques and fondnesses for Shiksa goddesses into, as the onscreen Chyron explains, “Gibeah, the capital of Israel.” Especially when the producers promise to go “as far as we can” with the sex and violence. An ABC executive called it “muscular.” The network ran a “may not be appropriate for all audiences” disclaimer prior to airing the pilot.

Were we finally going to get some atypical Jewish male representation on TV? And would it be worth watching?

Find out here: http://www.kveller.com/of-kings-prophets-may-be-the-most-atypical-jewish-show-on-tv-right-now/

SOAP OPERA STORIES THAT WIN DAYTIME EMMYS

Last week on The Bold & the Beautiful, after denying that she was spiraling out of control emotionally and developing a drinking problem, to boot, Katie smashed the glass tumbler holding her alcohol. Then, to demonstrate how desperately low she’d sunk, a tearful Katie picked up the broken tumbler and sipped from it anyway.

(One does have to wonder why, as there were plenty of other, intact glasses on the bar, and a half-full bottle, next to it. Why didn’t she just pour herself another drink and go to town without fear of ingesting shards destined to shred her intestines Probably because it would have been less cinematic.)

Heather Tom, who plays Katie, is the only actress in history to ever win Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Younger Actress, Outstanding Supporting Actress, and Outstanding Lead Actress. Odds are, there’s another Emmy (at least a nomination) in her future for this Katie Is An Alcoholic storyline.

The Daytime Emmys love alcoholic storylines. (Not as much as they like twin stories, or rape stories but alcohol is right up there.)

Find out which actors have won in the past for playing drunk and hear from Another World's Linda Dano (Felicia) on how her Emmy-winning intervention came together, here: http://community.ew.com/2016/03/08/daytime-emmys-love-alcoholics/

MAKING EVEN MORE MONEY OFF YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK

Thanks to Cary Press for quoting my tip on how to make even more money off your self-published book than you expected:

Alina Adams: Last April, I self-published a book, “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten,” to help parents navigate this Draconian process. I thought that would be that, but because so many people wanted to talk about their particular situation after reading the book, I began offering private consultations. Now I make more money doing consults than I do selling the book!

I also conduct workshops, record podcasts on the subject, and am developing "Accepted! Secrets of NYC School Admissions" as a television show.

From one self-published book to media empire!