NaBloPoMo Month - "RIP One & Children, RIP"

NaBloPoMo Month - "RIP One & Children, RIP"
Entry #12 - 11/12/2013

Port Charles died in 2003.

Passions first died in 2007 and then again in 2008.

Guiding Light (My Beloved, FYI) died in 2009.

As The World Turns (My Second Beloved, FYI) died in 2010.

 

2013 Casts of One Life to Live & All My Children

 

All My Children and One Life to Live were both murdered in 2011 - on the same day no less and saved the same year in 2011, 2012 and once more in 2013. However, they too have died - at least according to lead actress Debbi Morgan (Angie) and Cady McClain (Dixie).

 

It was the Cinderella story that merged with the little engine that could in 2011 when a production company called Prospect Park swooped in and bought from ABC the rights to Agnes Nixon's iconic soap operas. PP's plan was to take AMC live in September 2011 and OLTL live in January 2012, following the respective series finales on broadcast network. However, by year's end 2011, that plan had failed and PP was no closer to airing the soaps than ABC was in resurrecting them to life once more.

 

In the late winter/early spring of 2012, ABC's sole soap opera General Hospital integrating into the cast reformed rapist Todd Manning, his songbird daughter Starr Manning and the ultimate good guy John McBain - who helped save Port Charles (the town, not the soap) from deadly bomb with the help of his longtime OLTL lover Natalie's picture. It was a miracle that a part of OLTL's Llanview history got to live on and it was that same miracle that no doubt cause PP to setup and take notice. They ordered GH to cease using the characters of Todd, Starr and John - although the actors were still under contract with ABC.

 

Long story short...Prospect Park launched AMC and OLTL online via their website and Hulu - to much fanfare! It was heralded as the moment that could change how we view soap operas and television dramas forever. Let's all remember soap operas used to air on the radio...when they went to television everyone said they would fail.

 

Alas, it was not meant to be. Several months ago, Prospect Park announced it was shelving OLTL, due in part to a suit that was brought against ABC/GH for killing off OLTL characters that belonged to Prospect Park. AMC on the other hand had a hugely successful first season run on Hulu - compared in contrast to the disappointing run that OLTL had. The aforementioned, Debbi Morgan delivered some of her most powerful work as Angie Hubbard and was poised in season two to set our computer screens and iPads a blaze with her sizzling chemistry with Vincent Irizarry's dastardly Dr. David Hayward. But it too was not meant to be...as Morgan and McClain and OLTL characters confirmed AMC's demise.

 

As Jamey Giddens of Daytime Confidential recently suggested in a podcast (available on iTunes for all you soap lovers) perhaps it's time to retire these 40-year plus shows and be thankful that the experiment was tried and failed as opposed to not being tried at all. We should look to the future of soap operas and relish in the ones that are still on the air - The Young and the Restless (who just appointed new head-writers) and The Bold and the Beautiful (who has a stellar storyline with Brooke/Bill/Katie) and Days of our Lives (who takes it old school, but still keeps it fresh) and General Hospital (who is enjoying a five year ratings high) - and with the demise of AMC and OLTL it got me thinking of how some of the best and brightest could make their way back to daytime in new roles...

 

 

Erika Slezak (ex-Viki, One Life to Live)

Slezak is the baddest bitch in all of daytime and she has the Emmys to back it up - count them six in total. The matriarch of OLTL should move west to CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful - as who you might ask...Vivian Spencer aka Momma Spencer. Granted there has never been a Vivian Spencer on the canvas and we don't really know who or what Bill's momma's name is - but Slezak would fit the mold and provide a much needed boost to that age range! It's time we meet Bill's mother and let her go toe-to-toe with his preachy ex-wife Katie Logan and the slut/sister-in-law her baby boy took to bed!

 

Robert Scott Wilson (ex-Pete, All My Children)

Rumor has it and storylines suggest it that General Hospital is need of a Lucas Jones. Half-brother to Carly Jax, cousin to feuding best friends Lulu and Maxie and biological son of just revealed mobster Julian Jerome! The character who revealed his sexuality years ago was talked about by his mother Barbara Jean earlier this year, by saying he's working in a Seattle based hospital. Well it's time for Lucas to come home and mix it up with his kinfolks and add some spice to Felix and Brad's pairing...

 

Debbi Morgan (ex-Angie, All My Children)

When AMC first went off the air in 2011, CBS's The Young and the Restless snapped up the ferrous Ms. Morgan as a throwaway character dubbed by fans and critics as YoHarmony. Ms. Morgan also went on the record at the time and said she would not play the wildly popular Drucilla Winters, played formerly by her gal pal and fan favorite Victoria Rowell. However, that was over two years ago...Drucilla went over a cliff nearly seven years ago and fans are itching for her to claw her way back up from the valley of the river! If CBS/Sony won't work out their issues with Rowell...it's time for bygones to be bygones...invite Ms. Morgan back to Y&R and give her the role she was meant to play in 2011. As far as friendships go...Ms. Morgan needs to call up Victoria Rowell and tell her like it T-I-S...which is, bitch I got bills to pay!

Not Young, Still Restless - Remembering Jeanne Cooper

Not Young, Still Restless - Remembering Jeanne Cooper

Several of you may already know this - I am a fan of daytime television, also known as soap operas, also known as my stories. They are my guilty pleasure! What some of you may not know however is why I am fan of these serialized story telling shows - it's because of this woman:

Granny Miller

My Great-Grandmother Bertha Miller who would babysit when I was a toddler. And because I'm spilling all the "T" like a reality housewife scorned, Granny Miller was also the same Granny that I cried for the first 90 days of Kindergarten way back in the day...but that's another topic for another time. 

My Granny would watch her beloved stories five days a week, Monday-Friday beginning at 11AM everyday and always first on her schedule was "The Young and the Restless" which has since my childhood days become a staple in my soap opera watching habits! I can still remember her talking to the television set at Jack, Victor, Nikki, Jill and of course at her beloved Mrs. Chancellor, who in later years would become my beloved Mrs. Chancellor, played by the take life by the balls and tell it as it is - Jeanne Cooper. 

Now for those of you who may not know what the hell is going on in this edition of Sparkling Vodka or who the hell Katherine Chancellor is let me break it down for you. 

Katherine Chancellor

Portrayed by the remarkable Jeanne Cooper, Katherine Shepard Chancellor Murphy was the grand dame and baddest bitch in Genoa City! She done for The Young and the Restless what Heather Locklear did for Melrose Place - arrive on the scene to stir the pot and raise the ratings! For four decades Katherine feuded with rival Jill Foster Abbott, after Jill snatched away Katherine's husband from her. She gave sage advice to her best friend the stripper turned lady of the manor Nikki Reed Newman and kept one of Genoa City's most ruthless businessmen, Victor Newman, in line when no one else could. Life would often imitate art for the character of Katherine and her portrayer Jeanne Cooper. In 1984, cameras followed Jeanne Cooper as she underwent a facelift...it was worked into her Y&R storyline so that Katherine would also be undergoing a facelift. Just as Jeanne battled alcoholism, so did Katherine Chancellor.

Jeanne Cooper died on Wednesday, May 8th leaving a gaping hole in the Y&R canvas as well as the daytime community. She was a force like no other. She was a woman who spoke her mind and entertained millions with her portrayal of "The Grand Dame of Genoa City." Sadly there will never be another Jeanne Cooper or a character as wonderful and entertaining as Katherine Chancellor. And with her death comes sadness for her legions of fans, but for this one in particular it's a little harder to swallow. I never met Jeanne Cooper and I know that Katherine Chancellor was a fictional character on a daytime soap opera - but with her passing, a small part of my childhood, a part that I treasure more than words can express, dies with her. 

Take a look as Jeanne Cooper reflects on her two time Emmy award winning role as Katherine Chancellor:  Jeanne Cooper's Intro to The Young and the Restless - 03/29/2013

Until Next Time...