FOLLOW FRIDAY: WILL CLARK LOVES WE LOVE SOAPS #welovesoaps

As many of you know from my rantings about Kish on One Life to LIve (and boy is it getting good - Kyle, the K in Kish now knows that Stacy is lying about who the real father is but he doesn't yet know - nor does anyone else - that Fish, that would be the ish in Kish, is.. super soapy good fun... could we be looking at a same sex parents custody battle this spring..mmmmm???) I love soaps and other than lurking and occasionally commenting on the OLTL board on Television Without Pity or (more recently) Twittering live during the show (it's fun to see others' comments), one of the sites that I read religiously, is the soap site put together by author Damon L. Jacobs and his business partner Roger Newcomb - We Love Soaps.

The site is only a few months old and already it's the go-to place for not just soap news (and not just daytime soaps either, but prime and web based soaps) but for podcast and video programs (such as Damon's trek to Central Park to find out how much penetration James Franco's appearance on General Hospital had made on the general public- the answer.. not too much... sad for all the fanfare! .. and just like his picture, Franco on GH kind of put me to sleep too...zzzz) and also for unique features such as the current celebration of soap actresses with a day by day countdown of the fifty greatest soap actresses of all time. (recently: Kate Mulgrew.. ah Mary Ryan, we miss you from the daytime lineup).

Anyway, as a life long All My Children fan, I've been outspoken (to my friends at least) how badly the show has been the past few years - it's like ABC wants the show to die (and oh no, there are now reports that the move to LA isn't everything that they expected.. yikes!). I started watching as a kid and yeah, I'm one of those people who scheduled my college classes around the show - I mean I even got dressed up with a couple friends and we watched Greg and Jenny get married. If that's not devotion, I don't know what is.

But even I stopped watching when characters weren't acting like themselves and there was too much reliance on serial killer stories (seriously, what's wrong with just having someone leave town if they're leaving the show.. do serial killer stories make people tune in or tune out? I personally think they make people tune out.. but then I hate the Sopranos-like-lite story that's been going on at General Hospital for the past decade which is why I no longer watch that show either).

Last weekend Damon, Roger and I all went to a Times Talk featuring AMC creator Agnes Nixon and series star Susan Lucci ("Erica Kane") as well as one of the producers and some of the rest of the cast to celebrate the series' 40th anniversary last week. (and by the way, the Times filmed the whole thing and I'll keep an eye out for it.. although I know that Jet Blue - I think - has a whole channel devoted to the Times Talks... yawn, this one was interesting but I went to another one over the weekend of Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights and geez, forget Ambien, watch the tape of that panel and its snoozeroo in five minutes).

The good news from the AMC crew is that with the firing of head writer Charles Pratt Jr (who did more to harm this show than anyone else but isn't the only one responsible for the state the show has descended to) the show is promising to go back to basics of where the show came from and a dedication to the characters who have been a part of it throughout it's history. We'll see.

So, now here's the finished product of our talk.. again, like the Talking About thing, I so hate watching myself on video so you'll have to tell me if I come out looking OK. Enjoy!

Comments

[grandiva1968.livejournal.com]

So are you getting the whole "Ford is bi and is going after both Kyle and Langston" vibe? They were laying it on thick towards the end of the week, no?

[Will Clark]

Would a bi character be a first for a soap? I think it would be really fantastic to explore! :)

[Vulpes82.blogspot.com]

Mr. Clark, I've been a fan for some time, but your appearances on We Love Soaps and finding out you're a big soap fan has only made me love you even more! I, too, am a lifelong ABC Soaps fan, who, like you, was drawn in by my grandmother and mother and sister, and am now a total OLTL crazy. I'm also a TWoP OLTL board poster (I go by Bourgeois Nerd).

Anyway, trust me, you come off looking FABULOUS in the video: funny, knowledgeable, and articulate. Damon and Roger should make you a special correspondent or co-host or something!

[Will Clark]

Thanks BN.. I love your ongoing commentary on TWOP's OLTL board (I lurk and sometimes comment) .. .you and Jasebot dissect the show brilliantly and inspire me... so thank you! :) (I could do without rhinohide but then I guess I can't expect everyone to love the Kish as much as we do!!) :)

[grandiva1968.livejournal.com]

Not entirely new, no. There was Bianca's first "real" girlfriend on All My Children, Lena Kundera, who was an Eastern European industrial spy for Michael Cambias, the man trying to infiltrate Enchantment (prior to the establishment of Fusion), whom Lena was also boinking. In fact, Bianca had a bet with Boyd Larrabee as to who would hook up with Lena first.

Not too long ago, there was a non-ABC soap (which is why I can't remember right offhand, but the editors at AfterElton probably know) where a manipulative straight man actually seduces an innocent gay man and then confesses to an uncertain sexual ambivalence.

There should be hella more bisexual-ish people in daytime. For as many people in soaps who think they're above the conventional rules of morality, you'd figure there'd be more fluidity, particularly among the male bullies on each show. I concede that it's a notion that would scare the hell out of more daytime-watching women than something relatively simple like a good guy coming out of the closet and going directly to a committed same-sex relationship. At least that's how I've seen it with the Friends of Bush I used to work for; they get to do what they want nearly unquestionably.

[Will Clark]

I think that is Young and the Restless that you're talking about. For some reason I happened to turn it on the day his girlfriend found out and ripped into him for the devastation she felt.