Silbermann Talks WORLD TURNS and Boundary Busting

OUT.com writer Christine Champagne talked to the newest star of AS THE WORLD TURNS, actor Jake Silbermann ("Noah Mayer") about the historical import (and potential) of his gay teen character's upcoming summer romance and his "natural" chemistry with on-screen love interest Van Hansis ("Luke Snyder").

Which isn't to say that the road to gay iconography has run smoothly. Silbermann tells Champagne of his first ATWT public appearance, a trip to the GLAAD Media Awards before he had even aired as Army brat-turned-news intern (turned-supercouple's son-scoping charmer) Noah. His first mistake? Not knowing to be fashionably late...

Read Champagne's story here.

RELATED - "GENERAL HOSPITAL's New Gay Hottie," the Out.com interview with Ben Hogestyn

Jericho Fan Campaign: Just Might Be Nuts Enough to Work

Fan protests of the decision to cancel shows are nothing new. In fact, the Internet is lousy with petitions, old and new, devoted to dearly departed network and cable offerings. Soaps, however, are in a league of their own...something the editors of Soap Opera Digest (who occasionally have to beg fans to stop sending a particular item in) or executives at Proctor & Gamble, drowning in the fruits of whatever fan campaign ("place these two characters together!", "break these two up," "give _______ a new contract!") happens to be active at the time, can tell you.

[ed. note -- I even admit to to participating once, protesting Jennifer Branson's firing from GENERAL HOSPITAL--and as much as I love, love, LOVE Laura Wright's amazing take on "Carly Corinthos," I still think Bransford got screwed, and that ABC Daytime owes her a second chance someplace else...]

But such campaigns are more rare, and less successful, as a rule, in the realm of prime-time, though dissapointed fans of the canceled JERICHO, are redefining the creative fan campaign playing field.

In a recent report filed by Scott Mayerowitz for the ABCNEWS Business Division on ABCNEWS.com reports that a fan campaign to deluge CBS with thousands and thousands of pounds of peanuts to protest the network's decision to cancel the show appears to be working.

So far, nearly 8 million, or 40,000 lbs. of peanuts have arrived at the offices of multiple CBS executives, and the Associated Press, citing an anonymous source, reports that the network is now reconsidering the cancelation, with a decision on whether to revive the show for mid-season next year, due soon.

Read the full story here.

David Bauder Looks at Fall's Network Serial Plans

From the Associated Press' David Bauder:

There were two lessons from this season that television executives clearly didn’t forget: Don’t overdo the serial dramas with complex story lines that require a serious viewer commitment, and keep interruptions for successful ones to a minimum.

More dramas — and network TV is primarily in the drama business these days — will tell stories that won’t baffle the viewer who happened to miss last week’s episode.Three successful serials were particularly hurt this season by long intervals with reruns. That was fatal to CBS’ “Jericho,” which was canceled. The other two, ABC’s “Lost” and NBC’s “Heroes,” will run their new episodes uninterrupted next season, following the model of Fox’s “24.” So will the CW’s “One Tree Hill.” CBS will try the same thing with “Swing Town,” one of its most promising newcomers.

“I don’t know if we know the ideal model yet for each of them,” said Kelly Kahl, chief of scheduling at CBS. “We’re looking, experimenting, trying to find the best way to do it.”

DRIVE Sputters (but may rev up yet...)

Variety reports on the disappointing performance of the 2-hour premiere of FOX's action serial DRIVE (starring, among others, ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Nathan Fillion, ex-"Joey Buchanan," pictured), which suffered in a debut time-slot placing it directly opposite an original episode of ABC's hit serial DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.

The auto-race serial, which features a fairly unique premise, may have a better chance building an audience once it settles into its permanent timeslot on Monday nights and has a chance to benefit from word of mouth among its target audience of young men. Read the story here.

ABC Nighttime Soaps Win GLAAD Media Awards

GREY'S ANATOMY the hit soap whose actor, Isaiah Washington, was criticized for calling a then-closeted co-star T.R. Knight a "faggot," (leading to Knight's coming out and creating a pre-Imus teaching moment for the nation and a Hollywood that prides itself on being tolerant.) was awarded outstanding individual episode Saturday, by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (for the episode "Where the Boys Are").

ABC continued their sweep--begun when ALL MY CHILDREN beat AS THE WORLD TURNS, among others, for outstanding daytime drama last month in New York--when freshman serials UGLY BETTY won for outstanding television comedy series and BROTHERS & SISTERS took home the outstanding drama series award.

The 18th annual GLAAD Media Awards -- consisting of 42 categories -- are split into four ceremonies, held in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Francisco in March, April and May. The awards recognize and honor mainstream media for "fair, accurate and inclusive representations" of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

FOX and ABC Set to Debut Action-Adventure Serials for Summer

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story this week entitled "Serialized Dramas Hope to Reheat Ailing Genre," but it was less an examination of the industry and more a profile of two new nighttime serials to set to debut as late mid-season replacements. ("Ailing" is, of course, relative, as the pick-up rate of 21% for new serial dramas has already met--and if only one more is renewed this season, it will excced--the average rate for all new shows, of any genre.):

Fox's DRIVE and ABC's TRAVELER -- both heavily serialized dramas -- were developed during the 2006-07 development cycle when the [serial] genre was red hot.

A year later, the genre is in the freezer after the majority of ambitious new fall series with continuous story lines crashed and burned.

Now Drive and Traveler slated for a May 30 launch, will test the airwaves to see if the serialized drama curse has been lifted.

<...>

Indeed, observers note that it was the dark serialized dramas such as VANISHED, KIDNAPPED, SMITH, THE NINE, and DAY BREAK that fizzled, while lighter fare such as the heavily serialized HEROES and the soap UGLY BETTY became the breakout hits of the season.

Drive and Traveler are in the action-adventure genre -- Drive chronicles an illegal cross-country race and its participants, while Traveler revolves around two graduate students searching for their friend Will Traveler, who disappeared after framing them for a terrorist act. That makes the shows a good fit for the summer movie season that kicks in next month....

Read the full article here.

Network Honchos Tackle the State of Nighttime Soaps

Scott D. Pierce writes an absolutely fantastic piece entitled "To Be Continued..." for the Deseret Morning News on the place and future of the nighttime serial on network television. I've included a highly truncated version below, but recommend reading Pierce's full article here.

From the Deseret Morning News:

Last fall, network executives were…declaring this the Season of the Serial — in addition to the [many] shows with storylines that continue from week to week returning—[execs] added 19 more.

By midseason, some critics were declaring the effort a big flop and predicting the end of serialized shows on network TV.

<…>

As with all things in TV, this is cyclical....if the executives were wrong last fall, so were those critics at midseason. The truth lies in the middle. Of those 19 new serials, four — BROTHERS & SISTERS, HEROES, MEN IN TREES, and UGLY BETTY — have already been renewed for next season [a success rate of 21 percent].

A 21 percent success rate is just about [the same] for all new network shows. If one or two more get picked up…this year's crop of serialized newcomers will exceed that average.

Part of the thinking [is] that serials are a risk, but offer a big reward. If they prove popular with [viewers], those viewers will come back week after week.

"Serialization is still one of the biggest hooks that we have into an audience," NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said. "[It's] rocket fuel when you hit it."

The risk comes because you're asking viewers to tune in to every single episode [and] the risk increases when there are so many serials on the air, because viewers can't commit to all of them.

Fox's Entertainment president Peter Liguori thinks that serials have to be not just good, but better than other shows. "It seems to me that in order to put on a serialized show, you have a higher standard," he said. "If we're going to ask viewers to make that kind of commitment, you better be great."

<…>

It would be nice if quality always wins out [but] some good shows get canceled; some very bad shows succeed.

The thinking is that there were just too many serialized shows on the air at one time...if a viewer is already watching 24 and LOST and GREY’S ANATOMY, how many of the 19 new shows did he or she have time to start watching [also]?

Reilly acknowledged that critics "were right to acknowledge the overabundance of serialized shows." Particularly too many shows that were so much alike in tone….but [that] you can't argue serials don't work, "because there's Heroes, completely defying the logic," Reilly said. "Highly serialized, highly complex and it's the breakout hit of the year."

And ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson believes that "escapism" equaled success, pointing to Betty and Brothers & Sisters.

Liguori postulates that "shows that have a more singular focus and a singular goal may have a leg up. PRISON BREAK — get out of prison; 24 — save the country."

Network programmers…expect to program fewer new serials this fall. "We're...looking and saying. 'How much [of a] commitment can an audience make to an overall schedule?"' McPherson said. As a result, he's looking at more "stuff that is procedural or closed-ended" for next season.

"We're not running away from it," said NBC's Reilly. "But we are balancing it out a little bit more."

Soaps on the Ropes? Broader Impact of Falling Soap Ratings Explored

John Consoli of MediaWeek authors "Soaps on the Ratings Ropes," exploring the changing soap ratings landscape. As a long-time industry watcher, I wish the piece had included some historical context (the advent of alternative cable programming, the year's worth of O.J. trial pre-emptions) that would have been helpful, and explored the highly relevant question of what channels like SoapNet have done for overall ratings (I would be very interested in knowing what GENERAL HOSPITAL's ratings come to when you combine the ABC showing with the ratings for each of the SoapNet repeats), but it does tackle the subject in a balanced way, noting that while soaps may not pull in the viewers they once did, they still are an efficient way to reach a valued audience, and for that reason, still draw advertisers. It's worth a read.

[Editor's Question: The ratings numbers/trends regarding the shows which have benefited from the inclusion of college students are practically the polar opposites from those featured in this Variety story a few weeks ago. If anyone knows the reason for this discrepancy, e-mail me at the address to the left.]

A substantial excerpt of the full article:

Daytime soap operas on the broadcast networks have continued their steady audience decline this year, drawing concern from media buyers who say there are still a large number of clients that want to reach the shows’ largely female viewership. But some nets at least are doing something about it.

While NBC announced earlier this year that after eight years it will pull the plug on PASSIONS this fall, the network will stick with DAYS OF OUR LIVES. And both CBS and ABC insiders say they are committed to keeping their combined seven soaps on the air. But despite the networks’ commitments, the audience shortfalls, combined with advertiser demand, have tightened the avails and driven up prices.

“We always hate paying more for less,” said Andy Donchin, executive vp and director of national broadcast for Carat USA.

“Daytime ratings are bleeding and it’s a problem for advertisers,” added Rino Scanzoni, chief investment officer for GroupM, who said he wants soaps to survive, “It’s an efficient way to reach women, and if they go off the air, I can’t think of any efficient alternatives.”

Donchin agreed. “Even though I am concerned about audience falloff, it hasn’t reached a point where our clients would abandon the daypart,” he said, “The total number of viewers each day is still substantial when compared to alternatives like cable or syndication.”

To read the full article, go here.

Fall Primetime Schedules Start Shaping Up With Additional Cancellations

James Hibberd updates us on how the primetime landscape is shaping up for dramas next season:

In rapid succession, a flurry of struggling shows are being yanked from the schedule. NBC’s THE BLACK DONNELLYS, the CW’s 7TH HEAVEN,” Fox’s The Wedding Bells and ABC’s SIX DEGREES have either been pulled off the air or ceased production early this week as networks reconfigure their schedules for May sweeps.

The David E. Kelley’s dramedy The Wedding Bells has ceased production, but the network plans to air three more episodes. The Friday night drama most recently earned a mere 1.4 rating among adults 18 to 49.

ABC pulled SIX DEGREES last fall, then brought back the show as a March addition to Friday nights. Its last airing earned a 1.1 rating. Repeats of Wife Swap will air in its place.

NBC’s mob drama THE BLACK DONNELLYS filled a Monday night hole vacated by STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, and has bled viewers nearly ever airing. Last night’s episode earned a 2.0 rating. Donnellys will be replaced by the reality series The Wedding Crashers.

The 7th Heaven will finish its final season, with a finale to air May 13, but will not return this fall.

GH's Monaco Joins FOOTBALL WIVES in First Use of New Contract Flexibility

The loss or gain (or return) of a major star is a surefire way to gamble with the ratings, and network and show execs have been criticized in the past for being particularly unwilling to work with hot, young actors tempted by outside projects. (GENERAL HOSPITAL is famously rumored to have sealed the end-of-contract departure of Jacob Young--then GH's "Lucky Spencer," now ALL MY CHILDREN's "J.R. Chandler"--when they refused to allow him to take a role the Renny Harlin-Sylvester Stallone film Driven.)

That is why many observers were surprised when ABC Daytime and GH were able to come to terms with a clearly happy Kelly Monaco ("Samantha McCall," ex-"Livvie Locke Morley," PORT CHARLES). Though the negotiations went down to the wire, Monaco--a ripe candidate for daytime departure if there ever was one (after raising her profile considerably by winning the first season of the breakout hit Dancing with the Stars)--declared that the show had given her unprecedented flexibility in exchange for ABC having exclusive rights to any prime-time "branching" she might seek to do.

The details were vague, and rumors had Monaco reporting to the set of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES for work seemingly every week (she wasn't). It now turns out that fate had an entirely different ABC nighttime soap in mind for Monaco: the highly anticipated, star-heavy British import FOOTBALL WIVES (based on the British hit soap Footballer's Wives). Monaco will be a featured guest star (hello, Heather Locklear!) for an undetermined amount of episodes, joining a cast that already includes Lucy Lawless, DAWSON'S CREEK's James Van DerBeek, SUNSET BEACH and Third Watch's Eddie Cibrian, real football wife Holly Robinson Peete of 21 Jump Street, and film star Ving Rhames, among others.

And what about GH? Despite Monaco's "Sam" being played in very heavy story, the show has let her out as required without objection. While a temporary recast was considered, GH decided to shoot around Monaco's schedule instead, confirming that the flexibility built into Monaco's contract by ABC is indeed extensive.

Should the experiment work, it may serve as a model for future contract renewals with breakout stars, allowing soaps to keep much needed (and significantly happier, no doubt) fan favorites, while allowing said favorites the chance to do the kind of outside projects that will not only serve their careers, but might also make new fans willing to follow them back to their "day job." Sounds like a win-win to me...if a potentially more complicated one.

College Viewers Continue to Deliver for Soaps Under New Ratings System

Soappipe has already explored how better measurement techniques by Nielsen Media Research of college students has revealed significantly greater viewership for daytime soaps (including NBC's PASSIONS and CBS's GUIDING LIGHT), boosting ratings in what was seen as a long-overdue move (and sadly, one made after the decision was made to cancel PASSIONS) to fully capture the viewing habits of young adults--often considered the key demo by advertisers.

In his MediaWeek piece "ABC Benefits From Out-of-Home College Viewers," writer John Consoli notes how the change is affecting the prime-time landscape (and clearly benefiting nighttime soaps like GREY'S ANATOMY and UGLY BETTY, and satisfactorily solving the mystery of why the seemingly lagging Anne Heche vehicle MEN IN TREES snagged a much coveted early renewal from the network.)

"MARCH 29, 2007 - ABC ratings have benefited more than any other broadcast network in prime time from Nielsen Media Research's new measurement of out-of-home viewing by college students,according to an analysis by media agency Magna Global USA. And, ironically, The CW, with the youngest median age, had the second to the fewest number of shows among the Top 20 which benefited most.

According to the Magna analysis, ABC Thursday night drama Grey's Anatomy has gained three rating points among the
18-24-year-old demo group, from a 6.0 to a 9.1, and that has boosted its rating by one rating point in the overall adult 18-49 demo group, since Nielsen began measuring out of home college viewing in January. ABC's other Thursday night dramas Ugly Betty and Men in Trees have also gained among the 18-24 audience, off lower bases.

Betty rose from a pre-college out of home measurement 18-24 rating
of 2.4 to a post measurement rating of 3.7, a gain of 56 percent, while Trees went from a 1.4 to a 3.3, a gain of 140 percent."

Read the full article here.

Read earlier article Nielsen's Change, Soaps Benefit.

Additional Serials Tapped for Early Renewal by Networks

Though its future had been in question, FOX's twisty prison serial PRISON BREAK, starring Wentworth Miller, has been selected for early renewal, along with episodic dramas HOUSE and BONES.

Additionally, NBC has renewed freshman serial HEROES, though the supernatural soap's combination of high ratings and buzz had essentially guaranteed its return.

(More on the expansive list of early renewals handed out by ABC earlier this month here.)

Soaps' New Media Ventures: Coming of Age?

Business Week asks, "Can producing soap operas for online viewers breathe new life into daytime programming?" in Tom Lowry's piece 'As The World Wide Web Turns':

In late February, CBS launched a Web-only soap opera called L.A. DIARIES it hopes will attract young women. The nine episodes are
streamed for about six minutes a pop on the network's innertube.com site.

The action centers on "Amber [Moore Forrester," portrayed by Adrienne Frantz], an existing character on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, and on "Alison [Stewart," portrayed by Marnie Schulenburg], a new character who emerged from the cyberspace soap on Mar. 21 to play an actual role on TV in AS THE WORLD TURNS [Soappipe editor's note: "Alison" is actually a long-running character on ATWT, recently recast and reintroduced via Diaries].

It's a fresh approach to creating buzz for a TV staple, and other network executives will be watching closely. Rival networks are trying to get kids to watch old daytime melodramas such as GENERAL HOSPITAL and DAYS OF OUR LIVES, shows their mothers or grandmothers might have watched.

Few genres have demonstrated more staying power than the soap opera. More than half a century after first airing alongside the detergent commercials that gave them their name, soaps still captivate millions of mostly women fans. No matter how preposterous the dialogue or cheesy the plot lines, soaps have, in modern parlance, a "stickiness" that many prime-time dramas can only hope to achieve.

Characters like newspaper publisher "Victoria Lord Davidson" [portrayed by Erika Slezak] of ONE LIFE TO LIVE (who made her debut on the show in 1968) have been on the tube for so long that they can seem like old friends. "I feel I really know them," says Antonella Cahill, a 40-year-old Philadelphia secretary and soap fan who named one daughter after the scheming "Nikki Newman" [portrayed by Melanie Thomas Scott] of Y&R and the other after GH's "Tiffany Hill" (who married and left beloved Port Charles years ago).

Even better, as far as soap fans are concerned, the networks don't stint on new episodes; last year, ABC rolled out 251 new GH episodes vs. 23 new DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES shows.

But even as the shows' stars age gracefully (cue makeup, soft focus, and cosmetic surgery), there is no hiding the graying of their fans.
There are new plot devices and characters--a teen girl's right to choose, for one--calculated to appeal to young women. Even so, most soap devotees are well over 50. Meanwhile, over the past decade, viewership has fallen 35%, to 30 million viewers a day. Hence the networks' eagerness to reimagine the soaps for a new generation.

It goes without saying that the Web is where the action is, but so far the networks haven't been able to win the digital rights to put them on their own sites. Until ABC, NBC, and CBS hammer out a deal with the production companies that make the soaps, few will be available to download or stream. [Soappipe editor's Note: NBC streams PASSIONS daily on NBC.com.]

There's plenty of upside in getting the deals done. Media consultant Tom Wolzien figures there are more than 20 million women in the workplace with broadband access. So streaming shows live to computers could double the potential audience for soaps. If you got just 5% of those working women to watch, Wolzien calculates, the networks could reap an extra $230 million a year in advertising.

In the meantime, the networks are taking baby steps online. SoapNet, the Walt Disney Co.-owned channel that shows soaps at night for working women, sponsors online soap fantasy leagues. Participants rack up points when characters they have picked for their team take off their shirts, say, or switch the paternity-test results. Still,
the players number less than 30,000. The channel is also asking college kids to create their own soaps and put them to the vote at soapnet.com. Even CBS's GUIDING LIGHT is getting in on the act, podcasting the show, which began life on radio in 1937. [Soappipe editor's note: ATWT also is available as a streaming podcast each day.]

If the soap opera is to be around for another half-century, the networks will have to make converts of a generation with a thousand more entertainment choices than their grandmothers.

"The constant," says Barbara Bloom, senior vice-president for daytime programming at CBS, "is making viewers always feel emotionally involved in the story."

• Read the Business Week story in its original form here.
• See L.A. DIARIES, featuring Y&R's Amber and ATWT's Alison here.
• View full-episodes of PASSIONS (and check out a variety of interactive web content related to the supernatural soap) on-line here.
• Interactive content for DAYS is here.
• Download GL and ATWT podcasts here. Additional web content for CBS Daytime is here.

Hundreds of NYC Hopefuls: 'I Wanna Be a Soap Star'

From WNBC.com:

"Do you want to be a soap opera star? Apparently hundreds in the New York City area do.

They flocked to the Upper West Side Saturday for the open casting call of SoapNet's reality series I WANNA BE A SOAP STAR....[which] will feature 10 aspiring actors living full-time on soap opera sets--all trying to win a 13-week role on NBC's DAYS OF OUR LIVES."

Auditions were held on the set of THE VIEW, and followed a similar open call in Miami, Florida, a week prior. The show will hold one more open call, next week, at Prospect Studios in Los Angeles, home of GENERAL HOSPITAL and GREY'S ANATOMY, with callbacks set for April 1 (more). The show is hosted by ALL MY CHILDREN star Cameron Mathison.

ABC's Frons: "Do you say to a woman ‘I’m going to divorce you in two years’ and expect them to still sleep with you?"

Anne Becker of Broadcasting & Cable talked to Brian Frons, President of Daytime for the Disney-ABC TV Group, resulting in some very revealing observations on ABC Soaps, SoapNet, and more (including whether ABC would buy a cancelled DAYS OF OUR LIVES):

On GH’s Sweeps Performance: “GENERAL HOSPITAL took a very unique creative approach and the audience….went, ‘wow, we have never seen that before.’ GH led in every major female demographic from teens, 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 women [and] that’s the first time GH has ever done that and the second time I think it’s ever been done that at all.”

On the Daytime Emmy Nominations: “If I had a disappointment it would be that GH did not get a nod for best show and it’s interesting because the writing was nominated, Tony Geary, Genie Francis and Julie Berman were featured in the November episode the show submitted for best show and were all recognized and so was the director somehow the show wasn’t.”

“I’m very pleased particularly for ONE LIFE TO LIVE...It’s OLTL first Best Show nomination since Frank Valentini took over in early 2003.“

On the Cancellation of PASSIONS: “[PASSIONS] was a show that had a strong heartbeat a few years ago, they went from being a very young-targeted show to trying to spread their demographic to going back to who they were and I think they lost some people in the zigging and zagging and it cost them.“

On a Possible DAYS Cancellation: “NBC…has had the weakest commitment to daytime historically. When Jeff Zucker announced that DAYS may go away in 2009, you can track the ratings from that point and see they probably lost 25% of their audience on NBC Daytime...do you think you can turn to a woman and say, ‘I’m going to divorce you in two years’ and expect them to still sleep with you? I say no. So, they sort of broke the contract and I think it’s the opposite for us.”

On whether ABC would buy a cancelled DAYS: "The success of ABC soaps on ABC would really prevent us from picking up DAYS for ABC and I don’t know that when the time comes for DAYS and NBC to part ways that we’ll have an economic model that will make it practical to put on SoapNet. Otherwise, I would certainly consider it."

On Future Plans for SoapNet: “We have two shows in development now in the reality soap genre - a la Laguna Beach and The Real Housewives of Orange County [and] we bought ONE TREE HILL and THE OC. SoapNet really needs to be a channel that stays contemporary in terms of delivering all soap experiences to the consumer.”

On MyNetworkTV’s failed telenovela slate: “They went into time periods and stations that were not in the soap opera business in daytime or primetime so I think the soap opera audience was not looking to those channels for soaps. To get a soap opera audience, you really have to spend some time with them, give them a chance to sample the product, and have the patience for them to get caught up in it. Unlike traditional novelas, which can last six months to a year, these were only 13 weeks. Almost by time you figured out who everybody was, it was over and that may have been a stumbling block to them.”

On AMC’s “risk taking” and the current transgender storyline: “Part of the audience is passionately approving what we’re doing and there’s a portion that aren’t embracing it with the same excitement. That story was conceived with a finite ending. We wanted to introduce the character and explore the issue and create a relationship with Zoey and Bianca and we’ve had a chance to do that. The storyline will be over by end of April.“

On the Firing (and Potential Re-Hiring) of former AMC Headwriter Megan McTavish: “Megan was somebody who took great risks and was innovative yet at the same time very true to the heart and soul of ALL MY CHILDREN. Turning out 250 hours of television a year was a grind and she had been doing it for a while. I’ve actually told her that after she takes a little time off, I would be more than happy to hire her as a story consultant."

(read the full interview, and Frons's take on Rosie O'Donnell and The View, here)

Television & Diversity: Progress (and the lack thereof)

A pair of excellent stories in The Morning Call on race, diversity, and interracial relationships on-screen focus on nighttime dramas, but could easily apply to the advances (and lack thereof) on daytime today (click on the titles to read the full stories):

Interracial Romances Flourishing on TV with Little Fanfare

and

Diversity on TV Up, but Stars, Producers, Writers Still Mostly White

Writer McFarland Handicaps Primetime Faves Ripe for Cancellation

In her article, Spring Can Be the Cruelest Season for Favorite Shows, Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer handicaps the mid-season status of primetime network shows in the cancellation crosshairs, including several serials.

Including each net's point-of-contact information for the action oriented, MacFarland runs down her list, which includes:

CBS: JERICHO

"Proving how fickle fortune and audiences can be, the post-apocalyptic drama had momentum and buzz on its side last fall, only to be crushed by American Idol when it returned in February. CBS could move it, but finding a suitable fit is going to be problematic. Besides, why shift JERICHO if replacing it with a show potent enough to fend off the Idol threat makes more sense?"

ABC: No serials/no dramas

"Only a few seasons ago, ABC had no luck landing a decent drama. Now that it's lousy with 'em, including a couple that are among television's highest-rated, it can't score a decent sitcom to save some development executive's neck. No one could blame the network if it scrapped the lot and started completely fresh..."

NBC: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, Crossing Jordan, Studio 60

"The Peacock is facing a bit of a dilemma as is flies into May. HEROES became a hit, but other freshmen such as FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS suffer from a mismatch between acclaim (high) and ratings (low); and veterans, even [the original] Law & Order are barely treading water. NBC fumbled the promotion campaign for [LIGHTS] last summer, but it can make up for that in the run-up to season two....there's less hope for the likes of Crossing Jordan and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which might be pushed on top of the cancellation grenade to preserve the mother ship L&O—and save the cost-cutting NBC some money."


FOX: PRISON BREAK, Standoff

"PRISON BREAK has yet to be renewed, but it's safer than Standoff, which is getting a last chance to justify its existence by turning around the Friday night death slot. (Not gonna happen.)

THE CW: VERONICA MARS, GILMORE GIRLS, 7th HEAVEN

"VERONICA MARS fans are used to hearing gloomy predictions about its survival odds this time of year, but now they really have to be worried. First, its season order was shortened. Then, hiatus replacement The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll drew in higher ratings. Another whammy: The stars of GILMORE GIRLS haven't decided whether to extend their contracts for another year. Without GILMORE, Neptune's finest might be done. If those shows go down, they had better take [HEAVEN] with them."

(Read the full story, including McFarland's sitcom pics, here.)

NPR's 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me' Turns its Satirical Eye on Daytime

Daytime continues to show it still has the stuff of the zeitgeist, finding itself featured this week as a topic on NPR's hit comedy gameshow Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.

The celeb-studded Wait, Wait... (which bills itself as "the oddly informative news quiz") turns a satirical and side-splitting eye on current events each week. The show has a regular segment called "Bluff the Listener" where a listener-contestant is given details of three potential news stories based on a similar theme and asked to determine which is real.

This week's theme was "Daytime TV to the Rescue" and featured three "potentially" true news accounts of "do-gooders on the daytime dial," including:

• DAYS OF OUR LIVES choosing to throw an environmentally friendly wedding for characters "Sami Brady" and "Lucas Roberts," played by actors Alison Sweeney and Bryan Dattilo, complete with biodegradable party favors, as a way of raising viewers' environmental consciousness.
• Talk show hostess Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley Vaughn Santos, ALL MY CHILDREN) claiming "cuteness" gets no respect to a weekly magazine, dissing Charlie Gibson, and proposing an "attractivness onslaught," led by Anderson Cooper, Reese Witherspoon, and the cast of NBC's HEROES--all capable of proving just how intelligent "cute" can be.
• GENERAL HOSPITAL, home of Luke and Laura (who panelist Charlie Pierce describes as "the hairstyles that did so much for daytime in the 70s") seeking to raise public awareness of holistic medicine by adding a character, "Dr. Sanjay Prada," who is specialist in Eastern Medicine--and facing protests from the evangelical right in the process.

Readers of Soappipe, of course, know that the correct answer is DAYS's upcoming "green wedding," and that the others came from the show's very creative imagination. Sadly, the listener-contestant did not, incorrectly identifying the made-up GH alternative medicine story as the correct one.

(More on Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me here.)

Daytime Emmy Nominations Sure to Spark Controversy: Does CBS continue to be recognized disproportionately at the expense of NBC?

Nominees for the 34th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards were announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences live on CBS's The Early Show at the stages of GUIDING LIGHT, television’s longest running daytime drama.

Peter Price, President of the National Television Academy, was joined by Barbara Bloom, Sr. VP, CBS Daytime Programs, Early Show anchor Julie Chen, and actors Mandy Bruno and Bradley Cole ("Marina Cooper" and "Jeffrey O'Neill") of GL; Terri Colombino and Austin Peck ("Katie Peretti Kasnoff" and "Brad Snyder") of AS THE WORLD TURNS; Brandon Beemer ("Shawn Brady") of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Cathy Jeneen Doe, ("Simone Russell"), PASSIONS, Bree Williamson ("Jessica and 'Tess' Buchanan") of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and Jacob Young of ALL MY CHILDREN.

Outstanding Drama Series

• THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC
• THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

• Maura West, as "Carly Snyder," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Crystal Chappell, as "Olivia Spencer," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• Kim Zimmer, as "Reva Shayne Lewis," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• Jeanne Cooper, as "Katherine Chancellor," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS
• Michelle Stafford, as "Phyllis Summers Newman," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

• Michael Park, as "Jack Snyder," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Anthony Geary, as "Luke Spencer," GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Ricky Paull Goldin, as "Gus Aitoro," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS"
• Peter Bergman, as "Jack Abbott," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS
• Christian LeBlanc, as "Michael Baldwin," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

• Lesli Kay, as "Felicia Forrester," THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• Genie Francis, as "Laura Spencer," GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Rebecca Herbst, as "Elizabeth Spencer," GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Gina Tognoni, as "Dinah Marler," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• Renee Elise Goldsberry, as "Evangeline Williamson," ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC
• Heather Tom, as "Kelly Kramer," ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

• Trent Dawson, as "Henry Coleman," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Rick Hearst, as "Ric Lansing," GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Dan Gauthier, as "Kevin Buchanan," ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC
• Greg Rikaart, as "Kevin Fisher," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS
• Kristoff St. John, as "Neil Winters," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Younger Actress In A Drama Series

• Leven Ramblin as "Lily Montgomery," ALL MY CHILDREN, ABC
• Jennifer Landon, as "Gwen Munson," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Alexandra Chando, as "Maddie Coleman," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Julie Berman, as "Lulu Spencer," GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Stephanie Gaschet, as "Tammy Winslow," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS

Outstanding Younger Actor In A Drama Series

• Van Hansis, as "Luke Snyder," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Jesse Soffer, as "Will Munson," AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Tom Pelphrey, as "Jonathan Randall," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• James Stevenson,as "Jared Casey," PASSIONS, NBC
• Bryton McClure, as "Devon Hamilton," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Achievement in Live & Direct To Tape Sound Mixing For A Drama Series

• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC
• GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control For A Drama Series

• ALL MY CHILDREN, ABC
• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team

• THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design for a Drama Series

• ALL MY CHILDREN, ABC
• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Achievement for a Casting Director For A Drama Series

• Mary Clay Boland, Casting Director, AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• Christy Dooley, Casting Driector, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• Mark Teschner, Casting Director, GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• Rob Decina, Casting Director, GUIDING LIGHT, CBS

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design For A Drama Series

• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• PASSIONS, NBC

Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team

• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing For A Drama Series

• THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling For A Drama Series

• ALL MY CHILDREN, ABC
• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC
• PASSIONS, NBC

Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction For A Drama Series

• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC

Outstanding Achievement in Makeup For A Drama Series

• AS THE WORLD TURNS, CBS
• THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, CBS
• GENERAL HOSPITAL, ABC
• PASSIONS, NBC

Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition For A Drama Series

• DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC
• GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ABC
• THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Outstanding Original Song

• "Can You Love Me (With The Lights On)," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• "In A Moment," GUIDING LIGHT, CBS
• "Love is Ecstasy," PASSIONS, NBC
• "It's A New Day, Today," Today Show, NBC
• "Carry On," THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, CBS

Two now-defunct soap-related programs were recognized as well. SoapNet's talker, SOAP TALK, earned Emmy nods in two categories, for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s), Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway, and for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. NBC "reality soap" STARTING OVER, garnered two noms.

Nomination counts broke out as follows:

Networks -

1. CBS, 57
2. ABC, 36
3. NBC, 15

Shows -

1. GL, 17
2. ATWT, 16
3. Y&R, 12
4. GH, 10; OLTL, 10
5. B&B, 7
6. AMC, 5; DAYS, 5; PASSIONS, 5

The 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Friday, June 15, 2007 (9:00 PM – 11:00 PM ET/PT), on CBS.

Television pioneer Lee Phillip Bell, co-creator, along with her late husband, William J. Bell, of Y&R and B&B, was previously announced as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

A complete list of nominees can be found here.

Soaps Recognized For Tackling ‘Elephant In The Room’ of Substance Abuse and Mental Health

On March 13, nominees for the 11th Annual PRISM Awards were announced in Burbank, CA. The PRISM Awards, presented by the Entertainment Industries Council (in partnership with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/SAMHSA), recognize productions and performances that feature accurate depictions of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction. In two new awards this year, recognition will also be given to accurate depictions of struggles related to mental health and bi-polar disorder.

In addition to the five competitors in the Daytime Drama-specific category, GENERAL HOSPITAL received a nod alongside primetime specials and episodic television in the new category honoring portrayals of bi-polar disorder.

The nominees announced today include:

TV Daytime Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline

• "JR's Alcoholism," ALL MY CHILDREN (protagonist "JR Chandler" is portrayed by Jacob Young)
• "Luke's Alcohol Abuse," AS THE WORLD TURNS (protagonist "Luke Snyder" is portrayed by Van Hansis)
• "Hunters (sic) Battle with Alcoholism," BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (protagonist "Taylor Hayes Forrester" is portrayed by Hunter Tylo, pictured)
• "Lucky's Drug Addiction," GENERAL HOSPITAL (protagonist "Lucas 'Lucky' Spencer" is portrayed by Greg Vaughan)
• "Gus's Addiction," GUIDING LIGHT (protagonist "Gus Aituro" is portrayed by Ricky Paull Goldin)

Bipolar Disorder Award

• Crazy for Life
• GENERAL HOSPITAL - Sonny's Bipolar Disorder (protagonist "Sonny Corinthos" is portrayed by Maurice Benard)
• Jelly Smoke
• Law and Order - "Heart of Darkness"
• Law and Order: Special Victims Unit - "Influence"

Recipients will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on April 24th and which will air in November on the FX Network. (The network will also air the previous year’s awards show April 22nd as part of the promotion of the PRISM awards ceremony on the 24th.)

(Read more here.)