Marlena says: I’m pleased to welcome a new guest contributor, my friend and colleague Alina Adams. To soap fans she needs no introduction. She’s written for and about soaps for more than 20 years, always exploring innovative ways to give soaps new life. An interest in historical fiction inspired two New York Times best-sellers, “The Nesting Dolls” … [Read more...]
The Lady Vanishes: An “Edge of Night” Real Life Mystery
April 17, 2025 by 7 Comments
Marlena says: The soap mystery “The Edge of Night” was seen on CBS from its inception in 1956 until 1975, when it moved to ABC, remaining there until 1984. One of its writers was Grace Garment, who turned out scripts for a relatively brief tenure, from 1975 to 1977. But the story of her life, disappearance and death are remembered as poignant as … [Read more...]
Susan Lucci, Live On Stage: “Holy Cow!”
April 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment
NEW YORK – Moose and I went to see Joy Behar’s new play "My First Ex-Husband" in off-Broadway’s new little MMAC Theater mainly to see Susan Lucci. She was performing on stage as a member of a quartet of superb actresses in a darkly comic exploration of the painful failed marriages of eight women, each a vividly drawn character. Ms. Behar’s … [Read more...]
A Warm Welcome to “Beyond the Gates”
March 26, 2025 by 3 Comments
I never thought after 40 years reviewing soap operas that there would come a time when I grew almost fed up with them. Over the last few weeks there has been murder after murder on General Hospital where once crimes of the heart were daily fare. Even otherwise reliably classy Young and the Restless has stooped to staging a tacky kidnapping … [Read more...]
Tom Lisanti’s “Texas”: An Oral History of Daytime TV’s Answer to “Dallas”
March 23, 2025 by 4 Comments
No nook or cranny of America’s rich pop culture is too obscure to escape the enthusiastic attention of award-winning author Tom Lisanti, whose 11 books tempt fellow aficionados with titles like Dueling Harlows, Talking Sixties Drive-in Movies and Hollywood Beach and Surf Movies. Now comes Texas, an exhaustively researched and super detailed … [Read more...]
In Memoriam: Felicia Minei Behr, Consummate Executive Producer
March 10, 2025 by 2 Comments
We’ve received the sad news that much beloved executive producer Felicia Minei Behr, who helmed All My Children and As the World Turns among other soaps, has passed away following a five-year battle with brain cancer. She was 83. She also produced Ryan’s Hope, and, as ABC’s vice president for Daytime from 2000 to 2004, oversaw General Hospital, … [Read more...]
Looking Back on a “Capitol” Idea That Did Not Survive
February 18, 2025 by 9 Comments
Marlena says: The eagerly awaited new CBS soap, Beyond the Gates, premiering Feb. 24, isn’t the first to be set in the world of Washington, D.C. political intrigue. Four decades ago, CBS offered Capitol, set in the fictitious suburb of Jeffersonia, home to three moneyed and sometimes feuding families. With a cast that included Constance Towers, … [Read more...]
A Day Without Soap Operas
January 24, 2025 by 3 Comments
I often write that I started watching soaps in the late ’1960s as a latchkey child. Both of my parents worked, and as an only child I was always alone in our Queens apartment in the afternoon after school. I found solace and great company on the network soap operas. I grew to love the characters as surrogate friends. Later on, soaps got me through … [Read more...]
The Killing Fields of “General Hospital”
January 16, 2025 by 7 Comments
In 1978, I worked for a fan magazine company called Sterling’s, which published titles like Daytime TV magazine. My office mate and friend (we shared a TV set) Anne-Marie Allocca insisted that I give up watching my then-favorite soap, Another World (which was 90 minutes in those days), and start watching her favorite, AW’s time-slot competitor … [Read more...]
Pat Falken Smith: “Most people I know are living soap operas'”
December 25, 2024 by 2 Comments
Pat Falken Smith: The Drama and the Lawsuits By: Michael Poirier “If ever I knew a litigious person, it was Pat, who went to court as often as some people go out for a frozen yogurt,” said Ann Marcus, former headwriter of Days of Our Lives and other soaps, about her hard-charging contemporary Pat Falken Smith.1 Falken Smith’s colorful … [Read more...]
