Archives for July 2014

Smart or Strange, Casting Makes a Big Difference

  By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Sometimes even the smallest thing can throw off a soap opera. For example: Consider the miscasting of the central role of Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless. He’s the bad boy who lost his daughter Delia to a drunk driver and who may or may not have impregnated his … [Read more...]

Do You Root For or Against Them?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Soap roles can conform strictly to type: heroes and heroines we root for and villains and villainesses we root against.  Happily, however, most soap casts are big enough to include characters who do not conform to type. These off-beat characters have personalities drawn in various shades … [Read more...]

Character Actors Add Much Needed Character To Soaps

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Soap stories, most of which are about romance and love triangles, do tend to get repetitive.  Adding variety and spice to this formula are character roles, which do a lot to make soaps more interesting.  These characters often provide comic relief and serve as “talk tos” for the main … [Read more...]

Daytime’s Most Famous “Love to Hate” Characters

By Marlena Delacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman For any soap opera, a “love to hate” character is money in the bank.  Fascinated by their endless power to manipulate other characters and instigate interesting plots, these diabolical characters are adored by audiences who avidly follow all that they do.  “Love to hate” characters … [Read more...]