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News for the week of 06-Apr-2015
GH beat out the other daytime dramas with 28 Daytime Emmy nominations, as announced on March 31st. But CBS won the most nominations overall for its network at 62. No real surprises here, other than every soap receiving a nomination in the “Outstanding Drama Series” category — um, what’s the point? Is this kindergarten where everyone gets a chance? The following GH actors were chosen as final nominees in their categories: Laura Wright (Carly) and Maura West (Ava) — “Lead Actress,” Tony Geary (Luke) and Jason Thompson (Patrick) — “Lead Actor,” Finola Hughes (Anna) and Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) — “Supporting Actress,” Chad Duell (Michael) — “Supporting Actor,” Kristen Alderson (ex-Kiki) and Haley Pullos (Molly) — “Younger Actress,” Tequan Richmond (TJ) and Bryan Craig (Morgan) — “Younger Actor,” and Donna Mills (Madeleine) and Linda Elena Tovar (Rosalie) — “Special Guest Performer.” GH also scored nominations in writing, directing, casting, art direction/set decoration/scenic design, lighting, multiple camera editing, costume design, hairstyling, make-up, and all that other meaningless crap (since every existing network soap made the list here practically). Watch Laura Wright get her way and see everyone win for daytime at the 42nd (pointless) Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony on April 26, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the Pop cable channel.
Tony Geary (Luke) admitted that he learned he would first be playing out the Fluke story as Bill Eckert, then — in a revision by the writers after Ron Carlivati monitored fan feedback on social networks — never mind that, let’s give Luke some kind of new-fangled mental problem that turns him into a villain because he killed his mom and dad and forgot all about it. When Luke remembered, this past April 1st (anniversary show), he was instantly cured of his villainy! It’s not like he had DID or anything, right? The change in the storyline happened, because fans online corrected guessed that Fluke would turn out to be Bill Eckert, Luke’s presumed-dead cousin. Head writer Ron Carlivati couldn’t have that, so he changed it. By the time Geary had had his back surgery and was in recovery, the writers made the change. “Well, I was away from the show for several months, after my back surgery, and I assumed that when I got back we'd pick up with the Bill Eckert [reveal], especially after they dug up his grave and it was empty. But, by then, they had decided on a different plan,” Geary told Michael Logan in an April 1st TV Insider interview. “When I was called to Frank's office, he told me that this other personality had been Luke all the time, and I cheered! Not only did I love the idea, but it meant that people like Tracy weren't being stupid. I mean, wouldn't she have known if she'd gone to bed with someone other than Luke? That was always bothering me but Jane's just so amazing. She's, like, ‘All right, we're on the Titanic. I'm just going to play this the best I can and f--k the lifeboats!’ And she did. She managed to keep her character smart through the dumbest of actions but, thanks to this reveal, Fluke being Luke totally justifies Tracy's behavior. It really fixes a lot of things in retrospect. I've been racking my brain and can't think of a single thing that this doesn't explain.” Once Geary learned of the storyline change, he had no time to research mental disorders even close to whatever the hell Luke suffered from. He winged his performances from then on. “I was just enjoying it too much to be worried about whether Luke was technically psychotic or schizophrenic, or whether he was having an identity crisis or just plain insane. I just went with my gut.” As far as Geary’s concerned, Carlivati’s plot turn explains everything and gave him a buffet to play off of. Now, they have the hard task of explaining the reason for Luke targeting Sonny.
Head writer Ron Carlivati gave Daytime Confidential’s Jamey Giddens a blow-by-blow (April 2) of this Fluke story change, too, but seemed to stall during the part where he had to explain that Luke did not suffer from DID. Let’s play along, kids! See if you can follow Carlivati’s logic: “While I think it helps explain it, I don't think we were trying to change what happened at all. A lot of people jumped on this bandwagon. ‘It's a split personality! It's DID [Dissociative Identity Disorder]!’ or that we were trying to say Luke is not responsible for the rape of Laura, or the killing of Jake. We didn't want that. We were very clear about not going down the DID path. This really was Luke giving in to the darker impulses he has. What we were going for was that this dark Luke has always existed inside of him, not completely separate. The catalyst of the Fluke story was when Luke was imprisoned by Heather (Robin Mattson) and subjected to electroshock and drugging. The memories came back to him and caused that dark side to take over, so that Luke didn't have to face what he'd done. What we're trying to say... I need a psychiatrist to come and help me explain this! [Laughs] What we were going for was that there's always been this sort of guy inside of Luke. I think it makes sense if you look at him over the years on the show. When he would feel that darkness coming over him, he would go on one of his adventures, so he didn't have to unleash that on his family. He'd run around the world and probably act a lot more like Fluke than like Luke. Then, he would get that out of his system and he would come home.”
Dee Wallace (Patricia) did do her due diligence in researching at least her character’s Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with what little time she had and the limitations of her lengthy dialogue. In an April 2nd interview with Michael Fairman, the movie star described her process: “A lot of the symptoms of MS involve the vocal chords, and the speech slows down. I called GH EP Frank Valentini, and I said, ‘I really need some guidance here. I can’t slur my words, or have slow speech with these many words to say.’ He led me to the physical. … When you play anybody who is injured, dying, or sick, you still have to play them with energy, and so my biggest challenge has been learning all the lines, and getting them correct, and to honor that illness. That is why you see me holding my arm a lot, and kind of slumped over instead of sitting up. Patricia has very minimal make-up, as I am cringing! Oh, it’s just another not pretty part!”
A lot of soap fans and bloggers questioned Finola Hughes (Anna) appearing in the supporting actress category of this year’s Daytime Emmys, when she’s clearly a lead. Hughes herself submitted for supporting because her material wasn’t lead-worthy. “It's hard to explain, but when I was front and center with the stories, it just didn’t play out like a Lead story or something, was how I felt. I think, also, I was a little gun-shy, thinking, ‘I’m going to be eaten alive again!’ But I just honestly felt that I didn’t have the material. I don’t know whether that’s just me not feeling confident, perhaps; I think it was a mixture of that and my feeling that with the stories that I had, I didn’t have the scenes to support entering myself as Lead Actress. And that was just this year and how I felt, that I just didn’t think I had the material — and that may be my fault in the way that I played it. I can't say. But when I spoke to Frank about it, I was very honest about it and he said, ‘Okay, you can enter as Supporting.’ I can’t say. That was my instinct and I felt that anything that really gelled, I was in more of as a supporting role. That’s how it looked to me.” –SOD Online, April 1, 2015
Just as executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati did on OLTL, they will bring their live filming to GH’s cast and crew for May 15 and 18, to keep up the anniversary fun. Soap operas originally used to film live. Read more about this on People in an April 2, 2015 report by Lynette Rice.
It now pays to work on a web series. At least it has for Michelle Stafford (Nina; ex-Phyllis, Y&R), whose The Stafford Project resulted in a new online show for the Nickelodeon website, NickMom.com. Her new show is called Secret Mind Of A Single Mom and also features her real-life daughter Natalia, 5. Stafford gets to write, direct, and produce this show as well. In an April 2nd interview with Michael Logan, Stafford described the new show, which is similar in scope to The Stafford Project. “It's a look into the minutiae of motherhood. Every episode is two minutes long and you'll be able to watch them all at once, like with Netflix. It's pretty much my daughter humiliating me. She's truly the smart one, which is what she is in life, and these are little vignettes of everyday stuff, like the mom and daughter getting into a fight about how a sandwich should or shouldn't be cut. One episode has the mom trying to get something going with this hot guy and the daughter, with just two comments, completely ends it.” Read about her shock — and she’s never shocked by anything — when she read the next script involving her and Franco in this interview.
When Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) learned of her Daytime Emmy nomination last Tuesday, she was both surprised and thrilled. It’s her first nomination, ever. She got in with her daring, comedic submission, where a hammered Olivia wants to adopt all the unwanted dogs and cats at the shelter as Ned enjoys the show. Usually, drama’s where it’s at. But LoCicero felt confident in her choice. “I was pretty sure that was what I would use. The second in the running was when Olivia found out that Sonny had slept with Ava, and I watched them both back-to-back, and you get a feeling,” the actress explained to Kambra Clifford for the April 1st, Soap Central feature. “One makes you more comfortable, or just speaks to you more. And I felt [the one I submitted] was a little more universal. Anyone who's ever seen one of those [animal adoption] ads knows that you either almost run to the phone or you do run to the phone, and when you're drunk, God knows what can happen! But you know, I think it's a really great example of that character-based writing that the writers like to write, and actors love to play, and viewers like to watch, that happened on that day. But really, both of those days, I got great material. But I thought this one would stand out a little bit more.”
Wally Kurth (Ned) returns to DOOL as Justin on contract, just as he leaves GH.
Billy Miller (NuJason/Jake) spearheads a GoFundMe campaign for his niece Savannah Strain of the Benton Louisiana Tigers Archery Team. Her team wants to participate in the National Archery School Program National Competition, and needs $15,000 for that to happen. Miller’s niece was born without a left hand. When she chose archery, the entire family wondered if she could successfully handle a bow and arrow. She showed them she was more than able. “My goal here is not only to fund this team, but to help Savannah realize just how special she truly is,” Miller told Soap Opera Digest online recently. Kelly Monaco (Sam) already donated.
Gossip for the week of 06-Apr-2015
After the Daytime Emmy nominees were announced on March 31st, soap columnist Michael Logan tweeted his opinion on every existing soap opera making the cut with this: “The fact that all four soaps are nominated for best show, writing and directing is ludicrous. And it makes the whole thing meaningless.” To which Laura Wright (Carly) — who’d already scolded him before for daring to be negative in an era when daytime needs all the support she feels it can get — replied in her tweet: “U know we are hanging on as best we can. Let's lift them up. Meaningless is a bit much.” While everybody else went, “Whatever,” and moved on, Logan engaged Wright with this final rebuttal: “Do your homework @lldubs I have helped lift soaps up for my entire career as a reporter. Your work included.”
Missed my first commentary for SoapHub, March 26th? It’s here, and I’m not bitching for a change. I applaud Michael Easton (Silas) for showing signs of acting during the Ava cancer reveal. My second commentary is already up, too, as of April 4th, and it’s another uplifting look at an outstanding actor (the amazing, category-defying Marc Anthony Samuel/Felix) who should’ve won a Daytime Emmy nomination for the revolution he almost started on soaps.
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