Port Charles News & Gossip

News for the week of 18-Oct-1999
by Carol Banks Weber

Easter Seals' annual Equality, Dignity and Independence (EDI) Award goes to "Port Charles" for outstanding work positively showing people with disabilities in the tv category--again. The October 4th ceremony in New York honored those in the media, entertainment and advertising industries. The win was based on clips of Mitch Longley (Matt) as a doctor in a wheelchair and Carly Schroeder (Serena) struggling with her temporary blindness after a car accident. What does PC win next year when/if it doesn't have Matt around anymore (as previously rumored)?

Nolan North (Chris) was named by his father after baseball great Nolan Ryan. North collects Ryan memorabilia, including an autographed baseball and picture. He's even met the legend in high school. "He was playing for the Texas Rangers, and they were in town to play the Red Sox, who were interested in signing me. So they brought me to Fenway Park. I was about 17. Nolan came over, and we talked. He signed a ball for me. It was one of the thrills of my life." To think, this all started when Nolan North was encouraged by his grandmother to write a fan letter at age 8. BTW, North's first name also sounds nifty, that alliteration thing his dad liked hearing. [SOURCE: Soap Opera Weekly, 10/26/99]

So after I go on and on about Amy Weber's (Lark) fine body and her take on the icky jelly baby used on-set instead of a real infant... she goes and quits on me. Well, she wasn't exactly on contract. And success called, in the sum of a $20 million dollar movie. Laura, aka cyndah, is or was president of 100% Lark-the official fan club for Weber. She received this e-mail from the actress last week and posted it in the PC board on October 11 with much sadness: "I wanted to let you know that I have left Port Charles. I was offered the starring role in a $20 million dollar movie which shoots in India and I leave tonight. I just could not pass it up and Port Charles never offered me a contract. It was so nice getting to know you and I hope that you are doing well. Take care of yourself and keep reaching for your dreams. Take care, AMY WEBER" No word yet whether PC will recast or retrieve the original in Anastasia Horne.

Angela Shapiro, ABC Daytime president, assured viewers that PC will NOT be canceled. "But I have to say that PORT CHARLES has grown more than any other soap, and we're very happy with that." Despite the teen-ifying of other soaps elsewhere (example: CBS's "Bold & Beautiful"), Shapiro would "rather focus on the characters that we have. And I've learned over the years that in order to get teen viewers, you don't have to have teens on the air. PASSIONS is a show filled with teens, and PORT CHARLES's numbers are a lot higher." [SOURCE: Soap Opera Digest, 10/19/99]

Unlike her soap alter ego Karen, Marie Wilson's never had to deal with a Courtney. "I've been surrounded by really good people in 90 percent of my life. ... And even the remaining 10 percent haven't been as bad as Courtney." Which doesn't mean she can't stand playing a character who does encounter a real bitch, she's loving every minute of it in true actor style. [SOURCE: Soap Opera Digest, 10/19/99]

This just in from the PC board:

Good News: SOD-10/26: PC Controversy In Denver
From: SaraLaine
Date: Fri, 15-Oct-1999 3:17:36 PM

Late Breaking News - Page 9 (This could be good news for 
all affiliates!)

Recently, Digest received a letter from a fan upset because 
KMGH-TV, the ABC affiliate in Denver, CO, had yanked PC 
from its fall schedule.

"It was cancelled September 1 because we had to make room 
for our other programming," a KMGH programming rep states. 
The station had been airing the soap at 1:05 AM (KMGH-TV 
moved the struggling PC from its previous daytime slot 19 
months ago.) The rep adds that the station has been using 
the vacated slot to run the Roseanne Show talk fest.

However, an employee of the station says that PC was 
dropped because of a "contract dispute." And one 
letter-writing Digest reader from Durango, CO, was under 
the impression the soap was pulled because of the promos.

"That's absolutely not true," refutes an ABC spokesperson. 
Does the controversy signal trouble for the soap? Not 
according to the Denver rep. "There is a strong possibility 
that [PC] could come back in late night," she says.

That would make the Denver fans luckier than viewers who 
can't get the show at all. But if the ratings trends 
continue, maybe everyone will soon be able to watch it.

"PC is up 3 percent season to date [nationally]," asserts 
the ABC rep, "and is showing continued growth among women 
18-49."

It makes me very happy to know that all the letters (and I 
imagine that more then ONE viewer wrote to SOD) are 
actually being read.

Maybe the phone call from "Soap Opera Digest" to KMGH 
accounts for the station's change in attitude to its 
viewers.

... Sara Laine - ~ a K&L Schmuck lost in Denver ~ 

Sara Laine was one of those viewers calling and trying to find out the status of PC only to be rebuffed repeatedly by cold and arrogant people in charge at the station. The typical dismissive treatment many soap fans deal with from tv stations all over the U.S.

Gossip for the week of 18-Oct-1999

Goodbye Victor, Mary, Gail and/or Lee as characters and the actors who play them?

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