cracking the code…

Lynn Liccardo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:00:47 -0700

Recently, We Love Soaps, began posting "Soap Opera TV ratings" for twenty-five shows. Since there are but seven remaining daytime soaps on the air, it occurred to me that it might be time, albeit a little late in the game, to discuss exactly what the term "soap opera" means, and to whom. With the exception of Peyton Place and Our Private World, and, of course, Dallas, the ...

guiding light project: soaps and the mainstream media…

Lynn Liccardo — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:19:19 -0700

Last August, blogger Sara Bibel noted that "buried within the addictive train wreck" of reaction (here and here), to the firing of Soap Opera Weekly editor, Carolyn Hinsey, was "some serious commentary about soap opera journalism." This past August, it was fan reaction to an interview with head of ABC Daytime, Brian Frons, posted on The Wall Street Journal website that ...

not a good time to be a soap fan…

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:51:05 -0700

In the wake of Guiding Light's cancellation and the current state of affairs on As the World Turns (while we haven’t seen them for a month, we can only hope that Kim's recovered from her heart attack and Bob from his brain surgery), One Life to Live has become what fear may be my final port in soap's choppy waters.And so I took great solace in last Wednesday's episode, "Fathers and ...

guiding light project: tying knots in string – or not…

Lynn Liccardo — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:05:04 -0700

Lights up. NEWBIE and OLDTIMER are discussing the final days of Guiding Light.NEWBIEOkay. First question: who was that guy with the hat who came to see Alex?OLDTIMERThat was Fletcher Reade. He used to be married to Holly.NEWBIEHolly? The same Holly who went off with Dr. Ed?OLDTIMERYes, they -- NEWBIEAnd where did that come from? I had no idea they even knew each other. They barely said ...

guiding light project – lights down...

Lynn Liccardo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:30:01 -0700

plently of carping to come, but first, a big thank you. with all the press releases about returning actors, not to mention the spoilers and tweeting from the set as gl wrapped up its final weeks, i didn't think it would be possible for viewers to be surprised. but, surprise, surprise, we were. not just by josh and reva, but by mindy and rick's wedding as well.so thanks to everyone associated with ...

i guess it would have been to much to ask...

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:55:49 -0700

to get through the final week of guiding light without "breaking news" mucking things up. today, a commuter train hit a bumper as it was coming into south station. about a dozen people had minor injuries. that was it. yet, the cbs affiliate felt it was so urgent for those sitting at home watching gl, none of whom were actually at south station, to break in, not once, but twice. ...

guiding light project: into the home stretch…

Lynn Liccardo — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:19:56 -0700

With Guiding Light's final episode looming at the end of this week, CBS News finally stepped up to the plate with extended stories on both "CBS Sunday Morning" and "60 Minutes." Even taking into account the formidable challenges posed by trying to do justice to GL's seventy-two year history in ten and fifteen-minute segments respectively, it was a mixed bag. While the ...

goodbye to summer…

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:59:20 -0700

and for the most part, good riddance. Here in Boston it rained - a lot. I came back from my all-too-short vacation with a cold. Watching Guiding Light piss away most of the summer was no fun - I mean Holly returns, yet she and Ed barely say hello. What was the point of that? Now that the writers seemed to have finally flipped the storytelling switch and reverted to the emotional depth they had ...

going fishing for the next few weeks...

Lynn Liccardo — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:50:36 -0700

i'll only be away from home for a few days (wish it was longer). but i'll be taking a few weeks off from the blog. need a good chunk of time to finish up several pieces that are in various stages of completion. and of course, have to rest up for the final weeks of guiding light. see you after labor day.

obsession, passion, fixation: first, let’s define some terms…

Lynn Liccardo — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:43:43 -0700

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have an abiding interest in and affection for soap opera. Family and friends know that, like Julia Child, I'm very good at eating - and cooking. And even people I've just met know about me and chocolate. But do any rise to the level of obsession, passion or fixation? With such a tight deadline, I didn't have time to ponder and parse the differences among ...

here we go again…

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:10:01 -0700

The past few weeks I've been having hard time writing. With Guiding Light's end looming large, there's a long term project I've been struggling to get my arms around. Then there's the oppressive heat that finally arrived after weeks of relentless rain. And now that Nina Tassler's (CBS President of Entertainment) comments to the Television Critics Association meeting have begun the official ...

guiding light project: point, counterpoint…

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:06:41 -0700

It's taken me a while to get to this, but a while back, Red Room member, Lana Nieves, challenged the conventional wisdom that the 1993 death of Maureen Bauer was the beginning of the end for Guiding Light. It was a great piece, and Lana made a lot of good points, but...To quote Lana, "I respectfully disagree." I actually agree with a lot of what Lana had to say, particularly her ...

guiding light project: a pleasant surprise...

Lynn Liccardo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:42:16 -0700

it was a lovely wedding. yes, there was a lot if silliness in the runup. a wedding cake of twinkies held together with canned whipped cream? the wrong date on the invitations? unless i missed something, the spauldings are still rich, aren't they? it's easy to lose track. i've never been a huge fan of bill and lizzie as a couple, but what made this wedding work for me was the inclusion of so ...

guiding light project: giving credit where credit is due…

Lynn Liccardo — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:37:15 -0700

Amidst the shit storm surrounding Guiding Light’s Natalia finding out she’s pregnant 19 weeks after she and Frank slept together (I know I keep perseverating about the 19 weeks, but 19 weeks and not even a hint? Really?), were a couple of things that caught my eye, in a good way. First, as ridiculous as Father Ray’s advice to Natalia – my favorite was Natalia's question about ...

guiding light project: if life is like a box of chocolates…

Lynn Liccardo — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:02:57 -0700

then soap opera is like hollandaise sauce. Making hollandaise is tricky business. It's an emulsion, and you have to keep whisking; add the butter to the eggs too quickly, the whole thing separates and falls apart. And so it is with how soap opera viewers suspend disbelief. The very nature of soaps demands more of viewers than other dramatic media when it comes to suspending disbelief. It's a ...