Soap Opera Uncensored: Issue 15

by Nelson Branco

SOAP OPERA: UNCENSORED

  Volume 02, Issue 05 (NO. 15)

  BY NELSON BRANCO

  Copyright 2012 Nelson Branco

  INSIDE — Exclusive Interview With the One and Only Kim Zimmer: On GUIDING LIGHT’s 75th Anniversary; ONE LIFE’s Untimely Death; Echo’s Disappearance; How Ilene Kristen Rocked FRAT ROW’s Storyline; Whether She'd Join GH; and Why Brad Bell Wanted Reva on B&B! Plus: Her New AIDS-Themed Role! Spoiler: Princess Gina and The Pawn Return to DAYS! Y&R’s Adam Goes Blind; Patty Shoots Jack! Is Anita Victor’s New Love Interest on Y&R? GH’s Jason is the Father of Sam’s Baby! Also: The End of Franco! Details on B&B’S 25th Anniversary Book and Celebratory Bash! REVENGE Coverage: Interview with Madeleine Stowe! Plus: Is Emily Van Camp Dating Her Co-Star Joshua Bowman? Jill Farren Phelps Lands New TV Gig! Van Hughes Hits GH! Lesley-Anne Down Dropped To Recurring: Is This The End of Jowen? Y&R’s Casting Carmine! Brandon Barash Makes GH Watchable Again! ONE LIFE’s Ellen Holly Praises Disney! Plus: Last Week's Reviews, Unbelievable Blind Items, and Next Week's Cheat Sheet!

  UNCENSORED MASTHEAD:

  FOUNDER/EDITOR: Nelson Branco

  EDITOR AT LARGE: Denette Wilford

  Follow Soap Opera Uncensored at: @nelliebranco or @SoapUncensored

  NOTE FROM EDITOR/FOUNDER:

  You asked — and it’s happening. For more information on subscribing to daytime’s first weekly e-zine Soap Opera Uncensored, email soapuncensored@yahoo.com

  6 months: $19.99 (*normally $64.74)

  1 Year: $39.99 (*normally $129.48)

  *Based on $2.49 issue price

  PRE-ORDER BETWEEN HEAVEN & HELL: A ONE LIFE TO LIVE TRIBUTE

  Hi, loyal soaper!

  For a special rate on next week’s ONE LIFE TO LIVE tribute e-book, BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, head over to PAYPAL and submit a $6.99 CAD payment (originally $9.99) to soapuncensored@yahoo.com (Nelson Branco)... and you'll receive the highly anticipated book first (with over 100K words of flashbacks, interviews, top-ten lists, and history!). Click on “Send Money” for “Friends/Family,” and follow the instructions. If you have any problems or questions, please email soapuncensored@yahoo.com.

  UNCENSORED QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

  “Los Angeles is warm this time of year.”

  —Emmy winner Erika Slezak in response to whether or not she’d consider visiting GH in an interview with Examiner.com

  Translation: And by L.A., I mean the city where the Forresters live!

  “I must say that ads and press releases by ABC are a little misleading and I feel I need to clarify to all my friends, family, and fans that are emailing and calling wondering when I’m moving to Los Angeles. Frank Valentini, GH’s EP, asked me to come out for a couple of shows in February and I’m thrilled.”

  —Kassie DePaiva on the confusion regarding her GH-ONE LIFE crossover

  Translation: ABC press releases misleading? No, you don’t say!

  “I’m shaking babies and kissing hands.”

  —Jeff Zucker regarding Katie Couric’s excellent new syndication clearing

  Translation: Well, everyone except soap fans.

  “Shaken-baby syndrome will be our first show.”

  —Katie Couric in response to Zucker’s comment

  Translation: Why not — we killed a lot to get this show.

  “Brian’s phone and voicemail is still active at ABC!”

  —A source tells me

  Translation: He still likes to call up Kelly Monaco for phone sex every now and then on ABC’s dime.

  “ABC was not owned by Disney [then]; Disney is a much more racially integrated corporate culture. If it were Disney [at the time], I would have been there. I would have been a major star with mega-million dollars.”

  —Ellen Holly in her latest delusional interview with DIGEST

  Translation: Fuck racial equality — all Mama cares about is getting paid. Memo to Holly: If Disney was in charge back then there’d be fewer minorities on screen. Just looks at their films and TV projects from the ‘70s, honey!

  “It’s Pat’s role. He’s Austin. That’s him, and I wish him all the best. He’s more Austin than I ever was. He was the first, and I just happened to play it longer.”

  —Austin Peck to DIGEST on his predecessor reclaiming Austin on DAYS

  Translation: Plus, since I’m aging well, I’m clearly wrong for the part.

  “When I look back and see what [former head writer] James Reilly wrote… the dialogue, the everyday dialogue, it was maddening. It was literally, like, hair-pulling, eye-gouging.”

  —Austin Peck about his days on DAYS

  Translation: So don’t blame my acting! Thank God for WORLD TURNS and ONE LIFE for proving I am an actor!

  SOAPY DVD

  DARK SHADOWS IMMORTALIZED

  Bloody Soap: To help usher in Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s upcoming and highly anticipated DARK SHADOWS film remake, the vampire-themed daytime sudser — which had its landmark ABC run from 1966-1971 and starred Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins — is now available for purchase on DVD, courtesy of MPI Home Video. The company is officially releasing the series on April 10 but fans of the gothic soap can sink their teeth into the series by visiting Amazon.com immediately. The complete coffin-shaped collection includes a mournful 131 DVDs and features all 1,225 episodes.

 

  END DAYS

  MORE BAD NEWS FOR GH!

  Poor Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini! Instead of taking their much deserved victory lap, the dynamic duo is now arduously trying to resurrect GH before it is more than likely cancelled this April.

  Making their efforts more challenging is the fact that Katie Couric’s new syndicated talk show, KATIE, has been cleared in 93 per cent of the country.

  But there may be hope: THE REVOLUTION has been dramatically — and poetically — tanking in the ratings ever since its debut. Last year, ABC barracuda Anne Sweeney said, “Let the best show win,” regarding GH’s future, so perhaps ONE LIFE’s unfair death may give GH life. Or not.

  BTW: Did you know ONE LIFE’s infamously lazy and inept publicist, Lauri Hogan, is now promoting THE REVOLUTION? Justice rules.

  THE TELENOVELA REPORT

  JFP, Josh Griffith lands at Nick

  That didn’t take long. Former GH executive producer Jill Farren Phelps has re-joined forces with soap alum, Josh Griffith, to produce a telenovela titled REACH FOR A STAR for Nickelodeon. Sources tells UNCENSORED Griffith and JFP have been working on this project long before ABC fired the show-killer.

  Griffith tells UNCENSORED, exclusively: “The show is going to be a blast. Cool story. Cool music. And a breakthrough for prime time to do five-night-a-week storytelling. The future, man!”

  Though knowing JFP, she’ll probably kill off the star.

  COVER STORY

  KIM ZIMMER: SHE’S JUST REMINISCING!

  The Greatest Soap Star of Them All Waxes On GUIDING LIGHT’s 75th Anniversary; ONE LIFE’s Untimely Death; Echo’s Disappearance; How Ilene Kristen Rocked FRAT ROW’s Storyline; Whether She’ll Join GH; and Why Brad Bell Wanted Her As Reva on B&B!

  She’s one of my favourite stars… and friends. When I first joined SOAP OPERA UPDATE in 1997 as Senior News Editor at the young age of 22, Kim Zimmer was one of my first major soap interviews. And what a subject.

  Instantly, we hit it off, like Reva Shayne and a red dress (and a hot penis). It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 15 years since we met (I made her cry during our first interview; so take that, Babs Walters). Throughout that time, Zimmer and I have witnessed the genre’s destruction from its glory days to the dark and lonely cemetery it is now.

  Regardless, we’ve shared a lot of tears — and laughs. As a huge fan of
Reva Shayne, it’s still a little surreal for me to talk to La Zimmer as freely as I do. And for the sheer fact that she’s won four freakin’ Emmy Awards! (She should have at least two more, if you ask me.) But that’s Zimmer — she’s the most down-to-earth soap diva you’ll meet. And by diva, I mean, the original definition: divine.

  In honour of GUIDING LIGHT’s 75th anniversary this past week; the release of GL’s DVDS, ONE LIFE’s cancellation; and the best memoir, I’M JUST SAYIN’, since Harding Lemay’s EIGHT YEARS IN ANOTHER WORLD; UNCENSORED caught up with the four-time Emmy winner to discuss life, loss and Llanview. Enjoy!

  Congratulations on your new play! You’re doing very well in the theatre world. You’re starring in Connecticut Repertory Theatre's production of Stephen Svoboda's Odysseus D.A., to run February 23-March 4 at the Nafe Katter Theatre in Storrs. I may have to fly out to catch you in this! Sounds delicious.

  Thank you. It’s certainly not paying the mortgage, but it’s a lot of fun!

  You’re still living on the east