Nelson Branco's Soap Opera Uncensored: Issue 43

by Nelson Branco

interesting avenues for Brooke will come into play. But at some point it will be necessary for Ridge to return to the show. Who will be playing the role at that point remains to be seen.”

  Bell goes on to say that Brooke will get a new love interest. Hopefully it’s Jon Hensley’s Dr. Meade!

  However, for over 25 years, Ridge has seemingly defined Brooke, Taylor and Stephanie’s relationship. What happens when you take the eternal playboy of the equation? I never once thought Ridge was the root of Brooke and Stephanie’s problems so I’m eager to see them all live without Ridge for the time being.

  First thing I would do is SORAS RJ so Brooke can see glimpses of Ridge in her son (maybe Stephanie and Brooke can fight over his future); and then I’d bring back Jack Wagner, STAT.

  Thoughts?

  FYI: Tuesday, Aug. 14 was Moss’s last tape day at the studio. Moss will make his exit on air Friday, Sept. 14.

  Meanwhile, as I reported in last week’s UNCENSORED, B&B was scheduled to cast a role of a new younger leading character, but I have since learned the show has canceled the call all together in light of Moss’s exit.

  • It’s too bad Jon Hensley’s already playing an established role on B&B because the WORLD TURNS hunk could have made a formidable Ridge Forrester recast. Regardless, Hensley is back taping on B&B as Dr. Meade. Hmmm… wonder what trouble accident-prone Steffy has found herself in this time? Hensley will air in September.

  • Can we have some sex on this show? No one is banging on this show… all they talk about is marriage. Zzz…

  DAYS OF OUR LIVES, NBC/GLOBAL — The Horn Bird! Rabin Dead!

  • White Collar, Soap-Style: Kristian Alfonso, who has been acting as the show’s celebrity publicist lately, tweeted out a picture of Greg Vaughn —and yep, he’s sporting a priest collar! Richard Chamberlain, who? My priests never looked like the former yummy Y&R and GH actor. FYI: Vaughn began taping last week and will probably air around 2015. Ha! Until then, I suggest Will hightail it over to his local church and adorn an altar boy getup, STAT! Oh, I kid… I know Will and Eric are related.

  • One of the showrunners responsible for the NBC sudser’s greatest eras, Al Rabin, passed away on August 14. He was 76.

  After beginning his career as a director on GH, Rabin joined DAYS in 1975. Two months later, Rabin became a producer when the soap expanded to an hour. He finally left DAYS in 1992. Rabin earned 9 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his soapy contributions.

  Rabin is survived by his wife, Laura, and three children, Beth, Jefferey and Lawrence.

  • Why, oh why, didn’t DAYS kill off Roman Brady? Ugh, the show got my hopes up when Roman was injured, but alas one of the show’s worst recasts ever still lives on.

  • DAYS continues to tell the best storyline on daytime. For now.

  In an upcoming plot twist, out-and-proud gay Sonny becomes a victim of bullying because his attacker, “T,” believes Sonny made Will, another young character on the show, gay.

  “It’s very emotional to be bullied,” Freddie Smith said in an interview with OUTLOOK COLUMBUS. “When you go through it it’s a big part of your life. I’m hoping I can make an impact and show how bullying negatively affects people and make a difference. I think that everyone will be able to relate to this storyline, so it is important to the show.”

  Expect a different Sonny. “He was very bullet proof at first,” says Smith. “You’re going to see that he does have flaws. You’re going to see Sonny make mistakes and deal with those mistakes.”

  Count me in — especially if it means more Judi Evans and Wally Kurth!

  But is Gary Tomlin already screwing with the best gay storyline on the dial? According to DAYTIME CONFIDENTIAL’s Jamey Giddens, Will may become sexually involved with Gabi in a grief-sex episode! Say what?! Someone call GLAAD! Is Missy Reeves head-writing DAYS now?

  Perhaps THIS is what I was hearing at the DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS about Chandler Massey’s storyline, as reported in UNCENSORED a couple of months ago.

  Two bottoms don’t make a top, Gary Tomlin — you, of all queers, should know that by now!

  Why do they do this to every gay character on daytime?

  If DAYS does forge ahead with this contrived plot twist, all I can say is, shame on you, DAYS.

  GENERAL HOSPITAL, CITYTV/ABC — Where In The World Is Anna Devane?

  • Robin Mattson has finished her latest arc on GH and will not be returning for foreseeable future, reports TV GUIDE.

  • Can someone send out a search party to find my beloved Anna Devane. Finola Hughes has been off the canvas for a while now. FYI: After THE DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS, the actress flew to Europe for a few weeks to vacation. “I’ll bring you back a Greek God,” she promised me in an email. Just return to my screen and we can call it even.

  • In story 411, Sonny proposes to Kate. Yep, that sound you hear is my fast-forward button working overtime.

  • As a card-carrying member of the Cartini fan club, I have to admit I find GH utterly unwatchable. (Unless Anna Devane and her sexy hair are on my screen.) Never thought I would say this, but I actually enjoyed former head writer Bob Guza’s GH more than this soulless version. I find the dialogue repetitive, the narrative plot-driven and insulting, and the characters far too loud and contrived. Hopefully, that will change but, given the fact that Cartini has had the luxury of about 8 months to fix this show (yes, to their credit, they did walk into quite the mess), GH should be more entertaining and balanced by now. Can we bring back ONE LIFE?

  • Tony Geary looks ah-amazing, rested, and handsome! I need to book a trip to Amsterdam, too! Or maybe his youthful reboot can be blamed on his seventh Emmy win? Regardless, welcome back!

  • Who is Jerry working for? DAYTIME CONFIDENTIAL’s Jamey Giddens says Jerry is working for a major past GH villain — and not from the 90s or the new millennium. My guesses? Well, I hope it’s Stavros so the show can retcon that mess from years back (please rehire Robert Kelker Kelly,— I’ll never say a bad word about GH again, if you do!); or is it Mr. Big? With my luck, it’ll be Faison. Regardless, my friend and I think Jerry was actually trying to save Josslyn and Alexis’s lives by inoculating them not poisoning them. Hmmm….

  THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS — Exclusive: Y&R’s Independence Day!

  • The future is almost here: When does new head writer Josh Griffith’s new material air? “Mid October,” reveals an insider. “But you’ll see his entire vision realized towards the New Year.” Is it 2013 yet?

  • First Ronn Moss, now Kevin Schmidt! How will daytime TV ever go on? Oh, I kid. By now you all know Master Schmidt is out as Noah Newman, confirms Y&R. The role will be recast. Shocker; not. Hey, what’s former promising GH newcomer Drew Garrett up to these days? Oh, right: hiding from the woman who fired him, new Y&R producer, Jill Farren Phelps! Too bad super talented ONE LIFE younger actor Eddie Alderson looks nothing like Noah’s onscreen parents, Sharon and Nick, because he’d be perfect on this show. Then again, Eddie also looks a lot like the new kid they cast as Fen. Or maybe B&B can fork over MIA Zack Conroy since they’re not using him.

  • Want more proof it was time for showrunner Maria Arena Bell to leave the building? Sources whisper to UNCENSORED that the show’s 10, 000th episode is “dreadful; unwatchable, even!”

  Yikes. Way to honour your mentor and father-in-law’s legacy, Maria.

  So what happens? Skip over this section if you don’t want to find out because the following is spoiler heavy (just read it; because y’all will end up fast-forwarding the show from what I hear).

  In her last two months of destroying the show, Maria was “obsessed” with paying homage to the Once Great Victor Newman “at the expense of Sharon, Adam, and Nikki,” explains a source. “She thinks Eric and Victor are God-like,” sighs another mole. “And this was part of Maria and Eric's plan: cut off everyone's balls. It’s too bad because Maria’s plan has only made Victor a caricature instead of the complex, tortured soul Victor used to be; you know, the way Bill intended him to be
. They only wanted one victorious character while all others were sacrificed.”

  The upcoming 10,000th milestone is described by many on the show as “an embarrassing Victor Newman slurp-fest. It’s simply awful.”

  In the story, Tucker and Sharon are about to wed when a presumed dead/missing Victor shows up at his own funeral!

  Another co-star weighs in, lamenting, “The only era that took place inside of that time of Maria being in charge was the glorification of Victor. And you haven't seen anything yet. The episodes leading up to the 10, 000th episode are all about glorifying Victor. Each character sings his praises like never before and —surprise — Sharon gets blamed for everything and painted like a whore. It’s awful. What were they thinking and where could they have gone from there? Thank God we have a new team.”

  Amen.

  Then, it gets worse.

  “The special episode ends with Victor and Nikki hugging and kissing and Nikki saying something like, ‘You’ve been on top for all these years — how much longer will you be?’ Victor replies, ‘Ask me after another 10, 000 years!’ It’s so epically bad…. I almost threw up reading the script,” laments a crewmember.

  FYI: The aforementioned 10 K episode airs Thursday Sept. 27th in the US. The day before is Victor’s funeral.

 

  • Is Eric Braeden planning to pen his own memoirs — like everyone else has in daytime? “Sometimes I flirt with the idea,” he told SOAPS IN DEPTH. “But then I’m like, ‘Who wants to read that? Sometimes I think perhaps I should… but there is something so narcissistic about it, in a sense.”

  I love Eric Braeden as the next person, but I’m finding his recent media tour to be completely hypocritical and, um, narcissistic.

  He’s the last person to talk about ego. “God Bless, Eric Braeden,” anyone?

  • Lauralee Bell is out at Y&R for now but will be back on Sept. 18 to continue her mission to ruin Phyllis’s life. Maybe The Bug’s the culprit who coloured Michelle Stafford’s hair! Until Bell returns, Lauralee will be drinking lots of martinis with her sister-in-law, Maria, no doubt.

  • One of the most annoying elements Maria Arena Bell and her cronies brought to Y&R is the painful marriage-and jail-roulette. After marrying Jack just a few weeks ago, Nikki left Abbott Sr. to find Victor. Marriage means nothing on this show. It’s gone out and lost its gravitas, to paraphrase Madonna. Let’s hope new head writer Josh Griffith can restore the sanctity of marriage. Hey, he can call Missy Reeves for pointers!

  • You know your show is in trouble when Summer Newman is the smartest character on the canvas!

  • Enough with Adam and The Chipmunk Crew! Michael Muhney is far too talented and charismatic to be wasted on this annoying and lame Tag-and-Grab storyline. Though I’d like to tag and grab Marco Dapper!

  What would I do with Master Adam Newman? Don’t hate me, Chadam fans: I would continue to write a beautiful love story between Adam and Chelsea, and then, kill her off in a sweeping death storyline that would not only give Muhney more Emmy bait, but also return Adam to the dark side again. Adam has proven his catharsis is authentic but he should always be alone. Most complex, tortured characters are asexual — and Adam needs to be single yet in Sharon’s orbit: together, but apart. Thoughts? And, for the record, I’m a huge Missy Claire Egan fan but I think she’s unnecessary on the canvas. *Ducks for cover *

  As Sharon Case tells me, “While Adam and Sharon