One Life to Live Finale - Wednesday 01/11/12

So how about the big news!? The Mannings and The McBain are heading over to General Hospital! Wow. If you want to read about it and check out the promo Click Here  Now on to the show...

This ep could be title Closure. We had a bunch of people being honest with each other, apologizing, setting the record straight, etc, etc... A few endings and a bunch of new beginnings. Overall, I thought the ep was pretty good.

Are Twitter and Facebook Replacing Traditional Soap Website Campaigns?

We at Denial Island Blog are curious. Where are the big online Save our Soap campaigns?

With all the rumours flying around about the potential cancellation of either One Life to Live or All My Children (or both), it's interesting that even though many bemoan the fate of soaps, not many in the soap media website world seem to be doing anything aggressively proactive about it. Who's marshaling the troops? Soap fans are the most passionate and supportive people out there!

After much research, we're left scratching our heads. Are none of our favourite soap media websites, who only exist because soaps do, taking up the challenge to the soap PTB with a Save Our Soaps campaign? They're encouraging fans to write in, but why haven't they been the ones organizing a structured, balls to the walls offensive? They have a huge number of soap fan readers/listeners that they can mobilize, and the contacts/sources to design really effective operations. They should be Campaign Central, spearheading the fight!

Instead, it appears the mantle is being taken up by more entrepreneurial soap fans, who set up numerous twitter and facebook accounts everyday in order to tap into and garner support for their fave soap, fired actor or most hated head writer. On that note, here are a few of our faves:

Twitter:
@BringBackCane - a twitter account set up when the US soap Young & the Restless favorite Daniel Goddard (Cane Ashby, Y&R) was rumored fired in January 2011. Outcome? SUCCESSFUL

@FireFrons - pretty self explanatory, but for our non-US soapers, Brian Frons is the President of ABC Daytime and is notorious for meddling in the ABC soaps and not in a good way. Outcome? IN PROGRESS

@Shit_Ken_C_Says - Days of our Lives Executive Producer Ken Corday routinely gives interviews about DOOL spoilers (usually around sweeps time) seemingly without giving any thought to what he's saying and who it might offend; which it usually does. Outcome? JUST PLAIN FUNNY

@Save_ATWT - created in response to the now cancelled US soap As The World Turns. Outcome? :(

@FireDenaHigley - after killing two soaps to the point of difficult (yet not impossible) return, and now on her third, this twitter account about the current Head Writer of DOOL speaks for itself. Outcome? IN PROGRESS (but looking bleak)

@savejackandjenn - created to bring actor Matthew Ashford (ex-Jack, DOOL) back to DOOL after Melissa Reeves (Jennifer, DOOL) signed to return mid-2010. Outcome? IN PROGRESS

Facebook: click the links to learn more about each group.

• Save ABC's Soaps
• Soap Savers Inc
• Save One Life to Live and All My Children 
• Save One Life to Live from being cancelled

From what we’ve heard, fans’ efforts have been working! They’ve overwhelmed ABC with support for their shows with emails, phone calls and letters! Could you imagine what would have happened if the soap media organizations had not only encouraged fans to mobilize, but actually designed campaigns themselves?

Maybe what it really is, is websites are being usurped - it takes seconds to write a tweet or update a facebook status or start a facebook page to rally troops. Heck, it was probably faster to write this blog post (and that's taken 3 days). Maybe the soap sites think someone else will do it? Or maybe, soap websites just can't be bothered? Or maybe they don't think the status of soaps situation is serious enough to warrant such a big campaign? Denial Island Bloggers don't believe that for a second - anyone who takes any interest in the soapworld knows that the future of daytime soaps is not looking rosy.

So we want to know: do you guys think soap media sites/pods should be doing more to spearhead the Save Our Soaps campaigns? Or do you think keeping us up-to-date on the gossip and encouraging us to mobilize is more than enough?

NB: To the soap websites, we're not trying to have a go at you, honest. Ok, maybe just a little bit :P but really, it's just to spur you into action!

P.S. If anyone wants to let us know about or advertise any Soap Saving campaigns, please leave the info in the comment box!

Tom Casiello Leaving Young and the Restless!

Emmy winning writer Tom Casiello has announced he's leaving The Young and the Restless. After a long and successful career in soaps, he's decided to move on. Read his touching good-bye message here.

Casiello has been with Y&R since 2009 and held writing positions at ATWT, OLTL, and Days, as well as interning at Another World. He was also a contributor to Sam Ford's "The Survival of Soap Opera" (review coming soon!). During the 2008 writers strike, Casiello became a fan favorite in the soap community after starting a blog discussing soaps and his experiences as a writer and a fan.

That's when I discovered Casiello - his blog and subsequent interviews on various podcasts allowed fans to get a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes at their favorite shows. No juicy gossip or snarky b*tching, just an explanation of things from the perspective of a soap industry insider. He humanized TPTB (shaming me into not calling them "TIIC" anymore), making it clear that everyone wants what's best for our shows. During one interview, Casiello explained a story decision that was made for Days' Hope (I've forgotten the exact story/plot), and while I still didn't like it, I finally understand why it was done and that TPTB weren't "dumb" for doing it but in fact had a good reason for going in that direction. While the details of that interview are vague, one thing has stayed with me - that I should try to see things from TPTB's perspective instead of demonizing them.

Through his blog posts, interviews, tweets and facebook comments Casiello has proven himself to be not only a talented writer, but a thoughtful, kind and fair minded human being. Casiello has a love of the genre and a genuine affection and respect for the fans, and that was appreciated by all of us. While I'll be sad to see him leave the daytime soap world, I wish him much success in his future endeavors!

**Btw, one particularly awesome blog post of Casiello's was Soap-Opera Writing 101. If you want to write for soaps or are just curious about the process, I highly recommend you check this out. It's a step by step example of how it's done (using an aired Sami/EJ scene as a guide). Read it here.

Update: Since this was posted, it has been announced that Tom Casiello has been hired as part of the WWE writing team. Good Luck Tom!
-Melanie/SoapOperaBabble/daisyclover

He Said/She Said: As the World Turns

Almost two weeks ago (yikes!), our SoapWikiJohn blogged about the final week of ATWT in the latest installment of our He Said/She Said: ATWT Finale series. He loved Jack and Carly’s wedding, Parker’s decision to become a cop and Katie getting a happy ending with Chris. He was also highly critical of the final week, his major complaints being: No enough returns, useless recasts of Liberty and Hope, lack of Martha Byrne, no happy ending for Luke or Nuke and too much Janet. Judging from what I read on the blogosphere, twitter and in the mainstream soap press, J’s thoughts mirrored what many fans felt about the finale. For the most part, I agree with a lot of what’s been said, though I do seem to hold some unpopular opinions (be prepared for a defense of Janet!) It’s been awhile since the final week of ATWT aired, so forgive me if some of the things I mentioned were aired before the final week. So here’s my roundup, Good/Bad/Ugly Remix style!

He Said/She Said: As the World Turns

It's been a week and a day since the last episode of As the World Turns aired and I'm still in mourning. ATWT was never "my" show, but I watched it regularly since the 90s and while the show wasn't perfect (what show is?) I thought it had a lot of life left in it. When fellow Denial Island resident SoapWikiJohn suggested we do a series of He Said/She Said pieces about ATWT and it's finale, I thought it would be a nice way to keep the show alive for a little while longer. We're thinking about doing this in Parts - Initial Reactions, Final Week/Final Year, Characters, etc... I hope you enjoy the discussion, and we'd love for you to share your thoughts and memories of ATWT.

To read SoapWikiJohn's Initial Reaction to the ATWT finale, click here

I agree with some of John's observations: the happy endings did seem forced and rushed, and the Reid/Luke/Noah fans were cheated. But generally, I liked the last episode. I cried, I laughed, and I enjoyed all the performances. Not to mention the fact that I got what I'd been wanting desperately for years - John and Lucinda together again!!! I was also moved by Bob's narration (which seemed very Our Town-ish to me). Call me corny, but I liked the happy endings - it's what we fans wish for our favorites, and it's something we can only get when a show ends. Most of all, I liked that the show's finale was really about what soaps should always be about: Love, Family & Friends, and Community.

I didn't love everything though. I was shocked that Eileen Fulton was relegated to what was essentially a cameo appearance, it did seem rushed (as if TPTB just ran out of time and quickly slapped something together at the last minute), not enough interactions between the characters, too many of whom seemed to exist in their own little bubble (Paul and Emily, for instance), not enough returns, and I was hoping for lots of clips. Most of all, it was heartbreaking that Martha Byrne wasn't there. Noelle Beck is a fine actress, but not having Byrne resume her signature role as Lily was criminal and a real slap in the face to the actress and her fans.

All that said, I found the final episode to be satisfying. Sure, it could have been better but I'm hesitant in being too critical because 1) I don't know what kind of restrictions TPTB were working under and 2) It seems useless to pick on a show that's gone now, went out on a high note, and I found to be more entertaining than most of the other soaps still on the air.

So these are my initial reactions. Look for SoapWikiJohn and I to get into a more detailed discussion about ATWT in the upcoming weeks! I know I plan on discussing: my beloved Reid & LuRe, CarJack/Janet/Dusty, favorite stories/characters, and stuff I hated. And I'm sure SoapWikiJohn and I are going to do lots of arguing!!

Thanks for reading! We'd love to hear what you think!
-Melanie/SoapOperaBabble/daisyclover1938