“General Hospital’s” Jake (James Nigbor) hasn’t been the same since he was rescued from the Cassadine compound. There’s something off and menacing about Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) and Jason’s (Billy Miller) son. What happened to the boy, while he was in captivity that caused the personality shift? And, more importantly, is Sam (Kelly Monaco) safe from ‘The Bad Seed’ Helena (Constance Towers) created?
It’s out with the old and in with the new on January 13, when Jason Thompson debuts as Billy Abbott on “The Young and the Restless.” Thompson replaces Burgess Jenkins, who joined the soap in June 2014 replacing David Tom. But let’s face it, he’ll be judged by whether or not he measures up to Billy Miller’s portrayal of the popular character.
If a year ago someone bet me that a modern-day soap opera would not only put their African-American characters in a front burner storyline that was deeply entrenched in social issues, which had nothing to do with the color of one’s skin, race or ethnicity, I’d owe that person plenty of money right about now.
In life you set goals for yourself, or at least you try to. You even have expectations for yourself that you hope will eventually get fulfilled. In my case, over the years I had set a specific list of goals that included certain expectations as they related to one another. Earlier this year, I officially crossed one of the major things off that list. It wasn’t easy as it had plagued me for nearly a decade. A stepping stone you might call it. I took up something many years ago that eventually became impossible to maintain on a full-time basis. I decided to do it part-time. I went from part-time to being very part-time. Later you could say I dropped it completely in order to concentrate on the things that either gave me personal joy and fulfillment (this site) or put several well earned dollars in my pocket. I imagine I’m not the only one out there who’s ever had pull some sort of double duty in their lifetime. Right?
Late last month we released a new layout of our website that was to allow us to present our content in manner we’ve been working towards for some time. Unfortunately, the design came with some issues that needed to be cleaned up. That cleanup left the site virtually silent news and interview wise. That’s now over.
If things look a little bit different around here it’s because things are different. As promised on our social networks, we have been working very hard behind the scenes leading up to this Thanksgiving holiday weekend to bring you the best user experience at Soap Opera Network, which not only includes the most up-to-date soap opera related content, but also a more visually appealing layout with page speed in mind. As a result of our new design, there will be plenty of new features we’ll be able to play around with that’ll provide our readers with the best presentation of our content, including this puppy.
From re-runs of soap classics “Dallas,” “Dynasty,” “Another World,” “Port Charles,” and “Falcon Crest,” to the launches of original series “SoapCenter,” “Soap Talk” and “General Hospital: Night Shift,” SOAPnet was defined as the “new way to watch soaps” for much of its near 14-year run. With just 2 days left before SOAPnet is no more, we thought it would be a great opportunity to look back at the inaugural year of a network that gave diehard soap fans their own platform to shout with glee through the death of a network that outlived its purpose.
On Monday, September 26, 2011, ABC premiered a new daytime talk show that brought food back to the table and into our everyday lives. Now in its third season, “The Chew” is currently enjoying one of its highest rated on record in both total viewers and key women sales demos. As the talk show celebrated its 500th episode yesterday, fans of the ABC version of “All My Children” continued to mourn the loss of their favorite daytime soap opera, which made Susan Lucci and her character Erica Kane a household name to mainstream viewers.
Celebrating its 12th year online, Soap Opera Network is currently experiencing its biggest year on record in terms of page views and unique visitors. This year we’ve been able to provide exclusive insight into the world of soaps while bringing readers inside the minds of some of their favorite characters and actors featured on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless.” As we come off of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we’re gearing up for even more features in the coming weeks and the new year including the return of the SON Awards along with the annual Airhog Awards, while introducing new features such as our first annual best and worst of the year report and our new best of soaps weekly poll highlighting the best actors, best soaps, and best storylines of the week for both daytime and primetime soap opera related programming. To better present all this content we’ve made significant alterations to our website design that gets rid of clutter and inactive coding that previously prevented the site from being presented in the best way possible. The new design codenamed “refresh” was launched today.
In the press release announcing the season one finales of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” Prospect Park’s The OnLine Network (TOLN) also announced “that future seasons of the shows will benefit from the launch of a new, user-friendly web portal and app that will make it even easier for fans to connect with their favorite characters and will take their level of interaction to a whole new level.” So what does that even mean?
For months, and in numerous articles, Soap Opera Network stated the following line: “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” both premiere on Monday, April 29 via Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes. Well, the big day finally arrived and is now over and done with. So, we have to ask readers…how did you watch the soaps? Hulu, Hulu Plus or iTunes?
Earlier today we posted our ratings report for the week of February 4-8, 2013 and it looks as though the debut of Steve Burton on “The Young and the Restless” and Jack Wagner’s return to “General Hospital” have helped bring new (or returning) viewers back to daytime television.
According to a report by the New York Post, ABC is developing a real-life version of its popular daytime soap “General Hospital.” A network spokesperson confirmed the Post’s report and said that the possible series, which recently began taping at UCLA Medical Center, is in its “earliest, pilot stages,” and is intended “either for syndication or maybe cable.” Of course, the news has put soap opera fans into a tizzy as they are now worried about the fate of “GH” when they really shouldn’t be – yet.
In the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest, which just happens to be the mags annual Best & Worst issue, columnist Carolyn Hinsey (“It’s Only My Opinion”) shared her views of the best and worst of 2012 in the world of daytime soaps. While you can read her input by picking up your own copy, it is her statement that “OLTL will be back” that peaked our curiosity.
With word of Sean Kanan returning to “General Hospital” next month in an as yet to-be-determined role, despite portraying AJ Quartermaine 15 years ago on the drama series, I recently noted an uncanny similarity Kanan currently has with former co-star and on screen brother Steve Burton.
Last summer I was lucky enough to be included as an interviewee in the new soap opera themed documentary appropriately titled “Soap Life,” which follows the life, and possible death, of daytime soap operas. I can’t believe I forgot all about it and didn’t realize it until this morning!
Ten years is a longtime for a website to remain in operation. It is thanks to all of you that we’ve been able to provide you with the most up-to-date, current and timely information relating to the genre of soap operas between our SON Community and our reporting team. Unfortunately, in the past month there hasn’t been much of any up-to-date, current or timely information relating to the genre of soap operas posted on Soap Opera Network by its reporting team.
“All My Children’s” replacement show “The Chew” debuts today, just three days after “AMC” aired its final episode on ABC, and I can’t help myself in wishing it would just go away. No, it isn’t the show or what it is all about. In a perfect world I’d care to watch it from time to time, after all we all have to cook good and healthy meals don’t we? But it is the way the network went about handling “The Chew” which included non-stop advertising during “AMC’s” final weeks on television along with non-stop advertising on soap opera centered websites including Soap Opera Network that I find myself saying “what a way to spit on your audience.”
What started out as a typical week that began on July 25 ended up being one of the worst in Soap Opera Network history, but you wouldn’t have known it from a behind the scenes perspective.
(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — The last time I wrote an edition of the Editor's Notebook was August 12, 2008. A lot has…