Daytime soaps scour world

Press, 7 January 1987, Page 22

Daytime soaps scour world

By Sandra Hansen Konte When Ruth Warrick, who plays Phoebe Tyler on “All My Children” first started her soap opera career on “The Guiding Light” 30 years ago, life was so much simpler. “With a kitchen and a living room,” she wrote in “The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler,” "a small cast could spin our weeks of plot that held the viewer in thrall." Soap operas were uncomplicated, and*so inexpensive to produce that 41 of them found their way into American households in the 1950 s alone. Even a decade ago, the fictional towns of Oakdale, Pine Valley and Rosehill were depicted by a handful of sturdy-but-reliable sets, and, as Manuela Soares wrote in “The Soap Opera Book,” “Characters ventured out of the kitchen and living room only to go on trial, have an operation or be run over by a truck.” But hold the milk and cookies. Ma Perkins! The

amnesiacs, nympho maniacs and philanderers you counselled amid the linoleum and flowered chintz have begun their emotional baggage all over the world. Before its recent demise, “Search for Tomorrow” filmed the wedding of Malcolm McCleary and his gypsy bride, Katy, on location in Ireland.

“Days of Our Lives” has filmed episodes in New Orleans, Miami, Boston and London. “As the World Turns” is planning a trip to England, "Ryan’s Hope” recently took its cameras out of the studio and into New York City and a New Jersey mansion.

Last month Tina Lord Roberts of “One Life to Live,” purchased an entire Caribbean Island (she did not buy Jamaica, but the footage of her tropical paradise was filmed there) — all in an effort to win back her husband. Sorry, Ma, the way to a man’s heart is no longer through his stomach. Furthermore, there is a lot more going on these days in the peaceful towns of Oakdale, Rosehill, etc. "All My Children” was recently enlivened by a visit from a longtime fan, Stevie Wonder. Last month, “Another World” invited its loyal viewers to Bay City to serve as jurors in its latest murder trial. And, according to Meredith Brown, executive editor of "Soap Opera Digest,” the February sweeps period will dispel the old chintz and linoleum days for ever. "All the shows will pull out all the stops. That’s why you will see so many weddings and murder mysteries, as well as foreign location shoots,” says Brown. But John Conboy, executive producer of "Capitol” and "The Young and the Restless,” claims the “expanded” sets and glamorous plots are not sure-fire signs that the soap opera world has abandoned its roots. “It’s not that characters like Ma Perkins have become obsolete,” says Conboy. “There is always a need for the kindly adviser who serves as the

voice of reason. It is a staple character, a reliable character. But we have a more sophisticated audience now. They expect certain things. So Ma’s world has expanded, along with everything else.”

Conboy, who has been shooting scenes for “Capitol” on location in Santa Barbara, California, is considering a trip to Europe and cheerfully admits to spending a good deal more of his somewhat tight budget on costumes and sets. “We’re considered the best-looking show on daytime TV,” he says. “Our audience enjoys that glamour. It is a high standard to maintain.” (The “look” of “Capitol” is so important to Conboy he has cut corners in the location department. Recent scenes depicting the Far East were actually shot in the California desert). He has his own theory as to why soap innovations are breaking up that old gang of Ma Perkins. “Daytime programmes are now following what the prime-time soaps are doing.”

According to U.S. News and World Report, the five prime-time shows with the highest percentage of female viewers are soaps. In order, they are “Knots Landing,” “Hotel,” “The .Colbys,” “Falcon Crest” and “Dynasty.” In spite of “All My Children’s" claims that a large number of its audience is male, the daytime audience remains overwhelmingly female. The high budget and high-production values of the everting favourites make it much more difficult to get away with a palm tree and a sandbox to represent a desert island. “We thought our studio Manhattan settings were pretty effective,” says John C’lncenco, a production assistant on “Ryan’s Hope,” “until we did a legitimate New York location shoot, with the Hudson River in the background. Our viewers congratulated us on finally having a realistic setting.” Brian Frons, N.B.C.’s vice-president of daytime programming, claims the video boom has been a soap-opera boon. “Technical equipment

has become smaller, easier to manage and cheaper to use,” he says. “That’s encouraged us to go out of the studio and be more creative."

But even though he is pleased with the results of this creativity (“we keep getting better and better”), he’s quick to point out . that production innovations have made soaps more competitive with each other.

“There have been standards set," Frons says. “There is almost a feature-film quality to today’s soaps, in everything from costumes to settings to pacing. It is not just a creative challenge to make these shows better, fresher, more sophisticated. It is a necessity.” It brings up another reason for the chintz and linoleum revolt — the need to maintain audience interest in what can be, let’s face it, strikingly similar story lines.

“All the gimmicks are well and good,” says Conboy. “But I still maintain if you have a good story, you can shoot on black velour and the audience will like you.” Unfortunately, there are just so many variations on the recurring daytime themes of illness, romance, danger and revenge. Today’s audiences have indicated they want more. Michael Lebowltz, associated professor of computer science at Columbia University, recently completed a study of several years’ worth of “Ryan’s Hope” scripts in an effort to determine the secret of its successful 12year run. His conclusion: “The one thing you can’t allow is to let the characters do what they normally do in real life. It is too dull.” That leads us to “Another World’s” brand-new incarnation of that soap opera staple, the murder trial.

The formula has been around as long as Madame X. But viewers have never had the chance to watch the defendants weep and the prosecution gloat in person.

According to Frons, more than 7000 viewers applied for a spot in the jury box. | The lucky contest winners received Screen Actors* Guild cards and the opportunity to mull Brittany’s guilt on camera (two endings were filmed to mirror either verdict). “It is a wonderful way to get viewers involved and open up still more possibilities on ‘Another World’,” Frons said. Like better ratings. “Another World” is currently the eighth-ranked daytime soap, while the number one spot is held by the gimmick-happy “General Hospital.” It could also be a way to make “Another World” more competitive with its biggest ratings threat, the game show. “Search for Tomorrow" has been replaced by a show called “World Play,” and the most popular daytime shows in many markets are “Wheel Of Fortune” and “Jeopardy.” Ma Perkins has met the enemy and she is Vanria White. ’

Whatever the fate of these new trends in soaps, daytime programming has come a long way in the glamour and sophistication department. That is why, says Manuela Soares, we continue to watch them in the first place.

"Today’s soap characters don’t simply have romances,” she enthuses. “They live romances.” In fact this new emphasis on glamour and romance has expanded to characters’ names. Another subliminal intrasoap competition is the exotic name game — with appellations like Sierra, Savannah, Yasmin, Dorian, and Sloane, replacing the milk-and-cookies type. One wonders what would have happened to poor old Ma today: ‘ “And now,” intones the narrator, “The continuing story of that globe-trotting grandma, Tiffany Perkins.”

As long as budgets and audiences hold out, anything is possible.— Los Angeles Time« Syndicate.