Deep Soap: To the Victor Goes The Spoils

A Budget Crisis Is Not A Conspiracy

Eric Braeden alleged in an interview with TV Guide that Sony is behind an elaborate conspiracy to push him off The Young & The Restless. Braeden has been written off the show temporarily due to a contract dispute. Public opinion is the biggest weapon in his arsenal. If fans write angry letters on his behalf, it helps his cause. He did make a few good points. It is unfair that actors can be forced to renegotiate their salaries mid-contract. He rightly placed the blame on AFTRA for allowing that clause to exist in actor’s contracts. Business Affairs executives are going to use whatever means they have to cut the budgets. They do not care how long someone has been with a show or whether feelings will be hurt. It is unfortunate that the situation was handled in a way that made him feel disrespected.

He loses me with his claims that his current storyline was designed to turn the audience against him. While I currently despise Victor and hold him responsible for Colleen’s death, I think that is the opposite of what the writers intended. Based on the dialogue, the soaring music and other characters attitudes, we are supposed to believe that when Mary Jane shot him, the slate was wiped clean. Victor is being written as a martyr. Jack and Traci decided that he was worthy of receiving Colleen’s heart. Nikki is by his side. His own children have forgiven him. If the show wanted to write Victor out permanently, he would not quietly leave town. Who killed Victor? would be a great murder mystery that would generate months of story. The whole town has reason to hate him. He was written out in such a way that it would be easy to bring him back at a moment’s notice.

I understand why Eric Braeden does not want to take a pay cut. Nobody does. But I would have a whole lot more sympathy for him if he mentioned how difficult it has been for all of the behind the scenes folks who took a 10% paycut last May and the hourly employees who lost their overtime. There is no conspiracy, just a budget crisis that is affecting everyone, even the great Victor Newman.

Llanview Looks Like America — So Where Is the Audience?

I have wondered what would happen if a soap decided to aggressively transform itself into the “gay” soap or the “minority” soap. Would the legions of on-line fans advocating for more diverse characters flock to the show? It appears that One Life To Live is attempting this experiment. It has multiple African American and Latino characters who *gasp* are not all related to each other or even in the same storylines. It has Kish, the first gay relationship to, so far, be written exactly like every other soap relationship. It really is a straight up (pun intended) love triangle that happens to involve three men that, now that Fish is out of the closet, has little to do with homophobia. In theory, the ratings should be rising now that the show looks like America. I am trying to figure out why, other than having All My Children as a lead-in, they are not.

Buoyed by the positive response to Kish, it looks like the soap has decided to take on Glee for the title of gayest show on television. OLTL’s occasional forays into intelligently written camp, like the Grey Gardens fantasy sequence, often seem to target gay viewers. So why not make a storyline about two middle aged heterosexual women competing in a mayoral election all about gay rights? I was tickled to learn that Llanview has its own gay rights organization that wants to make sure its interests are represented. That is actually pretty realistic by soap political standards. Viki’s cautiously pro-gay rights stance, in which she endorsed the principals of equality but stop short of saying she supported gay marriage seem consistent with show history. She supported gay teen Billy Douglas in the early 1990s.

It was also totally in character for Dorian to decide she needed to outdo Viki with her pro-gay agenda. The scenes where she tried to convince David to pretend he’s gay were hilarious. According to spoilers, she will end up in a sham gay marriage with her new lesbian campaign staffer. I’m sure those scenes will be funny too. Given her history, Dorian should support absolutely every form of consensual adult relationships.

But I have a huge logic question. Llanview’s former drug dealing, murdering mayor was explicitly referred to as a family values candidate who was opposed to gay marriage. Presumably, those values were consistent with the beliefs of the majority of Llanview’s voters. Lowell would be reviled for his epic hypocrisy, but I doubt everyone in Llanview suddenly decided to embrace progressive politics. If Dorian wants to win, shouldn’t she be taking the conservative stance? I assume there are at least as many Llanview residents who think like Marko’s traditional father as there are tolerant Leila’s. Unfortunately, that may hold true for viewers as well.

As for Llanview’s people of color, I have to call out the casting of the Evans family. The writers have done a great job of bringing them onto the canvas slowly. The character of Greg is great on paper: a cocky, brilliant surgeon thrown into a crisis of confidence after an operation on his brother went terribly wrong. But Terrell Tilford has managed to become a laughingstock thanks to his hammy, over-the-top performance. His anguished run down the hospital hallway is destined to become an internet meme. I hate picking on someone so young, but Shenell Edmonds is in over her head as Destiny. The writing for this character is great. I had hoped she would grow into the role over time, but it has been months. The role is now much more than Matthew’s friend who has a crush on him. Destiny is now experiencing guilt and fear about her family’s problems. Edmonds is still delivering flat and amateurish line readings that work against the solid writing for her character. I do not think the audience is going to embrace these characters without recasting. During their glory days, The Young & The Restless’s Winters family were not just popular because they were African-American. They were interesting to watch because they were played by great actors.

If the rumors are true that OLTL is fighting for its survival, targeting underserved audiences in a great strategy. OLTL just needs to fine tune its execution.

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