FLASHBACK: What to Expect in 1995

A LOOK AHEAD AT WHAT TO EXPECT IN '95

By Marla Hart
Chicago Tribune
January 5, 1995

Here's hoping that soap opera in 1995 makes a New Year's resolution to swear off the lowest-common-denominator strategy that ruled in '94.

Last year, daytime was like a sendup of its own mistaken-identity stories. Artificially hatched storylines and actors whose reach extended as far as their blow dryers competed against well-crafted family drama and top-notch ensemble acting. Too often, the evil twin won out.

Gazing into the crystal ball, Soaps Watch predicts:

- A return to potboilers. Nobody does the hospital drama better than GENERAL HOSPITAL (not even ER), which will continue to lead the way with its three-hankie storylines. And ALL MY CHILDREN created the winning Kendall, Erica's bitchy daughter, who was born to wreak havoc in Pine Valley for years to come.

- A do-or-die year for GUIDING LIGHT. Missteps in early 1994 had a ripple effect throughout the entire year. In winter, GL lost head writer Nancy Curlee when she had her second child. Further weakening the soap's hallmark-savvy characters and dialogue-Curlee's husband and co-head writer Steven Demorest also was terminated. The poetic Patrick Mulcahey was let go. Nancy Williams Watt was announced twice as new head writer.

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Now rumor has it writers Jerome and Bridgett Dobson (SANTA BARBARA) will be hired and that former SB leading man A Martinez will join the cast. Meanwhile, GL slipped measurably in the ratings, evidence that some soap viewers turn off shows when the scripts deteriorate.

- Erica Kane dolls nestle on store shelves next to Power Ranger toys. Soap merchandising is beginning to hit its stride. The QVC shopping network has already launched the Susan Lucci video "All About Erica," Melody Thomas Scott's hair care products and Linda Dano accessories. Procter & Gamble has developed its own soap-related merchandise. Soap performers' CDs are popping up in stores, and soap-opera-fan fairs have made their way into the Midwest as annual events.

- Soap at night: Darren Star, creator of the surprisingly good MELROSE PLACE, was stolen away by CBS to create a new soap-style series CENTRAL PARK for the network. If it's a hit, expect more.

- More Todd Mannings, Alan Michaels and Lucy Coes will emerge. Viewers respond to such finely drawn characters motivated by more than merely hunk/babe status.

- THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL will continue securely in its niche as the action/adventure epic of daytime. The formula for its success (the show is in the top 3 and might be extended to an hour) is often visual-as its signature fashion shows attest.

The characters are delivered in broad strokes and connect-the-dots storylines (beautiful Taylor lives as a princess in Omar's kingdom while James the Shrink is downstairs at the palace and has come to rescue her). Like a Stallone movie, B&B translates easily both in the U.S. and overseas, where the soap earns millions in syndication fees.

- If MODELS, INC. manages to hang on by its false fingernails, producers should pop a few extra bucks for some decent costumes. The low-rent clothes shown on the Aaron Spelling program are simply hideous.

- DAYS OF OUR LIVES will continue to copy THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. Spokesmen for the show insisted, in 1994, that it was not trying to copy Y&R, then went ahead and did just that. Replacing supercouples with triangles was a sage choice, but abandoning humorous subplots was not.

- Return of the vampire: Soaps are not ashamed to rip off Hollywood. When Dances With Wolves was a hit, American Indian stories were serialized. Look for vampires in the dark shadows to appear again.

- The big question in 1995 for the MELROSE PLACE gay love story: When's the kiss?

- They'll be circling the wagons again. Soap poobahs will continue their policy of controlling what facts get out. Questions such as "How much does it cost to produce a soap?" and "What effect will lobbyists have on the content of shows, especially as the mood in the country moves to the right?" will continue to be answered with "No comment."

- The electronic acid test this year for daytime's self-image will be the Emmy Awards, watched closely by actors who were teed off about its self-mocking tone in 1994 and threatened to boycott this year's telecast.

- Some familiar faces will be back in the saddle again: Look for Nancy Grahn, Kim Zimmer and A Martinez to sign on with a serial.

- Soaps will give up the ghost and stop trying to compete with talk shows.