FLASHBACK: PURE SOAP First in Talk Show Derby 1993

`PURE SOAP' FIRST OUT OF THE GATE IN TALK-SHOW DERBY

Marla Hart
Chicago Tribune
October 28, 1993

Move over, minimalists. In the world of telecommunication superhighways, the notion of "less is more" has hit the big pothole.

Just around the corner, 500 television stations are promised. The future road signs read: More is more.

More talk shows, home shopping channels and, entering the on-ramp, soap opera coverage. Two weeks ago E! Entertainment crossed the finish line first with its new half-hour PURE SOAP. The cable station beat out scores of soap stars-Susan Keith (LOVING), James Kiberd (ALL MY CHILDREN), Frank Dicopoulis (GUIDING LIGHT) and Linda Dano (ANOTHER WORLD) to name a few-trying to launch a talk show devoted to daytime drama.

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"Everyone in soap opera envisioned this show. Everyone had the idea," says Shelley Taylor Morgan, who, with journalist Michael Logan, co-hosts the live program, which airs at 3 p.m. weekdays. "Normally a show like this would be a network thing. But NBC won't let you talk about ABC, or ABC about CBS. They couldn't get out of their own way to do it. We beat them out!"

Morgan, a West Virginia native raised in Los Angeles, is best known for her role as Lorena on GENERAL HOSPITAL, Anjelica on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, and as hostess for the "Home" show. She is nothing if not bubbly in her new anchor seat.

"I look from my heart. I want to give an emotional perspective," Morgan says. "I see myself as a cheerleader. I connect with the fans. I'm just happy to be entertained and moved."

What she lacks in reporting skills, Morgan makes up for in instinct. Her strength is in choosing clips daily from the soaps that illustrate the emotional tug of the serial format.

An example, she says, "was when I was watching Royce (played by Terry Lester) in his therapy session on AS THE WORLD TURNS. Every time I watched, I cried. I said, `That's it, let's take a look at Royce.' "

The show also includes interviews that, characteristic of the industry, are heavy on tact; story updates, a staple of soap coverage; visits to studios and malls; gossip, such as Crystal Carson's firing from GH; and a call-in line, which, Morgan believes, is the show's secret weapon.

"Where else," she asks, "can you call in live and talk to Michael Sabatino, Crystal Chappell, J. Eddie Peck, Jeanne Cooper and Matthew Ashford? That's for the fanatics. For some viewers, watching their soaps is their religion.

"But I think the show also has an appeal whether you watch soaps or not," Morgan continues. "The whole Luke and Laura thing-when Elizabeth Taylor was written on as their wedding guest on GENERAL HOSPITAL (in 1981)-that put the stamp of approval on daytime and that was the start of a mainstream interest."

Morgan hopes, too, that the phone line will make other connections for her audience. "Our show will give fans a forum to discuss news or social issues (raised) in shows-racism, AIDS, incest, aging. That's my soapbox. To teach about healthy relationships and communication. For many, this is their window into society."

In other soaps news:

- Only real people need apply. If you fit that description and happen to have a photo of yourself and can write a letter, sharpen your pencils. MTV's THE REAL WORLD is looking for seven young adults, ages 18 to 24, to take part in the third season of its life-in-a-fishbowl documentary. Production for this real-life soap opera begins January in San Francisco.

Send a letter explaining why you would want to live, eat, brush your teeth and sleep alongside six strangers with cameras rolling, and how you would occupy yourself once you got to San Francisco, to: The Real World, 110 Pacific Ave., San Francisco, Calif. 94111.

- Kristian Alfonso, former daytime superstar of DAYS OF OUR LIVES (Hope), is the latest addition to MELROSE PLACE, following on the heels of new cast member Parker Stevenson. Alfonso will appear in four episodes as Lauren, a Hollywood madam a la Heidy Fleiss out to entice the ladies of L.A. to join her upper-crusty call-girl operation. The actress' first air date is Nov. 17.

- The first-ever Soap Opera Fan Fair-modeled after country music roundups and baseball card conventions-will be held Dec. 5 on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif. Fans can meet daytime personalities from the L.A.-based soaps (Melody Thomas Scott from THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; Melissa Reeves, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; Kimberlin Brown, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; and Wally Kurth, GENERAL HOSPITAL, to name a few) and buy soap opera merchandise.

Tickets ($20) are available through Ticketmaster and $5 from each will go to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. For more information, call Ticketmaster (213-480-3232); to reserve a cabin aboard the ship, call 310-435-3511.

- Baby talk: Kimberlin Brown (Sheila on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL), whose real-life baby is due in January, and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS stars Peter Barton (Scott) and Tracey Bregman Recht (Lauren) will all wind up on an island together for B&B's mid-November sweeps when the baby-snatching puzzle might be solved.

And A Martinez, the former Cruz man on SANTA BARBARA still waiting for a story line to take hold for his character on L.A. LAW, has just become a parent with wife Leslie. The baby girl, Ren, bears the middle name Farren, named for Martinez's friend and business partner Jill Farren Phelps, SB producer of yesteryear and currently the producer of GUIDING LIGHT.

- Veronica Redd Forrest, Mamie on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, will star in the Nov. 19 episode of the Emmy-laden PICKET FENCES as a plastic surgeon.

- Ian Buchanan, dashing spyster Duke who split GENERAL HOSPIAL and now plays serious shrink James on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, will star in David Lynch's new ABC series ON THE AIR, which makes its debut this spring. Buchanan, who perfected a nerd department store owner for Lynch's TWIN PEAKS, will play a failing English star who tries to revive his career, circa 1957.