Bursting the Bubbles

Those 'soap' opera bubbles, that is. It seems that they're going out of fashion. With some of the storylines I've witnessed over the years, I can pretty well understand why. But it is still kind of sad.

I grew up a child of the CBS soaps.
As the World Turns Search for Tomorrow The Guiding Light They were the staples of daytime viewing at my house. My Mom tuned in every day to see what was happening with the Hughes family and just what the Spauldings might have gotten themselves into now.

Don't know if you realize how many actors and actresses got their big break by joining the cast of a soap opera. It's pretty amazing, really! Most of the big stars of today would sooner stop acting than to appear on a soap, but a few of the big names owe much of their fame to the daytime venue created for and supported by housewives all across America.

For instance, SFT spawned the careers of Jane Krakowski, Morgan Fairchild, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman, Sandy Duncan, Hal Linden and Susan Sarandon, just to name a few. And you can't forget Viggo Mortensen and Kevin Bacon! On ATWT Meg Ryan was the original and best Betsy ever and Julianne Moore just was Frannie. No one could ever quite replace them as far as I was concerned.

Trust me when I say I'm just scratching the surface here. SFT ran from 1951 to 1986, and ATWT started in 1956 and is still running. That's plenty of time to introduce a lot of new talent.


GL ran from 1952-2009 and gave Hayden Pannettiere her big break. Kevin Bacon also appeared on this one. But my favorite still has to be Vincent Irizzary who played Lujack. Oh what a crush I had on that boy! He was the handsome, rough-around-the-edges bad boy that every mother warns her daughter to avoid and I dearly loved him! (Does this tell you a little of what I put my parents through during my teenage years?)

Then there's the other end of the spectrum.

Just 9 years into its run, Don Hastings joined the ATWT cast as Bob Hughes. Bob was always the good guy, always trying to do the right thing. I liked Bob, too. Just not like I liked Lujack.

Did you grow up watching the soaps? Or perhaps as a young housewife you got totally wrapped up in their storylines and let them sweep you away into Another World (okay, so I'm just havin' fun now!) for just a little while each day? Tell me what you remember. Who were your favorite bad boys? Your favorite good guys? The woman you most wanted to be?