Saturday, February 27, 2010

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?

9 comments:

  1. In out house we always watched the ABC soaps and I still turn them on once in a great while. It only takes seconds to catch up! lol!!

    xoxo
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did grow up watching soaps but now have reduced it way down to just watching Y&R on occasion. I grew up on CBS...Y&R, B&B, ATWT & GL. I love Reva and Josh and I was sad to here that it went off the air. When I was on maternity leave I got into ABC soaps too. I agree with Blondie that it only takes a bit to catch up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In my early teens I watched Another World and The Doctors on rainy summer afternoons with my friend whose mom was hooked on those shows. Later, while pregnant and home with little boys, I watched Ryan's Hope and All My Children.

    While channel cruising recently, I saw Tad Martin on AMC played by the same actor only he isn't a teenager now, in fact he has more gray hair than I do!

    ReplyDelete
  4. While I was on maternity leave with my first son, I started watching "All My Children", but haven't seen it many times since. I just never got into watching soaps. But my grandmother pulled up her little stool and sat down in front of the TV and wouldn't move!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't watched soaps in many years, but I remember watching Erica Kane(Susan Lucci)
    when she was in high school, on All My Children!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My mom watched ATWT when I was growing up, and I've met Larry Hagman. His son Preston is a friend of mine. I didn't even know he started on a soap though, I just knew about I Dream of Jeannie. I watched the ABC soaps during college, but haven't watched any in years. My days are filled with kids :-)
    Blessings,
    Marcia

    ReplyDelete
  7. My mother watched General Hospital and loved it. I can see how much fun it is to watch a regular program filled with stories about characters you come to know!

    also...Thanks so much for your recent visit! (Be sure to come and visit me again today as I'm celebrating my 500th post and having a VINTAGE BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!)

    Have a great day! Coralie

    ReplyDelete
  8. No wonder why I had no idea what you guys were talking about on FB! My soaps (ABC)seem to be still going strong. I actually try not to watch the smut much these days though, it's gone overboard even for soaps! But since I've watched off and on since our cousin Jeni babysat 20 years ago, I "know" these characters and like to check in!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember Meg Ryan on ATWT as Betsy--and I had a BIG crush on Lujack, too! Gosh, he was cute-lol! I don't watch any of them now, but when I was growing up my grandma would watch them everyday.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a note! : )