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News for the week of 07-Sep-2015

by Carol Banks Weber

Stacy Haiduk (Patty Williams) is stoked to return. She may have even given a hint of her next story in the September 4, 2015 posting at Soap Opera Digest online. “There are really no limits on what you can do with Patty. It really depends on the mood. Is she in a good place or a bad mood? She’s very unpredictable, but she never intends to hurt anyone. In the past, she’s been manipulated by the wrong people. It will be interesting to see if that happens again.” Haiduk began taping recently.

Ray Wise (Ian Ward) can’t wait to wreak more havoc in Genoa City. He absolutely loves daytime and its hard-working actors over at Y&R. When TPTB brought him back to partner up with Adam against Victor, Wise couldn’t have been happier. Well, except maybe the night he won his first Emmy playing a soap villain. Wise told Michael Logan that he always hoped he could win an Emmy for his work as Leland Palmer on that primetime freak show, Twin Peaks, but it never happened. He called it “poetic justice” when he did win for Y&R. “When I did Twin Peaks I couldn’t get a nomination to save my life and I can’t think of a character in the history of television who went through more than Leland Palmer. But here I am with Ian Ward. He’s doing it for me and I couldn’t be happier. I finally got that statuette and, I promise you, it is not going to tarnish!” As a major Hollywood star, nobody would fault Wise for steering clear of daytime. But the veteran actor sees no reason to look down on this legitimate acting venue. “I don’t know why any actor wouldn’t jump at the chance. Y&R gave me a great character with great lines to say and the people there are a wonderful bunch. In daytime, your chops have to work on all levels. It can be fast, difficult work but, when the day is done, you have a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. It’s something to really be proud of, and no one should be snooty about it. I could not love it more.”

Nobody was more surprised than Chris McKenna (ex-Det. Mark Harding) to see the brusque character go. McKenna put so much into his side character during the time he was on Y&R, and only wished he could’ve shown more facets — other than in the last remaining days on the show. In a recent Soap Opera Digest interview, McKenna talked about letting go. “I was so surprised at first and had to digest it. I have to mourn Harding. I mean, I love the guy. I helped make him, so I have a lot of affection for him. So, it was sad to see what happened to him and what he had done, but I just used that to make a convincing performance...” McKenna and Doug Davidson (Paul) even kidded around about undoing the death scene. McKenna even hinted that Harding may have a twin running around.

Gossip for the week of 07-Sep-2015

by Carol Banks Weber

On September 2, 2015, Deadline reporter David Robb broke the story about CBS soap opera producers coercing writers to accept less work, against Writers Guild of America’s guidelines. What’s been happening, according to Robb’s report, is producers are bullying soap opera writers into asking the WGA for waivers, which would give the writers less assignments weekly. That would then free up the load for an actor, a line producer, or a cheaper new writer to pen the show, so producers wouldn’t have to pay the WGA-enforced requirements to their regular writers. B&B and Y&R are supposedly two of the worst culprits, according to Deadline sources. Normally, writers can ask for a waiver in cases of illness or a family emergency. These suspicious waivers have been coming in at a record rate lately, more now than ever before, according the WGA records. Dan Wilcox, who campaigned to be elected into the WGA board of directors, is a proponent of full disclosure and change. “Over the last few years, a couple of the companies have begun using the reduced-load waivers to punish some writers and reward others. The companies tell the writers in disfavor to apply for a ‘half-deal’ waiver or be fired. Given a choice between some income and none, the writers request the waiver,” Wilcox revealed. Wilcox knows a lot about waivers, because he’s a part of the WGA committee overseeing waiver reviews. As a part of the committee, he admitted that sometimes they figure out when a writer isn’t telling the truth about asking for a waiver. “But so far those writers have declined to say anything in public, lest they offend the company. Without proof something’s amiss, the Guild can do nothing.” Wilcox offered a solution. But it isn’t without risk, to the writers. “Until some brave writer risks company disfavor and goes public, this is a problem without a solution. Perhaps it is. But there are tweaks we can make to shift the balance a little. I’d like to see the Waiver Committee attach conditions to every one of these reduced-workload waivers making the arrangement non-exclusive, leaving the writer free to look elsewhere for more lucrative work. And if the new job would make it difficult to complete the old one, the writer should be permitted to terminate the waiver deal on one day’s notice.”

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