On Wednesday, “Days of Our Lives” announced that it was firing two of the soap’s biggest stars: Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn. I was shocked and saddened by the news. Can you imagine the town of Salem without Marlena (aka “Doc”) and John?
Thanks to budget cuts “Days” execs reportedly had to let go of the highly-paid actors in order to keep their show on NBC for another 18 months, but with a bloated cast of 31, couldn’t they have axed some of the newbies instead of these beloved vets?
When I asked my friend — who works in the soap industry — for his initial reaction to the news and what it means for the future of daytime, he responded, “You might as well sound the death knell.”
That’s what I was afraid of. I used to write for a soap magazine many years ago, so daytime holds a special place in my heart. I’m also fiercely protective of the genre, which people love to knock. “The acting’s horrible” and “the storylines are ridiculous” are two common criticisms. Yes, at times they are, but let me remind everyone that Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Demi Moore, Julianne Moore, Hayden Panettiere, Ryan Phillippe, Meg Ryan, and Marisa Tomei are just a few of the Hollywood stars who got their starts in daytime. And since “Guiding Light,” which is the longest-running drama in TV history, hit the radio airwaves in 1937, soaps’ silly stories have provided fans with a daily form of escapism. Of course, it’s been hard to keep these tales fresh over the years, which is why some writers have resorted to penning the absurd, supernatural plots that have turned many a soap fan off.
With that said, daytime ratings continue to dip, and it’s really no surprise. Although there are plenty of male fans out there, soap operas were originally aimed at housewives. As we all know, there aren’t as many stay-at-home moms as there used to be, and if someone does happen to be watching TV during the afternoon, they have hundreds of cable channels and programs to choose from. Plus, with everyone’s busy schedules, people simply don’t have the time to devote to a daytime serial anymore.
I’m not making any great revelations here. Everyone in the soap industry is fully aware of its problems, but they don’t seem to know how to solve them. In an attempt to boost ratings, the network suits have decided that what they need to do is attract young, new viewers, which, let’s face it, ain’t happening.
According to my soap insider friend, instead of firing vets like Hall and Hogestyn, who longtime fans adore, the soaps should work on preserving what they have. “I don’t really think you’re ever going to get new viewers,” he continued. “The days of moms and grandmas turning their kids on to their stories are long gone. The next best hope is to attract lapsed viewers — fans who left for a reason, who were disappointed in how their stories were being written and how their favorites were being fired.”
As much as I hate to say it, I’m not sure if the soaps can be saved, but in staying true to the genre’s form, a dramatic death is inevitable.
Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight” could see an opening day take of $30 million from 3,419 playdates after grossing north of $7 million in Thursday midnight shows.
If so, “Twilight” could land a spot on the top 20 list of best opening day grosses, somewhere between No. 17 and No. 20.
At that level of Friday ticket sales, “Twilight” should exceed initial forecasts for a $50 million to $60 million opening weekend. Even if traffic slows down from Friday to Saturday, pic should end up in the 60s.
The news keeps getting better and better for Summit: “Twilight,” based on the best-selling book series by Stephenie Meyer, is No. 3 on online ticketer Fandango’s list of top advance ticket sales. Only “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and “The Dark Knight” sold more.
Females, specifically tween girls and teenage girls, are driving “Twilight.” But it’s not just younger femmes turning out to see the teen vampire romancer, but older women and teen boys, too.
Sunday could be a bigger movie-going day than normal since 17% to 18% of kids will be out of school. According to a Fandango survey, 34% of moviegoers said they intended to duck out of classes Friday in order to see the movie.
“Twilight” is a tremendous victory for Summit Entertainment. “Twilight” landed at Summit after several other shops passed, including MTV Films.
It’s a ready-made franchise for Summit, since there are four books in Meyer’s series, which have sold more than 17 million copies worldwide, including $8.2 million in the U.S.
Now that TWILIGHT looks to be a bonafide blockbuster, Summit Entertainment can breathe a sigh of relief and look to the future of the next three books in the series. Which is a good thing because the end of TWILIGHT does everything but put up a ‘to be continued’ sign to indicate a sequel is on the way.
In the second story, NEW MOON, the focus shifts from vampires to werewolves and is written to include a lot more effects. According to director CATHERINE HARDWICKE, TWILIGHT will have to make a boatload of cash in order to justify production of a sequel. Listen in below:
Directed by CATHERINE HARDWICKE from the bestselling series by STEPHENIE MYER, TWILIGHT stars KRISTEN STEWART and ROBERT PATTINSON in a story of teen romance in a supernatural setting and is in theaters now.
Before he was winning critics’ hearts in DANNY BOYLE’S current indie hit SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, young actor DEV PATEL was winning Brit teen hearts in the BBC series SKINS.
Arguably, the best teen series to hit the small screen, SKINS tells in intertwining, episodic stories of the lives of a handful of British teens. PATEL was an unknown when he booked the series and tells Hollywood Outbreak how he came to audition. Listen in below.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is currently in select theaters and SKINS airs on Sunday nights on BBC AMERICA.
At last weeks press conference for the new Disney animated comedy, BOLT, star JOHN TRAVOLTA talked about how his singing and dancing with co-star MILEY CYRUS made him a pretty popular guy at home. Listen in below (and check out the official music vid).
While it’s no wonder that execs at Summit Entertainment are dancing in the streets because of the opening night sucess of their film, TWILIGHT, the guys over at gay friendly Regent Entertainment should be pretty happy too.
Regent is working on the release of it’s period piece, LITTLE ASHES, about the ’special’ friendship between young artists SALVADOR DALI and FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA (played by ROBERT PATTINSON and JAVIER BELTRAN).
We spoke with TWILIGHT star PATTINSON recently about his role in the upcoming film, Listen in below:
On this day in 1976, actor/writer SYLVESTER STALLONE made his very own indelible mark on show business with the release of ROCKY. This one film proved an insipation to audiences and filmmakers for generations to come. Below, the original trailer:
On this day in 1934, the hit musical Anything Goes, starring Ethel Merman, opened on Broadway. The show, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, became the biggest hit of the season, boasting songs like “You’re the Tops”,”I Get a Kick Out of You” and the ever-popular title song. MERMAN was still warbling that one some 45 years later. Enjoy:
After working with her on THIRTEEN and THE LORDS OF DOGTOWN, it’s no surprise that director CATHERINE HARDWICKE was able to find actress NIKKI REED a role in the much anticipated big screen adaptation of the best-selling TWILIGHT (also starring KRISTEN STEWART and ROBERT PATTINSON).
We spoke with HARDWICKE recently and she said that, while REED’S isn’t a huge role, it’s one NIKKI felt very comfortable with. Listen in below:
It seems that, when KEVIN BACON got the call from director RON HOWARD to play the role of NIXON pal, JACK BRENNEN, in the upcoming FROST/NIXON, he couldn’t have been happier.
BACON talked at the recent FROST/NIXON press conference about how, as a kid, he was fascinated with the NIXON administration and, especially, the WATERGATE scandal. Listen in below:
