| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
|
REFLECTIONS BY JILL….
Can someone please tell me when the REAL Daytime Emmy nominations are coming out? I did see a list of nominations all over the Internet last week, but surely those can’t be the real ones. Those must be the Martian Daytime Emmy nominations, right? Oh, and here’s a question that I need to ask? How the heck is it that a soap opera gets nominated for Best Daytime Drama and not one single actor from the show gets a nomination? This happened last year and I thought it was a joke. When it happened again this year, I realized that the Emmys are in need of serious scrutiny. And how does The Young and the Restless, which is #1 in the ratings, get only one acting nomination? Do you think we need a new system?
Note: Click here for the complete list on this year's nomination for One Life to Live.
I know, some of you are saying that you realized we need changes a long time ago, but every year it makes less and less sense to me. Okay, I know the real logistics of how it happens. I know about the ridiculous institution of block voting, etc., but for the life of me, I cannot understand why certain actors from OLTL were overlooked yet again. Although I only watch our beloved OLTL these days, I have watched every single soap on the air in the course of my life, even some that many people have forgotten. I have seen the acting talents of every nominee on the list this year at one point or another, and barring the fact that one or two may have had a phenomenal storyline last year, I am not very impressed with the list. More importantly, I am not impressed with the omissions from this list.
Going down the categories, let’s start with….
Lead Actress – Everyone knows how much I love Erika Slezak and her acting ability, and the omission of her name from the list of nominees in this category is not even the biggest injustice on the list in my opinion. But a major injustice….it certainly is. Can I just say that I remember a scene a couple of years ago where Viki was in her kitchen making a ham and cheese sandwich with Joey and that scene was more beautifully acted and wonderful to watch than anyone else’s scenes around the dial who might have been an alcoholic, a drug addict, an unwed mother…you get my meaning. Without even having a major storyline, Erika Slezak runs circles around every actress on daytime and for the past two years she has had enough good material to showcase her talents (none more incredible that her breast cancer storyline), which have been ignored when it came time for nominations. Not that this woman needs any more trophies to prove what a wonderful job she does and how much she contributes to our viewing pleasure, but to continuously see at least one nominee on the list who plays nothing more than a cartoon character, ruffles my feathers more than a little when Erika’s name has not been included for her recent performances.
Lead Actor – LOL…I’ll bet you think I’m going to say that it’s a travesty that Mark Derwin didn’t get a nomination. NOPE! Wanna know why? Ok, if you insist. The reason that makes sense would be that although he has great acting ability, aside from the “Dave” storyline where he duped Allison at St. Ann’s, he has never been given the opportunity to spread his wings and show what he can do. We get little glimmers of it once in a while when the writers take leave of their senses and write him some decent material, but “Dave” was way too short-lived and even though Mark’s performance even got some Ben detractors to take notice of his talent, I didn’t expect anyone to be smart enough to nominate him. That’s the reason that makes sense. If we throw in all the politics and other junk that keeps good actors out of the race, we’d be here all day.
Supporting Actress – This category is one of the two that really got me crazy this year. As far as I’m concerned, OLTL should have filled this entire category, but I’ll be fair and assume that the other shows have a couple of good supporting actresses, too…LOL. This list should have included Barbara Garrick, Ilene Kristin, Kassie DePaiva, Hillary B. Smith (yes, I still like Nora) and even if none of the above listed actresses made the list, how is it possible in this universe that Catherine Hickland was not nominated? There is not another character on daytime like Lindsay, and although I would love nothing more than to see her making license plates or carving guns out of soap in prison, Ms. Hickland’s talent is undeniable in playing this role. She is a genius at playing Lindsay and making everyone hate her guts and making some, well a few, feel sorry for her at the same time. She has survived on OLTL when other villains on any other show would have been killed off a long time ago. I love to hate Lindsay and to be honest, I would have thrown Catherine Hickland’s name into the Lead Actress category. I just don’t get it. I have recently seen at least two of the other actresses’ performances that are in the Supporting Actress category and there is no contest as far as I’m concerned.
Supporting Actor – This is one category where I would definitely have thrown in Timothy Stickney. He makes me want to swing RJ around the room by his braids and that means great acting. He’s even in a good story line…so where is his name on that list? I was also thinking that I’d even put Ty Treadway in the Supporting Actor category, even though he was a bit over the top with the crying when he was chained to the wheel…LOL. He made me want to kiss his guts out the way he socked it to Lindsay last Friday, and for that, I’d vote for him. Ty really did get shut out of two categories this year. He didn’t get a nod in this category, and it’s too bad for him that Wheel of Fortune wasn’t nominated as Best Game Show because his “Man on the Wheel” storyline could knocked The Price is Right straight out of the running. (Note to Troy: I truly am glad you got off that wheel…I was going to head down there with another can of aerosol cheese.)
Younger Actress – This is the other category that shocked me this year. While I’m sure that some of the young actresses who did receive nominations may deserve them, it is beyond my comprehension that a nomination did not go to Erin Torpey, for one, whom I think is a wonderful young actress and does well in any storyline she’s in. Growing up acting with Erika Slezak has made her a wonderful young actress and she’s always enjoyable to watch. And for the past year’s storyline, it is ridiculous that Melissa Archer did not receive a nod for her portrayal of Natalie. She’s a fine young actress who stepped into a role, stands head to head with soap veterans and continues to shine no matter how vulnerable or nasty Natalie is on any given day. Again, I have seen the work of some of the other young actresses who were nominated….and I’m not impressed.
And I can’t leave the discussion on this category without talking about little Kristin Alderson. Her portrayal of Starr Manning is amazing and talk about holding your own in a scene with the “big guns.” Wow! This kid has it all and along with Erin and Melissa was robbed of a nomination.
Younger Actor – I have to be perfectly honest here. I don’t have a problem with OLTL’s young men being left out of this category. I feel that we have one or two young actors who, given a decent storyline, would do some great work. The problem is, and continues to be, that the storylines written for the young actors on our show are horrible. They are flat, uninteresting and even make the young actors with real talent look bad. Something needs to be done about this and the fact that another new teen or two are being added to the show does not bode well for us to get positive changes.
Now for the Biggie…..
Best Drama – Again I ask…how does a show get nominated in this category without one acting nomination? And wouldn’t it be a riot if OLTL won? I wonder if we could have a separate show just to give awards to All My Children and As The World Turns and then have a real show for all the other acting hopefuls. Maybe that would be fair. It’s getting almost as silly as when Days Of Our Lives used to win every Soap Opera Digest Award and even though I was a major fan of that show, I still felt that the results were skewed and the show was often a sorry excuse for what it should have been.
OK…how does a show get a nod for Best Drama….a bunch of technical awards for writing…hairstyling….makeup, original song, camera technology and music direction and no acting nominations? Isn’t that the most moronic thing you’ve ever heard of? Are they saying, “You actors sure look good, have great hairdos and make-up and your cameramen are great, but none of you is good enough to win an award?” And to be perfectly honest, I don’t know how the writing team from our show got a nomination without nominations for the people who bring the words to life. It’s like saying, “Hey, great scripts…if you could only find some people to act them out?” I have to say that figuring out the whys and wherefores of these nominations has me scratching my head…ouch!
I also want to mention the Directing category, of which we were left out also. A lot of the material on OLTL deserves to be recognized, especially the work of Jill Mitwell. Even though the shows are pieced together now and one director doesn’t really direct any one entire show, it’s easy to pick out the scenes she directs. They are beautifully choreographed…they are real….they are heartfelt….they make you say “yeah, that’s exactly how that scene should be and exactly what I wanted to see these characters do”….and they take you right inside the minds and hearts of the characters. Jill, if you’re listening, I don’t have a statuette to give you, but I want to take this opportunity to say from this fan, as well as so many others, we appreciate every minute of hard work that you put into making the scenes you direct believable, real, and a true joy for all of us to watch.
Well, that’s my take on the Emmys…let me know what you think…and let me know when the REAL nominations come out.
See ya next week......
Jill
(
FAN FEEDBACK AND
QUESTIONS
______________
Jennifer writes: “Isn’t it strange how one minute Troy is gasping for air, then the next he seems fine. Like in his scenes yesterday with Starr and the spider, he looked ok to me… just pinned on a wheel. I don’t get it! But, I must say, he, Cat, and Hil .... I LOVE EM!!!!!!! Larry rocks too!!”
Dear Jennifer: You’re so right…Troy’s behavior
was a bit inconsistent…it was like his fever broke and he was fine…then he
wasn’t fine…then he was well enough to go to the police station after being in a
fire where his lungs should have been burned out, to try and get Lindsay
convicted. I so totally agree with you…Troy, Cat, Hil, Larry….I love ‘em, too!
They all rocked last week!
______________
Rick and Pauline write: “Just a few comments (actually more of a plea) I have been a fan for more years than I remember and I am ready to quit watching, even in soaps there should some form of justice. I want to gripe about the Lindsey...giving the drug, kidnapping- of -Nora thing. She breaks into other peoples homes, tears everything apart (one being a Dr. office) and nothing is ever done to her. I want to see her brought down! I do mean down! I get so tired of seeing her with the fake tears and the voice that is just as bad. whine, whine.... whine...Please end this storyline! I am sick of it. Lindsey needs to go to jail like other people do that break the law…come on lets have a little bit of reality!!”
Dear Rick and Pauline: I so totally agree with you. I want Lindsay brought to her knees, even though I know she won’t be down there for long. It would do my heart good to see her eating mush off of a metal tray with a plastic fork. Would you prefer her in an orange prison jumpsuit, or like me, would you like her to have to wear the old vertical black and white stripes?
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2002
