Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

1979: As the World Turns' Bob received a strange call from Penny.
1981: Kristin was dead in the pool on Dallas.
1985: Melissa Reeves made her Days of our Lives debut.
2007: Timbaland performed on One Life to Live.

"The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Right to Happiness, Nurse Helen Mason (Ruth Newton) reported overhearing a racketeer's confession of drugging her patient which broke the defense of the fraudulent insurance claim case.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Dave Woodard (Peter Turgeon) told Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) that he discovered the "original" Barnabas Collins had a sister named Sarah. He then revealed he met and walked with Sarah (Sharon Smyth) in the mausoleum.

Television Academy Unveils New Online Portal for 'The Interviews: An Oral History of Television'

The Television Academy Foundation has launched its new website for The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, featuring never-before-seen interviews with many of television’s most beloved stars, show creators and behind-the-scenes innovators.

It is the world’s largest such collection available online.

For more than 20 years, the Foundation has been recording and preserving the first-person stories of television’s creation and its evolution, amassing the largest oral history archive on the medium and, since 2008, making it available online.

That website houses a curated and fully searchable, cross-referenced online archive of over 4,000 hours of uncensored interviews with icons from television's earliest days to current stars and visionaries. It’s an unmatched collection of in-depth conversations with industry professionals from many disciplines and in all genres in television.

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

1979: As the World Turns' Bob received a strange call from Penny.
1981: Kristin was dead in the pool on Dallas.
1985: Melissa Reeves made her Days of our Lives debut.
2007: Timbaland performed on One Life to Live.

"History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Right to Happiness, Nurse Helen Mason (Ruth Newton) reported overhearing a racketeer's confession of drugging her patient which broke the defense of the fraudulent insurance claim case.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Dave Woodard (Peter Turgeon) told Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) that he discovered the "original" Barnabas Collins had a sister named Sarah. He then revealed he met and walked with Sarah (Sharon Smyth) in the mausoleum.

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

1979: As the World Turns' Bob received a strange call from Penny.
1981: Kristin was dead in the pool on Dallas.
1985: Melissa Reeves made her Days of our Lives debut.
2007: Timbaland performed on One Life to Live.

"More and more, I tend to read history. I often find it more up to date than the daily newspapers."
― Joe Murray

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Right to Happiness, Nurse Helen Mason (Ruth Newton) reported overhearing a racketeer's confession of drugging her patient which broke the defense of the fraudulent insurance claim case.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Dave Woodard (Peter Turgeon) told Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) that he discovered the "original" Barnabas Collins had a sister named Sarah. He then revealed he met and walked with Sarah (Sharon Smyth) in the mausoleum.

Glenn Beck Welcomes Former 'Another World' and 'All My Children' Star Ellen Wheeler To His Team

Ellen Wheeler reunited with former Guiding Light stars Kurt McKinney,
Frank Dicopoulos, Robert Newman, Michael O'Leary and Jordan
Clarke in 2013. Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck welcomed three-time Emmy winner Ellen Wheeler to his team on Monday with a video of the former Another World and All My Children star addressing his team in Dallas.

Beck ran into Wheeler backstage at a FreedomWorks event this summer in Las Vegas, where she had been serving as Director of Messaging for the organization that promotes "free markets and individual liberty," and "a desire for less government, lower taxes, and more economic freedom."

"I finally have a partner that can take all the things we are working on and tie them together with action," Beck wrote in a Facebook post about Wheeler. "I am so proud of my team and all we have created. But now, it's time to turn the machine on and really do everything we have wanted to do. Get involved and roll up our sleeves and fight on the front lines."

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

1979: As the World Turns' Bob received a strange call from Penny.
1981: Kristin was dead in the pool on Dallas.
1985: Melissa Reeves made her Days of our Lives debut.
2007: Timbaland performed on One Life to Live.

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Right to Happiness, Nurse Helen Mason (Ruth Newton) reported overhearing a racketeer's confession of drugging her patient which broke the defense of the fraudulent insurance claim case.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Dave Woodard (Peter Turgeon) told Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) that he discovered the "original" Barnabas Collins had a sister named Sarah. He then revealed he met and walked with Sarah (Sharon Smyth) in the mausoleum.

We Love Soaps 25 Most Popular Interviews of the Year (2013)

Clockwise from top left: Brad Maule, William deVry, Ellen Wheeler
and Kristian Alfonso.

We Love Soaps has calculated a list of the 25 Most Popular Interviews of the Year based on our page views, comments on the website and social networks, and shares for 2013.

Check out the complete 25 Most Popular Interviews of the Year list below:

  1. Brad Maule (ex-Tony, GENERAL HOSPITAL)

  2. William deVry (Julian, GENERAL HOSPITAL)

  3. Ellen Wheeler (Former GUIDING LIGHT Executive Producer)

  4. Kristian Alfonso (Hope, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Ellen Wheeler As She Begins A New Project With Old Friends (Part 2 of 2)

Michael O'Leary, Yvonna Wright and Ellen Wheeler.
Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

We Love Soaps spoke with former GUIDING LIGHT executive producer Ellen Wheeler, who recently reunited with a group of alums from the show's cast and crew on a fall Sunday for a day of taping, talking and pizza. Dubbed "A New Project With Old Friends," it was a chance for much of the old gang to get back together, shoot some scenes and catch up.

Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview here, and read Part 2 below.

WE LOVE SOAPS: When I visited the studio and Peapack in the final year of GUIDING LIGHT, the set had an really nice indie vibe to it, something you don't see much with a broadcast TV show.
ELLEN WHEELER: We were saying something like, "I want this to keep going because I understand it's important. GUIDING LIGHT has been chronicling American life since before World War 2, and I want to continue to chronicle American life. I want to show the stories of the people in American back to them so they have a place to talk from." It's not unlike pitching in when some hard or tragic moment kicks in. In the beginning people might have been thinking to themselves, "Oh my God, I might lose my job," but near the end it wasn't about it.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Ellen Wheeler As She Begins A New Project With Old Friends (Part 1 of 2)

Left to Right: Kurt McKinney, Frank Dicopoulos, Robert Newman,
Ellen Wheeler, Michael O'Leary and Jordan Clarke.
Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos.

Former GUIDING LIGHT executive producer Ellen Wheeler began her career in Daytime as an actress. She landed the role of Marley Love on ANOTHER WORLD in 1984 and, a year later, she began playing Marley's twin, Victoria. Soon, she won an Emmy (for work in 1986).

She took on the role of Cindy Parker on ALL MY CHILDREN the next year, in what turned out to be one of the most moving HIV/AIDS stories ever told on television, and won another Emmy (for her work in 1988).

Primetime roles on DARK SHADOWS, HUNTER, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and ER followed. She guest-starred on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and returned to ANOTHER WORLD as Marley for its final year. That's when she first moved behind the camera and directed episodes of AS THE WORLD TURNS, earning three more Emmy nominations. Then, in 2004, Wheeler was named executive producer of GUIDING LIGHT.

Ranked last among the nine remaining daytime soap operas (at the time, in the key ratings demo) GUIDING LIGHT was only beating PASSIONS in total viewers. Forced to move to a new production model, with little time for the cast and crew to adjust (and no time at all for the audience), ratings dipped again in 2008, as the loss of fan favorites Beth Ehlers and Ricky Paul Goldin exacerbated the sense the show was, at times, physically jarring to watch.

Ironically, by the start of 2009 (CBS announced cancellation of the 72-year-old soap on April Fools Day) GUIDING LIGHT was back on solid footing. Some of the technical kinks had been worked out, Grant Aleksander returned as Phillip Spaulding and the Olivia and Natalia slow-burn love story garnered the show more buzz than it had received in years. Nevertheless, GUIDING LIGHT went off the air on September 18, 2009, with cast and crew moving on to other projects.

Wheeler and oher GL alums recently got together on a beautiful fall Sunday for a day of taping, talking and pizza. Dubbed "A New Project With Old Friends," it was a chance for much of the old gang to get back together, shoot some scenes and catch up. We Love Soaps recently spoke with Wheeler about this reunion, what she's been doing since GUIDING LIGHT and where it might go in the future.

Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview below.

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

1979: ATWT's Bob continued to receive mysterious calls from
Penny. 1981: Kristin was dead in the pool on DALLAS.
1985: Melissa Reeves made her DAYS debut. 2007: Timbaland
performed on OLTL.

"We should always be aware that what now lies in the past once lay in the future."
― F.W. Maitland

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS, Nurse Helen Mason (Ruth Newton) reported overhearing a racketeer's confession of drugging her patient which broke the defense of the fraudulent insurance claim case.

1968: On DARK SHADOWS, Willie (John Karlen) let Maggie (Kathryn Leigh Scott) out of the secret room.

DARK SHADOWS Marathon Thanksgiving Day On Chiller TV (1991 Version)

Chiller TV is airing a Thanksgiving Day marathon of DARK SHADOWS, the 1991 primetime revival of the 1960s Gothic serial about a 200-year-old vampire who was unwittingly unearthed from his crypt on his family's Maine estate. The updated version premiered on January 13, 1991, on NBC, but it never created the same fanfare as the original ABC Daytime series.

The 1991 cast included Ben Cross, Joanna Going, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jim Fyfe, Roy Thinnes, Barbara Steele, Barbara Blackburn, Jean Simmons, Veronica Lauren and Julianna McCarthy.

Below is a list of episodes that will air on November 22, 2012 in what Chiller is billing as a "Fangsgiving Day Marathon":

6 a.m. Episode Two

Barnabas (Ben Cross) finds a mutual attraction with governess Victoria (Joanna Going), while his quest for blood includes an attack on his cousin Daphne (Rebecca Staab).

Guest stars include Ely Pouget, Michael T. Weiss, Michael Cavanaugh, Stefan Gierasch, Eddie Jones, Rebecca Staab, Steve Fletcher and Basil Langton.

30 Dynamic Duos of Daytime Soaps (20-16)

Our list of 30 Great Dynamic Duos of Daytime Soaps kicked off with a look at twosomes 30-26 and 25-21. Below the countdown continues with Dynamic Duos 20-16. Tell us your favorite Dynamic Duos in the Comments section below:

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

On this date in...

1973: On ANOTHER WORLD, Steve (George Reinholt) told Robert (Nicolas Coster) he loved Alice and was determined to reunite with her.

1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, the Clown Puppet murdered Eliot Dorn (Lee Godart). Watch the episode below:

Today in Soap Opera History (July 17)

On this date in...

1969: On ANOTHER WORLD, Dru (Geoffrey Lumb) told Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) that Steve had secret plans for her.

1979: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Paige (Margaret Colin) is grilled about Tobias. Watch it below:

THE COMPLETE LIST: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (September 2011)

A lot of people in the daytime soap opera industry like to blame O.J. Simpson, the growing number of cable channels, reality television, the growing number of women in the workplace, and many other factors for the decline in ratings over the years. While some of their points are valid, and you hear these excuses in most mainstream articles, there are also a number of intentional decisions made over the years that decimated soap casts, future storylines and viewer loyalty. We Love Soaps revealed our 25 Biggest Blunders in Daytime Soap Opera History in September 2011. This list was not easy to edit down to 25. Sadly there are many more we could have included. We will revisit this list from time to time to see how the rankings might change as perspectives do.

25. Killing Jo's son on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

On June 9, 1955, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW's Joanne (Mary Stuart) married Arthur Tate. A year later their son, Duncan Eric, was born. Stuart's real life pregnancy was written into her storyline and SEARCH filmed on location with her in the hospital. Her newborn son, Jeffrey, played Jo's baby on the soap.

Ellen Wheeler Turns 50: A Look Back at Her Career at ANOTHER WORLD, ALL MY CHILDREN, AS THE WORLD TURNS, GUIDING LIGHT & more

Emmy Award winning actress and producer Ellen Wheeler celebrates her 50th birthday today. We thought we'd take a look back at her accomplished body of work in television by presenting a number of insightful features and revealing interviews that span four decades.

Presented chronologically, our compilation follows Ellen's career, with links to over a dozen primary-source articles, transcripts and videos accompanying a selection of choice excerpts. We know she tends to evoke passionate, and even polarizing, emotions within the soap opera world, but whatever your opinion of her work, we challenge you to take a little time to explore Ellen Wheeler's legacy (so far). You're bound to learn something new about this complex industry personality, and you may even change your mind about her.

What are your thoughts on Ellen Wheeler, her career, and her impact? Please share with us in the Comments section, below.

Today in Soap Opera History (October 9)

On this date in...

1981: The fourth season premiere of DALLAS aired. The identity of the dead woman floating in the Southfork pool was revealed to be Kristin.

2007: Timbaland appeared on ONE LIFE TO LIVE. "This is a new experience for me, I am looking forward to having a great time and sharing my music!" he said in a statement at the time.

FALL PREVIEW GUIDE: Indie Soap Operas: The Best in Web Series

You have never seen anything like them. They are spellbinding, controversial, and free. They transcend genres, build communities, and inspire cult followings. They involve flamboyant queens and conservative families; evil empires and maverick heroes; Martha Byrne and Genie Francis and even, we would wager, your next big celeb crush. They're the best of the fall season's Indie Soaps, and we beg you to get to know them!

All of the series featured in this guide represent the highest examples of the future of the soap opera. So browse a little and then, try something new—but be warned. You just might get hooked!

So here it is, our 2011 Indie Soap Opera Fall Preview Guide: The Best in Web Series:

COUNTDOWN: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (20-16)

Was it O.J. Simpson, women in the workplace, Reality TV, or did the soaps kill themselves with one bad decision after another? You decide. Our countdown of the 25 Biggest Blunders in Daytime Soap Opera History continues with 20-16.

20. Networks and soaps spoiling their own storylines

On a Friday in November 1984, DAYS OF OUR LIVES put Bo, Hope, Anna, Tony, Eugene, Calliope, Liz, Carlo, Andre, and Daphne on an airplane... and crashed it. All weekend we couldn't stop thinking about the fate of our favorite Salem residents, and there was absolutely no way we could not turn back in on Monday to see what happened. Why? Because we only had vague previews in 1984, and we had absolutely no way to know from week to week and day to day if our favorite character would be returning.

Today in Soap Opera History (July 17)

On this date in...

1986: The 13th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were presented on NBC. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS was named Outstanding Drama Series. Acting winners were David Canary, Erika Slezak, John Wesley Shipp, Leann Hunley, Michael E. Knight and Ellen Wheeler.