By Angela Ryan-Duncan
Dear Daytime Actors,
Talent, looks, chemistry, and on-screen presence are all subjective and every fan has their own opinions on who has them and who doesn’t. We all like who we like and don’t like who we don’t like for a variety of reasons and no two fans are exactly alike in their opinions. Some of us can accept a recast of any character, some can’t accept any recasts, even if they hate the character being recast and some fall somewhere in between. Some are vehement defenders of cannon, and some are more flexible. Some demand realism and some have no problem suspending disbelief. Soap fans are not a monolith.
That being said, there is one thing I think we can all agree on and that is that the actors in the daytime genre are the hardest-working actors in the entertainment industry, hands down. They memorize hundreds of pages of dialogue in sometimes only days, have very little rehearsal, and quite often, only one take. Soaps can shoot up to 5 episodes in a single day and they shoot out of order which can make it harder to keep the momentum of a scene but somehow our actors do it.
They go from drama to comedy and back again in a single scene and being able to cry on demand is a requirement. They tackle serious issues and are an important, and usually leading voice in many societal issues. They are given unbelievable storylines that are beyond all ridiculousness, but they find a way to sell it to the audience every time. They commit to their characters, no matter how devilish or dastardly they are and in doing so, they commit to the fans.
They do not go on hiatus and very rarely is there a repeat. Soaps air almost every weekday, every week of the year and have since before TV was even a thing most people had in their homes. The current baby of the daytime genre, The Bold and the Beautiful, has been on 35 years and the matriarch, General Hospital, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this April.
Most of us have grown up with our soaps, having watched them as children with our mothers and grandmothers over summer vacations and when we were home sick from school. We’ve canceled plans to watch a milestone moment and named our children and pets after favorite characters. We laugh and cry along with our soaps and a large portion of the credit for that goes to those we watch create magic for us every day.
In the age of social media, actors have a direct line to what their fans, and detractors, are thinking about their work and some of it can be very unfair and toxic. It is unfortunate that they have to deal with such nastiness, but they handle it better than most people would.
None of this is to take away from the amazing people behind the scenes of our soap operas. They too are warriors for our entertainment. This is just to take a moment and stand up and applaud our daytime actors. We see your hard work and we thank you for the half-hour or hour of escapism you provide us every weekday afternoon. We appreciate you all and can’t wait to tune in to see what’s going to happen next!
With Love,
Your Grateful Daytime Fans
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