Soap Opera Uncensored — Issue 17 Read online

to have blind sex now? [Laughs]

  Case: Haven't you ever had sex with a blindfold on?

  No comment. I guess Adam can be on the bottom now. How involved are you in choreographing your sex scenes? They're realistic but hot. And a tad risqu?, too.

  Case: Sometimes we do. We definitely helped out with the New Orleans sex scene. We try to get away with what we can and pitch our ideas to the director. Our main goal is to come up with new and interesting moves, but not in a sense that we're trying to push the envelope for daytime, because we both agree that smaller gestures can be sexier. Small acts of intimacy work really well cinematically.

  Muhney: As an actor, my main goal always is to make everything realistic from the pain he feels, an argument with Adam's father, distance from my brother, and longing for Sharon. So why should that change in the bedroom?

  Or desk!

  Muhney: Yeah, I want Adam and Sharon to move together like a real couple would behind closed doors and make it as realistic and organic as possible. If I want the audience to feel Adam's heartbreak, I also want them to feel Adam making love as well. I want the audience to feel like they are there with us. After all, soaps are supposed to be this big ride you go on.

  Yeah, I felt the sex scene in Victor's office was steamy- and was the impetus for me naming you guys Sexiest Couple Alive - because that scene was so hot even though you guys still had your clothes on! But I still felt dirty! [Laughs] Movement never lies and you guys get that. What's the sexiest part of working with Adam, Sharon?

  Case: He's a hot number! Michael's a very sexy guy.

  Muhney: Yeah, baby!

  Case: What makes Michael so sexy to me is the fact that he's such a great actor. That's hot. I like how Michael is willing to work with me on our scenes, and how honest he is with the press and fans.

  Muhney: For me, Sharon's completely uninhibited in a scene. That's sexy to me. She's rare that way.

  Who do you guys think is the Sexiest Person Alive? I know Sharon's answer!

  Muhney: For me, sexiest man alive is Brad Pitt and sexiest woman alive is Rachel McAdams.

  Case: Leo DiCaprio! He's so sexy and he's the most amazing actor.

  For me, it's Sexy Ninja, Joshua Morrow.

  GUEST COLUMN

  GAME CHANGE: Inside ABC's Whopping $69 Million Loss! Is Disney Planning to Sell?

  By Spinsvixenella

  While Disney met Wall Street's earnings expectations in the last quarter, most of the business newspapers of record noted how poorly Disney performed in their Media Networks Broadcasting Division, which is ABC TV Daytime/Primetime. Disney's broadcast division reported a 7% decline in revenue and an astounding 23% decline in operating income for its fiscal first quarter, compared with the same time last year.

  According to Disney's Quarterly Report, the Broadcast Division lost $69 MILLION Dollars in operating income in the last 3 months, ABC's first quarter without ALL MY CHILDREN and its first quarter of THE CHEW. As soap fans know, the $69M ABC TV lost in the last 3 months alone is more than enough money to fund either AMC or ONE LIFE for more than a year.

  As a soap fan, I strongly believed ABC was being "penny-wise & pound-foolish" in the cancellation of these soaps, but soap fans were repeatedly told by all manner of "soap journalists" that "it was all about business, and ABC was going to cut production costs and make more money." Well, yes, it IS all about business, and I maintain today, as I have since April 14, 2011, ABC made a bad business decision. Now the financial reports bear that out, and the worst is yet to come.

  Even if soaps are 30-40% more expensive than "reality/talk" programs, that 30-40% was the premium ABC should have gladly paid to have several million loyal soap fans tuned in to ABC affiliates all day long watching all their promos for their Primetime programming. This is not even about angry soap fans boycotting ABC, although I am one of those. This is about the natural, trickle-down effect of ABC's massive daytime audience exodus and the impact it is having on the entire ABC Network and by extension Disney's financial bottom-line.

  Some will argue all the networks are losing viewers. Yes, indeed they are, but ponder WHY, in the last quarter, did ABC lose more viewers faster than the other networks? According to FORTUNE magazine, "ABC ended the fall season dead last among the four networks among 18 to 49 year olds, down 1% in viewership from last year. That compares to the 2% and 14% increase in viewership at Fox and CBS, respectively, in this key marketing demographic." https://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/08/disney-abc-univision/

  With THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW gone, ABC should have benefited from lower programming and production costs at its owned and operated stations. Recall also, THE CHEW is 30-40% cheaper to produce than ALL MY CHILDREN. Yet, ABC blew the financial boost from Oprah's exit, the savings from replacing a soap with cheaper reality, and an additional $69 Million on top of that. How? The excuse given to the financial markets and shareholders was "higher marketing costs driven by an increase in the number of new series launches at the ABC Television Network." Translation: ABC shot a wad trying to prop up cheap, failed programming like THE CHEW.

  Worse yet, Disney's Quarterly Financial Report went on to explain, even with ABC increasing its advertising rates, ad revenue was still flat as a result of decreased ratings and fewer ads sold. Translation: ABC made such a mess; they can't sell ads for it.

  FORTUNE headline yesterday was "It's Time for Disney to Cut ABC Loose." Here are a few other important excerpts from the FORTUNE article that might be of particular interest to soap fans:

  "ABC's entertainment division and its news division, which is looking increasingly like an entertainment outlet, continue to suffer from a fall in viewership, making its ad space worth less today than in the past."

  "The company was reportedly close to selling off ABC in the spring of 2010 to a consortium of private equity firms, but that deal never materialized. Since then, Disney has been chopping costs and slashing employees at ABC in what appeared to many in the industry to be an attempt by management to make the division look as lean and as profitable as possible to attract new buyers. But ABC's poor performance may have scared off would-be suitors."

  Translation: Disney screwed the pooch so badly in canceling AMC and ONE LIFE they may have wrecked their own chances to sell ABC.

  EJECT

  Soap Classic Releases a Reva Shayne-centric DVD! Otalia next?

  She's the superslut of Springfield, and you can relive all the magic once again with SoapClassic's release of the Best of Reva Shayne. UNCENSORED has known about this new GUIDING LIGHT project for a few weeks but our lips were sealed shut. Kim Zimmer is thrilled that Reva's story has been updated in DVD form.

  This isn't the first time Reva Shayne's been given the star treatment. The character was featured in the 90s with her own VHS special, THE SCARLET YEARS. "A lot has happened since then," Zimmer tells UNCENSORED. "So this is a nice update. I shot introductions and exits to the episodes. It's too bad I got diddly squat money-wise! I think they'll be doing more GL-themed DVD specials with characters and couples."

  Good thing because many Otalia fans were shocked that the super couple was left off of Soap Classic's recently released Best of GL DVD. "I'm sure they'll get their on DVD set," hints Zimmer. "I mean, they better! Their coupling was the only thing that worked on our show towards the end!"

  IDIOT RATINGS

  Is THE REVOLUTION Being Televised?

  How long before Disney fires Anne Sweeney? I give it another quarter. According to Media Insights' Marc Berman, ONE LIFE's replacement, THE REVOLUTION, is not only doing worse that the former hit soap but it's doing dreadfully. The "lifestyle" series is only averaging 1.44 million people the week of Jan. 30. That's half the audience ONE LIFE attracted in the same timeslot one year ago with 2.85 million viewers - and before its ratings shot through the roof! THE REV has also lost about 50 percent of the numbers ONE LIFE was getting among several key demos, such as women 25-54, W18-49 and W18-34, and is trailing timeslot competitor THE TALK which averaged
2.31 million viewers on CBS the week in question.

  Meanwhile, AMC's replacement, THE CHEW is also averaging less numbers than Pine Nuts. However, at 2.23 million viewers, it's not as bad as THE REV.

  EMMY WATCH 2012

  Exclusive: Pre-Nom Ballot Revealed! Deadlines Revisited! Lifetime Achievement Award Chosen! Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel?

  We're getting closer to the gold: The Emmy pre-nom ballot is in - and was made accessible to voters last week. The early deadline for the 2-minute reels was Dec. 22, but most actors and shows were given until Jan. 24 to submit. However, crews (like hair and makeup) will be allowed until Feb. 17 to submit their reels.

  Great News: UNCENSORED has exclusively obtained the complete pre-nom ballot - and their submissions! Because we're like that.

  Also, a NATAS insider reveals that a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has already been chosen. I hope it's Susan Lucci!

  As for the ceremony, if there are no takers in the broadcast arena, Melody Thomas Scott told TV GUIDE: "I was unofficially told that if nobody picks up the awards to televise them they are going to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Which is a great room, cameras or no cameras.

  Below is the letter NATAS voting members have