New Jersey Nightly News; A Closer Look: Soap Opera

Critiques arrived in the capital city of Dublin for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. All people around town so they knew us access we were leaving how we'd like Ireland and everywhere. At. That. Time. To make. The. Thing about marching in a. Foreign country that struck me is that. At

least I did. Feel very American. And I was really proud to be representing. My country. It seemed. As though. Usually we'll go into a competition and will be representing Piscataway. I made it in high school. But it was really different because the people were looking at us not as high school much as Americans. And they took they got their impressions of Americans from what we do and I was really proud. To be able to be part of that representing America. In. American bands. Very good very lively and. Very lively and I did a terrific job. I. Had. A long time I. Had my. Great time but it was a lot of fun. It's very nice to be appreciated. Most

people are really nice. Guys. With. Systems that we have. So involved in so many. Different aspects. Academically. The upper. 40 percent of my class. Or that just to be. Involved in drama programs and academic programs and competitions and so forth. Self-discipline. Well-organized kids. And I think they represent probably the best in our school. In. Which you. Know. A few. Touch. For.

Kids. Q You co-authored you just in. To. My lovely bride who has made me the happiest. Commencement have to do with. You not saying that he's been involved with Jerry Benson. Soaps some people have called them the clean addiction in the past they've been

considered just a diversion for the average housewife. But the addiction has spread. And today you just never know who might be a soap opera junkie. Take New Jersey nightly news sports anchor Bill Perry for example. His secret passion. Is all my fault. What's a nice guy like you doing. Hooked on programs like these. Well I'll tell you're here. We've got cameramen here we've got producers here we've got sound technicians here. I don't know the most intimate details of all of your lives and soap operas happened to give me a chance to know who's doing what to who and why. And you don't really know that amongst your or even your closest friends so it's kind of fun to know all the little secrets that are going on between people. All my Children is now the number two Daytime soaps surpassed in the ratings only by General Hospital. And Perry says his wife was home watching the program one day back in 1974 when he walked into the room and wanted to know why she was watching something like that. Ever since it was a day off for her.

So she's spending part of her day off eating lunch in the house watching all my children. And I really can understand why she was doing this was a beautiful day outside when I you know doing something. But like I said earlier she was watching it and I started asking her questions about well who is this guy and why is he doing this and it just. Like that. Grant got it right. But Bill Perry is not the only male with the soap addiction. In fact the cameraman who is shooting this closer look also admits he can resist all my children. And he says he's been watching it a lot longer than Bill Perry has Monmouth College psychology professor Dr. Kenneth Hahn has been teaching a course on soap operas since 1976. I think a couple of reasons for the increase in the male recorded male segment of the audience. One of them. Is that there are more males who are free to watch where they kind over there were about radio soaps in the 30s and 40s. The other one is that since the early 1970s it's suddenly become OK

to be a soap watcher. And more men are willing to admit it. There have been a lot of closet male watchers over the years. If you had the inclination you could watch fifty five hours of soap opera each and every week you could read the new breed of magazine exclusively about the soaps and soap opera stars or you could take up any number of books by an about the soap opera stars. In fact following the soaps could become a full time job. I think for most people it's quite harmless. There are people however who. Gets lost and then they can't tell the difference between them and in the real world and of course obviously on the Hill for most people I don't think that's really a problem. One of the main things I mean there's no question about the fact that soap operas are a with this dominant form of entertainment or television and kind of the reason they dress for dinner and in South America there's virtually nothing else on the horizon. It's American export that's really taken one like the soap opera to jazz that too he says are the only pure American inventions. But what is it that keeps the

viewers hooked. What makes college students rearrange their class schedule so they won't miss an episode. And what makes fans like Bill Perry make sure they record each episode of All My Children on a home video tape recorder. That's a scoop here. It has something to do as humans would say but there's more to it than that. Usually the main character the high status good doctors lawyers and people of that kind rich people. Status type people. And they're continually involved going around of divorce abortion murder. That. Is. The work for all my children knows everybody in Pine Valley at one time or another has been married to just about everybody else in Pine Valley or at least going to bed with them. They are taken so seriously by interviewers. They were concerned about the effect that they have on you. You do this particularly in shaping the attitudes and so on. A lot of the young segment of the audience. They may

be taking. These behaviors as role model. We have got the drop. In. A new D.A.. William Mooney of Middlesex County who's played the role of Hallmark's handsome Pine Valley attorney. Now district attorney for nine years now on all my children he has his own theory on why the audiences stay to sleep. Well I think to begin with a good story. I don't think people would watch him unless they're good story. Plus it's a bloody good story but besides this is in revealing the seamy side of life he says soap operas often can accomplish quite a bit of good. Very interesting example of this was several years ago we were doing a story on child abuse during a particularly abusive section on our show the Philadelphia station ran a ticker underneath that said if you are an abusive parent or the product of an abusive parent would you please.

Call this number for help. And so on one given day and a half. This was when we were still a half hour show. I think they got something like 87 phone calls after playing and living the same character for nine years. Does money sometimes begin to believe you as Paul Martin. Paul Martin is not who is. As goofy or GOONETILLEKE as I am I guess a lot of the time. He's much straighter. He's a lawyer he wears a tie all the time which I don't do necessarily. And so. You know I don't think so. I think there are aspects of every actor but there's one group where it took place Phoebe Tyler on our show. If. No. One. She. Plays Erica. She's won the string of of many strings. Getting a middle and an end you can only hit highlights. And.

If you're preaching. Or trying to enlighten or whatever. Maybe. Then. You can only get the high spots but. Soap operas a little bit like Chinese water torture you've got to drop today and drop tomorrow and then drop the next day and you can carry on this story for months if you want to. After playing and living the same character for nine years does Mooney's sometimes begin to believe he is Paul Martin. You do indeed really believe who you are at the time that you're playing but you don't really carry it home with you to bed. And I I think I would run 4000 miles to get away from any actor who does do that sort of thing because they're really unreliable. I'm so happy you worked so fast each day to do what you do. That naturally you bring as much of yourself to your character as you possibly can. On the other hand there are certain guidelines that are set for you by the writers as to what you have to do in your role so the consequence like. Paul Martin is not who he is.

As goofy or GOONETILLEKE as I am I guess a lot of the time he's much straighter. He's a lawyer he wears a tie all the time which I don't do necessarily. And so. No I don't think so. I think there are aspects certainly of every actor but Ruth Warrick who plays Phoebe Tyler on our show is nowhere near like that Susan Lucci who plays Erica. She's plucking one string of a mini string guitar.