Thursday, April 21, 2011

KISS OFF

I’ve been thinking, as you all have lately about all the things that I have buried within myself over the years to survive the injustice of what has now come to light.

As many of you know, for years I have been out there in the front lines with my nation wide cosmetics company events, and hypnosis show tour. My book tour alone was 30 cities! That’s a lot of soap watching folks to meet.

I remember coming back to work after one of these appearances, where I met literally hundreds of fans at a single clip, who were all eager to share their thoughts with me. As a soap opera star, when you are out in public, whether you like it or not, you are going to hear what they are liking and not liking about their “stories.” Why wouldn’t they? We are family to them, unlike any other medium, we are in their living rooms five days a week. They feel as if they know us, and they do. I happen to love this part of the dance, it’s so wonderful, I often wished my eyes were a video camera to tape the passion and enthusiasm when they talked about who did what to whom and when is so and so going to get theirs. “Leave Nora alone!” they’d say, to which I would reply with a Lindsay-like grin, “oh, come on, you know she had it coming”

Without an ounce of arrogance, and with all humility I say, I felt as if touring that way gave me the fringe benefit of actually having my finger on the pulse of what the audience was communicating, and it was easy, because most people said the same thing! I’ve always thought using focus groups were a waste of time and money. I felt and still feel that you must go to the heart of your audience and they will tell you the truth. It may not be what you want to hear, but for crying out loud, the audience is who we make the shows for! Middle America is where you go! It is too easy to be out of touch when you are a big city person. Being in the middle of Middle America was eye opening for me in the best of ways. In fact it was downright illuminating. I began a deep love affair with the fans across the country, which I am grateful for to this day. I get them.

When coming back from a long fan filled week-end, I offered to convey the direct messages at work. No one was interested to hear about that. *Sigh*

I have asked time and time again for an explanation of why things were being changed and done in a certain way (I am a curious person and I need to know why things work or do not work), I want to know, what other genre, when it ends, causes the viewers to cry, get depressed and makes them scream at their televisions when characters are acting out? What other genre has cause viewers to organize protests to not only save their shows, but to get an executive ousted? It’s unheard of. It takes a lot of energy to rally their troops to save their shows when believe me, they have jobs to do, children, homes and husbands to take care of, and most important, shopping (read: advertisers) to do Here’s the answer. None.

I have a cosmetics company that is now 10 years old (www.catcosmetics.com) I built it for the people. Companies need customers and there are a lot of other companies for them to choose from. If I want to be successful, I have to think out of the box but still include the peeps. I encourage women to tell me their wants and needs and then I give it to them. I even let them name the products! It’s so simple! I used to joke that Cat Cosmetics was the company that SOAPNET built, because I would do for them, they in turn did for me, and it was a gorgeous relationship. I Loved SOAPNET. It was at one time I believe, the fastest growing cable network in America, before a certain someone took over. It had such potential. And do you know, it was Anne Sweeny who launched it. Her intentions for that channel were incredible. She did a brilliant launch. I remember asking her at a meeting if they had planned to keep the integrity of soaps and she was totally on board for that. I believed her and I believe her still. I liked Anne Sweeny very much. I have no issues with her at all. She is a very busy woman overseeing a lot of things and you-know-who reports to her. She knows what he tells her and spins to her. The fact that she obviously likes him is of concern to me, only because he is so darn transparent (at least to me) and gross and so utterly socially inept. I don’t get it. But it’s not for me to get. He must have a charming side (although I have never seen it) she really has no way of knowing (until now) how utterly despised the man is. That being said, being one of the very few women in my field of work as a clinical as well as comedy stage hypnotist and motivator, I am always proud to have a woman sit high in a man’s world, and I support that. I only hope her eyes are now open.

Now that brings me to a funny story. Six months after you-know-who became our boss, (he was already despised from the get-go) we all thought he was way too arrogant and rude. It was also obvious that he had a significant ageism issue and did not understand us, or our audience at all. The axe was always just thisclose over any actress’ over forty neck. It felt awful. Each time a popular actress over forty or fifty was let go without so much as a good-bye scene, we knew our days were numbered. Statements he made at meetings were leaked to us, and we knew more than they thought we knew. We weren’t used to be being treated that way, and it was deteriorating company morale, certain death for success.

For the most part, Soap actors are humble people, very grateful to work in a profession we love and give our lives to. We had some great leaders of Daytime prior to you-know-who (although I am having a hard time forgiving Angela Shapiro for putting him in place) and in the past were treated respectfully.

Many (and I mean many) of us got together to put the “Molokio” on him. BIG stars of daytime I am talking about here! About Forty of us from all 3 shows put his name on a little piece of paper and put him in the ice cube tray so we could “freeze” him from ousting any more of us because of our age. Every time we’d be at an event, we’d whisper to each other, “is he still in your freezer?” Year after year, we’d wait, hoping, even praying (I had three prayer groups at some of the biggest churches in America praying for him to go anywhere else, but for the love of GOD just get RID of him) But no. He would get promoted. I was sure he must have a goat or lamb he must be sacrificing somewhere….

This is an excerpt from my book I’m finishing up titled “The Night Tad Martin Kissed Me”

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12 Comments:

Anonymous Kate said...

You're right, you are family. You're part of the family I've chosen, and man did I choose well. Much love to ya Cat.

April 21, 2011 at 3:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing. I always had a feeling the actors didn't like BS Frons. He has certainly lived up to his reputation. Thanks for the insider view. Good to know our favorite actors felt the same way the fans do about him. What a jerk!

April 21, 2011 at 5:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

FANTASTIC, Cat! I can't wait to buy it!

April 21, 2011 at 7:19 PM  
Blogger Karen said...

First--I am really loving your blog. And I definitely will buy your book.

Second--I agree. Nora did have it coming to her. I always liked Lindsay and wish there was a way they could bust her out of prison. Hello--Todd Manning is a rapist and a murderer, but it's okay for him to be wandering the streets of Llanview, while Lindsay rots in jail? If OLTL has to end, I want Lindsay to come back and ride off into the sunset with Bo.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I began to suspect when it was announced that SoapNet would be changed to another Disney channel early next year that the soaps on ABC were endangered. I just didn't realize how drastic the cuts would be. Soap characters ARE like family. I know people who have named their children after their favorite characters (sorry, none of them have named their child Lindsay).

April 22, 2011 at 4:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Cat for letting us, probably what we are are ready new, but now we know it was totally true about Frons. I totally hate this man, and all what he pretends to be, crying a tear my butt. Anyway keep up the good work, and btw we are having a
rally across america and i hope tons and tons of people go it, and we are collecting money, and phone calling and emailing across abc and disney!!

April 22, 2011 at 8:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cat, not sure that my comment went through, so will try again.
I wanted to tell you that with each thing you write, I respect you more. You speak the truth and you out what is wrong.
We all saw the same thing you did with Frons, even as viewers, years ago, when the very soul of our shows was torn apart. Those who spoke out, such as Cady, were humiliated in their exits. Has anyone forgotten her's as an angel in a push up bra outfit? NO
We may not be able to save these shows, you know as well as we do it is an uphill battle, but I promise you, you and the actors and cast and crew who gave their all to this genre for years will get the respect you deserve. That is why I got the idea for the full page ad. You WILL get the respect you did not from others and in a very public way, no matter what we have to do. When we tried to save another brilliant show, creators Simkins and McNamara told us (when it failed but almost worked) "creativity is like a stream, you have to keep putting your hands in to see what you come up with, no matter how unfair something seems or if it does not work out". We will keep putting our hands in, Cat. Count on it. Please keep telling it like it is, also. Best, Spenser2

April 23, 2011 at 4:35 PM  
Blogger Marsha @ Tattered Chick said...

Oh, can't wait until the book comes out! I will fight to keep the soap opera genre for generations to come!

April 24, 2011 at 5:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for speaking out since your former co-workers can't. It is a shame that it has come to this because of him (I hate saying his name) and there are so many losers -- the actors, the people behind the scenes and the viewers.

All I can say is "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest Mr. Frons' armpits."

April 24, 2011 at 7:34 PM  
Anonymous Akbar said...

Thank you so much for telling it like it is. There is no doubt that he-who-shall-not-be-named came in with the goal of disposing with soaps, and that he did whatever he could to undermine them.

The only up-side is that the forces that are damaging the ratings of daytime television are not going to let up. The "Queue" or "Pew" or "Zoo" is no more viable than OLTL or AMC.

Thanks, Cat, for your honesty.

April 24, 2011 at 8:37 PM  
Blogger Daryl said...

Finding your blog made my day and reading your book excerpt was not really eye opening but certainly smile inducing .. and the title is flawless .. I wish all our prayers were answered but I doubt anything can save OLTL and/or AMC .. but karma is real and he's due to reap all he sowed and that, Cat, will bring us all a little comfort.

April 28, 2011 at 7:38 AM  
Anonymous Sally said...

LOL...love the freezer comments. Right after the cancellations were announced, he and a few other execs all went into my freezer.

I love your blogs and tweets.....thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

May 8, 2011 at 10:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am completely and totally disgusted with ABC and Disney. I have watched OLTL and AMC for 21 years and love all the characters and storyline. I will ABSOLUTELY be BOYCOTTING ABC AND DISNEY...no more trips to disney for me or my family.... i will not support anyone or anything who has no respect for the people and i will certainly NOT conform to their likings by watching the shows they have replaced...My loyalty is to OLTL and AMC and all other soaps....ABC and Disney may think they have won and have a say but they are wrong because it is us the viewers who can make or break them....if they have no loyalty and respect for their viewers and for these actresses/actors/staff there is no reason to support such horrid people.

December 29, 2011 at 3:56 PM  

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