It's a sad reality f the biz and why GH is so abysmal now, w all this pimping of young mannekins over actors.

What I found interesting was that she talked about this with the ABC exes. She probably has connections having produced shows before herself in order to get through certain doors to have such conversations but it shows she cared about what the fans want ... unlike Jill Farren Phelps who has even said she never reads anything fans have to say. :/

@SoapWatch said:

Jane Elliot talks about leaving General Hospital, the gift Genie Francis gave her, why soaps focus on younger characters over vets, what her favorite soap role has been, etc

https://www.tvinsider.com/173624/general-hospital-jane-elliot-tracy-quartermaine-abc/

Very good reading indeed. Love her cheery attitude toward everything.

I miss her already, just another fleeting sign post to the unrecognizable new GH. Loved this:

"Soaps used to be about storytelling and characters of all ages and types. We’re not doing that now. We go from event to event to event. The stories are activity driven, rather than driven by emotion."

And this made me sad:

My hat’s off to anybody who is doing it in this soap business of today, because it’s all dictated by schedule and finance rather than what’s best for the stories. You are told which actors you can use, based on who hasn’t worked beyond their guarantees. You are told which sets you must use. You can’t fault the writers for the restrictions and constraints they work under.

There's no turning around the ship

Jane Elliott - a class act.

@Dedoc1967 said:

@SoapWatch said:

Jane Elliot talks about leaving General Hospital, the gift Genie Francis gave her, why soaps focus on younger characters over vets, what her favorite soap role has been, etc

https://www.tvinsider.com/173624/general-hospital-jane-elliot-tracy-quartermaine-abc/

Very good reading indeed. Love her cheery attitude toward everything.

I miss her already, just another fleeting sign post to the unrecognizable new GH. Loved this:

"Soaps used to be about storytelling and characters of all ages and types. We’re not doing that now. We go from event to event to event. The stories are activity driven, rather than driven by emotion."

And this made me sad:

My hat’s off to anybody who is doing it in this soap business of today, because it’s all dictated by schedule and finance rather than what’s best for the stories. You are told which actors you can use, based on who hasn’t worked beyond their guarantees. You are told which sets you must use. You can’t fault the writers for the restrictions and constraints they work under.

There's no turning around the ship

But there is another problem which is that the show is turning into something like Barney Miller. What I mean by that is that Barney Miller was famous for having only two sets, the police station and Barney's kitchen, and almost every scene in episode took place in one of those two sets. Most of the really important stuff happened off screen, and was described later by the people involved. If one of the detectives went to the scene of a crime and arrested someone, they never showed the crime scene, they just described it in dialogue between characters in the police station. They did it this way both due to concerns of style (they wanted it to be like a one act play) and due to a ludicrously low budget. GH is turning into this, so many important plot points are never seen, they are just described to us in dialogue later.

Just when I thought my adoration of Jane Elliot couldn't grow any bigger, along comes this interview. She's a legend. Knows what she wants and goes for it, giving 100% plus every time. It would be cool to hang out and have a beer with her!

@wisegal36 said:

Just when I thought my adoration of Jane Elliot couldn't grow any bigger, along comes this interview. She's a legend. Knows what she wants and goes for it, giving 100% plus every time. It would be cool to hang out and have a beer with her!

You took the words out of my mouth.

One thing I just want to say is that soaps were always about selling products. That's were the "soap" in soap operas come from. They were made to help sell household products to housewives. Now how much the need to sell items used to be reflected in the actual story telling is another question.

Ultimately everything is about sales. I am 99 and 44/100 percent sure of that.

Wonderful article and KLH and wisegal said it best, she's a legend and class act. Thanks for sharing SW.