University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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fi' ---W - - -I Port Charles freezes! after this message It was not an ordinary soap opera phone call. There will be no negotiations, mad genius Mikkos Cassadine told World Se- curity Bureau agent Ballantine. You have exactly 12 hours before Port Charles is turned into a city of ice. But then, it was not an ordinary soap setting - a suberranean compound be- neath an island off the coast of Venezuela - or an ordinary soap situation - Mikkos planned to freeze entire nations unless they submitted to his plan for world do- mination. What was this doing on General Hospi- tal? Was it an experiment, an accident, a joke? Not exactly: - On One Life to Live, Tony Lord planned to drill on his father's estate for Solarmite, a powerful substance that could solve the energy crisis, while the evil Dr. Ivan Kipling controlled Dr. Larry Wolek's brain via a surgically implanted electrode and high frequency computers. - On R yan 's Hope, Egyptologist Aristot- le Benedict-White hoped a gold ball from a cursed mortuary shrine would lead him to the River of Gold, a legendary treasure so huge it could solve the world's financial problems. - Search for Tomorrow's Travis Sentell became the target of an international or- ganization controlling the worldfs econo- my when he funded Operation Sunburst, a space exploration project that could solve the energy crisis. - After tangling with LeGrand, the midg- et leader of a smuggling ring, Tom Hughes and Margo Montgomery CAS the World Turnsj had to escape three booby-trapped game rooms in LeGrand's castle or die. - At Hitopah, an underground cavern possibly containing fabulous oil deposits, geologist Brett Wheeler of Texas stumbled upon a snake-filled secret chamber straight out of Radiers of the Lost Ark. - And on GI-L Mikkos Cassadineis wid- ow put a curse on her husband's vanquish- ers, Luke and Laura Spencer. Laura later disappeared into the fog. At one point, in early 1982, these stories were running simultaneously. This was no freak. This was a trend. Obviously, the writers and producers of the shows felt that this was where the Afternoon viewing choices in the Union's Landmark Lounge are basically representative of the UI, as well as the nation. ABC soaps monopolize the screen, including national favorites GH, One Life To Live and All My Children, drawing the largest Union audiences. audience's interest was going, said Rut J. Gordon, executive editor of Soap Ope Digest. It wanted more exciting stories more than just characters sitting arou talkingf' 1 One reason for this change in audien taste was a change in the audience. Unf the 1970s, women at home, who supposec ly watched while they did housework, wei the predominant audiencej, said Jasq Bonderoff, editorial director of Dayti TV. When many of these women enters the labor market Cby 1978, 49 per cent 1 all U.S. women worked outside the home daytime viewing declined. Only one-se' enth of the daytime schedule could attra even 30 per cent of the homes using telev sion. The networks realized they wou have to broaden the soaps' appeal to per ple whoid never watched them before. More and more, Bonderoff said, soa are aiming for the young audience. T networks say that 18- to-35-year-old wo , en are still the most crucial audience, sin they buy the sponsors' products. But tee agers and men are two segments that ha increased significantly in the last fe years. That, he said, has had an effect o- soap stories. Afternoon TV editor Connie Passala qua could see a different influenc1 though. A year ago, General Hospital d' the Ice Princess fthe plot involving Mikk Cassadinej. The ratings were high, a now there are a lot of other stories like i When something is extremely popula everybody copies it. The imitation may be understandabl When all soaps were 30 minutes, mo shows could be successfulf, Bonder said. Now, with nine of the 14 shows hour long, most of them running conc rently, there is intense network compe tion for ratingsf, he said. It's a consta struggle to get bigger, newer, flashierf' Unfortunately, some shows imitated t wrong things. During the Tomf Mar caper on As the World Turns, the Ni sen ratings for the program showed an i provementf, said Gordon. But the m we received on the story was not positive Several months into the adventure stori on the low-rated Search for Tomorr and Texas, neither show had made a si nificant jump in popularity. In fact, C canceled Search in March 1982 KN picked it upj, while rumors of Texas'ca cellation persisted. As for Ryanis Ho the Egyptian storyline, intended as a m jor, long-term plot, abruptly conclud after 4 1f2 months. Even GH 's highly- rated Ice Prince got negative feedback, Bonderoff sai The subsequent storyline involving La ra's disappearance caused even more au ence grumbling. According to Passala qua, people in the industry said it was ' turn-off.

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-1 E I Editor's note: D.C. Spriestersbach was in- terviewed in two installments - once when he began his term as interim presi- dent, and again after the term ended. The two are split to indicate this. He's obiously qualified. He's been president of the Association of Graduate Schools, the American Speech and Hearing Association and the American Cleft Palate Association. Pres- ently, he,s dean of the UI Graduate Col- lege and vice president for Educational Development and Research. but D.C. Spriestersbach doesn't stop there. He's also acting president of the UI. Filling the interim between the depar- ture of former UI president Willard Boyd fnow president of Chicagoss Field Muse- um of Natural Historyj and the arrival of James Freedman Cdean of the University of Pennsylvania Law Schoolj, Spriesters- bach has settled into his new position fairly easily. Working closely with Boyd in the past familiarized Spriestersbach with the university's operations. Spriestersbach never envisioned himself as a university president, though. f'I've had opportunities before . . . nominations for presidencies and all, but it's really not a position I've ever aspired to, he said. It,s just not something I'd want as a long-term thingf' To simultaneously maintain operations of the Graduate College and the prei- dency. Spriestersbach, as well as his staff, hope to work harder than ever. Look at thisf' Spriestersbach said, looking down at stacks of papers, folders and other busi- ness cluttering the top of his large desk. I can ususally stay on top of things pretty well - Ilve always been a workaholic - but obviously this is slowing me down some. There are the usual basic duties that go along with any presidencyg decisions on major policy issues and responsibility for any decisions made by the university, whether I made them or not. And there are meetings with student organizations, social things I must respond to. I'm always meeting with people, I'm obligated to make appearances. That all takes up a tre- mendous amount of timef, As interim president, Spriestersbach feels his primary function is to Hkeep things humming, not to initiate new pro- jects or take major actions. On important matters, he keeps in close touch with Freedman, but Bday-to-day things are up to me, he said. Sprie's seven-month drama Spriestersbach is optimistic about his seven-month term. Being an interim president might suggest a sort of psycho- logical downer. It's not. I intend to do my best to make it an upper. After his term ends, will he start some- thing new? I don't know. I hope to have the opportunity to take a breather, but it's hard to tell. Many things are changing right now. Itjs a constantly changing cir- cus, you never stand still. You can't F vaguely familiar with before, but became involved with to a greater degree through the university. Sprie,' also was able to become fairly well acquainted with student leaders, while discussing the government's changes in student financial aid and the program to increase student awareness of these cuts. When a group like this regularly at- tends board meetings, you get on a first name basis and really feel quite close to 1 LT 'I' ' N ,WV-2f,g .:. tif A f72'2?4'-ff --V f.,E7'7 'nw s zz: Y jj j Egg. 33 -ffl 5 I. W ff: 9 A ' W 3: g I J ,xl W.. V i ww, K ,alv- 'MMU-'.M,,,,,4'- ' . du-M,,,.,.fw you'd go backwards, or start heading down a different road? 'fBet you didnit know I got an Oscar, did you? D.C. Spriestersbach said, displaying a shiny metallic trophy on the desk in his Gilmore Hall office. The inscription plate below the Oscar figure said, D.C.S. A friend in the Iowa City Community Theater awarded him the trophy, he ex- plained, for a fine performance in a sev- en-month drama. The seven-month dramaa' was Spries- tersbachis term as UI interim president, which ended March 31. For a man who had worked closely with the president's office for 17 years, the time wasn't really dramatic, though. In an organization like a university, he said, dramatic things don't happen. Things evolve, policies evolve. In seven months my goal was to make sure we kept moving along. I would have resisted being involved in a major new policy or decision. That would be unfiar to President Freed- man? In the course of moving things along, Spriestersbach said he surprised himself with how much he learned about the uni- versity. Organization structures, inter-col- legiate athletics, conferences - all were examples of things Sprie said he was 'ww them. By working shoulder to shoulder as 'usi altogether, rather than as 'them' and Sus' - well, I've come to regard Tim Dick- son and Lori Froeling as good friends!', Involvement in events like the Rose Bowl made Sprie's term memorable - and more hectic. His hours as president were demanding. During the past seven months, this has been pretty much a seven-day week in the office, with lots of evenings. He expected this to ease up as he resumed his post as vice president for Academic Research and Development. I'll be spending less time in the office nowf' he said. I'd like to dc some gardening, horse trail-riding, get back to the community theater and read- ing. Until now, I've resisted thinking about that, so I could concentrate on my assign- ment rather than on my personal wants and needsf' At the beginning of his presidency, Sprie'7 said his goal was to not miss a beatf, By April 1, looking back on it all, he said, I think we did it. There were not serious difficulties, we stayed out of major trouble. We were able to end the seven months with continued confidence from the faculty that this is a fine university, with lots of pizazz and lots of future. - Jane Turnis

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'Y' On Guiding Light, Nola Reardon's ffar leftj roman- tic dreams about her boss, Quint McCord fsecond from rightj, have been popular with viewers - a new trend? Many soaps picked up the wrong rea- sons for GH is popularity, Bonderoff said. For years, Agnes Nixon Ccreator of A11 My Childrenj has said if you create a character that an audience cares about, they'll follow that character anywhere. People keep watching GH because the character of Luke Spencer is intriguing . . . The shows that seem to work well in the long-haul are those in which what su- percedes story and excitement is charac- ter. That hasn't changed. Gordon emphasized that viewers prefer romantic stories. S'The adventure and ex- citement are used to attract viewers, but they're not the reason a story is popularf' she said. What was responsible for GH 's success was the love story of Luke and Laura . . . It was when they moved away from that that viewers objected. Passalacqua agreed. If the adventure complements the romance, that's fine. But if it doesn't, then it's superfluous. Soaps need love stories about dynamic couples, she said, S'When they find one, like Mac and Rachel QAnother Worldj, they can go on for 10 years, and the audience loves it. Neither Gordon nor Passalacqua thought the adventure craze would have that kind of staying power. I think it will go on for a while longerf' Gordon said, then the shows will settle down to more middle-of-the-road stories, more realistic romances again. Passalacqua foresaw an even shorter life for the trend, saying, I think it will peter out after this summer. Predicting what would replace it was harder. What there is always room for, Bonderoff said, is something done well. The shows that are popular are popular because they're really good, really cre- ative. If a show is good, it can always break the rules. - Scott Anderson, copy editor