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

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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

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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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All there is to do is stay in and write Perhaps itls a writer's fate to be misun- derstood. Perhaps, to a certain degree, it's the fate of the UI Writers Workshop to share that. The common reaction to the workshop's existence is amazement that it's in Iowa. Iowa is supposed to be all corn and sweat and snow, not literature and culture. Yet, the fact remains that the country's oldest literary program is located in the heart of the Midwest. It was at Iowa that Tennessee Williams wrote The Glass Menagerie, that Flannery O'Connor wrote Wise Blood, that Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse Five. It was at Iowa that creative writing has been taught by Jean Stafford, Gail Godwin, James Tate, George P. Elliott, James McPherson, John Cheever and James Michener. Once people discover this, their opinion of Iowa changes. Drastically. Sometimes to the point that Iowa starts to seem leg- endary, larger-than-life, even sacred. Even some new workshop members en- ter the program with expectations far re- moved from reality. As current member Bill Robertson explained, It's mainly be- cause the substantial reputation the work- shop has is virtually impossible to live up to. Whatever the misunderstandings, the Iowa Writers Workshop still merits the esteem and attention it receives. A look at the workshop today - as it really is - proves that. The calibre of its members attests to the programls quality. Not just anybody gets in. Competition is so stiff that in the fall of 1981, 250 students vied for the 50 open- ings in the poetry and fiction workshops. Besides that, the admissions committee Qmade up of staff and second-year mem- bersj is highly selective. Director John Leggett, who makes the final decisions, considers keeping the quality of workshop writers high to be one of his main duties. You have to find ways of getting the best students, he said. We do make mistakes - turn away the good and take people who are not so good. But overall, we wouldn't be at such a high level if not for the excellent quality of the students. Things are not easier once a student is accepted. Since its founding in 1939, the workshop's basic purpose has been to cre- ate a thoughtful, earnest atmosphere for producing and discussing literature. New members discover this quickly. Miscon- ceptions about the workshop vanish. At Iowaf' said member Laura Hendrie, it is presumed you're serious about writing. Workshop sessions can become intense. Students submit their work, then class- mates offer evaluations and suggestions. The object is to help the writer improve his or her piece as much as possible. Brutal honesty is required, along with a thick skin. It can be frightening sometimes to put up a story, Hendrie admitted. This intensity is understandable upon learning how devoted the writers are. Hen- drie, a junior transfer student enrolled through an undergraduate independent study program, has other classes, but most members, who are graduate students, write eight to 10 hours a day. Something about Iowa seems to encour- age this. Hendrie called it the statels ele- ment of isolation, while Robertson attrib- uted it to the weather. The winters are so cold that no one wants to go out, he said. All there is to do is stay in and write? Director Leggett: . . . we wouldn't be at such a high level if not for the excellent quality of the students. QE f , 7' .3 V V, ,V . 52 ,I nf A 36'-L -,. ,. A37 .,. . ---- . ,.,, . ,gf Debbie Hemmg 1 l