Nathan Fillion Laments Death of Soap Operas After Run on One Life to Live, Calls Them ‘Incredible Place to Learn the Craft’

https://people.com/nathan-fillion-soap-operas-one-life-to-live-11695621?taid=67d1e6d869f8d0000197ee0e

19 comments

  1. > “I’m fond of saying I was the best Joey ever,” Fillion, 53, joked. “There was only about 24 of us!”

    >In fact, Fillion was the fourth of seven actors to play the role on the series between 1980 and 2011. His performance earned him a 1996 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. But as one of his earliest acting jobs, being on One Life to Live also provided a lot for the showbiz newbie.

    >“I didn’t have anybody in my life who was involved in the entertainment industry in any way, and on One Life to Live, I had 30 mentors,” Fillion said. “Everybody there was so kind to me. They really welcomed me, taught me anything.”

    >“Every day I use something I learned on the soap,” he added. “Especially that level of professionalism. What integrity they had.”

    >“I am so sad that is a dying medium,” he said. “I really am. Incredible place to really learn the craft at a break-neck pace.”

  2. My mother loved that show. He was my favourite Joey Buchanan.

  3. It was fairly common for actors to literally spend their entire lives on soap operas. Like, their character is born on the show and continues for decades.

  4. He was my favorite Joey (I don’t think I’m alone there). My favorite Kevin was Kevin Stapleton (but I don’t think I have much company there 😆).

  5. Geez, Nathan has aged a lot since I last saw him. Does he wear a hair piece on The Rookie?

  7. When I was a makeup artist doing industry work, soap operas were the dream job.

    They shot 3-4 days a week and it was practically office hours. 9-5.

  8. Julianne Moore said that being on a soap opera is like bootcamp for actors because you have to learn so much so fast.

  9. This got me thinking about the worsening quality of television writing, and how the best current shows come from writers who did network shows with 24 episode seasons because it gave them ample chances to hone their craft.

  11. I know a few writers who were able to get a leg up in their careers bc of soap operas. I wish there were more, sometimes I just want mindless storytelling in the background when I’m getting chores done

  12. Where my long standing crush started. I loved Joey

  13. If you had told me the man on the right was Nathan Fillion, I would not have believed you.

  14. Soap actors are some of the hardest working folks in the business. They need to learn tons of dialogue every day and work a regular work week. I watched them for years and had the chance to see so many young actors come into their own and go on to do great things.

  15. I know that some other people that we really treasure like Kate mulgrew as Captain Janeway got Her start on soap operas.

  16. Soap budgets have been severely cut since his stint in the mid-90’s. There’s also less airtime per episode and less episodes per year, yet somehow more characters.

    And it seems there’s less care about quality (though that could be partially due to budget) than there used to be. Soaps had their heyday in the 80’s and 90’s and then people seemed to tune out and EP’s and writers and exec’s started caring less and less. Somewhere along the way, soaps got known as the “easy” job and actors who had never been on them looked down on them and made working on a soap seem lesser even though A LOT of actors got their first or one of their first roles on soaps.

  17. Soaps fed working actors.

    Soaps were prime boot camp for actors to learn both stage AND screen experiences.

    Soaps kept many writers, film & sound folks consistently employed.

    Soaps also honed Directors, in efficiency of shots, as well as in minding resources.

    Soaps are/were as close to true theater that a majority of daytime, off-prime time, viewers could ever see.

    Sad they’re floundering…

  18. They were over the top and that gave them a special place on TV. And lots of the drama could just be listened to without having to sit in front of your tv.

    Now, everything is like that. Even science stuff has been turned into reality tv type stuff with villains and hero’s.

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