As Roger Newcomb notes today in his excellent We Love Soaps coverage, Soap Opera Digest has again – AGAIN – featured Y&R’s Eric Braeden on the cover.
I am reluctant to hit the buzzer again on this; as I said before, Mr. Braeden is one of the finest actors in daytime, and his portrayal of Victor Newman definitely deserves SOME coverage, including the cover of Digest and Weekly.
But it seems so bizarre that SO many covers in SUCH a short period of time have been about one actor/storyline.
If we put all other shows aside, and simply look at Y&R, it makes sense that Y&R covers would sell. It is, after all, the top-rated show, and Victor is an important – dare I say, integral – part of it.
- But Jack and Adam are a huge part of that story as well – where is their cover? (Or the solo Peter Bergman cover – Bergman another fine actor with several Emmys under his belt.)
- Nick and Sharon have an enormous following – and a storyline that I’d respectfully suggest has a little more “juice” in it right now than the Victor/Nikki story. Where is THEIR cover?
- What about Kay?
- The Chloe/Cane/Billy triangle?
- Heaven knows, if covers were for airtime alone, I’d expect to see Judith Chapman on the cover seven times.
Listen, I understand the magazines need to sell. Digest and Weekly are hanging on for dear life as much as all of the shows are. I’m sure Braeden brings in the bucks for them. I wish there was a way to say this that didn’t sound grumpy or dismissive of Braeden’s fine work. But seriously, when one actor has been featured (as Roger notes) on seven of the last seventeen issues, something appears to be amiss.
The question is, what’s led Digest to cast such a narrow net for covers?
- Is it a money thing?
- Are other actors or other shows not cooperating with the magazine? And if so, why?
- Are there editorial issues?
- Are actors, producers and agents wary of Digest because they feature controversial columnist Carolyn Hinsey?
- EDITED (11/2) TO ADD: It’s occurred to me that there has been one other factor that could have influenced the frequent choice for Braeden as a cover. Y&R’s new executive producer is Paul Rauch – who’s been at the helm for a few months. That’s a timeline that could potentially explain that choice if Rauch was pushing that story as the one to promote.
You can see Roger’s post here.
And if you’d like to pose the “WTF?” question directly to Digest (a magazine that we all would love to see continue its previous successes), you can write the magazine.
Soap Opera Digest Editorial Department, 261 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
E-mail: spwpubop@sourceinterlink.com
NOTE: Digest requests that you include your full name on all correspondence for it to be considered. (This means simply emailing them under ejami4eva@yahoo.com will probably ensure that your correspondence will be deleted.)
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