A few weeks ago, several magazines and Web sites ran an item about Daniel Cosgrove, who’s playing Bill Lewis on Guiding Light until the show ends in September. The news was that Cosgrove had all but signed on to be the next Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live.
Today, Soap Opera Digest is reporting that Cosgrove and OLTL are sooooo not happening.
It’s not unheard of for a deal to fall through. But what piques my interest is that this scenario is almost identical to what happened with Cosgrove’s GL sibling Gina Tognoni and her negotiations at OLTL.
Which leads me to the question: Have these two Emmy-nominated (and Emmy-winning) actors walked away from these deals? And if so, was it because OLTL completely lowballed them on salary?
There could be other reasons, of course, for those deals not to work out. But it’s a remarkable coincidence, and my educated guess is that it’s all about the Benjamins.
ABC Daytime isn’t immune to the declines in the soap industry and the challenges of the economic downtown. But we’ve been hearing an AWFUL lot about ABC’s money woes lately.
Rumor has it that the Alphabet Net is considering moving production of All My Children (its weakest show) to Los Angeles to save money. (According to the item in Daytime Confidential, it’s a matter of space: cheaper and roomier studio space means the production team can have more permanent sets and fewer temporary ones.)
ABC has also been taking the hard line in contract negotiations, most recently with daytime legend Robin Strasser, who took her dissatisfaction with ABC’s latest offer into the public eye.
It’s unfortunate that the recession is making things tougher for an industry that was already challenged. (The recession likely tipped the scales in the decision to cancel GL.) And ABC isn’t immune to those factors.
But if costs are being cut, salaries are being slashed, and actors and actresses are being let go…..how in the hell do you justify spending over $3 million to redo General Hospital’s sets? Just sayin’.
A | THOUSAND | OTHER | WORLDS 
The answer is: because JFP has clout and as proven by her past shows (AW in particular) her favorite way of showing her macho is to get the networks/show owners to buy her new sets.
PS. All the things we’ve ‘heard’ about Cosgrove and Gina are just rumors or gossip. It would great to get the facts! Then again no one, except for Robin Strasser will go on the record about his or her contract negotiations. The networks never do.
Connie – I agree, I’d prefer to have the facts. And I wanted to be crystal clear that it was only an educated guess. But it seems worth noting that both negotiations appear to have ended the same way. And you’re right, it’s rare for performers to share that info!
Forgot to say: Welcome back dear!
that is exactly what GH fans have been asking for months! Every time a favorite or vet is let go..we hear budget cuts….at the same time…we see newbies (who we know come cheap but really not that cheap when GH brings on about 7 at a time), big name stars from other shows (Martha Bryne did not come cheap. I know that much) and new sets for HD.
Daniel would have been a fabulous Joey and Gina returning as Kelly would have been beyond great…..
There could have been other issues outside of money. Is ABC still doing the four year contracts for most? I could see someone like Daniel or Gina not wanting to agree to work at any of the soaps for that long. Really though, unless they say we won’t know…
$3 million on new sets makes more sense than the amount of money that was spent on the one time CGI deals that AMC and GH did. At least a set can be used over time even if there are other things that I’d prefer they would spend the money on like talented performers.