Soap Operas Books

I was fortunate enough to work for both Greer and Zakarin so it was very interesting to hear an outsiders take on the people and events.

That being said, I do feel that the book could have had more depth. Being there, I can attest to the fact that some of the issues were glossed over and approached in a somewhat naive manner.

Despite my critisism I do recommend giving it a read. For those who were not a part of the industry it is an interesting look into this fast paced world and even for those who were part of the industry I think it puts some of the personalities into context.

As for the disgruntaled former Asylum employee . . . well like the others have already said, Scott treated people fairly. The fact that your review of the book turned into a personal attack on the people in it probably says a lot about why you have these feelings in the first place.

Hi! I'm the wife of Scott Zakarin and am even mentioned in this book. I found this book to be a very intriguing read and even though I knew my husband's story it was so interesting to see how everybody else's in the industry was woven together. I highly recommend it. On a side note, I read the post from a former employee. And, while I wasn't in the office on a daily basis I do know my husband's character; he is an honest and fair man and treats people with the same respect that is shown to him.

I was one of the early spotfans - and was blown away by what Scott Zakarin created for the internet and entertainment. My association with him has always been a positive - he always answered my emails and telephone calls and invited me down to the office whenever I was in time. It has been incredible to follow this man's career. Read the book!

Take a look at the other reviews listed here and you'll notice a common thread - most are from Hollywood and internet insiders with strong opinions about the movers and shakers leading the merger of traditional content and broadband media. This book touches a nerve because it really does provide insight into the games that were/are played. Clearly, the authors know what they are talking about, and this is a solid read. I highly recommend it.

Scott always seemed like a great guy to me, but that's not the issue here. (Or at least, it shouldn't be.) The point is that Digital Babylon is so gosh-wow gee-whiz breathless about his supposed vision that it obscures the story of the business, which is what this book purports to tell.

Digital Bablyon dawdles on the "glory" days of The Spot, dithers nervously over the transitional period -- "Will Scott get a new job? Oh, god, WILL HE???" -- then lovingly fails to describe the early days at the Asylum, preferring personalities to strategies and eulogy to technology.

Then it talks about launch, then it mentions in passing that EA was squandering $400,000 a month, then -- zip! -- everyone's fired. And the authors have the colossal naivete to sound shocked about it.

On the plus side, this is a really nice book to read for anyone who personally likes Scott, Troy, Rich, Charlie Fink or Brandon Tartikoff. It says nice things about them. It will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Heck, I like many of those people myself and I enjoyed their characterizations... particularly Charlie, who is ANYBODY's definition of a character.

But if you're looking for the real story of how "the geeks, the suits, and the ponytails" brought Hollywood to the Internet, this book won't tell you how. It'll only tell you who.

Wow, I am very surprised. I had never read any of her books before, but I gave this one a try and couldn't put it down. So when I saw how bad her reviewes were I was really surprised, but it gives me hope. I have read all of my favorite author's books and need a new one to read. I love Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught and Linda Howard so now that I read and liked this book and this is I guess a bad one for her I am really looking forward to reading more.

This book was better than the 1st in this series, but it still wasn't nearly as good as other Heather Graham novels. I agree with those who've said this book is a bit shallow and childish. One thing I don't like about this book and other Heather Graham novels is that she doesn't bother to tell you if you are reading a series. While I realize that each book can stand on its own, it would be nice to know if you're reading a trilogy or series. I actually read Dying to Have Her before I read Long, Lean and Lethal and didn't realize Dying to Have Her was the second book in this trilogy. In fact, I have yet to figure out what the third book in this series is. Dying to Have Her wasn't something that I had trouble finishing, but neither was it something I couldn't put down. If I find out the third in the series, I will probably read it just because I've read the other two, but if you haven't read any in this series, I'd opt for her civil war series; they are truly great books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a little bit hard to get into, but definitely worth the wait. I don't know why this book has so many negative comments. I surely didn't guess who the culprit was, and just ended up reading through the night.

A disappointing book from a usually excellent writer. However, if you are going to write a murder mystery, then you should consider having motive and opportunity and supposedly highly qualified investigators actually considering this aspect. No one in this book considers either including the author. I also don't think it is necessary to have ignorant main characters just to have action. Still even with a horrible plot and weak characters her book has a good pull.

This book is the second in a trilogy taking place on the set of Valentine Valley, the hottest fictional soap around. I really enjoyed the first in this series (Long, Lean, and Lethal), so I couldn't wait to start this one!

This book features Serena McCromack and Liam Murphy as the lead characters, both of whom are also in the first book. I started this with the expectation of catching up with old friends, but this one didn't have the suspense or mystery of the first book. I kept wanting to put it down, I only read on to find out who the killer was. I disagree with fellow reviewers that it was easy to figure this mystery out, I was surprised at the ending.

What also bothered me was how childish all these characters keep acting, for being in their early 30's, they act like teenagers! Also, it seemed unrealistic that everyone would stay up all night after something bad would happen (don't want to spoil anything) and then go to work the next day looking great and feeling refreshed. Then the next night, the same thing would happen over and over again. I kept thinking they must have great make up people on this soap opera, I know how I look and feel after one night without a lot of sleep!

I would only recommend this if you are a Heather Graham fan and following the trilogy. Otherwise, I'd skip this one and read any of her other great books.

I bought this book to see if it has anything not covered in the book by Judith Moose and Paul Keylock. I was disappointed when it came because there's really nothing to it. Nothing really about the history of the show and where are the pictures? The author says she's a journalist so how hard would it have been to get photos of stuff other than books opened to Dynasty or The Colbys. Even the cover (salt and pepper shakers and a plate) lacks the style that Dynasty was known for. This reader's suggestion is to save your money.

You just have to get this book, everything's in it.... hoping they will go on releasing the whole series on dvd......we definitely NEED it!

From one Dynasty author about another, I think Billie Rae Bates has done an excellent job in presenting Dynasty's facts. I have the e-book version and found it to be sleek, put together quite nicely and a wonderful reference guide for the series. She is to be commended for putting together not only this but her other books and a website to be proud of. I wish her nothing but success in all of her endeavors.

Judith A. Moose

I bought this book and enjoyed it. It's not supposed to be a big behind the scenes tellall. The author is upfront about that. It's portrayed as a refernce guide, not a history. The author avoids gossip and sticks to the facts about the show (cast guide, characters and so on), and I liike that. I don't particularly care to read speculations or rumors that may or may not be true. I bought the e-book or one of the author's other guides and enjoyed that, as well. So don't think of this book as one that's competing with other books out there that tell the story behind the scenes. the goal of this one is different. And the author is a very good writer (much better than me!!!) with a great command of the English language. I enjoyed it. "Dynasty" is a great show that I used to watch as a kid, and I love to read aobut it. (Favorite character: Adam!!!!)

This is a very poor book, I was very disappointed in receiving it. It's useful only for cast list, but also if it's not expensive, I really do not recommend it. Avoy it...

Mr. Waggett churns these trite books out to hear the sound of his own voice. He has little to add to what we already know about daytime drama and this book is no exception.

The author has no respect. This book shows no recognition of the hard work of the original author, the late Christopher Schemering. Schemering wrote the first two editions and might still have control of the titled name of the book.

This book gives you a complete detailed history of such soaps on today such as All My Children, Another World, As The World Turns, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, Port Charles, Sunset Beach, and The Young and the Restless. An extenshive history of off the air soaps like Capitol, Generations, Love of Life, Loving, Ryan's Hope, Santa Barbara, and Search for Tomorrow. It also includes previous award winners of the emmy's and the digest awards. With biograhies on certain soap opera legends and 46 years of Neilsen ratings of all the soaps. It is absolutely any soap opera fans dream.

The reviewer below seems to blame the author for having no respect because he has done a followup to a book by a man who died. I loved Schemering's book too. But the man died. If he did a third soap opera encyclopedia, I would have loved it. But he couldn't. I was glad someone did. And he did a great job of it. It seems he has plenty of respect for the soaps as well as the readers who have been waiting for a new encyclopedia for years. As for Schemering having a right to the title, I don't know how that works after a person dies, but I do know that there are plenty of books here on Amazon with the same titles.

All you ever wanted to know about soaps, past and present, can be found in this wonderful book. I have flipped through it for facts so many times that the book is beginning to fall apart. I can't wait til another info.-packed book by this author comes out!

Henry Slesar is a television writer with over 500 episodes of such well-known series as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Batman," and the "ABC Movie of the Week." His portolio also includes two Edgar Awards for his mysteries, placeing him in the enviable top echelon of mystery writers.

MURDER AT HEARTBREAK HOSPITAL begins with Detective William Troy, reassigned by the NYPD after a run-in with an angelic looking but evil-minded prostitute with homicide by knife on her mind:

"He was making all the right moves towards detective status when, on his twenty-sixth birthday, a hooker with a face like a Botticelli angel and the mental attitude of a Borgia plunged a six-foot kitchen knife into his chest, narrowly missing his heart."

This is just a sample of the descriptive and witty writing as Detective Troy joins the Movie/TV unit of the NYPD, and begins meeting the stars, writers, and producers of HEARTBREAK HOSPITAL. Naturally every daytime soap requires a witch with a "b" to head up the cast, and before long Troy meets and falls in love with Sunday Tyler, who plays Andrea Harmon...the most hated and loved actress who ever graced a soap set. Despised by fans and co-workers, it isn't long before Sunday is also knifed to death. Troy sets out to solve her murder, but is distracted when his ex-girlfriend tells him she is pregnant and then is also murdered...this time poisoned by a lemon-meringue pie when she crashes Troy's apartment with his not yet returned keys. Troy finds himself at the top of the list of suspects for his ex's murder, even as he finds more and more of his personal items purloined by her and her doting mother pointing the finger at him.

HEARTBREAK HOSPITAL is a fun read, full of all the expected misery of a soap drama...a cast with lots to hide; the fan club filled with kooky women with a tentative grasp of reality; the token transsexual; the evil star's past; and the lovelorn cop. Slesar even throws an unexpected twist into the ending. But that would be telling.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Anyone who watched The Edge of Night is going to enjoy this wry peek at the inner workings of a daytime soap opera. Written by Henry Slesar, who was the head writer for The Edge of Night for many years, Murder at Hearbreak Hospital reads almost like a plot line from that fondly remembered series. Even the characters' names like Sunday Tyler or Milo Derringer sound like they could have come right out of Edge. There are lots of inside references to the daytime dramas (especially Edge), and Slesar's fans will not fail to notice his trademark "blue herrings."

Although I only two-thirds of the way through this novel, I can safety assure other potential readers not to bother with this trite and strictly by the numbers murder mystery. The only real mystery is exactly how many typos you'll be able to pick up throughout this book. (Is it just me or has proofreading at publishing companies gone out of style) The proofing is so bad here the protagonist's name actually changes at 2 different points in the story. Even ardent soap fans will find little inside humor in this offering. Every soap reference is to The Edge of Night, a soap that went off the air years ago. (This author must have worked for the show). In short, mystery fans, soaps fans, and fans of good writing- skip this book.

This book started off promising. But I found I lost interest in it part way through. After awhile I was reading to finish it so I could start something better.

This book started off promising. But I found I lost interest in it part way through. After awhile I was reading to finish it so I could start something better.

Louise Shaffer has outdone herself with this book! The book was so outstanding that I couldn't put it down. Louise is not only an academy award winning actress, but now a brilliant author. I look forward to reading her next book.

I don't watch soaps and have never seen "As The World Turns" so my judgment of this book is strictly on the book itself. I picked it up because of her name -- Fulton is a family name -- and it turns out it's a stage name so we're not kin.

Oddly enough, the book interests me because it's about a world that I find artificial and unappealing, and it certainly confirms my original opinion. Building a career as a stage actress, soap star and nightclub performer (she's also a singer) isn't easy and Eileen Fulton has worked hard to achieve her success. She is content with her successful career and her personal life, although husbands and lovers don't stay around for long. It is her career that she values above all, and that's what she has at the end of the book. It reminds me of an old popular song that Vaughn Monroe used to sing: "Dance ballerina, dance...and never mind the seat that's empty in the second row...."

The book reads like most other star autobiographies -- artificial, like it's written by a professional trying to sound like an amateur. I'd guess that it's ghost written, probably by the same person who wrote Lee Iaccoca's book. It is entertaining, though, and I'm sure it's a valid look at a life dedicated to theater and television.

This little book is good for a quick giggle, but there is not much to it. A few gems here and there made me crack a smile, but it is nothing special. It might mean more to someone who watches alot of soaps for whom the quotes bring back memories.

This attack on soap opera attempts to tell the readers that soap opera, like other forms of popular entertainment, glorifies the role of the father and brainwashes its viewers to be submissive to patriarchal imperitives However, the theory in this book simply panders to the most narrow-minded of extremist feminists. The theory does not fit the facts. Soap opera is one of the major popular entertainments that permits critical questions about the excesses of the father's prerogatives to surface. By discussing small fragments of soap opera story arcs as if they were the whole thing, this book distorts its subject and renders a major disservice to its reader.

I am a lover of Phantom romances, not Phantom [garbage]. I stopped reading the book after the first few pages. In this book, the Phantom wannabe befriends soap opera stars, kills them, then wears their clothes. He's out to get revenge on all beautiful women that remind him of his mother, whom dumped him off at an orphanage because he was a boy and not a girl. When he killed his first victim, the writing was so difficult to comprehend that I couldn't tell if he raped her and killed her, or just killed her. Yes, the Phantom suffers and kills, but he would never be this unstable-minded. I do not recommend this book to
Phantom fans at all.