I used to be a big fan of Days of our Lives.  Big fan.  Watched it on and off (mostly on) for about 15 years.  A couple of years ago I went cold turkey.  But soaps are in distress, Guiding Light was canceled and cost cutting is the mantra. Days of Our Lives fired Deidre Hall the most popular actress on the show for decades cause they needed to get rid of a big salary off the bottom line.

It looks like something bad is brewing over in Llanview, the home of One Life to Live and it has to do with actress Robin Strasser.

From what I can tell Strasser who left the soap in 2000 and returned in 2003 (with as she said a 63% pay cut)  is in contract negotiations and things are not going well.  They want her to take another pay cut and she refuses acknowledging that she already makes significantly less than other actors.

Soap opera fans are a pretty rabid and vocal group and they are pissed about the Strasser sitation and the attendant implications of how older people, particularly women are valued.  This is from the One Life to Live Examiner:

It is a feeling that reflects what fans of any daytime drama have been speculating about for quite some time, as they feel they have seen a pattern of removing veteran favorites in favor of younger characters; and a deeper issue that resonates through Hollywood, the movie industry, and even across the pond in Great Britain — that somehow actors – especially females – are less valuable the older they get.

I know that the goal of advertising which basically funds soaps is to be the 18-49 demographic but seriously, who do they think is watching these soap operas?  Loyal fans who have invested many years and they are not surprisingly, aging.  Older women are doing so well in prime time especially on cable that I am kind of surprised that this seems to be such a big deal on daytime TV.

But Strasser refuses to quit and they will have to fire her and if they do hopefully she will be able to get another gig and that her fans will follow her.

Fans Speak Out for Strasser, Against Sexism and Ageism (The One Life to Live Examiner)

• Filed Under:  
• Entertainment, TV, Discrimination

• Tags:
• TV
• women
• Actresses
• Sexism
• hollywood
• Ageism
• soap operas

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