(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — What would a year end chart be without a look back at who hogged the most airtime in all of 2008?
As the year 2008 came to a close, so did a years worth of tracking appearances of contract and recurring actors on daytime’s remaining eight soap operas. “General Hospital’s” Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and “The Bold and the Beautiful’s” Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan Forrester) top the list of appearances in 2008 as the duo appeared in 224 and 222 out of the 253 episodes of soap opera produced last year.
ABC: As daytime’s most overexposed network, for the second year running, the network of “All My Children,” “General Hospital,” and “One Life to Live” held down 16.5 positions in the Top 20 Airhogs list. Yes, 16.5! (Two actresses played one of our top airhogs, don’t you know). “GH” and its star Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) led the wave as the soap had eight airhogs in the 2008 Top 20. “AMC” was a close second with 7.5 airhogs. In total, ABC clogged up the airwaves with 23.5 actors in the Top 30.
CBS: The network with the most balance, CBS was led by “The Bold and the Beautiful” goddess Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan Forrester) and “The Young and the Restless'” Eric Braeden, who ranked #14 on the list as Victor Newman appeared in 177 episodes of the drama series. Unfortunately, no “As The World Turns” or “Guiding Light” actor appeared in the Top 30, which excludes them from ranking. However, congratulations goes out to the two for having balance within their cast despite budget constraints effecting daytime as a whole. Had they ranked, they would have been led by Maura West (Carly Snyder, “ATWT”) and Marcy Rylan (Lizzie Spaulding, “GL”), who appeared in 147 and 145 out of 253 episodes, respectively.
NBC: With only one soap left remaining on its schedule, NBC left the “Days of our Lives” cast fighting for airtime on this once flourishing daytime network. James Scott managed to top the “DAYS” list ranking at #23 thanks to dueling characters E.J Wells and Santo DiMera.
Note: Due to a leave of absence in ’08, last years top Airhog, “All My Children’s “Alicia Minshew” (Kendall Hart), fell to #4 in the ranking (tied with “GH’s” Maurice Benard). In 2007, the actress appeared in 233 out of 256 episodes. Steve Burton remained a top draw at “GH,” as he appeared in the same amount of episodes year-over-year, and Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos Jacks) fell dramatically from #3 to #12. Thorsten Kaye also fell a few notches from fourth in ’07 (tied with “B&B’s Katherine Kelly Lang) to seventh in ’08. Meanwhile, “AMC’s” Cameron Mathison went from #6 in ’07 to #8 in ’08 (tied with “GH’s” Brandon Barash) – he appeared in 16 less episodes this year. “One Life to Live’s” Michael Easton had the biggest plunge as he fell from a #10 ranking in ’07 to #27 in ’08 (tied with “AMC’s” Darnell Williams). The actor appeared in 161 episodes in 2008 vs 203 in 2007. As two actresses played her in 2008, the character of Greenlee Smythe on “All My Children” takes the combined totals of actresses Rebecca Budig and Sabine Singh.
In honor of the Soap Opera Network return of the SON Top 10, we present to you daytime’s top scene stealers (literally), who earned their paychecks (and then some) during a most dramatic year.
Rank | Actor (Character) |
Show |
Total Episodes Appeared |
1. | Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan) | The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) |
224 |
2. | Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) | General Hospital | 222 |
3. | (Greenlee Smythe) Rebecca Budig and Sabine Singh | All My Children (ABC) | 220 (Rebecca Budig, 211 / Sabine Singh, 9) |
4. | Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) | General Hospital (ABC) | 203 |
Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart) | All My Children (ABC) | 203 | |
6. | Julie Marie Berman (Lulu Spencer) | General Hospital (ABC) | 200 |
7. | Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater) | All My Children (ABC) | 197 |
8. | Brandon Barash (Johnny Zacchara) | General Hospital (ABC) | 194 |
9. | Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery) | All My Children (ABC) | 193 |
10. |
Bradford Anderson (Damian Spinelli) | General Hospital (ABC) | 190 |
11. | Melissa Claire Egan (Annie Lavery) | All My Children (ABC) |
189 |
Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos Jacks) | General Hospital (ABC) | 189 | |
13. | Sarah Joy Brown (Claudia Zacchara) | General Hospital (ABC) | 183 |
14. | Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) | The Young and the Restless (CBS) | 177 |
15. | Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester) | The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) | 176 |
16. | Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman) | The Young and the Restless (CBS) | 175 |
17. | Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones) | General Hospital (ABC) | 173 |
Megan Ward (Kate Howard) | General Hospital (ABC) | 173 | |
19. | Trevor St. John (Todd Manning) | One Life to Live (ABC) | 171 |
Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman) | The Young and the Restless (CBS) | 171 | |
21. | Aiden Turner (Aidan Devane) | All My Children (ABC) | 170 |
22. | Jennifer Gareis (Donna Logan Forrester) | The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) | 167 |
23. | James Scott (E.J. Wells/Santo DiMera) | Days of our Lives (NBC) | 166 |
24. | Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth Webber) | General Hospital (ABC) | 165 |
25. | Tyler Christopher (Nikolas Cassadine) | General Hospital (ABC) | 164 |
26. | John Brotherton (Jared Banks/Clint Buchanan) | One Life to Live (ABC) | 162 |
Debbie Morgan (Angela Hubbard) | All My Children (ABC) | 162 | |
27. | Michael Easton (John McBain) | One Life to Live (ABC) | 161 |
29. | Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard) | All My Children (ABC) | 161 |
30. | Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) | The Young and the Restless (CBS) | 160 |
Our thanks goes out to those contributors who helped compile this list throughout 2008. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the hoggers from a pinto. Thank you, jcar03, jhc2010, y&r_fan, JAS0N47, dmarex, Scotty, Toups and Angela.
Until next year…
Discussion: The 2008 Daytime Airhog Awards
- The Bold and the Beautiful
- All My Children
- One Life to Live
- The Young and the Restless
- Days of our Lives
- General Hospital
- As The World Turns
- Guiding Light