Getting Down and Dirty on Daytime

Damian Smith is living up to his demonic name on ABC’s “General Hospital.” In the year or so since he was introduced on the soap, Damian (played by Leigh J. McCloskey) has impersonated a police officer and stolen official records, committed blackmail and, on a recent bet, seduced Bobbie, wreaking havoc on her marriage.

“The way I’m headed, I think I should change the number on my (character’s) apartment door to 666,” says McCloskey.

Over on CBS’ “Guiding Light,” Roger Thorpe (Michael Zaslow) has wreaked some havoc on his own during his many years on the show: At last count he’s had affairs with three married women, raped two women, including his wife, Holly, and accidentally killed a woman when he threw her down a flight of stairs. This summer, Roger’s thirst for power continues. If history repeats itself, the woman now in his life (Holly, again) should be on full alert.

There is no gender discrimination when it comes to daytime deviltry. On NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) buried alive Carly, the woman whose son Vivian had raised after telling Carly the baby had died, and who was engaged to marry Vivian’s own son. More recently, she switched embryos to have herself impregnated by Victor, the man she loves, who is involved with Kate. Members of this triangle will be “inextricably linked,” according to the network, for more summer shenanigans--all due to Vivian’s scheming.

On somewhat the same theme, Kimberlin Brown, while on “The Young and the Restless” playing Sheila Carter Granger, suffered a miscarriage, faked a full-term pregnancy, then swapped the newborn baby of her husband and his ex-wife Lauren with one she had bought, passing off Lauren’s baby as hers. What’s more, she tried to kill her own mother, who knew the truth. She is now in residence on the “Young and Restless” sister show, “The Bold and the Beautiful,” having married the prominent Eric Forrester. Look for her to have blood on her hands this summer.

If the basis of soap opera is conflict, then obviously you can’t have the good guys without the bad guys. Indeed, soap vixens and villains--those colorful troublemakers that viewers love to hate--have proven to be some of the medium’s most enduring, endearing characters.

“People love to watch villains because they know they’re a catalyst, that something’s going to happen,” says James Reilly, head writer for “Days of Our Lives,” who concocted the “Buried Alive” storyline for that soap. “It’s like a bolt of lightning. They feel, ‘We have to watch, to see what’s going to go on.’ ”

McCloskey, who previously played a serial rapist (and gynecologist) on the defunct “Santa Barbara,” agrees. “In real life, most people lead reactive lives. In drama, it’s the same thing. Most characters go on on an even keel. When Damian was introduced, suddenly Bobbie and (husband) Tony were reacting to a foreign body, suddenly there was doubt that tomorrow was going to be the same as today. You need someone to bring in a sense of uncertainty. Damian’s there to make people not as comfortable.”

There’s much more to soap villainy than dastardly deeds, however. Classic evildoers--as opposed to short-term criminal characters brought on specifically, say, to commit a murder--are as multidimensional as their more noble showmates. “Days’ ” Vivian, for instance, is motivated by her unmet need to give love, channeled in the wrong direction. Sheila’s nefariousness escalated when her love for a man became an obsession with him and his child.

On NBC’s “Another World,” the character Carl Hutchins, played by Charles Keating, was probably responsible for Rachel going blind, kidnaping her daughter and trying to kill a man, but he is now genuinely in love with Rachel. And McCloskey calls his own character “a nest of contradictions,” mixing ambition with vulnerability.

Not all characters are even created as villains, but become so as a particular storyline evolves. Says William J. Bell, co-creator of “Young and the Restless” and “Bold and Beautiful” and the senior head writer and senior executive producer of the former soap and co-executive producer and executive story consultant of the latter: “Sheila was never originally meant to be a heavy. She emerged. The pressures of her story, her situation as a character made her do things that otherwise she might not have done. She loved this baby and tried everything she could to get him. She lost it where was Lauren was concerned.”

“Days’ ” Reilly also calls Vivian’s actions “a natural progression. The next logical thing was for the character to cross the line.”

Indeed, many soap scoundrels do not think of themselves as even a wee bit evil. “I think a villain doesn’t know he is a villain,” says Zaslow, who originated the role of Roger Thorpe 22 years ago, played him again in 1989 after a 10-year hiatus and last month won a Daytime Emmy Award for his lead acting.

Zaslow’s character “tries to go after what he wants. He’s very passionate, driven by needs he doesn’t understand. As my then-7-year-old daughter said last year, ‘What Roger is, is selfish.’ ”

Adds Reilly: “Villains have their own set of laws and moral codes. They believe the ends justify the means. There’s a little seed of justification, where they think what they do is right.” He cites “Days” longtime crime boss Stefano DiMera (Joe Mascolo), who will stop at nothing to protect his adopted daughter Kristen. “If people wouldn’t do things to get in his way, he wouldn’t have to do anything to them.”

And how do those who know them best--the actors--feel about portraying these convoluted cads?

“It’s more fun playing a catalyst,” says McCloskey, who has a long list of “nice guy” credits, including Dr. Mitch Cooper on “Dallas.”

For baby-swapping Brown, who gave birth to her own first daughter in January, motherhood has not softened her alter ego’s depiction. “Sheila is just a character,” she says. “I play her the way she’s written. My personal life is so different from my work life.”

Brown does confess to some trepidation as to how viewers might react to Sheila’s activities, but has received only a few bothersome letters. And Zaslow made sure that the rape of his character’s wife was depicted as the act of violence it was.

There’s no question that villainy pays off, particularly in the ratings. Reilly says that “Days’ ” Nielsen numbers marked an increase of 68% among the key women’s groups during last summer’s buried alive story line.

Such viewer fascination occurs, Reilly says, because “the audience understands what the classic villains do. They may not agree with it, but I think that deep down, everyone has wanted to do something evil. They have the feeling, ‘There but for the grace of God could have gone I.’ ”