DC ExtraTime: "This is the True Story" Inside The Sands of The Hourglass...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If there is a bright spot to what has been a dark year of 2020, it has been that more & more of us have been spending our time at home at all hours of the day, working and getting educated virtually in addition to the usual routines we have to start our day and then when we would usually get home from work and school until it's time for lights out. It has seen internet usage skyrocket to new heights thanks to technology keeping us all connected, and viewing in television dayparts have increased also.

If you are one of those who are obsessed with reality television like we are here, then you know that part of the genre we love is influenced by daytime soap operas and the experience that Mary-Ellis Bunim had producing them before joining documentary producer Jon Murray to create their production arm that has brought us The Real World, The Challenge, Keeping Up with The Kardashians and other iconic reality shows. Much of what you see on those shows and everything else in the reality genre are influenced by daytime soaps: the arcs, the characters and the pacing of episodes are all influenced by that genre.

The soap opera genre is officially known as "serial drama" in having storylines that continue from episode to episode every weekday... and of course, the moniker comes from these shows being sponsored & produced by companies that market popular soap brands. It may not have the kind of large appeal and ratings that it once had as talk shows, courtroom-based series and other program genres have taken over the late-morning and afternoon time periods. But watching the soaps remains a favorite for the at-home housewives after all these years, with a few of them still on air decades after they began airing during the golden age of television.

Something that's been as much a decades-long staple of NBC as Today, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, Dateline and its Olympic coverage has been Days of Our Lives, which began airing on the Peacock back in November 1965, and is into its 56th year as its longest-running scripted series. Days has documented generations of the Horton, Brady and DiMera families in the fictional town of Salem with the many twists and turns that have gone down there. And every soap opera fan has grown up with the little-changed title sequence voiced by the series' patriarch MacDonald Carey: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives."

With Election Day now seemingly decided in Joe Biden now having the title "President Elect" attached to his name, this harkens back to the sense of hope that accompanied the man who he proudly served as Vice President with. It was amidst that theme of hope with the start of Barack Obama's presidency that The Real World headed to the Nation's Capital in 2010. To Challenge Nation, this was the debut season for one of the most dominant Challengers ever, Rivals II champ Emily Schromm, and her not-so-dominant partner on Battle of the Exes, Ty Ruff. We all remember the attraction they had in the house, followed by him squandering in that final in the cold before she won Rivals II and Champs vs. Stars I.

But the true purpose of this trip to the Nation's Capital was to feature those who were engaged with the world's matters at the turn of the last decade - a far cry from what's been happening in 2020. Along with that girl who dressed up as one of Santa Claus' elves on Let's Make A Deal in Ashley Lindley and Cleveland DJ Erika Lauren, two guys from the same city of Denver were casted on that season. On the ridiculous side of the ball was Andrew Woods, that college paper cartoonist who made the panda hat the season's most popular item and who kept himself upbeat even as a drunk Ty pushed him off a balcony outside of their house in DuPont Circle, D.C.'s home to national embassies and think tanks.

On the sublime end of the Denver duo was Mike Manning, who came to the District with his sights on making a difference. As a out and proud gay man, Mike explored the Capital's gay & lesbian scene but most importantly got engaged in issues of concern to people like him in working for LGBT organization Human Rights Campaign, and getting to see President Obama at one of his speeches towards the end of his stay in the Capital. While also roaming Capitol Hill, he also got to meet up with Jared Polis, who was then a House Representative but who towards the end of the decade became America's first openly-gay governor when his fellow citizens voted him Governor of Colorado.

Mike has since become an up-and-coming actor since he left D.C., including returning to his MTV roots on Teen Wolf, plus work for Disney, Hallmark Channel and Hawaii Five-O. His most notable role is of that of Caleb McKinnon on Amazon Prime's The Bay, which was again recognized with several Daytime Emmy Awards this year, and Mike posted a selfie of him holding his own Emmy statuette for Outstanding Digital Drama Series as The Bay has just premiered Season 6. He captioned below, "Dear Emmy, I will love you and care for you and hold you up like I'm King Kong and you're Ann Darrow and Peter Jackson is chasing us with helicopters. I know s___ like this doesn't happen every day and I promise to pay it forward, to help others who (like me) arrive in Hollywood not knowing a soul to chase a dream that often feels impossible. It's not."

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Something arrived in the mail today and I’m pretty excited about it. Because of the stupid pandemic, there weren’t any in-person ceremonies this year. But did that stop me from dressing up to open the box and celebrate at home? Hell no. Dear Emmy, I will love you and care for you and hold you up like I’m King Kong and you’re Ann Darrow and Peter Jackson is chasing us with helicopters. • I am so grateful to everyone involved w/ making this happen. The minds behind @thebaytheseries - @gregorijmartin @kristos @wendyriche @celestefianna the cast, crew, audience. @ntheurer92 You’re all incredible. @dambrosiotwins who would have thought when we met 9 years ago to volunteer for @boo2bullying it would lead to this?! You’re both angels and I’m so glad to know you and your family. • I know shit like this doesn’t happen every day and I promise to pay it forward, to help others who (like me) arrive in Hollywood not knowing a soul to chase a dream that often feels impossible. It’s not. • Love you all. Love you mom and dad... I’m gonna go change back into a T-shirt now. #emmys #happy #awards

A post shared by Mike Manning (@mikecmanning) on Oct 19, 2020 at 3:11pm PDT

As the fall TV season began two months ago, Mike added another gig to his budding acting resume: a role on Days playing intern Charlie Dale, which as he shared in an Instagram post revealing his new gig, "I guess the [cat] is outta the [bag]. 'Charlie' will be on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I hope you like him. Hold on tight. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." That word quite literally describes the clip embedded below where he runs into Claire Brady, played by Isabel Durant when she accidentally spills coffee in the streets. And last week in talking to Soap Dirt, Mike teases that his character has demons that he will have to face in this town where strange things can happen.

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