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OPINION
Mala's Masala
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Mala Bhattacharjee, news editor
— Weekly
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August 15, 2008
Today, let's check in with AS THE WORLD TURNS. Remember my Poor Defenseless
Friend from my July 24 Todd and Marty post? The other night, I totally
talked ATWT at her. Fortunately, she used to watch it back in the day so she
wasn't completely lost.
Me: I'm watching Chris and Alison videos on YouTube. Help!
PDF: Good or bad?
Me: I don't know, but I think I became a 'Cali' fan when I wasn't looking.
They've set up a really great dynamic with Alison, Aaron, and Chris. Aaron
loves her sweetly. Chris is more dangerous.
PDF: Remind me whose kid he is?
Me: Aaron is Holden's son, Chris is Dr. Bob Hughes' youngest, and Alison is
Emily Stewart's sister.
PDF: I was probably watching ATWT when Chris was born.
Me: Chris has actually been a grownup for a while. More likely Aaron and
Ali.
PDF: No, my mom watched when I was growing up. [Wikipedia] says Chris was
born in the '80s. I have vague memories of Kim and Bob being on a boat. And
Bob's affair with Susan.
Me: Ooh. Those were good times.
PDF: Alison's mom and Chris's dad had an affair!
Me: Yeah! Kim and Susan had the BEST fight about it a few months ago.
PDF: Seriously? Susan and Bob hooked up like 20 years ago.
Me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i272k0-My-A
Me: It was because Ali was suing Chris for sexual harassment. It dredged up
the old angst.
PDF: Kim has always been kick-ass. Why did Alison sue Chris?
Me: He was helping her with nursing school while they were dating. She
wasn't ready to have sex, kept getting so close and then freaking
out. He got frustrated and yelled at her. She ran off and cried to Aaron.
Chris assumed they slept together and had her kicked out of school (she was
failing anyhow, so he'd been using his influence to help her stay in).
PDF: Okay...
Me: It made the Hughes and Stewarts all crabby at each other again. Plus
Emily and Casey were having a secret affair! It's been a great summer for
the families.
PDF: ATWT was at its best when it was about those core families...the
Hugheses, the Snyders.
Me: I totally agree!
PDF: Isn't Emily like twice Casey's age?
Me: Yup!
PDF: Ew.
Me: I can't wait till Dusty comes back.
PDF: Someone on your message boards mentioned CarJack as being a bigger
couple than even Lily and Holden. True/false?
Me: These days? I think I'd say true.
PDF: To me, Lily and Holden are iconic. Huh. Weird. But I haven't watched in
a long time.
Me: They are absolutely iconic, but Carjack has definitely become huge.
They're ATWT's "It" couple. Well, that is, if the show would quit breaking
them up. They haven't actually been together in a while.
PDF: I like that Kim and Bob have been together for the majority of my life.
Me: Me, too!
PDF: Statistically SOMEONE has to stay together.
Me: Ditto for Tom and Margo, aside from a few aberrations.
PDF: Part of my problem is that when I actually did watch ATWT, I didn't
LIKE Carly.
Me: Well, she's not the nicest person person in the world. Or ON the WORLD.
Heh.
PDF: Okay, glad it's not just me.
Me: It's funny, because I actually like Emily. Probably because she's such a
mess. Her sense of humor cracks me up.
PDF: Emily was often...broken. But I guess she was a more well-rounded bitch
than Carly. I can appreciate a good bitch. Lucinda is no saint, but she's
still awesome.
Me: Lucinda rocks my socks! She's fabulous.
PDF: I guess I'm just old school.
Me: Me, too!
PDF: She and Craig were always fascinating. I'm so OLD.
Me: You and me both, Babe.
August 13, 2008
Okay. Uncle, uncle! I give, I give. Leo's a jerk. Last night's NIGHT SHIFT
opened with him being so crass to Saira about their locker room
hookup that I can't keep defending the guy, no matter how much chemistry
they have. Waving her bra at her? What are we, in high school? As someone
said to me the other day, "I don't like nuLeo; he's angry and he's short."
"Maybe he's angry BECAUSE he's short?" I cracked. I mean, Napoleon complex
much? All kidding aside, it goes back to my thing about the show trying to
emulate the early Patrick/Robin dynamic. There are two problems with that:
we already have a Patrick and Robin, and Patrick wasn't written so
clunky. I can't speak for anyone else, but even when he was an arrogant cad
I liked the guy.
Moving on, this week on "All My Baby Bumps," Robin once again looked like
she had one too many Twinkies ... while on GH, she was getting her ultrasound
and looked about ready to give birth to Brangelina-style twins. (As an
aside: Massive kudos to NS for spoiling that she's having a girl a whole
week early.)
You know what NS is beginning to feel like? A very young writer who doesn't
quite have the grammar or the spelling down but has that gorgeous nugget of
storytelling potential that tells you in 5-10 years they'll be an amazing
novelist. The Robert and Patrick scenes, for instance, were gold. "I didn't
do it on purpose!" defended Patrick of knocking Robin up. LOL! Then, the
silly argument about the French-speaking patient where Robin dubbed her guy
a "domestic manwhore!" and put-upon Patrick yelped that he didn't have
syphilis? It's moments like that where NS excels.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised: working with characters that already exist
is easy. You stick to canon and you can't go wrong! Writing ones of your own
(and I do think NS is treating Leo like a brand-new character) is much
harder. Raise your hand if you have the Great American Novel gathering dust
on your hard drive. It's difficult to get that sucker finished, isn't it?
But to end on a more positive note, I think Not Izzie is growing on me, and
I still heart Kyle. Props to Adam Grimes for playing the ridiculous senior
citizens-with-syph story — and taking on the homophobic soda machine —
with aplomb!
August 6, 2008 - Part 2
True confession time: B&B's Katie Logan drives me absolutely crazy. Up the wall, back down, and across the street to pick up some Valium. That's not to say I hate Heather Tom. She's fantastic and she completely rocked the scenes on the Marlin where Katie told Nick she's expecting their bundle of adulterous joy. But Katie herself...? Oh, man. Has there ever been a character more undeserving of the worship every single other character in town bestows on her? You'd think Katie found the cure for AIDS, solved World Hunger, and invented Botox. But no, even the Forresters, who hate
anybody named Logan, adore her simply because she breathes.
Please. It was bad enough that we had to sit through the whole "Boo-hoo, I have Storm's heart!" debacle, now Katie is a cheating, pregnant liar who shared one night of passion with her niece's man. (Side note: How good could THAT have been, what with her being near death and all?)
I know viewers were probably supposed to feel sorry for Katie as she cited her selfishness and talked about how she brings misery to everything she touches, but I sure didn't. "Storm died so I could live, and this just proves that the wrong person died that day," she bemoaned. I cheered, going, "Yes, you're right!" Considering how everyone from Brooke to Bridget keeps calling her a "walking miracle," and talking about how wonderful she is, it's nice to see someone doesn't think she's all that and a bag of
heart-healthy chips. Too bad it all comes off as martyrous whining rather than self-awareness.
Then, Katie went off to brood at the railing of the boat. "Why do you hate me?" she wailed at God. "Oh, let me count the ways," I said to my TV. There was suddenly fog so thick that I thought the Black Pearl was about to dock and belch forth Geoffrey Rush. Only it didn't. Instead, we got naked Storm. (Nice to know hair growth occurs in Limbo or Purgatory or wherever he's been.) Naked Storm enticed "woe is me and my cursed fetus!" Katie to jump. Guess what? So did I! And then she did! But the show got my hopes up and then dashed them cruelly. Whyyyyy? Why, B&B? I was so close to never having to put up with Our Lady of the Transplanted Heart again, but it turned out to only be a dream. A dream that helped Katie accept her miracle
baby and led to Nick making googly eyes at her. Gag.
The last, fleeting hope I have is for Bridget to kick her auntie's butt when she finds out about Nick and the Catalina Kid. I want a reveal that makes burning Deacon's clothes in the trashcan look like a weenie roast in comparison. Heck, she needs to start one of those infamous California brush fires with the heat of her fury. With any luck, Katie can tie herself to a stake and go all Saint Joan.
Ahem.
Anybody have that Valium handy?
August 6, 2008
So, we're on NIGHT SHIFT week three, and I have to admit that I do think season one was stylistically better. The writing was tighter and the production values were slicker. But the content this season feels more true to what GH is. Shameless soap hussy that I am, I'm pretty easy to please as long as you hit all the basics: family drama, romance and shirtlessness.
Now, on with last night's episode.
The only thing more baffling than the size of Robin's apartment is the size of her pregnancy padding. Mind you, this is something I noticed on GH, too. I'm not exactly a giant myself, but Kimberly McCullough is a tiny woman and Robin's, what, six-seven months along at this point? Most of the time it looks more like she's just gained some PMS water weight. Or maybe she had a plate of cheese fries and one beer too many. So when Robert gleefully exclaimed, "You're pregnant!" I was like, "How can you tell?" I know that, realistically, there ARE many women who don't gain much weight during their pregnancies but for soap opera purposes, the visual does help. Get that girl a bigger baby bump or she'll be giving birth to a 20 piece order of buffalo wings.
My confusion over the fluctuating size of Robin's belly aside, NS is doing a great job of integrating actual medical cases with plot — and that's as it should be. There should be thematic carryover and surgeries and tense moments in the ER. Befuddled Robert flailing around, yelling, and then thinking it was the mid-1980s... that was priceless. He name-checked Sean Donnelly, Luke, the DVX, AND Faison! And how cute was poor Kyle in the supply closet with him? (Make your own closet joke here.) I loved how he ended up just going with the flow.
I also appreciated Jagger mentioning Karen again and citing how her death impacted him. One of my biggest pet peeves with PORT CHARLES was how they broke up Jagger and Karen off screen and then proceeded to act like Karen had only ever loved the Scanlon brothers. Grr. Jagger and Karen went through too much, and Jagger is too good of a guy, to have had that love story be dismissed in such a fashion. Hmmm...I sense a future post on the subject of broken up couples. But let's move on to the actual couple developments on NS.
I still don't get why Toussaint would leave touring with the Saints to empty bedpans in Port Chuckles, but I'm willing to hand-wave it away, because I love Billy Dee Williams and think he and Sonya Eddy's Epiphany are just wonderful together. As for Leo and Saira, Ethan Rains and Azita Ghanizada have chemistry in spades, but the whole science vs. woo-woo debate is BORING. Leo having such a short fuse about alternative medicine and mental illnesses makes him look like a narrow-minded jackass. Meanwhile, Saira is such the compassionate earth mother that she's practically Saint Saira of the Blessed Acupuncture Needle. It's a pale shadow of the surgery vs. drug therapy Patrick/Robin conflict of yore. My solution? Drop it and just have them make out all over the hospital! ‘Cause their smooch up against the lockers was HOT.
Toldja I was easy to please. ;).
August 1, 2008
Our cable's out again. And, okay, for those of you who don't have the
luxury of working in an office with TVs, I’m sure you're thinking, "Cry me a
river, Mala." But this is serious, people! Watching our soaps on a daily
basis is part of our bread and butter, and when we were soap-less this past
Monday, the culture of misery permeating the office was palpable. Now, it's
TV-less in Manhattan: The Sequel. Everyone is walking around all
bummed because there's nothing to shoot e-mails back and forth about. Not to
mention that it’s eerily silent in the department because you can't hear the
tinny voices coming from each office. It's creepy. Like a Japanese
horror film. (Which probably means I shouldn't pop in a videotape of soaps
to tide me over, right?)
Still, we did have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday shows to watch, so this
week wasn't a total wash. ;). And imagine my glee when I tuned in to AS THE
WORLD TURNS yesterday and spotted Luke in scenes with his family. Without
Noah. YAY! Now before I get stoned to death by irate Nuke fans, it's no
slight on Luke's boyfriend, I swear. It's more that I miss Luke being a part
of the Snyder family drama. I never like it when any part of a core family
is floating off by themselves — but ATWT tends to be really good about
remembering parents, children, cousins, etc. Probably because they keep
making relatives by marriage or adoption sleep with each other. LOL! I bet
they need a flow chart just to keep up. GENERAL HOSPITAL's fractured Spencer clan would be a great example of the opposite. Up until recently, Nik,
Lucky and Lulu all seemed to be leading completely separate lives, and I
don't think a newbie tuning in would have guessed Nikolas and Lucky were
Lulu's brothers. If anything, for the last two years, Carly has seemed like
her only relation (and Luke whenever he's in town). Whereas, at least down
on the Snyder farm, you have one giant dysfunctional family.
So, yes, I was VERY happy to see Luke cooking breakfast, comforting Faith
down by the pond, and being very much on Team Lily in the Cheating Debacle
of Ought Eight. Just like I loved it when, a few weeks ago during Sofie's
murder, Jack kept reiterating to Paul that he's Meg's cousin. Whether it's
the incestuous Snyders, the screwed up Stewarts, or the holier-than-thou
Hugheses, ATWT really is a "family show." It all comes back to the
basics of mothers and their children, husbands and wives, sisters, brothers,
and good friends. That's what good soaps are made of; that's their
bread and butter.
Gosh, I hope the cable's back by 2!
July 30, 2008
Watching a show at 11 p.m. is a strain on even my rather impressive
TV-watching stamina, so I've been setting a tape and watching NIGHT SHIFT
the next morning over coffee. Episode two of the series proved stronger than
the season premiere, which suffered a little from being an info dump for new
viewers and introducing newbies Claire and Kyle.
Actually, the Izzie and George er, Claire and Kyle stuff still annoys me.
Their whole locker room conversation about bad roommates and worse dates was
highly zzzzzz-worthy, as was their bid to move in together — except for the
dig at the docks and how the area is Mob Central. LOL! "Newbies in small
doses, please!" is probably the most consistently broken rule on soaps. But
I do like Kyle and think he's a fresh addition to the hospital staff. (Not
to mention that NS continues to be more diverse than Day Shift by having
people of color AND a gay guy. Go, NS!)
I also continue to enjoy new doc, Saira, even if it's odd that Robin went
from having several friends in the workplace to just one. They're fun
together, and Saira's gentle humor is a great complement to Robin's fiery
temper — and Leo's.
Yes, I'm going to talk about nuAngryLeo. I know that he's a bit jarring for
people. The character is being written differently and, thus, Ethan Rains is
playing him differently from the iPod-havin', mellow Dominic Rains version.
Still, I don't actually mind him being more intense. We've never had
much Leo face time before. He's always been supporting other people in
scenes, and now he not only has a "Golden Boy" brother in the picture but a
love interest and a conflict about adoption that really got him fired
up. I feel like we're catching him in a rough period, and the bonding scene
between Kyle and Leo at Jake's only cemented that. (One more difference
between GH and NS: Jake's was actually FULL.) How cute was Kyle assuring Leo
that any differences in how they were treated as kids was because Leo was a
screw up? That feels more like the guitar-playing Dr. Leo we all know and
love.
Now to the other characters we know and love. Just how BIG is Robin's
apartment that she, Patrick, Jagger, and Stone can all live there? Is it the
equivalent of a clown car or what? (Remember when she shared Courtney's loft
with Lainey and Kelly? Equally hilarious!) And just how wrong is it for me
to really enjoy Patrick constantly kvetching about Jagger's lack of
clothing? If he doesn't stop it, I'm going to think he's got a mancrush. As
Robin would say: "You've got cru-uuuush. You loooove him." I also really
love that we're getting to see Patrick and Robin be doctors. (Doctors! In a
hospital! Imagine that.) Poor Patrick as a harried Chief of Staff is a
compelling change from the self-assured doctor who plays God in the OR.
Administrative work is a whole different ball game.
Speaking of new ball games... I can't WAIT till Granddaddy Scorpio shows up
in the picture next week! The previews alone have me grinning, and it looks
like Robert's reaction to Robin's bundle of joy will be a bit different than
Anna's. Man, I love this show.
July 24, 2008
Thanks to the 40th anniversary episodes, I felt compelled to tune in to ONE LIFE TO LIVE last night on SOAPnet. I shouldn't have. I really, really shouldn't have. I was going to post a really vehement, bile-laden ramble about Marty and Todd. Instead, I'll just let the Instant Messenger session I had with a poor, defenseless, non OLTL-watching friend do the talking for me.
Me: Susan Haskell's Marty has chemistry with Trevor St. John's Todd. That is SO wrong.
Poor Defenseless Friend: I don't actually know what that means.
Me: Todd, then played by Roger Howarth, raped Marty back in 1993.
PDF: Ah, okay.
Me: Gang-raped, no less.
PDF: Ewww.
Me: It was one of the most brutal scenes I have ever seen on daytime. Now, Todd found amnesiac Marty being held captive and is letting her secretly convalesce with him...and he's poisoning her against people he hates, neglecting to tell her she has a SON, etc.
PDF: Ooooh. Evil. Super evil.
Mala: Completely! They need to get her out of that room! It's all Stockholm Syndrome-y...except she doesn't know she's a prisoner.
PDF: Cree. Pee.
Me: Todd and Marty just wandered to the subject of college. (I gather he'd initially told her they knew each other from school, and that's how he gained her trust.)
PDF: Ah.
Me: College is when he raped her.
PDF: I assumed as much.
Me: It gets worse! Marty is paralyzed or has problems from the waist down. He's helping her with her physical therapy.
PDF: Ewwwww.
Me: And he's flashing back to Marty dancing on a table, drunk. "So we were friends?" she's wondering. "We slept together," he says.
PDF: Ewewewewewewewewew.
Me: I KNOW. They can't show the rape because it was a different actor, but that table dance was the same night, I think. Oh, wait, they CAN show the rape if they want because Todd got plastic surgery! That's how they explained the recast.
PDF: LOL.
Me: I know. Soaps are crazy. And what's worse, she wouldn't realize it was the same guy!
PDF: Oh, that's effed up.
Me: Apparently he WILL tell her that she was raped.
PDF: But not by him, naturally.
Me: No, I think not. I may have to curl up in fetal position.
PDF: Aww.
Me: I was hoping to tune in and watch silly time travel stuff. Oh, EW. "You actually told me that I wasn't very good in bed," says Todd.
PDF: ACK!
Me: She did that... which is what led to him raping her. To prove his manhood.
PDF: Gross.
Me: They are *laughing* about this and he's touching her legs. Oh, God. OMG. Marty's apologizing for hurting HIM.
PDF: Ewewewewewewewewew.
Me: You're lucky you're not actually watching.
PDF: You *could* change the channel.
Me: True, but it's like a trainwreck. I want to see JUST how awful and inappropriate this show is going to be.
PDF: Incidentally, I am VERY unhappy that Dr. Julian on NIGHT SHIFT is no longer played by the same hot guy.
Me: Yeah, the original actor's little brother is wee in comparison and also attractive, but not the same hot.
PDF: See, I don't even find him particularly hot.
Me: I still like NS better than GH, though.
PDF: I like Antonio Sabato Jr. in a towel!
Me: Marty just asked Todd what caused her change from party girl to med student. The Big Reveal is looming.
PDF: Dun dun dun...
Me: My brain has died. From horror. Todd just put it right out there: "You were raped."
PDF: Eesh.
Me: I should probably watch a clip of kittens or something to cheer me up. Or Antonio Sabato, Jr. in a towel.
PDF: Yeah, that might be wise.
July 23, 2008
Want to know the best way to spoil a perfectly delightful 40th anniversary
celebration? Slap an atrocious black wig and dark makeup on a milk-pale
redhead and direct her to suffer through a Spanish accent that makes Speedy
Gonzalez sound more authentic.
Oh my God, ONE LIFE TO LIVE.... just when I had chilled out from my LAST
racial issue rant, you go and rile me back up! There's a word for it when
you deliberately darken a white actor in order to caricature a minority. I'm
sorry, but Melissa Archer is not Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder
and I really have no idea why the execs at ONE LIFE thought it was a good
idea to have her play Maria Vasquez Roberts in such a fashion. Sure, I get
that they're using actors from the present to represent the past, but if
it's not going to work on a basic level, don't even try. Heck, if they had
to do the Natalie-as-Maria and Jared-as-Clint parallel, why not forgo the
makeup and the accent? We can suspend that much disbelief since we're
already suspending for the whole time travel story. Instead, we got Archer
in brownface while January LaVoy, who is naturally of a darker complexion,
was standing right next to her. No. Just ... no.
I loved almost everything about the July 21 and 22 episodes, from Tina and
Carlo at the falls, to Bo and Rex's trip back in time, to Mel and Dorian, to
Viki's wonderful trip to Heaven.... and I hate that the more I think about
it, the more unsettled I am by that one really insensitive choice.
For a comparison, let's look at the newly-premiered GH: NIGHT SHIFT. On that
show, we have Afghani actress Azita Ghanizada playing Indian doctor, Saira
Batra. Does it annoy me a little that they didn't cast an Indian actress?
Yes. But she's not walking around with an oversized dot on her forehead and
asking people if they want a slushie. Ghanizada isn't raising any red flags
or setting off my perimeter alarms, except for the one that instinctively
recognizes she's not from India. (It's like gaydar... desi-dar, I
guess.) Ghanizada isn't in brownface, isn't a parody or a caricature. She's
doing fine. Of course, I also credit head writer Sri Rao for that. When you
have minorities behind the scenes, it makes it a lot easier for a show to
get things right.
July 18, 2008
My favorite soap of 2007 returns on Tuesday, and I couldn't be happier. No,
seriously. If GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT was a person, I'd be throwing my arms around its knees and crying, "You're back! Never leave me again!" Sure, it returns with a different cast, and different stories (I'm SO bummed that
we'll never know what happened to Lainey and Cody or Andy and Kelly), but at
the core, it's the same: It's about a hospital, it has familiar faces, it's
cutting edge, and it's diverse.
No, it's not just diverse, it has an Indian head writer in Sri Rao and an
Indian lead character in Saira Batra. ZOMG. Soon we're going to take over
the world! Ahem. Just kidding. In all seriousness, though, I love the fact
that we're going to see Leo and Saira right alongside Patrick and Robin. Do
you know how long I've waited to see my heritage reflected on a soap opera?
I can't even tell you. Pretty much since the womb? Then, on top of that, you
have two brown people getting involved with one another. Eee! Is it too
early to start waving my Leo/Saira banner? Can we give them a nickname?
('Seo' sounds like a cell phone company; 'Laira' sounds like the lead in a
Philip Pullman book.) I'm almost more thrilled by Leo and Saira than I am by Antonio Sabato, Jr. returning as Jagger — and let me tell you, I'm pretty
darned thrilled about that. I have never gotten over Jagger and
Karen's offscreen breakup on PORT CHARLES and refuse to believe he cheated
on her with his partner. (La-la-la-la. Didn't happen. I'm not listening.) So
I'm absolutely delighted to see Jagger back and reuniting with his old high
school pal, Robin. I feel like I'm a teenager again, watching him work at
Kelly's under Ruby's watchful eye and flailing over the adventures of
Tristan Rogers' Robert Scorpio.
But despite the hearkening back to the past, NIGHT SHIFT's return, to me, is
a return to the here-and-now of daytime: A fully integrated cast that
includes veteran favorites, tight writing, stories that move quickly and
slick production values. I look at this show and I think, "Man, why can't GH
itself be like this?" The potential is right there. Then again, if GH had
all of this going on, we wouldn't have NIGHT SHIFT, would we? And that would
just be a shame!
July 11, 2008
I've already admitted I basically have GENERAL HOSPITAL on for
background noise these days. Who wants to tune in for young guys going
psycho with axes, roughing up women and getting killed, right? Yuck. It's
summer. Where's the romance and where are the abs? This is half the reason
why BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL and AS THE WORLD TURNS were so much fun this
week...gratuitous shirtlessness abounded! Bless you, Eric and Donna, for
throwing a pool party. We should have a pool party every Friday on every
show during these steamy summer months, while the other four days a week are
devoted solely to vets and family-driven storylines. (Swimsuits optional.)
That's the other half of why B&B and ATWT were so much fun this week:
Forresters and Hugheses and Stewarts, oh my!
Uh, wait...did I have a point somewhere in there? I think I did. Ah, yes, GH
is depressing. But instead of continuing to kvetch, I propose an idea to
shake things up. It's actually an idea I co-hatched with Samantha, our
intern: "Hit Jason on the Head; Win Steve Burton an Emmy." That pretty much
sums it up, though it doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Picture it — Jason
gets into his umpteenth Mob brawl and lands in the hospital with a cracked
noggin. When he awakens, he is Jason Quartermaine again. Bewildered,
confused, more than 10 years older, he now has to be told that almost his
entire family is dead. No Alan, no AJ, no Emily, no Lila. Can you
imagine? All there is left of the Qs are Monica, Tracy and Edward, who would
be so, so shaken and ecstatic about Jason Q's return. Then, slowly, his
awareness of his life as Jason Morgan comes back, too, and he has to
reconcile his two identities. You know Steve Burton would be awesome.
That elusive Lead Actor Emmy he's been missing these last few years could be
well within his grasp.
Not to mention that it could be the perfect way to bring back Vanessa Marcil's Brenda, because she's one of the few people left that Jason would know from before. His prom date and housemate, she and his old pal Robin would both try and anchor him and help him grapple with who he's become. The ripple effect of Jason's transformation would touch Sonny, Carly, Elizabeth, Lucky, and baby Jake... and probably impact the whole canvas. Man, I'm actually salivating over the possibilities like somebody put a big, juicy
steak in front of me.
That's better than gratuitous beefcake.
That would make me tune in again.
Wishful thinking, right? I know. Thank goodness NIGHT SHIFT starts on July
22!
July 4, 2008
I guess it's fitting that on a day so resonant in American history, I'm all
giddy over soaps nodding to their history. Daniel and Chelsea on DAYS
OF OUR LIVES may skeeve me out, but their union can be lauded this week,
because of the hilarious conversation between Doug, Bo, Julie and Hope
about how Bo and Hope's relationship didn't exactly warm the cockles of
Doug's heart. How funny was Bo trying to trump up excuses for why Daniel is
bad for Chelsea and Doug countering with Daniel being a doctor as
opposed to how Bo was just a shiftless no account? LOL! And, okay, I admit
that Daniel and Chelsea were cute for a few seconds when they arrived at the
Fourth of July bash together and Daniel got hauled off for a lecture by
Victor. But I am NOT surrendering! Nuh-uh. I remain strong in my anti-Chan
stance. (Y'all are giving me about two weeks before I cave, aren't you?)
Flipping channels to CBS, I got a ginormous kick out of Tom and Margo's 25th
anniversary party on AS THE WORLD TURNS. It was just like watching a real
family get-together, complete with bickering and that one relative that
always gets inappropriately drunk (Hi, Chris!). When Lisa chided Casey for
interrupting her already distracted toast with a "Quiet, Casey, or I'm gonna
shoot you!" I fell out. Anyone else think that wasn't just Lisa talking to
Casey but Eileen Fulton talking to Billy Magnussen? The whole Hughes clan just has such a natural, believable vibe. Scott Holmes (Tom) and Ellen Dolan (Margo) really seem like a snarky married couple, and it's a shame that new viewers like myself missed their heyday. Luckily, we got flashbacks! Yay! I'm a self-proclaimed flashback junkie. I can never get enough of them. And it was namecheck central, too! Cricket, John, Andy, Sabrina, Lien, all of Lisa's husbands...I almost cried, I was so giddy.
The one sour note was that these beautiful scenes of family togetherness
were juxtaposed with Paul wrapping up Sofie's body and burying it. Was that
really necessary? Are we really supposed to think Paul is a hero for
covering up a pregnant girl's murder? It's despicable. Sofie may have become
unhinged, but she was, at the core, a sweet girl and a loving mother.
Dumping her in a hole like a dog burying a bone in the backyard was a
terrible indignity.
Another show engaging in a terrible indignity this week...? GENERAL
HOSPITAL, by having a war veteran attack two young women. Epic fail, guys. I
would say more on the über-sore subject, but I'm saving my full Logan rant for print. Check out a future issue for my ire. Until then, Happy 4th of
July!
June 30, 2008
I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but why do soaps, soap actors and
soap viewers all get such a bad rap? Sometimes, I feel like everywhere I
turn, all I see is scorn for the genre. Sports fans are lauded for their
loyalty, for having pricey season tickets, lucky chairs and lucky hats. The
cast of the SOPRANOS, the showrunners for LOST...they all get kudos for
being SO talented. But soap operas are the redheaded stepchildren of media.
I can't even tell you how many times I've gotten the "ew!" look from people
when I mention where I work, or, worse, the "oh, that's too BAD!" look. Like
soaps are something to be ashamed of. Baseball fangeekiness is acceptable;
sci-fi fangeeking means you're probably a brainy nerd, but soaps...? GASP!
Heck, furries probably look down on soap fans. (If you don't already know,
don't ask.)
People assume that soaps are just 40 minute filler between pitches for
stay-at-home-moms to buy paper towels and toys... that soaps are
unimaginative and created by people who couldn't get "real jobs" in
Hollywood. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Look at the CGI used
during the Metro Court hostage crisis on GENERAL HOSPITAL and the
choreography of all those action sequences. That was freakin' awesome. Watch
Cassie's death arc on YOUNG AND RESTLESS. Talk about some of the most
exquisitely painful and authentic writing and acting! I would rather watch
GUIDING LIGHT’s Kim Zimmer doing Reva's "Slut of Springfield" speech on repeat than ever watch Nicolas Cage's Oscar-nominated performance in LEAVING LAS VEGAS again. I'm a total sucker for Jack and Carly's 10-year saga on AS THE WORLD TURNS, whereas that loved-by-women-the-world-over hit, The Notebook, made me laugh my butt off. And for all the "soap actors suck" snobbery, Julianne Moore, Brad Pitt, Meg Ryan, and Demi Moore are just a
few people who got their start amidst the suds. For all those
SUPERNATURAL and SMALLVILLE fangirls who think Jensen Ackles and Justin Hartley are sooo hotttt...where do you think they came from?
One of the things that I always see soap detractors saying is that you can
quit watching a soap for years, come back, and nothing has changed. O RLY?
I’m sorry, but saying GENERAL HOSPITAL under Gloria Monty is exactly like GH under Jill Farren Phelps would be like saying there's no difference between a Woody Allen film and a Michael Bay explode-a-thon because they're both movies. The oldest soap on air is 71 years old... I’m thinking it has changed in all that time. (Okay, anybody watching GL this year knows that firsthand!) Soaps have definitely adapted to the times, have absolutely played with storytelling conventions and taken chances and pioneered storylines that primetime TV would take years to come up with. Soaps have tackled interracial relationships, abortion, gay rights, the AIDS crisis
and autism. They’ve mined society's darkest issues, like rape, and turned
them inside out. (Something I don't necessarily agree with, but there you
have it.) Soaps are not amateurish, fluffy, idiot fodder. (Hey, I know
you're all thinking about PASSIONS, but you have to admit that its
wholehearted embracing of camp is admirable.)
And let's not forget the most important part! Anyone who works for one of the magazines or one of the shows knows full well that you can't fool a hardcore soap fan. They're smart, and woebetide anyone who forgets one of Erica's husbands on AMC or who kills someone off publicly and brings them back to life (yes, B&B, I mean Taylor and I'm looking at you). People who watch soaps come from all walks of life, all educational levels, all genders and all sexual orientations. They aren't just housewives (Hi, Mom!)...and, really, where does anyone get off using the "just housewives" tag anyway? Housewives are not chopped liver! My mom ran a household and raised two kids, and she is way sharper than anybody I've met in a New York bar claiming to have an MBA. Of course, the MBA would probably sneer at hearing I work for Weekly, while my mom was the first person I called when I
met GH's Tristan Rogers (Robert) back in 2005.
So why all the haters? Why is watching a soap something we need to whisper
and blush about? Personally, I'm proud to be a soap opera viewer, and proud
to work in the soap opera industry. If that makes me a redheaded stepchild,
so be it. Just call me Ginger!
June 27, 2008
So, I've already mentioned that I'm generally okay with GH's Jerry holding
everybody hostage at Metro Court last year and still being around. Basically, as
long as 90% of Port Chuck continues to treat him like he's scum, I'll be
fine. Once everyone decides he's made of sunshine and puppies, however, it's a different matter. He's actually teetering on the edge for me right now
because he filled Alexis' office with flowers and is all googly-eyed. Stop
that! You're a villain! I feel like there are things that a show shouldn't "get over." It's one of my biggest pet peeves to see a character's ugliest moments glossed over and explained away.
Here are some of my biggest "Oh, HELL no" moments in daytime:
(Warning, there are some YouTube clips, and they are disturbing.)
1. AMC's Ryan going all AngerBoy on Greenlee just because she wanted a baby and he didn't. Not only did he grab her and verbally abuse her, but he faked his death just to get away from her and her baby. How does everybody in PV still think this man is a prize?
2. GH's Sonny shooting Carly in the head while she was giving birth. Bullet.
Head. Need I say more? I have no idea how every woman Sonny's been with
manages to get out that obligatory "you're a good man" mantra without
choking. Heck, I should probably give Sonny a separate number on the list
for Karen and the Paradise Lounge...
3. GL's Jonathan seducing his own virginal cousin, Tammy. Yeah, I know they
turned into this "great love story" within a year, but honestly, that part
bored me to tears. The fact that this messed-up creep had a twisted love for
Tammy was interesting. When they forgot he was an incestuous creep? Trite
and insulting.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_vFOnhLUDms
4. DAYS' EJ forcing Sami to have sex with him to save Lucas' life. WHY hasn't
Roman shot him in the face? They've full-on forgotten this little gem in
Salem, but since this is the same town where nobody remembers Jack raped
Kayla, I shouldn't be surprised. Pretty soon they're going to give EJ the
"Man of the Year" award. Ick.
5. GH's Ric putting Carly in the Panic Room. How did this guy end up married
to Alexis and in the position of district attorney after he did that? He was going to
murder Carly for her fetus! He almost suffocated his wife, Elizabeth (whom
he drugged and seduced so he could nab Carly). Did we ever see him in
therapy? In jail? Taking some antipsychotics? Nope! It was just: Voila!
Ric's a law-abiding citizen.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aAs_-js8iV0
6. OLTL's Todd and Marty. They've finally remembered what a nutjob Todd can
be, but for a long stretch of years, he was just a "wacky guy," and, "Hey, a
guy who loves his kid can't be all that bad!" Then, of course, they had
crazy Margaret (which is also Marty's real name) rape him, as if two rapes
suddenly make a right. Uh, not so much.
(The following clip is of Todd threatening Marty later. The actual gang attack is on YouTube, too, for the morbidly curious.) http://youtube.com/watch?v=bkkpf5z6Les
7. DAYS' Jack forcing himself on Kayla. (See the mention in No. 4.)
Somehow, this case of marital rape never gets brought up by anybody.
Instead, Jack is beloved by all, most of all by Jennifer, the ingenue he
fell in love with when she worked at his paper. Um, ewww. I love me some Jack
and Jennifer, but I repeat...EW.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SdEYpwEpUzI
8. GH's Luke and Laura at the campus disco. I feel like this one event
probably changed the face of daytime. It was retconned into a "forced
seduction;" into a "youthful mistake." It set the precedent for "chemistry
excuses everything," and is probably why the Todds and EJs of the soap world exist. Anthony Geary is awesome, no doubt, and he deserves every single Emmy he's won, but the fact that Luke the rapist saved the world and got a lifetime free pass still rankles me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x_wQJfwH_uA
Notice a pattern? Notice that it's all about violence against women? Why
does a genre geared towards women consistently glorify the abusers of them?
Jerry is not a hero. Jerry is a great villain. He's like GL's Roger Thorpe or DAYS'
Stefano DiMera. He should never be a Jax or a Lucky. I don't get how villains get turned into heroes just because the actor is cute or charming. Can you
imagine that as a defense in real-life court? "Case dismissed because you're
a hottie!" Me neither. So why do we let our soaps get away with it?
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It's not just you, Mala. I also have been disappointed in ATWT's misuse of Ameera as a generic complication for Nuke. She is a unique character who presents an opportunity to show daytime audiences something truly different. ATWT should use her background as a jumping-off point to tell uncommon stories and showcase Tala's appeal.
Since school hasn't been a concern for...um, a couple of years, and I also work here, how about a few things I would change the channel from some other soap to watch? Let's start with: 1. AMC's Jesse/Angie 2. ATWT's Henry/Vienna 3. Marcy, Marcy, Marcy -- as in Rylan's Lizzie. Don't worry, soap fans, this is far from an exhaustive list.
My favorite soap moment this year was when Luke and Noah finally shared another kiss at Old Town.
Mala I can't agree more with your comments on Jerry, Sebastian Roche and Jerry and Alexis and whoever your unnamed colleague is that thought the kiss in the Haunted Star was one of the hottest they've ever seen I completely agree! What can we do to get a joint interview with Nancy Lee Grahn and Sebastian Roche in your magazine! I'd totally buy that and I'll bet they'd be hilarious together. I've heard good things are coming up for "J-Lex" and I am all too happy about it. They are a sexy, mysterious treat and one of the best things GH has going for them right now!
Mich, J-Lex has definitely turned into one of my only reasons for tuning into GH these days. They are really fun to watch and Grahn and Roche just look like they're having a blast.
I completely agree with you on Grahn & Roche.They are actually the only reason I'm still hanging onto GH right now. They have electric chemistry and I think the possibilities are endless for Jerry & Alexis. I too, would love to see her "Cassadine" side come out to play here. I'd also love a joint interview with them in the magazine. I would definitely buy that one!
I share your love for Sebastian Roche and am a full-fledged, card carrying member of the Jerry and Alexis fan club (or cult). They make such tremendous music together. They both radiate passion and angst... perfect soap couple! I'd love to see a joint interview with both. Can you inagine the fun with THAT interview!
I have been waiting for the Jerry/Alexis story for well over a year now. The first day he grabbed her arm at Wyndemere to keep her from leaving the room I knew that they had IT. It's about time that GH started using them. I'd love a joint interview.
Mala, girl you are a GENIUS! I love it! Jason Morgan returns to Jason Quartermaine! OMG!!!! It's brilliant....so, can u move to LA and get a writers job on GH to make it happen? lol
DAYS so they break lucas out of jail to pair him with chloe and they break sami and ej up to get our hopes up of reuniting sami and lucas just to disappoint
Mala, J-Lex is one of the best things about GH these days. Nadine and Nikolas are getting hotter, but the mob stories are getting old fast. The mob needs to be run out of Port Charles and the hospital needs to be front and center. Night Shift is well-written and entertaining. I can't help but wish that the Night Shift writer would take over for the day shift.
Why hasn't anyone blogged today? I am missing the current blogs by the editors of Digest. Pleasea write something! I want to hear someone's opinion today!
If it helps at all, I'll have a new entry up tomorrow! :)
Loved reading your JUST ASKING! blog entry and learning more about you. I always wondered how actors had such witty answers to these questions and now I know it takes time.
I agree with your post on 12-11-08, except, I'd rather have Chloe/Clark than Clark/Lois. My GH Christmas List: 1. Richard Dean Anderson returns as Jeff Webber, giving Liz some family other than Audrey. 2. The Baldwin family is brought back to the canvas. Bring back Gail & Lee! Lord knows Monica and Scotty could use someone in their corner. 3. AJ Quartermaine returns with his fiancée Keesha Ward, and with no knowledge of what's been going on since he left with the Quartermaine fortune in 2003. The AJ that came back was an imposter! Just imagine the drama that would unfold. Plus, Jason could apologize to AJ's face instead of his grave! 4. Sam joins the police force and marries Lucky. The police force stops being an embarrassment. 5. Everyone stops dumping on Kate and starts dumping on Carly. My GL Christmas List: 1. Instead of rehashing Marina/Shayne or going with Dinah/Shayne (ew!). Pair up Shayne Lewis & Ashlee Wolfe! I imagine plenty of snark and heat. 2. Lizzie & Bill raise Sarah.
You're SO right about B&B's Bridget! I fell for Bridget and C.J's relationship back when Jennifer Finnigan was Bridget. Bringing back C.J. for Bridget has been a wish of mine for years. And I liked the one scene that Bridget and Owen shared. Why did the show have to tease us with that and not further that relationship?
Why hasn't anyone blogged today? I am missing the current blogs by the editors of Digest. Pleasea write something! I want to hear someone's opinion today! thanks
Oh Mala, sorry to disagree with you, but I didn't see what you saw AT ALL! First, Reese was plastered to Zach. Didn't you notice her constant need to keep touching Zach as he listened to Kendall's heart? What? She couldn't give him som privacy? But that's nothing new with Reese who prefers Zach's company to Bianca's. And I'm sorry, Zach's dialogue did NOT indicate he was petrified about Kendall's condition. What he said was he's afraid the heart he arranged to be placed into her is no longer the heart he fell in love with. In other words this isn't the same Kendall for Zach. Zach wasn't concerned about Kendall's condition, he was concerned about HIMSELF. This was so much at odds with the frantic Zach we saw on Monday who would do anything to save Kendall. As for Bianca, once again, she was wandering around randomly and not being around her fiancee who feels the need to be attached to Zach's hip. Nice to see Bianca is so broken up over Josh'
Mala, I couldn't agree more with what you had to say about Johnny and Maxie in your 2/4/09 entry. I never saw that kiss coming, but it was definitely a fantastic surprise. I've always enjoyed watching Brandon and Kirsten together, and these latest scenes were just proof of how great Johnny and Maxie could be together. I just cannot stomach the thought of Maxie and Spinelli in a romantic relationship. She loses her wonderful sass and snark around him and becomes annoyingly dependent. They sacrfice her for the sake of "Spixie" and making Spinelli look like her white knight. Maxie needs a guy who doesn't put her up on a pedestal, but rather one who will stand right next to her and be her equal. She's a tough cookie and for the longest time I have thought that she and Johnny would be incredibly well-matched. Now, if only I wasn't so set on Matt and Maxie...
Mala - I couldn't agree more with your March 18 blog about Johnny and Maxie. I have loved the potential between these two characters since...well, he blazed his way into Port Charles. I was giddy when they gave each other the eye at the apartment but since the garage scenes during the crisis, I have to admit, Johnny and Maxie have helped me fall in love with General Hospital again and I wasn't sure that was even possible. That dialogue you quoted made me melt into a puddle and I can't help but root for these two complicated, reckless but vulnerable souls to find love in each other! I'm so glad you are seeing the same thing!
Hey Mala! I could not agree more with your 3/18 blog on Johnny and Maxie. They have so much spark and chemistry I can't help myself for falling for them. They both light up with each other and they are exactly what I want for a soap couple. They challenge each other and give as good as they get. I just pray they give them a fighting chance and get them out of their "existing ties" so when they are together it is about them and only them. I have been loving the lines that they are getting from the scene you quoted which gave me goosebumps to Johnny telling her he thinks she spends way too much time with Spinelli (I agree), then him questioning just what is an essential person...did I sense a little jealousy from Johnny? I am actually excited to watch again and it is because of them.
Thank you so much for writing this Mala! I too am very excited about the possibilities with JoMax and really hope they are given a chance. I believe their chemistry is off the charts but what makes them even more exciting is the moments of depth we get flashes of. With the few gems such as-the because your you(thanks for highlighting that exchange) and the time she was crying over Georgie's acceptance letter all that time ago- I really believe GH has something special here if the writers take advantage of it. Thanks again!
i completely agree. these two are unbelieveable, their chemistry, there everything! i am praying that these two get together, the writers better not screw it up, these two are amazing!
I am disappointed you are advocating a self-destructive pairing such as JoMax based on nothing but sleaze, lying, & cheating. Spixie is a beautiful story that could bring young love & romance back to GH at a time when fans are leaving the show in droves. Last week's JoMax limo kiss garnered a whopping 1.9 rating, & according to one Spixie fansite literally hundreds of Spixie fans called the comment line vowing to turn off their TVs on Wed. 3/18 which they did. Wed. 3/18 ratings were 1.8, the lowest rated day on any ABC soap last week...costing GH to trail behind AMC & OLTL in week's total viewers. When the soaps are gone, magazines covering them will be gone too. I am cancelling my 15-year subscription to SOD for their supportive JoMax letters & editorials, & I can stop buying SOW as well. Spixie's magic is their deep, honest, mutually respectful, unconditional love. Once you've tasted a flute of the finest crystal of the Dom Perignon that is Spixie, anything less is a Dixie cup of rot gut.
Spinelli & Maxie's love story is the only story I want to see. Spinelli and Maxie are perfect for one another. There is so much passion, chemistry there that TPTB would be silly to not actually go there after a full year of investment for it. Bradford & Kirsten work beautifully together. The story between low self esteem bestfriends becoming lovers is extremly believable. They are my root for couple...always!
I love Spinelli and Maxie together. I've loved their story for the past year and I want to see them grow as a couple. I think Maxie freaked out after she said ILY and she's acting out now. They have a sparkle and caring that I want to see more of. They are in love with each other and now there are all these obstacles in their way - JoLuWin. I want them to have a serious adult conversation about how where they're going. Together. Long live Spixie!
Personally I have no interest in seeing Maxie paired with Johnny and getting mixed up with his "dark" yet amazingly bland self. I will always want Maxie with Spinelli. Theirs is a beautiful story of two lost souls who find acceptance, happiness and love with each other. It is a true romance. Bradford Anderson and Kirsten Storms are a match made in heaven, and I would love to see what they can do with a full-fledged romantic relationship for Spixie.
Seeing Johnny and Maxie together makes me physically ill. It has made me dislike both characters. Sure they are being self-destructive, but I don't like that it's going to hurt two good people (Lu Lu and Spinelli) in the process. I wouldn't mind the Spixie angst so much if we had gotten some actual romance beforehand. It's been torture having all these Spixie kisses lead nowhere! Then Maxie says she loves Spinelli, but the next day jumps Johnny??? WTF??? I had really hoped that these four characters could have been close friends. I had always enjoyed their scenes together. Now I just feel uncomfortable watching them.
Bold and Beautiful storyline with Rick and Steffy is makibg me sick to my stomach. Enough with the kissing already. Rick is just using Steffy, and he is being an arogant, selfish brat. Maybe he should go back to Paris and let Steffy and Marcus find theit way back to each other. Someone needs to knock him down a peg or two, or tell Steffy that he threatened her father,if she knew the whole truth she would give him up. Rhonda in Ohiovbfdg3
You are spot on. GL is great and I hope they find a home after they leave CBS. I love Otalia, Bizzie, and the Spaulding family dynamic is about to really take off again. I want to see GL continue these great stories.
"Guiding Light" **has** to find a new home -- it's too good to be taken off the air! I came to GL a couple months ago for Otalia but have been sucked into the other stories, too, especially Bill & Lizzie, who are just as adorable as you described (though I haven't seen today's episode yet; yesterday they were wonderful!) and I'm a big fan of Remy and Christina. Add my love of Doris, Phillip/Beth, Josh, Dinah and Shayne and this show really has me hooked; is there any "light" on the horizon about it finding a new home? Two million viewers is nothing to sneeze at!
I agree that GL is the hottest it has been in a LONG time! Sexy new couples like Otalia, Bizzie and Dinah and Shayne, along with old favorites like Reva and Josh, Beth and Phillip, Vanessa and Billy! And I can't wait to see what happens at Frank and Natalia's wedding next week!!!
This was a HUGE day for Otalia fans and we loved every minute of today's show. CC and JL rocked those scenes today and I can't wait for tomorrow. It's great to see Otalia getting so much positive press. I hope that GL will find a new home so we can continue to watch Otalia and GL.
Guiding Light is on fire and Crystal Chappell is the best there is. I hope and pray GL can stay on the air somewhere, because I would go through serious withdrawals if I couldn't see her on my screen again.
So far this week, Guiding Light has delivered in some many ways. The angsty Otalia build up continues, but today we finally had some outpouring of truthful emotion. GL's other stories are keeping the audience entertained, but we're on the edge of our seats to see what happens between Olivia and Natalia.
OMG!!! Crystal was unbelievable today. The whole show is SO good these days. It is the highlight of my day. When did that happen? If Crystal doesn't get an Emmy for the current storyline, I will be devastated. Thank you for your comments.
Mala, If Crystal does not get performer of the week or something then something is seriously wrong. She was on fire today! Guiding Light is seriously must see soap. This is so old school soap opera and I'm glad their are still editors like yourself who appreciates good old fashioned storytelling. Thanks for always caring and writing and blogging about Guiding Light
Guiding Light..OMG..off the charts awesome!! Crystal Chappell..the best..the very best there is!! Find this show a home P&G..you have a gold mine on your hands and whoever picks up GL will not be sorry for an instant.
When do we start the Emmy campaign for Crystal Chappell? And how can I help? Because she has consistently given the best performance in soaps today - what amazing range she has! - and it's about time she gets recognized for that. C'mon, Soap Opera Digest, I've only just started buying your mag for Otalia but I'll do whatever you want if you can make this happen...:)
I am still scraping my heart off the floor after Otalia today. What an amazing story - CBS must be full of complete morons to decide to cancel this show. It is the only show on television that can render me a complete emotional mess by 10am. Simply amazing, I can't wait for tomorrow. Thanks for all your great GL/Otalia posts!
Crystal Chappell was absolutely amazing today!!! Guiding Light and the Otalia story line are rocking the house everyday...THIS is must see TV people! Crystal and Jessica are wonderful together!!!
Thanks, everyone! I'm really, truly engaged by GL and Otalia right now and you're all absolutely right: Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia have been phenomenal. Can't wait to see tomorrow's scenes!
man, if crystal chappell doesn't kill me with all the crying and angst and emmy-worthy acting, the thought of september 18th getting closer and closer surely will. for the love of all that is good and right with the world, this show needs a new- and better- home. it's quite obvious the show is hitting on all cylinders right now (otalia especially), so what's the problem? could it be the lack of promotion by CBS, the weird airing schedule by local markets, the antiquated ratings system? uh, yeah, i think so. regardless, whatever network is smart enough to pick this show up will be getting a steal. a gold mine. a cash cow. all they have to do is tell us what they want us to do to keep GL & otalia on the air and we'll do it. but P&G products? done. order SOAPNet? done. watch on-line, live, on demand, order through iTunes? done, done, done and done.
Cristal is too good to be true. Otalia is soap at its best. Guiding Light must keep shining
Thanks for highlighting what outstanding work Crystal Chappell has been doing. She's always delivered no matter what the story line or how strong or weak the writing. But, right now, with Ellen Wheeler and Jill Lorie Hurst at the helm creatively and with a scene partner like Jessica Leccia, Crystal is doing the finest work of her career. I won't allow it into my consciousness that September marks the end of the road for Guiding Light and the Otalia story line. The show on all levels is too good and there has to be some wise network executives at other outlets out there who are seeing this phenomenon and are smart enough to pick up the show.
OMG! Crystal just shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. That was seriously the best last five minutes of a soap that I've seen since Tony put his head to BJ's chest on GH in 94. Crystal is truly in a class by her self. Nice blog btw. I so agree about how GL has you on a high and GH leaves you wondering why do you even bother watching it.
Thanks for the great comments on Guiding Light and Otalia! Wasn't Crystal awesome!! No one can touch her in the game today!!! I just got my heart beating again and its been 30 minutes since I saw that scene!! CBS has made the mistake of the lifetime letting this show, this story line and these terrific actresses go!! Everyone on GL rocks!! Someone find the cast and crew a new home, soon!
Today was the day we've been waiting to happen for over a year. And even knowing it was coming, no words could ever do justice to the last five minutes of today's show. I think every Otalia fan needs a reboot! Kudos to JLH, EW, CC, and JL. And thank you for continuing to support the Light!
Commenting in Haiku: Chappell perfection The eyes bring it home, no doubt Master method class
Just back up the brinks truck and hand CC all the emmys that will be handed out during this years show. I have never been such a shaky, blubbering mess over a show. GL just has to find a new home. I want to see Otalia live on forever.
The last 5 minutes of Guiding Light today was W.O.W!! Crystal Chappell knocked it out of the park and she delivered an Emmy performance!! I have never been so invested in a television storyline ever. Otalia is the best romantic love story on TV period. Thanks for covering them, Mala.
Todays Guiding Light was amazing. Crystal Chappell is brilliant. Those last five minutes brought physical tears from me. Guiding Light has to find a new home- its to great of a show not to!!
GL is now the only show I refuse to miss. I'm a big Otalia fan but I'm enjoying the other storylines too. I hope GL finds another home soon as they are delivering some great entertainment.
"Oh, my heart" exactly! It literally hurt after that episode. That ending!
Otalia is the best storyline on daytime; the writing is supreme, the acting is unbelievably good, and the chemistry between CC and JL is heart-stopping. Keep it up GL and I truly hope you find a place to land. Thank you for the support of my favorite duo on daytime of all time. buggy
I had that exact same theatrical moment at the end of GL 4/14!! Otalia continues to be one of the best love storylines written today. Crystal Chappell was absolutely wonderful today and I look forward to Jessica Leccia's continued brilliance with Natalia. I hope our show finds a new place to rest its head at night. Keep the Light Shining!
CC was truly amazing yesterday. I just do not tire of singing her praises! Give the woman an Emmy, for crying out loud! Oh, and save GL, since it's... i don't know... the best show on TV right now!
Mala, thank you for the article about the shameful way that today's current soaps have put most of their minority characters into their own "soap bubble world" within the fictionalized world on most soaps. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but over a decade ago, there was twice as many minority characters on screen, then there is now. It's just shameful, but I don't think or feel that a campaign will change anything, because it's up to the writers of these shows to create storylines that will somehow intertwine all of these characters into the fabric of the show. I'm not against Bonnie being involved with Dusty at all, but will Derek somehow leave town in order for Bonnie to be single and available for her new upcoming romance with Dusty "The Savior of All Oakdale Female Folk" Donovan?! Also, I just love how a certain group feels like they're being "blamed" for the lack of storylines for fictional characters of color. Those folks need
With the majority of the soap auidence being African American women. Why is Y&R still so lily white? Shouldn't this show represent the it's viewership? i mean we have an African Amercian president. African Americans sell covers of mainstream magazines. Vogue had two covers back to back with Michelle Obama and then Beyonce. What's the deal with Y&R and soaps in general. Daytime is racist and they know it and they refuse to change even though the facts and numbers point to AA's as the main audience. I'm trying to wrap my head around this. So love to hear your thoughts. Y&R has been on a decline ever since Victoria Rowell left the show. The Winters have been ghettoized over the last 1 and a half. The show has bumped Bryton to Recurring. We have a barely seen Roxy and Olivia comes in for a brief moment to give advice. Then they fire The Actress and keep the model who can't act. Now that doesn't bold well for future storylines. We have started an ongoing series on my soap we
We are also doing on an ongoing series on diversity in daytime. @ the site here: http://timeaftertimeonlinedrama.webs.com
GH: Sonny, front burner. Dr. Lee, Nurse Epiphany, Robin's therapist; all recurring and seldom seen There is also the beautiful Dr. Elaine Winters who does not get any story, was put on recurring status...Detective Cruz who just disappeared, the clerk of Asian heritage at Metro Court who they cut. The African American orderly who disappeared... IMO, Soaps have lost the African American audience which contributes to their decline...we don't trust them and aren't coming back for the "most part" they have permanently lost this audience... They will not put African Americans in lead story for the most part...just wallpaper to give the look of diversity to support the other actors. They are basically bit day players on GH.
Again, I agree with your new blog about what GH's doing with the history of Luke (and his epic former storyline with the love of his life, Laura). It's very clear to me that TPTB really don't give a crap at all, about the history of characters and storylines that made viewers interested in their shows in the first place. The viewing audience isn't at fault for why this genre is slowly dying out. It's the people in charge of it, that are guilty.
The Luke/Ethan mess has revolted this 25 year viewer more than I am capable of verbalizing. This is just another, more shocking example of GH's thumbing it's nose at the longtime audience they obviously no longer court. Once you finish destroying the stories that have kept fans connected to a show, it ceases to exist for them. What the hell happened to the character of Luke? When did we see him lose his soul,because it's most certainly gone. Was it when he drunkenly rutted with Holly while his wife Laura was waiting at home with their son Lucky? The son who most assuredly inherited her heart. Whoever's brainchild this story was should be ashamed.
I love Guiding Light and most especially Otalia. Crystal and Jessica are bringing their very best to this storyline and their best is genius. Jill Hurst and Ellen Wheeler are brilliant for all they do. Guiding Light must be saved.
After this last week-end, then coming and reading this I realize, I could'nt really care less about your opinion anymore. It is just like oh, ok, whatever!
While the whole Ethan is Luke's son storyline is stupid it would of been even dumber to try and tell us that Lulu was still born in 1994.
I agree Drew is commanding and really can't wait to see more of him. Olivia and Johnny are different; not sure yet about them. But I think if anyone deserves some loving it's Matt. He's been on the show almost a year! I think it's time to give Matt a real romance!
Drew Garret is great as Michael!! already love him, did you see the way he had those tears flowing with Robin!!! NuKristina um yea, shes going to take some time to get used to. Maybe it was nerves, but she needs to put more effort, so that I can really feel her emotions. Right now she just seems like a brat with no heart.
Does it make me a bad person to say that I would love a Michael/Kristina hook-up. First of all, the Carly and Alexis drama is all there. Secondly, it would bother Sonny to no end. I mean, all along I was rooting for cousins, Morgan and Molly, to drive the drama - but hey! I'll take the chemistry where I can find it.
mala, you are a better person than I! i just cant get into any of the s/ls on atwt-the adam/riley is way too rushed for me granted i dont know who adam was, but nor do i want to its funny i can tune into y&r or days on soapnet and not know anything about the show, but i am intrigued and actually watch cant say the same about atwt unless its a paul day
THANK YOU MALA! I totally agree with you. It's like they are afraid of offending viewers. They are offending me by not showing the kiss! If people don't like what they show, they can tune out, it shouldn't be up to the writers to censor the content of the storyline based on what they think viewers won't like. Heterosexual couples are half naked all of the time. Show some gay action! Thanks again Mala for writing what I was thinking!
Mala, I think I will be forever confused why you would root for Carjack (after they've been destroyed by stunts like Carly pretending to die and luring Jack to Montana) and not root for Spixie. Spinelli & Msxie is the ULTIMATE drawn out love story that has kept me tuned into GH. I would say root for Liason also, but I wouldn't want you to go through that pain that GH has put us through.
MALA,you Roooccck!! I love reading your blog, it's the first thing I check when I check out the website.
I agree with you about the chaste lesbian and gay characters on daytime. Those against gay and lesbian characters won't even acknowledge that true love can exist in same sex relationships. They will tune out. Why try to pander to them by not showing kissing and love making? There are a lot of other straight fans like you and me who simply respond to good writing and storylines for both straight and same sex couples. Are Olivia and Natalia ever going to kiss?
Mala, you certainly hit the nail on the head about GH's Sonny and his women. I agree with everything you said, except the part about getting back together with Kate--that re-write didn't work for me. Why does every woman that comes to town HAVE to be with Sonny? They become sniveling idiots. They protest his advances and then become his biggest cheerleader. If I have to hear one more woman say what a good man and father Sonny is I'm going to scream. It's time to change the story and the dialoge.
Mala, you are my favorite blogger on this site. As much as I adore Maurice Benard as an actor, you are RIGHT ON about Sonny. He needs to be written differently so Maurice doesn't have to keep playing the same ol' song over and over. When Sonny went through the bipolar storyline, I thought it was a chance for change for the character. The whole Emily story was icky but as Mala said, it was different. Claudia-Sonny could have worked if they hadn't made her completely psycho from the start. They could have bonded over their similar horrific childhoods, etc. Sarah Brown makes me watch Claudia and it's a shame she and Mo won't get to make that marriage a romance, which it could have been. GH is a mess, still. LOVE the new Michael but he's headed down a bad path due to the writers. ARGH! Love in the afternoon? Hell no. Not anymore. Which is why the audience continues to disappear....
Thanks for the recent comments, everyone! I'm glad you're enjoying my posts. Margaret - I'm suggesting Kate as an option because I figure it saves future women from being trapped in the cycle. LOL. Might as well go back to one that he's already been through it with!
I love Jolivia. I do not want to see another woman that is feisty, strong and independent sacrificed at the alter of Sonny Corinthos. Johnny and Olivia are fun to watch and the best new couple on GH in a long time.
On GH, I don't even want Sonny with Kate. Kate always treated Carly like trash and let's face it she did take Michael without Carly's permission to the warehouse. In the end though, I am sick of the whole drama surrounding Sonny and his women. I am tired of watching new woman X come to town and assume Sonny's marriage broke up because Carly failed yada yada yada. For an intelligent person Kate was dumb not to realize who shot Carly in the head so now she is forgotten, Karma. Sonny has no empathy for carly and the kids it is all about him, I don't care anymore.
I agree with some of your post. Sonny's love life has become a bit repetitive but I don't think there's anything wrong with Sonny and Olivia. I like them. I think they have chemistry. And of course Johnny's being nice he's sleeping with her. I bet Sonny will be nice too when they start having sex. Johnny and Olivia have no future. There's way more story potential with Solivia.
I agree with you 100% about Sonny. Claudia is such a looney character,I feel the writers are making Sonny so totally abusive and ugly (Sonny understood Michael when he shot kate, today he screamed at Michael who may not have even run Claudia off the road). One reason ratings are tanking is that Claudia and Sonny do not work as a couple and no one wants to watch them. To have Olivia and Sonny together the writers are already rewriting Skate which is als turning away viewers. Skate's ratings were anywhere from 40 to 60% better than current ratings. I say that Kate is the only character that can make Sonny watchable again and they should keep Johnny with Olivia.
I understand about Sonny and his women but I think Olivia is different. Solivia have chemistry and Liv can hold her own with Sonny. Jolivia is just sex and that is all it should be. What future would they have none? They should do Solivia but keep Olivia strong. I want Johnny with Maxie I love those two together. I wouldn't mind seeing Claudia with Dante either.
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Yes Johnny and Olivia are so swoon worthy, I love how she has given him a free pass for Michael's shooting, I love how she's reliving her life with Sonny through Johnny, and Sonny is the great big bad mobster but Johnny is just misunderstood. To bad she wasn't around for Johnny's part in Michael's shooting And as for Sonny feigning sympathy. You mean sympathy for the wife that poked holes in condoms to get pregnant in the first place that put Sonny in the position to lose another child, the woman that has Jerry out now trying to kill Michael, you mean that woman and wife Mala, what show do you watch or are you so skewed in your opinion over the perfeciton of Johnny & Olivia that the story itself loses you. Try at least some honesty
Was it ever actually established that Ashley delivered the baby and Adam burned it in the fireplace? I just remember that he burned the bloody bathrobe and towels. I don't think even Adam is capable of burning a fetus ... that would be too sick, even for him. I just assumed that Ashley has been carrying around a dead fetus all this time ... which is still dark, but not quite as twisted. Wouldn't it be nice if Dr. Taylor was lying to Adam about her miscarriage ... and that she is actually still pregnant? He could have done so to keep Adam from trying to hurt the baby again ... guess I'm an optimist!
That's a good point, Elise, I guess we don't *really* know what specifically Adam burned in the fireplace, but I pretty much assumed that he'd gotten rid of whatever it was that she bled out. If she'd still been carrying a fetus inside of her, I think she probably would have had more medical issues, given the blood loss, etc. And before Dr. Taylor fiddled with the sonogram, there was absolutely no motion and no indication of a mass on the screen. It'd be a great twist if he was lying altogether just to stick it to Adam and she really is still pregnant, but the horrorshow of the fall down the stairs and Adam's clean-up...man, I will never get that out of my head!
Yes, either way, it is TOTALLY a horror show, as you so perfectly described it. I am personally hoping that Adam can be redeemed. I, like you, saw a spark with him and Ashley. If he burned the baby, I just don't know how he can be brought back from that! Anyway, here's hoping that there's an end in sight to this particular storyline!
I totally agree with you, why is Adam gaslighting Ashley? She has been nothing but good to him, and this is the way he's treating her? Adam's story, and Mary Jane's story, have to be the strangest stories I have ever seen on Y&R.
Mala, don't story lines have to be edited? How did the pairing of Marty and Todd in a therapy session go unnoticed, didn't anyone consider this to be bizarre? That, to me was for sure a "what were they thinking" moment. Do the actors not get to voice their opinion about the characters they have played for years and say this is a stupid story line, or are they happy to have a job and don't care about insulting the intelligence of dedicated viewers?
Mala, I have to FF this Todd (if he really is Todd). Tea and Blair should join forces to kick his butt. He either acts like he's 14 or he's a snoozefest. Why would either of these great women want him?
Thank you for the Adam link. I was not watching the show then, and I cannot think why they would want to save this character?! The cast is bloated with him, Allie, Casey, Hunter, Meg etc. They need to do a housecleaning and write for the interesting characters they have like Pem, Ro, Craig, Babs, Henry, etc.
Thank you, Thank you, thank you Mala! Seriously Thank God for your comments about this Sick redemption story for that disgusting Rapist Pig Adam! In my 20+ years of watching soaps, no story has offended me as much as this one has! I was screaming as loud as you were at the horrible absolution of Adam for physically and sexually abusing women! How dare ATWT do this! How dare they insult the fans intelligence about what we all saw happen on the screen just two friggin years! This complete re-write and whitewashing of what Adam did is so appalling and wrong! What exactly is the message ATWT wants to send to women who are attacked? It's your own fault what he did to you because you somehow caused your own attack. So you should go apologize to him b/c you asked for it? ATWT is officially more misogynistic than GH is now! The writers are insulting are intelligence if they think we didn't see with our own eyes what Adam did. Adam was a psycho before Maddie hit him over the head! He framed Will & attacked Gwe
Please include Luke Spencer in the "men who have hurt women" history. The powers that be turned Luke's rape of Laura into a great love story which still goes on to this day.
Please include Luke Spencer in the "men who have hurt women" history. The powers that be turned Luke's rape of Laura into a great love story which still goes on to this day.
Regarding the Adam situation: I was more pissed off when they brought Adam back the first time, and turned him into a creep. I hate that they screwed with his character simply to create drama for the teen set, Maddie/Casey & Will/Gwen, who I wasn't interested watching in the first place.
Mala, the Bank Of Mom & Dad seemed like it was going to be worth watching, NOT! Until you pointed it out I did not pay attention that all the previews I have seen were with daughters. I did think that the show was going to be for college daughters, one daughter was 33. This show won't last and I don't like Holidate. I wish they would bring back Soap Talk, One Day With Wally and I Want To Be A Soap Star.
And now, a Christian/TRUTH point of view on all of this. a) Homosexuality is an abomination, NOT a love story. Guiding Light was cancelled when its lesbian "love story" was its most popular, and most low-rated storyline ever. b) People CAN be redeemed through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Although no entertainment media today would ever bring forth the glory of God as a healer, it can be done. If written correctly, Adam on ATWT finding God and redemption could be an AWESOME story. c) General Hospital should split off into two shows. The first would be the mother show, called GENERAL HOSPITAL...the one we knew and loved until 1996. The second show, could be called Night Shift 14, or General Mafia, or The Sopranos 2, or The Jason and Sonny Killing Show, or anything else that glorifies murder and crime. It makes me physically ill that this show has chosen to feature two blood-thirsty murderers as the show's main heroes since 1996. Oh, I forgot, they're hot and misunde
I just knew that the PR idiots from ABC Daytime would go down the same route of touting "The Real" crap for Jonathan Jackson's return. It's a blatant slap in the talented face of Greg Vaughn, who kept the character of Lucky Spencer alive on GH for 7 years. Yes, you can be glad that JJ agreed to return to GH, but there's something called TACT that can and should be used, when promoting his return. It's just tactless and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but it's business and that's certainly what Frons and ABC Daytime are all about at this point.
Thank you Mala for raking ABC over the coals for this lowball tactic. I know JJ was very popular, but so is GV. Changing the role of Lucky is NOT going to fix the problem of ratings. If ABC were so concerned about ratings, why not bring back Laura since Luke has a new son and maybe throw Scotty in there as well? Also, the Q's would be a welcome change from the Sonny and Jason hour. I don't see the appeal of the mob although I do LIKE Sonny, he doesn't deserve the whole show. The viewers would come back in droves if ABC would show more of what the fans really want to see.
There are no words how GH has alienated many viewers I post with. Its like GH is purposely driving viewers away. They didn't take notes re: their real Greenlee? Wasn't that a monumental flop? So now what? its the original Lucky? The horrid scribing of Elizabeth dragging out vets I haven't seen in the longest time (even taking pics for Laura) to herald a man who slept w/another woman in their bed, she's not being deserving...on the very same parapet saying the very same thing to a different man from one year ago. 'THE SAME STORYLINE.' I've never liked how Elizabeth Webber is written with any of the Lucky's. She reverts to a Spen-Stepford wife...no matter which actor plays him. The misogynistic writing morphs into various forms, when will she be written w/a positive focus & get some of that sunshine w/rainbows Jason's romance is getting w/their "special scribing to make" them look so good. The Q/A w/L.Wright bragged they do romances well..I'm not seeing
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