December 8, 2008
So, did you catch the GH Thanksgiving episode? If you didn't, you missed something really special. I personally lobbied for it for Editors' Choice for the week but was outvoted. (Eh, it happens.) I don't always go for the fantasy episodes but what I loved about this one was mixing up characters who never get to play together. My highlights were:

1. Not being the chick magnet that Patrick was during his "dog" days (but close!), I loved watching him get dumped — twice — by Carly and Elizabeth. (In fact, just watching Carly not waffle between Jax/Sonny and ditto with Liz and Jason/Lucky was a treat in and of itself.)

2. I've been waiting for a go-round with Matt and Maxie since Jason Cook's arrival in June. It was great to see that he and Kirsten Storms still have that special chemistry from their DAYS days as Shawn and Belle.

3. Alan was alive and still Chief of Staff! For that, I was most thankful!

November 24, 2008
At this time of year, we're supposed to reflect on all we have and be thankful. While there's a lot of criticisms I could lobby about what I'd like to see on GH (more vets, more Quartermaines, more romance, etc.), 'tis the season focus on the positive so, here are five things I'm thankful for about GH.

1. Maxie & Spinelli. Certainly a front-runner for daytime's most unlikely couple (can we even call them a couple?), this duo is guaranteed to delight whenever they're on-screen. Sometimes it's witty banter, other times it's poignant moments but either way, this duo is infinitely watchable.

2. A renewed emphasis on Robin and Patrick. For a while there, I thought if Robin and Patrick squabbled about the same thing or proposed to each other one more time, I was going to pull my hair out. But overall, the GH writers really did well by this couple, offering a slow and realistic build over three years to get them where they are today. Watching this intelligent, funny, sensitive pairing is truly a daytime treat.

3. Jerry's alive! Unfortunately, Jerry had been written into a corner as of late. While Sebastian Roché (Jerry) and Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) had an undeniable chemistry, their romance was doomed from the start due to his villainous track record and her code of ethics. His involvement in the counterfeit drug ring was snoozy, so cheers to taking him off the canvas until a great story can bring this memorable bad guy out of hiding once more.

4. It may be too early to say, but I'm actually looking forward to the Sonny/Claudia marriage of convenience. Wait! Hear me out! I openly admit that I was horrified when I first heard about it but Sonny and Kate have no place to go at the moment and the idea of Sonny marrying the woman responsible for Michael's shooting is ingenious. Plus, as the Addams Family of daytime, the Zaccharas do have a creepy, kooky, altogether ooky watch-ability. We'll see....

5. Lastly, GH: NIGHT SHIFT Season 2. For fans who don't have SOAPnet, it really is worth picking up the series when it becomes available on DVD next year. (No date has yet been announced for its release.) Not only is it involving with its new characters (the bickering Julian brothers, Jagger's romance with Robin's pal Saira), it's chock full of guest appearances from soap vets, climaxing in the '80s reunion of Robert, Luke, Sean, Tiffany and Anna — a must-see for longtime fans. I'm already anxiously awaiting season three — and I'm not alone in that.

There you have it. Wishing you and yours a healthy and safe holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving all!!!

October 1, 2008
So, what are you thinking about Billy Miller as Y&R's new Billy Abbott. I'm having a tough time with it. Not because of the actor. I thought he was great as wacko Richie on AMC, but this game of "musical soaps" is getting to be too much, don't you think?

I've been at this job a long time and even I'm having trouble keeping up. I turned on B&B last week and thought: Why is Victoria Newman (Heather Tom) sleeping with Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner)? What are GL's Harley (Beth Ehlers) and Gus (Ricky Paull Goldin) doing in Pine Valley? Andrea Evans may have staked her daytime claim to fame as OLTL's Tina but I'm sorry, I only see PASSIONS's Rebecca. Daytime has always been a revolving door but soap-jumping has reached fever pitch! Let's slow it down, please, or else viewers will be too dizzy, or busy keeping score, to watch — or even care.

September 5, 2008
Hello, dear readers. Sorry to have been away, but I took some time off to head back East to attend the wedding of my friends Andy and Gayle. In the upcoming issue of Digest, you'll see that Patrick's proposal to Robin on GENERAL HOSPITAL nabbed our Editors' Choice and I have to tell you, it was a pleasure to write. Maybe it was because I'd just witnessed my real-life friends lovingly pledge their lives to each other, but I was swept up in Patrick's earnestness and touched by the way he's changed since he first swaggered through those hospital doors in 2005. Of course, since it's a soap, Robin had to say no, but we all know it's just a matter of time until she comes around. Considering how dark GH can get, it's nice to know there's still some love in the afternoon — and in real life, too!

July 31, 2008
I am really going to miss PASSIONS. On the 7/30 episode, we learned Harmony is about to become the next Pompeii, as Mount Harmony is about to erupt (in New England!). And, when Tabitha and Endora searched for a reason behind the destruction, it was revealed to be a man at a desk with the initials J.Z., who was pulling the feathers out of a dead peacock. Nice jab at NBC prez Jeff Zucker, who cancelled the series. When PASSIONS goes, so does daytime’s last bastion of subversive humor. PASSIONS, I miss you already.

July 25, 2008
Greetings, readers. Prior to writing today's entry I scanned all of the other blogs to see what everybody else was talking about. Of course, there were several entries about OLTL's 40th anniversary episodes so.... here's another one! Actually, my praise isn't specifically about the episodes themselves, even though I greatly enjoyed them. What really impressed me was the comments made on the Weekly Intern's blog. Since we're on different coasts, I've never met Samantha, In fact, I've never even spoken with her on the phone. But I must say, I loved what she wrote about the show. She'd never seen Stephen Markle's Mel, but was quickly won over by him and his influence on Dorian. It was similar to the response I had back when the character was introduced in 1997 and I just think that's the true sign of great writing. OLTL managed not only to satisfy a long-time viewer but win over a new one, as well. Kudos!

June 20, 2008
Greetings readers,
You're catching us on Emmy day and as much fun as it may be, we're facing a red carpet in record-breaking heat here at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Oh, for those rainy days back at Radio City Music Hall....

With the news of Finola Hughes's return to Port Charles this summer, GH fans are wondering if we'll see more of the Anna Devane, sleuth of yore. Here's what Hughes had to say about the matter: "I would love for her to get to grips with some crazy crime that happened and actually try to solve it," she tells Digest. "But I don't want to go into something where she doesn't solve it because, let's face it, the police tend to play second fiddle to the mob. That's all well and good but it would be nice if it was played out so there would be equal footing and you really do see the other guys using their brains as much as the criminals do."

Will Hughes get her wish? Stay tuned.

June 6, 2008
As you'll see in the new issue of Digest on page 19, GH's Greg Vaughan (Lucky) was almost left out of our Father's Day wrap. As luck would have it, the always press-friendly actor was on vacation when we'd put in our request but he happily checked in as soon as he returned. We focused on Vaughan specifically since his son, Jathan, just turned the big "One," and we wanted to see how the proud Dad survived baby's first year. As a treat to our blog readers, here's the rest of that interview that didn't make it to print. Enjoy!

Can you sum up fatherhood in a word? "Tiresome [laughs]. I never know something so small could have so much energy!"
Were you in the delivery room during labor? "I was. I am totally in awe of my wife [Touriya]. Even more than I was before."
Was it scary? "I was too busy to be scared [laughs]. I was making sure the music was right, that my wife had a nice scent on the sheets and pillows beforehand, making sure she had water and ice chips, rubbing feet, rubbing ankles, holding hands. I know I wasn't the one about to bear children, but I was busy [laughs]."
Was it tough having to leave him and go back to work? "What was great was I could be on-set, have my phone in my pocket and I could get a picture [sent] of my son. Between Touriya and I, in the first few weeks after he was born, it was like a minimum of 50 pictures a day. She was always texting me pictures and moments. It was as close as you could get to being there in the room."
Considering you and Touriya both modeled, will Jathan be entering "the family business?" "Yeah. [The] Ford [Models] already has him on a contract. They had him on contract when she was five months pregnant because they wanted to have the rights [laughs]."
How is he at one year? "He's doing great. He's getting big all the time. He's growing like a weed."
What advice do you have for expectant fathers? "I recommend to any future father, get yourself a good tool kit because I keep having to put more baby stuff together. Man, my whole house is a playground of baby stuff."

May 30, 2008
So, did you happen to catch Patrick's video blog on GH? Personally, I thought it was great. Patrick babbled on just like a real guy would who was facing his fears about impending fatherhood. And having Coleman zoom in on the two pretty girls playing pool in the background? Priceless! Considering how smoothly it went, I was surprised to hear that Jason Thompson (Patrick) was actually quite nervous about the whole thing. Here's what he shared with me: "It got to a point where I was just trying to remember what I was saying," he confessed with a chuckle. "Afterward, I didn't even know what I did. It was like 10 pages of me just talking and talking and talking, jumping from one thing to another. I was more than a little worried about it." I don't know about you, dear reader, but I never would have picked up on that from what I watched. It's always refreshing to hear the actor's take on things, isn't it?

May 23, 2008
Did you see on our site that GH's Kent King (Lainey) was dropped to recurring status? What a mistake! King is a talented actress. (remember when she let Danny, the bastard who ran down her mother, drown in the swimming pool during her KNOTS LANDING days?) It's bad enough that GH features so few actors of ethnicity (they have them, they just don't get much story). However, this character is a shrink! And let's face it, Port Charles is one screwed up town in need of therapy. She should be featured in EVERYONE's story. Lainey's unlikely romance with drug addicted Iraq war vet Cody on last summer's GH: NIGHT SHIFT proved that she's more than capable of carrying her own storyline so please GH, reconsider and give this underused actress her daytime due.

May 16, 2008
Is it just me or do other GH fans think this way, too? I just don't know how to feel about Claudia. First, I hear Sarah Brown is coming back. Yay! But, she's playing a new character. Well, okay. That's weird, but I don't want Laura Wright to leave. I like her Carly. So, okay, I'll go along with it. Enter Claudia. She immediately sleeps with Sonny. Okay, that's entering with a bang. (Pardon the pun.) Then, she sashays around down in outfits cut down to her navel, rubbing her stuff all over the menfolk of Port Charles. Then, she organizes a hit on Sonny that ends up gunning down an innocent boy. I'm not really liking her right now, despite Sarah Brown's ferocity.

Then, it's hinted that she may have been sexually abused as a young girl. Okay, that explains the flirting with her brother and being a slut. Now, she's stabbed by Jerry, dumped in the harbor and left for dead. I guess that's the universe's way of her paying for what happened to Michael. Next up, it's Nikolas to the rescue and the two are going to bond? Well, I guess I'll go along for the ride, considering that GH does has a spectacular history of making unlikely couples work. (Hello, Luke and Laura!)

It's obvious that the disparity in Claudia's actions is courtesy of the writers' strike, but now that that mess is over with, please, writers, pick one direction and stick to it, or viewers may not end up caring about her at all.

May 9, 2008
Much like when I was a kid, it's now May so that only means one thing: Time to make our Christmas lists! Okay, so I liked to plan ahead, but here's what I'd love for my beloved GENERAL HOSPITAL, in no particular order....

1. Less bullets, more love.

2. Felicia comes home, again, to try and salvage the relationship with her only living daughter. Wagner's return for Georgie's funeral was truncated, possibly due to the writers' strike, and those scenes where Maxie chewed out her mother during her eulogy crackled with tension and excitement and earned Kirsten Storms (Maxie) a Performer of the Week nod. This is a gold mine waiting to be played, people.

3. Robert Scorpio must come back, if for nothing else, to meet his new grandchild. And really, couldn't Mac use his brother's help to clean up that crime-ridden town?

4. Let Bobbie and Jerry have at least a scene together. It boggles my mind that he's been back in town for over a year and has yet to set eyes on the woman he left at the altar when he was arrested. At least have her slap him!

5. Pick a guy for Lulu and stick with him. The ball was totally dropped with Lulu and Logan, who had great potential for an epic romance considering the historical Spencer/Baldwin feud. Then came the "I love you, but you're too dangerous for me" romance with Johnny. Um, haven't we seen that before with, Hmm, Jason and Elizabeth, Jason and Robin, Sonny and Kate, Sonny and Carly, Sonny and Brenda, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera?

6. Stop killing Quartermaines!

7. If we can't get Genie Francis back on a full-time schedule, at least have Laura wake up again to find out that Luke is really married to Tracy Quartermaine. First of all, I can hear her laugh now! If she thought Lucky becoming a cop was funny, wait till she gets a load of that. Then, once it sinks in that her remarriage was a sham, albeit a sweet one, it sends her back into Scotty's waiting arms. Then, we've got a delicious battle of warring couples, especially since Scott and Tracy were scheming bedmates back in the day. What do you think?

8. Let "Scrubs" a.k.a. Robin and Patrick be happy — at least for a little while.

9. While GH has a diverse number of minority characters roaming the hospital halls, can we get any of them a storyline? Stat!

10. Finally, I have to jump on the Brenda bandwagon and say it's time for Vanessa Marcil to reprise the role, if only for a short period of time. With Carly married to Jax, the stage is set for a romantic triangle to end all triangles. Imagine the romance, the passion, the catfights! I say, bring it on.

Thanks, Santa, and if you can deliver, I promise I'll be good. Really:)

April 25, 2008
In my decade-and-counting here at Digest, I've covered everything from the top-rated Y&R and GH to the ratings- hallenged PC and SUNSET BEACH. It's sad news that we're losing PASSIONS later this summer, now only seen on DirecTV, so I'm urging you — if you haven't seen this wacky supernatural soap yet, check it out while you still can. PASSIONS has always been outrageous with its talking dolls, New England tsunamis and daily witchery, but now it's dealing with a castration and reattachment surgery gone awry and the jaw-dropping tale of a hermaphroditic psychopath who's pregnant with his father's child. (Yes, all pronouns are correct.) PASSIONS is truly frenetic TV that we may never see again, for better or for worse, so give it a try.... But you may want to hold off eating lunch until after it's over:)

April 17, 2008
While it made for compelling story, I still think Emily's murder was a big mistake. I'm not happy that the Quartermaine ranks continue to diminish, plus in a dark world full of brooding mobsters, misguided molls and plastic surgeon/oncologist assassins, Emily was a beacon of light. Besides missing the character, I'll also miss her portrayer, Natalia Livingston. Like most gracious (and smart) actors do when they leave, they thank their soap's producers, writers, cast and crew — but here's something I don't hear very often: “'I want to thank Tom Stacy, too [laughs].' You've got to put yourself in there. 'I want to thank Tom Stacy for being so sweet and always writing such great articles about me and the show. I thank him for making that part of the job fun and I wish him all the best in the future, too!" Natty, you had us at good-bye.... Best of luck!

April 4, 2008
I'm still scratching my head as to why Y&R would wrap up it's "Gloria sees John's ghost" story so quickly. It was brilliant. It had strong rooting interest, as I was torn between Jack and Sharon taking back their home and feeling just a touch of sympathy for whacked-out Gloria. It brought out a lighter side to scheming Jeffrey and gave vet Jerry Douglas (John) some of the best material he's had in years — even though his character has been deceased since August 18, 2006. (Now there's a line you don't hear very often!) Jana's seance was laugh-out-loud funny and having Lauren fall down the stairs at the sight of "John" steered the action in a totally unexpected way. If this had been during the Golden Era under the pen of Co-creator William J. Bell, this delightfully loopy tale would have lasted longer than just a week. Memo to Y&R, unless it's a reliquary, there's no need to rush it.

March 26, 2008
As a kid "suffering" though my mom's soaps, I distinctly remember ABC's popular "Love In The Afternoon" ad campaign — and as it applied to the great couples of GH like Luke & Laura, Alan & Monica, Grant & Celia, Frisco & Felicia et al. What a sad state of affairs when today it refers to, um.... Uh.... A little help? Our wonderfully light and fun CarJax are embroiled in unending heartache and grief, our Team Scrubs has Patrick shirking responsibility for a pregnancy, Liason is about to, well, see next week's issue of SOD for that. Meanwhile, Sonny and Kate are trying to get back on track after his son shot her. Huh? Where is the love?