10 Merry Mid-Month of May Questions

By Marlena De Lacroix and Patrick Erwin

1.  When you saw John-Paul Lavoisier as Rex in his recent pre-wedding scenes on One Life to Live, wandering around a bar drunk, shirtless, and disheveled with a wild head of hair, didn’t he remind you just a little of Bamm-Bamm from The Flintstones?

2.  Have you been lost in the maze of brunettes on As The World Turns? When we watched Noelle Beck as nuLily, she looked a lot like Marie Wilson (Meg). Who also looks a lot like Julie Pinson (Janet).  Janet also has a look-alike daughter, Liberty (Meredith Hagner). And Liberty looks a lot like a younger version of Alison (Marnie Schulenburg. Quick, someone tell Chris Goutman that blondes (and redheads) have more fun!

3.  Can we congratulate headwriter  Brad Bell for the very, very savvy creation of  daytime’s newest friendship, that of Stephanie Forrester and Katie Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful, as played by Emmy winners Susan Flannery and Heather Thom.  Wow!  Actors who are two of the best “talk to” in the business talking to one another!  Plus Steph and Katie are the only two characters on B&B who have both brains and a real sense of compassion. (Taylor, once Steph’s equal and  friend, was unfortunately made a dumb hysteric.) Two intelligent women as friends sitting around talking … could last for years.

4.  Didn’t Ricky Paul Goldin make a particularly strong  entrance on All My Children as the new Jake Martin, the embattled doctor in Darfur?  Speaking of terrific acting pairings, we’re chomping at the bit at the prospect of Goldin and Michael E. Knight playing the Martin brothers.  Both actors are exciting and are expert at playing the mercurial.   What an opportunity for (good!) writers!

5.  Is Guiding Light becoming the new B&B in terms of love interest shelf life? Cyrus has gone, in a year, from Dinah to Alexandra to Marina to Harley, and recently had a fling with Cassie. Who does he think he is,  B&B‘s Ridge Forrester?  Marlena cracked up  recently when she saw Cyrus referred to on a GL message board as “walking sex.”

6.  Where does Finola Hughes (the returning Anna Scorpio on General Hospital) come off looking so skinny and so absolutely fab after all these years?  The woman has no hips!   Yes, yes, we know Finola hosts her own show on the Style Network!   As always, she has the coolest, smartest chic of all who have  emerged  from daytime …

7.  Is it just me (Patrick), or are you troubled by how cavalierly B&B seems to be handling the Storm storyline? I’m a little turned off that they’re painting his actions — clearly, he committed suicide — as a “heroic act.” Everyone seems to think that since Storm was “broken,” it was acceptable for him to take his own life to help his sister. Social issues have never been B&B‘s strength, but isn’t this a seriously irresponsible message to send out?

8.  Can you believe Days of Our Lives split up one of the best young love couples on all of daytime today? Chelsea and Nick had us rooting for them — they were a great match and played off each other so well. And the show broke them up so Chelsea could date a man in his early 40s? Can you saw “eww”?

9.  Didn’t Lynn Marie Latham leave The Young and the Restless? I’m (Patrick) still seeing a big focus on new, unknown characters and obscure international art. Do you like Victor and Sabrina together, or does the charm of Sabrina, and this couple, escape you as much as it does me? If there’s such an vast age difference between old Vic and young Sabrina, don’t older female characters deserve equal time?  Jill and young J.T. perhaps?

10.  Can you believe a feminist gal like moi,  Marlena, loved Snoop Dogg’s appearance on OLTL?  I know he calls women “ho’s” in his songs! But, isn’t that de rigueur for rap? I have always liked Snoop’s ultra cool “I don’t give a damn” attitude, which definitely matches his ol “friend” Bo’s. Even “bitchy bangs” Adriana seemed bearable and ultra cool decked out like a Hullaballoo gal dancing around Ultra Violet with Snoop and Layla!

Comments

  1. What a fun column! The only show(s) I can speak to are OLTL and GL. Rex as Bamm-Bamm? Indeed, he has always sort of reminded me of that tow-headed little cherub from the stone age. The party with an impromptu stripper pole performance from Rex (Brian Frons investment in that prop seems to be paying off!) was a hoot. And as a woman of a certain age, I was NOT looking forward to Snoop Dog but it played out so well. Backstory for Snoop and all. I am loving Adrianna (the bitchy bangs haircut and attitude). Really enjoying OLTL so much these days.

    GL and Cyrus — he’s like the Energizer Bunny on Viagra. Sometimes I think GL is just one of the best. There is so much to like-especially the acting, superb quality. But the camera work is still needing work (I think it’s getting better) and the day to day plotting is just off somehow, IMO. I would be so sad if the show were cancelled but I am so afraid there is no hope for it. Of course, there is always hope but if Beth Ehlers does leave, it will certainly be a blow. However, GL has such terrific actresses in Kim Zimmer, Crystal Chappell, Marj Dusay, Gina Tognoni, Maeve Kincaid… I even like Nicole Forrester and Marcy Rylan. And there are no characters on daytime as quirky and fun and talented as Caitlin Van Zandt and O. Cassidy. Thanks for another enjoyable read you two!

    Marlena says: Cherry, it makes me feel so much better that as a fellow woman of a certain age (LOL) you say you like Snoop too! I first saw him on the Jimmy Kimmel show and remember feeling guilty that I liked him even though he had been arrested and been in jail a couple of times. On the other hand, I could do without that stripper pole on all the ABC shows. As far as GL goes, I, Marlena, am the only soap critic who has not weighed in so far on its new format, but I will soon.

  2. Hi, Marlena! Good to see you back and being as much fun as ever!

    Like Cherry, I can only comment on OLTL and GL.

    I was determined to not like Snoop! How in the world did he manage to charm me into submission? As a MAN of a certain age (LOL!) I am not supposed to like him or his music, but he had me groovin’ along with Adrianna and Layla!

    As for Sexy Rexy, how did that…..bulge….get by the censors? Ha ha!!!! Go OLTL! The best hour on daytime television, right Marlena?

    On the other side of the coin is GL. Marlena, please post your review soon and tell P&G, CBS, Wheeler, Kreizman, et al. how to fix this train wreck! I won’t steal your thunder by offering my opinions and thoughts, but I will be there when you do

    Marlena says: Dale, you are making me blush! But do you remember during the Linda Gottlieb era, she unapologetically had a character on OLTL named….Bulge….Has anyone heard of what Linda’s doing now?

    Just as soon I promised I would review GL, Patrick sent in a brilliant, blistering critique of the show which will appear early next week. I’ve been holding off on my own review because I have a tiny conflict of interest. Moose and I coincidentally spend good parts of our summer in the New Jersey towns where GL is now filmed. I wanted to wait a while and watch a lot, and I mean a lot, of the show to ensure I was reviewing GL itself and not gushing about my favorite real life, inns, barns and landscapes I’ve seen featured on the show. I beg your patience, dear Dale and friends.

  3. Marlena, I’m *achingly* curious to see what you REALLY think of the “new” GL. As a massive fan of a prime time series called “Friday Night Lights” (whose similar camerawork I’ll bravely posit is the modern template for Ellen Wheeler’s latest genre-bending experiment), I myself don’t have a big problem with the production half of the show, which if I do say so myself, is the LEAST of its problems. As with FNL, GL is overloaded with intriguing characters and relationships, which are more than enough to attract an audience in any form.

    I’ll always remember Jerry ver Dorn saying that you could do the show with stick figures on a blackboard and it would be just as entertaining as long as the STORY was compelling. And THERE’S where the problem lies, if you ask me. As with “The City” before it, characters acting WAY out of character and plotlines with Mack-truck-navigable holes only make the odd camera angles *more* noticeable. I say if *anything* on that show made a lick of sense — and your superbly observed Cyrus question almost certainly encapsulates the big (insurmountable?) issue this show now faces — all the critical sniping would fade into oblivion posthaste.

    But doesn’t GL currently feel like the final year of my beloved “Santa Barbara,” in which that miraculous cast of heavy-hitters (can you imagine Kim Zimmer, Gordon Thomson, Nancy Grahn, A Martinez, Eileen Davidson, Thaao Penghlis, Jack Wagner, Stephen Nichols, Sydney Penny, Nicholas Walker, Jed Allan, Robin Mattson, and Nick Coster all being on the SAME SHOW in today’s climate?!) was visibly working so damn hard to keep the show afloat that you *almost* managed to overlook the fact that the series had taken complete leave of logic?

    Marlena says: As I said above, you will love Patrick’s latest critique of GL which will run next week, and mine will follow sometime after that.

    Whenever I see a show that’s on it’s last legs I always exclaim, “Oh this is just like the last year of The Doctors.” So we are all saying the same thing, only using our own personal references out of soap history.

    But, actually it’s bad form to wish any soap off the screen. There are so few left, when they do go, we soap fans go too! Sob!

  4. Can you believe Days of Our Lives split up one of the best young love couples on all of daytime today? Chelsea and Nick had us rooting for them – they were a great match and played off each other so well. And the show broke them up so Chelsea could date a man in his early 40s? Can you saw “eww”?

    No, I can’t believe it. So much wrong with Chelsea/Daniel that there isn’t enough room to comment (but I’ll try). The horrific treatment of Nick is my #1 issue, being that we rooted for him to get the bratty girl and teach her there is more to love than just looks and money. The next one is RM looks like a teenager when making out with SC. And lastly, it’s all built on her hero worship as well as his pattern to fall for patients who are terminal. I wish Days would end this pairing ASAP.

  5. I absolutely agree about Nick and Chelsea from Days of our Lives. I think Nick has been such a fine addition to the show, but he’s been unforgivably ignored in favor of characters as bland as Jette and Jeremy (Thank God they are both gone), and now the show is pushing this Chelsea/Daniel pairing on us. Not only does it gross me out (it wouldn’t be so bad if Chelsea didn’t still look like she was 14!), but there is no chemistry between the actors. Every scene between them is so boring that I don’t care about them at all. Which is sad, because there is much I like about Days these days. This storyline is probably their weakest link, IMO. I do wish that they would give a good story to Nick, perhaps pair him up with Morgan or something, since Chelsea has repeatedly treated him like garbage (yet he keeps going back for more).

    Have been tuning in randomly to OLTL these days, enjoy it so much more than the dreariness of GH. Who on earth thinks all these mob stories are so entertaining?

  6. bakedghoti says:

    How exactly is Katie on B&B a woman with “brains and a sense of compassion”? Katie is an idiot. She got involved with Thorne, who is Brooke’s ex, right after he broke off an engagement to Donna. She would’ve been the 3rd Logan sister for Thorne. And nothing is more idiotic than Katie’s flirtation/involvement with Nick. She knows that Nick’s great love is Brooke, but she’s pushing him towards her niece (Bridget), who was already bruned repeatedly by Nick’s waffling. And now Katie is getting too cozy with Nick too. Katie is just as idiotic as many soap females. And how is Katie compassionate? She could care less that her sisters are grieving, and she’s trashing her dead brother in the process.

    And to top it off, she’s forming a “friendship” with the demon in a pantsuit, Stephanie! Has Katie gotten a lobotomy with her heart transplant? Stephanie stole Beth from Eric when she was pregnant with Ridge (who isn’t Eric’s biological child). She split the Logan family by sending Stephen away. She’s assaulted and schemed against Brooke through the years, which culminated in Brooke’s rape. She’s taken Brooke’s children away twice. And she’s now attacking Donna with the help of Thorne, Felicia and Pam. The Logans are not saints. But it’s laughable to call Stephanie and Katie “smart, compassionate” women.

    Marlena says: OK, OK BG!! I love your expression for Stephanie “demon in a pantsuit,” LOL! All women characters on soaps make mistakes and do unfortunate things (as do the men.) But I think it says something about the art of both Flannery and Thom as actors that their characters still come across as intelligent and highly feeling people. At least that’s how they come across to me!

  7. bakedghoti says:

    As for ATWT’s surplus of brunettes: the solution is simple.

    Cast diversity! Where are the women of color, or characters of color, in daytime? Practically non-existent. Didn’t Patrick write that he was planning on writing a column about Daytime’s lack of diversity?

    That’s the problem with Daytime, it goes backwards instead of forwards. This is exactly why people who don’t watch soaps view it as antiquated and retrogressive. With regards to OLTL: it was completely strange to let Snoop Dogg guest on OLTL.

    Is OLTL so desperate for publicity? Rap is mysogynistic “music” which is offensive most especially towards women, the core audience of Daytime. Bo and Snoop being friends?
    OLTLl is ridiculously overrated, but Bo and Snoop’s “friendship” is just unimaginative and plain ridiculous! It was a pathetic writing attempt to explain Snoop’s “connection” to Llanview!

    Marlena says: Everyone agrees there is a tragic lack of diversity on daytime. As far as Snoop’s appearance on OLTL, I wasn’t the only one who expressed shock and amazement about liking the guy’s act and persona, despite his criminal past and sexist lyrics. Read letters above. BG, the older you get, the easier it is to accept that nobody’s perfect!

  8. Christina says:

    Hi Marlena! I wanted to de-lurk and tell you how much I LOVE your site. I really enjoy reading everything that you and Patrick have to say, as well as the replies that you get from your readers. I’ve been a soap fan since the mid-80s; my mom was and is still a big DOOL fan. I got totally hooked on soaps by the big DOOL storylines of Bo and Hope, Kim and Shane, Patch and Kayla, etc. Tuned out in the early 90s when many of the big names left…I watched GH for a while, but tuned out when the mob stuff got to be too much front and center…tuned into Y&R after I gave birth, but am starting to tune out there now, too. ANYWAY, to make a long story short, after keeping up with Days online for a while, I’ve been watching again, and I too don’t really see or feel the chemistry between Chelsea and the doc. I do, however, feel that there is major chemistry between Sami and EJ. I am curious as to any opinion you or Patrick may have about that pairing? There is a lot of (very intense) discussion online about Sami/EJ versus Sami/Lucas, I am aware of what EJ did to Sami–a very unfortunate move by the previous writing staff, IMO. Not excusing it, but it would be a shame not to let this couple take off. Sorry to veer off topic so much, but would love to hear your thoughts?

    Patrick says: Christina , thanks for your comment!

    Regarding Days, Sami and EJ — in my opinion, it’s a tough call. Clearly, James Scott is one of the most engaging actors Days has hired in a long time. He has chemistry to burn with Alison Sweeney (Sami).

    I don’t understand who at Days ever thought that it would be great to make EJ a rapist, though. And that was indeed what happened — he may not have forced himself on Sami, but she was not a consenting party, either.

    Personally, I think the biggest problem with the Sami/EJ pairing is that I still don’t think we’ve seen those moments between Sami and EJ where she forgave him, where he showed deep regret, etc. I think DAYS was in such a hurry to pair the two, or play up the controversy, that they only touched on those emotions. I know many of the shows have warp-speed pacing these days, but it really takes time to convince the audience that things have changed, and although we may have been told that Sami had forgiven EJ and/or moved on, I’m not so sure we’ve seen it. I think that’s why the audience is so divided about it.

  9. Fabobug says:

    My thoughts for mid – May :

    10. Isn’t Beth Ehlers leaving like pulling the plug on GL? She always seemed like such the cheerleader for all the show’s changes. If she’s giving up, doesn’t it make it harder to keep rooting?

    9. Aside from the sadness of Beverlee McKinsey’s passing, isn’t this a great excuse to go to You Tube and see how soaps could be done intelligently? [I had no idea 1970’s Iris clips from AW still existed!]

    8. Isn’t Ron Carlivanti’s return to OLTL a tad overrated? I mean he’s certainly better than most of the writers out there, but he’s no Claire Labine or Sheri Anderson !

    7. Wasn’t it brave of DAYS to keep Stefano in his paralyzed state? I like Joe Mascolo, but Stefano has become a cartoon cutout of who he used to be. To have Marlena be the one to immobilize him seems like poetic justice.

    6. Is anyone else hoping that Emily and Georgie will turn up alive on a Cassadine island somewhere?

    5. Could we PLEASE put a moratorium on ALL ghosts? This is not a contraction of the above question. Say it with me: Ghosts – BAD. Back from the Dead — GOOD.

    4. Wouldn’t it be great to see Melissa Hayden (Bridget from GL) back in front on the camera? Any camera?

    3. Wasn’t there going to be announcement about DAYS’ future by this point?

    2. Not to sound like a broken record but what is with those Emmy’s? Judi Evans instead of Kathy Brier? Confusing!

    and

    1. Now that the infamous “Pole” is inevitably making the rounds, wouldn’t it be great to see Tuc Watkins on it next? He’s already proven he’s not scared of tight shorts with bulges (see the 7/4 episode last year!)

  10. I loved Snoop Dogg’s appearance on OLTL because it was so natural and the cast have some much fun with him on there and Snoop bought much media attention to the soap that hasn’t happenrf in a long time while the show is getting good again. I may not like what Snoop was represented / back in the day, but the guy has changed and I was shocked that he is a big fan of OLTL. It gave the soap a much needed boost and Snoop was having a great time.

    I wish other soaps would take notes about writing like RC is doing and bringing the soap back to life. GL still needs a lot of work to do and Y&R is so boring that I am falling asleep watching it and something needs to get their act together.

  11. I don’t really understand this wailing and gnashing of teeth over Dr. Dan and Chelsea. Didn’t Victor marry Nicole at some point? This fixation on the superficial aspects of the pairing is a little silly. Both characters are of age. The main problem is with their supposed “being in love” and the lack of chemistry. Nick and Chelsea together are like watching paint dry. I am looking forward to seeing Nick move forward from this…it is a good character for the show – sans Chelsea.

  12. No OLTL’s Rex didn’t remind me of Bamm Bamm as he wasn’t in his little yellow animal print jumper.

    ATWT having so many brunettes is like Days in the 80s being the blonde show.

    Ricky Paull Goldin on AMC is still something I’m adjusting too, then again the last time I cared about Jake Martin, he was still little Joey.

    I was into Nick and Chelsea, but surprisingly I don’t hate that they were broken up recently. They were my favorite younger couple on the soaps I watch. Even before Chelsea started having feelings for Dr. Daniel Jonas, she was taking Nick for granted, which bothered me. It is really hard to root for a couple if the writing isn’t there. I do have a history of liking pairings regardless of the age difference between the actors and/or characters, though Chelsea is a little young for this kind of pairing. If Chelsea was out of college, at least 25, and divorced twice, I would think nothing of it. I don’t hate Chelsea and Dan, but I’m not a fan girl for them either.

    Regardless of Snoop Dogg’s real life issues, I appreciate how he grew up with OLTL in his house. The Fraternity Row reference was amusing, though I didn’t need them to show “Sexual Seduction” twice. Snoop’s mom loves Bo Buchanan, so at least Mom has good taste.

    Marlena I think it would be interesting if you told us about the real life stuff in the town that GL tapes in these days. Like how is that restaurant…

  13. EricMontreal22 says:

    Snoop was good on OLTL my main prob with him isn’t so much that he like all rappers uses the term ho but more his particularly degrading sounding to women pornos he produces and has even stared in and that side of his work…

    Marlena says: Eric, I didn’t know that. Just last week I saw him on his reality show renewing his vows with his wife. As we used to say in Queens when I was growing up, what a character!

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