Ten Happy Halloween Questions

October 26, 2009 By 9 Comments

By Marlena De Lacroix

1.  Isn’t it most curious that two of the most intelligent women characters in daytime — Dr. Marty Saybrooke on One Life to Live and fashion mogul Jackie M on The Bold and the Beautiful – have gone from brunette to blonde in the last few months?  Fashion, or just another attempt by the networks/shows to “dumb down” smart female characters?  Regardless, Susan Haskell and Lesley Ann-Downe continue to look gorgeous and act with integrity!

2.  The great, the one and only Eric Braeden; my revered and beloved Robin Strasser — am I the only one l who feels used and tired out by … Continued below

Halloween Marlena

MARLENA AND NIGEL’S HALLOWEEN POOCH PARADE

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Continued from above … being drawn into their public contract negotiations?  Sure, they don’t deserve pay cuts!  But can’t they keep the drama and tragedy private?  The press gets [Read more...]

Filed Under: All My Children, As the World Turns, Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, MARLENA, One Life to Live Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Downward Soap Spiral Accelerates

October 10, 2009 By 20 Comments

By Marlena De Lacroix

Bonjour, everyone.  This November will mark 20th anniversary of my becoming Marlena De Lacroix, soap critic. Marlena’s mission has always been to write the truth as I see it, no matter how impolitic.   

But now, for me — I repeat, for me — it’s clear that we’ve reached the end stage of network daytime soap opera, a medium we have watched forever and loved so much.   Perhaps that’s why I find watching soaps and writing criticism so difficult

For years, we’ve watched and believed plots that would be unlikely or even ridiculous if they actually happened. But the secret of great soap opera is that the best and brightest writers knew how to craft and pace storylines so that they were EMOTIONALLY believable.  Not any more.  Not now!

right now.  Fans, posters and columnists are angry and hurt.  A critic can beat soaps with a baseball bat every single week, but what’s the point?  I used to write about soaps because they were fun to write about, sheer joy!  Now, [Read more...]

Filed Under: All My Children, Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, MARLENA, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , , ,

James Franco to General Hospital? Marlena’s Top 10!

October 1, 2009 By 16 Comments

By Marlena De Lacroix

James Franco to guest star for two months on General Hospital has to be the biggest bombshell news in the decades I’ve watched and written about soaps.  I just heard, and it’s fabulous!  As much as I love soaps, my mind jumped to wise guy remarks, a la David Letterman’s nightly Top 10.James Franco

And I have no shame: here’s my instant Top 10 list.  Marlena challenges you  to add your remarks after mine, all in good fun, of course.

10.  I saw James Franco in his breakout role, James Dean in a TV movie bio of Dean, the first and greatest “younger” star ever.  James Dean was a genius; young Franco displayed genius playing him.  Have you ever heard the word genius being applied to anyone (yes, even the bravura Anthony Geary) on GH?      

9.  This casting dispels the Big Lie told by the soap magazines for the 35 years I’ve been reading them, namely that every soap actor is great. Can you imagine Deke Cheatwood in a scene with Franco?

8.  Steve Burton on the same stage as Franco?  If you thought Burton’s hair stood straight up on his head naturally, you can imagine [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Hospital, MARLENA Tagged With: , , ,