By Patrick Erwin
The Young and the Restless has a long history of being a solid hour of soap, mostly unmoved by trends or the fleeting fancies that other shows have lived (or died) by. But in the last few years, Y&R has undergone some substantial changes — changes in writers, in producers, and in the […]

Posted on January 31st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: PATRICK, Young and the Restless | 5 Comments »

 By Marlena De Lacroix
I have grown so tired of the soap opera convention known as the multiple-suspect murder mystery storyline.  Of late, they’ve become meaningless, predictable or, even worse, totally incomprehensible.
The multiple-suspect murder plot was only done to perfection on the old full-time soap mystery show Edge of Night.  But the plot only became really popular on other soaps around the time

Posted on January 28th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: As the World Turns, Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, MARLENA, One Life to Live, Young and the Restless | 19 Comments »

By Patrick Erwin
You may remember the last time I wrote about Guiding Light, I shared my opinion that the show was “operating at diminished capacity.”  Those were harsh words for a show that used to be must-see-TV for me.  Now, I don’t know that GL is out of intensive care just yet, but there’re a few […]

Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Guiding Light, PATRICK | 9 Comments »

By Marlena De Lacroix
While we were all bitching and moaning about Budig, I for one almost missed the soap opera story of the year.  This is the denouement of that Marcie-on-the-run story on One Life to Live, in which Marcie had fled Llanview with her “adopted” son (newly handed over by the court to Tommy’s biological […]

Posted on January 20th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: MARLENA, One Life to Live | 21 Comments »

By Patrick Erwin
For all its onscreen and offscreen turmoil, Days of Our Lives seems to have a few stories working for it right now. One of them is Chelsea and Stephanie and the sorority girls dealing with the aftermath of the campus rapist, Ford, who raped Stephanie and Cordy and threatened Chelsea. Initially, the story […]

Posted on January 17th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, PATRICK, Young and the Restless | 6 Comments »

By Marlena De Lacroix
A member of our family has been ill, so it’s been hard enough to post.  And so at the end of  tough days,  I turn to where I have always turned since I was a teen for a bit of relief, comfort and a sense of belonging:  to daytime soaps.  Right now […]

Posted on January 13th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: All My Children, MARLENA | 40 Comments »

By Patrick Erwin
Most soap operas are a unique combination of realism and complete fantasy. But every once in a while, there are characters or storylines that transcend the fictional wall, and spill over into real life — one’s own real life — in a very powerful way.

Posted on January 7th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: As the World Turns, PATRICK | 13 Comments »

By Marlena De Lacroix
We’ve just passed New Year’s, and a certain ennui has set in this week on soaps.  This winter of Marlena’s discontent is made worse by the arrival of scab-written scripts. Are they here so soon?  On General Hospital and The Young and the Restless, this would seem to be the case.  Are […]

Posted on January 4th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: General Hospital, MARLENA, Young and the Restless | 13 Comments »

By Patrick Erwin
The death of the soap opera may have been widely exaggerated — they’re still alive and kicking.  But it’s no secret that the patient is ailing.  Ratings for many of the shows are anemic, and they’ve continued to shrink.

Posted on January 2nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: All My Children, As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, PATRICK | 9 Comments »