Depressions and Soaps Don’t Mix

March 13, 2009 By 12 Comments

Thinking Fans Comment Update: renee argues, “Soaps have tackled so many great social issues and done them well, but those in charge of soaps today are suspect and will not handle the topic (of  joblessness) with respect” … DSO816 hopefully suggests, “I believe the dramas currently on air can craft timely stories of some characters’ layoffs, but it would have to be balanced, and believable” … while Steve charges, “If they really cared about focusing on the economy, they would try to go back to the escapism that viewers really want to see” … and more. See Comments below.

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monopolyBy Marlena De Lacroix

After I got out of grad school three years ago, I spent the most miserable year of my life looking for a job. Through fifteen interviews (the teaching job I was looking for was very specific), endlessly rewritten resumes and countless rejections, there was only one thing that kept me sane: soap operas.

When I was aching and depressed about my job search, at least I knew I could sit down every day and escape into my favorite shows.  Even though at the time they were not so great (Higley was writing One Life To Live, B&E All My Children and LML The Young and the Restless), the soaps were gthere every day to make me feel safe, to give me something concrete to look forward to.

The last thing I want to see on a soap is moi!   And certainly not me looking for a job or me even knowing there’s a cold cruel depression outside of my warm, warm afternoon TV set.

The far away antics of my fave characters — Dorian, Viki, Big Steph, Ric Lansing, snappy Jack and crazy Gloria — kept me occupied, and, for a while, kept my mind off my troubles. The LAST thing I wanted to see on these shows was anyone who was emulating my life looking for a job.

Now a website called Media Channel quotes Craig Tomashoff, TV Guide’s executive editor, reporting that soaps will be the first [Read more...]

Filed Under: MARLENA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Marlena’s “Only the Bests” List 2008

December 29, 2008 By 18 Comments

New Year'sEve clip art

Thinking Fans’ picks and pans for 2008: Cherry Ames pans Todd/Marty as “the foulest story ever” … DSO816 picks the Angie/Jesse reunion … while Marlene agrees GHNS2 set the bar higher for all soaps … and more. See Comments below. 

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By Marlena De Lacroix

Last year I decided I will no longer do “Best” and “Worst” lists for soaps.  After all, there have been so many “worsts” this year (real life deaths, superstar firings, General Hospital limosex and other tasteless storylines, wasted returns of some soap veterans), why would I want to re-inflict the pain on you?

 So, darlings, here are my “bests.”

General Hospial Night Shift 2 — As I wrote last fall,”If they could bottle this show, they could save soap opera.”  This 2008 soap dared to remember that soap opera is supposed to be about love, compassion, close friendships and the importance [Read more...]

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

A Soap Shrink Special: The Valuable Lesson You Can Learn From The Bold and the Beautiful’s Stephanie Forrester

September 26, 2008 By 3 Comments

Thinking Fans Comment Update Sept. 30:  Matthew Cormier wonders why Stephanie is so jealous of Brooke … jefhamlin says it all started with Beth Logan … and Cherry Ames says the marvelous Susan Flannery almost makes her want to watch B&B, but not quite. See Comments below. 

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By Damon L. Jacobs

Soap operas are unique in their ability to slowly portray a character’s bad behaviors, tragic downfall, and ultimate redemption.  But lately I’ve been troubled by the vehemence of the anger, blame, and finger-pointing OFF screen.  We have all recently seen actors, producers, anonymous bloggers and even journalists engage in attack, blame, and judging.  My feeling is that many are ignoring the most consistent and essential thread in the soaps’ history:  Good people do messed up things when they are afraid.  If someone is in pain or insecure, they are more likely to lash out at others than to ask for help.  They deserve empathy and understanding, not attack.  Case in point: Stephanie Forrester.

When we first met Stephanie in 1987, we were introduced to a stylistic, calm, rational business woman (played from the start by Susan Flannery) who had a tendency to meddle a bit too much in her children’s love lives, especially [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bold and the Beautiful, SOAP SHRINK Tagged With: , , , , ,

Soap Surprises: Five Holy @#%! Moments

August 12, 2008 By 37 Comments

Marlena killer

Thinking Fans Holy @#%! Update Aug. 14:  Melanie picks Wayne Northrup’s return as Roman on Days … B3 loved Gwyneth as the killer on Loving … Carl recalls five faves from Santa Barbara … and more.  See Comments below.

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By Patrick Erwin

Soap plots have many twists and turns in them, but we rarely get to see a complete “bombshell” surprise, like the ones we’ve seen in The Sixth Sense, The Crying Game, or The Usual Suspects. The “reveal” of a surprise on soaps usually happens a little bit at a time, with a character or two here or there. And unfortunately, the appetite for news and spoilers has spoiled the element of surprise for many viewers (and that isn’t doing the shows any favors, either).

But there have been moments of complete, utter surprise on the soaps. Here (in no particular order) are five examples of fantastic, goosebump-producing, oh-no-they-didn’t moments.

NOTE: The moments I am talking about, and have listed below, were stories where we the audience, were totally surprised when these scenes played out. There are many, many moments, like [Read more...]

Filed Under: As the World Turns, Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light, PATRICK Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Do You Love or Hate it When Soaps Repeat Their Histories?

July 30, 2008 By 13 Comments

Thinking Fans Comment Update July 31:  How to repeat soap histories? Melanie counts the ways … James cheers the Reva/Josh movie wedding … while esther is generally unimpressed by retreads … and more. See Comments below.  

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By Patrick Erwin  

Each of the eight daytime soaps on American network TV these days has a substantial history. The Bold and the Beautiful is the youngest at 21, Guiding Light the eldest at 71. Collectively, this is a rich history. And I’m all for calling on the past to inform current storylines.

But there’s a curious trend emerging this summer, and I’m not sure what to make of it. A few shows have gone beyond revisiting history — they actually seem to be reliving the stories in a way we haven’t really seen before. The stories we’re seeing are often [Read more...]

Filed Under: All My Children, Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, PATRICK, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Bold and the Beautiful: Sadism in the Afternoon

July 18, 2008 By 9 Comments

Bridget

Thinking Fans Comment Update July 19: Purple Haze questions Bridget’s sanity … Levi says the whole story is unrealistic … renee has a new definition of B&B … and more.  See Comments below.

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By Marlena De Lacroix

In college or on DVD,  did you seen the cult movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)?  There’s a sweet. funny  character called The Black Knight (played by John Cleese), whose simple duty it is to guard a bridge in Medieval times.  In a battle one day, his right  arm is cut off.  Then later, he is shorn of his left arm. He says happily, “It’s only a flesh wound.”  In another skirmish, he loses a leg and, still cheerful, hops around on one leg.   And then on another day, the Knight loses his left leg, but not his optimism.  His torso is seen hopping wildly across the landscape, as he whistles happily.           

That  to me is the character of Bridget Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful.  Even in a medium where it’s an expected practice to cause heroines  heartbreak, the degradation of Dr. Bridget is reaching [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bold and the Beautiful, MARLENA Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Marlena’s Emmy Picks in 2008′s Humpty Dumpty Soap World

June 18, 2008 By 11 Comments

emmy

By Marlena De Lacroix

I’m not overly excited about this week’s Daytime Emmys. I could be fluffy and say it’s because they moved the ceremony  to L.A. several years ago and I don’t get to go and to buy a dress, and to me (I attended here in New York 23 years in a row) the Daytime Emmys was always about The Dress.  But the truth is, daytime drama, which I’ve spent most of  life my loving,  is a collapsing industry, and I just don’t feel very celebratory.  Glitz and glam be damned, wouldn’t the time and money spent on the Emmys be better spent gathering everyone in the industry together to meet and intelligently discuss  finding a way to put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

Oh well ,brighten up,  Marlena! Friday night is the Emmys broadcast (8 p.m. EDT on ABC) and you must make award picks.   As Irving Berlin wrote [Read more...]

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

10 Merry Mid-Month of May Questions

May 14, 2008 By 13 Comments

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 [Read more...]

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

Happy New Year! Thinking Soap Fans Pick B&W of 2007

December 31, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Happy New Year, mes chers!

Marlena toasts you with a glass of champagne, wishing only soaps that are good this year.  Speaking of, so many of my Thinking Fans sent in their own Best and Worst picks for 2007, there’s barely room to post them all!  I love the intelligence of them and appreciate how discerning all of you are when writing about a field of soaps that is less than enchanting.  Bold and battered, Thinking Soap Fans march on in 2008, using their soap savvy and quality critical judgement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: MARLENA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marlena’s “Only the Bests” List 2007

December 26, 2007 By 4 Comments

By Marlena De Lacroix

I no longer do “Best” and “Worst” lists for soaps.  After all, there have been so many “worsts” this year, why would I want to re-inflict the pain on you again?  Moi loves mon readers.  So, only the “bests” for you, darlings.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: As the World Turns, Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, MARLENA, One Life to Live, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , ,
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