Marlena’s Midsummer Night’s Questions

July 14, 2009 By 30 Comments

Thinking Fans’ summer thoughts on Destiny et al.:  JTG says Shenell Edmonds’ Destiny is no stereotype. “It’s obvious OLTL’s writers are positioning Destiny as Matthew’s first girlfriend. Most of the time, the stereotypical ’mammy’ character is either sexless or oversexed. That is not the case with Destiny” … while Mike Goldberg confides Destiny has made him a believer again. “I haven’t been interested in teen romance in years” … and more, on many topics. See Comments below.

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sunBy Marlena De Lacroix

Bonjour everyone!  I’ve been taking it easy this summer, staying cool in the pool with my new pooch (see above).  Yet I’m still watching soaps and have a bunch of questions I’d like to ask.  As always, I welcome your comments!

1.  Why hasn’t anyone in the soap press asked major actor John Rubinstein — a Best Actor Tony winner for Children of a Lesser God in 1980 and a million other TV roles, plus being the son of the late piano genius Artur Rubinstein — why he’s playing a minor little part on The Young and the Restless?  His Dr. Taylor is the crooked [Read more...]

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

Marlena’s Summer Plans

June 11, 2009 By 20 Comments

sunflowerBy Marlena De Lacroix

Bonjour, everyone!  I’m sorry I haven’t posted in many weeks.  As you know, my mother passed away.  It happened amid the frenzy of the end of spring semester, at the end of a long academic year.  I need the summer to recharge, so I’m going on relaxed summer mode until the Daytime Emmys at the end of August.

However, there will be new material here.  I will post as often as I can, and there will be posts by other contributors.  I am thrilled to introduce a new regular, Matthew Weaver, who will debut soon. Matthew does something rarely done well:  soap satire.  His work is very sophisticated and entirely original, and it always makes me LOL.  You may have read his wonderful creative faux press releases and casting notices on Soap Zone, where [Read more...]

Filed Under: MARLENA, One Life to Live, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Soap Shrink at Sea: On Deck with The Young and the Restless’ Elizabeth Hendrickson

April 24, 2009 By 8 Comments

By Damon L. Jacobs 

Combine the beauty of Jennifer Garner and the comic timing of Debra Messing and what do you get?  The hysterically entertaining and insightful Elizabeth Hendrickson!  Elizabeth HendricksonDuring SoapNet’s “Rock the Soap Cruise,” we talked about her experiences and life lessons learned from mistakes on All My Children and her current run on The Young and the Restless.

D:  What part of yourself are you bringing to Chloe in Y&R these days?
E:  Humor.  I’d say 98% of her humor comes from me.  When I was on All My Children I got really bored with myself.  I came into this job (as Chloe) as literally a blank canvas.  They had absolutely no idea.  They had seen me in something on stage and brought me in to read and they just created this character for me.  So I knew from being on AMC that  when I started Maggie, I didn’t really take control . I didn’t realize that whatever you bring, they use.  Like if you start to eye roll all the time you’ll see “Maggie eye rolls.”  That’s how I found they would write my character, and I didn’t take advantage of that.  So when I came on as Chloe I said, “The world is my oyster.  I’m going to [Read more...]

Filed Under: All My Children, SOAP SHRINK, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , ,

Soaps March: When a House Is Not a Home

March 30, 2009 By 18 Comments

Thinking Fans Comment Update: Ann demands to know, “Why is Guza doing this to Robin? It kills me to see people on the GH boards calling wonderful brave Robin a slut and a cheat because this PPD is being used to destroy her character” … while Elvira rejoices, “Guiding Light’s creative resurgence (headed by the old-school Otalia story, which is every bit as good as the stories that riveted me during the golden age of soaps) is still going strong” … and more. See Comments below. 

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By Marlena De Lacroix 

I had a really hard time watching soaps during March.  My old favorite,  All My Children, was a dead bore. My other old favorite, The Bold and Beautiful, went from the ridiculous to out of control, as warring, one-upping “brothers” Rick and Ridge seemed more like those old rival cartoon characters spy vs. spySpy vs. Spy in Mad Magazine than living, breathing human beings. On As the World Turns, 17-year-old Liberty married Parker, who is barely 16.   How desperate for story can a soap get?

Marlena is a hardcore soap watcher of countless decades, so my feelings of overall alienation from soaps this month may be part of a much larger  trend. Are you a loyalist who didn’t feel so loyal to soaps in March?  And how does that make you feel?  I feel … homeless.

But here are a few brief comments on soaps I could watch:     

One Life to Live: At least there were some wonderful, powerful  performances by almost  everyone in the Matthew is paralyzed/Shane has leukemia story.  But this new Stacy … yikes!  She is clearly intended to be [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Hospital, MARLENA, One Life to Live, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Soap Shrink at Sea: On Deck with The Young and the Restless’ Greg Rikaart

March 27, 2009 By 3 Comments

By Damon L. Jacobs

The Young and the Restless‘ Greg Rikaart took the time on the SoapNet “Rock the Soap Cruise” to speak to The Soap Shrink not just once, but twice!  I found him gracious, intelligent, and very polite in correcting my mispronunciation of his last name (FYI, it’s RICK-art!).  We talked about his Y&R character Kevin Fisher, compassion, and how his understanding of psychology made a two-week character evolve into an Emmy-winning role.

D:  A lot has changed since the Soap Shrink analyzed Kevin last summer . Can you tell us what’s going on? 
G:  He put himself in a situation.  Kevin felt guilty about choices he had made in regard to Katherine Chancellor. He was trying to make amends, trying to be the knight in shining armor.  He goes to the hotel, sees this guy Clint, and confronts him.  So he goes into the hotel, he gets drugged and thrown into the trunk.  But he made the decision to put himself in a precarious situation.  It wasn’t safe. I’m sure his instincts were going against the decision.  But we don’t always follow our instincts. 

D:  Now he’s having a flashbacks …
G:  Well, yeah. I have to wonder how much of this would be happening if Kevin had really conquered [Read more...]

Filed Under: SOAP SHRINK, Young and the Restless 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: , , , , , , , , ,

He’s Back: Paul Rauch for Real!

September 19, 2008 By 26 Comments

Y&R

Thinking Fans Comment Update Sept. 20:  Christian in Boston loved Rauch’s OLTL except for the lighting (bring sunglasses!) … James expresses respect … but Cherry Ames lists Rauch’s soap sins, chapter and verse … and more. See Comments below. 

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By Marlena De Lacroix

Paul Rauch. That name may send you screaming from the room if you ever worked for him unsuccessfully, if you judge a man in totality by his bad soaps (Santa Barbara, Guiding Light) or if you are a typical internet poster who relies on rumors, innuendo and chapters of  tell-all memoirs.

But now that Rauch is back as co-executive producer of The Young and the Restless (at the age of 74, after recovering from a heart attack) I’d like to offer some first person testimony. And I can do it freely and ethically because I am a journalist, and don’t have to work  for him.  I knew and interviewed Rauch regularly from 1980-2001

I’ve always maintained that despite his stormy temperament and the people he is said to have hurt, Paul is a genius.

when he was in New York executive-producing Another World, Texas,  One Life to Live and Guiding Light.  Like everyone, I had terrible, terrible times with him (I have stories — let’s just say [Read more...]

Filed Under: Guiding Light, MARLENA, One Life to Live, Young and the Restless Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

From Bad to Good or Good To Bad: Seven Soap Characters Who Changed Before Our Eyes

September 8, 2008 By 15 Comments

Melissa Claire Egan

Thinking Fans Comment Update Sept. 9:  Sina nominates Maxie Jones … Greg would include Vanessa Chamberlain …  Aaron misses Annie Dutton … and more. See Comments below. 

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By Patrick Erwin

It’s been interesting to watch recent scenes with Melissa Claire Egan as Annie on All My Children. Once a good girl, Annie has turned into a manipulative witch. She may not be a nice person anymore, but Annie no longer comes off as a Greenlee-wannabe and is far more interesting to watch.
 
Most soap characters serve a purpose and stay in their designated slot: heroine, villain, rouge, or temptress. But every once in a while, a character will undergo a major metamorphosis and make a dramatic change, redeeming their wicked ways or shedding their goodness to get in touch with their inner bad seed.

Here are seven examples of characters who radically changed in front of our eyes.
 
1.  Annie Dutton, Guiding Light: Speaking of Annies, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this one. When she was [Read more...]

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

Young and the Restless’ Surprising Mother and Child Reunion

September 1, 2008 By 8 Comments

Elizabeth Hendrickson

Thinking Fans Comment Update Sept. 2:  Bob thinks the twist makes sense … Jonnysbro thinks EH is paydirt … but Chris thinks the writers won one and lost one. See Comments below. 

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By Patrick Erwin 

By the time you read this, Young and the Restless will have just revealed a major plot point — that fashionista Chloe, Lily’s adversary, is actually Kate, Esther’s daughter!

There are many times where I have written about soaps and have had to be grumpy about what’s happening on screen, or be the bearer of bad tidings. So I’m really happy to ring the bells about this revelation and RAVE about it. I think this is the [Read more...]

Filed Under: PATRICK, Young and the Restless 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: , , , , , , , ,
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