Barely on the Fringe of Believability

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman

On soaps, romance comes in many permutations, some exhilarating and some, shall we say, less so.  Far out on the latter end of the spectrum is the romance that seems to be on the horizon on The Bold and Beautiful. I’d place it solidly in the category of “Ew!”

We got our first clue this week when jewelry company head Quinn kissed Forrester CEO Eric for not cancelling her contract with the company.  The kiss of gratitude was clearly meant to be romantic. But he’s decades older than she is, and the big smooch came off as gross and most unbelievable. The second clue came the next day when Eric kissed her back, and it was like Grandpa lip-locking his granddaughter.  Are we ready for this May-December pairing? Pas moi!

Keeping It Real

It’s a soap’s obligation to present situations that feel absolutely real to the viewer.  This week two  soaps came up with storyline turns that, to put it mildly, felt very contrived.   Do these diseases really have such immediate and radical consequences?   

 — On General Hospital, Sonny, a manic-depressive, went off his meds. In real life, such meds take a while to wear off it not taken. But Sonny, still grieving for his lately deceased love Connie, immediately lost it and danced up a storm at Kiki and Morgan’s wedding reception. Further, he blurted out that he had  kept from “cousin”  Michael his knowledge that Morgan knew that Kiki wasn’t a Quartermaine before he married her. A little quick to blame the outburst on the meds. Even so, I loved the crazed  manic gleam in Maurice Benard’s eyes during this party sequence.

— On The Young and the Restless, Dylan, a victim of PTSD, kidnaped baby Connor when he found out that Adam is the biological  father of “his” son with Chelsea.  It was terribly out of character for Dylan to do this, and who knew that the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome could be so overwhelming and drastic? Again, solid acting came to the rescue. Kudos to Steve Burton.

Utility Player

In baseball they call a player who can play several positions well a utility player.  Well, this year’s newest and  most valuable soap utility  player may be William deVry, who now plays Derek Wells/Julian Jerome on GH.  He’s equally adept as a criminal (who this week committed murder), a businessman, a concerned father and grandfather and a romantic love interest for Nancy Grahn‘s Alexis, even though he is a decade younger than she is.  Canadian actor deVry is no stranger, of course. He proved his great value and talent on soaps in the past, playing Bianca’s rapist Michael Cambias on  All My Children and suicide victim Storm Logan on B&B.

Llanview Memories

I’d like to strongly endorse hard-working author Jeff Giles’ “Llanview in the Afternoon:  An Oral History of One Life to Live,” available on Amazon in both paperback and e-book form.   It’s nostalgia heaven for  longtime viewers of the show, like moi, as stars and backstagers tell in their own words the story of the many decades the soap was on ABC.  What I really liked was the story is told not only by its big stars like Erika Slezak (Viki) and Bob Woods (Bo), but also like long-ago favorites like MarilynChris (Wanda) and Julie Montgomery (Samantha.)  Cheers! 

Comments

  1. Thank you for your recommendation of “Llanview in the Afternoon” – it sounds like a book I would enjoy reading!

  2. I agree with you Marlena about Eric Forrester and Quinn Fuller. I find it hard to believe that Thorne Forrester languishes in the basement while his father has had multiple love interests. Putting Thorne and Quinn together would mean that Thorne finally had a love interest that wasn’t Ridge or Eric’s cast-offs. Or why not Quinn and Thomas? I would much prefer Eric to turn to Pam who adores him than yet another decades younger woman. No offense to John McCook who is such a silver fox but it’s totally unbelievable that he gets more women than Thomas and Thorne combined.

    As for GH, I was willing to buy Sonny’s manic episode, Over the years since his diagnosis, Sonny has never been consistent with taking his medication. It would be in character for a mob boss to not want to be dependent on medication, nor to totally accept his illness. What I hate is that the writers seem to have forgotten the role that Jax played in Morgan’s life as a surrogate father. At one point, Carly wanted Jax to adopt Morgan and take his name. While Carly and Sonny may have treated him as disposable, Jax was always there for him.

    • I love your idea re: Thorne & Quinn, Elizabeth! I also agree that Mr. McCook gets WAY to much action for a man of his age. Pam would be the perfect age-mate for him.

    • I have no trouble believing that Eric gets more romantic action that the two T’s–Thomas and Thorne. After all, Eric is an extraordinarily wealthy man and beautiful young women, who crave the spotlight and are materialistic and grasping flutter their eyelashes at such men. Do you honestly think those twenty something babes would give that decrepit, hunched over Hugh Hefner the time of day if he wasn’t Hugh Hefner? Has anyone ever told Eric that he isn’t the charmer he thinks he is, that those beautiful women were only after his fame and bulging wallet.

  3. Sorry Marlena, I have to disagree with you about Steve Burton in those kidnapping scenes. I though they were terrible and Steve’s acting left a LOT to be desired. I hate when a new character comes on a show and they “manufacture” a back story for him that I don’t give a rats ass about. I’m not looking forward to any more of those PSTD scenes, but I have a feeling that S/L will be front & center for a while.
    Unless someone gets smart and drops it…please?

  4. He’s a capable actor if you’re into that robotic acting method, deer-caught-in-the headlights look.

    Marlena usually has great taste in lauding soap stars with mega talent. Steve Burton is not that. He has pretty much been phoning it in since he won that Emmy in 1999. He’s the textbook definition of an actor showing up for work (where Jill Farren Phelps is residing at the time) just for the paycheck.

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