NEW YORK – Moose and I went to see Joy Behar’s new play "My First Ex-Husband" in off-Broadway’s new little MMAC Theater mainly to see Susan Lucci. She was performing on stage as a member of a quartet of superb actresses in a darkly comic exploration of the painful failed marriages of eight women, each a vividly drawn character. Ms. Behar’s … [Read more...]
In Memoriam: Felicia Minei Behr, Consummate Executive Producer
March 10, 2025 by 2 Comments
We’ve received the sad news that much beloved executive producer Felicia Minei Behr, who helmed All My Children and As the World Turns among other soaps, has passed away following a five-year battle with brain cancer. She was 83. She also produced Ryan’s Hope, and, as ABC’s vice president for Daytime from 2000 to 2004, oversaw General Hospital, … [Read more...]
Welcome Home, “All My Children”
October 18, 2024 by 2 Comments
Not long ago, Lifetime announced that it would bring back “All My Children” in the form of two made-for-TV movies, one for a future holiday season. Both are in early stages of development. I’m ecstatic. Ever since I started watching “AMC” at its premiere in 1970, it was and continued to be my favorite soap until its cancelation in 2013 – an … [Read more...]
All My Children’s Kelly Ripa — She Won the Lottery
November 17, 2022 by 9 Comments
This is a review of Kelly Ripa’s autobiography, Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories, published by HarperCollins: In 1990, a fresh, exciting character played by a phenomenal new 20-year-old talent named Kelly Ripa debuted on All My Children. The character was Hayley Vaughan, the illegitimate teenage daughter of Arlene Vaughan (played by Olivia … [Read more...]
The Bold and the Beautiful: Maya/Myron is a Transgender Person
March 22, 2015 by 7 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman To commemorate The Bold and the Beautiful’s 28th anniversary last Wednesday, executive producer and headwriter Bradley P. Bell staged a daytime soap cliffhanger that is the shock of the soap century: revealing that Maya Avant (Karla Mosley) is really Myron, a transgender person. … [Read more...]
Big Changes at Marlena and Five More Passover Questions
March 15, 2015 by 2 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman We’ve made some changes here at marlenadelacroix.com in an effort to upgrade our service to you, our Thinking Fans. We’ve added a search box, all the better to help you locate what we’re had to say in the past about your favorite soaps and their characters, casts and storylines. And we’re … [Read more...]
Character Actors Add Much Needed Character To Soaps
July 13, 2014 by 9 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Soap stories, most of which are about romance and love triangles, do tend to get repetitive. Adding variety and spice to this formula are character roles, which do a lot to make soaps more interesting. These characters often provide comic relief and serve as “talk tos” for the main … [Read more...]
Daytime’s Most Famous “Love to Hate” Characters
July 6, 2014 by 19 Comments
By Marlena Delacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman For any soap opera, a “love to hate” character is money in the bank. Fascinated by their endless power to manipulate other characters and instigate interesting plots, these diabolical characters are adored by audiences who avidly follow all that they do. “Love to hate” characters … [Read more...]
Should Children and Babies Be Killed off on Soap Operas?
June 15, 2014 by 8 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Back in the day … way back, actually … it was unheard of to kill off children, especially babies, on soaps. The traditional audience was, after all, stay at home moms who watched or listened to their soaps while rolling out pie crust or ironing the family laundry. Today, the taboo has … [Read more...]
