Appreciating Three Wise Decisions – In Soap Land, No Less

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Soap critics never miss a chance to bash all they dislike.  But credit should always be given where credit is due. So this week, Marlena would like to give kudos to three significant decisions: 1.  OWN, the Oprah network, picked up the first 40 episodes of All My Children and One Life to … [Read more...]

General Hospital Has Identity and Condiment Problems

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The core of watching soap operas is to believe.  Unfortunately, General Hospital viewers had to put that value behind them this week when the show introduced new characters played by oh-so-familiar faces, all with new hair-dos to signify their new personae.  Michael Easton, who played John, … [Read more...]

All My Children and One Life to Live: A Triumphant Return!

  By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman I’d like to congratulate Prospect Park and all the writers, crew, actors and producers involved for sensational online premieres of All My Children and One Life to Live.  Both came across as first class, with the sets, costumes and especially the actors looking just wonderful. … [Read more...]

Will a new era begin on Monday?

Monday’s the big day for the premieres of All My Children and One Life to Live on hulu.com.  As a fan of both for over 40 years, I can’t tell you how excited I am.  I’ll watch the new shows and report back that same night how I feel about them. I know all of you, my dear Thinking Fans, will be bursting with opinions, too.  And I can't wait to hear … [Read more...]

General Hospital at 50: They’ve Only Just Begun …

Marlena says:  It's a special time at General Hospital.  The 50th anniversary is coming up April 1 and it's been just about a year since headwriter Ron Carlivati and executive producer executive producer Frank Valentini took over a dying show and made it must-watch TV.  Marlena's dear friend and veteran journalist Ed Martin, who first started … [Read more...]

General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless: 15 Questions

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman 1.    Wasn’t Caleb tasting the dead correction officer’s blood at the end of General Hospital’s Friday episode one of the grossest soap moments ever?  So that's Caleb?  What’s the big deal, anyway? 2.    Am I the only one who thinks that Steve Burton has done fine so far on The Young … [Read more...]

Prospect Park to Start Production Next Month — of High Quality Soaps?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman On Monday, Prospect Park officially declared that they are starting up production on the revived One Life to Live and All My Children next month, to be presented on line.  Hooray, if it goes as planned!  What kind of soaps will these shows be?  Early reports indicate some of the actors have … [Read more...]

On Soaps, We Believe What We Choose to Believe

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: Soaps or biology -- which do you choose to believe? On General Hospital this week, surrogate mother Maxie had a miscarriage (of the week-old embryo that is Dante and Lulu’s child) and barely noticed it. The same evening, New Year’s Eve, a drunk and apparently rejected … [Read more...]

Sunday Reflections 17: Hurricane Sandy Made for Spotty Soaps … General Hospital, Don’t Jump the Shark

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman What a week!  At the height of Hurricane Sandy, the lights went out in our Manhattan apartent and stayed that way for five days.  Pas d’eau! Pas de toilettes! Quelle horreur! Thank goodness that on Day Two, Moose, Nigel and I fled to our country hide-away and by Day Three the lights (and … [Read more...]

How Prospect Park Can Save Soaps

By Connie Passalacqua Hayman aka Marlena De Lacroix In the effort to salve our wounds this summer, the canceled All My Children and One Life to Live sacrificed an essential element of soap opera: believability.  All these people back from the dead simultaneously!  Dixie!  Leo!  Zack!  How are we supposed to buy any kind of reality behind it? … [Read more...]