Marlena’s Summer Plans

By Marlena De LacroixBonjour, 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, … [Read more...]

All About My Mother

By Connie Passalacqua Hayman (Marlena De Lacroix)My mother,  Jeanne Passalacqua, passed away last Thursday, April 23, in Bronxville, N.Y from complications of Alzheimer's disease. She was 88.My mother had two great passions in life: entertainment and education.  She became totally devoted to movies during her Lower East Side Depression … [Read more...]

Guiding Light: What Happened? Start Your THINKING Long Ago

Thinking Fans savor vintage Guiding Light: Mike Goldberg says, "It seems to me that Guiding Light has had so many magical periods and then so many dreadful periods. The era you describe was magnificent" ... while from Italy, Giada declares, "I don't want to be a 'laudator temporis acti,' someone who praises the past for its own sake, but I do … [Read more...]

Guiding Light: Keep It Burning!

Thinking Fans cherish Guiding Light memories: Levi recalls, "(GL) was a show my grandmother and I talked about on the phone and watched together. Even on her deathbed, we still talked about our favorite soap" ... while Jonathan Reiner declares, "Losing GL is not just a blow for the genre, it's a major loss for 20th Century Americana" ... and David … [Read more...]

Soaps March: When a House Is Not a Home

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 … [Read more...]

Depressions and Soaps Don’t Mix

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 … [Read more...]

One Life To Live Ups the Stakes, But Does It Dare Fire Superstar Slezak?

Thinking Fans Comment Update: Cherry Ames declares, "OLTL is so good in some ways, but in other ways it's just sick and sordid and as bad as reality (global recession, wars, mass killings in Darfur and Sudan, Octo-mom).  I want something more uplifting and positive" ... while Beth predicts, "Forcing Erika Slezak from OLTL, in my view, is something … [Read more...]

Soap February: Blame Executive Malfeasance!

Thinking Fans Comment Update: BL avers, "I have to say the line (on AMC) about how lesbians don't kiss men was perfect, because why would they?" ... Carl posits, "GL has been so much about nasty thugs over the past few years, Phillip's return is a way to bring a more heroic character back into the spotlight" ... while Melanie warns that GH "is on … [Read more...]

Ask Marlena: Whatever Happened to the Marlena Awards?

By Marlena De LacroixHi everyone! I'm ecstatic to be snowed under with the many, many Ask Marlena questions submitted by all of you in the past week.  They are all intelligent and thoughtful and I am so flattered to hear from so many Thinking Fans I've gotten to know over the past year. I'm starting with just one great question today, and will … [Read more...]

Introducing a New Feature: Ask Marlena

What's on your minds, dear Thinking Fans? Do you have questions about current soaps you'd like to ask Marlena?  Or questions about soaps of the glory days past?  I'm the original Been-There-Done-That gal who's written about and been around soaps forever, and I love to talk with you, the best, most intelligent fans in the world, about where we've … [Read more...]