The Bold and the Beautiful: Is There Still Right and Wrong?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman  There she was in an evening dress with her beautiful blonde hair put up in a sophisticated bun, running through the streets of Monte Carlo.  All of a sudden she was caught up into the arms of a strong, dark  handsome man, and the two embraced in hard kiss. Was it Grace Kelly and Cary … [Read more...]

The Bold and the Beautiful Reaches a Pinnacle of Soapy Goodness!

By Marlene De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Every soap generation has its touchstone moment. It usually happens when a plot turn is so soapy good it earns your allegiance to its characters for decades.  Mine occurred on Another World in the 70s when Alice (Jacqueline Courtney), engaged to Steve (George Reinholt), found out her … [Read more...]

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...]

The Bold and the Beautiful: Three Into Two Won’t Go

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Bold and the Beautiful is just past its 25th birthday and carries on doing  what it does best:   love triangles.  The show’s  theme might as well be, Three Into Two Won’t Go, which was the title  of an English movie I remember from 1969. Apart from the nifty title, it was a fairly … [Read more...]

A Negative Vote on This Year’s Daytime Emmys

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman  Last year I praised HLN’s first production of the Daytime Emmys because it was straightforward and lean.  This year’s show was exactly the opposite -- overlong (almost three hours) and full of things that just shouldn’t have been included.  Boring! How about that couch?  I’m talking … [Read more...]

Franco: Make or Break for General Hospital?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman So let’s take a survey.  How many Thinking Fans think Roger Howarth’s great charm as an actor can overcome the unbelievable maneuvers that have been made to bring back evil Franco as a viable everyday character?  Erasing Franco’s responsibility for the  rapes of Sam and Michael has taken … [Read more...]

The 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations: Some Killer Choices!

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman What do you think of the 40th Annual Daytime Emmy nominees?  The list is long and illustrative given the fact that there are only four soaps.  Several categories are full of names that are most deserving. It would be very hard to cast a decisive vote should one have the … [Read more...]

General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful: The Decisions of Great Showmen

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman For the last year, I have been writing what great showmen executive producer Frank Valentini and headwriter Ron Carlivati are with their crackerjack rescue of General Hospital.   As I wrote last week, the Nurses Week was a blast, with the windup this week as wonderful as its beginnings. I … [Read more...]

This Week On General Hospital: Watching, Remembering and Perhaps Thinking Too Much … The Bold and the Beautiful’s Game-Changing Pregnancy

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman I certainly ran the full gamut of emotions while watching General Hospital this week.  Tell me you didn’t also have tears in your eyes when Luke and Laura were reunited and Luke flashed back onto an earlier reunion when Laura came back from her Cassadine kidnapping in 1983.  I was surprised … [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...]