By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: So what do you think of GH’s vampire story that features characters from that soap canceled a decade ago, Port Charles? Because it’s not over yet, I'm not going to conclusively judge the storyline that already involves one murder (Allison Barrington's) and has “mad” … [Read more...]
A “Bah Humbug” Christmas … Plus, The Borg is Back!
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Oh how I miss soap Christmases the way they used to be. Today, all soaps have been scrubbed of religion. This year only two of the four soaps -- Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful -- continued with at least some of the traditions that made the holiday a really special time to … [Read more...]
Marlena’s Best of the Best, 2012
By Marlena De Lacroix, a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman It’s the end of 2012, time for best and worst lists. Because soaps are in such danger and I’ve already recorded most of the worsts in the weekly column I’m choosing only to do the bests here. And Marlena being Marlena sometimes I have multiple choices in each category. Best Actress: … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 21: Two Award-worthy Stories on The Bold and the Beautiful … On General Hospital – Maxie, Forget Being a Surrogate Mother!
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Bold and the Beautiful: While the rest of us were distracted by the fireworks of General Hospital’s highly entertaining, twist-filled November sweeps (A.J. back from the dead! Duke is Faison!), perhaps the finest dramatic work of the month or even the year was going on over at The Bold … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 16: Divine and Not So Divine Moments from The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital and Days of Our Lives
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman For Marlena, this week wasn’t about the shows or the storylines. It was about individual moments, some divine, some not so... Divine: Nikki and Victor’s long embrace, promising each other to rebuild among the ruins of the Newman ranch, all set to The Young and Restless theme (Nadia’s … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 14: General Hospital’s Non-Stop Storyline Excitement … Bold and Beautiful — Sobbing for the Forthcoming Death of Stephanie
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: “No one ever dies in this town,” exclaimed Luke and Tracy together as they talked about the wounded and missing Joe Scully Jr. on Friday’s episode. Don’t you just adore when soaps make fun of themselves? Because back from the dead has certainly been endemic lately on GH. … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 11: Mucho Macho Man on Bold and Beautiful … Victor Lives Again on Young and Restless … Mourning a Great Actor from General Hospital
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Bold and the Beautiful: I’m not going to apologize or use nice words. My favorite character on B&B is “Dollar” Bill Spencer because he has balls, something almost all the men on this show in its 25-year history have lacked. Unlike the romantic ping pong balls that have been Ridge … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 7: Central Actors’ Leave-takings on Days of Our Lives, Bold & Beautiful and General Hospital; Headlocks and Diction on B&B and GH; One Strange Interview from B&B
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital: When I used to work on newspapers it was journalistic thinking that a list of three of anything -- three sightings of groovy over-the-knee boots on the subway, three Hollywood divorces, three murders in a Queens … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections: General Hospital, Bold and Beautiful and Marlena’s Radio Days
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: Heather! Heather! Heather! That’s practically all the GH audience is seeing this summer. Last month I praised multi-soap veteran actress Robin Mattson to the sky, placing her very much toward the top of the Soap Villains Hall of Fame (which I made up.) Now it’s time … [Read more...]
B&B: Does One Show-Eating Storyline Work?
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Bradley Bell has been trying a bold soap experiment the last three quarters of a year on The Bold and Beautiful, featuring one storyline, the Hope-Liam-Steffy triangle, almost to the exclusion of most others. And he's been succeeding -- the ratings are still comparatively healthy. So I ask … [Read more...]
