Who Created All My Children’s Erica and Sugar on the Run?

By Marlena De Lacroix You ever think you're going to hate something and you wind up liking it?  I certainly chortled when I heard jail-bound Erica Kane on All My Children was going to escape  from the cops during a  police van crash and go on the run handcuffed to a  bank robber named ... Sugar. Some AMC writer has to be an old movie fan, I … [Read more...]

Douglas Marland: A Personal Remembrance

Douglas Marland:  May 5, 1935 - March 6, 1993 By Marlena De Lacroix In 1981 I was the editor of a soap magazine which had a great reputation and no budget.  Every year we gave out awards, but we had to do it in small ceremonies on the set.  My head was whirling from the first one on the set of All My Children.  An actor I had admired who … [Read more...]

All My Children’s Angie and Jesse: Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing!

By Marlena De Lacroix All My Children's newly revived characters Angie and Jesse are causing me pain.  At the end of every scene they are in, I start to hurt, because I have to watch so many scenes of the rest of the storylines on AMC until I see them in their next scene.  These characters (and actors Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams) are so … [Read more...]

10 Sweet and Soapy Valentine’s Day Questions

By Marlena De Lacroix 1.  Is it my imagination or did bravura actress Sarah Brown return to General Hospital (as Claudia Zacchara) with a little something extra under the signature slutty red wrap dress?  And isn't fierce mob princess Claudia very similar to Maerose Prizzi (Oscar winner Anjelica Huston) the fierce mob princess who wants to take … [Read more...]

Back to the Future: Soaps Try to Revive 80s Glory

By Patrick Erwin The death of the soap opera may have been widely exaggerated -- they're still alive and kicking.  But it's no secret that the patient is ailing.  Ratings for many of the shows are anemic, and they've continued to shrink. … [Read more...]