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 6: Cheese-tastic Days of Our Lives; Great Production on General Hospital; Marlena Recommends

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman Days of Our Lives: “What’s that you’re watching, Marlena? That old movie Earthquake (1974)?” My husband Moose was looking at the TV screen where battered and bloodied people were climbing out of the wreckage of a ballroom that had experienced a terrific explosion. “No, it’s not quite … [Read more...]

Sunday Reflections 5: The Young and the Restless, The Revamp; Reality Shows on Y&R and General Hospital; Gold Medal GH

By Marlena Delacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless:  The hardest job in the soap world is being done right now by new executive producer Jill Farren Phelps and headwriter Josh Griffith as they revamp Y&R and are rumored to be paring down its expensive cast.  Marlena has always believed it’s not a critic’s job to … [Read more...]

Sunday Reflections 4: The Young and the Restless’ Jeanne Cooper Book Reviewed; General Hospital

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless:  Like gossip on old movies and TV and the soap opera world? Like to laugh?  Wanna get all the inside whispered into your ear by a great soap opera icon?  Then get yourself a copy of Not Young, Still Restless (HarperCollins) the very frank and entertaining … [Read more...]

Sunday Reflections 3: The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless: Finally a soap does what I’ve long advocated for this era of desperation:  perform a radical life-saving change to save itself.  Y&R has sent in then Marines in the form of new executive producer Jill Farren Phelps and new headwriter Josh Griffith. And Marlena … [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...]

Marlena Refreshed and General Hospital Done Right

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Hi, darlings!   How do you like the marlenadelacroix.com site’s new look?  Marlena needed to be refreshed, so I went in for some work.  If Jeanne Cooper can have her face lifted so publicly on screen as Katherine Chancellor so many years ago on The Young and the Restless, and the equally … [Read more...]

Introducing “Sunday Reflections”: General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman Sunday is a great time to reflect on what's happened during the week on soaps. So Marlena happily presents the first of a feature called "Sunday Reflections. General Hospital: Leave it to this regime at GH to bring in a GQ mobster, Joe Scully Jr., as played by the mighty fine looking … [Read more...]

Two Tone GHers

By Marlena De Lacroix. a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman What's with the dip-dye hair on General Hospital?  When I first saw that Finola Hughes' (heroine  Anna Devane)  usual dark hair was blond in the lowest regions when she first came back to the show, I thought it was unusual as a hairstyle   But I chalked it up to the fact that … [Read more...]

Review: Day One of Good Afternoon America

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman I watched the premiere of Good Afternoon America today with cold fear in my heart:  Will this show be good enough to replace (and thus cancel) General Hospital if it really catches on this summer after this nine-week experiment? I got the heebee jeebees right away.   Hosts Josh Elliot and … [Read more...]