That Was the Week That Was

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a.  Connie Passalacqua Hayman I can barely remember a daytime soap week that had as much breaking news as this one.  Here’s a peek into Marlena’s reporting notebook: Monday I am stunned that General Hospital (Frank Valentini, executive producer; Ron Carlivati, headwriter)  has  fired Ian Buchanan (Duke … [Read more...]

Character Actors Add Much Needed Character To Soaps

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Soap stories, most of which are about romance and love triangles, do tend to get repetitive.  Adding variety and spice to this formula are character roles, which do a lot to make soaps more interesting.  These characters often provide comic relief and serve as “talk tos” for the main … [Read more...]

The 2014 Daytime Emmys: A Pleasant Evening Online

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman This year’s Daytime Emmys – for the first time, streamed live  online but not televised -- they turned out to be relatively painless.  Without commercials, the show flowed nicely, and was capably produced. Hostess Kathy Griffin was funny and full of salt and vinegar as always. The … [Read more...]

Daytime Emmy Nominations – Marlena Still Cares

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman     The Daytime Emmy nominations for 2014 have been announced. Do you care?  After all these years, Marlena still does. So let’s discuss: Best Actor:  Aside from Jason Thompson (Patrick, General Hospital) the other four nominees all come from The Young and the Restless:  Peter Bergman … [Read more...]

Is Bold and Beautiful Best Soap?

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman With only four daytime soaps left, it seems fruitless to name a Best Soap. It’s all a matter of personal preference anyway.  If you like your soaps slow and full of character, you like The Young and the Restless.  If you like your plots fast and full of surprises, General Hospital  is … [Read more...]

General Hospital: This Storyline Should End

By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalaqua Hayman When has a storyline go on too long?  This is a question normally leftonly to headwriters who must figure out if an audience is still interested in the outcome of a story. Right now on General Hospital, one storyline that has gone on too long is the secret biological parentage of Maxie’s baby … [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...]

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, 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...]