By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Storyline inconsistencies bother soap viewers who want their storylines to be thoroughly believable and linear (not to mention being true to a soap’s actual history). We’ve seen plenty of them in the unfinished (as of this writing) Fluke story on General Hospital. Now I’d like to … [Read more...]
Heavenly November Sweeps Performances on The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman It’s been quite an eventful November sweeps so far. Stories built over the course of a year or more usually reach their apexes if not their conclusions over sweeps months (February, May, November) and writers plot their most dramatic action to stretch over these months. This November’s … [Read more...]
This Week in Soaps: A Terrible Tragedy and a Stunning Debut
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Bold and the Beautiful just finished two weeks of exciting drama centered around the soap’s on-location trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for Brooke and Bill’s aborted wedding. The sequences featured great scenery and exciting action footage. As you know, Bill planned a memorable … [Read more...]
Ridge Forrester: Master of B&B’s Universe
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Every soap opera needs a leading man. But perhaps because Ridge Forrester seems to have been at the center of most plots since The Bold and the Beautiful debuted more than 25 years ago, he seems more like a Master of the Universe than just a plain leading man. Born handsome and … [Read more...]
The Ho-Hum, Overly Violent Carly Kidnapping Denouement
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman We’ve already said that General Hospital’s Heather-kidnapping-Carly plot was a big ho-hum. Heather tried to blame it on Franco, her son, who had previously tried to kill Heather, his mother. No surprise, the accusation went nowhere and the outcome was predictable: Carly, a central GH … [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...]
Happy New Year: Looking Ahead to 2014
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The new year starts Wednesday, and I have many questions about what’s going to happen on our favorite shows next year. See if you might speculate on the answers, or pose some questions of your own: 1. How is The Young and the Restless going to fill the terrible holes left by the … [Read more...]
The Bold and the Beautiful’s Most Excellent Recast
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Cheers to The Bold and the Beautiful for the most exciting soap recast of this or any other year: Soap superstar Thorsten Kaye has been signed to played Ridge Forrester, the show’s lead character, who was played from the show’s 1987 debut until last year by Ronn Moss. Kaye, of course, … [Read more...]
When All Soaps Are In Lockstep, Is Improvement Possible?
By Marlena De Lacroix What's a soap critic to do? There are only six soaps. I have a long memory and remember the very early 90s, when Bill Bell originated the homeless storyline with Stephanie, which way proceeded the current one. Ken Corday is an enemy of free speech; he sought to destroy the critical arm of Soap Opera Weekly years ago. But … [Read more...]