By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless: There’s a lot of squawking on the net that, compared to General Hospital, Y&R is slow, not that entertaining and a bit hard to watch. I agree somewhat, but counsel patience: the new writing and production regime has been in place less than two months. They … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 20: General Hospital’s Farewell to Edward Quartermaine … The Pleasures and Pains of Soap Reruns
November 24, 2012 by 11 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: Wasn’t the death of Edward Quartermaine nicely handled? As visiting grandson Ned said in a toast: “There will never be another Edward Quartermaine.” This was also a tribute to the late John Ingle, the great actor who long played the role (originated by David Lewis.) … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 18: Fiery Doings on The Young and the Restless … General Hospital’s Friday Cliffhanger Was Thrilling, Classic Soap Opera
November 10, 2012 by 4 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless: As the weeks go by, Y&R’s plots are changing radically under its new headwriter, Josh Griffith. Here are some thoughts on the latest story twists: As I wrote in Sunday Reflections 15, there are plenty of presto chango plot revisions that a) make your … [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
October 27, 2012 by 5 Comments
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 13: General Hospital and Young and the Restless — When Entertainment Value and Hot Sex, Respectively, Defy Logic
October 6, 2012 by 8 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a Connie Passalacqua Hayman General Hospital: Confluence, according to the dictionary, means when three things meet at a certain point (rivers, for example). And that’s exactly what happened on General Hospital early this week – confluence in Tuesday and Wednesday’s episodes when three great storylines in which one … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 12: Young and Restless’ Blah 10,000th Episode … General Hospital’s Sabrina and Her Fantasies, and Connie and Her Body Shot
September 29, 2012 by 3 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix, a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman The Young and the Restless: So, what did you think of Y&R’s 10,000th episode, aired Thursday? This was the one in which a “dead” character came back for his own funeral. In this case, it was Victor Newman, in what seemed to be his 438th resurrection. (It was actually his third). … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 10: Katie Couric’s Talk Show is So-So … GH’s Fast Wrapping Up Remote … Y&R: Why did “Red”’s Hair Suddenly Turn Brown?
September 15, 2012 by 11 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman So what did you think of Katie, Ms. Couric’s new talk show? I have mixed feelings about it. Couric herself doesn’t bother me. Au contraire -- we should be proud that daytime television, which marginalizes older women, is spotlighting a 55-year-old. Katie’s usual intelligence does shine … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 9: On General Hospital,Your Emotions Are Played With as Sam and Jason Ask “What If?” … On The Young and the Restless, Sharon Heads Off to the Sanitarium
September 8, 2012 by 8 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix. a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman Ever wonder how your emotions are expertly manipulated by soaps? A great example was Thursday's very unusual General Hospitalepisode in which Sam and Jason wondered what could have been had they made different decisions in their relationship. It had me screaming at the screen in anger at … [Read more...]
Sunday Reflections 5: The Young and the Restless, The Revamp; Reality Shows on Y&R and General Hospital; Gold Medal GH
August 11, 2012 by 11 Comments
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...]
