“What a Difference a Week Makes" or "Cringe & Awe”
As promised I have taken some extra time to do get my thoughts together and catch up on what's been going on on ABC soaps. Some of my observations have been a real shock even for me. Enjoy the View!
All My Children Holy Sheep Shit, it's Opal in a real scene. With other people… that is about an ongoing storyline… double whoa. That means that they gave Opal a part in an ongoing storyline! (Nothing remotely slow about me, is there?) I cautiously love this. Of course I appreciated Jessie and Angie’s return and have savored it, believe me. It came with a certain dread that after the stunt return they would be put in a Member’s Only jacket in the Quartermaine den until they phased them out. Oh wait, that was Robert Scorpio on General Hospital. Sorry. You catch my meaning though, right? Subtle as it was? Oh, yeah, where was I? Now that they have Opal involved and have brought in a historic Gardner connection into the story, I am scared witless with fear that they will drop the ball and not come through with the goods in the end. I really hope that she doesn’t disappear after the March 6th episode.
Oh man, fire up the hate mail folks because I think I like KWAK and Tad. Go ahead. I expect it and kind of dread the backlash but I like them. What else can I do but lay it on the line? Babe isn’t gaining any warm fuzzy Diva feelings though. I don’t care if she is with JR; I feel ambivalent actually. They have a child, so she could be a permanent background character, the long suffering, nearly invisible wife or something.
The job applicant montage at Fusion was amusing.
Surprise, surprise but the kidney theft from JR is really being well done. My hatred for Richie grows steadily towards loathing, so if you’re a fan that pretty much assures you that he will be a big star and eventually be the big star of the show. That’s the Daytime Diva curse it seems. They bring on a criminal everyone else loves and just pines for more of and if my horror is off the charts they are a shoo-in. Nope not bitter at all! LOL. It’s hard for me to connect Annie with the Richie/JR kidney theft. She doesn’t seem to fit into it at all. I was actually taken by surprise (again) when she called him after the operation. It took me a second to remember she was his sister. That’s just not right. Is Annie always the weak link? She doesn’t seem to fit in at Fusion and Ryan clearly doesn’t mind doing the mattress mambo with her but his mind is some place else. Mega disturbing. Kendall and Aidan and Greenlee and Zach make me slightly nauseated. Maybe dizzy is a better term. The musical bed plot makes me dizzy. Probably from screaming out loud the entire time they are on my screen. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It just feels wrong.
Seriously, though, getting into JR’s dilemma is a shock for me. It is unexpected to say the least. The urban legend came true for JR but no one believes him because they think he was drunk. Hum, sounds familiar for some reason but I like it. It’s working. Now the nasty nurse has a big one for Richie and this could really be good. I fear to hope, baby, believe it.
Wow, Quentin’s being a p*ick now that he’s a fancy pants doctor. Poor Colby is so naïve, feeling so grown up to be volunteering and Quentin shutting her down…. Piss-stang. Ouch that’s going to leave a bruise on her heart. Soap kids just don’t get a break do they? What a sweetie she seems to be. I cringe at the fates in store for her as she grows up. Isn’t it odd that on soaps we accept behavior that is so far outside the normal moral compass most of us possess that we become anesthetized to things that used to be sensitive and have to be handled delicately? Which brings me to:
One Life to Live I am not a prude but the “romantic” scenes between the children (Starr and Cole) on One Life to Live this week were quite disturbing. Those characters are mid teens and I found nothing sexy, romantic or titillating in watching them make the most adult decision of their lives based on Todd’s whim to uproot his entire family immediately. Yes, I know that out here in the “real world” many teens that age are sexually active, that doesn’t mean I want to watch it! I can’t tell you how relieved I was to find out that they had not consummated their intentions before Cave Man burst in! I hate Todd. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t hate Todd, perhaps briefly when he and Blair first found each other and it looked like their love would change them and make them better people but not since then. Watching a grown man viscously beat the teen he found in bed with his daughter (03-05-08) was awful. It turned my stomach and that’s saying something big for me, as use to TPTB’s distasteful habit of exploiting violence as I am these things usually roll off me like water off a duck’s back. This was, in my opinion, mildly revolting.
Conversely, WUBS Karen raved about the awesome acting and tight writing of the scene in her blog. While I agree that the acting was excellent, I am not a fan of this story. I hate Todd. No. I really hate Todd. I mean it. While the writing on One Life to Live has been fantabulous, of that there is no doubt what-so-ever, this particular plot is not endearing me. I do agree that if they switched the times of One Life to Live with General Hospital that the ratings would skyrocket, though. Wub Queen and I have that in common as well as both of us co-hosting on The ABC Edition of Daytime Continental’s podcast.
Let’s talk about an idea I have… a little something I like to call John and Nora. Stop that! Unfurl your lip already and just listen, alright? Their friendship is good, their banding together to help Cole is good. John always seemed too old for someone in Nat’s age group, to me, anyway. What I’m saying is there was so much hoo-ha over his “protecting” Gigi and was it a chem test and the age difference yet no one else has wondered why Nora wouldn’t be a good choice for his love interest? Why? Because Nora is mature? Ageism? I like her and she and Clint are okay together but I’ve never been able to get past the incestuous nature of soap relationships. She was married to his brother. That SHOULD mean that she will not be with Clint but on soaps it doesn’t seem to mean much. Evidence of that is Cristian who was Jessica’s first love and ended up married to her twin sister or Lindsay who was married to Clint briefly and then was engaged to and made pregnant by Bo. I am tired of Nora’s obsession with Lindsay, though; big time.
Relationships get really convoluted on the soaps. Then, when you combine this with the youth obsession that would preclude a mature relationship in favor of a man of any age with whatever Lolita they can pair them up with… one just has to wonder why, that’s all. Please, no hate mail because I see a potential that is outside the box of normal soap couple hood. Nora is a beautiful, intelligent, professional woman I guesstimate to be in her forties. John is her equal and without knowing any of the creative ages of the characters (which slide according to what each writer wants to do with them anyway as evidenced by Jessie and Angie’s son Quentin on All My Children) I think they would make an excellent core relationship on which to build a core family with deep ties to the canvas. You know, if anyone would ever want to do that or anything.
How much do I love Langston? The answer is SO MUCH. While Starr shrieked hysterically after Todd beat down Cole I was really taken in by her BFF weeping in sympathy and support. The girl lights up every scene she is in! Oh, Natalie grilling Charlie and Viki getting her granny panties in a bunch is just priceless. First time I’ve liked Nat since I found out she is a Buchanan! Oh, I love Talia moving in with Sarah and Layla! That could be cool and hip. I hope its cool and hip maybe I should say. It’s not like feisty, sexy, independent women aren’t blistering hot right now in cashmere and lipstick and SATC movies or anything. Hint, hint.
General Hospital Warning may contain spoilerish tidbits proceed at your own risk!
OMG, OMG, OMG! Something tremendous has happened. This is really exciting considering how hard this sweeps period has been on me. For the last month, I have struggled to find something on GH to prick my interests and make me excited to watch again. Looks like I have found it and then some. Among other things, it’s called climbing aboard the Samian train, or would that be Iansam? I like Samian because it sounds like SIMIAN but I digress. So Ian is supposed to be Moreau’s nemesis according to rumors/spoilers but so what? It isn’t as if every key storyline hasn’t suffered major rewrites in the last six months. Make James Craig’s accomplice some day player like TPTB did to AJ’s killer or (more up this show's alley) they could make them the *IT* “power couple” of devious, dirt dealing, dastardly deeds done dirt cheap. I found it utterly charming. And no, I’m not on any new medications but thanks for asking!
Face it, the only type of tortured bad guy that interests me normally (I hate that word) are the ones who are unapologetic. Like Maxie (and I have heard from people who also feel like this about Richie). She owns up to her malicious streak. She takes her lumps when she is caught and the bouts of her whining pathetically through crocodile tears about how her actions are some one else’s fault are few and far between. As opposed to Sam who can only admit her faults by droning on endlessly about how what some one else did forced her to do what she did and therefore it is not her fault… snivel…
Dr. Ian’s bedside manner with Sam has completely charmed me. Although I am not usually so cheerfully upbeat (which, come to think of it, is a bit frightening in its uniqueness) I also LOVE Maxelli. Not since Dillon joined General Hospital and they teamed him up with Luke on his adventures have I been so excited about an unconventional couple. They completely squandered the opportunities that Scott Clifton’s Dillon brought with him, like his being Scott’s son by Tracy (with whom he had an affair at exactly the right time historically to be Dillon’s dada) or by Lucy who went away for months while pregnant with Scott’s baby at exactly the right time historically to be Dillon’s dada (Lucy tried to hold onto Alan by saying the baby was his) and returned “believing” she had lost the baby. That would have been a fabulous storyline to bring Lucy Coe back into the canvas, wouldn’t it? Sigh.
Speaking of unconventional couples I am completely in love with Diane and Alexis as well as Diane, Alexis and Kate. They have got to be (by far) the most interesting and entertaining new duo/trio on the show absolutely in the last five years and perhaps even in the last decade. Both women are delightful on their own and their friendship is one of the best things going on at this time. Kate is much less interesting to me on her own than the other two but I was hoping (once upon a time) that she would be elevated to their lofty status of brilliant, independent women. Alas, she took the magic weenie and has been lost. Bummer.
I am cautiously eyeballing these new developments with Jason’s injured hands. If this could be what breaks him and Sonny up -- finally -- it would make me so happy. If it brings the secret liaison out in the open I’ll be happy as well. Oh and if it breaks the story that Jake is his son, that would make me happy. Or if it gets Jason and Monica back together, brings Monica back to the forefront, makes Jason embrace his Quartermaine roots, that would make me happy.
Sonny wants to know if there is more reason than usual for Jax to hate him. Jax says to Sonny: “More than usual? No.” *THUD* Diane and Kate: *THUD* Maxie and Spinelli: *THUD* Epiphany and Carly: *THUD* Claudia and Sonny: *THUD* Trevor and Ric: *THUD* Patrick and Jason: *THUD* These are some KILLER SCENES all unexpectedly well done by everyone concerned, Bravo. Wow. What a difference a week makes. This whole sweeps period, I was totally under whelmed by General Hospital but now, well, let’s just say that the theme of my entire column may as well be shock, possibly shock and awe.
Is this because their CGI “event” (Which I enjoyed unless it means the quality of the rest of the show is sacrificed) is over and they redirected their focus toward putting together some great scenes? Are they teasing us with intriguing glimpses of the GH we so long for? Have they switched writers again? Something is different. I’ve been out of touch and catching up has been a pleasant revelation. I think I like it. I think I like it quite a bit more than at this time last month.
I know. Crazy!
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