Let's Try For a Positive Post

Upon looking through all of my posts, including two that have not been published (mystery!) I realized that I am quite negative. It tends to be a thing with anyone that comments about soaps. I bet any non soap people that accidentally came upon this blog thinking it was about bars of soaps, probably wonder why we even try. Lets be honest, soaps are treated as a low brow form of entertainment with a peep show in the back of some local bookstore being treated with respect. (I don't know if such a thing actually exists but I think that you get what I'm trying to say.) Anyway I decided to be most positive on this post. After this paragraph I am only going to list things that are positive about soaps now.

Days of Our Lives

Lets first start off with the fact that EJ (James Scott) and Sami (Alison Sweeney) kicked ass and took names in their scenes this week. James Scott is the Billy Miller of Days. This show is ten times better having him on this show. He is a multi Emmy winner in my mind. His emotions were so raw and powerful as he fought with Sami about her not forgiving him for knowing about Kristen and Eric. While we do know that he knew about the drugging but is keeping it secret, it's no less awesome because of that. Ali Sweeney is also great. This woman has been on this show for 20 years! It shows. When she goes for a scene, she goes for it. The chemistry between these two is undeniable. They are just awesome and I loved watching them on the 11th.

WilSon is just as adorable as usual. I love them together and they continue to make me smile. I love that Days is actually letting them be together and happy and treating them like a couple. I think it's cute that Will thinks that Sami, Kate and Gabi are planning a surprise party together. It's cute that Sonny is going to be his "spy."

I know I should be pissed about Theresa and her blackmail. I have hated the character before. I'm going to be positive here and say that I am thinking differently about her. There are certainly characters on soaps that are all kinds of horrible but that's the point. You can't have all nice characters on soaps all of the time. That's boring. Characters can't be happy all of the time. It's very rare for that to be entertaining. Otalia is the only couple I have ever seen that made going through the motions of normalcy entertaining. Then again Crystal Chappell is that good of an actress. Jessica Leccia isn't that bad either.

I actually loved her blackmail scenes with JJ. They were entertaining and funny. I loved that she wanted him to buy her pot. She wanted to make Jennifer pay. I even saw her point. Jennifer really shouldn't have had a say in Theresa going back to California or not. So I'm not at all upset about Theresa wanting revenge. Like her I appreciate the irony of what Daniel is doing. I'm going to think of Theresa as a bad girl. When she first came on I thought of her as someone who was trying to be good. It's obvious that she doesn't want to do that. So I'm interpreting her as a bad girl.

The mysteriousness of Jordan is great. I love a little mystery in a character. Whether she's Kate's daughter or not I can't wait to find out what she's all about. With the three different identities I'm sure it's good.

Bold and Beautiful

I have been keeping up on B&B which is positive in itself. I have always thought of it as too campy for my tastes. To be honest soaps can be campy at times. Bold and Beautiful thrives on it. While I don't like every storyline I'll put in what I like along with characters who are awesome.

I have always been a fan of a show that doesn't concentrate on just 2-3 characters. Minor characters can be just as great. In the dark days of Bob Guza on GH he did do great with minor characters. Rob Carlivati is continuing with that tradition. Enough about GH. On B&B we have some nice minor characters. My favorite is Pam and Charlie. They are just too cute! I love how they bonded over baking and their scenes before the wedding about Charlie's expertise of Words with Friends? Just awesome. I also love Carter. He seems like the kind of guy who would be the life of the party. The kind of guy who can have fun with and be yourself with.

Wyatt is also great. I like that he is a stand up guy. He could have caused trouble at the wedding. Then again his mother tends to be person. He is emotionally mature enough to know when it's time to end things. I would love to see him get together with someone who can be with him fully and not use him for revenge. It's great to see that there is at least one great guy in Los Angeles.

Eric Forrester is also awesome. He's a playa! He's got two beautiful women that are old enough to be his daughter pursuing him. How does he do it? Can he give me tips? Sure Quinn is crazy and I'm rooting for Donna but that's besides the point. He's great.

I love that Caroline mentions her mothers. I know that her wedding to Rick was supposed to actually be a bigger affair except that Joanna Johnson was not available due to her role on that awesome TV show The Fosters. Her mentioning them and their disappointment etc. was fine for me. Lets hope that at least Crystal Chappell makes an appearance soon as Dani to make up for it.

While Bill and Liam can be both deplorable as characters I love the humor these characters can bring to the show. The stallion video that Bill was sending Brooke was hilarious. Liam having to help him make it was funny. Scott Clifton can bring humor into Liam. I love the little quirky moments that he can have. I love little aspects of characters that make them more human.

Lastly I have to bring up Thorsten Kaye. He is bringing his A game, which he always does, as Ridge. It's still weird to call him Ridge and not Zach but I love it. Thorsten is brilliant. My mother, who has never watched AMC or anything else he was on, loves him. I can't wait to see him go against Bill. Are we going to see RJ soon? Does he get to go out of his closet or boarding school or wherever he's been since 2007? Personally I would love to see Adam Gregory come back as Thomas and RJ get sorased as a teen. I would love to see some sort of rivalry or interaction. Maybe RJ is gay? Maybe bi? Maybe the brothers work together on something such as getting back in power at Forrester?

Lastly I am totally crushing on Jacqueline MacInnes Woods as Steffy. I love how she's vulnerable and confident. I also love that Steffy did the honorable thing and stepped away. Then again there are better guys for her. Yeah she's also quite easy on the eyes. She has a great career ahead and I wish her all of the luck.

Young and Restless

Y&R is hard to find something positive about because most of the stuff on this show is just horrible. I'm going to try.

Billy Miller is still doing brilliantly as Billy. He is always good at whatever he is given. It's still refreshing to see him still mourning his daughter. Usually in soaps it's forgotten. He's supposed to move on. That's not how grief works. It's great to see him truly acting like someone who lost a child. I also love how Amelia Heinle is getting to act. I think that she's doing great herself. She generally doesn't get much great material anyway. She is certainly kicking it out of the park.

Melody Thomas Scott is also doing great. She's awesome and shows what 30+ years on a soap opera does to your skills. I have always felt that she has been very underrated as an actress. I don't even think that she has won a Daytime Emmy. She's a winner in my books. She is the one good thing about this storyline.

General Hospital

Spinelli is leaving/is gone. That's a very positive thing. Also Dr. Liesl Olbrecht is freaking awesome. She is my favorite character on that show right now. Kathleen Gati is comedy gold. I'm not going to deny that I have a little crush on her. Also Lucas is coming back and played by one of his adult portrayers. Ryan Carnes is not the first adult/teen portrayer but he was on when I was in my late teens so yay.

I think I was pretty positive in this post. Maybe I could make this a thing.

I'm Back!

It's been over a month. I think more like a month and a half since I last posted. I made a deal with myself that if I did this blog I would not neglect it. Look at what I did! I could consider that a New Years Resolution: to keep blogging. There is always something to bitch about in soaps so I shouldn't have to worry about not having any content.

My only excuse is that NaNoWriMo was intense. Writing a novel in a month is not easy. I kept procrastinating on this blog so of course I forgot about it. After NaNoWriMo was done I kept procrastinating. Now I'm hoping that I can keep up on this blog as I don't want to stop posting. It's fun to bitch about soaps!

November was a massive month for soaps. I mostly watched Days but know that some stuff went down on GH and Y&R. So here is my take on it.

Days of Our Lives

The main thing that went down was of course the exposing of the video that Kristen taped of her raping Father Eric. I was happy at first because it was finally out. I had no idea that the show was going to take it in the direction that they did. This became a true umbrella story that affected most on the canvas. It wasn't the typical "I'm related to those that were hurt" effected either. It was the directly effected, effected. I was mad at first to see Brady punching Eric and not believing that he was raped. I was pissed that EJ, who knew that Kristen had drugged him was defending Kristen and thinking that it was consensual.

I was really pissed that Kristen did not pay for what she did. The damage that she did, especially to Eric was more messed up than I thought. She had it edited so perfectly that it looked consensual. That's wasn't a roofie that he was given after all. Kristen should be in jail but for some reason, she wasn't. Even though Eileen Davidson was leaving so it wasn't like she was going to be onscreen anymore. Of course soap operas hate sending people to jail for crimes that they committed. Really.

It was great (Well not for the characters!) to see the effect this had.

Here is a list of people directly effected by the revelation of the video and how they were effected.

-Marlena has lost her relationship with her son.
-Maggie wants to leave Victor.
-Eric is temporarily suspended.
-Nicole is on the outs with Eric because of his cruelty towards thinking she was the rapist.
-Jennifer feels partly responsible because she knew Kristen had slept with someone.
-Sami can't forgive EJ for knowing about this prior to the revelation.
-Dimera Enterprises is in deep trouble and EJ is the only one to fix it.

That's just what I can think about now.

If there was one thing that was annoying and badly done it's the mess with Daniel and Theresa. What the hell was that? It seems that if there is one thing this show can do well it's plot centric characters. Lets have a character act unlike themselves for a storyline. We had Eric doing it with accusing Nicole of raping him. Now we have Jennifer thinking that Daniel is Satan for apparently sleeping with Theresa who ODed. It was obvious that Theresa wanted him over and only called to make JJ jealous. Now she is willing to forget everything she knew about him and assume he was going to have a drug party with her. We've seen the way she mistreated him for JJ who was pretty much acting like a romantic rival. Not only that but the self righteous Abby is doing it too. I really wish that Jennifer would shut the hell up. She is way beyond annoying.

What makes it worse for Jennifer is that all of this time that she is vilifying Daniel, he is selflessly protecting JJ. JJ should be in jail for being around drugs but Daniel is protecting him. I will say that this seemed to be what JJ needed. He seems to be acting less like a punk and more like a human being. He even plays guitar! Of course no one is questioning what brought about this change. Jennifer is being portrayed as quite daft anyone so I'm not surprised. She certainly isn't getting mother of the year is she!

I am assuming that Theresa will remember around February and the truth will come out. I cannot wait to see the look of Jennifer's face. The groveling she will do! I hope that he is with someone else by then such as Nicole who is my favorite character besides my WilSon is a great contender.

Talking about WilSon, they got a love scene! I am biased as I'm a lesbian so any gay couple is my favorite. They are the best. We got to see Gabi at her worst in the last couple of weeks. So she gets a fantasy modeling offer and never questions it. She decides, without asking Will who is the baby's father, that she is going to go and take Ari. Yes that's right while she is taking part in 10 hour photoshoots or whatever she wants the baby to stay with some stranger away from her whole family.

Though as a feminist of a sort I do believe in the ideas of having children and having a career at the same time, this was messed up. I was conflicted because I like that Gabi was going to be able to support herself and Ari. She is not a single mother and cannot make unilateral decisions. She should have told Will the second she found out. She should have understood that Ari needs to have consistency with a schedule and with people that she has bonded with. Not to get all psychological on y'all but Ari is at an important stage in her development. The bonds that she makes now are important. If she loses contact with people she's attached with it can cause mistrust with her during the rest of her life. Keeping her in Salem is the best choice. When you become a mother it's not a part time thing. The needs of the baby are very important.

I also am annoyed at the fact that Will had no way to stop her and was planning to leave Salem and possibly Sonny to be near his daughter. You are telling me that it's not kidnapping? Don't give me that we don't have a custody agreement crap. She had no right to travel with Ari beyond state lines without Will's permission. I don't think that the judge would have supported Gabi's position especially if they found out that Ari was going to be exploited by the modeling agency. I also feel that it would have failed if it was revealed that Sami was giving her a modeling job in Salem. The comment about how it would have been kidnapping if Will had taken Ari? I had to laugh at the hypocrisy!

Obviously I have thought a lot about this.

Of course she never went because she found out that creepy Nick set the whole mofo up. She was pissed so stupidly went into the woods. Nick tried to rape her (Even though he was the victim of rape himself and that is the reason that we are supposed to forget what he did to Will and Sonny for almost a year.) and she killed him. Of course then it got a little funny.

Obviously I'm not sad that Nick is gone. They ruined his character with the homophobic in my opinion. Even though I would have possibly forgiven him a year or two down the line they decided to make him remorseful for about two weeks before he became all obsessed with Gabi. Of course she did lead him on but still he was a sociopath so her looking at him twice would have made him think they were getting a second chance.

Kate and Sami arrived at the scene and it got awesome. Pretty much they had great one liners. I loved the lack of respect they had for Nick because it's exactly how it felt. I do wish that they had gone to the police. Though with Hope and her biased behavior I'm sure she would have destroyed Gabi.

There are two more things I want to discuss in regards to Days of Our Lives.

First how hypocritical is Hope? She talks about how pure evil Kristen is and yet she gives Nick a free pass? It's because she loves him. I really hope that she doesn't give EJ hell for protecting Kristen. That will put me over the edge. I don't think she has any room to judge or make one of those "they're Dimera's" comments. Lets be Honest, Nick acts more like a stereotypical Dimera than a Horton.

Second, I knew that Nick was creepy but that virus he put on Kate's computer? That sent it to a whole other level that I need to cap it.

Thank you for giving me nightmares for weeks Nick!

That was just messed up!

General Hospital

I really can't say much for General Hospital because I don't watch it anymore. This was about the custody of little Connie and of course Robin returning. I know there was some stuff with people running about the tunnels of Windermere and Robin being reunited with her parents especially his mother Anna. I didn't see it. I did see her reunited with Patrick and Emma so yay for that.

It was awesome and I loved how Emma ran up to her mommy and gave her a big hug. If you forget the histrionics of 13 going on 30 Sabrina, it was awesome. Actually I think most people blocked that out. I know that I should feel sorry for Sabrina but I don't.

There are several reasons why...

She was never really a legitimate contender for Patrick's heart. Having Liz in that place would have been better and more soapy. After all Robin did want them together if she died when she had the HIV scare back in late 2011 and early 2012. It would have been interesting if Liz actually fell in love with Patrick. Whether they went with Patrick falling for her or not it would have been great.

Instead they added a newbie who acted more like a 14 year old girl with a school crush. She was great as a babysitter but not much else. I laughed when they actually set it up like that last Spring. She was always treated like a girl with a crush on her English teacher. So when they got together I was shocked. The whole the glasses got to go thing made me laugh too as her transformation at the Nurse's Ball was stupid. She looked even more like a fairytale princess. What in the hell were they thinking?

Lastly there were signs that Patrick was still in love with Robin. She had to tell him to take off his wedding ring. Patrick still talks about her. From what I got from comments of videos that I've seen most of their conversations were about Robin. The only thing she had going for her was that Robin was dead.

I hate to say it but I found them to be very boring. The only thing that made them interesting was when Britt was doing bad things to her. Once she was out of the picture and with a real Prince, it go bad. Yay for Scrubs.

The custody thing also came to its conclusion. I didn't watch it but know about what happened from reading the good old soap opera digest. So I know that Spinelli has custody and Maxie can't have any contact with Connie for six months.

I am not happy about this. Spinelli as a father? That's laughable. Not only is there the fact that he worked for Sonny and Jason for years and probably still does but that he knew that Sonny and Jason were going to kill Dante in January of 2010 and did nothing. Yes I hold grudges that long. Yes I know it's only a soap opera but yeah I hate him. I know they had tried to make him less of a caricature, especially in his relationship with Ellie but I just don't see him as a father.

I feel bad for Dante and Lulu whose marriage is certainly not faring well. Lulu really lost it as she bonded with the baby and thought of it as hers. I think it's cruel what Spinelli and Maxie did to them. Maxie especially as I feel that she is not mature enough to be a mother. The way she treated the child as a thing to be given away like a piece of property pissed me off. After she knew that they had bonded she wanted to rip the baby away from Dante and Lulu. I know that Ben is supposed to be theirs but I'm still pissed. I really don't think that biology means that you have rights as anyone can get pregnant. It doesn't mean that you can take care of the baby the same way that someone who has no biological ties can. Yeah this sucks a lot.

Young and Restless 

Like General Hospital I don't know much of what happened. Fen was almost raped in prison? What is the obsession with rape on soaps recently? I do feel bad for the kid. He has paid times a million for bullying Jaime. I hope he can get to a better place. By that I mean out of jail and not raped. I did see parts of an episode last week where a bunch of them wanted to beat him up because his father sent these guys to prison. I want to laugh when prisoners want to attack the DA or his kid because they got caught committing crimes. Here's a strange idea: Don't commit crimes. It's that simple. I think that they are calling him mouse. What's that about. I have a feeling that the guy protecting Fen might be grooming him to be some sort of bitch for him. Maybe Michael paid him off? I don't know. I do know that Fen is quite rangy. (That's my word of the post!) He has some long arms and legs.

Billy is still effected by his daughter's death. So it isn't like Delia is going to be easily forgotten which is what I thought was going to happen. I had low hopes for this storyline being good. I will say that from what I saw I'm loving it. Of course we are talking about Billy Miller. He can ran circles around supposed A listers in Hollywood. With him being let go or he left, whatever the heck happened, I know that he is going to kick ass in Hollywood. If he isn't the newest star then Hollywood really does suck.

He is going to be replaced with original adult Billy, David Tom. I'm not sure what I think about this. Sure it's cool for nostalgia purposes. I remember the Glow by Jabot stuff from when I was 15 with Mac and Brittany and Raul and that other chick that went to Days of Our Lives as a bio-engineered twin or something.  He is not Billy Miller. So I don't know if Tom will be able to do justice but I'll just wait and see and actually watch Y&R on a regular basis. That's what DVR is about!

It's good to see that he is actually effected by this. His marriage is suffering. He's going to support meetings with Annie Dutton (Guiding Light represent!) and has a gun. I'm assuming that he's going to shoot Adam when the truth comes out. Adam really needs to go to a safehouse every spring because this will be the second year in a row that he's been shot during that time if this happens.

Of yeah there was the Dylan thing. The truth about Nikki being his mother came out. Of course it was in the worst way. Nick is being a dumbass of course. I really am sick of him and his self righteousness. He's the victim after all and Dylan is evil. Remember that mature conversation that he had with Avery which is documented with pictures on this blog? Apparently that never happened because he is acting like some serious prick. It was all about him. How about you serve valiantly in Afghanistan and then we can talk Nick. I do feel for Dylan especially as he finds out that he didn't know his mother at all. I do agree that people need to be considerate towards the fact that he is mourning the death of his beloved mother's memory. She is not the person he thought she was. They shouldn't think that he owes Nikki a relationship. I do think that this should take some time. I would like to see them forge a relationship down the line in a few months. Not now or tomorrow.

Victor is a douche. I think that we always knew it. Maybe I should feel for him because Nikki didn't tell him. Still he's a douche. It wouldn't be Victor if he wasn't a douche.

Bold and Beautiful

I have never commented about this show but since my favorite actor Thorsten Kaye is coming to Los Angeles, I thought I would make a few comments.

Yay for Crystal Chappell and Joanna Johnson. I'm glad to see lesbians on a traditional soap opera. I know that is what web soaps that Chappell is on is all about but yay. I love that Johnson is out too even if her behind the scenes role on the awesome show that is The Fosters, makes her appearances on B&B sporadic at most.

Hope is cursed to forever have men fighting over her or to be in a love triangle of some sort. Now we have Wyatt. In my opinion I would tell Liam to go to hell. He doesn't get a right to go after her after what he has put her through. What the heck! Somehow after the way he has treated her in the past, she still wants to be with him! Personally I'm on team Wyatt but don't know if I can stomach this going on further. Having Ally have a crush on this idiot. What the hell!

Quinn is apparently trying to tie with Nick Fallon as creepy soap opera character. She likes Eric who is old enough to be her father. Then again this is the soap that had him have two kids with Brooke so...yeah. Of course Donna is in the way. Remember when they were together back in 2007? Remember how she called him honey bear? That was pure camp. This is what this show is about. Not the most serious of soaps I must say.

I did have to post Quinn looking creepy since I did it with Nick. I'm an equal opportunity poster of all things creepy on soap operas!

I am certainly not Lois Cerullo!

Thorsten Kaye is coming to B&B. Watch as a squeal like a little girl! Yay! Of course I need one cap of that!

I am NOT Zach Slater!

I will admit that it's going to feel weird. Ridge has an European accent. Is it German? Ridge looks just like Zach Slater. I'm curious as to how he is going to play this. Is he going to be more Ian like? Literally they have him dressed and looking like Zach Slater so it's going to be weird. I'm going to expect Alicia Minshew to walk in and ask what he was doing with Pilar Santos. (I'm a little too much of a Guiding Light fan.)

Hello!

This is my attempt at a soap opera themed blog. I will speak about my feelings towards storylines/characters etc. I will concentrate on Days of our Lives, The Young and the Restless and Coronation Street (a UK soap opera). I will also occasionally speak about General Hospital and the Bold and the Beautiful. There will be some Guiding Light stuff too.

I first watched soap operas when I was about 7-8 and my great grandmother babysat us for one summer. I have tried to figure out that summer as I was a kid and don't remember a specific year. I think it's 1993 or 1994. What I remember is Matt Clark beating up a bloody Nick on Young and the Restless and David on the run on Guiding Light. I don't remember what happened on Bold and the Beautiful or As the World Turns. She watched all of the CBS soaps and I watched it with her.

I really got into soaps as a latchkey kid when I got in 7th grade which was the fall of 1998. I got home in time to see Guiding Light. I remember the San Cristobal and Santos stuff. While many found that era not awesome and actually bad I didn't. That's nostalgia for you! When people talk about the "good old days" there is some bias there. I loved it especially Cassie and Richard and Danny and Michelle. When Richard died I had a hard time watching after that. It was the end of an era in my young mind.

I started watching the ABC soaps, especially General Hospital in 2001. I also watched Passions and Days. I never got into the NBC soaps. I was mostly a GH freak at that time. Around 2006 I started loving All My Children and the Young and the Restless again along with GH. I started watching Guiding Light in late 2008 where I got to see one of the best couples that I have ever seen: Otalia. I am a big fan of them especially in regards to the insane chemistry between portrayals Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia. They made boring interesting! That is a very difficult thing to do as an actor. I was saddened when the show was cancelled. It was the soap that reminds me of those awkward junior high days. It was the soap that helped me have an escape from the constant bullying at the time. It was upsetting to think that it was over. This was especially true since that show finally remembered that it was a soap opera and acted like one. There were organic storylines that were character centric instead of plot centric. Yes there was that who killed Edmund thing but you can't get perfection.

 I started to actually like Days in 2010 when I started watching because of Crystal Chappell who came back after the cancellation of Guiding Light. I have watched it for the most part since thing. I did miss the fall on 2010 and summer and fall of 2012 but am on now. I love "WilSon" and Eileen Davidson and a few other things.

I also am a Coronation Street fanatic. I have just gotten into this show so my understanding of history is getting there. It's an awesome show that is about as close to a soap opera that I have seen currently airing new episodes. There are organic, character centric storylines (Sometime there is the rare plot centric storyline such as the burning of the Rovers.) with a lot of older actors and fun storylines. I will talk about this show a lot, especially in regards to American soap operas. I also will speak about Sophie and Sian a lesbian couple that existed on the show from 2009-11. Sophie is still on so I'll also talk about her when she's on.

I plan on providing commentary to these soaps. I will discuss breaking news casting or otherwise. I will also have weekly summaries with my opinion put in for Days, Y&R and Corrie. I will let you know that I am behind Corrie. I'm currently in the second week of April and it's almost October. I will also have soap themed top ten lists. Hopefully I will not only update this a lot but get a couple of views too.