New Programming Schedule

How've you been enjoying the return of the soaps so far, Soapheads? I have a confession to make: I have yet to watch them. Don't throw tomatoes at me, I can explain! I just haven't been able to watch them on my computer; I'm having a really irritating issue with my laptop where the audio goes out after about 30 seconds and I have to either continuously keep it hooked up with an audio cord or keep muting and unmuting the laptop speakers for the sound to come back. I've tried everything I know how to do and I'm still having the problem, so I usually don't bother watching videos on my laptop anymore. My PS3 only has Hulu Plus and since the soaps are free, I don't see any reason to pay for an app just to watch a free show. The only other option would be to either use my computer tower and plug that into my TV, or plug the laptop into it instead and use the audio cord. Both of these are rather inconvenient to do just to watch the soaps when I've got other things to do on the Internet and so that's left me in a little pickle. But I'll get around to it.

That's not the reason I'm posting today, though. I have to be the bearer of bad news...again...although thankfully it is not as bad as the last time I had to post something negative on here. I'm sure many of you have enjoyed watching your soap the four days a week that it comes on, but Prospect Park has just released a statement announcing that the soaps will each be cut down to just twice a week. The problem came with the fact that people have returned in droves to watch the soaps, but many are only returning to watch one, not both. PP logged that the typical time for fans to watch the soap is usually sometime in the evening, and fans had to dedicate a lot of time to watch these online, so Prospect Park thought it was better to just switch the airing schedule.

The scheduling is now staggered, with AMC on Mondays and Wednesdays and OLTL on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the normal airing of the behind-the-scenes series More on Fridays. This goes into effect on Monday, which is May 20th. Even though PP says this move was prompted by viewer feedback, I do feel like it's an early "one step forward, two steps back" and this concerns me a little bit. If the episodes are already being cut back but the soaps haven't even been back on the air for a month yet, could this mean that despite the various reports, viewership is not as high as PP anticipated?

I'm hearing whisperings now that again, despite the various reports and damage control done by PP to assure us we would not have to pay for the soaps, that eventually both soaps will transition to Hulu Plus (the paid version of Hulu) and we'll have to pay to continue to watch them. What most set me off was that in PP's statement, they kinda sorta alluded to that fact by saying, "....because Hulu agrees with our findings, for the meantime they will keep all of our episodes on Hulu for free to give viewers the opportunity to find us and catch up." For the meantime. If these episodes were going to be free permanently, don't you think past episodes should remain free as well? I think where there's smoke, there may be fire on this one. I don't have Hulu Plus, barely use Hulu and am already paying for a tv subscription service with Netflix. I won't upgrade and have another paid service just to watch the soaps. I understand money has to be made and details like this can't be immediately released or put into effect because people will not be happy and you have to get the viewers back first, but PP specifically said we would not have to pay for our shows. Now they're releasing statements that allude to the very thing they said they would not do. So talk to me Soapheads, if PP ends up transitioning the soaps after a certain period of time to Hulu Plus and making you pay to view, will you upgrade to watch, or will you leave it alone?

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R.I.P.

Soapheads, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this morning, Jeanne Cooper (Y&R's Katherine) passed away in her sleep. She was 84. If you've been keeping up with Soapcentral, then I'm sure you heard a little something about the mysterious ailment she had been dealing with over the past month. If you hadn't heard about it, she fell into a coma last month and was in the ICU for a couple of weeks, then released back on April 29th. Unfortunately, a few days later, on May 2nd, she was readmitted and this time would not be released.

Nobody knows yet exactly what illness she was dealing with as her family has chosen not to release those details, and I can respect that. I have watched Jeanne Cooper on Y&R practically from birth and this loss to her family, Y&R and the rest of the soap fans who loved her work hits hard. I am glad she is at peace now and no longer in any pain. I hope that her family finds the strength and the courage that I am sure she passed along to them during this time, and that they look to God for His guidance of their steps. My sincerest condolences are with Jeanne Cooper's family, the cast of Y&R and the lives of all that she touched throughout her career.

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AMC & OLTL Season Previews!

I got my mitts on the first trailer for AMC, which will be premiering on the 29th of this month. Feast your eyes!

Keep in mind that the show has jumped 5 years in the future, so we won't be seeing the immediate aftermath of what happened on the final ABC episode. If you want a recap of the show, check out Soapcentral's recaps page.

And here is OLTL's trailer. As far as I know the show hasn't been SORAS'd but I don't know what point they picked up the show from.

By the way, if you live in Canada you'll be able to watch both soaps on the FX Canada channel. As was the case on ABC, AMC will be on at 12p EST/2:00p PST followed by OLTL at 12:30p EST/2:30p PST.

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New Developments

Remember a couple of days ago when I said I was going to make a new post for all soap-related information either at the beginning of the month or when I got enough information? Well this weekend has brought it in spades so let's get started, shall we? Finally some news from the AMC aisle, and we've got some developments.

--Firstly, after news broke earlier this month that Susan Lucci was going to reprise her role as Erica for at least one episode, we got a slight backtrack of it today in which she mentioned that it was actually up in the air due to scheduling conflicts, which we were pretty aware of before.

--Last month, Alicia Minshew (Kendall Slater) told TVLine that while nothing has been confirmed yet due to--you guessed it--scheduling conflicts, the lines of communication between her camp and PP have been left open hopefully for her to join later. So we can still hold out hope for that Zendall reunion! **update 3/8:** Alicia will be back for a one-day cameo! It's beginning to look up for a long-term return by the summer due to the other projects, but we do have confirmation that she'll be back. Yay!

--Another core character is returning to the canvas with the show for this spring's reboot; Ray MacDonnell (Joe Martin), who actually retired before the show ended in 2011, confirmed that he will be bringing the Martin patriarch back to our screens. It hasn't been released for how long he'll be there, but he will be there hopefully for the first episode.

--We finally have our new face to place with JR's name--PP released the info that Ryan Bittle (ex-Logan, AMC coincidentally lol) will be taking over the part of Adam's long-troubled son. I'm trying to remember who Logan was on the show, but I'm drawing a blank. Guess this works in my favor; I won't be trying to separate him from the character he played before because I don't remember him! LOL

--I told you all earlier this month that Cassandra Foster, Angie's daughter, would be returning to Pine Valley when the show reboots later, and now we have a face to place with her. Another Top Model alum will be taking over the role; if you're familiar with ANTM then Saleisha Stowers' face should also be familiar when you see it!

--Petey Cortlandt has a new face too! Last time we saw the character he was being portrayed by Daniel Kennedy, but boy has Petey grown up since 2009 LOL, Scott Wilson (Price is Right fans should remember this one), the first male model to be featured on Price is Right, will be joining the cast. I gotta admit, I kinda liked Petey the nerd. Petey the hunk is going to be something to get used to....but I'm not complaining---Scott Wilson's abs are marvelous. I hope he takes his shirt off. Often. Anyway....

--In typical soap fashion, PP has SORAS'd the character of Miranda Montgomery and made her a teenager, bringing Denyse Tontz on board to play her. I guess the teen scene needs to be revamped; the teens that were there years ago have since grown up and are already doing other things anyway. But she won't be coming alone, because...

--Eden Riegel has released confirmation that she and Bianca will be returning to the show when it relaunches this spring. I don't know that she'll be returning permanently; they're calling it a "guest arc" perhaps to get the show off the ground with core characters on board, but I guess we'll see.

--Speaking of characters who are getting SORAS'd, Little A, or AJ Chandler, will also be given a boost into his teen years, with Eric Nelsen taking over the role. Geez, the only Chandler I'll recognize is Adam Sr.

--Now the reason why most of these younger characters have been so rapidly SORAS'd is because the show itself has been rapidly aged. It's been aged 5 years, to be exact. Soapcentral's Dan Kroll has some excellent insight into why this might actually be a good thing. Why it's been aged is simple enough; in the year and a half that has elapsed since the ending of the show, most of the performers have since signed on to other projects and are no longer available for the reboot. Jumping 5 years into the future is a perfect way to explain these absences, some of them notable and others that honestly can probably be overlooked. So I guess we won't get that drama-filled first episode right after the shot rang out. That gives me a case of the sads.

--update 3/11: The first airdates for both OLTL and AMC are being listed as April 29th. Check the link if you want more details, but in short each show has been cut down to 30 minutes, and will broadcast a new episode Monday through Thursday at noon EST on Hulu and iTunes. And I used to get mad at B&B for never moving up to an hour show. Smh.

--update 3/14: Former High School Musical star Corbin Bleu is joining the cast of OLTL in the newly-created role of Jeffrey King, a friend of Matthew and Destiny's who works for Viki as a Banner reporter.-

--update 3/19: Ricky Paull Goldin, AMC's Jake, is returning to daytime but......not with AMC. Goldin confirmed that despite taking an acting hiatus and has since gone on to host HGTV's Spontaneous Construction, he has also taken a role on B&B, the episodes of which begin airing later this spring. On the topic of Jake, what are your thoughts? Leave the character off-canvas or recast?

--update 3/28: So turns out that the 3 OLTL implants will be returning for the relaunch as they are under contract to Prospect Park and will return to GH, but in different roles. What does this mean for the current storylines that Starr, John & Todd are involved in, I can't say. But their portrayers will be returning to the show.

--update 4/4: You can catch AMC on Hulu here and take a gander at the cast, so save this link! The Hulu link for OLTL is here. iTunes will be broadcasting OLTL here and AMC's iTunes link is here.

--update 4/19: Well we have a character that won't be returning to AMC later on this month; Chrishell Stause just confirmed on Twitter that she has joined the cast of DAYS. She doesn't rule out a return in the future, but it won't be happening anytime soon. In bigger news, the fight over the OLTL characters on GH has turned into a war, with Prospect Park suing ABC for breach of contract!

Thoughts?

*As always, I'll update this post with more info as it becomes available.

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Confirmed Returns List!

Okay soapheads, for the past couple of weeks I've been updating a post I made to let you know of the performers who would be returning to OLTL and AMC when the shows return later this spring--btw, we've got an April airdate so far--and PP just released a list of who would be returning to both shows earlier today. Again, I'll be updating this post as I get wind of more return information. One Life has a notably larger list than All My Children at this point but I'm still holding out some hope.

AMC:
Debbi Morgan (Angie Hubbard)
Vincent Irizarry (David Hayward)
Lindsay Hartley (Cara Castillo)
Jordi Vilasuso (Griffin Castillo)
Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater)    *<-be still my heart!!!!!
Jill Larson (Opal Cortlandt)
Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard)  *<-yay!!!!
Cady McClain (Dixie Martin) *this hasn't been formally confirmed by PP, but CMC says she's confident she'll be returning
Julia Barr (Brooke English)
David Canary (Adam Chandler, Sr.) *<-yesss!!

OLTL:
Erika Slezak (duh)
Robert S. Woods (Bo Buchanan)
Robin Strasser (Dorian Lord...duh)
Tuc Watkins  (David Vickers) *<-there is a light at the end of the tunnel lol
Kassie dePaiva (Blair Cramer)
Florencia Lozano (Tea Delgado)
Jerry ver Dorn (Clint Buchanan)
Melissa Archer (Natalie Buchanan Banks)
Hillary B. Smith (Nora Buchanan)
Josh Kelley (Cutter Wentworth)
Andrew Trischitta (Jack Manning)
Kelley Missal (Danielle Manning)
Sean Ringgold (Shaun Evans)
Shenaz Treasury (Rama Patel)
Nick Choksi (Vimal Patel)
Roger Howarth (Todd Manning)....for now lol

Per usual, I got my info from Soapcentral.com. Like I said at the top, I'll update this list again when we get more names released. So far I think this is a pretty steady start from both shows; I am rather intrigued how everything is going to play out on the OLTL end of things as far as the characters on GH are concerned and I'm really excited to see some more big names added on to both of these lists.

On some random notes:

*Who's watching that new show Deception on NBC? If you are, then you've already found out what Bree Williamson (ex-Jessica, OLTL) is up to--she's playing the part of a deceased socialite whose murder is the focal plot surrounding the main characters on the show. On one hand, its awesome to see familiar faces doing something new. The Jeffersons theme comes to mind when I later see soap stars in primetime or on movies. They're movin' on up. lol On another note though, because she is playing this part on NBC, its highly unlikely that she would be available to come back as Jessica for the OLTL reboot, so if TPTB decide to recast her character(or even bring back Erin Torpey) how would you feel about it?

*I didn't want to cover it, but Scott Evans (ex-Oliver Fish, OLTL) was busted by the po-po last week on cocaine charges! :( Read the full story here.

*Not entirely surprised to not see her name on here, but still no word from Susan Lucci's camp on whether she'll be back for the return. I heard a while ago that her show got picked up by ABC? I'm foggy on details but regardless I know she's busy. Will there be a riot if there's an Erica-less AMC? Actually now that I think about it, if we were to go on the cast that's signed up so far, we'd be looking at a Lavery, Martin, Chandler and Kane-less AMC. Fo shame!

*update 1/24: Late breaking news from PP--A very familiar AMC face is going to have a new one when he returns to the canvas! PP just released deets today that JR Chandler will indeed be recast when the show comes back on this spring. With the end storyline being "Who did JR shoot?" the first scenes are naturally going to be very intense from jump. Do you think anyone can come in and properly capture said intensity without having the history with the character that Jacob Young did? I don't know, but looks like we'll be finding out soon enough.

*update 1/28: JR Martinez (Brot) has confirmed via his Twitter that he will not be part of the online version of the show when it returns this spring due to scheduling conflicts. I liked Brot, but JR Martinez has seemed to hit his stride since exiting the show so I think I'm okay with this.

*update 2/1: PP & ABC are on the outs with each other over the dispute involving the OLTL characters of Starr, McBain & Todd, so they're being yanked off of GH in the coming weeks and forced to return to OLTL.
                      In AMC news, a casting call has been released for Cassandra Foster, who I'm sure you remember as Angie's daughter. She was played by ANTM's Yaya DaCosta but wasn't on the screen long before being written off the show.

*update 2/5: Hulu and iTunes will be broadcasting the new, half-hour(!) episodes of AMC & OLTL later this spring, with production on both shows beginning February 25th.

*update 2/11: We've got word from La Lucci!! Word was released this morning that both she and David Canary will indeed be appearing on the relaunch of AMC this spring, but while David Canary will be seen "on an ongoing basis," Susan Lucci is only confirmed for one episode.
                          But the news is bittersweet: Michael E. Knight has declined a return to the AMC reboot, at least for now, citing bad timing. He does give us some hope that Tad will make a return sometime, but it won't be for the show's relaunch.

*update 2/22: I didn't see this before, but Julia Barr (Brooke English) has signed on for the reboot of AMC. With Barr's character Brooke reunited with Adam the last time we saw her, its probably safe to say that they're still together.
                  We haven't heard too much else on the soaps other than the Prospect Park/ABC conflict, but it has been confirmed that Roger Howarth (Todd Manning) will be back for the OLTL reboot, then headed back over to GH, where he is still under contract to ABC. No word yet on the other two characters, but at least we won't have a recast or it won't make sense. I'm still kinda peeved they got rid of Trevor St. John though. :-(


I will start a new post with more updates next month or as I get a little more information; I've kept this post open for over a month now and need to get a new one going. I just haven't gotten many updates lately; PP has gone quiet for now, presumably because production starts on Monday. With the short list we've gotten from AMC's half though, I wonder how the show's going to take off without a bunch of new characters serving as placeholders. We're still low on foundation characters (other than Susan Lucci for at least one episode, we still have no Kanes, one Slater, no Laverys, no Careys--which should make some of you happy, I presume LOL--no Martins, one Cortlandt, and two Chandlers, one of whom is a familiar name with a new face) and even though I know it is not possible at this point I would really like them to pick up where ABC left off--was an excellent lead-in for Prospect Park. Anyway, I'll be making a new post so I can continue with soap updates on the 1st.

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Big Returns Announced!

Great news soapheads! We've already got two big names confirmed to return to the online revival of AMC! Debbi Morgan and Vincent Irizarry have already confirmed via Twitter that they will indeed be reprising their old AMC roles for the online revival of the show. I was hoping we'd see some familiar faces. No comment from either Susan Lucci or Erika Slezak as of yet, but Cameron Mathison expressed his desire to return if he can get things scheduled correctly. As of now, there's no formal confirmation for his return.

Many of the AMC and OLTL'ers are on Twitter, so I know they must be getting harassed like crazy by fans wanting to know if they'll be part of the new project. I'm dreading the first confirmed 'no' answers; I know there will be some, it's just a matter of who they'll be coming from. This is a little light in the dark for now, so I'll take it. I'll keep updating this post with more returns or denials. What do you guys think, do these early confirmations make you more excited to see the show again?

In other news, CBS confirmed that Steve Burton (ex-Jason Morgan, GH) will indeed be joining Y&R in the newly created role of Dylan McAvoy. There have been whisperings for awhile after his decision to leave GH that he'd probably be jumping ship to another network and I guess those whispers turned out to be true. I haven't watched GH in a long time but he's one of the reasons why I stayed as long as I did, and yes some of it was for shallow purposes. Idgaf what role he's in, dude is yummy. So I stayed to look and I have no shame admitting it either. Maybe it was time for a change, I don't know. Any opinion on Steve Burton jumping ship to Y&R? His first air date is the 29th of this month, will any of you be tuning in?

*update 1/9* Genie Francis is on her way back to GH for the 50th anniversary! The actress recently finished up her work on Y&R as Genevieve and is now free to return to the role many soapheads love her for, GH's Laura Spencer.

*All return info is via Huffington Post. All Steve Burton news is from Soapcentral.com, all Genie Francis news from Entertainment Tonight.

*update 1/13* Jordi Vilasuso (Griffin, AMC) has confirmed that he and Lindsay Hartley (Cara, AMC) will both be returning to AMC when production officially begins next month. The first OLTL return has been announced as well; Jerry verDorn has confirmed that he is headed back to Llanview, but we have yet to hear much else on that side of things.

*update 1/19* Erika Slezak (Viki, OLTL) and Robert S. Woods (Bo, OLTL) are close to signing on to return to PP's reboot of the show---awesome news! Robin Strasser (Dorian, OLTL) confirmed her return via Twitter this past week as well.

*update 1/21* Soapcentral just got news that Prospect Park has released its first few casting calls for OLTL and....they are for 2 recasts! Ready? Matthew and Destiny are the first two characters that we know for sure are going to have new faces once the soap reboots later this year. How do you feel about that, soapheads? We've had little Eddie Alderson in that role for years! Of course with both Eddie and Kristen out in LA now, that opens up an entirely new can of worms that I'll save for when we have more info. lol But for now, these are the first recasts the show has publicized. Keep you updated!

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Soap Fans!!!

For the first time in what feels like forever, I finally have something worthy of the current web address---good soap info!

After about a year and some change of stringing us along and yanking our chains, Prospect Park has confirmed initial plans and are now moving ahead with the AMC & OLTL online revivals! Check the link for details. Wonderful, yes? I am happy to hear this news as I have missed my soaps terribly, but I am also very apprehensive and not as excited as I would have been a year ago and I will tell you why.

In the year since the PP deal first blew up in our faces, many of the stars of both shows have gone on to new roles, pursue new opportunities and some have left the soap world entirely. Others have gone on to new soaps in old roles and have put down roots in the year that they've been off ABC. Is it realistic at this point, even feasible, to assume we'll get some of the same characters back, some piece of the soaps we have come to love over the years?

Would I be comfortable watching a show that is only comparable with the ABC series by name and not by content? Honestly, no. Attribute that to my dislike of change and inconsistency, I guess, but I wouldn't like it. Take most of the characters we love on OLTL for example. Where are a good deal of them now? A lot of them have taken up residence in Port Charles and have successfully threaded themselves into GH's current canvas--would it be rocking the cradle to ask them to leave contracted roles on network television and film an online series that in itself has a significantly decreased audience as well as pay? It would be capsizing the boat, not rocking it, not to mention I don't expect them to immediately be interested; with Ron Carlivati at the helm of GH and many of them sharing airtime with former co-stars anyway they're in comfortable hands. Most of AMC's frontrunners you don't see anymore. Susan Lucci left soaps entirely and what the hell is AMC without Erica Kane? The stars we are used to seeing on our screens have moved on, some to other soaps and others have simply vanished. I haven't seen many of them since the final episodes, and I would assume a lot of them probably don't want to be pigeonholed into the same role they had on network tv for years, and definitely not for an online version of a series that was once broadcast five days a week on network television around the world.

So with those sorts of thoughts, I can't be as excited as I was a year ago. I thought it was the perfect time for PP to go through with the deal right after OLTL's final show; many fans (myself included) were still reeling from not having the soaps anymore and most of the stars were free from other commitments, some of them delaying other moves in the event that the PP deal came through. It's been a year and many of us have since adjusted, albeit reluctantly, to the knowledge that we wouldn't be seeing our soaps anymore; content instead to see if a familiar face pops up somewhere else. Hearing the news about PP was great, but anticlimactic and fills me with questions, not excitement. A positive spot in the news is that Agnes Nixon is on board, so even if old favorites do not return, she can create new favorites that will continue to build on the history both of these shows have boasted for so long.

What do you guys think about Prospect Park's announcement? Still excited, or has it been too long?

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Daytime Suds Update

Got some quick soap news to report to you today before I forget. As always, I get all my soap news from Soapcentral.com but in the very rare case you haven't been there, I report it back here and give you links. Aren't I nice? :P

---Well, the scheduled return date for Kirsten Storms (Maxie, GH) was supposed to be next month, however it was just announced a couple of days ago that she will not be returning just yet and Jen Lilley, Storms' replacement, will be continuing in the role 'for the foreseeable future.' I never like hearing that phrase--usually it means either the actor will not be returning at all and they have decided to continue on with the recast, or the actor will not be returning for months and there's no longer a return date in sight. Storms has been off tv since September battling endometriosis. Hope there wasn't a complication with her condition. Get better soon and come back, Kirsten!

---In more GH news, remember awhile ago when I said that in some locations, GH was being bumped off the air, signaling what some (myself included) felt might be the first death bell for the show? Perhaps there was some weight to it--last week Soapcentral announced that the soap could go primetime instead--who remembers a few years ago when GH did a primetime series during the summer for SoapNet? I loved it personally. According to the news report, whispers are going around that GH could be moved to a primetime slot and be continued as a short-term summer series instead of a daily daytime one. That's a loud enough death bell for me, I don't know about the rest of you. With Brian Frons out, the vision for ABC's daytime programming has shifted and if talks like this are already occurring then it doesn't look too good for the future of the soap. In essence, even if the show is moved to primetime, it is still the death bell--GH is a daytime soap. It seems like moving the show to primetime--where its against major shows--and turning it into a summer series is to pacify those who don't want the show off the air yet. Not diggin' the idea at all. So let's hope those are just whispers in the night that won't see the light of day. Somehow though, I don't truly believe they're just whispers in the night...I can see cancellation or other changes to the soap coming sooner than ABC is willing to say. With the upcoming cancellation of SoapNet, therefore ending all replays of the soaps still on the air and any chance for a 2nd season of the GH primetime summer series, this really doesn't look good.

---In DOOL news, the return of Tanya Boyd (Celeste) was announced, but due to scheduling conflicts, she has had to decline her return, prompting a last-minute hiring of Beverly Todd to take over Celeste's short-term return. She is due to air in April.

---Hillary B. Smith (ex-Nora, OLTL) has signed on the dotted line to play Dr. Stacy, the new sex therapist setting up shop on B&B; the announcement was made last weekend.

---Speaking of B&B, they have made the decision to bump both Brandon Beemer (Owen) and Zack Conroy (Oliver) off of contract status; it is still unknown whether or not they will be on recurring status or written off entirely.

---Finally some Pine Valley casting news--Susan Lucci (come on now, like she needs me to remind you all who she played lol) has been announced as the new host of a show debuting on the ID Channel this fall quite aptly named Deadly Affairs. Doesn't that sound like an Erica Kane talk show special? lol The reality series will delve into stories of real-life betrayal and love triangles. They couldn't have picked a better host and I will be reviewing the show for the RBR (Random Bitchy Reviews, duh!) when it premieres.

---These are probably a little older in news, but both Lisa Rinna (Billie, DOOL) & Bryan Dattilo (Lucas, DOOL) will be returning in the weeks to come. The returns were announced within a week of each other early last month; Rinna is slated to air in March; it is still unclear whether her stay is recurring or permanent. The last time we saw Billie, Julie Pinson was in the role; Lisa Rinna hasn't played Billie since 2003. Dattilo's first scenes are due to air sometime next month. Again, the duration of the stay was not specified. Welcome home!

---Genoa City will soon be adding a new resident--Catherine Bach, or Daisy Duke as most remember her by, will be joining the canvas as Anita, Chelsea's mother. She is due to begin airing on February 7th.

---And finally, to clarify last week's statements made by ABC when it was announced that Llanview's Manning family as well as John McBain would be setting up shop in Port Charles, Kassie dePaiva (Blair) informed her fans that the ads and announcement were a little misleading; instead of a permanent stay as we were told, the crossover is on a short-term basis.


Well, I guess that wraps up this week's Daytime Suds Update. Check back with me next week for more!

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Daytime Suds: Four OLTL Actors IN at GH!

Well this is surprising. In an 11th hour turn of events, not only are four former OLTL actors making the jump to General Hospital, two of them were committed to the Prospect Park deal and jumped ship, BUT! they get to come over as their past Llanview characters!

I am in FLOVE with this concept. I have to admit, I used to love back in the day when soaps would have a bit of fusion during Sweeps Week to shake things up a bit. I didn't like when Babe & Bianca did it on AMC, but that was only because a baby switch was involved and I didn't like it on that one soap, so I definitely wasn't diggin' it when they carried it over to another. I did, however, like the dual thing Anna Devane did on both AMC and GH. But I'm a Finola Hughes fan anyway, so perhaps I am biased. I don't know. Regardless, I think this is definitely going to be an interesting turn of events, if the writers play their cards right. And let's not forget the rare feat that Skye Chandler pulled off, being a crossover character on all 3 ABC soaps. So the idea of crossover characters isn't unchartered territory and the fact that these will be permanent stays is an intriguing one to me.

As we all know, the Prospect Park deal is dead at this point so the chance to revive OLTL and AMC from various standpoints is just no longer feasible. Several stars, more from OLTL than AMC, signed on immediately and put their faith in PP and their shallow, unfinished promises, and were rewarded with another pulled plug as a result. Read their press release here. Throughout the holidays, we heard nothing except that Y&R had picked up a couple of former AMC'ers, but nothing on OLTL. As the soap aired its final episode last Friday (which I missed! I am so pissed about that!!), there was still no development...UNTIL! (Yes...I am excited...I apologize for the caps attacks)yesterday Soapcentral confirmed that 4 former Llanviewites are headed over to Port Chuck in their old OLTL roles.

I can't help but feel that a part of the reason why these characters were invited was to keep a piece of Llanview alive. I'm sorry that sounds cheesy, but this has been so disheartening to me to watch ABC Daytime completely go up in smoke, with no apologies to longtime viewers who provided that network with years of excellent ratings. It's nice to see the remaining soap showing some loyalty and picking up actors from a sister show.

Kassie DePaiva (Blair), Roger Howarth (Todd), Kristen Alderson (Starr) & Michael Easton (John) are all headed to Port Charles in the weeks to come, and I have to admit this may drag me back to Port Chuck for a spell. They should be a little comfortable in their new digs; it was announced some time ago that Ron Carlivati, the head writer for OLTL, will be taking over the head writer position on GH as well. You can read the article in its entirety here.

I wonder how it would go if there was a mix of all the ABC soaps, just formed into one soap. Maybe it would be a disaster, maybe it would be gold. If done right, it could be amazing. Unfortunately it seems as though not too much energy will be used in the name of soap operas anymore not to mention the production costs and equal pay would probably be altered significantly, so maybe that's asking too much anyway. Oh well...it was nice in theory.

Regardless, welcome to Port Chuck!

I'm surprised I did not relay this when I found out, but Darnell Williams (ex-Jesse, AMC) is on his way to Genoa City, where its rumored he'll once again be sharing time with longtime acting partner Debbi Morgan (ex-Angie, AMC). It was rumored that Williams committed himself to the dead PP deal not long after Lindsay Hartley and Cameron Mathison did, but I think he was right to play it safe and not announce anything until more details had come through. Since the ship was already sinking when the other two jumped on, he was smart to keep his foot on the docks since the chance to revive both soaps has since been killed. Besides that, with so many AMC characters off the canvas permanently because the actors had already committed to other soaps or retired, what potential for storyline could you have? After separating Angie & Jesse for 20 years and bringing them back for 3, I really wouldn't have been able to deal with watching them be separated again or having the writers use a puny explanation for why Angie is never shown on screen, like she's at the hospital working or asleep--when we can all clearly tune in to Y&R and watch Debbi Morgan playing another character. It would be nonsensical and again, with so many characters off the canvas, most of whom made AMC what it was in recent years, many storylines would be full of holes. The week it was announced that PP would be picking up the soaps and reviving them online, Morgan had just (and I mean 'just' as in the day before! How's that for irony??) committed herself to Y&R so she wouldn't be making a return. Denise Vasi (ex-Randi) has already picked up Stacey Dash's old slot on VH1's Single Ladies so Frankie would be without his wife as well. Shannon Kane (ex-Natalia) had left the show before the finale and J.R. Martinez (ex-Brot) is probably busy again, riding the high of his recent Dancing with the Stars win...so where does this leave the Hubbard family anyway? Part of the reason why we loved this family so much was because of their interactions with and love for each other. You can't have one member of the Hubbard family there to carry on the name alone--this isn't GH, where its half decent to have just one Webber. As much as I like Liz & her brother (I forget his name...Steve? Idk), they're no Hubbards. There can't be just one. lol Long story short, I'm glad some of the actors from AMC are finding work. They seemed less gung-ho about the online concept than those from OLTL, as many more of the characters from Llanview were going to make the commitment to Prospect Park a few months ago. Casting news from AMC has all but died off since the re-cancellation announcement, so I'm glad to hear that others have picked up and moved on to other roles. Here's hoping that history can be made again with different characters in a new locale. Welcome to Genoa City, Darnell!

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In Tragedy & Triumph......AMC Series Finale

After 41 years of history, tears, laughter, birth, death, anger, happiness, marriage, divorce, thriving, failing and surviving, All My Children finally came to a close today. It was great to see most of the characters I love back on the canvas one last time, sharing in all of the happiness and good news. Stuart's alive, Frankie found out he and Randi may be gaining a new addition to their family, Brot & Natalia announced their engagement, Angie's sight was restored, Joe & Ruth moved back to Pine Valley as did Adam & Brooke, Jamie came back to town for a visit, Chandler Enterprises and the Chandler home were saved, Adam asked Brooke to marry him, Dixie & Tad are getting married (again) and we can all go home happy, right?

Wrong. Two--no, scratch that--three members of PV society were very unhappy at the Pine Valley Rebirth/Sendoff celebration. The most notable one was JR, who to date has lost everything in his life. I felt rotten for him. When I heard that Alexa Havins was reprising her role as Babe, I was sure that she'd be one of Orpheus' shining stars and she could retrieve her family, save JR from the brink and they could ride off in the sunset together. How let down I was to realize that not only was she on my screen for no more than 30 minutes, her entire purpose was to tell JR that she was indeed still dead. Honestly, I think that pushed JR over the edge more than anything else; in recent days his fleeting hope that Babe was one of the ones David had saved was keeping him going. With confirmation from the subject in question, he knew all hope of getting the love of his life back was gone. Marissa already has his son (btw it really grinds my gears that she now says she's his mother -_-), he won't listen to Tad or Dixie (who he previously wanted to make proud), can't stand the sight of Adam after all the rejection Adam's handed down to him, the man's really been reduced to nothing but a picture on a mantel, the town's scum. How far the mighty fall. JR has always battled his demons, but this time, especially with the confirmation that Babe was not an Orpheus patient as the icing on the cake, he gave into those demons and spent much of the final episode either brooding at the airport between confrontations or lurking in the Chandler tunnels with that gun, a bottle in his hand and cynicism dripping from his words.

JR has been handed a life of hell, much of it a precursor to the hell he put himself through later. I thought if anyone could have used the good news, it would have been him. But it added to the drama that he didn't receive it, or his happy ending, and finally unraveled. At first I thought he would have busted out from the tunnels and made a dramatic entrance, a la Annie when she stabbed Erica a couple years ago. Later in the episode it was seen that he intended to shoot someone in attendance that night, which was practically the entire town. The camera shots from that angle went to Tad, Dixie, Marissa, Bianca, Erica & Jack, but more times than not landed on Adam. When he returned to town this week, JR was furious with him, but that anger skyrocketed when instead of continuing to try to help him, Adam tossed him to the wolves, saying that being on his own would be good for him. At that point, JR gave up and not even Babe's ghost was able to help him through. It was sad to watch. And in true AMC, cliffhangers' fashion, that gunshot was the final sound we heard from Pine Valley. Who he shot, we do not know and probably will not if the Prospect Park-produced AMC doesn't get off the ground.

The other notable unhappy PV resident was Erica, who was finally left high and dry by Jackson. Didn't see that coming, huh? If ANY resident in town was going to get their happy ending, most would bet 9/10 that it would be Ms. Kane herself. Wrong again. Erica, the eternal dreamer, chose yet another stage in her career over her love and life with Jack and he finally had enough. I always found Jack to be so debonair, so handsome and sophisticated, and I loved his last line. "Frankly, Erica, I really don't give a damn what you need." After being Erica's lapdog, the one to always run after her when she'd made another misstep or when her pride was getting in the way of her feelings, for 24 years (as long as I've been alive), Jack reached his breaking point. Opal warned her time and time again as did both of her daughters, but the premise of living out the dream of turning her life into a movie and standing at the corner of Hollywood and Vine instead of Main St. and Pine, was too much for Erica and she put her plans with Jack on the backburner again, expecting him to just be quiet and deal with it as he'd always done. He wasn't. He realized she continued to stall because underneath it she didn't want to be married to him, that her career was still more important than their love, and seemed relieved when she finally admitted it. She begged and pleaded, but it was the same selfish rhetoric Erica has become infamous for. There was no consideration for Jack's aspirations and goals; she just assumed her goals were their goals when in fact they weren't. They were only shared goals because he loved her and wanted her to be happy. The problem was that he was no longer happy with the arrangement and was tired of putting what he wanted behind everything Erica wanted. For the past 41 years, all Erica Kane has thought of was herself and the final episode was no different. Sure, she loved Jack as much as she could, but look at how quickly she hopped on that plane after she got it in her head that Mike Roy was still alive. Jack stood by her through all of her crazy ideas, all of her life's changes, even married and divorced her throughout the 24 years they shared but still never got what he wanted, which was just to be first in Erica's life. I can't blame Jack for finally having had enough. But right up until the end, Erica was determined not to lose her love and her final words were to Opal, when Opal told her she lost out and couldn't retrieve it this time. With the dogged determination Erica has become known for, she said, "Watch me," and stormed out after Jack.

She stormed out, the shot rang out, and in Soprano fashion, the screen faded to black.

I was so angry over the cliffhanger that I couldn't even cry when I realized my show had finally come to an end. Besides that, I'd spent the past 54 minutes crying off and on anyway. lol I can't say that the ending was terrible; I think I understand the angle the writers were coming from. Do something unexpected, have an unexpected ending, especially if this indeed is not the true ending to the show. Make the viewers come back for more, make them eager to see who was shot in those final seconds when the show returns. However, judging by some viewers' posts on media websites about the final episode, that ending may have lost more viewers rather than gained them. It was seen by some as a disrespectful move on AMC and ABC's parts, because they wanted a traditional, happy ending soap that tied everything together and allowed the viewers to give the characters a proper final sendoff. This ending I'll admit left more questions than answers, which again might have been the writers' angle, kind of closing the ABC door and opening the Prospect Park one. I don't agree with it myself, but I'm still undecided as to whether I'll go to the web version, partly because I don't know that I'll remember lol, but if I do I'd like to see them pick up where ABC left off. I wonder how that'll work since Jacob Young already committed himself to B&B and its unlikely many of the veterans will return. We'll see.

Tad's speech, the last long bit of monologue that he or the show would have, broke me down and it got even worse as I saw various castmembers either holding back emotion or wiping tears. Regardless that the party was used as a "rebirth" of Pine Valley, it hung over me like a cloud, not to mention it was rather obvious that this was really the end and alot of Tad's speech were feelings Michael Knight agreed with as well. (If he didn't agree and there was no personal stock in there then he's just amazing. lol) I don't think the writers could have picked a better person to close the show with. As the camera panned to show the cast during the speech, I couldn't help but cry as it finally hit me that this show I came quickly to love, with this cast of people I adored and not just for the characters I loved (and despised), truly and honestly was coming to an end. It hit even further when just after the replay of AMC went off on SoapNet, they showed a commercial for Brothers and Sisters, debuting on Monday in AMC's old replay timeslot. It was as if AMC was being wiped completely off the slate and relegated to an old box in a dusty closet.

I'll admit that I left Pine Valley over a year ago because I was unhappy with the plotlines, but I don't think this should have been the end. There were still so many avenues to explore, so many more dishes to delve into (I promise this isn't a plug for AMC's replacement The Chew. lol) and the story itself just looked so rushed and unfinished. This was a premature ending, if you ask me, and for me there were so many holes in the story that those things stood out to me more as the hour came to a close. Regardless of that, an era truly ended today. Many a career was started here, and many will be closing their careers here as well. I would like to thank the cast, crew, producers, writers, cameramen, all of the employees who helped make AMC what it was over the 5 years I was a fan for providing me with something to watch. Thank you for showing me more than just love in the afternoon and hanging on with confidence after the slow death of soaps began. This show was as much a part of my day as a meal, the characters played a part of my life like old friends whose updates I read like Facebook posts on my news feed. Every time a soap has reached the end of its run, I feel a little emptier when I think about the future of television, because with the death of each soap the evidence that times are changing, another phase is beginning and with that evolution the death of something has to occur in order to free up the space. I'm just sad that its soap operas that have to die in order to make way for the rotten replacements each of them have gotten. I find it so hard to believe that its ridiculous game show remakes, even more talk shows and more reality trash that people want instead of quality, hour-long shows that have been around longer than half their fanbase. These shows are rooted in history, they entertain, they grow as we grow. And the producers of these networks feel we'd rather see another reboot of Let's Make a Deal or The Chew instead? Ok just for a second, I'll be a turncoat and admit that if The Chew wasn't taking the place of my show, I'd probably watch it. But seeing that it is, I can't do it. Yet. lol

In summary, AMC made sure to go out with a watercooler ending and left me not only frustrated, but realizing to never expect anything, never to rely on expecting anything. We as fans expected a hunky-dory, Guiding Light style ending. But at the same time, especially with the possibility of the show living on, there was drama in Pine Valley right up until the end, which culminated in the revival of Mr. Rubber Tree Plant himself, Stuart Chandler, there was no way the show could end peacefully. The show chose to make their finale a celebration of life and what it has to offer, good and bad, the bad being behind and the good being on the horizon for everyone's futures. Today's finale focused on life, new adventures, the beginning of new chapters, and the celebration of the new that the town was getting ready to encounter. Instead of "dying" today, Pine Valley was reborn.

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Well, it's happened.

The death of soap operas has finally hit ABC, where yesterday it was announced in a shock move that both AMC and OLTL have been cancelled. It surprised me, especially considering that AMC just finished reassuring its viewers that the show wasn't going anywhere, but let's be honest. We all knew this was inevitable; although I do wish it wasn't done at the same time. So when February of 2012 hits, we (provided there are no more cancellations) will be down to four soaps. Y&R and B&B on CBS, btw who even watches Bold and the Beautiful anymore???, GH on ABC and DOOL on NBC. Pretty lonely, don't ya think? Ten years ago, soaps were thriving. There were 9 soaps. There are now 4. By the time I have kids and we're watching tv together during the day, soaps are going to be ancient history and that makes me very sad. Soaps have been part of my life in some way as long as I've been alive, and even when I'm not actively watching I still try to keep up on at least the character ins and outs. It's still hard for me to accept that in five years, there will probably only be 2 soaps, if that, on the air. YR is still highly successful and still pulls in alot of viewers, as does GH. I guess the glory days of the other soaps are behind them according to ABC, since their viewership continues to drop as the years pass. I thought ABC scored a major coup when it was announced recently that Roger Howarth (ex-Todd, OLTL) would be returning to the show. For years now its been floating around that ABC was trying to pull him back in, and with the cancellation of ATWT last year, the rumors got even stronger since he hadn't been signed to another soap. The possibilities with that and Trevor St. John (Todd, OLTL)'s storylines are massive, and although they dropped the ball by letting Susan Haskell (Marty) go right before Howarth returns to the show, I still think they can do alot. The possibility of having St. John's Todd be an imposter is still there, and I think it would be so interesting to see Marty's reaction at hearing that the real Todd is back and actually being face to face with the person who really raped her as opposed to the person she thought did it for the better part of the last 5 years. The show has the potential to really do something big before it goes off the air next January, so if anything I would suggest that they start trying to bring characters back to tie up storylines and in essence, the entire show, before it goes black.

As for AMC, I don't know what they have going on because my own interest has waned, but I suppose as far as characters coming in or going off, its been pretty quiet, which I guess? is a good thing, but I do wonder how they're going to tie everything together and end the show in the next five months. I think it sucks that AMC goes off the air four months before OLTL does, because that leaves them less time to really do anything as a good storyline takes about that long from start to finish, but I probably will come back sometime during the summer so I can see how the show will be ending. Same with OLTL though, I think AMC should start bringing back characters, just to tie up the story and give Pine Valley a fitting sendoff. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper end to the show if there was no Adam, or Joe and Ruth Martin, so they better bring them back. Honestly, if schedules permit, I'd suggest trying to bring back a few recently departed characters; let us fans say goodbye to them one last time. It's kinda okay if a character leaves the show but there's a door open to their return sometime in the future, but if the show itself is ending, I think it would be better to bring them back and let us have the final goodbye as well. Viewers need that, as crazy as it sounds. They need the opportunity to say goodbye to the characters and the town they've gotten used to. I know some people are like 'yeah, whatever' but honestly, sometimes fans and viewers cry when the show's been cancelled. You're taking a piece of our childhood away, taking away these people and these towns that we love and have loved for years. Why wouldn't we feel some kind of way about it?

Alot of fans say that the move to LA began to put the nails in AMC's already lowered coffin, and while I think it did contribute in a big way, I don't think it killed the show entirely. I kinda think the move to LA made it obvious that the show was going to die regardless and the move to LA was more of a strategic last ditch effort to save it. I think we lost out on alot as a result, since a few characters did not make the move and the show lost all of its already casted children (ironically LOL) from the New York set, but if I'm being completely truthful, I think the show was already on its last legs when the move was made. Cutting costs with the new sets in LA just pushed that date back a little. I don't know when others stopped tuning in, but after the whole Satin Slayer, Reese and Bianca and Babe's death, I just lost interest. By the time the show made the decision to move to LA, I wasn't watching anymore. Every time I have gone back, I wasn't interested enough to stay. So can I say in retrospect that the move was a good idea? I don't know. I think it might have saved the show from meeting its maker by a year or two, but we already knew this day was coming because of the past two cancellations and AMC's constantly falling ratings. With that said, I suppose as a whole, its probably past time to start saying goodbye to daytime. GH is still going strong, as is Y&R. I don't know about DOOL, but considering that NBC hasn't pulled the plug as of yet, I'll assume its going well. However, within the next five years, unfortunately I don't see those being around either. The sun has set on the era of daytime soap operas, reality tv and talk shows are taking over. Supposedly this is what the viewers want. I mean, how many friggin talk shows do you need?? It's bad enough that every and I mean just about EVERY channel has some form of reality show, some channels have entirely geared their programming around it! TLC is now a reality channel, as is MTV, VH1, Food Network, E!, Style, should I keep going? You have to take our soaps as well? I'm sick of reality. It would be awesome if all the soaps got their day on SoapNet, but even their programming is shifting within the next year or so. If all the soaps got to keep going and just be shown on the Soap channel, I wouldn't mind. But like I said, the dawn of daytime is over and reality has set in, seemingly here to stay. Apparently people can't get enough of looking in on someone else's life and we're going to be introduced to multiple sets of people trying to get their time in the sun, their 15 minutes of fame. Irritating. Immensely irritating. And you're killing our soaps for this. In a word, its bullshit. I hate reality tv, for the most part, and I definitely don't think you should kill an ERA, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING programming for friggin REALITY SHOWS!!!! Soaps are our escape! That's what they were made for! Let us have it! You've already killed two other, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING soaps, and what pray tell took their place? LAME ASS GAME SHOWS. @_@ And now, you're making us say goodbye to La Lucci and the ever fab Erica Kane and the awesomeness that is Erika Slezak, Miss Viki Davidson herself, and for what? TALK SHOWS. You already have talk shows, ABC, your entire morning is talk shows and everything following it is news---more talk. And for some reason you feel you need more on top of that? You really need it so much that you'll kill soap operas, shows that are older than probably half of your damn staff? Get real. -_- Can you tell I'm mad about it? lol

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All these outs are slightly depressing....

The last blog made me think. Three outs were reported in about 2 days this past week. How many other outs have there been just in recent months, say like since Fall Sweeps or so? It made me think because I remember seeing on almost every soap, even the ones I don't watch, there have been at least 2. So I decided to go back to the source and break them down. All information in this blog and many others is from http://www.soapcentral.com/. It is unclear on many whether or not there will be recasts on any of these roles or if they were written off permanently; this blog is only discussing the outs.

AMC:
1)Well, I can't mention outs on this show without mentioning Thorsten Kaye (Zach)'s decision to no longer continue with the show due to not wanting to travel from his home base in NYC to AMC's new home in LA, prompting his character to be killed off in a crash during November's Sweeps Week.
2)In December, Debbi Morgan (Angie) took an indefinite medical leave, revealing not long after that she'd been diagnosed with Lyme disease. So this one is really a temporary out.
3)In the same month, Finn Wittrock (Damon), a relatively new actor to the cast, decided not to renew his contract after debuting a little over a year ago and as of now, Damon is either already off the canvas or is on his way out.
4)To kick off 2011, we find out that Shannon Kane (Natalia) decided as well that she wouldn't be renewing her contract with show, instead deciding to make the foray into movies, although the door is open for a return should she decide to change her mind.
5)Not long after this announcement, Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) also decided not to renew her contract with the show, stating that she would prefer to pursue other interests and has already taped her final scenes.

B&B:
Seemingly the only soap on the list with more ins than outs is the only show that only tapes for half an hour. They haven't had any outs, so good for them.
update (as of 1/28): Due to lack of storyline for the character, Kyle Lowder (Rick) has been released.

DOOL:
1)Not even 10 days into the new year, we find out that Mark Hapka (Nathan) was let go from his role due to not being utilized enough, so he asked to be let go if the character could not be used properly and it seems that the powers that be granted his request.
2)Shelley Hennig (Stephanie) broke the news just this past week that she decided not to continue with the show and will be taping her last scenes on the 2nd of next month.
3)The same day, Jay Kenneth Johnson (Phillip) announced that he too would not be renewing with the show. Now if you remember, a couple of years ago a story broke about him clearing his dressing room and storming off the set but being forced back later because he had not fulfilled the terms of his contract. He renewed with the show a short time later and it seemed all was well, but it seems he now wants out.

GH:
1)The only one from this soap but probably the biggest shocker on this entire list was Rebecca Herbst's (Elizabeth) firing from the show due to the current direction of the story involving her character. Soapcentral says that she is last expected to air in March, so get your fill of her now. It surprised her, her castmates and her fans, this one included. And it still makes me very sad, not to mention extremely P.O'ed. Moving on...

OLTL:
I would love to comment on how many actors were let go or decided not to renew with the show over the year because it really is an interesting list, but I said from November and from there I will go.
1)In December, Carmen LoPorto (Jack) made the announcement that Jack was being SORAS'd and he would no longer be needed. LoPorto looks to be around 10-12 for me, more so for the pre-pubescent little brother, and the show decided that aging him to around 15 would be more appropriate due to the upcoming storyline.
2)In the same story, twins Jacob and Luke Clodfelter (Sam) were recast and SORAS'd as well; Sam's new age was not mentioned. I looked a little deeper and found out on soaps.sheknows.com that the recast for Sam is about 5, so that would put Sam at preschool or kindergarten age.

Y&R:
Well, much like its CBS counterpart, I didn't find any outs for Y&R during the time period I was searching. Good job, CBS.

Many of the soaps eliminating cast members is on the ABC network, which does not set a good tone considering this is the only channel who still shows soaps all day. CBS has eliminated their entire afternoon of soaps and NBC eliminated their late morning soap years ago, so DOOL has been on its own for quite some time. In short, this doesn't look so good for ABC soaps. Get it together, guys (n gals)!

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Surprising Outs!

ABC came out with some serious ousters this week, on all three soaps; it couldn't go without reporting.

GH reported earlier this week that 13-year veteran Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) was being cut from the show in a story-dictated exit. Are they serious? This woman has dedicated 13 years of her life to your show, probably rejected offers to try for other shows or primetime, not to mention hasn't even been back from maternity leave for a year and you're cutting her out?? Due to story?? It boggles my mind, and apparently those of her costars' too because this was definitely a loud ripple that was heard by all of her GH castmates by the day's end. She has been on this show with so much of that cast for so many years--Maurice Benard, Jonathan Jackson, Tyler Christopher, Steve Burton--and that's just a few--she basically grew up around these people! Elizabeth has been an integral part of GH's story from when she was a rebellious teen to now, a grown woman with 3 kids and quite the checkered past but still a big heroine on the show. She's had interactions with everyone on the show, has always turned in excellent work whether she was doing something bad or good, and doesn't really need to be written into an exit or a corner with no way out. Her character still has a journey to explore and they're cutting her out, and quite unceremoniously through "story dictates" on top of that. Why the hell is the story dictating that Elizabeth no longer be a part of it? You're keeping on characters that hog space (I won't name names lol), characters that in my opinion don't have much longevity save for creating conflict in couples or potential couples (again, won't name names lol) and letting go of someone with roots in this town? Her brother just came back after leaving her as the only Webber on the show for years, and now she's being written out, leaving him to uphold the family name alone. I loved the idea of Jonathan Jackson returning to the show and having Liz and Lucky get back together, but the ball was dropped. Lucky and Liz's son that supposedly was stolen by Helena hasn't been mentioned and as of late she's become background fodder with not much story when there was immense potential. It's a dumb decision and I hope GH realizes immediately that they made a mistake. Becky Herbst is a talented actress and sounds like a great person as well and I am sure that another soap will be more than happy to pick her up. I wish her the very best of luck with wherever this turn takes her.

The morning after GH made their announcement, I go back to Soapcentral.com and find out that AMC's Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) had decided not to renew her contract with the show and would be leaving in the coming weeks. Now I don't know if they will be recasting the role after giving Annie a write-off or if the character will be meeting her maker or what, but in any case, I think it stinks. Even no longer being a viewer of the show it does still make me a little sad to hear that yet another actor has decided to leave AMC. The population in Pine Valley is suffering as it is, and even though I was no longer an Annie fan towards the end of my viewing, I was still a fan of Melissa's so its not like I figured the character needed to be written off the show. Towards the end of the time I stopped watching, I hated that her character had become so much different from the one I was familar with, from the character I loved to watch so it wasn't hard for me to stop watching scenes from time to time. I think the character had a great road of redemption ahead of her and again, the constant switch of writers dropped the ball and each set had Annie doing something different. I couldn't stand it myself. Maybe I'm just too critical, I dunno. I just prefer some continuity with the characters I enjoy watching, I guess. At least Melissa wasn't fired; she expressed an interest in pursuing other roles outside of AMC. I hate hearing that any soap loses an actor since the genre as a whole seems to be losing talent left and right, but in case I were to return to the show I wouldn't be too pleased if I come back and a few of my favorite characters are no longer there. But who knows, Annie may make a return if Melissa decides at a later date to return to the show, or the role may be recasted and get another surge of interest from viewers. In any case, I'm sad to see her and Annie go and like Rebecca Herbst, has the best of luck in pursuing her other interests.

The following day if not later on the same day, OLTL announces that Brittany Underwood (Langston) is also being written out in a story dictated exit. Much like Rebecca Herbst, this was her first major role in acting and although she hasn't been on the show as long as Rebecca was with GH, she still grew up around her castmates and I'm sure this was a shocker to them as well. When Langston first started on the show she was the rebel edge to play off of Starr's cookie-cutter, privileged existence. Not long after she crossed paths with Markko Rivera, another rebel who used insulting Langston to hide the fact he was actually quite fond of her, a very familiar part of high school from my memory. Fast forward a couple of years and they had become one of the most stable couples on the show, which was sad considering there were less than 10 teens on the show at the time. They had more maturity in their relationship than alot of the adults; they should have taken a lesson or two from the two outcasts. I loved watching them together; it reminded me of my first love although their story was much more romantic and trusting than mine was. It was something realistic that I had no problem believing in. The entry of Lola into their relationship about 2 years ago was when they were first handed their bit of friction, followed by the disapproval Markko's parents had about him being with Langston and being sexually active without being married. Those were both normal things; most parents would prefer that their children not be sexually active until marriage and finding out the opposite usually sets them off. Definitely was a realistic angle in their story, especially if the parents, much like Markko's, were religious. But then the introduction of Ford into their story is what in my opinion eventually opened the door for Jason Tam (Markko) to take his temporary and then permanent exit from the show as his character got less time and story, and as the Ford family was fully integrated onto the canvas and Rob's angle with Langston decreased, I lost interest. Not long after, she's being written out due to story. I'd hope she just leaves for college or follows Markko to wherever he is and isn't written out via killer or some other stupid reason. She, like the other two, turned in good work and was a breath of fresh air and I wish Brittany Underwood all the best.

What a week, huh? Three exits by three prominent actresses in about as many days, one from each ABC soap. I really hope this doesn't set or start a trend. Even though I prefer not to watch soaps right now, its good to know that they're still there, your favorite characters are still living and thriving, and that they are there for you to go back to, kind of like that favorite toy you hold on to. Don't always have to play with them, don't always even want to, but when you're ready to again, they're right there, as ready for you to pick it up again as they always were. I think of soaps in that way; when I don't like the storylines or the characters that are in the forefront, I tend to lose interest and tune out. But when I'm ready to go back, the show and those characters are right there, waiting for me to watch. Unfortunately, the next time I return to the shows they will be Annie-less, Langston-less and >.< Elizabeth-less. Le sigh.

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Young & the Restless, this goodbye was long overdue.

This goodbye was years in the making. How many years, you ask? Almost 3, if I remember correctly. It has been that long since YR interested me enough to keep me around as a regular Soapnet viewer. I never caught it in the morning since it came on at the same time as AMC, so when I was a viewer of both shows I always watched AMC instead and caught YR during the evening before my ABC reruns started. And for awhile, I loved where the show was going. I grew up on Young and the Restless. Victor and Jack became a normal part of my day and until I ran across AMC, was my lifetime favorite soap. I thought the show was hot and sexy, but had enough drama and cliffhangers to keep me interested, and enough characters to give me balance. But when Y&R started reminding me of B&B with their back and forth Sharon and Nick drama, I couldn't hang anymore because it started hogging up screen time as well. Over the past two years though, I slowly became more and more angry with the show and eventually tuned out entirely. From time to time I read the spoilers or the Two Scoops on Soapcentral so I can see what's going on, but all that those do for me now is reinforce why I no longer watch the show. I'm sure its still interesting and has its intriguing points, in no way am I saying the show is horrible because its still #1 for a reason. I'm just saying its no longer for me.

Now the Nick and Sharon thing goes back at least 5 years, but I was interested for a little while. At first, Nick and Phyllis was ok in theory to me, it gave me a bit of a Mrs.Robinson vibe and I thought it was a change from what I was familiar with. In no way was I expecting or even wanting that to be long-term. I've had a love-hate relationship with Phyllis from the first time I saw her over 10 years ago and when it comes to messing up the cosmic bond that is Nick and Sharon, I'd lean towards hate. lol Despite my previous hatred however, I came to like Nick and Phyllis together. Never loved the two together because it just didn't seem right, but I did like watching some of their chemistry together. But I always secretly wished Nick and Sharon would come to their senses and find a way back to each other. Underneath all my criticism, cynicism and general dislike for most things, I am quite the romantic. Go figure huh. I am a sucker for soap romance and I'll gladly watch a couple reunite, a pillow in my lap and my hands clasped together, all kinds of tears in the eyes. lol When Nick and Sharon finally looked at each other with all that lost love and longing in their eyes up in that cabin a couple of years ago, I breathed a sigh of relief. But when the roads cleared up and they returned to Phyllis and Jack respectively, I was disappointed. Their love isn't something I think is justified correctly with hidden trysts in snowed-in cabins and hotels. Then Sharon had that whole hoe train running for a little while and that entire relationship with Adam pissed me off. I'd rather have seen her with Victor than Adam. Point blank, either put Nick and Sharon back together and stop with the bs, or let them move on.

Speaking of Adam, I couldn't stand him when I first saw him and when he was recast he lost all of his crackers and didn't leave much, if any, room for redemption. The trauma that he put Ashley and Sharon through was disgusting for me to watch and as stupid as they made Ashley through her pregnancy was stupefying. Do you really expect me to believe a woman as strong and capable as Ashley deluded herself into thinking she was pregnant for months, into thinking she could trust Adam of all people above her own brother? Come on now! Sharon has always been a bit of a damsel in distress, another of my sore points with the show, but the way they dumbed Ashley down in order to carry that storyline through was insane. I'm not one for baby switches anyway; I wasn't a viewer when AMC's Bianca and Babe did it but I hated reading about it, I couldn't stand it when OLTL switched Jessica and Starr's daughters, and this storyline repulsed me as well. I couldn't wait for Adam to get his. He's not at a Sheila level, where he's just the crazy character with no redemption and no conscience that coincidentally is always a treat to see. He was irritating, insane, and I wasn't interested in watching him redeem himself. I didn't care. At least with Sheila, I don't want her to redeem herself because then she wouldn't be the deliciously evil bitch that she is. I don't ever want to see Sheila normal. Ever. lol I don't ever want to see Adam....again. lmao

I hated that the Carlton family is pretty much gone, felled by the same lake coincidentally. It was sad when I watched Colleen's death and part of me was hoping she'd come back, even though I'd already read casting spoilers and Tammin Sursok was definitely not returning to the show. I still tried to hold a little hope that maybe this was a last-minute change and she'd wake up from a coma or something or at least that there'd be hope she could return, but when Victor got her heart I knew it was a done deal. It was very sad for me, but I did like the dramatic feel of everything. Speaking of Colleen, that whole mess with Patty and/or Dr. Emily was nuts to me. Patty was unhinged on....at least 5 different levels and I wanted to see her gone more than I wanted the show to redeem her or have her get hers for what she had done to other people. I knew the Dr.Emily bit was partly to keep Stacy Haiduk around because she is a good actress; I was familiar with her work on AMC, where she coincidentally played yet another nutball; but double roles like that usually don't go over very well for me. And this one was no different. She isn't with the show now and wasn't much of an interest to me when she was, but it did spice things up slightly, even if it was only for a little while.

I have to admit I did enjoy the recent popping up of stars of YR's yesteryear, like Traci and occasionally Danny or even Snapper this past August. It helped take me back to a time when soaps reigned supreme during the day, a time when love in the afternoon wasn't all that hard to find. Unfortunately, those visits never lasted long and before I knew it, they'd quickly gone back to wherever they were before, leaving me with shells of what my favorite soap had become. I know that the soap isn't going to and I guess shouldn't be expected to maintain the same flow as it did nearly 20 years ago (man were the 90s really 20 years ago??) but As I mentioned in the OLTL blog, I am not a huge fan of recasts, especially if the role is synonymous with one name. I think you already know who I'm referring to here. Shemar Moore is Malcolm Winters to me, all day long. With him on Criminal Minds now I know there's no chance he'd be reprising the role and the character does have history in Genoa City, so I figured that at some point there would be a recast. However, I did think the writers would pay a little more attention to continuity and at least a similar look to the character, hell the same skintone would have been okay with me. However, instead of the milky chocolate, smooth voiced character I was used to I got a dark chocolate, Eddie Winslow-sounding character masquerading as Malcolm. I just couldn't get used to it and I'll admit I wrote him off pretty soon. Nothing against Darius McCrary, I just associate Shemar Moore with Malcolm Winters and don't really think the role can handle a recast after so long. Also, I just don't think he embodies the sexiness that was part of Malcolm's general allure. Not that McCrary is unattractive, but he doesn't ooze sex in the way that has become synonymous with Malcolm. Call me closed-minded, I couldn't accept a recast, even if I do like the actor.

I don't know many soap fans these days who don't know about the trouble behind the scenes with Victoria Rowell and....well, depends on who you're asking. Some say the trouble is with Michelle Stafford, some say its with Stafford and Peter Bergman, yet others still say its with her own soap daughter, Christel Khalil. And even more say its simply staffers that have the issues with Rowell and she is exaggerating them to portray herself as the victim in the story. At the end of the day Rowell claims that she had interest in portraying Drucilla again and I do miss my Dru. But I think things have become too sticky for her to ever have a clean return to the show. Which is unfortunate because Rowell really is a good actress and her last storyline with the Carmen Mesta mess was, I felt, undeserving for someone with so much longevity and history with the show. Neil really hasn't seemed to find his way since Dru's exit and I think Lily could have really benefited from having her mother there with her through her fight with cancer. I haven't seen anything from Nate Jr. in years, Devon hasn't had a stable female in his life since she's been gone, and Olivia really doesn't have much purpose now that her sister is gone, she already had her little thing with Neil and her friendship with Ashley is over, not to mention Brad is gone now as well. That family is hurting without Dru there and as the only family of color on the show, it's sad for me to see that through the years the Winters family has slowly fallen.

Its a defeating thing for me over the years to watch the soap that I grew up on slowly change and evolve. I guess it would be okay for me if the changes didn't seem so....drastic I suppose. No more Gina's, no more scenes (in recent memory anyway) at Nick and Sharon's old house, no more love in the afternoon. I have been trying to like the show because its the one I grew up on, but over the years I've fallen out of love with it. The teen scene from my years has been long grown and excluding one whose face is no longer even the same, is gone. Brittany's been gone for years, JT is now gone and so is Mackenzie, yet again. The characters I grew up watching, Gina, Danny, even the Newmans' old butler, are gone. In place are new faces, new locations, alot of older characters but the majority are not together. In short, the show is still amazing and the cast is great, a set of wonderful actors and actresses. But just like with OLTL, its no longer for me.

So on that note, I bid Genoa City a fond farewell as well. From time to time I suppose I could catch an epi on Soapnet, but unless the show pulls it out of the fire for me and brings me something to escape to, something not so full of pain and hurt like it has been in recent years, I won't be back. I love soaps because they're a happy place for me, somewhere that happiness at some level still exists. But yet on every show, someone's dying or in jail, or beating a charge, or something. I want my drama and cliffhangers, but to tell the truth, I still kind of miss the campiness of old. I miss the telltale happiness and love that definitely isn't present in large forms in our day anymore, the kind that instills just a little hope and belief in your own situations. I miss characters we can root for, characters who encounter obstacles just like us and don't undergo four personality shifts in as many years. I miss typical whodunnits and the occasional murder. I also miss the days where spoilers and more about the actors weren't bigger news than the characters they played and the shows they were on, the days where you only heard those things if it was huge news, and not a daily occurrence. I understand wanting to bring us closer to some of our favorite actors and actresses, but especially in the case of casting news, makes us miss out on a welcome thrill. I miss true suspense but unfortunately with the age of the Internet, those days are long gone as long as someone on a set is willing to spill. The Internet's not all bad and in fact is my favorite thing, it gives people and blabbers like me a voice, but I miss genuinely being surprised by a change or a twist. I miss not being able to guess who did it, not being able to tell what was going to be on my screen in a month, I miss waiting on the edge of my seat waiting with held breath for the next show. And for even a little while after I became an avid spoiler and scoops reader, I was still in some suspense with Young and the Restless. Maybe its so much time on the air, maybe its that old plot twists still work, I'm not sure..but nothing feels new, young or particularly restless to me. I feel restless watching the show because I miss the YR of old. Hell, maybe the issue is me not liking change. lol Let's go with that one. lol In any case, I think excluding a few episodes from time to time, my regular viewing of this show is done as well. And so that closes this here rant. Mandy out.

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Taking A Greyhound Out Of Llanview

Nope, I didn't wanna take a flight, and I took a train in from Pine Valley so I could gather my things. I want to take a Greyhound out. I wanna remember all the things I liked about Llanview, I want a time to reminisce a little bit. I am also giving the town one last chance on that slow bus ride out of the city to pull me back in, I want them to run after the bus and give me a reason to stay. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though I'll be getting my wish so much like my goodbye blog to Pine Valley, this is my goodbye to Llanview as well. It's gonna be lengthy because I'm feeling a little long-winded tonight, so bear with me.

Much like All My Children, I found One Life on Soapnet, partly because I think I forgot to change the channel after an epi of AMC and ended up liking it. Coincidentally, some time later that is the exact same way I fell in love with GH. lol What can I say, I'm consistent. Watching those three soaps got me through alot of sleepless nights, which come my way on the daily. One Life was at first exciting, full of a cast of characters that I either loved or came to love over time, plots that kept me interested, and more love in the afternoon at first than either AMC or GH. I loved it and thought AMC was the perfect lead-in. Over time, my viewing tapered off as storylines started to bore me and when I came back it was like watching an entirely new show.

Its no secret that in the soap world, you could miss a couple weeks, come back and its still two days later, or you could miss two weeks and miss almost an entire storyline, and in the case of Llanview I missed entire storylines. I thought the casting directors made a few mistakes this year, some with letting talented actors like BethAnn Bonner go via that serial killer bit at the beginning of the year, and adding certain people to the fold on a constant basis like the entire Ford family, all of whom I feel are irrelevant and take the focus away from other stories with better material. I'm sure these guys are good actors, but I'm just not invested in any of them as individuals or as a family. A year and a half ago none of them were around and now they are here, hogging up time on my screen that I would much rather see devoted to the underutilized characters in the cast, like Marty or even Roxy, who I find to be a hoot and a half.

Speaking of Marty, that was one of the big reasons why I ultimately decided to leave Llanview alone. I love Susan Haskell's work as Marty even though when she began her tenure I wasn't a viewer. The Marty I was familiar with before Haskell's return was Christina Chambers, and I purposely didn't pull up any of the originator's work because I wanted to just enjoy the plot and not compare. When Chambers was let go, I was sad but I was excited when I heard the originator of the role was returning to the show. I dunno, maybe its me being a cheesy soap fan and a huge fan of consistency (just look at how I found all 3 ABC soaps, that should be a hint lol), I am always excited when an originator returns to their place on a soap, whether or not I was a viewer when they were around the first time. I'm not a huge fan of recasts because so many of them fail horribly, but sometimes they hit it out of the park and I don't mind. However, if the originator decides to return, I usually don't complain. In any case, I was thrilled when Susan Haskell returned to the show, as I was interested to see what Marty's backstory was. However, that thrill was dimmed and then put out when they allowed her to shack up with the person who was the catalyst for her angst, then promptly used her less and less. Susan Haskell is an excellent actress and I love the dramatic scenes that the show had her in. It really allowed her to shine, so I was extremely disappointed when she was handed less material. It's like unless the story is concerning Todd, John or her rape, the writers aren't sure what to do with Marty. And that's a shame to watch.

It baffled me that characters with backstory and history like Marty were underutilized, yet everytime I tuned in, one of those damn Ford boys was on my screen. I enjoyed Rob--is that his name? when he was the hot producer of David's "show" and provided temporary distractions for Langston, but I definitely did not like when the show broke up Lang and Markko in favor of turning Lang into a familiar soap mold, the cheatin' mold. Really really hated that angle. Lang has always been the sense of reason, the logic that a sometimes ignorant Starr needed. All of a sudden she's cheating on her long term bf with some hot idiot that doesn't really pay her any mind except for between the sheets and she's reasoning and making excuses for him? Nah...really doesn't fly with me. That whole bit with Jessica really pissed me off and ever since then he and his brothers haven't done anything for me but irritate the weeds out of me. With them bringing the parental units in the picture and having them participate with major characters on  show, I am seeing now that the Fords may be around awhile longer. Which, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, is a shame to watch.

After all the hulabaloo surrounding Starr's teen pregnancy, I expected her and Cole to have more issues as they adjusted, which I think is vital for any couple who decides to move in together. Having a child come out of said relationship should have made the storyline more complex. How would they deal with being in the same house? How would they deal together with the issue of sex since one go around the park resulted in Hope? The writers had a real opportunity to show us some reality, to let us see a mature teen couple accept their responsibility to each other as well as their daughter and let us watch them grow together. Personally though, I think the writers dropped the ball there in a big way. Instead, the writers let them get boring. I know alot of people weren't too fond of Brandon Buddy's Cole, especially since he was the typical jock when he first hit the screen, but in the years he was part of the cast I gotta say, for starting out as a dickhead he did make some significant changes. Most jocks I knew in school were and still are insufferable jerks who think the world revolves around them and their daily dose of "Look what I did today, look at what I have, I'm better than you" all over their FB walls. I hardly think Cole is still an insufferable pain to watch. Granted, I did not like when OLTL became a segue for the Starr and Cole Show, but as long as there was some balance and enough plot to keep me interested, I was fine. But they got boring, grew apart, and then.....a Ford boy became involved, opening the door for Brandon Buddy to take his leave from the show. Le sigh. They're becoming a recurring theme in this blog, aren't they now?

Again, I could keep going, but I think I've said enough. In short, the show began to irritate me with the things it put in the storylines and the ways that they altered current and some past storylines. That entire storyline about Rex's parents annoyed the hell out of me and by the time I found out a returning Echo DiSavoy was his mother, I couldn't have cared less. I was really excited hearing that the show picked up Kim Zimmer after GL ended; she was one of my all-time favorite actresses. However, by the time that her scenes finally began to air, I couldn't even enjoy them because I was so done with the show. Underused characters should be having more air time and new faces with no history or connection with Llanview shouldn't be taking that time away from them. One Life became a sea of new faces to me, with old and familiar ones either doing things too stupid for me to believe, being too boring for me to care what they were doing, or not being around at all.

With that said, I'm going to continue my bus ride out of Llanview. I may come back to visit, may even stay a couple of days, but I no longer have residency there. lol I would love to tune in and see more of the soap that I came to love over the past four years, but until that happens, I have to say so long, Llanview.

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All My Children, I bid you adieu.

All My Children has now become another soap on my ever-growing list of soaps I no longer like. That leaves me with one remaining soap, General Hospital. It's a bittersweet goodbye for All My Children. I liked the show when I first found it on Soapnet, and I've mentioned a few times in the past that Alexa Havins (ex-Babe) and Jacob Young (JR) are the ones who got me started on the show because they were sharing a scene when I stumbled across it one night. Fast forward four and a half years, and Babe is dead after in my opinion a not-so-great recast (no offense to Amanda Baker, she did an awesome job; I just didn't think the character was Babe), Adam is gone, Stuart is dead, Josh is dead, Jesse and Angie are back but you wouldn't know it, Greenlee is back yet again, Annie appears to have regained her sanity, I can't keep up with or care enough about what Ryan's up to anymore, Erica and Jack are back to doing the back and forth junk,  David is presumably dead and too many characters are gone........its too much. And with the recent announcement that Thorsten Kaye is leaving the show for good (not surprisingly but still) and instead of having Zendall divorce, they instead choose to kill Zach off entirely, I bid the show good riddance.

A big part of the reason why I continued to watch All My Children after it started to piss me off was the chemistry between Zendall's portrayers. In the soap world we already know very few couples stay together throughout the course of a year, much less several. But Zendall did it. And now they decide to kill his character off for Sweeps week?! 6 years of work went into that character and he becomes folly for ratings? It's irritating! You expect me to believe that he survived the whole Satin Slayer debacle, Kendall's stint in prison, HIS stint in prison, being in that well for I forget how long without food or drink, and goodness knows what else Zendall was put through in the 4 years that I was a viewer, but that something stupid concocted during Sweeps is gonna take him out? Its unbelievably annoying and that was just the final straw for my dwindling threads of interest in this show.

I make it known that I was a huge fan of Annie McDermott Lavery Chandler. lol Notice for the first time I said 'was.' I am an Ann fan no longer. I first started to fall off the train after she killed Richie and turned into a madwoman. First she was this wonderful Earth Mother, a damaged victim from her abusive marriage to Terry McDermott and just trying to get her and Emma to a better life. Then she evolved into someone stronger because of her relationship with Ryan, and she was secure in herself and their relationship. I still maintain that Ryan's brain injury was the death knell for their marriage. It opened the door to Greenlee's re-entry into the equation and closed the door on any hope for Ryannie's survival. Then she turned into a survivor again after all of Richie's machinations and that's when the carefully built pyramid started to topple. The death of their relative came out, then she killed Richie and that was all she wrote. She went completely bat-shit nutball crazy for a few months, which was not only disappointing but insulting to me as someone who has had their own struggle with mental issues, anxiety and the like. Then she was pretending to be sane, when she really wasn't. Then all of a sudden Adam of all people takes her in and all of a sudden she IS sane? Then she gets a little fire under her ass and is still teeter tottering on the brink of sanity, meh....she's had too many changes to her character and even now, I wonder if she really is in control of her mental faculties. That's too much for me to handle for a character we were just introduced to 4 years ago. And now she's wormed her way into the Chandler fold and as much as I'd like to believe it'll get better, the long of the short of it is, I'm just not interested in her as a character anymore.

The demise of the Chandler family was sad to watch, even though I haven't been a long-term viewer of decades or anything like alot of other viewers. I was saddened like everyone else when the show decided to kill off Stuart last year. He was bright and always had a good word or a positive outlook, wasn't judgmental or manipulative and just wanted everyone happy. He was a welcomed breath of fresh air to an otherwise pretty dismal cast of characters, who were usually in the midst of some ordeal and had nothing positive to say. So even though the whodunnit was exciting at first the way the show laid it out and replayed the night of the murder (I never could turn down a good murder mystery and I absolutely loved how the show took us back through the night in question thru the viewpoint of each person that was there), I was sad that good ol' Stuart was at the heart of the matter. I haven't followed the list of Colby recasts, but Ambyr Childers' Colby was my personal favorite. Brianne Moncrief grew on me eventually, but Childers' was still my fav. I don't think the actress playing her now really is Colby, and the character has become forgettable. No offense to the actress, of course. JR has been through alot in the short 4 years I have watched this show, and as much as I love Jacob Young's work, I don't know if I can watch the show just for his character. It's a constant reminder that the person I really feel he should have been with is no longer on the show, and that was Babe. I have never been a fan of Marissa's and kind of feel that she's an unnecessary character, recasted or not. I can't say I'm sad to see her go. More on her later. And then of course there's the patriarch of the whole operation. Adam Chandler is one of a kind and so is David Canary. The show lost out BIG TIME by losing him in either role and Pine Valley is very noticeably empty without him. Palmer and Adam's rivalry was one of a kind, better than even Y&R's Victor and Jack's, and now one is gone and the other has left the show, seemingly for good. Its a huge sign that the times are changing and as one generation of soap icons is being ushered out, this is the new canvas for future icons to be cemented, if the soap opera industry in general has another generation of longevity left in them. Unfortunately, it came partially at the cost of the Chandler family on AMC.

The show didn't do a good job of weaving Marissa into the Carey's lives or cementing her with Krystal's or Babe's characters, even though Babe and Marissa were not around at the same time. All Marissa had to say in reference to her sister was 'I'm not Babe,' in that snarky tone of hers laced with resentment at the dead sister she never knew, like she'd been compared to Babe her entire life instead of just a few months. We realize that, Marissa. And we still don't care. It's pretty stupid to compare yourself to someone who's dead and you never knew in the first place. What she failed to realize is that she was on Babe's turf, with Babe's family and friends, and most importantly, with Babe's man. What else were they supposed to do? One year Babe is there and the next Marissa's just stepping effortlessly into her spot, with all her faux thoughts on positivity and being this goody goody two shoes ne'er do badder? Making the comparison was expected. Not to say that Babe was a horrible person, but the two are polar opposites in every way that mattered. The soap world ignores alot of things, but the situation of twins is never ignored. However, I would have loved to ignore Marissa. She just irritated me. Maybe that's because I'm a Babe stan, I dunno. In any case, I'm not sad she's gone.

I wasn't around when the Martins were a prominent part of the show, but Tad was always my favorite. I wasn't pleased when it came out that he was the one behind the Evil Doc's death even though I was a new viewer at the time, but meh...every character has a few missteps and that was one of his. I always found Tad to be a breath of fresh air as well and it saddened me that the writers found less and less to do with him over the years. I didn't mind too much when they paired him with Krystal although truth be told, I loved her with Adam. Krystal and Tad seemed to have a solid friendship so I didn't mind that they eventually got together. Heads up, whenever you suddenly see two characters becoming best friends and leaning on each other constantly, the writers are about to toss them into a romance. I learned that one quickly. lol I don't really like whatever they have him doing with Liza because I don't care for her as a character anyhow lol, but I mainly hate that the family has become background filler for other characters.

Another indication to me that a show is slipping or is nearing the end of its run is when they start introducing alot of unnecessary characters to the fold, some with ties to Pine Valley and some without. It happened to Guiding Light, then it happened to As The World Turns, and now it seems to have hit Pine Valley and Llanview as well. I'll have another post on my goodbye to Llanview soon. Hopefully within time the ones who really aren't needed will be weeded out, and the show can get back to what it was with its core characters and some balance, but for now I suppose introducing new people to the cast is how they can feel things will get shaken up. In some ways I understand, the population has dropped quite a bit in the last couple of years and its time for some new faces, but in that right introducing some new plots or ideas to keep us interested in them would be good too.

After awhile though, my favorite couple emerged and I tuned in to watch them on the daily. Zendall was sexy, had a unique love story, and was rooted in a love like not many other characters I've seen. They had longevity. True to the soap couple mold, they weren't safe from manipulation or infidelity that threatened to tear them apart, but somehow they always found their way back to each other. I'm a sucker for passion, and Zendall brought it everytime. After awhile though, watching them go through the same trials and tribulations and seemingly learning nothing from it each time got tiring, as did Zach's incessant and constant need to play God or save someone, or Kendall's nagging and seemingly constant turn to sex (sometimes with others lol) when she was in despair of some kind. Having sex in the sacred Slater marriage bed with one of Zach's biggest enemies was rotten for me as a Zendall stan, with her selfishly telling Ryan "It's all about us." Really?

I could keep going about all the things I was dissatisfied with which was a direct contrast to my opinion about the show four years ago, when I became a very enthusiastic SoapNet viewer but I have said too much already. I realize that times have to change, old stars must be ushered out so new ones have a time to shine, dramatic things have to happen in order to continue the foundation that soap operas are built on, but as a viewer, I guess I have to draw my own personal line and it seems that this is it. Just way too much in a long line and a long time of being dissatisfied with a soap I used to love.

In any case Pine Valley, its been fun but now its time to say adieu. You have changed too much from the show I initially fell in love with and I'm ready to get off the train.

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