I don't have much to say about the goings on of late in PC except to say that the Luke/Laura scenes were great, and that the Lucky crap is.........well, crap.  Lizzie has lost her darn mind again - I swear someone has got to notice that she has been replaced by some sort of imposter - hey, maybe the Lucky stuff is just a diversion to the real problem - Helena absconded with the real Elizabeth some time ago.  She is now using the version with the blank look on her face and the silly little "I have no clue" smile to wreak havoc among PC residents.  I didn't particularly like the way Roy was behaving all last week - if I were Sonny I would have shot him instead of the mirror (just a minor grazing of the shoulder, he would probably have to go shirtless for a few days and be really quiet so I can start liking him again).  It's nice to see more of Tony.  It was also nice to see a glimpse of Alexis, I miss her wit.  And someone should call all technical advisors to the set because I have no idea how Helena got all that stuff down under the hospital, it is a 24hour facility and that is a lot of stuff down there.  And where is the person who set this all up for her?  Why can't he unthaw old Stav?  And the dialogue down there is pretty bad - "I think it's the reduction of cold" um, would that be heat?  I wouldn't want Tony undertaking (hmm....) that job if I were Helena - I don't think he looks like he knows any more about what to do than her henchman would, all that money and she can't get someone who has at least studied this subject?  On to something I have been thinking about lately: 

I spent today washing windows - you know, getting rid of cobwebs and fingerprints, etc.  As I was working away I was listening to GH (I usually tape and watch when the kids are sleeping at night but they were napping so I left the TV on after hitting the record button)  and as I listened to Sonny's troubles and Bobbie's troubles and Lucky's "troubles" I started thinking about how rarely soaps include housework in their story lines.  It's an interesting topic to me because truthfully I'm not sure how I feel about it.  On one hand I don't think I want to watch people clean their houses all day - I can catch a glimpse of that in my own mirrors (I may not look as good as they would but I am positive I can clean better!) :).  Then the thought crossed my mind that I might enjoy watching Roy mow a lawn or two, or, hey, Andreas could work on polishing up the outside of that yacht.  Sonny could maybe count his money in his skivvies - I don't know, you get the idea. 

So then I thought, maybe I don't really want to see the reality of real labor leak into my daily dose of fantasy 'cause the male manual labor probably falls into the fantasy category now doesn't it?  But then I remembered!!  Remember the scene, for the life of me I can't remember what the scene was actually about, where Carly was folding clothes?  I remember watching that and thinking there must be something hidden in that basket that's going to blow up or something - there must be some reason why a character is actually. folding. clothes.  !!!!   But lo and behold, that was it - just folding clothes, no real plot point taking off from it necessarily, just a mom realizing if she didn't do it it wouldn't get done (well, pretending she realized that!).  And I remember liking what I saw.   And another question is why have maids and butlers and gardeners if we never actually see them, even for a millisecond, doing any actual work?  I don't mean a whole scene, I mean just someone in the background once in awhile doing something that would constitute housework or gardening. 

GH also has a lack of televisions which I have always found amusing.  We are all sitting around watching people who are apparently above turning on the tube once in awhile.  Or maybe they are just way too busy living their spectacular lives, but don't they ever need to see the news or the weather reports?  Once in awhile a television shows up but only in conjunction with a VCR and an incriminating tape, I think maybe there was one floating around somewhere when Eddie's Angel was making appearances but other than that it's radio all the way.  Even more amusing are the references occasionally to some popular program - "survivor" or "millionaire" or whatever, like we are supposed to believe that anyone in PC actually sees those programs, they have no TV's!  So is the television too much reality too?  Would it make the den at the Q's look too "common"?  Maybe it would, and I can live without the televisions on set, but I am thinking a little more reality in some areas would not be a bad thing. 

So lets see Bobbie or Laura clean up a little occasionally (oops -not Laura, she has Leslie to act as her maid) and lets see a woman put on a little makeup once in awhile too.  There must be one actress on the show who is capable and willing to start out without blush or eye shadow and do a quick scene that involves putting it on while she is talking to whoever she is talking to.   A little more of the clothes folding would be okay with me.  A scene here and there where someone who isn't in a diner is actually cooking something on a stove.  Or a microwave, I know Alexis has one of those.  I think the feeling of "family" and "love"  can be conveyed even better if there are less happenstance meetings between relatives and loved ones in the park, and more stopping by and talking in the kitchen while someone's doing something constructive with their time.  OLTL does this a little better than GH does, off and on at least.  People actually sit around in their houses and have conversations sometimes over there - on GH they don't often do that unless they are A) fighting or B) about to have sex. 

A small dose of reality now and then makes us feel closer to the characters, it allows us to relate better.  It let's us think that the people who are writing the show actually have a clue who is watching.  Yes, I want the fantasy but I also want real life to be acknowledged once in awhile!  I have a feeling that many will disagree with me, which is great because that is the best part about soaps: there is something for everyone most of the time.  And, hey, we can always get our daily dose of reality from the cleaning product commercials - those ladies can polish like nobody's business! 

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