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November 17, 2003
Happy Monday, Folks! There's a good bit of info to tear into this week, so we won't waste time with small talk (actually we will, just not right of the bat). We're going to start out with a little bit of something Old, which is the renewal of our Eye On Soaps Site of the Month Awards, a coveted little rectangle of an award that sites clamor for like mad, usually resulting in a great deal of nominating and ass kissing and well, hey, I kinda miss it in these trying times of self-effacement, so here it is again! Our first recipient upon our reinstatement is a very deserving and absolutely fun site and I have lauded them HERE and they have been sent their gilded Wonka Ticket of EOS love prior to this writing. All Hail Talk Talk! (Moment of Awed Silence and Reverence) Watch for future monthly Yee-Haws and High Fives to the cool sites out there on the net. Since there are about 4-6 different websites at any given time devoted to OLTL and AMC, yep, you can bet there's going to be a good bit of GH going around. AMC
Where does a 700 pound statue of La Lucci sleep? Thaaaat's right, anywhere it wants to, but this one has picked the Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Diz will give 75 6' statues to Herr Mickey for his 75th birthday and our own Suzie Q will be amongst them. When you think about it, that statue probably weighs as much as the combined weight of the entire female AMC cast, so we can pretend they're all being represented there. You heard it right folks (I heard you guys quibbling over what I said last week). Babe's mother's name is Krystal Carrington and yes, they've mentioned Dynasty a few too many times for it to be funny any more. Sharp ears were perked up when Babe told Adam that her mother's real name is Hazel, but she changed it because it wasn't cool enough. Lord help us and lord help this horrible story. ... a story that is about to become more complicated as Babe is revealed to be pregnant in a "who's the daddy" story. No word on whether the little babette (I'll bet she names it Fallon) will actually put in an appearance or not.
If that little sip of smarmy but delicious Mark Pinter wasn't enough when Greenlee was dreaming Daddy to hell, you can find the ex-Roger Smythe on Guiding Light as the new Brad Greene (previously Brad was Michael Swan) starting December 12th.
This begins the great week
of AMC/OLTL crossovers involving characters few of
us hardly recognize (much less give a crap about)
to involve themselves in stories that are so
underdeveloped that by the time we figure out who
they are and why they are there, it's time for us
not to care about what they're doing or why
they're there because now it's just
another dumb story cluttering up the canvas.
I'm only noting the crossovers here because well,
it's news and sometimes it's encouraging to know
the clutter from one show won't be on the other
show for long. Yawn. AMC folks, meet
Paul... OLTL folks... meet Babe. OLTL
Another Buchanan causality
forthcoming is the sadly miscast Bruce Michael
Hall as Joey. Gossip
Also confirmed as a loss in the "clean up your cast" order from ABC On High is Finola Hutchinson as Gabrielle, who has just been acting her little heart out in the past 2 months. Always one to excel in the highest of drama, Hutchinson has not disappointed in her portrayal of a grieving mom, trying to find her footing in a world that no longer makes any sense to her. I heard a while back that Gabrielle would end up falling victim to the Music Box Killer and I fear this might be the case, especially given all the obvious talk of DANCING in today's episode. For those of you who didn't watch enough to connect the dots, you see, Ron and Roxy are teaching DANCING classes and Nora and Gabrielle are taking the DANCING classes and there was a big point made by Bo and John McBain, then later reinforced by John McBain, Antonio, Natalie and Jessica at their ill fated dinner from hell, that the Music Box Killer is killing DANCERS. The only stick in this mud is poor ol' Elyssa Collins the PI who was sans leotard when she was done in. I'm sure we will soon learn that Elyssa was a square dancer in her spare time and our poor Gabrielle will end up with a little box playing The Blue Danube beside her. *moment of silence* Hutchinson has been on OLTL for two years this stint, having provided a shock and a half to Max when he broke up Asa's wedding to find his own ex-wife behind the veil. Previously, Gabrielle was on OLTL from 1986-1991. Don't worry about Bo. He'll be taking up with his own ex-wife, Nora, again, as the two settle down into the family way with son, Matthew. Not a good year for the Holdens as yet another of Llanview's cornerstone families is scrubbed away.
Ignoring the chance to make right one of its major wrongs, GH blew past contacting Joseph Phillips when recasting the role of Justus Ward (Phillips was abruptly recast with Monti Sharp, who is a fine actor, but the role immediate went into the pooper due to really, really bad writing meeting a bad case of apathy) and went to Xena alumnus, Mfundo Morrison (left). The return of a Ward, any Ward, to the show is a really, really good thing and definitely helps to offset the stigma ABC carries as The Whitest Soap Network on the Air. For those who don't know, the Wards were a strong, vibrant family that invigorated GH back in the mid-nineties and pulled us into one of the most interesting murder mysteries (and one of the worst Edward Quartermaine hairpieces) in GH history: Who killed Bradley Ward? Bringing together the Q's, the Spencers and ultimately, even the mob, the Wards' presence in Port Charles brought a groundedness and centering to the show that hasn't been around since Ruby died. The Wards were just really, really good people and ultimately, the show's writers just didn't know what to do with people who were essentially good. I am working hard not to be cynical about the return, even in one person, of a family that was a bright spot in our past to GH. Hey, I'm gullible. I'll buy a vowel and pretend they'll know what to do with the Wards this time. With Mary Mae dead, they can certainly bring back Keisha for a little glitch in the Journey. As it turns out, when Sonny needs a lawyer, he goes for the best and brings some Justus to Port Charles. Lord knows Ric and Alexis aren't on his dance card this time.
Although it has not yet been confirmed, there are rumors about that the Thanksgiving episode will be an "all Dillon event" (Remember last year's bomb of a show with the Courtney "Groundhog Day" fiasco? *full body shudder*). Please note that GH will NOT air on November 28th.
Let's run through this one more time because people are still writing to ask me about it: No, Nancy Lee Grahn has not been fired. She is not going to play Nora on OLTL. It makes sense that people would feel weird that she wasn't at Super Soap Weekend (usually the death knell) and since both are sharp lady lawyers who have been done wrong by writers who don't "get" the characters, but it's just not true.
You heard right. The very Latin Eileen Boylan will be leaving the role of Sage just weeks after her first appearances and the role will be recast with the very All American Caucasian Katie Stuart with a dye job. The net world stumbled all over itself as the name of the recast was released considering Stuart played a few scenes as the teen who accused Ned of rape. There are actually two Katie Stuarts, around the same age, one Canadian, one American. As it turns out, Katie originally auditioned for the role of Sage, then was offered the role of Cindy, which began airing in September. When it was discovered that Boylan's taping schedule would interfere with a movie she was scheduled to film, she had to back out of the GH role and GH scrambled for a recast. They didn't look far and Stuart will begin airing in the role on December 3rd.
Brian kisses Courtney, which shakes up Journey, and Brian gets reassigned to Port Charles. Brian ends up shooting Sonny and his life hangs in the balance. Courtney ends up living at Kelly's. Carly puts it all together and figures out that Alcazar scammed Sonny on the Dead Lily thing and whacks him. She goes home to Sonny and tries to fake it with the family feelings, even going so far as to stage an elaborate seduction of Sonny. She can't go through with it and confesses to Sonny that she just has lost that lovin feeling since he shot her in the head. She's still drawn to Alcazar and Sonny begins to lose the faith. He goes off to kill Alcazar, then Carly finds out and begs Jason to stop him. Courtney gets all up in the middle of it and ends up storming out on Jason because he won't stop Sonny from killing Alcazar. Sonny ends up kidnapping Sam, and then Brian shoots Sonny and this is where (as I mentioned above) his life hangs in the balance for several minutes at Miracle Hospital while he is actually in police custody. Carly tries to help him, but the only one who holds to key is Alcazar and Sonny will have no part of Lorenzo saving him. Lorenzo tells Carly he will find a way to save Sonny when he testifies at the trial. Sam also ends up helping Sonny, much to the puzzlement of both Sonny and Jax. Jax has been seducing Sam in order to "destroy her," but Sam has already admitted to being in love with him. Tracy is also cozying up to Jax to fund her dream of a casino, but Sam and Luke end up squaring off against her. Luke and Skye are also still busy admiring one another's credentials as a scoundrel. Liz and Ric spend a romantic evening in a country inn and Liz realizes that she's pregnant and the baby is Zander's. Zander has already hooked up with Faith in a hot and heavy way and Liz is on the road to reconciliation with Ric, but what of baby? Elizabeth knows as well as we do that babies tend to make Ric a little bit nutty in the fruitcake, so she's going to have to handle this one del-i-cate-ly. Dillon learns that babysitting Sage isn't as easy on the libido as he thought it would be. And with that, another week's column has come to its conclusion. I do have another offering for you, but there are some it will likely offend, so I want you to think carefully before clicking through to my soap journal for this month. It is NOT for those who are offended by swearing. In fact, it's all about swearing. Again, PLEASE do not click on it if you are sensitive to vulgarity and a good deal of swearing: In Which Katrina Speculates on the Favorite Curse Words of ABC Characters
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Katrina
Rasbold is the creator, owner and publisher of
We
not only have sharp ears, but also sharp eyes
among the AMC viewers. One wrote to me this
week to ask if the Darnell Williams credited as
director of recent AMC episodes is the same
Darnell Williams who played our beloved angelic
buddy, Jesse Hubbard. They are indeed one
and the same.
Flash
turned out to be a Flash in the pan as nearly
every story in which OLTL sought to involve the
gal turned to ash. The character never
caught on, despite her breathy, hip vocals.
No one really cared she had some throat calamity
going on and a pretty scary case of cousinly love
for Joey (very quickly diverted to Riley when
their familial bonds were revealed). Her
announcements of record deals and CD's fell on
deaf ears and now Shanelle Workman who played the
waify, SORAS'd Sarah Roberts has been given
walking papers. The CJ story is nixed, the
search for Tina is aborted and the whole family
has been packed back into the OLTL annals of
history. Yep folks, that means no "Paul is
CJ's gay friend" story either.
says
that Don Jeffcoat (the almost as miscast Joey) has
been approached about a return. Love
Jeffcoat, but no one has known how to write for
the role of Joey since Nathan Fillian set Dorian's
heart aflutter. Others suggest that Brian
Presley is being considered to fill the shoes that
seem to be as much of a kiss of death as his older
brother's. No one stays in either role for
long. Officially, the departures haven't
been confirmed, much less any dish about whether
the role is being recast, Joey is being sent away
again or *gasp* killed off. Surely Viki
won't have to bury yet another young'un the same
year she has to move on from her comatose hubby!
Regardless, Workman and Hall are back on the
market again.
Rumors
were afoot that Renee, Asa and Carlotta would all
be victims of the MBK, but they have only been
reduced to recurring as the New Face of OLTL
emerges. Our Kate ("A Cynic Soaps Up" and "AMC
Spoiler Commentary") has long said that she
believes the current regime sees Jennifer
Rappaport as the Victoria Lord for the new
millennium... a thought too horrifying for me to
properly assimilate beyond a silent scream of
terror. Jen and a
here-to-fore-unknown-and-totally-contrived friend
of hers (Karen) will encounter the Music Box
Killer after slipping into an erotic dance club.
Jen lives, but Karen is dead the next morning.
Jen, you shoulda gone to the church social, darlin.
Billy
Warlock isn't bitter, he's just done with GH and
ready to actually do some work for a change.
Warlock has voiced his interest in doing other
daytime work and specifically his interest in an
East Coast soap. Although his name was
tossed around as an idea for Joey Buchanan on OLTL,
I heard Passions is in the mix as well (decidedly
West Coast). My own preference
is to see him on ABC so I can, well, see him.
According to J. Robin Miller (Lydia, also soon to
exit) in Soap Opera Digest, a hastily manufactured
relationship between Lydia and AJ ends up with
both of them exiting the show together.
Monica,
also known as Leslie Charleson, will have a
quickie part in an upcoming episode of "Friends."
Joey Tribiani joins some of his Days of Our Lives
cast mates, as well as other daytime stars,
including Ms Charleson, on a staged episode of
"Pyramid." The episode is called "The One
Where The Stripper Cries" and is expected to air
in February. Charleson has no lines, but
will be seen... sort of like GH.
You'll
have to watch closely as the game of couples turns
into a shell game of who ends up where. Try
to follow the shells so you can keep track of
who's under whom:
