Genug Already--the January edition

• Is it me or is everyone about through with the "Did Bill Lewis kidnap Lizzie" storyline? I hated this on so many levels, not the least of which because it was a huge leap backwards for Dinah, who had become my girl again (the 'Dance with me' scene between her and Bill and Maureen and the other one with her and Remy as she hammered more nails in the Spaulding coffin were my favorites). Setting aside the whole 'Dinah' angle-this has just gone on TOO long. Wrap it and move on. Clearly the writers wrote themselves into a corner and thought that this was the way to handle it. And if this is a way to turn BLizzie into a supercouple, wrong path indeed. I don't mind stories where couples survive every obstacle, but this is just stupid. BLizzie as the cool and strong power-business couple was interesting. Crazy plot to incriminated Bill as kidnapper and Lizzie questioning if people love her, less so.

• I could spend space bemoaning the Robin Scorpio-Patrick Drake wedding, but I've made my position very clear. I am sadly hoping for the eventual messy breakup. I am also hoping that girls the world over will not internalize that it is better to be in a relationship with someone who treated you like crap than it is to have your self respect and be alone.

• The writers of 'The Bold and the Beautiful' should all be taken out, lined up against a wall and shot. OMG. Granted, they get points for taking part in the latest trend in television, which is that no character is safe or sacred. Joss Whedon evolved this concept, which was before usually used by shows to deal with an actor who left, an actor who was fired or to drive rating up (and usually the character would be brought back through the magic of plot). He killed characters in his shows (Buffy, Angel, and Firefly) not just because a plot demanded it, but because death can be just that random. 'The Bold and the Beautiful lost points by tying Phoebe's death to Rick, the village idiot and continuing to escalate the pointless Logan-Forrester war.

• Paul Ryan!!!!!!!! Please put him out of his misery. What I hate about what is going on with Paul Ryan is that he has a lot of cool qualities, including the ESP, but they insist on having him just be his own worst enemy in a way that's just not entertaining anymore. I liked him and Meg, but I also though he and Sophie were fine and would have been a good break from the Meg-Rosanna-Craig quagmire. Somehow Paul managed to get one killed (Sophie by her ex) and drive the other away again (Meg). I also thought that the writers of 'As the World Turns' screwed up the Chris Hughes-Alison Stewart pairing. They could have made that less messed up and more positive. The way that Chris in particular acted (before the wacky plot by John James' character-oh Jeff, how far thee have fallen) just made me wonder what pockets of evil and delusion live in the Hughes-Sullivan genes. Perhaps I should say 'Sullivan' since Chris Hughes and Paul Ryan are related through their mothers (Barbara Ryan is Kim Hughes' niece through her sister the late Jennifer Sullivan Ryan). And geez, genug already with Carly-Jack-Janet triangle and the 'Oh my god, Parker and Liberty (who are not related by blood at all) are dating-we must stop this!' Parker and Liberty probably have more sense then all of their various parents combined. On the scale of responsibility, they have shown the most. I also somehow think that if Parker's biological father Hal Munson were still around that he would probably have taken a more logical approach.

• No more DID storylines! These are very 80s. While I am sure that someone thought it would be cool if Jessica, daughter of soapdom's favorite DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder-that' Multiple Personality Disorder to you old schoolers) sufferer Viki Lord, suffered from it too (and oh the storylines it would create), it must be acknowledged that many of the storylines that grew out of this condition back the day existed because mental illness was not a common topic and we were not as informed about conditions as we are now. The Jess/Tess thing with tormenting her sister because her husband died and they inadvertantly had a hand in it thing just was stupid.
And what is up with Todd Manning? OMG. Kinda thought he loved and respected Starr. One of the things I loved about Todd and Starr was their father-daughter relationship, which has so eroded that again...not funny anymore. The Marty thing might have been noble when it was on paper, but again a dated storyline back when people thought that being held captive was romantic.