Lock your doors and shoot the neighbors-Philip Spaulding, son of Alan (well adopted son), ex-husband to Blake Marler, Beth Raines, Harley Cooper, Olivia Spencer, Mindy Lewis and India, and father to Lizzie, James, Jude and Emma will return in person to torment everyone in Springfield.
I have one question: why?
Guiding Light seems likes they are grasping at anything that will drive up viewership. I went along with the change in production and format-unlike most fans, I embraced it since I've been introduced to this style of camera work through the telenovelas that populate the tv landscape.
I even accepted that this time, Josh and Reva were not going to get back together. Reva grew up and chose the person with whom she could build a relationship with in the here and now.
I don't understand what bringing Philip back could bring to the overall story. At least, not Philip the Insane and Evil. I wish they would intend to bring back a more penitent Philip who would have crafted a different life in the interim. Maybe he joins Ed Bauer in Africa or unlike a lot of the Spauldings, he comes to terms with the person he was and is becoming better. Maybe he and Harley find a way to reconnect and they do good. (Personally I am rooting for a 'reformed' Philip and Mel pairing).
Evil Philip just means more of the same. More Spaulding walking over people and more complicated plots that serve no purpose. More demonstrations of irredemption-boring, at least to me.
I won't be waiting in anticipation for 2/9/09, which is the date of Philip. If I see that Philip gets a more interesting path to walk, then I'll tune in.
Showing posts with label Soaps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soaps. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Well, it happened...
That's a phrase I could use to describe a lot of what happened across the various shows that I watched this year.
General Hospital:
The good news of last year was that Robin had her baby and named her 'Emma.' The bad news is that she married Patrick, a move this character will regret. While it was nice to see the Scorpio-Devane clan again, I really wished that someone would have talked her out of the marriage.
On a related note, they managed to find a way to integrate old Carly (Sarah Brown) and new Carly (Laura Wright) in the same show. While I wish that each could have swapped roles, I like that GH saw the wisdom of bringing back a talent like Sarah Brown. I was more sympathetic to her Carly than to any of her other portrayers since.
I won't even comment on the mess that is the Lulu-Spinelli-Lucky-Elizabeth-Jason-Sam-Maxie show. I gave up wrapping my head around that one.
Guiding Light:
Lizzie Spaulding carved out a quasi-normal existence with Bill Lewis, except that the writers seems to think that it makes sense to keep coming up with ridiculously implausible obstacles for them to overcome to prove they are 'supercouple' material. More silly is the Alan-Alexandra parallels that they [writers] seem to want to draw between Bill and his sister Dinah. I liked the Dinah, Bill and Maureen uniting against the world thing.
As The World Turns:
You knew it was a matter of time before one of Carly's children would be put into the position of having to kill some crazy she picked up. Sadly you also knew it was a matter of time before Paul screwed it up with Meg Snyder.
The problem with Holden's relationships with women is Holden. He chooses women who need rescuing and then expects them to not be needy and then is miffed when they are not... How ridiculous.
The Young and the Restless:
Well, Gloria got arrested as we knew she eventually would by betting on the wrong horse. The Katherine Chancellor doppleganger story is pointless and I still don't understand how in this day and age, Anna's blood aunt who raised her can't get legal custody of her from her addict mother, but stranger Neil and the women he's dated for about a year can because they seem to be a two parent unit? I also wish they would give Anna more screen time. I could do with less Amber and less Sharon.
Victor and Ashley together again...
The Bold and the Beautiful:
Will someone please line up and summarily shoot the writers? The only good (and I say that loosely) developments were the reintroduction of Steffy Forrester and the introduction of Marcus, who is Donna's child.
All My Children:
What is the matter with Bianca? Actually this should be 'what is the matter with some soap writers in general?' I say that because both Robin and Bianca became parents (well, Bianca had more of a choice about it this time), but it seems that there is this aversion to anonymous artificial insemination, which happens all the time. It's more sporting for one character to get pregnant from a one night 'pity-lay' with someone who is so wrong for her (Robin) and for the other to ask her brother in law to be the donor and not tell her sister (Bianca).
Through the magic known to soaps and Marvel Comics, Jesse Hubbard is back for real. Watching him and Angie has been a pleasure.
One Life to Live:
Truthfully I stopped caring after they killed off Asa's character, though Starr Manning is still my girl. The one bright spot has been the father-son relationship that developed between Rex Balsam and Bo Buchannan. Bo seems to be the collector and redeemer of the wayward it seems. I was actually pulling for him and Gabrielle Medina and hated that they killed her off.
Poor Starr...Oy Vey! Starr is one of the saving graces of this show and what they did to her...
General Hospital:
The good news of last year was that Robin had her baby and named her 'Emma.' The bad news is that she married Patrick, a move this character will regret. While it was nice to see the Scorpio-Devane clan again, I really wished that someone would have talked her out of the marriage.
On a related note, they managed to find a way to integrate old Carly (Sarah Brown) and new Carly (Laura Wright) in the same show. While I wish that each could have swapped roles, I like that GH saw the wisdom of bringing back a talent like Sarah Brown. I was more sympathetic to her Carly than to any of her other portrayers since.
I won't even comment on the mess that is the Lulu-Spinelli-Lucky-Elizabeth-Jason-Sam-Maxie show. I gave up wrapping my head around that one.
Guiding Light:
Lizzie Spaulding carved out a quasi-normal existence with Bill Lewis, except that the writers seems to think that it makes sense to keep coming up with ridiculously implausible obstacles for them to overcome to prove they are 'supercouple' material. More silly is the Alan-Alexandra parallels that they [writers] seem to want to draw between Bill and his sister Dinah. I liked the Dinah, Bill and Maureen uniting against the world thing.
As The World Turns:
You knew it was a matter of time before one of Carly's children would be put into the position of having to kill some crazy she picked up. Sadly you also knew it was a matter of time before Paul screwed it up with Meg Snyder.
The problem with Holden's relationships with women is Holden. He chooses women who need rescuing and then expects them to not be needy and then is miffed when they are not... How ridiculous.
The Young and the Restless:
Well, Gloria got arrested as we knew she eventually would by betting on the wrong horse. The Katherine Chancellor doppleganger story is pointless and I still don't understand how in this day and age, Anna's blood aunt who raised her can't get legal custody of her from her addict mother, but stranger Neil and the women he's dated for about a year can because they seem to be a two parent unit? I also wish they would give Anna more screen time. I could do with less Amber and less Sharon.
Victor and Ashley together again...
The Bold and the Beautiful:
Will someone please line up and summarily shoot the writers? The only good (and I say that loosely) developments were the reintroduction of Steffy Forrester and the introduction of Marcus, who is Donna's child.
All My Children:
What is the matter with Bianca? Actually this should be 'what is the matter with some soap writers in general?' I say that because both Robin and Bianca became parents (well, Bianca had more of a choice about it this time), but it seems that there is this aversion to anonymous artificial insemination, which happens all the time. It's more sporting for one character to get pregnant from a one night 'pity-lay' with someone who is so wrong for her (Robin) and for the other to ask her brother in law to be the donor and not tell her sister (Bianca).
Through the magic known to soaps and Marvel Comics, Jesse Hubbard is back for real. Watching him and Angie has been a pleasure.
One Life to Live:
Truthfully I stopped caring after they killed off Asa's character, though Starr Manning is still my girl. The one bright spot has been the father-son relationship that developed between Rex Balsam and Bo Buchannan. Bo seems to be the collector and redeemer of the wayward it seems. I was actually pulling for him and Gabrielle Medina and hated that they killed her off.
Poor Starr...Oy Vey! Starr is one of the saving graces of this show and what they did to her...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Genug Already--A Plea to Soap Writers
I've been watching ATWT for maybe 2 years now and every time I decide to stop watching something interesting happens. I was on the edge of my seat with the slasher storyline. My main reason for writing is the constant pregnancy drama with one particular family. Let me explain: Jen had a one-night stand with Craig and got pregnant. Paul was getting ready to divorce Emily and she turned up pregnant. Now poor DUMB Will is trying to save his marriage and that home wrecker is pregnant (although I don't believe her). Give me a break that issue has been played out.... Enough already.... This is the new millennium: MEN DO NOT MARRY THEIR KNOCKED UP FLING ANYMORE... Give Jade a life and cut Gwen and Will some slack so they can attempt to have a normal life. Please don't let that pathetic girl be pregnant, especially since Gwen cannot get pregnant herself.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
More on Robin
Well, I visited Robin's Blog today to see what she has been up to. If I had not been enjoying the trend of the previous entries, I definitely did not enjoy the most recent entry where Dr. Patrick said that he "might be able to love" Robin.Now, I do realize that these are fictional characters living in a fictional world that I don't think I ever would want to live in. Nevertheless, I hate the fact that she is happy that someone "might be able to love her." (My quotation marks by the way).I have seen in real life where girls and fully grown women put up with a lot of kibbutzing around just to be worthy of "might be loved." The usual suspects contribute to it-low self esteem, fear that you won't have anyone.My favorite is the "if I wait long enough for him to:- grow up or-become more mature or-realize that he really does love me or-see me for who I am and love the person inside or-get over his own fears-understand that we are soulmates,then he will tell me that he loves me in a fantastically romantic setting and then we will get married in a big, fantastically romantic way and be happy forever and ever.It doesn't even happen that way all the time in the movies. Soaps however are famous for perpetuating the "suffering good girl" who puts up with a bad boy that just doesn't realize how great she is and how living a good life is a good thing and she endures months and years of broken promises, childish games, and abuse (not always physical) because in the end she will be rewarded for her efforts because eventually he will be there for her.What movie, book, or tv show evers has this storyline outside of soaps? What's more, when have any of those ever reversed gender on it where the male character doing the waiting and 'fixing' ever puts up with this for as long as the female character does? Even Dr. George O'Malley from Grey's Anatomy walked away from two untenable situations with Meredith Grey and the nurse who gave him syphllis a heck of a lot sooner than Meredith Grey did from her Dr. McDreamy.I was even more disappointed by the comments section of this particular post on Robin's Blog. Most were supporting her waiting until Dr. Patrick was "ready" for adult relationship they should have and they counseled patience and helping him to get there. They were essentially saying that it was all okay.I did find some rays of hope in the comments section though. This one essentially summed up my feelings about the Robin-Dr. Patrick "romance" and her behaviour in it:
Robin was a character with self esteem and demanding of respect for herself. If this how Robin's life is going to go, I think if I were actress Kimberley McCullough, I would ask for my character to be killed off.I do also realize that the purpose of the charater's blog is likely for the marketers or the writers of GH. They read responses and bend the story to appeal to the "consumers" rather than be true to anything like character and plot integrity. Master manipulation at its best.By the way...Jason may have made some stupid and in some ways understandable choices in his relationship with Robin but he never berated her or played games with her. She always knew where she stood with him and "Stone Face" found it quite easy to tell her that he loved her. I'm just saying, "Memo to the writing staff..."
Wow Robin, you sound pathetic. He never said he loved you, so don't get your
hopes up for the future. I worry about your self-esteem lately. It took 8 months
for Patrick to get to know you and spend time with you. In those 8 months, he
has belittled you, called you names, etc. And the best he can do now is that he
could love you? I think you deserve a whole lot better. A woman like you
deserves respect. Waiting for Patrick to realize what an amazing woman you are
will practically take forever, so why not play the field and find someone that
will actually love you?
Posted by: Eliza August 16, 2006 at 10:11 PM
Robin was a character with self esteem and demanding of respect for herself. If this how Robin's life is going to go, I think if I were actress Kimberley McCullough, I would ask for my character to be killed off.I do also realize that the purpose of the charater's blog is likely for the marketers or the writers of GH. They read responses and bend the story to appeal to the "consumers" rather than be true to anything like character and plot integrity. Master manipulation at its best.By the way...Jason may have made some stupid and in some ways understandable choices in his relationship with Robin but he never berated her or played games with her. She always knew where she stood with him and "Stone Face" found it quite easy to tell her that he loved her. I'm just saying, "Memo to the writing staff..."
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