Soapbox1 by Michele Dargan » ABC

Sonny, Jason & Carly Need a Reality Check: GH

soapbox1 — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:46:26 +0000

By Michele Dargan

I am sick, sick, SICK of listening to Sonny, Jason and Carly blame other people for their misdeeds!!

Sonny is just ridiculous in terms of his thinking and his rationalization of what he does and who he is.

The guy is a mob kingpin and he is constantly blaming others for hurting his family….Really???

Dante hurt Michael more than Sonny??? Really???

Because last I checked, Dante wasn’t the one who got Michael shot…It wasn’t even Claudia who was responsible for that….The blame for that rests with Sonny and Jason and Carly for exposing Michael to the dangers of the mob and the enemies that come with that life.

And, by the way, Dante did the right thing by telling the judge the truth.

It was Sonny and Jason who – by executing a cover-up – got Michael locked up.

Michael (Chad Duell) in prison. (ABC/Patrick Wymore)

[As an aside in my mob rant, I think Chad Duell is doing a great job, having just stepped into the role of Michael in the middle of a very powerful storyline. Duell replaced Drew Garrett, who also did a wonderful job with the character.]

The idea that a judge would sentence an 18-year-old to five years of hard prison time for protecting his mother and newborn sister is so ludicrous – it’s not even in the realm of possibility that it would happen.

And would someone please tell me why the judge didn’t sanction all those who perjured themselves in connection with the cover-up – most of all Carly?

The most truthful words to come out of Carly’s mouth were the lies that she told to Dante Tuesday.

Let me explain.

Carly told Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) it wasn’t his fault that Michael was in prison, it was her fault for exposing him to the mob life.

BINGO!!!

But not in Carly’s mind.

You see, SHE doesn’t really believe it.

Carly (Laura Wright) is lying to Dante in order to give him a false sense of security – and have Jason take him down.

Even more upsetting to me is that she is going after Lulu (Julie Berman) too….Lulu who has done nothing wrong.

Another thing I can’t stand about Sonny (Maurice Benard) is that he does all these really horrific things and then he goes to church, as if that cancels out all the people that he’s killed or ordered killed.

And I really, really HATE the way Sonny and Carly ALWAYS end up back in bed together….and judging by the upcoming preview pics released by ABC, they’re going there AG-ain.

Laura Wright (Carly) and Maurice Benard (Sonny) in a scene that airs this week. (ABC/Patrick Wymore)

UGH!!!

In my opinion, there is WAY too much emphasis on the mob….and I have to admit, it’s losing me.

Not enough history during AMC’s anniversary episode?

Kimi — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:24:22 +0000

By Kimi

Yesterday’s anniversary show wasn’t anywhere near what I was expecting, and that turned out to not be such a bad thing.

Interviewing the show’s characters in documentary style was a great way to not only fill in blanks on old and new characters and story lines, but also gave the show a modern feel. It probably also enabled them to show more flashes of clips throughout the show.

There were many moments that made me tear up, like Greg’s (Laurence Lau) admission that it’s hard to return to Pine Valley due to memories of first love Jenny (Kim Delaney), and some that cracked me up, like when Nina (Taylor Miller) declared her father Palmer Cortlandt (James Mitchell) was the reason she came to Pine Valley, and ultimately the reason she left with husband Cliff (Peter Bergman). Anybody familiar with their love story had to LOL at that one.

“Brooke who” coming from Erica was classic! Watching Hayley (Kelly Ripa) comfort Adam (David Canary) over Stuart’s death was long overdue.

LOVED watching reflections on the lives of Mona and Myrtle by Erica (Susan Lucci), and her thoughts on daughters Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Kendall (Alicia Minshew).

But Erica should have also mentioned her ONLY son Josh (Colin Egglesfield) during the “Loss” segment.

I found the focus on baby Gabrielle strange considering how she was conceived. I doubt Kendall would appreciate her sister predicting Gabby will be the strongest Kane woman of them all.

LOVED the quickie wedding flashbacks, ALL of them, along with all the Hubbard flashbacks.

Glad we got to see Hayley onscreen with her brother and chatting with Amanda (Chrishell Stause) during her interview. Wanted more flashbacks of the Dillon clan though.

Ryan’s (Cameron Mathison) interview was a nice subtle segue way into Greenlee’s (Rebecca Budig) imminent return. And it was great to finally hear straight from a Santos how much Julia (Sydney Penny) meant to them – but Edmond (John Callahan) doesn’t even rate an honorable mention by soul mate Maria? Huh?

Understandably, David (Vincent Irizarry) mentioned losing Babe, but not brother Leo (Josh Duhamel)? No flashbacks either? If nothing else why not at least try to capitalize on Duhamel’s current popularity. Duh!

LOVED Brooke (Julia Barr) and Opal’s (Jill Larson) recollection of daughters Laura and Jenny, but how could Brooke not lovingly recollect Aunt Phoebe (Ruth Warrick) as well?

Jacob Young is such an awesome actor, he made me feel JR’s pain all over again – but no mention of mom Dixie? And Joe (Ray MacDonnell) and Ruth (Lee Meriwether) could’ve mentioned Grandma Kate, Philip and Tara.

My gripes? Not enough homage paid to older story lines that got the show to the forty year mark. I know Charles Pratt wrote these episodes and either he lacked knowledge of AMC history or intentionally highlighted his story lines and characters. Or both.

Also, I thought Kendall and Zach (Thorsten Kaye) had already left town?

It was strange not seeing some originals like Alexa Havins (in my opinion, Babe’s most memorable story lines occurred during her run) and particularly, Marcy Walker’s Liza. She played such a huge part in AMC history, its a shame that fans didn’t get to relive any of that via flashbacks or dialogue.

But it was the vets, some of whom aren’t even on the canvas, that really made me long for those two full episodes even more. Nevertheless, this was a unique way to present forty years of All My Children history, and although there were holes, I enjoyed it. Did you?

Here’s to 40 years, looking forward to 50!

Kimi — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:19:29 +0000

By Kimi

Just watched the first half of All My Children’s 40^th Anniversary special, and must admit I was a bit disappointed.

It was great to see Hayley (Kelly Ripa) and Mateo (Mark Consuelos) on my screen again. Ripa effortlessly stepped back into her character’s old pumps with ease, and it was hard to tell Hayley’s been gone for seven years!

I wished somebody would’ve called JR though, and maybe given an honorable mention to their sister, Skye. Its been so long since any of Amanda’s extended family was mentioned, I completely forgot she’s Hayley’s cousin! (love how she called Amanda’s kid “baby Pork chop” too – only an old school fan would catch that reference). Hopefully we’ll get to see Ripa interact with them today.

The scene where Hayley grilled Erica was weird but fun to watch, as she went all TMZ on Erica who surprisingly declined NOT to brag about her relationship with Ryan (Cameron Mathison). It was weird because I remember them being cool throughout Hayley’s time in Pine Valley and that scene seemed slightly antagonistic.

Not surprised that Hayley boarded the “I Hate Annie” bandwagon, but loved Adam’s analogy that people like Annie are what make Pine Valley the best town. His words rang true for every character in that room at some point during their time on the show.

Did anybody else get the impression we’ll be seeing either Max and/or Enzo in the near future?

I felt bad for Consuelos, though. His lines were nonexistent as he just kind of stood around like an extra while Ripa worked the room. For me the best were Hayley’s scenes catching with up her father, Adam (David Canary). I miss them together.

But overall I felt cheated by Monday’s show.

Do the writers need to be reminded you only turn 40 once? They should have saved the Greenlee/David/Hubbards/Madison and Ryan/Erica (after they left the Chandlers) stuff for Wednesday.

I expected to see two full episodes of flashback type scenes as shown on the commercials and promos, and get a chance to reminisce about the storylines that carried this show through 40 years. Now they’ve got a whole lot to squeeze into an hour today, and hopefully they do the show’s history justice.

Also returning to share some memories are Julia Barr (Brooke English), Eva LaRue (Maria Santos Grey), Laurence Lau (Greg Nelson), Taylor Miller (Nina Cortlandt), James Mitchell (Palmer Cortlandt), Leven Rambin (Lily Montgomery) and Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery). I’m particularly interested to find out where that old coot Palmer’s been all this time.

Are you looking forward to today’s show? What was your favorite All My Children moment or storyline?

What is the Real Reason Behind Moving AMC to L.A.?

soapbox1 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I still can’t believe it.
It has taken some time to process the announcement and I still am in shock – and disbelief – and wondering “what the heck does all this mean?”
ABC is really moving production of All My Children from it’s east coast New York City studio all the way across the country to Los Angeles.
In addition, the One Life To Live studio will move into AMC’s New York studio.
The official word is that AMC will now have a studio twice the size and OLTL, which films in a much smaller space, will upgrade to the 30 percent larger AMC studio. The show will begin broadcasting in high definition along with the move.
The almost 40-year-old show will relocate in December and start taping in L.A. the week of January 4th, with first broadcasts of those episodes in High-Def beginning in February.
Click here to read the full press release issued by ABC.
Rumors and speculation abounds as to why ABC has chosen to go this route.
For me – and for so many other fans of the show – the news is sad on many fronts.
What will happen to the cast and crew? Word is that relocating for many production crew members is not an option.
As far as the cast, what about the longtime, older vets like David Canary (Adam) and Susan Lucci (Erica)? Will they pull up their longtime NYC roots and move across the country?
What about Thorsten Kaye (Zach), whose wife Susan Haskell plays Marty on OLTL? What will they do?
I just hope that this is not the beginning of the end…..and that these soaps won’t end up cancelled as so many others have been, including the soon to be departed Guilding Light.

Interview With A Daytime Icon: Erika Slezak (Viki/OLTL)

soapbox1 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:57:19 +0000

Everybody loves the honest, loyal, warm, compassionate and very wise Victoria “Viki” Lord Buchanan Davidson on One Life To Live.
And I see many of the wonderful qualities that we love about Viki in her portrayer Erika Slezak.
In the few minutes that we chatted Saturday at 2008 Super Soap Weekend, I felt like I’ve known her forever.
And in a sense I have.
I began watching One Life To Live from nearly the beginning of the show 40 years ago as an escape from high school angst.
And I still watch the show as an escape from the realities and pressures of the world today.
Erika is incredibly warm and welcoming – and funny!
She just seems to be really down-to-earth.
And how nice is that in someone who is an icon in the business!
It was Erika’s fourth year appearing at Super Soap at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and here’s what she had to say about it.

“I think it’s a remarkable experience for us as actors to get to meet our audience who are incredibly warm and friendly and giving to travel from all over the country to come here and meet us. For us, we’re just people. We just happen to have a more high-profile job. To meet them face to face – it’s extraordinary. I just met a boy out there whose mother said he gets up at 3:00 in the morning to watch the reruns and I said, ‘you should be asleep.’ He loves the show and it’s just wonderful. It’s very humbling too because we live in a little cocoon. We are in our television studio and I get in my car and drive home. To see all the wonderful people out there who are our audience and who like what we do and who are grateful that we are there makes you feel really good.”
Erika told me that one of the highlights of playing Viki was the recent Paris, TX storyline, which, by the way, was one of my favorites.
“I loved the characters. I loved the idea of being there living a fantasy life. She knew she was only going to be there for awhile and she could get away from her problems and wouldn’t we all want to do that – just kind of vanish for a few months and not deal with life.”
Erika also really enjoys the new characters brought onto the One Life To Live canvas by the Paris, TX storyline – Gigi (Farah Fath), Moe (John Rue) and Noelle (January LaVoy). Gigi is now living in Llanview and Moe and Noelle are coming to Llanview soon.
Erika had Kara and me laughing as she described the people of Llanview.
“They [Gigi, Moe and Noelle] are such real characters,” she said. “They don’t have a ton of money. It’s not like the Llanview people where everybody is rich and nobody has a job and nobody pays a bill. Have you ever seen anybody pay a bill in Llanview? It’s fine we all have charge accounts everywhere.
“But [Gigi, Moe and Noelle] are real people and to bring them in and to assimilate them into the show is so wonderful and I think that was one of my favorite stories ever.”
Erika also said she loves the challenges of playing Viki’s alter personalities and she also very much enjoyed the recent 40th anniversary storyline where Viki died (briefly) and went to heaven and saw some of her dead loved ones, including her beloved, Ben (Mark Derwin).

“I loved heaven because it was so comfortable. I had ballet flats on for two weeks. It was great.”
She also enjoyed working with the show’s creator Agnes Nixon in some of heaven’s scenes.
“Agnes is an extraordinary woman. She was so nervous when we did the heaven stuff. She was wonderful. She was so determined to learn her lines and know every single word. She’s a very, very smart, funny lady. You will never know how funny she is. She’s delightful. It was a treat.
And I kind of went, ‘Yay! I’m the only one who gets to work with her. Yay!”
I asked Erika what are the characteristics that she likes best about Viki.
“She’s so good. She has such a big heart and is so fiercely loyal to her friends and her family in particular. She’s kind. She’s very smart. She’s able to differentiate in her mind what’s just and what’s not just and she always tries to do the right thing, which is a hard thing to do in life isn’t it?”
Kara asked about how Viki’s relationship with Todd will be affected when she finds out that Todd knew that Jess had turned into Tess for all those months that she wreaked havoc.
“Viki gets Todd. She understands his problems. But when she finds out what Todd did it’s not going to be pretty because that’s unforgiveable to leave your family hanging out to dry. Natalie could have been killed. Jared could have been killed. Tess was in a lot of trouble. It was his own selfishness. I don’t care what motivated him, it was unbelievably selfish. It’s interesting to see where it goes. She always wants to believe that there is good in everyone and I think she’s finally going to realize that the good in Todd is buried so deep, that there’s no point in looking for it anymore.”
On playing alter Niki Smith, she said, “It’s nothing but fun, but she is so tiring. She expends so much energy and she’s all over the place all the time. But after playing Viki for so many years who is so controlled and always does the right thing – and then to be Niki….it’s terrific.”