I don’t know about you, but I did a whole lot of fast forwarding during last week’s One Life To Live and General Hospital.

Quite frankly, I’m not even going to get into GH too much, because, really, what’s there to say?

It’s the Sonny and Brenda show!

Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Brenda (Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo) Photo: ABC

The eppys go like this….Brenda with Sonny, Brenda with Jason, Brenda with Sonny, Brenda with Dante, Brenda with Sonny, Brenda with Carly, Brenda with Sam, Brenda with Spinelli, Sonny with Claire, Sonny with Alexis, Sonny with Jason, Sonny with Michael…yada, yada, yada….

And the previous Brenda/Dante connection with a possible baby involved just feeds into this whole Brenda-centric show….Ugh!

Bringing back Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo for these storylines is SUCH a waste!

The only other thing going on is Crazy Dr. Niles (Brianna Brown) and her insane revenge against Robin, which really has gone on too long. It was interesting in the beginning, but the writers should have ended it when they shipped Lisa off to Shadybrook….That situation is getting boring too.

Dr. Lisa Niles (Brianna Brown) Photo: ABC

Oh, and I almost forgot the repetitive theme of Liz getting jealous when Lucky tries to move on…..Seen this before. She doesn’t want him, but doesn’t want anyone else to have him (yawwwn).

Ooooo-KAY. So much for GH!

Now on to OLTL…

What’s wrong is basically this: there’s a revolving door as far as characters in/characters out and just when you’re getting invested in a character or characters….Poof! They’re gone!

Case in point….Matt Walton as Eli was a HUGE missed opportunity.

Turning Eli from a well-respected attorney and good person into a crazy, psycho-killer was a serious error in judgement.

Matt Walton (Eli Clark). Photo: ABC/Steve Fenn

Walton and Kassie DePaiva as Blair had some really great chemistry going on.

And do you realize how long it’s been since Blair has had a serious love interest? There was so much potential for Eli and Blair.

But noooooo.

They had to kill Eli…not only KILL Eli….But they had Cole (Brandon Buddy) kill him. Thereby, writing off both Walton and Buddy in one fell swoop, which I’m not at all happy about.

Although I have to say, Buddy absolutely nailed it in his goodbye scenes with Kristin Alderson (Starr). (See my previous post on that).

Cole (Brandon Buddy) and Starr (Kristen Alderson)

Also, we had the triple whammy of having Eli blackmail Dr. Greg Evans (Terrell Tilford) into becoming part of his diabolical plot to kill Tea (Florencia Lozano).

Thus, Tilford was written off the show as Greg goes to jail for his part in the plot.

And I am REALLY NOT HAPPY about that!!

Terrell Tilford (Dr. Greg Evans) Photo: ABC

Dr. Greg is a character who has grown near and dear to my heart and Tilford really brought everything he had to each scene.

How stupid is that to write off Dr. Greg, just when Destiny (Shenell Edmonds) finds out that Greg is really her father and not her brother….That would have been a great opportunity to watch the growing pains of the new dynamics in the entire Evans family.

Let me say that I’m grateful that Tea is alive and that they didn’t kill her off.

And another character who I have become invested in….whom I really enjoyed watching because he was one of the truly good guys – was Jason Tam as Markko Rivera.

Jason Tam as Markko Rivera. Photo: ABC

And, yes, they’ve written him off the show….Not happy, not happy, not happy about that either!

As far as the remaining characters and the directions the writers are taking them….

Let’s see.

We have mean, cruel, evil Clint (Jerry Ver Dorn) and evil-in-training Matthew (Eddie Alderson).

The character of Clint, as far as I can remember, has never shown any of these dark traits that are coming out now.

You mean to tell me that Clint threw his nephew, David Vickers, into a Moroccan prison and now is going to any lengths to deny his new found son, Rex??

I don’t buy it. And I think a lot of longtime OLTL fans don’t either.

It’s not consistent with the Clint that has been on our screen for years.

As far as turning Matthew to the dark side….appalling!!! Hate it!

Marty Saybrook (Susan Haskell) exacting revenge by stealing medical records and threatening Natalie and Brody….Really???

Talk about uncharacteristic…..They pretty much ruined Marty’s character with this storyline.

And the “Who’s the Baby Daddy?” storylines with Natalie and Jessica’s babies and Rex’s paternity is so ho-hum…. having been done and overdone so much.

Quite frankly, Rex has been looking for his father for so long….that storyline jumped the shark a long time ago.

Having said all that, is there really ANY compelling storylines on OLTL at this point?

Not so much!

I was never, ever one of those girls who was attracted to the bad boys.

In life – and in soaps – it’s the good guys….the guys with honesty and integrity, who I always root for.

Having said that, my top three fave guys in soapland these days are actually quite similar in the way they are the white knight, do-the-right-thing kind of guys.

And they are (drumroll please) – Police Chief Bo Buchanan/OLTL, Det. John McBain/OLTL and Officer Dante Falconeri/GH.

Hmmm. There seems to be some kind of these going on here…

Oh yeah…They’re all cops!

Robert S. Woods‘ Bo Buchanan has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember.

Robert S. Woods (Bo Buchanan)

Bo has always been the antithesis to his powerful – albeit immoral – father Asa, played brilliantly by the late, great Phil Carey.

Yes, Bo struggled all his life – right up to his father’s death – with the love for this father and the hate for the choices (many illegal) his father made.

Asa was a hard-living, womanizing, boozing, cantankerous old coot.

Bo is the polar opposite.

But they both loved each other.

One of the choices that was contrary to his character – and that he struggled against – was kissing his ex-wife, Nora, behind his brother’s back while Clint and Nora were engaged, and later married.

But, really, Nora (Hillary B. Smith) and Bo were meant to be together all along….and I think that counts for something in the right vs wrong department.

In other words, if destiny intervenes (and I don’t mean Destiny Evans)…if two people are made for each other – like Bo and Nora – then it’s more right for them to be together than wrong….Does that make any sense?

And they didn’t have sex until after Nora broke up with Clint (Jerry Ver Dorn) – and in this day and age THAT counts too!

Speaking of which, where the heck ARE Bo and Nora these days???

They had that wonderful wedding week, which I thought was really funny and highlighted the comedic sides of many of the cast members.

Hillary B. Smith (Nora), Eddie Alderson (Matthew) and Robert S. Woods (Bo). (ABC/Donna Svennevik)

Then, POOF, they were gone off the canvas….and now they’re back…and Bo has a new, young assistant….

Unfortunately, I think we ALL know where THAT is going.

As far as Johnny McBain….There’s always been a soft spot in my heart for him.

Michael Easton as John McBain (Photo/ABC)

Michael Easton‘s portrayal of John…well, he’s one of my favorite characters in soapdom.

It’s his intensity for doing the right thing….the hero….the rescuer….

And those deep, blue eyes….

He’s another one who always does the right thing and is honest as the day is long.

And if you’re one of his peeps…someone he cares for….or even just a friend…
No matter, he will go to the mat for you!

Take Kelly and the murder of her mother…John and Kelly were mildly acquainted before she asked him to help her find out what really happened to her mother.

But he has gone above and beyond to help her.

Ya gotta love it!

One of his biggest struggles came when he found out that Michael and Marcie’s baby, Tommy, whom they adopted because he was abandoned, was really the son of Todd Manning and Margaret Cochran.

In that case, it was a huge dilemma for him ….What exactly was the right thing to do? Betray his brother?

It ate at him – and Easton showed the viewer the inner struggle that McBain was going through.

And Dominic Zamprogna‘s Dante Falconeri reminds me so much of McBain!

Julie Berman (Lulu) and Dominic Zamprogna (Dante). (ABC/Ron Tom)

Dante is honest to a fault – and Zamprogna shows us those qualities through the earnestness in his eyes when he’s talking.

Dante’s big brown eyes….they’re just honest, that’s all I can say.

And he, too, struggles with a similar situation to Bo…although, in my opinion, having Sonny Corinthos as a father is WAY WORSE than having Asa as a father.

Dante is loyal…boy is he loyal…even after being drugged by Brook Lynn, he’s still loyal, thank goodness…

And I love the fact that Michael has figured it out…He’s on to Carly’s plan to use Brook Lynn (Adrianne Leon) to break up Dante and Lulu (Julie Berman).

Yes, I’m a sucker for the good guys.

I guess it stands to reason that police officers SHOULD be the good guys…

But, as we all know, it doesn’t always happen in life – and, especially doesn’t always happen in the soap world.

HELLOOOO, Det. Ronnie DiMestico!

Would someone please tell me what the heck is going on with the One Life To Live storylines???

Because, lately, everything is deep, dark and depressing.

Ugh!

And, by the way, that’s not why I tune in to watch my soap operas.

There has to be SOME fun…SOME romance….SOME levity.

First of all, we have Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born), back from the dead to wreak havoc.

Mitch Laurence

Havoc would be welcome compared to what Mitch has done and continues to do.

Don’t get me wrong. Roscoe Born is soooo talented and the character is iconic in the realm of soap villains….in my view, the evilest of the evil.

But to have him as Rex’s father is SO unfair on so many levels.

Everyone on the planet has been hoping that Bo would be his father. There could still be another plot twist somewhere down the road….I can only hope.

Here’s one thing that doesn’t really jive….

Is Mitch clairvoyant? Was that one of his talents? The answer is no.

How then does he know that Charlie has a booze bottle in his pocket ….or that Bo and Nora are cheating behind Clint’s back….Yeah. Doesn’t make sense.

Speaking of Bo and Nora….

LOVED Bo and Nora back in the day…..and would have LOVED them together again had they gotten back together in a non-sleazy way.

But nooooooo.

I mean, really, couldn’t the writers – knowing the history of the characters – gotten them back together in a decent way????

Instead, they opted to have Nora marry Clint – Bo’s brother – after Bo and Nora already shared a kiss and were on a collision course back to each other.

Clint, Nora and Bo

And having Bo and Nora kidnap Matthew to London in violation of a court order???

HELLO!!!

Bo is the police chief and no straighter of an arrow do you find.

And Nora?

The District Attorney and scrupulous as they come.

In my opinion, the writers did a huge disservice to actors Hillary B. Smith (Nora) and Robert S. Woods (Bo) in getting them together in this way.

I absolutely love both actors, by the way!
(As a quick aside – if you’re an HBS fan and want to show your appreciation, check out her animal charity The Willie-Coppee Fund and the $1 Holiday Drive.)

What about Clint (Jerry ver Dorn)? I mean, really. How much heartache can he take?

This will just about destroy him….

And don’t get me started on Kim, Stacy’s little sidekick, going after Clint.

How pathetic!

Do you really think that someone of Clint’s stature would go for a little two-bit tart like Kim?

That whole plot to impregnant Stacy – by Fish – and pass the baby off as Rex’s….is now intertwined with the subplot of having Schuyler think it’s his baby to keep him quiet….

Low rent is all I can say about that!