WHEN BAD STORYLINES HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

Fastforwarding through AS THE WORLD TURNS from 6/23-29, we only stopped to watch the 6/29 episode in its' entirety -- it featured Nuke, Margo, Casey, Colonel Mayer, Tom, Riley, Damien and some day players. With the exception of Riley, these are some of my favorite characters, played by actors who are always worth watching, even in bad stories. What do we have to do to actually get these talented thespians in a well written plot that actually makes sense? When we watched the Pisces Twins story, I made excuses -- 'Oh this is stupid but I enjoy it anyway because it features actors I like." I'm sick of making excuses. ATWT has recently added a couple of new writers to their team. Let's hope the coming months will bring a rejuvenated ATWT that doesn't feel like a guilty pleasure at best, a lame duck at worst.

DEACON DEBACLE

I caught just a smidge of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS today, just enough to see that The Return Of Deacon To Another Show just isn't working for me. Maybe because all I remember of Deacon from THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL was that he shagged Bridget on speakerphone so her parents could hear? Yuck!

JOHN HUGHES AND ATWT

John Hughes, the legendary director of THE BREAKFAST CLUB and HOME ALONE (among many others) died August 6. While every youth oriented soap from the '80s on lives in Hughes' shadow, to me it was the character of Gwen on AS THE WORLD TURNS who felt truly plucked from the Hughes canon. Not only a dead ringer for Mary Stuart Masterson in SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL, Jennifer Landon's Gwen was also an aspiring low class rocker and in love with the upper class boy who doesn't think of her romantically. Arguably, straying far from this template in successive stories for Gwen weakened the character, perhaps leading to Jennifer Landon's decision to eventually leave the show. But for a while there, watching Gwen and Will on ATWT was like being in a wonderful John Hughes movie that had the potential to never end.

THESE CHARMING MEN

I'm enjoying DAYS OF OUR LIVES very much nowadays, and am pleased to see Wally Kurth back on the show. He was very good as Sam on AS THE WORLD TURNS last year and I felt ATWT shortchanged his character somewhat by turning him psycho and rapey since Wally just seems like such a nice guy! Here's hoping DOOL gives Justin Kiriakis more to do than defend people on trial.

You know who also seems like a nice guy? GENERAL HOSPITAL's Dominic Zamprogna, who plays Dominic/Dante. There is just something so likable and appealing about him; he has a sense of humor and he's cute! I've just finished watching Dominic's run on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and he was terrific in a recurring role. Oddly enough, his GALACTICA character was also an undercover cop -- what is it about Dom that screams UNDERCOVER COP at casting people?!? Oh, and his relationship with his MILFtastic mama Olivia is a hoot. She slaps him alongside the head! And he lets her!

This run of charm came to an end with today's viewing of GUIDING LIGHT. I sat there hoping Tom Pelphrey would be in today's show, to no avail. He wasn't in yesterday's show either. I watched the first two episodes of his return and was disappointed at the scarcity of air time and lack of interaction with the other players. I didn't bother to tape Monday or Tuesday's episodes but caught the last two live. If I see that damn convenience store one more time used as a way for characters to interact I'm gonna send Ellen Wheeler CORONATION STREET so she can see that corner shop drama doesn't have to be crap. Oh wait -- there's no point because GL is over! How weird is it to know that no matter how you feel about the current state of GL there is nothing you can do about it because the show has just stopped?!

YES, IT'S NOT A PHOTO FROM TONIGHT'S EVENT BUT IT'S LATE AND I'M TIRED

Fastforwarded through the highly prestigious and intellectually profound TEEN CHOICE awards to see GOSSIP GIRL's Leighton Meester and Chase Crawford get Best Actor and Actress as they picked up GG's award for Best Show, as well as Ed Westwick and Kristen Bell presenting. Ed Westwick was insanely hot in person; his natural British accent and un-Chuck Bass attire of jeans and T-shirt made me want to leap through the TV. Instead, I had a nice cup of Earl Grey and reflected on Ed coming to New York and drinking tea and buying the wrong kind of creamer (an anecdote told better in last year's NEW YORK magazine cover feature on GG.)