NOT EXACTLY TARANTINO

In the midst of the luridly entertaining AS THE WORLD TURNS episode of 4/27/09, Luke tries to keep Noah conscious by getting Noah to tell him about what sounds suspiciously like Andy Warhol's EMPIRE, even though Luke refers to the Sears building.  What utter rubbish.  Noah would not bring this home to show Luke; it has been clearly established that Noah is a fan of classic Hollywood movies and that his favorite film is THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.  If my film major boyfriend was about to pass out and I needed to keep him awake, making him recount the story of William Wyler's enthralling masterpiece is a much healthier choice than reciting twaddle about Warhol.  But what do I expect from a plot in which absolutely no character is using common sense?  Instead of all this running around aimlessly, what is surely needed is an angry Lily with a gun -- shooting her son's kidnappers and FUCKING SOME SHIT UP.

ONE TREE HELL

Starting next week, I will no longer be watching Soap Net with my breakfast on Saturday morning, but will be reading a good book instead.  This is due to the aggressively mediocre ONE TREE HILL, a show so bland and generic I literally can not stand the sight of it anymore.

One show I will be watching more of is THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.  Friday's twist in the episode's closing moments was so simple, yet brilliant and suggestive, that when The Boyfriend came home I sat him down, rewound the DVR and made him watch it.  I did have to explain it to him afterwards, but there is nothing wrong with a show digging into its history to enrich current storylines.  Bravo to whoever is responsible for digging up that clip of Cane and connecting it to Philip!

Regular readers of this blog will know our travails in trying to keep up with AS THE WORLD TURNS.  We watched the episodes from 4/16 and 17 today from out of the depths of our DVR and holy shit -- is Julie Pinson good or what?!?  For my money, there can not be enough scenes of Janet telling Carly off, nor enough of Jack reminding Carly that she abandoned her children for Simon Fraser.  (The latter is another splendid example of soaps using past history to add layers to present story.)  I wish all of ATWT was as brilliant, but if I see another scene of Paul and Meg together continuing their torturous, sadomasochistic-but-not-in-a-good-way relationship, I'm gonna scream.  Or at least read some more of a good book.

WHO WILL DIE ON ALL MY CHILDREN?

I reckon it will be Ryan, because Cameron Mathison has received more exposure from DANCING WITH THE STARS and has seen his hosting duties increase elsewhere.  Plus, everyone seems to hate Ryan being paired with Kendall, so it seems logical for AMC to cut their losses with this character.

I was stuck in ONE LIFE TO LIVE prom land today, what with this afternoon's episode and the musical episode from 2 years ago that Soap Net reran Sunday.  (Though, typically, it was a special 2 part event and Soap Net only ran one part.)  The Pussycat Dolls' English language rendition of "Jai Ho" was horrid, but at least it was limited to the prom so we didn't have to witness Dorian and Vicki pretending to get down to those cheesy skanks.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES entertained me with the scenes between Nicole and Sami.  Their current predicament is so bizarre.  Nicole has Sami's baby but Sami doesn't know it.  Sami has what she thinks is her baby but is actually Mia's but she is passing it off as someone else's.  Nicole knows Sami is lying about her (Sami's) baby but she won't say anything because she (Nicole) wants to hold onto her (Sami's) baby.  So both women are playing a dangerous game which can play out for years if we are unlucky.

Writing that down exhausted me.  I must mention how fabulous GENERAL HOSPITAL looks in High Definition, and how awful GUIDING LIGHT looks in lower-than-low definition.  Did you notice that GL did not obstruct the Abercrombie & Fitch logo on James' jacket?  Could this be because GL forces the actors to wear those own clothes to shooting and the performers don't want their clothes destroyed by gaffing tape?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

To celebrate Mother's Day, here is a picture of Carol Potter as Cindy Walsh, mom to Brenda and Brandon Walsh in the early, good, charming years of BEVERLY HILLS 90210.  Give me down-to-earth-but-cool Cindy to GOSSIP GIRL's scheming, manipulative, selfish Lily any day!                         

How weird is it that tonight's GG is a backdoor pilot to a LILY spin-off? What  odd apres Mother's Day viewing for a nation of teen girls probably forced to spend time with their Moms the day before.  I think the producers' desire to do an eighties era John Hughes movie (complete with Andrew McCarthy!) every week will be awkward, but I'll reserve full judgement until I see the thing.

WHERE WILL WE NEXT SEE DANIEL COSGROVE?

 Daniel has been a highlight of these last years of GL, particularly in the Ava's baby story, where at times he was holding the entire thing together.  Here's hoping another soap snatches him up -- I hate the new 90210 but wouldn't it be funny if he returned to that show to romance Tori Spelling?

GUIDING LIGHT CANCELLED

It gives me no pleasure to blog about this.  What are the cast and crew going to do?  I don't wish unemployment on anyone, let alone this bunch.  GL should never, ever have gone to all digital video and 80% location shooting.  It makes for a terrible looking show, one which if you happen across  you flip channels away from.

Watching other soaps today was an odd experience, as I wondered what are the chances of other soaps staying on air.  THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS looks like a class act and is the only show shot in High Definition.  It has been top of the ratings for decades, so I think it's safe.  THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL is an international hit and its half hour status makes it automatically cheaper to produce, so that one's a keeper as well.

If you look at the ratings for ONE LIFE TO LIVE, it is actually the show that has lost the least amount of viewers in a decade.  (I swear, I saw it in TV GUIDE when they had an article about Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn being fired from DAYS OF OUR LIVES and the resultant death of daytime panic.)  They also know how to spend money wisely -- see the exciting, frequently updated credits that make you WANT to watch the show.  Recently, they pulled off an entire ball on a shoestring.  Plus, their storytelling is superb.  There is always the impression that something is happening in Llanview that is different and unmissable.  By giving each episode an individual title, you are encouraged to think of OLTL as a proper show that you sit down and watch, instead of having on as background.

Unfortunately, I think DOOL will be the next soap on the chopping block.  The show is lacking in energy and buzz and the high profile firings/leavings of popular, mostly long running cast members will not help keep this program on air.

AS THE WORLD TURNS is a difficult case.  While the groundbreaking, chemistry filled Nuke storyline has actually brought new viewers to soaps, the storytelling on ATWT is tired.  Here is my own personal example of the effect ATWT's scripting has had.  I love ATWT enough that I will fly out to New York for the fan club luncheon to meet the wonderful cast.  However, the writing on the show is so lacklustre that I can not keep up with watching ATWT, week in, week out.  I have episodes backed up on my DVR from February.  It is not must see TV for me any longer.  ATWT has to BECOME must see TV or else it will cease to exist.

DIE, DIE, MY DIMERA

They are really stretching out Tony DiMera's demise on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, aren't they?  To be honest, he might have died at the end of today's episode but I didn't watch it because GOSSIP GIRL was calling to me from the DVR!

And a fine episode of GG it was, though one plot twist was stupidly spoiled by the "Previously on GOSSIP GIRL" recap.  By reminding us of the hidden Humphrey child, the seemingly innocuous fan letter Dan got was loaded with Obvious Significance.  I also wasn't too fond of Jenny in this episode; surely she should have spent her unwanted party getting elaborate revenge on the girls who tormented her rather than masochistically wrecking her future abode?

xoxo