DOT COTTON BLOODY DOT COTTON

In John Schlesinger's interesting 1971 film SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY you can see EASTENDERS' June Brown crying her eyes out spectacularly in one scene. Look fast and you will also see an uncredited Petra Markham, who appeared briefly in EE in 1993 -- she played Rose, who ran off with Pete Beale, only to be horribly killed off screen.

No soaps watched today -- too busy watching depressing bisexual drama, dontchaknow.

IN DREAMS I WALK WITH YOU

My night's viewing was capped off with a re-watching of BLUE VELVET, which I haven't seen in at least 12 years.  My head is still spinning.  This film has lost none of its fascination and power to disturb, no matter how many times you've seen it.

After BLUE VELVET, director David Lynch collaborated with Mark Frost on the unique soap TWIN PEAKS.  What is striking is that TWIN PEAKS is very much about a place and a mood, in a way American soaps are not.  What can we say about Pine Valley or Salem except that they're a backdrop for plots and characters?  I would like to see one soap take on the challenge of creating a world that you want to visit, regardless of which characters inhabit it.  To some extent British soaps like CORONATION STREET and EASTENDERS have created their own hyper-realities, which are the main draw of the shows with their sense of community and vibrant working class life.  If American soaps were to have a stronger sense of setting, it could result in higher ratings as viewers will tune into a show not because of the characters and plot but because they just like to visit Oakdale or Genoa City.

Oh good grief. I hope this wasn't what Ellen Wheeler was trying to get at when she had those awful ads for GUIDING LIGHT extolling the virtues of Springfield via CameraPhone. (TM)  you know, the ones at the beginning of the year that were all like "High School graduation!  Your first car!  Mom's apple pie!  SPRINGFIELD!!!!!"  Maybe if Ellen Wheeler's Springfield had a dark, twisted side to it like Lynch's Lumberton, I'd actually watch the show.

SATURDAY NIGHT DOWN THE PUB

Actually, the closest I got to the pub tonight was watching an old episode of RYAN'S HOPE that I DVRed off of SoapNet! (Besides, there are no proper pubs in sunny, soulless Los Angeles.) RYAN'S HOPE is always fun for me to watch because it is the only US soap I've ever seen that feels like a British soap. You've got a show centered around a pub and a close-knit working class family, which is de rigeur for EASTENDERS or CORRIE but somewhat unusual for a daytime American drama. While glitzy, trashy soaps are all good fun, I think in the long run the domestic soap is more fulfilling for the viewer because you really get to know and identify with the characters. I think DAYS OF OUR LIVES tries to do this with the Brady pub, but with mixed results. I buy the Bradys as a family but the pub itself is ludicrous -- can you imagine Johnny and Maeve Ryan running a "green" pub?? (Besides on St Paddy's Day, of course.)

THE ONLY DOCTOR I WANT TO SEE IS DOCTOR WHO

In between rewatching the final episodes of Series 4 of DOCTOR WHO (TURN LEFT has a funny CORONATION STREET reference, by the way), I took a little break to see some of NIGHT SHIFT. I saw just enough to convince me to cancel my future DVR recording of this week's episode! Claire and someone else you don't care about were exchanging amateur dramatics, Robin and Patrick were being miserable and Jagger and Leo were being boring. I'd write more about this underwhelming GH spinoff but I have to go see Gita from EASTENDERS get killed killed by Daleks in JOURNEY'S END, the DW Series 4 finale!

THE SORASED AND THE RESTLESS

I was amused to see a SORASed Noah Newman on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS today and even more amused to see his two hot friends partying around his pool! There have been lots of jokes about Noah being gay floating around the internet and this will just add fuel to the fire!

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL has managed to lift itself out of the depressing nature of the Eric in a coma (I know, I know, it's serioussssssssss...sorry, gratuitous Smiths reference there!) storyline by adding the soapy twist that he's been poisoned! The episode was very well directed. Love all those closeups of the Forresters demanding Donna be arrested -- very over the top and fun.

AS THE WORLD TURNS had some good stuff in it, but also some bad stuff. I liked Meg baking cookies with Emma to tell Paul she's pregnant, and Kathleen Widdowes was a joy in those scenes. I liked Faith baldly stating to Holden that he slept with Carly. I enjoyed the sight of baby Ethan because nothing affects that kid's giggly smile -- parents divorcing, mom recast, Jean Passanante. However, the bad Dani Andropolous stuff capsized the episode for me. I found Margo's dislike of her to be contrived and Dani's strategy to get back into the police station with Casey's help implausible. Dani seems like a horrid version of what someone on the writing staff thinks is a SEX AND THE CITY-esque fun single girl with a professional career, but she just comes off as a skank. Speaking of skanks, I did like that Emily knows the Mayor because he used to be one of her johns!

ONE LIFE TO LIVE sucked me in with that cute little DavidVickers. (Babies and dogs -- oh crap I'm getting broody! And I'm a guy!!!) Loads of potential in the possibilities they're setting up of Tina vs Todd and Tess. I trust head writer Ron Carlivati to run with it!

I wanted to watch all of GENERAL HOSPITAL today but the double whammy of Zaccharahing and Whiny Lulu drove me to the fast-forward button so I could just enjoy Spinelli and Maxie. The look on Spinelli's face when Maxie figured out that the stakeout was just so he could show Stone Cold that he could do a stakeout without passing out from dehydration was very funny.

My viewing for today finished up with a rewatch of the astonishing DOCTOR WHO episode MIDNIGHT. Mostly taking place on a single set, this story boasts an amazingly tight ensemble that makes you feel like you've just seen a brilliant piece of theatre. Part of this cast is the underrated Lindsay Coulson, who electrified EASTENDERS in the '90s as Carol Jackson, arguably the best acted female part in Albert Square of that period. She is soooo good in MIDNIGHT; Lindsay goes from chatty, congenial tourist to panicked freaking woman to deadly harridan in about 40 minutes, and her final line to the Doctor says volumes. A great performance that might be overlooked in the light of main guest star's Lesley Sharp's really, really scary, showstopping Sky Sylvestry.

HANNIBAL LECTER EATS OAKDALE

Well, not really. But in Friday's cracking good episode of AS THE WORLD TURNS Oakdale's famous serial killer Rick Decker made a welcome reappearance in order to solve The Mystery Of The Poisoned Accessories. I think he's a big red herring and the soon-to-return James Stenbeck is the real culprit. When that scene started where Carly dared to knock on Lily's door, I was hoping that Luke would rip Carly a new one. No such luck, but Van Hansis conveyed volumes with just a few lines and a few looks. Speaking of characters with few lines, I was pleased to see Wole Parks' Dallas make an appearance. Now that it looks like Bonnie is finally getting a storyline, can't Dallas get one too? Wole is charismatic and his body is TIGHT!

We started our rewatching of the brilliant 4th series of DOCTOR WHO tonight, since I finally gave in and ordered the uncut UK DVDs after suffering at the hands of Sci-Fi Channel's butchers for the last 13 weeks. The guest casting this series has been really top notch, with several ex-soap stars making an appearance. Episode 1, PARTNERS IN CRIME, has ex-CORONATION STREET star Sarah Lancashire doing a funny takeoff on Supernanny Jo Frost and it's even funnier because she plays it dead serious. Sarah took a similar gambit in CORRIE; Raquel was a typically comedic Rover's Return barmaid, but Sarah never descended to caricature in her portrayal.

Episode 2, THE FIRES OF POMPEII, featured a soap actor less well-known than Sarah but still remembered by me -- Francois Pandolfo, who was briefly in EASTENDERS as Enrico, a foreign exchange student with funny spiked hair and a weak grasp of English. Sonia and Nicki fought over him and he chose Sonia over the DeMarco chick because of her passion for the trumpet. (Yes really!!) Then he went back to Italy and didn't answer Sonia's letters or Valentine Day's card, causing her to get really, really upset and to sleep with Martin Fowler. That one night of foolishness on Sonia's part led to at least seven years worth of story for Sonia and Martin! So Enrico may be a footnote in Albert Square history, but a notable footnote nonetheless. His portrayer Francois has grown up to be rather hunky, with a good pair of legs noticeable beneath his short tunic in POMPEII. (Wole's tight body, Francois' fit legs -- WHAT is on my mind tonight???)

HAS SOAP OPERA WEEKLY BEEN READING THIS BLOG?

I noticed in SOAP OPERA WEEKLY's current issue, under "Crazy Rumors Of The Week", it says that Marcus and Owen will be THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL's first gay characters. This is something I wrote about in my post on June 5, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED. Maybe my other theories will hit the press as well and we'll get some behind-the-scenes shots of Ellen Wheeler holding a Cameraphone (TM) as she terrorizes the cast of GUIDING LIGHT!

I'm still enjoying the PORT CHARLES reruns on Soapnet, but damn -- 2 episodes a week of what was a daily soap are a slow trickle, indeed. ( A similar situation affects those watching EASTENDERS on American PBS, which shows 2 episodes a week of a 4 times a week show. Naturally, PBS can never catch up to current episodes, resulting in 5 year old EASTENDERS storylines slooooowly being played out.) Come on, Soapnet, run at least 5 episodes of PORT CHARLES a week and publicize it a little with commercials focusing on stars Thorsten Kaye and Michael Easton, who are the current leading men of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE. It would be a shame to let this unique supernatural soap opera just fade away.

Trying to stay on top of AS THE WORLD TURNS, but only managed to choke down Thursday's DVRed episode tonight. The scenes at summer camp were TORTURE. Why is Sage singing "Good Morning Baltimore" from HAIRSPRAY when the zaftig Faith would be a more suitable choice? What was that song Faith and Natalie sang to each other and am I the only one who finds pubescent sisters singing a love song to each other gross? Why is the Jack and Carly pairing dead in the water? AAAAAARGHHHH
The episode was partly redeemed by an excellent scene where Janet and Jack talked to each other honestly like grown adults, but when I saw the coming attractions for Friday AGAIN highlighting only Holden/Carly and Brad/Janet/Jack/Liberty/Parker, I felt like deleting that show from my DVR. Where is Lucinda to sort everyone out? Why isn't Luke having heart-to-hearts with his parents or aunt at this awful time in his life? I stand by my suspicion that nobody in the ATWT writers' room is talking to anyone else.