Paula's Soapbox

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have really been enjoying the introduction of the Jeromes on GH (particularly Ava and Julian --- Kiki I could take or leave). In fact it's really the only storyline I can even tolerate right now. It doesn't really make sense to me that Kate/Connie or whoever she is these days is now a journalist and has this mysterious boss whom no one has ever heard of in the form of "Derek Wells"; but I can overlook that if it keeps Maura West and William DeVry on my screen. It's amazing what a difference it makes to a storyline when dynamic, captivating actors are a part of it. We need a little more of that and less of the Sabrina/Felix/Patrick/Brad/Britt mess. I don't know whose idea it was to put them front and center for so long, but please put us out of our misery. Enough is enough!  I'm also seeing potential with the Luke/Holly storyline. I'll admit I wasn't watching GH when Sean Donely was on, but if the ...

Perhaps no one has complained about the Scullys more than me. I believe I said on more than a few occasions that I rued the day they arrived in Port Charles and I meant it. I still think Joe was one of the worst written soap villains ever. He was virtually irredeemable and that's saying a lot for a soap opera character. Needless to say I wholeheartedly welcomed his exit. Trey, however, was a different story. I wasn't particularly fond of this character in the beginning...okay I hated Trey too. He grated on my nerves almost as much as Joe did; but when I found out he was Kate's son, suddenly he had storyline potential. Moreover he had the potential to be likable. I had hoped with Joe out of the way, it would make room for a moving mother/son relationship between Kate and Trey. Obviously that never happened. Kate found out Trey was her son and promptly switched back to being Connie. I've put up with Connie all these months in much the same way I did Trey for a long time. ...

With all the things that General Hospital has gotten wrong lately, they seem to have an uncanny ability of making successful matches out of the most unlikely couples. Before Georgie died, and Maxie was at her most selfish, no one would have ever thought about a Spinelli and Maxie romance, let alone a non-wedding, but somehow it worked and the audience loved it. And even though this lovable pair has seen less screen time lately and are likely headed for turmoil, I suspect they will follow the same necessary pattern of break-ups and reconciliations that most soap supercouples do. When Olivia Falconeri landed in Port Charles, I never would have predicted she would be involved with Johnny Zacchara. Olivia was not one to keep her opinions to herself, especially when it pertained to the mob lifestyle, so a relationship with a Zacchara seemed like a long shot at best. Moreover, Johnny is roughly the same age as Dante, so a pairing between him and Olivia wasn't even on anyone's radar ...

A lot of positive things can be said about Days of Our Lives right now and I have touched on a few of them lately, but I must say I was surprised at what an outstanding plot point Victor and Vivian's wedding turned out to be. Out of all the other storylines I didn't expect this decidedly trivial event to be so entertaining. From Nicole and Kate drinking martinis before, during, and after the ceremony to Nicole lining up all of Victor's ex-wives to have their picture taken with Vivian, it was pure soapy goodness. I even loved the flashback sequences throughout the ceremony as Kate, Carly, and Nicole remembered their weddings to Victor. Most of all I am enjoying the emphasis that is being placed on Victor and Maggie's connection. I think there is real potential there. She has a way of keeping him in a line when no one else can. And he seems to genuinely respect her, which is more than I can say about any of the other women in his life. I think the other soaps would do wel...

As many of you know I recently had a bout with the flu, so forgive me if my latest assessment of General Hospital is less than accurate, or coherent. However, I have been getting this strange feeling of deja vu the past few weeks because when I watch this show now it seems like I may as well be watching episodes from a few years ago. Jax and Carly are involved in a power struggle within their marriage, which involves Sonny. Michael is the center of everyone's focus and concern. Spinelli and Maxie have been involved in yet another caper. Liz is struggling with the fact that she cheated on Lucky. Johnny is public enemy number one. And Tracy is once again obsessed with Lulu's love life. I know that soaps like to recycle their storylines, but I am not sure why this soap feels the need to go back over all their old storylines using the same cast of characters. Of course this might be tolerable if the dialogue was intriguing enough to break up the monotony, but I am not sure how many...

After overhearing a drunken Kate spill the beans about Dante yesterday, Claudia showed up at the Metro Court just in time to hear this same information again today. With this secret ready to explode Olivia needs to take Kate's timely advice and come up with a plan B because Claudia made it clear that she has no intention of keeping this secret. She even went so far as to tell Dante that she had important information that he would be interested to hear. However, knowing Claudia and the way she likes to play Zacchara mind games I cannot see her just blurting out this information. She will most likely try to use what she knows to her advantage somehow which will undoubtedly blow up in her face, probably just in time for Sarah Brown's exit from the show. Of course Claudia is going to have to work fast in order to exploit this secret before hers are exposed because Michael's memories have been returning rather quickly. And on today's General Hospital he remembered a visit he...

Thursday's GH was all about secrets and lies as Jax found out about Dante, Kate revealed the truth about her suspicious activity with Crimson , and Elizabeth and Nikolas vowed to never act on their feelings again. A distraught Kate went to Jax and informed him that she had taken money from Trevor Lansing to help bail out the magazine and that the nature of this exchange amounted to money laundering. She also revealed that for months Giselle, her competition, had known about this exchange and was blackmailing her and had recently threatened to expose her secret. Later on, when Jax was out of the room, Kate confided in Olivia about this potential catastrophe. As the two were talking the subject turned to Dante, and Olivia's need to tell the truth about Sonny being his father. And of course the door was open while they were having this conversation so when Jax came back he overheard everything from outside the room. The only thing he is probably not aware of is the fact that Dante...

After watching Tuesday's General Hospital it seems that Maxie may have to marry Spinelli whether she wants to or not. It was obvious that she accepted his proposal because Mac forbid her to do it, but when Lulu told Kate about the engagement she insisted on marketing the Spixie wedding for Crimson. Speaking of Kate, what a waste of talent it is to have Megan Ward only appear on the show once every few months or so. I am amazed that they could not find a storyline to place her in that keeps her on screen more than that. I remember watching her on Season 1 of Party of Five and thinking that they should have extended her storyline rather than killing her off. Perhaps she and Johnny will pair up once Olivia gives in to Sonny's advances. Wouldn't that make for an awkward work environment at Crimson ?