Paula's Soapbox

As if daytime television, and soap operas in particular, needed another slap in the face, the Emmys aired on the CW this year. While the CW would not have been my first choice of networks to broadcast the Emmys anyway, I did not complain because at this point I was just glad to see that they were airing at all. However, the actual awards show gave me plenty of reasons to complain, reasons that had nothing to do with who took home an award. Over the years I have grown accustomed to watching the Emmy red carpet pre-show on Soapnet regardless of the network airing the awards, so I was a little surprised that it was on the CW this year. I thought this might prove to be a positive change for daytime and expose soap operas to a wider audience, but I was wrong. The Emmy pre-show was disappointing this year, to say the least. Very few soap stars were interviewed on the red carpet, nominees or otherwise. It may not have seemed that way to those who have never watched the Soapnet pre-show, but b...

Everything seemed to start coming together on Friday's General Hospital. Jax finally did something right when he told Carly he knew where Michael and Kristina were and was flying to Mexico to bring them home. He even managed to leave Spinelli's name out of this conversation. Meanwhile Jason and Sam had already found Michael and Kristina, who were in the middle of trying to defend themselves against the obnoxious customers that had shown up at the resort. Michael had already been punched because he pawned a watch that belonged to one of these customers in order to pay for Kristina's plane ticket. When Jason arrived he was forced to pull out his gun to keep the fight from escalating and to allow Michael a chance to explain what happened. When Michael told him how he had pawned the watch Jason reimbursed the customer and let him and his girlfriend go. He and Sam then proceeded to make arrangements to bring Michael and Kristina home, but Michael had other plans. While Jax and C...

On Thursday's General Hospital Michael prepared to get Kristina home safely by pawning a watch from an obnoxious customer so that he could buy her a plane ticket. Kristina had decided to go home the day before after she tried to contact Kiefer, who was supposedly with another girl. When Kiefer's cell phone rang he had a girl to answer. And even though this girl was apparently not the same one that Kristina thought he was with, Kiefer's stunt was still effective, and was ultimately the driving force behind Kristina's decision to go home. My question is did Kiefer know that Kristina was the one calling him, and if so, how? I am also having difficulty understanding why Kristina has all of a sudden decided that it is safe for her to go home considering that she still believes she was the one that ran Claudia off the road. Does she think that the investigation has just been dropped? And if Michael knows that there is a possibility that he is not the one who ran Claudia off t...

For this edition of "Tell Me More" I want to know what your take is on VH1's "My Antonio" and Antonio Sabato, Jr.'s supposed search for true love. Do you think this is a sincere attempt at meeting someone special? As with all of my posts, feel free to elaborate and write whatever you want, just remember to be respectful of other people's opinions.

Something occurred to me while watching Thursday's GH that I had not thought of before. I am beginning to wonder if Dante's superior is going to turn out to be a crooked cop, perhaps hired by Anthony Zacchara to take down the Corinthos organization. If he was hired by Anthony, what better way to get inside information on Sonny's business than to assign one of the best cops in the field to infiltrate the organization? He could then take this information to Anthony rather than using it to build a case against Sonny. This possibility would certainly extend Dante's storyline potential beyond him finding out that he is Sonny's son. It would also likely shake his faith in the entire legal system, perhaps even causing him to question his chosen career path on the right side of the law.

Even though Maxie seems to genuinely love Spinelli, it is no secret that she has been looking for a way out of marrying him since he first tried to propose to her on the rooftop. However, Spinelli, in all his ways of expressing courtly love, may have finally discovered her Achilles' heel. On Wednesday's General Hospital Spinelli and Maxie began discussing the details of the wedding and the arrangements that would follow. Surprisingly enough Spinelli assumed that he and Maxie would begin their married life living at Jason's, an assumption that Maxie quickly rejected. Again, Maxie tried to use this disagreement as a way out of the marriage,but Spinelli was prepared to give her whatever she wanted in order to make her happy. Spinelli did, however, have a suggestion of his own, something that I am sure Maxie never anticipated. Spinelli told her that he thought they should wait until after the wedding before sleeping together again, a request that may make Maxie finally decide t...

Even though I thought that the JaSam reunion seemed a bit rushed due to Jason's unusually speedy recovery, I thought that today's scenes struck just the right tone. I especially liked the fact that GH included their song, "Just You and Me" in these scenes. It added credibility to their reconciliation by reminding viewers of their history. It also didn't hurt that the radio became stuck on a relationship advice show, forcing them to think about everything they weren't saying. This also served as a creative way of providing information to those viewers who may not be familiar with GH or Jason and Sam as a couple. I am glad that the show is taking the time to make sure that all of their viewers are on the same page. Whenever soap operas do this it usually indicates that they plan to pay careful attention to detail as the storyline unfolds, a rarity these days .

I am quickly growing tired of the Olivia/Dante/Sonny storyline on GH. This is primarily because of Olivia's endless efforts to keep Sonny from finding out that Dante is his son. As I have said in previous posts, and as Jax pointed out a few episodes ago, it seems that Dante would be in more danger by not knowing that Sonny is his father. I think that all of Olivia's problems would be solved by just telling the truth. Obviously Sonny and Dante will be angry that she kept this from them but the fallout will be far worse if she lets this secret come from someone else, not to mention what will happen if they never find out. I could not believe that Olivia actually tried to guilt Jax into using his contacts to get Dante reassigned when she has the power to end all of this. This storyline has gotten ridiculous and it is making the Olivia character less believable. I think it is time to start wrapping up all of this nonsense and let Sonny and Dante finally learn the truth. Then we can...

The moment that JaSam fans have been waiting for, and Liason fans have been dreading, finally arrived on Monday's GH. Of course I am talking about the kiss that was shared between Jason and Sam at the end of the episode. I have to say that I was somewhat surprised by the way the kiss happened. Even though everyone knew for weeks this was coming, it still seemed to come out of nowhere. I think that GH could have used another day or two of awkward JaSam moments before the kiss finally happened, at the very least that would have given Jason more time to heal. This storyline portrayed him as being far too injured for him to heal that fast and I thought his speedy recovery took away some of the realism of the scenes. Perhaps that is the reason why the JaSam kiss felt a little too rushed. I was prepared for a longer build up than what was presented. Having said that, the JaSam reunion itself was long overdue, especially given the fact that the Liason saga failed to deliver any real story...

The first rule of dating Antonio Sabato, Jr. is you don't reject him, he rejects you, at least according to the latest installment of VH1's "My Antonio." I grudgingly watched last night's episode of "My Antonio" in hopes that it would be an improvement on the first episode, sadly it was not. I cannot say that I am altogether surprised by that though, this is a reality show, and it is on VH1. And judging from their previous attempts at reality dating shows their standards seem to be even lower than those of other networks, but that is just one person's opinion. I did promise a recap though and a recap you shall have. At the end of the first episode of "My Antonio", Antonio's ex-wife Tully arrived in Hawaii to let him know that she was still not over him. They were married when he was 18. He is now 36 and she has just now decided to let him know that she is still in love with him? I guess she was just waiting for the right time to tell hi...

GH's Claudia is unquestionably one of the most complex soap characters. She can make you hate her one minute and feel sorry for her the next. For instance, I hated that she requested Jerry's help in tracking down Michael when she thought he ran her off the road. In fact, I am still having difficulty comprehending what possessed her to do that, but that is a topic for another day. Despite of all her shortcomings it was impossible not to sympathize with her when she lost her baby, especially since she had to watch the fetal monitor as the baby's heart got weaker. Regardless of Claudia's reasons for getting pregnant in the first place, it is obvious that she grew to love her child like a real mother. So it is understandable that she would need time to grieve following her miscarriage, a concept that seems to have escaped everyone around her. On Friday's GH, both Sonny and Johnny were quite cold in telling her she needed to just move on. I know in their world human life...

On Friday's General Hospital Jax questioned Olivia about the conversation he overheard her having with Kate in regards to Dante being Sonny's son. He agreed to keep this a secret but not before asking how Dante's life would be more compromised as a result of knowing who is father is, a question that has plagued me for weeks. Of course Olivia was somehow able to avoid answering this question. At this point I think Olivia is actually more afraid of Sonny knowing that she kept this secret from him than she is of Dante being killed. It is quite obvious that Dante's life is in greater danger because neither he or Sonny know that they are father and son. I am not sure how much longer this truth can stay hidden though. As I said in an earlier post, Jax knows Dante already, but only as Dominic. That was until the end of Friday's episode, when it seemed as though Jax was beginning to come to the realization that Dante and Dominic are one in the same. During the conversation ...

I guess it must be time for a soap opera makeover. Lulu walked into the hospital on Thursday seeking help after she glued her hand to her head. Having introduced such a random scene can only mean one of two things, either Julie Marie Berman is getting a haircut and the writers wanted to find a way of acknowledging that, or Lulu is about to be involved in a love triangle with Matt and Dante. I mention the love triangle theory because as Lulu was waiting for someone to help pry her hand away from her hair Dante arrived and continued to make flirtatious advances. Resisting, Lulu told him she had plans with Matt who was ultimately the one to come up with a way of getting her hand separated from her hair. Personally I think the idea of a Matt and Lulu pairing is inspired. I really cannot say that I like the idea of her and Dante. They do not have enough chemistry. Moreover Lulu needs someone who is not involved in Sonny's world for a while. I got tired of all the angst that was Lulu and...

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...

At the end of Tuesday's GH Jerry headed back to the abandoned church where he had left Jason to die; and by the beginning of Wednesday's episode he had already discovered that Jason had fled. He then went back to the room where he had left Sam, only to find it empty as Jason and Sam were hiding in a crawl space. I am not sure how they knew Jerry was coming or how Sam was able to hide Jason quickly enough to prevent them from getting caught since none of that was played out for the viewers. I hate it when soaps do this. They spend months and months airing pointless scenes that really have nothing to do with anything then when you actually want details they skim over them, but I digress. After Jerry left the room Jason became disoriented and thought he was back in Hawaii with Sam as he struggled from the side effects of an experimental drug, elements from a previous JaSam storyline. Sam played along as she continued to give Jason water and he eventually said those three little wo...

As soon as Lucky explained to Rebecca that he told Nikolas the truth about her out of "sibling loyalty" I knew those words would come back to haunt him. And after Tuesday's episode of GH it looks like that might come sooner than later. Things heated up rather quickly for Nikolas and Elizabeth after she gave him a much needed dose of reality concerning his behavior since Emily's death. Little did they know Lucky had just arrived at Wyndemere to check on Nikolas. I wonder how Lucky is going to feel about sibling loyalty after he discovers what Nikolas and Elizabeth have been doing behind his back. Again, as I have said in other posts, I find it very strange that neither Elizabeth or Nikolas have thought about how their actions might affect Lucky, not to mention the kids. Meanwhile the search continues for Dante's love interest. After meeting Lulu at Jake's a few weeks ago he must have decided that she was too much trouble because he ended up leaving that same ba...

On Monday's GH viewers finally learned what happened to Sam last week when Jerry handcuffed her to a chair and sold her to another man. Apparently she was not another one of Jason's hallucinations. She had instead found her way to him after she was able to escape her buyer by charming him into taking her handcuffs off, hitting him over the head with a lamp, and stealing his car. Once she found Jason she took him back to the room where she had previously been held and attempted to clean up his bullet wounds and keep his fever down. This is all leading up to the moment that JaSam fans, like myself, have been waiting months for. This week's episodes should finally provide a resolution to all the speculation about a Jason and Sam reunion. I really hope that GH lets them reunite without pulling the rug out from under the fans like they did when everyone thought he and Elizabeth were going to start a family. There were a lot of disappointed Liason fans when that happened and I fo...

If you thought Nikolas was a wreck when Emily died, that was nothing compared to the way he reacted after learning the truth about Rebecca. Nikolas turned cold as he confronted Rebecca about her original intentions to con him and the Quartermaines out of their fortune. And after he kicked her out of his house it was as if he had lost Emily all over again as he proceeded to destroy every object in sight. After Rebecca left Nikolas's she headed over to the Quartermaines' where she confessed her plans to take money from them. Monica and Edward were surprisingly understanding, although Edward reminded her that she still owed him ten thousand dollars. Later on Emily found Lucky at Jake's bar where she slapped him across the face for telling Nikolas the truth about her. Meanwhile Elizabeth was at Wyndemere pulling Nikolas off the balcony and trying to calm him down. I am having a difficult time figuring out where this storyline is going. It seems as though Nikolas may be turning ...

Before Twilight or True Blood, there was Port Charles, a spin-off of General Hospital which featured vampire themes throughout much of its existence. Perhaps being ahead of its time Port Charles never garnered a strong following and remained on the air for only six years. Having never been a fan of this particular subject matter I became a fan of Port Charles near the end of its run on ABC. I found it to be more than what it seemed to be on the surface. Instead of Port Charles being a dark, far-fetched, mythical soap, I felt that the writing attempted to go deeper than that to portray the classic battle of good versus evil and the internal struggle that everyone faces to choose right from wrong. However, by the time that Port Charles peaked my interest the show had already switched time slots from daytime to only airing during the wee hours of the morning, at least in my viewing area. And I suspect that when that switch occurred fewer people watched than before. It is a shame that this...

On Friday's General Hospital Jason's gunshot wounds were taking their toll as he began having guilt-ridden hallucinations pertaining to Michael's disappearance, forcing him to try to dig his way out from underneath the pile of rubble that Jerry left him in. During one of these hallucinations in particular, Jason had a vision of Michael holding a volleyball, significant because Michael and Kristina had happened upon jobs at a beach resort. These hallucinations were seen consistently throughout Friday's entire episode, leading up to Sam coming to Jason's aid by the end of the show. However, it remains to be seen if Sam was actually there or if she was just another figment of Jason's imagination. Viewers have not seen her since Jerry handcuffed her and sold her to another man so no one really knows if she was ultimately able to escape. Hallucination or not, this is likely to be the moment when Jason realizes that he still loves Sam and it is about time! Meanwhile i...

I just finished watching a sneak preview of the premiere episode of My Antonio on vh1.com. My Antonio is a reality series centered around former General Hospital star Antonio Sabato, Jr. and his search for true love. Judging from the first episode this show is not unlike most other reality shows in that the person who is most willing to demean and humiliate themselves will likely stick around the longest. My Antonio takes place in Hawaii and at the beginning of the first episode Antonio dives off a boat into the ocean and swims ashore to meet his potential mates. Almost immediately after introducing himself to the women Antonio pulls one of them aside, talks to her for about thirty seconds, looks at her hands and feet, decides that he is not attracted to her and sends her home. Antonio's fascination with hands and feet seems to be a running theme in this show, at least in the first episode. Later on the women meet Antonio for their first "challenge," which they soon f...

Things began to unravel on Thursday's General Hospital as Lucky decided to tell Nikolas the truth about Rebecca, Robin continued her investigation of Andrea Floyd, Kiefer revealed his true colors to Morgan, and Johnny witnessed a conversation between Olivia and Dante. After having a conversation with Elizabeth, Lucky decided that he needed to tell Nikolas that Rebecca came to Port Charles in pursuit of Emily's fortune. Lucky's timing in revealing this information could not have been worse for Nikolas and Rebecca because Nikolas had just made the decision to introduce Spencer to Rebecca then take them on a trip to his native Greece. Speaking of Nikolas introducing Spencer to Rebecca, I thought the way he did that was a little odd. Anyone who has been watching GH since the Emily character was on there knows that Spencer and Emily were close so one would assume that he would need to be prepared before introducing him to her doppelganger. This idea obviously escaped Nikolas bec...

The Daytime Emmy Awards are coming up at the end of the month, August 30th to be exact, so I wanted to take a moment to look at the list of nominees and offer my predictions of the winners and welcome yours. Let's begin with the lead actress category. This year the nominess are Jeanne Cooper (Katherine, Y&R), Maura West (Carly, ATWT), Susan Flannery (Stephanie, B&B), Susan Haskell (Marty, OLTL), and Debbi Morgan (Angie, AMC). Jeanne Cooper won last year and has followed up that win with a lot more storyline on Y&R so it is possible she could win again this year, but Susan Haskell may give Cooper a run for her money. Out of all the other nominees I think that Haskell is the one to most likely beat out Cooper for this year's Emmy. Haskell returned to OLTL this year to replace her replacement. This was a long awaited return and she dove right in with some intense material without missing a beat. Ultimately I think that Jeanne Cooper will pull out another win, but I wou...

While Michael and Kristina were busy making their escape from Jerry's guard, Jason was at Jerry's mercy, trapped under a pile of rubble that formed when a walkway collapsed overhead. Jerry somehow managed to crawl out from under this pile and find Jason's gun in the process. In fact the majority Wednesday's episode consisted of Jerry taunting Jason while Jason attempted to finally get Jerry to admit Claudia's involvement in Michael's shooting. By the end of the episode Jerry had not only shot Jason twice with his own gun, but left him trapped without being any closer to the truth about Claudia. Elsewhere in Port Charles, a jealous Ethan confessed to Lucky about what Rebecca's intentions were when she first arrived in town, giving Lucky the choice of whether or not to tell Nikolas. However, Lucky might want to think twice before doing that because I have a feeling if Nikolas dumps Rebecca his first phone call will be to Elizabeth.

Watching GH's Michael figure out that he and Kristina are a part of one of Jerry's twisted games it is evident that there is nothing damaged about his brain. He was able to put the pieces together almost immediately and come up with a plan that would allow them to escape. There were some nail biting moments at the end of GH as he set this plan into motion, attempting to knock the guard out only to find himself nearly outmatched. This would have certainly been a good time for one of his uncontrollable rage episodes to kick in. Meanwhile Jason was in a fight all his own with Jerry. After a long game of cat and mouse that involved Jason and Jerry attempting to shoot one another, they found themselves in hand to hand combat only to have what appeared to be a walkway collapse on them. Whatever happens next I hope this fight does not end with Jerry attempting to fake his own death again.

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 ?

Fans of GH's Maxie and Spinelli, or Spixie as they are affectionately referred to, received a treat on Monday as Maxie finally accepted Spinelli's proposal, or did they? Spixie's long anticipated engagement was bittersweet because in the minutes leading up to Maxie's acceptance of the proposal she was hoping that Mac would forbid it so that she had an excuse not to marry Spinelli without breaking his heart. That plan fell apart when Mac ultimately did what Maxie wanted and she insisted that she could marry whoever she wanted, including Spinelli. She then accepted Spinelli's proposal but it was clear to everyone in the room that she only did so out of spite. Spinelli was the only one who was blissfully unaware of what had just occurred. As a fan of Spixie myself I am unhappy with the way this is playing out. I was hoping that Maxie would either whole-heartedly accept Spinelli's proposal or he would agree to momentarily put that aside until she was ready. With the...

The plot thickened on Monday's General Hospital as Jerry took Sam hostage and revealed his plan to trap Jason. While Sam was calling Jason to give him directions to a location specified by Jerry, Michael remembered hearing Jerry's voice while he was in the coma. Michael's instincts then took over and he persuaded Kristina to continue their journey without Jerry's help. Meanwhile Jason was on his way to find Sam and Jerry after Sam warned him over the phone that Jerry was setting a trap. This trap may turn out to be only a small part of Jerry's diabolical plan as Michael and Kristina discovered that they were essentially being held captive when they were met with a guard outside the door as they were trying to leave. Jerry's plans for Sam became even more twisted after he locked her in a dark room and handcuffed her to a chair, where she was later informed that Jerry had sold her to another man. While all of this is likely to turn out to be one of Jerry's ela...

As you may have read in one of my earlier posts I have decided to stop watching Y&R due to the fact that the writing has made the show unwatchable on many different levels. I have not watched the show in well over a month and from what I have been reading on various message boards I am not alone. Many longtime fans of this once beloved show seem to be very unhappy with the quality of the writing and have either decided to stop watching altogether or complain to as many people as they think will listen, or both. In reading through several of these complaints I discovered that Y&R's writing sunk to yet another low when they decided to not only kill off Victor's dog, but actually show the dog as he was dying after being poisoned. Again, I have not been watching the show but if what I have read in these postings is true, then Y&R is going to have their work cut out for them if they ever decide to restore the integrity and quality of their writing. I cannot imagine why a...

I am not sure I like or understand the direction of the writing for GH's Lucky and Elizabeth. This is a couple that presumably reconciled months ago, yet we have seen very few scenes where the two of them have been together. I am also not sure I like or understand how they are being written as individuals. I was always under the impression that Lucky was basically a decent guy but lately every time he is on screen he comes across as kind of a jerk. I first noticed this when he openly laughed at Spinelli just before his performance at Jake's. This just seemed unnecessary to me and totally out of character. Lucky's unusual behavior continued this week when he and Ethan made the impromptu decision to beat up Dante because he was talking to Lulu, laughing and giving each other high fives the entire time as if they were high school bullies. Never mind the fact that Lucky is a police officer and could face serious consequences if he were charged with assault. I guess he momentari...

As much as I love GH's big reveal that Dante is a cop, it makes Olivia's reasons for keeping the secret that Sonny is his father seem less credible. Before Dante ever arrived in Port Charles Olivia stated that she did not want Sonny to know that they shared a son because she did not want Dante pulled into Sonny's world. Okay that is fair enough, but when said son is an undercover police officer that is trying to bring down Sonny's entire mob organization, keeping a paternity secret seems trivial at best. For Olivia to be so worried that Sonny will kill Dante if he ever finds out that he is secretly investigating him, she sure seems determined to hide the fact that they are father and son. If her reasons for keeping this secret in the first place were to ensure Dante's safety then why is she still keeping this secret knowing that telling the truth could now save his life?

The more I follow the storyline of Claudia's car accident the more I am convinced that none of the key players were responsible for that crash. I am positive it is not Michael and I am hoping that it is not Kristina, even though all the evidence seems to point to her. I would rather this character not be as involved in this particular storyline as she is. I think that GH should have stayed on course with her having an abusive boyfriend because you cannot address an issue as serious as this by just dabbling in it then brushing it aside. It is something that needs to be examined in a responsible way by shedding some light on the subtleties of abuse. Still, I do not believe that Kristina was the one who ran Claudia off the road, nor do I believe it was Alexis. The pieces of evidence are fitting together too neatly for it to be any of the primary suspects. Jerry would be an obvious choice, but I do not even think he is responsible for this particular accident. In much the same way that...

For weeks I predicted that GH's Claudia would miscarry, however I never could have predicted that she would not only blame Michael but actually seek revenge and attempt to use Jerry Jax to carry out that revenge. I know that Claudia has never been the most rational person. Her tendency to act before thinking gets her into more trouble than it gets her out of, but where is the logic in this plan? One might assume that it was Jerry, not Michael who caused Claudia's accident because out of everyone in Port Charles he had the most to gain from running her off the road. I am surprised that Claudia did not immediately reach this conclusion herself considering the lengthy game of cat and mouse that she and Jerry have been playing. It would not have even been necessary for Claudia to get pregnant in the first place had Jerry not been blackmailing her, so I was shocked that she would even think to rely on him to find Michael. She may as well tell Sonny she is responsible for Michael...