Paula's Soapbox

Soap fans received some shocking news this week when it was announced that SOAPnet, the only 24-hour soap channel, would be going off the air in 2012 to make room for a new Disney channel. And although fans are being reassured that this will not affect the soap genre because of the ability to watch episodes online, this seems like one more step toward making soaps obsolete. I must say I think SOAPnet could have and should have tried much harder to promote the genre that brought them into existence, but I don't see how soaps can avoid a fallout once this channel goes off the air. Sure viewers survived years without the convenience of SOAPnet to allow them to catch up on missed episodes, but a lot has changed in the ten years since its launch. Soap ratings are lower than ever, and even with the Internet, DVR, and SOAPnet, it is a constant struggle to maintain viewer interest. In fact, I'm sure SOAPnet is the only way certain viewers can watch their missed episodes. It may seem ...

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...

Unless you are a soap fan who doesn't read internet spoilers, or you missed Saturday night's podcast you have undoubtedly heard the rumor about what really happened to Michael in prison. That rumor of course being that he was the victim of prison rape, which seems to be exactly what GH has been implying the past few days. And I just want to go on record right now as saying that if the reason for the Michael recast was so the show could put somebody with a more innocent look into these prison scenes it was a bad decision. It is not that Chad Duell isn't doing a good job as Michael because he is. It just never ceases to amaze me how soaps are constantly sacrificing good actors for bad storylines. And this prison storyline is bad on more levels than I can even wrap my mind around. First of all Michael probably would have been okay in prison until Jason got there if Sonny had checked his ego at the prison door and not antagonized Anthony Zacchara with threats about Johnny. Sonn...

With Michael being sentenced to five years in prison, Carly is certainly entitled to be angry. It is even understandable that she would want to lash out at anyone within striking distance and seek revenge on the person responsible for putting him there. In fact given everything that Michael has been through it would be hard to fault Carly for trying to get some sort of justice for him. After all he didn't receive an ounce of it in court, yet I am still having trouble empathizing with Carly enough to support her behavior. As I said in the last post, there were many people responsible for Michael's predicament. And yes, Dante and Lulu definitely played a part in it, but Carly seems to be focusing an unreasonable amount of anger on these two considering how much blame there is to go around. And I still think it is strange that no one is angry with Lucky for bringing Michael in in the first place. He pointed a gun at Jason to keep him from taking Michael out of the country and no...

Even though I don't agree with the way Dante went about telling everyone that Michael killed Claudia, I can sort of understand his reasons for doing it. After all no one has ever really taught Michael the concept of taking responsibility for his actions. Moreover, the guilt over killing Claudia has been making Michael act out in such self-destructive ways that a life in the mob seemed inevitable. And if Carly and Sonny were really honest with themselves they would realize that Michael has been wanting to confess for months, not just to protect Sonny, but because of all the guilt. On the other hand I can understand Carly, Sonny, and Jason's impulse to cover up what happened to Claudia because Michael had already lost a year of his life and was still dealing with the repercussions of that when he killed her. And if they had gone to the police at that time it is reasonable to assume that because Michael is Sonny's son someone would have taken the opportunity to make an example...