One to Watch

• With so many of General Hospital’s men out the door (Nikolas, Jax, Lucky, Ethan) and a tenuous grasp on their time slot, Port Charles is desperate for a hero, and Nathin Butler’s Ewen, may be the guy for the job. He’s only a couple episodes in, but there’s something about Ewen, his look, his voice, the thoughtful Christmas gift for Elizabeth, his air of mystery, and a hint of danger in how he operates outside the conventions of psychiatry. Once upon a time, Ethan brimmed with similar potential, here’s hoping they make the most of it this time.

Soap That Most Needs to Slow Down and Smell The Roses

• The Bold and The Beautiful. Give us dates. Give us arguments. Don’t throw love and divorces at us out of the blue. Viewers can’t care unless the characters do. Why can’t Donna, fresh from a breakup, just be friends with Nick at first, show she has some wounds, while Nick develops a slow burning crush on her? Let’s see Jackie and Owen’s broken hearts, longing when they’re together, and even apart. How can they just be over each other? And it’s hard enough to get past Thomas and Hope sort of sharing a dad, they need to date, be young and fun, and throw Oliver into the mix, too, lets see who has the best chemistry, stop rushing everyone to the altar. Days of Our Lives has always gotten a bad rap for their pacing, but there’s a reason they’ve had a never-ending supply of romances that their fans are passionate over.

Couple with "Super" Potential

• If only All My Children hadn’t run out of time, Scott and Madison would have been something special, from him being with her so Greenlee would spring him from prison, to truly falling for her and the baby she carried, only to lose them both, they had all the makings of something beautifully tortured. While it was nice to see them reunited in the end, so many beats of their story were missed, and there were so many left to play.

The Actor Who Can Sell Anything

• The Young and The Restless’ Billy Miller. Dress him up in a Santa Suit on Halloween. Make him stupid enough to think buying a baby was a good plan. Make him too cowardly to fight to see his little girl or his wife. Somehow Billy Miller makes Y&R’s current sad slump watchable. If they’re smart they’ll use him as much as they can, he’s already stolen scenes on Justified and Ringer, it’s only a matter of time before he’s gone for good.

Best Story That Disappointed

• One Life to Live’s Roger Howarth and Trevor St. John are two of the finest actors ever and the brief time they shared the screen was electric, but it was so, so brief. The next thing you knew, St. John’s Victor, was "killed." If it was budgetary reasons, I’ll never understand why they didn’t sit out less important characters to keep this duo sparring together and tell all the story there was to tell.

The Assassination of Chloe Lane

• Okay, Days of Our Lives’ Chloe wasn’t really assassinated, she actually left town on a high note, headed for a singing career, her baby, and who knows, maybe even a reconciliation with Phillip, plus she finally had some lovely scenes with Brady. But, ugh, the months leading up to that. A hooker? What a shameful waste of Nadia Bjorlin’s abilities. There was a quality, post-partum depression tale that could have been told and may have won her an Emmy, or at least a nomination, which given the voters bias is pretty much a win for poor Days of Our Lives.

The King’s Speech

• Yes, with the failure of All My Children’s transition to the internet, their finale will forever feel unsatisfying, but Tad’s speech was perfection, an emotional tribute to everyone who worked so hard on the show and to all of us who had the pleasure of watching their work.

Prettiest Soap

• Meaning locations. Yeah, occasionally in Aspen and Cabo, Bold and The Beautiful has sounded like a travelogue, but the payoff was well worth selling out a bit. The beautiful scenery elevated everything. All the soaps left should contact the tourism boards of the prettiest cities and see if they can’t beg for similar discounts.

Lighten Up Already

• When an actor leaves due to too many heavy storylines, it’s a good indicator that General Hospital’s fans crave more balance, too. Drunk driving, rape, abuse, child illness and death, have made for great drama, and brilliant showcases for GH’s talented cast. I’d never want them to stop challenging their actors or their viewers, but a sprinkling of romantic Molly, The Quartermaines, and some good old fashioned flirting, on a daily basis would mix things up nicely.

The Funniest Place on Television

• Yet again One Life to Live makes many prime time sitcoms look like amateur hour. There was David Vickers the dog. David Vickers the man. Roxy butchering the English language. Rama’s "water" breaking. Dueling Todds. Never a day goes by that OLTL doesn’t try to be sharp and witty. They’re the rare TV show that not only respects their viewers intelligence, but expects it.

Show That Most Wants The Axe Next

• Or so it seems when you tune in to The Young and The Restless and for six months or more don’t see their leading lady. Or when Genie Francis is playing a split personality; psycho one minute, sweetheart the next depending on whether the writers need her to seem like the one who’s going to snap, or the one who will be the victim of her maid snapping. And that maid! She’s the return of a killer, who only reminds us that we lost a character we actually cared for, Colleen. Oh, and who among us doesn’t enjoy spending more time in prisons and courtrooms than in our favorite characters homes? How about the buffoon of a mob boss and his screeching American Idol Jersey Shore daughter? Who can fathom why they have a story? It’s as if Sony or CBS want our ears bleeding to the point where instead of protesting like ABC fans, Y&R fans beg to be put of their misery.

The Event That Had It All

• Days of Our Lives’ blizzard. Victor and Maggie wed in a sweet ceremony with the bride looking beautiful and the weather a legitimate excuse for the lack of attendees. Jennifer comforted Jack through a post-traumatic stress episode, showcasing the fact that those two actors aren’t merely aces at romantic comedy. Brady and Madison fell in love through vending machine food and personal confessions. The always intense E.J. and Nicole were, perhaps, at their most intense ever in an emotional, post sex confrontation over their past and futures.

Highlights

• AMC- Jack channels Rhett Butler, I like to think though, that in both cases, the ladies eventually got their man. Jesse mourning his baby girl. Tad’s hair dye and chemistry with Cara.
• B&B - The mural in the foster kids episode. Amber gives birth. The ski lift, it went on too long, was totally implausible and ridiculously entertaining.
• DAYS - Vivian’s exit with Ivan, if she had to go, this was the way. Jack falls into the cake. Every scene with Melanie.
• GH - Brenda’s wedding dress. Kristina kisses Ethan. Michael "working" at ELQ.
• OLTL - David Fumero and Erin Torpey reunite. Viki and Dorian locked in together one last time. The Bully storyline.
• Y&R - Cane and Lily almost back together. The door adjoining Billy and Victoria’s hotel rooms.

Lowlights

• AMC - So many unanswered questions. If any of Eva LaRue’s ex husbands were going to be there at the end, it should not have been the first one, offering to make a movie of Erica, while film-maker Scott had nothing to do. Going the easy route and saying David had a hand in everything instead of writing creatively.
• B&B - Thomas, Brooke, and the berries. Ridge clearly choosing his bio daughter over the daughter who revered her "dad."
• DAYS - The jailhouse story. The Taylor debacle.
• GH - Bobbie missing in action during so much trauma for her family. Lisa taking forever to be dead. Kristina sent away.
• OLTL - Nate does porn. Kardashian cameo. Brody written back into the psych ward. Marty’s exit.
• Y&R - Patty’s return. Diana DeGarmo, whether singing badly, or supposedly well. Daniel and Eden rolling around in paint.

New Year’s Wishes

• AMC & OLTL - Jobs in the industry for all these talented people and please, don’t let it be reality shows.
• B&B - Heroines who refuse to accept another woman’s ring. Stories for Rick and Amber.
• DAYS - Tell Will’s story with honesty and let him love someone as truly as Bo and Hope love each other.
• GH - An honest head count of Katie Couric’s fans reveals there are none. If Robin dies, Tristan Rogers must be there.
• Y&R - Focus on being the Y&R people like, build around core families, glamour, and business, not courtrooms, psychopaths and grating stereotypes.

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Mitzi (North Highlands, CA USA)

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