My Heart Belongs to Jackson Montgomery

I was so happy to see you.  You handsome devil you, how I’ve missed you terribly.  I’m hoping beyond hope that the NG’s have a plan for Erica and Jackson.  Historically Erica has had a problem with monogamy when another suitor comes sauntering by so with Jackson in town giving her that patented Jackson Montgomery smile I would think Erica just might turn her head away from Ryan. I like a Jack/Erica/Ryan scenario.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT WANT to see a Rylee rehash version 5.0.  If Greenlee’s last stint in Pine Valley proved anything it was that the magic was gone and the time to move on had come.  The NG’s are bring some freshness to the canvas so to see Rylee v5.0 would just cluck this up big time.  Hey, I know there is die hard Rylee fans out there but the last pairing of Rylee was contrived and over the top.  My jaw dropped a mile when I saw them destroy the Aidan/Greenlee pairing (which was smoking hot) to try and force a storyline with Ryan and Greenlee.  The time has passed and it’s time to move on from Rylee.

Which brings me to Ryan in general.  Yes, you all know I haven’t been a big fan for Ryan Lavery over the years.  My discontent with Ryan isn’t anything Cam Mathison has done because frankly I love the big guy.  It is how the character of Ryan was handled since he came back in 2003.   Life with Ryan between 1999-2002 was extremely wonderful.  He and Gillian were amazing together and even in losing her he lost his way with other women…including Liza (got her pregnant), Mia (Liza’s sister) and of course Kendall.   In 2003, they brought Ryan back and things went from bad to worse.

Ryan left town because of Kendall’s infidelity.  He had just learned that Chris Stamp was his father and he just had to get away from Kendall.  Ryan’s entrance to Pine Valley was via Las Vegas and Alexander Cambias, Sr.  which in itself was benign.  As time went on he became the Cambias heir apparent and they wrote Ryan to be a pompous jackass that no female could resist.  He loved Kendall, Kendall almost got the death penalty and in the end he decided on hooking up with Greenlee.  That brings me to the death of anything I could care about Ryan forever.  Late 2004 began the painful deconstruction of Ryan Lavery and the beginning of my not so liking the character anymore.

Just a quick rundown for those who didn’t follow Ryan then:

In 2000, Anna Devane came to town and she shared a little conversation with Ryan that her former husband Duke Lavery was a cousin of Ryan’s Mom (whose maiden name was Lavery).  In 2002, Chris Stamp realized that Ryan was actually his biological son from an affair that Chris had with Ryan’s Mom in 1972.  Chris, in doing a background check of Ryan (or John Ryan Curry – Ryan’s real name) it was indeed true he was his son.  Fast forward to 2005 when Ryan has  meltdown and Erica gives him Chris’ effects from when he was murdered (Ryan was wandering the world then).  In the effects was a journal that Chris details how he lied to Ryan and he was actually the son of Patrick Lavery.  Thus destroying all of the history of Ryan with miss using his name.  Patrick’s last name should have been Curry even if all of his family took the name of Lavery like Ryan, which of course doesn’t make any sense either that all of the family members went by Lavery.  Especially after the whole Braden Rape case!

The character of Ryan went from bad to worse from 2005-2009.  Ryan joined Fight Club and talked about it.  (Rule #1…Never talk about Fight Club!).  Ryan then almost punched Greenlee when she told him she was pregnant, he faked his death, came back from the dead and all this after telling everyone that Jonathan couldn’t have been the serial killer they all said he was…Um Hockett was a serial Killer and your brother Braden was a rapist.  Denial, lead to more denial and then he drove Annie McDermott insane when Greenlee came back to town.  All that while Alexander Cambias, Sr. was killing the women of Pine Valley.  Which of course brought on more denial for Ryan.

Here the NG’s have the opportunity to fix the past and make Ryan a character enjoyable to watch again.  With Greenlee coming back, Ryan involved with Erica and Jackson coming home from Paris there is so much opportunity to make the bad go away and fix what happened to a once likeable character.

So PLEASE NG’s help us out here

Here Endth My Jackson Lovefest

Greenlee Got Her Spine Fixed

I mean this both figurative and literal.   I’m loving Greenlee this time around.  Her last time in Pine Valley started out good, had a big old bump (The Real Greenlee is Back Campaign) and then went to hell in a hand basket at the end.  The NG’s this time are all over it. Why you ask?  Hey You!!! Thanks for asking

Greenlee came back tied to David in true soap mystery to explain where she’s been and what happened to her a year ago.  The explanation works because a) it’s only been a year and b) David’s reasons at being at the wedding make total sense.  They really thought about how to make this return work and I applaud them.  Unlike The Valdemort of Pine Valley, Chuck Pratt, the NG’s did some research and aren’t completely lazy.

I think as a Soap fans we are able to let “soapish” things slip like David going from the Caribbean to Pine Valley in a scene.  He lives at Wildwind so I just assumed he used Edmund’s magic portal to move about the world.  This is the leeway I am talking about.  The ‘Only in Soaps Moments’.  It works because what followed was amazing and will worth the magical journey home.  In fact, I would believe the NG’s did that in a ‘tongue in cheek’ moment since I’m feeling as though they do their research or were fans who remember the old stylings of Megan McTavish and the writers of old.  I can always let this kind of stuff go as “Soapish” because when you only have an hour to make it happen sometimes you have to go into the bag of tricks.  It brought us that wonderful scene of David and Marissa at the hospital and I couldn’t be happier.

Marissa Tasker came to Pine Valley and I was all…OMG she’s so lame.  I didn’t like the character so I didn’t like the actress.  Well apparently it was really the writing I didn’t like because I both enjoy Marissa Chandler and Britany Allen!  Marissa is one of my fav’s now.  I love when she interacts with Krystal, how she’s disgusted by David (but still cares for him), her fiery lawyer  side (they need to speed that up so she can go head to head with Liza – adversaries but friends) and the compassion I see when she and JR are together.

Oh and JR has come full circle.  He was a sweet but messed up kid who turned into an Adam clone but then became a man his son could be proud to have as a father.   I was not happy with giving JR cancer when it was revealed he was in remission in like two weeks.  It left me all…WTH was that?  What was the point of a cancer story with no drama?  Then NG’s stepped up and took it back to the story it was supposed to be.  Last week when Marissa comes back to the yacht club and finds JR balled up in a blanket on the floor all sick was powerful!  Well Done NG’s!  It didn’t stop there JR telling Colby he had cancer AGAIN and that he didn’t want her to worry was a way to fix what was broken.  Her reaction was spot on for Colby and it left JR to battle the cancer and be comforted by Marissa who had a full day at work and was probably tired herself.  The hint of IRL in the soap world.  The only thing I would fix is please give JR and Marissa a home…for pity’s sake they are raising a little boy at the Yacht Club???

I could go on and on because well…folks…I’m in love with All My Children Again!!!

Here Endth my Lovefest

The NG’s are Awesome

These new writers are awesome in my book.  When I saw couples being paired up I was starting my lovefest and then they had the Valleyites in valuing relationships.  Even in the case of Krystal and Tad living in the same house co-parenting while trying to have love lives has been fun to watch.

There’s some little mystery thing going on in the background to appease Brian Frons who thinks that is what makes a soap (wrong).  I love the pairing of Greenlee and David.  The Writers built on the history of both Ryan/Greenlee and also that of Greenlee/Erica.  There is a ton of bad history with Greenlee and Erica since Greens came to town.

Pairing Greenlee and David is a wonderful thing because Greenlee is the one anchor that brings David humanity.  She has always been the person who loved him in spite of the things he does and for David Greenlee is only connection to Leo.  The brother he didn’t have enough time to love.

I swear, it’s like these writers can see into my brain and are pulling out what I’d like to see.  Well done FNG’s.  Keep up the good work!!!

p.s. As if it couldn’t get much better….Jackson (Walt Wiley), whom I LOVE LOVE LOVE is coming back.  Oh it doesn’t stop there Julia Barr is listed on AMC’s official website as making a return too.  OMG my head is going to explode from joy

Remembering Palmer

As you have all heard by now James Mitchell aka Palmer Cortlandt aka Pete Cooney passed away on January 22, 2010, he was 89 years old.

James gave Palmer the edge the show needed in a bad guy.  The kind of guy who did everything for what was to him the right reason and yet it wasn’t really.  The character’s doting on his daughter Nina lead to some amazing storylines.  He relationships with Daisy and Opal were the most memorable.  But there were so many other moments for Palmer.  His feud with Adam, his playing with Donna and Chuck over the paternity of John Palmer.  Palmer’s love/hate relationship with Phoebe and his adoration of both Dixie and Erica.  It makes me sad that we have lost so many greats over the last few years.

I feel blessed that like our beloved Phoebe we got to see him one last time at the airing of the 40th Anniversary show for AMC on January 5, 2010.

To Albert…my thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of loss.

Good Night Sweet Prince!

Days of our Lives Fans are morning the passing of Ms. Francis Reid who played Alice Horton who passed away yesterday, February 3, 2010.  She was 95 years old.  RIP.

Can It Be?

This Rant is not so much a rant as a lovefest.  Right now AMC is better than it’s been in a long time.

Romance seems to be creeping back into Pine Valley and I like it!  Tad and Liza are a cute couple.  Jamie Luner has made Liza her own and because of that I love the character.  You know now that the character has some direction.

What I’d like to see for Tad and Liza is for Tad to discover that Damon is the son he never knew he had.  I would like to see his mother to be Dotty Thornton.  It brings back the past and also the possibility of having Dotty cast in a short term role.  The plus for this storyline would be that Damon rejects Tad.  Sure there are several problems with this storyline (a BIG one is that Damon would be older than Jamie who is now a doctor). When has common sense played into things on a soap.  If Damon is to be a regular character he needs family.  Jake would be a possibility but I’d like to see some kind of trouble there.  Even Ryan would be an interesting choice.  Can you imagine this troubled kid once he discovers his family are a bunch of lunatics?

I’m also very happy that Angie and Jesse are free from that lame Madison North Storyline.  It was ridiculous from the get-go.  Now this couple needs to rediscover their romance and perhaps some bit of mystery.  No more murders though…I’m tired of the contrived murder plots.  There seems to be something of a mystery brewing with the burglaries all over town, so that’s a good thing.

So far the only character that seems to be in a weird position is Krystal.  Bobbie Eakes is too talented and the character too sexy to waste.  I hope they could bring her out of her Donna Reed role and give her a juicy story.

Over all I’m liking the changes I see and hope they continue to get back to basics and bring the fans what they want to see and not what TPTB think we want to see.

My greatest shock has been that I know like Marissa.  Can you believe it?  Months ago I hated her but they’ve decided to give her good dialogue.  And I find her pairing with JR now very sweet and believable.  Color me surprised, lol.

Here Endth My Rant.

Custody of a Future Serial Killer

The way Ryan is written is incredible.  Seriously, it’s a little like how JR was written years ago.  Just a flash of the past, JR was written to constantly get away with everything while coming out smelling like a rose.  The only difference between these two characters is JR was evil incarnate and Ryan is just a butt head.

Ryan leaves his child with Corina ALL the  time.  Okay when Princess Emiline isn’t with Corina she’s with Opal and Kathy or some other sleep over.  Ryan spends more time with his Freudian slip (aka Erica) than with his own daughter.  Annie was driven insane by everyone around her.  They just go…”SHE’s Crazy”.  Let us review the road to crazyville for Annie.  She started out by running from her pedophile husband to save her daughter.  Then Dixie tried to take Emma from her swearing she was her long lost child “Kate”.  Ryan the big time spender has sex with her for the first time in the barn that his serial killer brother Jonathan killed our beloved Edmund.  Oh and there were horses there, thus horse poo, oh so romantic.  Then “the not-real-Greenlee” came back to Pine Valley and Annie’s insecurities and the over all mental torture of her by Ryan began.  He gets shot (grazed) in the head and basically makes her life a living hell.  Then he leaves her for his now “love” Greenlee but not before giving her that last big push over the edge by denying her visitation with Emma.  Oh and even though he knew the story of Richie and his homicidal past he basically left Annie on her own to deal with her crazy brother.  Ryan at some point decided it was his every waking moment goal to keep Emma from Annie thus making her crazier.  Oh and when she was being mentally tortured by the Evil Doctor at Oakhaven Ryan was only interested in how she was “faking” it.  Nice Captain Big Head!

Poor Emma doesn’t have a chance.  Her chances of becoming and alcoholic is insanely high.  You know like Grandpa Patrick.  She has a serial rapist for an Uncle. Who was killed by her serial killer Uncle Hockett.  Her Aunt Erin was killed by a different serial killer.  Her Uncle Richie was a big old nut case and her mother spent a year in the mental health facilities.  Yep Emma…start drinking now because there is no hope for you!

I’m interested to see if Ryan runs to Greenlee once he finds out she’s alive.  Does that mean that the Diva Kane will get DUMPED?  And by Ryan of all people…she traded downward from that sexy lawyer Jackson Montgomery!

One more thing is driving me as crazy as Annie around Ryan.  Colby’s insistence to get Annie out of her father’s life.  Seriously now, she’s a college student and the most important thing to her right now is to torment her new step-mother?  This makes no sense to me.  It would make more sense her hooking up with Damon or some character to be named later than for her to play jealous brat.  Okay so she breaks them up…then what?  Right the storyline is lame and goes no where.  Hopefully this will be one of those things that gets fixed in LA.

Here’s what I really like right now.  Tad and Liza……HOTTTTTTT!!!  I love these two.  I love the romance.  And I’d love for them to be involved in something investigative together.  You know like a sexy Law and Order storyline.  Maybe on a corporate level.  Instead of boring us with Baily and Damon it would make a good storyline to bring in a new Corporate Raider with a secret agenda.  A long lost relative.  Maybe Kelsey’s brother (thus another Martin, Tara’s son).  But he could be the anti-Martin.  And possibly a hook-up with Krystal.  She could be the only one who sees the good in him.

I haven’t heard if Jack is out of the picture but if he’s not maybe he could be a hook-up for Krystal.  That would drive Erica nuts.  It’s good to see some romance back in the Valley but more is better than less.

Oh and I can’t wait for Krystal to open her new place because everyone hanging out in the bar Confusion is just STUPID!  I thought the Tuba player yesterday was cute until I thought about how it was intrusive for all the other patrons and then I didn’t like it very much.  They need a place to hang out and loiter.  Sort of like the hospital lounge or hospital hallway.  GH has the nurses station.  Just a place where the character could talk and makes sense they would be there.

Here Endth My Rant!

Saying Goodbye to Zendall

They’ve had their trials and tribulations and survived Kendall’s multiple comas and heart transplant surgery and now they will go off to parts elsewhere.  I for one will miss them.

Alicia and Thorsten have had some of the greatest Chemistry on Daytime.  I’m hoping they both find a place on Daytime again or maybe in the prime time arena.

I’m not sure how I feel yet about Greenlee’s return.  TPTB seem almost desperate to put Ryan and Greenlee back together but in reality Greenlee and Aidan were way hotter than Rylee.  I would love to see Greenlee and David together for a bit of time.  They have the history and would be pretty cool together.

I see so much possibility for the show now that Chuck Pratt has gone bye bye.  Perhaps we’ll get a taste of the good old days of storytelling that doesn’t involve Baby Swapping, Natural Disasters, Comas or ill conceived use of gun play.

I’ve been watching some old Days shows from 1990 and thinking it was about romance and core families.  Sure there was action and adventure but never did they loose the principles.  I hope for a reemergence of the Romance and core families for AMC.  Here is too some promising storylines in the new year!

Here Endth My Rant!

My Christmas Wishes

So it’s Christmas time and I got the best present.  Chuck Pratt is no longer going to be able to harm my beloved AMC again!!!  It seems that when the ratings dropped so low before the big move to LA Fronzie finally HAD to listen to us.  You know I say a lot about Fronzie but he does love Cam Mathison and indirectly All My Children where Cam Mathison works. Instead of canceling our shows like CBS has done (Goodbye As The World Turns after 54 years) Fronzie is trying to keep the lead in show going which should help the other two shows (OLTL and GH).  So I’ll give him some credit there.

I’m looking forward to the big 40th Anniversary show for several reasons but I read that Julia Barr (aka Brooke English) is going to make an appearance as well as James Mitchell (aka Palmer Cortlandt).  I hope it has tons of clips of all the fun people from the past (Ellen, Mark, Julie, Charlie, Kate, Ruth, Myrtle, Kitty Linc and of course Phoebe!).  As a fan when I see the “anniversary shows” I do not want to just see the day-to-day characters talking.  We see them everyday so for them to suck up the extra time that can be devoted to clips from the past usually infuriates me.  This year is even more important to have a flash to the past.  I will be an opportunity to grab back those people who have tuned out under the misdirection of Chuck Pratt.  Bringing back the fans will be the only way to save a genre that is in decline.

I have a wish list for after the move to help bring the Show back to its luster:

• Get rid of Fusion and Confusion (there is no place to get a burger with the kids.  No we all hang out at the local bar even in the morning.
• Make Krystal’s new place more like BJ’s or the Goalpost.  Remember when Bianca and the High School kids all were hanging out by the Jukebox at BJ’s.
• Dump the Ryan and Erica pairing because they have no chemistry and he looks like he’s connected with his Mom.  This pairing was a nightmare from the beginning.  I remember when Erica was paired with a younger Charlie Brent…that was Hot!
• Don’t change all the sets because familiarity is what we love.  We aren’t looking for something we can’t even identify.
• Pair Krystal and Tad or Tad and Liza or have them a triangle.  There must always be a core couple.  No core couple no core audience.
• Bring back the romance and give the “Murder Mysteries” a break.  Bring on a bad guy that is so awful he makes David look like a saint.  We need someone to hate.  Look at Mitch Laurence on OLTL.  Evil but slippery.
• To help the show with costs I say bring on product endorsement!  The extra dollars with help the longevity of our beloved soap and the advertisers get to have their product being used.  Not a big blast like the Campbell Soup fashion show just subtle using of the products.  They could be drinking a Coke or eating Cheerios.
• Colby causes problems for Damon and Bailey so Liza can get Stuart back.
• Jackson needs to come back and have a storyline.  I love Walt Wiley…he needs to be on-screen!
• to be continued….

So fingers crossed the show will get back to what it was or at least something close!

Here Endth My Rant!

Bailey Is An Idiot

Bailey is an idiot.  Liza is a bigger idiot for playing into this brat.  She has no money, no place to live and is all of about 17 years old.  She’s got Damon her super duper lover man.  Why the hell did Liza and Colby move out of their home for the tart?

If I was writing this s/l I would have had Liza kick Bailey out of the house and let her take Stuart with her while keeping an eye on Stuart the whole time.  Liza has money so that wouldn’t have been a problem.  Without a Myrtle like character to help Bailey where would she go?  She has no job…and the way they loser boyfriend is written neither does he.  Then Liza could rescue Stuart from the two losers from hell.

I know I’ve written about this before but I feel the need to revisit it.  Aidan turned psycho is very annoying and pisses me off!  I’m an Aidan fan and to see this crap going on is maddening.  Aidan was a soldier that saw horrors in Afghanistan and rescued Jake even though it was just a trial Zach set up to get him killed.  He rescued Annie and fell in love with her only to fall out of love with her and want to make her pay for something imaginary.  He then fell onto the crazy bus and kidnapped Kendall after developing a magical obsession for her.  Now holding Kendall at gunpoint I’m sure that Pratt will have him die in a bloody reign of gunfire…you know just for Christmas.  Nothing says Peace on Earth like blood shed.  I hate what Pratt has done to Aidan Devane.

While some s/l’s are actually good most are annoying.  The glimmers of hope are there in Tad and Krystal sharing a laugh, Tad telling Jake (while JR listens) that blood doesn’t determine the love of a child.  That Trevor is his son and he can’t give up on him to be raised by the amoral David.  Tad’s friendship with Liza.  I love that David isn’t Trevor’s father and that he’s now drugging himself to simulate chemo.  I also enjoyed the scene where Jake gloated over the fact that once David is dead he, Amanda and Trevor will be the family they were meant to be.

I’m thinking that the Hack known as Pratt isn’t writing the character of Tad because he’s been superb.  I know I keep threatening not to watch anymore but I think my loyalty to the actors is too strong.  Day after Day the are forced to recite crap and you can tell they hate it.  I can’t belive I actually miss Megan McTavish.

Here Endth My Rant!

I’d Like to Smack Ryan and David

This week in Pine Valley…Ryan goes to torment Annie while she’s handcuffed to a bed.  I’m glad to see that the Lavery family tradition of being a bully continues.  Why doesn’t Annie go after Ryan’s complacency when his brother was killing people and drugging Greenlee. And again he’s blah, blah, blah…leave Emma with me.  First off Ryan, how much time do you actually spend with little Emma?  You are usually running around with Erica trying to help Kendall or tormenting your ex-wife.  For fun Emma should start calling the building manager Daddy…she probably sees him more anyway.

David’s dying…so he tells Amanda just as she’s storming out.  Hello Amanda, it’s a trick….you know like usual.  But there she is buying into it all.  I’d like Amanda to visit Janet revealing all to her crazy mum and then have Janet lock David and Jake in a freezer.  Oh and please…David’s all calm about telling her he’s dying.   Wake up Amanda!!!

The only thing that hasn’t driven me crazy is Tad and Krystal….very sweet and Zach’s reaching to Myrtle’s broken picture.

What also driving me crazy is Amanda and Jake aren’t smart enough to outwit David.  The Stuart murder crap is still dragging out and JR has cancer and in like two weeks is in remission and now his cancer is back and he doesn’t want to share it with his wife.  Please!  Hey JR you might want to get a real oncologist!

Here Endth My Rant!