Bitch goddery

There’s a quiet revolution taking place in daytime and I love being part of it – if only as a viewer. Daytime writers have been slowly kicking up the bitch goddess factor..

DAYS offers the ever deceptive and self sabotaging Nicole Walker Dimera. You can read more about her in previous S&F blogs.

The YnR offers Phyllis Newman – maneater and also a master of the self-inflicted wound. In her effort to manipulate her husband into staying with her, her attacks on his wronged ex-wife will most likely result in his return to said ex-wife Sharon Newman Abbott.

OLTL’s Tea Delgado just helped free Todd, who recently violated his former rape victim. That storyline I could do without. It’s enough to make me want to revoke her bitch goddess status. She is, however, using that bit of tasteless work as cover for going after a different target – another potentially innocent woman who is the victim of a questionable man. Oh Tea. While I don’t like her behavior, it’s been a while since we’ve seen such a powerful and devious woman in daytime. We typically get one or the other.

ATWT’s Carly Tenney is getting back into fighting form. Instead of crying about Jack Snyder moving on, she’s handing his ass back to him on a platter when he attacks her. Watching her stick it to the self-righteous prig this past week was the best gift the writers could have given Carly fans like myself.

GH’s Natalia Livingston is coming back as an angry maniplator instead of the sainted Emily Quartermaine at a time when GH has lost all of it’s truly bad ‘bad girls’ (and still I cry – Emily always put me in the mood to chew glass.). I reserve the right to believe that NL’s return could be interesting and Emily free.

So far, not a whiner in the bunch: just tough smart and dangerous women. If only we could make them sisters on the same soap, the BnB perhaps…and make Pam Douglas their tough-as-nails mother…you know, since her tumor was removed and she’s no longer psychotic. Sorta’

The Unspoken rule of seduction

You have to be totally insane to not  know that Michelle Stafford’s Phyllis is smokin’ hot, with a body just made for sinnin’.  Trust me, if I had a body like that, I’d wear lingerie all day long, even to the office.  Oh, no, I don’t mean just under my suits, I mean INSTEAD of a suit.

That statement is probably just scary enough to cause you to question exactly what is it I do for a living… Is wearing lingerie to work going a little too far?  Yes, you’re right.  It is – but I’d sure be tempted.  Fine,  I’d still wear lingerie 24 hours a day, but it would be under my suits!

What I don’t get about seduction scenes is who wrote the rules for them?  Daytime isn’t the only guilty drama.  Was there some writers’ guild meeting where someone decided that any time there’s a seduction scene that women have to be near nude, but men must remain fully dressed?   Where is MY eye candy?  Why was Phyllis down to her black dental floss lingerie, but Nick Newman was still fully dressed?  Don’t actresses end up with clothing burns during these scenes?  Not only are the guys fully dressed, they end up rubbing against their undressed love interests.

Last week’s seduction scenes with the BnB’s Brooke and Ridge Forrester were pretty much the same.  She was dressed in red hot lingerie while Ridge was fully dressed during their seduction scenes.  To the BnB writers’ credit, Brooke forced Ridge to remove his clothing, piece by piece.  It was cute, it was sexy, and very playful (uh, and it made the E! Channel’s Talk Soup, as most BnB scenes seem to do).  We need more scenes like that, not just in daytime but across the board.  You’ll see what I’m talking about roughly 4 minutes  and 5 seconds into the clip:

I think it’s appalling that women are objectified while male characters remain fully in control.   It speaks to the implicit view writers have about female characters.  It’s hardly an accident that in almost any film or television show in which this occurs, women are the significantly weaker partner in the relationship.  My preference?  Women in control who objectify male characters.  Turnabout is fair play, after all.

Last?  I did enjoy one line in the Nick-Phyllis scenes above all others.  Phyllis commented that when she decided to seduce her husband, she wanted to make sure to do it right… BADA BING!  As soon as she said it, my immediate response was, ‘At least you know you’re doing it ‘all wrong’ when you’re seducing someone else’s husband’… oh, ok, BAD BAD BAD… but hey, she’s Phyllis and I couldn’t help it.

Don’t get me wrong, I always fluctuate between loving Phyllis (mainly with Jack) and loving-to-hate Phyllis.  I have a feeling I’ll be loving Phyllis soon.  She’s just done more to ensure the reunion of Nick and Sharon than anything either would have been able to do on their own.  What would make Phyllis think that working to split Sharon and Jack up would be a good thing?  Nick is already making a point of seeking Sharon out whenever he can… now he’ll be consoling/comforting a single woman.  Consoling/comforting in daytime?  The act almost always means that the two people involved will end up in bed together — which, I’m sure means that Sharon will be in skimpy lingerie while Nick, fully dressed, gawks before groping.

I have to admit my admiration for women like Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, Bold and the Beautiful), Michelle Stafford and Sharon Case (Phyllis and Sharon, Young and the Restless) – I have to take my hat off to you, ladies.  I can’t imagine the courage it takes to wear the ‘seduction gear’ you wear onscreen, year after year.   They’re absolutely beautiful and ageless… now, ladies, help a sister out and talk to the writers about making sure your male onscreen counterparts are showing the same courage you do!

Clearly, it’s the turkey talking…

I’m always giddy for about a week before the Thanksgiving holiday… mad with anticipation.  It happens every year and it’s the only thing I can think of that explains the fact that I loved daytime last week.  I can’t think of a thing I truly disliked.  I enjoyed most of what aired!  WOW!

The Young and the Restless – Poor deluded, insecure, Phyllis.  LOVED her reaction to Nick and Sharon’s closeness and that she made sure that everyone knew that she felt ‘thankful’ for a husband who made her feel “sexy”.  I LOVED that Sharon wasn’t at all affected by the possessive kiss Phyllis planted on Nick.  Loved  Nikki and Paul.   I get a little tingly watching them!  Daytime writers always receive huge kudos for remembering the show’s history and giving us a reason to cheer historic couple on.  Veteran viewers will remember the STD storyline  that ended the relationship between these characters when they were younger adults – opening the door to Victor and Nikki.  It’s an old storyline that still makes some cringe at the thought of the two of them getting together now.  I say, BIG DEAL.  Paul made mistakes when he was younger.  Look at the man he is now.  Victor never gave Nikki an STD, but he hasn’t given her much else, either.  Paul is so gentle, so sweet, and so caring.  It’s been a while since Nikki has had a man like Paul.  She’s so use to being treated like property that the tenderness she shares with Paul must be akin to a drowning woman being tossed a life raft.

Hey, it doesn’t hurt that Doug Davidson has grown sexier over time and brings a dignity and integrity to the character of Paul that makes me wonder what took writers so long to decide to make him a leading man, again. Better late than never, writers.  What a huge plus for veteran viewers like myself who aren’t as fond of new gang of unlikable leads – and you know who they are even if the writers don’t.  We get a character we’ve loved for a long time, in a surprising storyline that works.   Daytime writers are always patting themselves on the back for ‘taking chances’.  These are the sort of chances viewers want more of – playing with the show’s history and taking us somewhere we hadn’t expected to go.

One Life To Live – Erika Slezak has once again proven that she can take the very worst the writers throw at an audience and spin it into Emmy gold!  Breathing new life into Viki Lord Davidson, she almost, ALMOST, gave me a reason to feel sorry for Todd.  While that moment was fleeting, my complete and total awe of ES’s performance remains.  That Viki suggested that the only true escape from the Lord legacy was death made me gasp.  Viki’s expression of emotional and psychological exhaustion and devastation was probably the most amazing work anyone has done on this show in a while.  There are things best left forgotten, and there are those things too horrific to forget. The only option when you’re dealing with the latter is to do what you have to do to survive them.  To have the sexual assault of Viki revealed and brought to light again was painful for many viewers, I suspect.  As peeved as I still am at the writers for the Marty/Todd storyline, I have to admit that they’ve done a magnificent job laying out the case for viewing the Lord family in new perspective.  It doesn’t make me want to forgive Todd, but it does add a layer of tragedy to the storyline that I hadn’t considered before.

The Bold and The Beautiful: DELICIOUS!  I found myself wondering if the writers wanted us to view Eric as a man who is so pathetic that his children can’t help but play on his stupidity and his vanity.  It’s not just one son who is lying to and deceiving him, but TWO!  Rick has led him to believe that he was more seriously hurt than he actually was.  Thorne tricked him into believing that Donna was cheating on him.  I’m sure this storyline was supposed to be another ‘pity poor Donna’ attempt.  Sorry, writers, no dice.   That won’t happen.  Donna is irrelevant at this point.  So much of Eric’s life has been spent being pampered and catered to that his children knew exactly which buttons to push to make him dance to their tune.  How perfect is it that a man who has only been passingly acquainted with the term ‘fidelity’ demands and expects it from others?  My only real disappointment with this storyline is that Donna will probably end up crying on the ever willing Owen’s shoulder. Poor Budge will become Owen’s friend and confidante, when she should be the woman he falls in love with – but it would be too much to have the writers allow Bridget to be happy.

DAYS Of Our Lives – Nicole, Nicole, Nicole… Zuker was perfect, of course.  Just when you’re convinced that Nicole Walker is completely soulless, Zuker pulls out the most amazing performance and reminds you that Nicole’s rough and hard exterior only serves to protect her incredibly soft heart.  I just love this character.  I may not like what’s coming for our Nicole Walker Dimera, but Zuker makes me want to hang in there and watch just for the performances.  GO GET ‘EM, Nicole!

All My Children –  O… M… G!!!!  Annie?  YIKES!  I know it was Annie Lavery carrying that bloody knife and wedding bouquet, last week, but honest to goodness, I just kept seeing Richie’s face.  If only the residents of Pine Valley knew then what they know now.  I was sorry to see Annie sacrificed on the doomed altar of Ryan and the oft-fleeing Greenlee, but I’ll have to thank the writers for letting Annie go away with a bang, and not a whimper.  I had such a grand time watching Annie act out the last scenes of ‘Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?” that I almost didn’t care whose blood was on the knife.

General Hospital. I’ve long since lost my stomach for General Hospital, but I have to say that  I didn’t mind the show last week.  Sonny’s descent into madness… correction:  Sonny’s CURRENT/LATEST descent into madness has been oddly entertaining.  Like so many times before, Sonny has been loathed to take the counsel of anyone else, save Jason, and he’s even lost that.  Now his actions may cost Jason the one person he cares about above anyone else, his son.  I’ve been uber disgusted with Elizabeth’s character.  I’ve never been a Jason and Elizabeth fan and can’t imagine that I ever will be.  In part because being with Jason is such a betrayal of everything Elizabeth has been about in the past (not to mention that her lie of a relationship with Jason cost poor Lucky so much).  Liz was always quick to point out what a bad mother Carly was, that Carly kept putting her sons in danger by being with Sonny. Now?  She sees firsthand what a life with a mobster is worth.  Will the writers pull the wool back from Elizabeth’s eyes?  Will she stop pretending that when Jason kills it’s ‘holy’ and ‘noble’?  Will she wonder why she traded in a man who lives on the RIGHT side of the law for the man who clings to the wrong side of it?  NAH!  It wouldn’t be General Hospital if that happened, right?

BTW, if I didn’t love the Robin-Patrick pairing, I would be seriously considering rooting on an Elizabeth-Patrick pairing… er, how HAWT were they?

As The World Turns. Brian/Lucinda/Luke… Oh dear.  Luke, in the driver’s seat.  Watching Luke make Brian uncomfortable?  PRICELESS.  “Grabby Grandpa Bad Touch” will learn to keep his hand to himself.   As much as I hate the idea of Brian deceiving Lucinda, I love the idea of Luke making Brian sweat a little.  Brian lost any appeal as a sympathetic character (at least in the short term) the moment he tried to make Luke believe he was both drunk and delusional, that he (Luke) misinterpreted the kiss.  I have to say that I wasn’t too keen to watch this storyline play out.  I’m sitting on the edge of my seat now.  I still think the writers are going with a sexual harassment storyline with this one.  Brian, so deep in the closet that even HE doesn’t know where he is, sexually harasses young men – those who are often the least powerful.  When they call him on it, he faults them, tells them they’re imagining things, that he was only being a friend.  Oh Brian, you picked the wrong man, this time.  Luke (and Noah) willl probably be the people who expose his past.  This should be good.  Take him down, boys, make him sorry for being the sleaze he is… until Lawrence Lau eats the dialogue the writers hand him, does that thing he does oh so well, and makes us all fall in love with Brian and actually feel sorry for him…

What did YOU love about your favorite shows this past couple of weeks?

Dear Jack…

By the time you read this letter, I’ll be gone.  I’m returning to my one and only true love, Nicholas Newman.  Jack, please, understand that it’s not that I didn’t love you, I did.   You have been kind to me and loved me in ways I never thought any other man would.  You were an unexpected, and much needed, surprise in my life.

You were there for me when I needed someone most, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.  The problem is that I now realize that I still have feelings for my ex-husband.  It’s not you, Jack, it’s me.  There is a part of me that will always remember what we had.  We’ll always have Paris (oops… sorry!)

You don’t know how much it grieves me to break your heart the way ‘that woman’ did, the one you married before me.  I’m a better woman than that, and yet I’ve still hurt you.  Please know that it wasn’t intentional and if there was a way for me to split myself in two, I would.  I will always wonder if we would have made it, had Nick not come back into my life.

The problem is that  I just can’t live a lie any more – we both deserve better than that, most especially you.  I wish you well and hope you find someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved.  I’ll have my things picked up in the morning and delivered to the Newman Ranch.

Love Sharon.

Any bets on how long it will be before good ole’ Jack receives a letter similar to the one above?  He’s already asking Sharon if he’ll always come in second to Nick.  That he HAD to ask the question should have been his first clue.  Jack use to be smarter than that.  The writers made Jack a little ‘soft’ when they turned him into the model husband.  Where is the Jack of old, the guy who knew a lie when he heard it because he’d told so many of his own?  I’m all for growth in characters but there are times when I’ like a little more of the characters I once knew.

I’m ready for the return of Nick and Sharon and Jack and the she-devil (you call her Phyllis!).  Writers, if you want to make me a very happy girl, please put the cherry on the sundae and make that child Jack’s daughter.  Somehow it seems fitting that the man who delivered her, and who wanted to be her father more than anything in the world actually is.

She’s baaaaaack! ATWT-OLTL-BnB- YnR

Where to start, where to start!  OH!  I know!  I have news, folks!  You may miss the old boards from the now defunct, but much beloved, Total TV Online!  There is still a companion site (message board)  for the “Sound and Fury” blog.  You can access that site by clicking HERE.

As The World Turns

Carly is BACK, the Carly that so many fans have grown to love.  Carly is a cross between one of daytime’s greatest romantic heroines, and a walking disaster.  Today, we got to see a little of both, more of the former than the latter.  I believe that Carly has been sincere in her odd couple friendship with Janet.  There’s no malice between the two women and Carly wants to see Jack happy with Janet, for his sake, and that of their children.

The trouble is that despite her best efforts to do the ‘right’ thing, she finds herself in trouble every time.  I groaned a bit when she found herself getting hot and heavy with Jack.  Other than the family they share together (and yes, I’m including Parker and JJ as ‘theirs’), nothing good has come of Jack and Carly being together.  Each of those brief periods of time when they shared love and happiness were quickly replaced with some wild attack on Carly’s character, by Jack.  A little crying, a lot of clinging, and too much verbal abuse.

Even still, watching Jack and Carly fall back into bed wasn’t as shocking as I thought it would be.  They’re much too addicted to the self-inflicted pain not to keep going back for more.  It’s Carly’s guilt that was shocking.  That she pushed Jack to be upfront and let Janet know he was in the bedroom before he could stay her was brilliant.  That’s the girl, Carly.  Don’t let Jack pull his standard hit-and-run routine.  I’ll give the guy credit, he did score points by admitting that he’s been a judgmental jerk all these years, but he lost those points FAST by trying to sleep with Carly knowing he still had feelings for Janet.

To see him working on Carly, playing on the emotion she still had for him, and to then have him run back to Janet?  What a putz! Carly is much better off without the guy.  Jack thinks of himself, first.  He always has. If only the writers would hire an actor to play a credible love interest against MW’s Carly.   Brian, perhaps? I’m just not yet ‘digging’ this guy with Lucinda.  I think I’d rather seen John Dixon back, and paired with ‘Lucy Walsh’.  I miss John and Lucinda and their passion.  I have na ulterior motive for suggesting a Carly-Brian pairing.

Maybe Carly can distract Brian so that he STOPS telling Luke to avoid being ‘political’.  I find it hard to believe that Luke standing up for himself and supporting the Gay Film Festival would have a negative impact on his foundation.  (Uh, when did Oakadle U become ultra conservative?)  Brian needs a life… FAST!  Rather than telling Brian that she and Luke need him, it’s time for Lucy Walsh, cutthroat businesswoman that she is, to come back.  I miss her.  It’s time for the REAL Lucy Wlalsh to tell Brian to hit the bricks.   1 –  Lucinda has always had such a deep love for her grandson.  It’s hard for me to believe that she can’t see what’s going on with Brian, and what the potential impact is on Luke.  I just can’t see the writers as being true to her character if they continue to allow her to want Brian, in light of his treatment of Luke and Noah.  2 – Lawrence Lau is HOT, and I’d love to see his character out of such a creepy storyline where he’s trying to suppress Luke’s self-exploration.   Luke is finding his voice.  Brian is becoming increasingly less attractive trying to suppress it.

AND, since we’ve seen more of Kim this month than in the last several months (or so it seems), please make sure when you bring her back more frequently, writers, that you bring back the brilliant woman we’ve all loved for so long.  Kim was the victim of a mad stalker (Oh how I miss the days of the Douglas Cummings storyline). Hopefully she recognizes the signs soon, and works to help Katie with the Spencer incident.  Kim’s been there, done that.  I’d love to have her realize sooner, rather than later, that Katie has every right to be concerned.

Young and the Restless

Sharon, Sharon, Sharon, my friend.  You can’t make a good husband out of a man-whore.  Remember those words of advice.  I only regret that I forgot to include Nick Newman on my man-whore list, when I included his father.  (Read that HERE)  Nick hasn’t met a woman, throwing herself at him, that he doesn’t like.  Having said that?  I can’t help loving Nick and Sharon, despite the fact that he’s an unfaithful pig.  Nick and Sharon are their generation’s Nikki and Victor (er, without the pathology that has begun to pervade the Nikktor relationship).

Short of Nick’s cheating with slimey Grace Turner, and Phyllis (serving as Sharon’s ‘placeholder’), there was a genuine love and a sense of family that Nick and Sharon shared that neither has really had with their respective new spouses. For me, Phyllis will always be the woman who went to bed with a man while his wife was still grieving their dead daughter.  Nick and Phyllis’ relationship is at romantic as a zombie orgy (sorry, it’s close to Halloween and the commercials for haunted houses are getting to me).

What happens in Paris stays in Paris?  OH, let’s hope not.  Let’s hope that Nick does penance for being a complete idiot and cheating on Sharon, realizes what a horrible mistake he made, and goes home to his real family.   He needs to be with his true wife, Sharon.

Besides, the only time Phyllis was remotely interesting was when she was a freakin’ bad girl, and during her marriage to Jack.  Outside of that?  She hasn’t had much to offer.

One Life to Live

It’s been so good seeing Viki, so good in fact that I feel guilty having this small complaint:  Are fans to believe, that in a house the supposed size of Viki’s mansion, she wouldn’t notice that her basement had suddenly become MUCH smaller?  If there was enough space behind the sliding wall to build a ginormous room, complete with on suite bath, you’d think she’d notice SOMETHING was wrong.  EH! I don’t care, I’m just glad to have Viki back.  Now it’s time to reunite Viki and Clint… We’ve been so patient.

Viki must love the relationship between her sister, Tina, and “Jessica”/Tess getting along.  Oh, if only she knew! The most enjoyable part of One Life To Live (and dare I say the only watchable part of the show?) has been watching Tina and Jessica go at one another.  The only person tough enough, and devious enough, to handle Tess is Tina, and heaven help the show if/when Tina or Tess goes.

While Grand Dame Titans Tina and Tess are tearing each other apart, maybe the writers will let Viki serve up a little cold hard justice to brother, Todd.  You’d think that Todd would have learned his lesson from letting Blair think their son Jack was dead.  Now he’s planning to do the same to Starr, in order to take her child and raise it.  I get the saying that history repeats itself… I just don’t know why it’s always the LOUSY history that repeats itself in daytime.  Oh Viki, between Todd, Tina, and Tess, you have your work cut out for you.

Bold and Beautiful

Er, what? Taylor’s back to her lying, sneaky, and underhanded ways?  WELL!  No shock THERE folks!  I seem to remember THIS Taylor, the one scheming and plotting to get what she wants, and putting a ‘concerned’ face on it.  Let’s see, she advised Brooke to stay with Eric, for the children’s sake, even though Brooke was unhappily married to the man.  Then she (Taylor) pursued Ridge, the man Brooke loved – knowing Ridge loved Brooke and was waiting for her to leave Eric.
Taylor advised Eric to tell Stephanie their marriage was over and there was NO chance of him returning to her.. after she listened  to her ‘best friend’ cry about Eric not loving her… and then Taylor moved on Eric, herself.  Now she’s telling Ridge that the fates were probably keeping him and Brooke apart because they probably weren’t meant to be together.  Taylor, would those be the same fates that caused Ridge to walk out on YOU and not look back?  Funny how those fates only work against others, never against her.  Ah, hypocrisy.  The REAL Taylor is back… the “me first, me last, me always” Taylor.