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REFLECTIONS BY JILL….
So….February Sweeps are over. Sweeps don’t seem to be as exciting as they used to be on soaps…at least they’re not that exciting on OLTL. I remember when huge, monumental things used to happen during sweeps months…major truths revealed…major catastrophes, like earthquakes, fires, floods, murders…LOL. I only dedicate one hour a day to soap watching these days and that means I only watch OLTL. I wonder if it’s the same on the other shows. Maybe the problem is that major excitement costs big bucks and ABC claims not to have them to spend on soaps. Oh well, we got what we got last month and much of it I enjoyed…whereas some of it I wish would have been “swept away” with Sweeps Month.
Several things had been a disappointment to me and I was hoping that February would have either made them better or made them disappear. Tell me if you agree…..
Sam and Nora – I had a real liking for this couple from the beginning when Kale Brown played the role of Sam. When Kale was replaced, I decided to give the new actor playing Sam a fair chance and since I have always liked Larry Lau, it wasn’t hard for me to do that. At first, the writers gave Sam a fighting chance. I liked him immediately with Nora, and even though Sam all of a sudden went from being Ben’s older brother to appearing to be his younger brother, I still accepted it. The problems started when the character of Sam was no longer the character of Sam, just as the character of Nora is no longer who we know Nora to be. They turned Sam into a hothead (breaking into Troy’s loft and tossing him out a window) and they never gave Sam and Nora a fighting chance to build their relationship. I, for one, would have been a big fan of these two…and I don’t even know if it can be fixed.
In my opinion, the problem was that Gary Tomlin insisting on bringing back Ty Treadway, who is a very good actor, but there wasn’t really a place for him. The Troy storyline started out with a fighting chance when it was proven that he wasn’t his brother Colin and that he was a “good guy.” But it didn’t take more than a few days before Troy had the same obsession with Nora that his brother did and TPTB let that wreck any chance they had of making the Sam/Nora relationship believable. Pardon me for saying this, but Nora is not exactly the kind of woman that you’d expect to have every man in Llanview begging for. I have always liked the character of Nora…she’s attractive, smart, honest and a good friend…but a femme fatale…I don’t think so. It doesn’t seem realistic for her to have Sam, Bo, Hank, Colin, Troy, etc., etc., hanging on her every word. It made no sense for a relationship to evolve for Nora and Troy and now it has completely spun out of control. Sam and Nora are all but ruined and I, for one, am sorry to see that. I’m sorry, but unless they take Troy in a completely new direction, I can’t see any reason for keeping his character in Llanview. Oh, and I’m not completely mean…LOL…I do want to see the guy get off that darned wheel already.
Starr Manning – This is a character that I have always adored. Starr makes me laugh no matter what is going on and she is a young actress with a great future, in my opinion. The problem lately is that the little whipper-snapper has gotten just too obnoxious since her baby brother came onto the scene. I know it’s normal for older kids to be jealous of new baby siblings, but enough already with Starr’s histrionics. While her parents are home arguing over who was more effective in teaching this little girl to lie, she’s out looking for trouble. And no matter how much Todd and Blair argue…they are wasting their time…there is no contest…Starr is Daddy’s Little Girl in every way.
Carlotta – Geez, I lobbied for months to get Carlotta back on the air and all I can say is, be careful what you wish for. This woman is over the edge. She’s blinded by her hatred for RJ and I can’t really say I blame her. I just wish she’d take it out on RJ and not on Keri. One thing I will say for her…at least she’s out in the open about how she feels about Antonio seeing Keri…not like RJ who will probably be the cause of something terrible happening to someone and blaming it on Antonio.
RJ – I don’t have much to say about him except that I’m very, very tired of the spin he puts on his behavior. Nothing is his fault. He never does anything wrong. The police have no reason to ever come after him and he never did anything so terrible to the Vegas for them to hate him so much. I am just dying for it to come out that RJ was the one who procured that drug for Lindsay to erase Nora’s memory. I hear that Lindsay will be going to him for help…Take Cover Everyone…the end of the world is near!
Jen and Al – Hah…bet you thought I was going to talk about Jen and Cris….nope! My disappointment comes from the fact that Jen and Al haven’t ridden off into the sunset yet. I don’t want Cris to go anywhere….just do something with the rest of this teen scene. Al is not doing anything to win over my heart….even with a new actor playing the role. The only good thing that has come out of the Al storyline is that we got to see a tiny bit of the Max that once had a heart…I think I remember that, no? It’s too bad TPTB couldn’t have just written this storyline to be a major vehicle for bring Max and his son back together. If Max is staying in Llanview, why not make the story about him getting his son back, rather than doing a fake paralysis storyline? It makes no sense to me.
Lindsay and Troy – Is Lindsay ever going to find that tape? And more importantly…is Troy ever going to get of that ridiculous wheel? Maybe by May Sweeps?
February Sweeps did bring me some moments to remember…moments that I loved and would like to see more of. The biggest surprise was….
Asa – You know, when the judge first gave Asa 150 hours of community service, I laughed and thought it was a typical “Asa getting off the hook” move…but I have to say, it was brilliant. I loved Renee having him sweep the bar at The Palace and I laughed and smiled my way through all the scenes where Asa was the waiter at Jessica’s adoption party…but let me tell you…Asa shocked me at the police station this week. The role reversal scenes with Rae were wonderful. Who would have thought that Asa would be so emotional and realize how badly he hurt his family? I guess it took hearing someone else do his blustering for him. Now the question is…how long will it last? I’d love to see Asa get back to the old Asa he was before he had that ridiculous vendetta against the Rappa-Davidsons. He was obnoxious back then too, but he always gave us a reason to tolerate him.
Bo – I don’t know about anyone else, but it warmed my heart to see Bo’s reaction to Asa’s remorse. No matter what, Bo loves his dad and he deserved to finally see Asa admit to the hurt he caused everyone. Although Ben owns 99% of my heart, I still have a special place for Bo’s cute smile and crinkly eyes. Ok, Ok…it’s my column…I’m entitled to some mush.
Speaking of mush….why is there anyone out there who is still so blind that they can’t see how badly we need more of my favorites on the screen?
Ben and Viki – It’s been wonderful lately seeing a glimmer of the old Ben and Viki on the screen, even though it’s in very small doses and not nearly often enough. They are so enjoyable to watch…their obvious chemistry, their ease with each other as actors. Who else does love and devotion better than these two? I hope we continue to see more and more of them each week and in storylines that are worthy of their talent.
Well, we didn’t get any major blow-ups for sweeps so far this year…and that’s too bad because now that Ben is a doctor again, he could have gotten lots of airtime patching up the casualties…LOL. Hey, a girl can dream! And who knows…maybe Blair will even find out that Baby Jack is her real son before she takes him to Kindergarten.
See ya next week......
Jill
FAN FEEDBACK AND
QUESTIONS
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Todd writes: “I am a little confused with the scenes with Max and RJ. Don't those two characters have a bad history together? I wasn't watching OLTL during the kidnapping of Max's twins, but I thought I had read RJ had something to do with it.”
Dear Todd: I thought that Max and RJ had a bad past as well, but unfortunately, I wasn’t watching the show during that period of time so I can’t answer your question. Maybe one of our long-time watchers can clear this up for us…or maybe TPTB just want us to conveniently forget that Max and RJ were not buddies in the past.
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JustBen4Me writes: “Did ABC change the show from One Life to Live to the Al/Jen/Lindsay/Troy hour? I was hopeful in light of the 2 days of family interaction at Llanfair that maybe someone was getting a brain but alas I spoke too soon. Also in spoilers before sweeps Tomlin promised Lindsay gets hers. All we've seen is Lindsay's ability to cry (again the victim, Troy is making her be evil of course and soon will blame Nora as well), and this drags out into infinity. All of Llanview will know that Al can walk except for the perpetually dim Jen who will stare into space and flashback every 5 minutes to Cris for another month or maybe more. Are the Rappaports and Troy the new core families of Llanview and no one told us? (BTW I was waiting for you to 'duke it out' for our beloved Ben, maybe I was waiting in the wrong place? Ah well, I'm willing to stand in line behind you.)”
Dear JustBen4YOU!: It sure does seem like Al, Jen and the man on the wheel
are the headliners of the show, doesn’t it? Hey, at least Lindsay buttoned up
half of his shirt the other day. He must have been freezing from that
fever…LOL. And you’re right…what the heck did happen to Lindsay getting what’s
coming to her? She didn’t even get a good bang on the head under Sam’s desk the
other day. OH, and as for duking it out over our beloved Ben…I’ve decided we
should stand together and share…LOL…after all, there aren’t quite enough of
us…YETTTT!!!!! So you remain safe from my New York dukes. Thanks for writing!
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Sara writes: “Why do you continue to slam Gabrielle? She’s had a hard life and been through some tough times and it’s not right to bash the actress and the character.”
Dear Sara: Ok, ok…now I know at least 2 people feel sorry for Gabrielle. I’m sorry to say that I’m not one of them. This woman has never gotten anything in a legitimate way. She schemes, blackmails and worse to get what she wants. I don’t feel the pull in my heart to give her a break…but I’m glad she has some people to defend her. And please, remember what I say ALL THE TIME…I never bash actors…I bash the characters I don’t like. Is that allowed? How could I possibly slam Fiona Hutchison? I don’t know the woman. I’d love to meet her, because if I got the chance, I’d ask her how she likes having to play someone like Gabrielle. She’d probably say she loves it, because most actors like playing the “bad guys.” They think it’s more fun. Even Erika Slezak loves playing Niki Smith. So…..I’m sure Fiona is a lovely woman…but I’d like to buy Gabby a ticket out of town on the next train.
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2002
