REFLECTIONS BY JILL for July 30, 2007

FAN FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS

Sally writes: “What is with the Llanview Police Department? Their procedure is to take statements and hear confessions out in the main room with the victims and the perps all in a group sending dirty, threatening looks back and forth. And then, Miles gets the call from Hunter with everybody standing there, and nobody even eavesdrops? Somebody needs to do a fundraiser to build them interrogation rooms and buy the writers a police procedural manual.”

Dear Sally: I couldn’t agree more. The Llanview PD has had its problems over the years, but they could never be considered the sharpest knives in the drawer. Bo is a great guy and a good commissioner, but his cop shop many times appears to be more of a circus than a place to uphold the laws of Llanview. I guess Bo does the best he can with the bunch of bozos he is often surrounded by. It’s too bad that in Llanview everyone is either a friend or a relative of every cop and if you look closely enough, you can see the rulebook flying out the window on any given day.

Ellie writes: Paige is leaving without letting us know who her son is? Rex? Nash? It’s not fair!”

Dear Ellie: I agree that we are getting robbed of a great storyline now that Paige is leaving town. I was hoping that we’d find out that one of those cuties was her son and we would be able to watch new relationships unfold. I’d much rather get involved in a storyline about Paige and her son than listen to Todd rant on and on about Cole.

Donita writes: “I have been a longtime fan of your column mostly because I felt you were always a fair judge of characters and events. I am also a fan of John and Natalie and have always felt you were as well, even though you mostly seem to be a John/Michael Easton fan. I love Natalie just as much as John and I have been getting truly irritated at how harsh you are on Natalie. This week you said that Natalie should get a clue and that she should shut-up and listen to John. Why is it so bad for Natalie to judge people on her own instincts and knowledge and John isn’t her guide to whom she should trust and whom she shouldn’t. John hasn’t given her any reason to respect or trust him this year. I took mild offense to your busting Natalie for the simple fact that John had every opportunity at Rodi’s to tell Natalie what was going on, she asked him and he chose not to tell her and again at the police station. Natalie fans have been very frustrated by her absence on screen alone without you giving her a hard time about how she should get a clue after being on a total of 8 shows in the entire month of June and a handful this month. Please step back a little and give Natalie a chance to catch up and give her a little credit that she judges people on what she knows.”

Dear Donita: I guess this was the week for the Natalie fans to decide they’ve had enough of my comments about her since several of you have written to me saying the same thing. That’s cool. I have been a fan of Natalie from the beginning and although I am very much a John/Easton fan, I love John and Natalie as a couple. I’m surprised that I have to remind anyone of that after months and months of taking a complete bashing (which I very fairly posted) from the John/Evangeline fans. Just because I am a fan of John and Natalie, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a personal and honest take on each of them. I have not been kind to John when it comes to how his relationship with Natalie ended and I don’t give him a free pass. I maintain my opinion that even though Natalie is only going on what she knows about Miles, she is way too trusting of him when she really knows very little about him. And I don’t understand how people who have followed Natalie’s journey don’t believe that her defense of Miles is fueled by her resentment of Marty and her association with John. Natalie is not over John and I’m glad she’s not, but his business is not hers right now. Also, Natalie no longer works for the police station and she has no right to barge into the police station and demand to know what’s going on when someone is brought in for questioning. And if John is questioning Miles like he did at Rodi’s, Natalie should remember that John doesn’t attack people for no good reason. Whether or not John has any kind of relationship with Marty, he is going after Miles because his instinct as a detective has been telling him for a long time that Miles is a person of interest and BIG SURPRISE, he was right. I believe that John and Natalie have a very special connection and nothing would make me happier than for them to get back together and make a life together. I have never changed my opinion about that and I have never changed my opinion about the fact that I don’t want a romance between John and Marty. We’ll probably have many changes to look forward to with our new head writer and hopefully they’ll make us happy. I maintain my position that I am a fan of Natalie’s but I call her on her faults like I do everyone else on the show.

Chris writes: “Will Clint and Viki get together this Fall 2007? I'm a fan since 1982, and they are mine favorite couple.”

Dear Chris: Sorry, I don’t have any information on whether or not Clint and Viki will get together this fall. Erika Slezak will be on vacation for the next several weeks and we won’t see anything major developing for Viki until October. Frankly, every time we get a new head writer we get the same buzz about a big storyline or a big romance coming up for Viki and in never materializes. I don’t hold out a lot of hope but maybe they will surprise me. One thing I can honestly say (and this won’t surprise anyone) is that I have no desire for a third time around for Clint and Viki. He has behaved very stupidly in his fiasco of a relationship with Dorian and he has shown about as much class as a slug when it comes to dealing with Dorian and Viki. He’s not worthy of Viki at all in my book, but there are people who want them together. I’d rather see her without a man than taking Clint on after he realizes that Dorian is a selfish loser when it comes to relationships.