REFLECTIONS BY JILL for October 23, 2006

Chandea writes: “I know it's just TV but we do want a bit of reality in our daily dose of fantasy. Why is it that the past seems to be erased and major things that occur between characters seeming never existed? For example, I've just started watching OLTL after almost a 12-year hiatus and remember vividly the days when Jessica and Cristian were together and lost the baby (no thanks to Dorian). Losing a baby is a major thing, but the two characters barely seem to even acknowledge each other or the fact that Cris’s ex-girlfriend is now with his brother! I don’t know; maybe I missed something in my 12-year absence. Would it have been a waste of film to have Evangeline visit Nora in the hospital during her coma? Are we asking too much, Jill?”

Dear Chandea: Yes, you did miss a lot in 12 years. Actually it was back in 1999 when Jessica lost that baby and although she was going to raise it with Cristian and marry him, Will Rappaport was baby Megan’s biological father. In the past several years David Fumero left the show and came back with a completely off the wall storyline, but before that, Cristian and Jessica had made peace with the fact that they were not going to be together. Jessica’s life took many turns which put her together with Antonio and Cristian and Natalie fell in love. There was never a rivalry between Jessica and Natalie for Cristian to my recollection. As far as Nora goes, I never thought she got enough airtime and it was all tied up in her contract problems. Sure, Evangeline should have visited Nora, but the few and very short scenes we got with Nora were always with Matthew, Bo and RJ and it was a shame that her good friends Evangeline and Viki did not get to visit her, at least not on screen. It would have been more fun to see Viki and Evangeline with Nora, instead of Lindsay.

Barb writes: “What (and who) is this "Focus Group" that is causing all the firings? I personally don't like the sacrifice of Hugh, Kevin, & Kelly to save John. I like John but he isn't worth that much!!” Dear Barb: Ah yes, the focus group. What a bunch of bull. A focus group is supposedly a group of people who are assembled from different age groups, walks of life, etc., who give their opinions on what they are watching. Many years ago I participated in focus groups for the NBC soaps (which I used to watch) and personally, it was just a way to spend a few hours shooting the breeze about a show and didn’t mean much more than that. Sure, we gave our honest opinions, but considering that at least a couple of million people watch each show, how can TPTB make decisions based on a sampling like that? My personal opinion is that it is totally ridiculous to fire beloved actors from a show based on what a table full of people have to say who have mainly agreed to participate in the group for a few bucks and some bagels, muffins and coffee. I don’t even believe that focus group excuse for the firings. It’s all about money, plain and simple. And I disagree about John. I never wanted to see anyone sacrificed so Michael Easton could stay on the show, but I really like the character of John and I hope he stays around for a long time.