REFLECTIONS BY JILL for December 11, 2006

FAN FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS

Barbara writes: “I am a faithful viewer of OLTL. I was wondering why they made John McBain cut his hair. I loved it the way it was before. He looks different now. Or was that his decision? Also I am sorry Kevin and Kelly are leaving the show. It looks like they are getting a bunch of new people and getting rid of the old ones.”

Dear Barbara: I have no idea why Michael Easton cut his hair. I loved the long hair better, too. Lots of people have written in and wondered how he even retained that much hair in the fire if his face was so badly burned and of course, how he kept that goatee, even through skin graft surgery. That’s the soap world for you; if it doesn’t make sense, they want you to pretend it does. We’d all go very crazy if we tried to figure out all the things that so obviously don’t make sense on soaps. Lots of people are with you in being sorry to see Kevin and Kelly leave the show and no one that I know is happy that new people come on to the show at the expense of the jobs of the ones we hate to lose. I’ve always been of the opinion that there are so many untold storylines that could be written for the many talented veteran actors from the show who have been let go or have been relegated to recurring status, as well as those who are still on contract. I don’t know why we keep adding characters and storylines that most people don’t care too much about. Most of them are just passing through anyway and we forget them very quickly once they’re gone.

Ben writes: “Let me start by saying I am HUGE fan of OLTL from way back!! I love most everything that's happening on the show right now, but the reason I'm writing is the Cole/Starr storyline. I'm confused about something. If I remember my OLTL history correctly, shouldn't Starr be at least a couple of years older than Cole? Wasn't she a baby when his father Patrick first came to Llanview and started out by getting together with Blair and having a son with her who died?”

Dear Ben: Gee, it’s not every day that someone writes to me who loves most everything on the show. Of course, you are correct about Starr’s age. However, as a long time viewer I’m sure you know that people age on soaps in very strange ways. Come to think of it, Starr is one of the few characters that have been allowed to age realistically. Sure, Starr should be older than Cole, but hey, Duke was way too old to be Kevin’s son, wasn’t he? And 25 years ago, Spencer surely wasn’t old enough to be the doctor who was at the hospital when Thomas McBain lost his life, nor was Paige. And little Bree should only be about 3-4 months old since she was born last summer, but she looks months older already. I could go on and on but I know you get my meaning. I often wonder just how dumb the writers think we are when someone goes from the crib to college graduation in a matter of a couple of years.

Lucy writes: “I think Rex not telling Todd about his son is cruel. Yes Marcie and Michael want to find Thomas' birth parents, (why, I'll never know), so they should know also. This makes Rex a bad investigator because he let his personal feelings get in the way of a job. So Todd fired him before he could tell him the truth, but it doesn't make it right. Todd has suffered enough this year. He has a right to find his son.”

Dear Lucy: I do understand your opinion and as I have mentioned before, I have mixed feelings about Rex keeping the truth about Tommy’s paternity from everyone. And regarding Marcie and Michael, like many adoptive parents, they want to know who the birth parents are so that they can have some medical history on their child in case of emergencies. Since this is a soap and pure fantasy, I assume the right to just root for the “better man” in this case (not Todd) and whenever Todd acts like a first class jackass (which is just about always lately) I have no problem rooting for Michael and Marcie. Sure, in real life I would unequivocally say that Todd has a right to know his son and when he’s acting like a human being I do sometimes feel that way, too, but as far as Todd having suffered enough, I do think that the execution was horrible and a gross injustice, but he can’t use that his whole life as an excuse to think the whole world owes him a living.