"I set a curse upon you, Barnabas Collins! You wanted your Josette so much, well, you have her but not the way that you would have chosen. You will never rest, Barnabas! And you will never be able to love anyone for whoever loves you will die. That is my curse, and you will live with it through all eternity!"
~Angelique Bouchard
(Lara Parker)
Dark Shadows (TV)
Angelique: Oh Barnabas. if we could simply begin again. Will you never forget?
Barnabas: No, I will not.
Rest in peace, Lara Parker. I first came to know of Angelique Bouchard, Parker's signature role, when I was a child. My mother, sister and I would sit glued to our tv each weekday, to see the spooky goings on in Collinsport, the fictional town featured in the gothic daytime drama, Dark Shadows. The blend of romance, especially the love Angelique had for Barnabas Collins, and the horror, there were vampires, ghosts and werewolves after all, was pretty much equal, however, Lara Parker portrayed a character unequaled as the, over the top witch, Angelique Bouchard Collins. She scared the crap out of me, but I wished I could grow to be as beautiful as Lara Parker was. I loved horror, and the show gave me genuine nightmares, my sister too, and yet by today's standards the show was as low tech as it got. Still, who ever needed special affects to be scared? The scares Dark Shadows provided came from the story and the perfect, if not campy, acting.Who knew campy could give one nightmares?
Dark Shadows debuted on June 27th, 1966, just 2 days before my 4th birthday. My mother and sister probably shouldn't have allowed me to watch it, but in truth, the rascal in me would have found a way. A prime-time version which aired in the 1990's, only made it a few episodes, despite being a decent and much more serious take, but I was there glued to every episode. In 2012 director Time Burton decided to take it to a more comedic slant, and again, I was there. The irony was great. The camp was great. And a few genuine spooky moments all came together to honor the original show, and still keep the history intact. I was getting another chance to see my friends again. Including Lara Parker. She, David Selby, Katherine Leigh Scott and Jonathon Frid all had cameos as party guests at Collinwood. It was fun. I had hoped for a sequel, but alas it was not to be.
David Selby and Lara Parker
( ABC TV movie, Night Of Dark Shadows)
Oh my, I never read the novels Lara Parker wrote after the show went off the air, but I might just indulge a bit and purchase one. I would love to see what happened next in Collinsport. That is the sign of a great movie, show or actress, you always want to see more, and I always watched whatever Lara Parker was in. Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The Rockford Files. Race With The Devil. It was all good.The one that got away from me was, Save The Tiger, with Jack Lemmon. If I can finally find it, that will be next. She won't be playing a witch, but I am sure she will great. She always was. In fact, TCM is playing both te
"It's not lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages."
~Friedrich Nietzsche
The graphic above shows where we left off with The Love Story Of Donny And Nina!
The graphic below brings us up to date...
I can't believe they got married! Just last July she was calling him a, "FUCKING ASSHOLE" and threatening to leave his "ASS." And he was willing to "CALL HER A CAB." So, was marriage really the right decision? By the same token, who am I to say what they need to do to fix their problems? That may have been just what they needed to repair whatever wasn't working. I would like to hope for the best for them, but somehow, I don't think their getting married will change much.
And that makes me kinda sad for them.
In a little less than a month, Alan and I will have been married 23 years! Alan is my best friend. My lover. My protector. My champion. He is my love! And we began our relationship as friends, then best friends, then we fell in love. There has never been any disrespect between us... ever. Mistakes yes! Disrespect? No!
Stay Tuned! I don't think we have seen, or heard, the last chapter in the "Love Story Of Donny And Nina!"
"Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed."
"You're being cryptic again. It's like soap opera sex. Lots of boring dialogue and when they finally go to bed, everything's dark and covered by blankets."
~Ragnar Tornquist
It's April 29th... FINALLY!
April has been the longest month of this year, I swear someone added a few extra days! Nah, I know, this April has the exact same number of days it always had, but I have to say, it felt a lot longer longer than usual! Why? you ask. Well, you see, I have been waiting for the relaunch of two of my favorite soap operas, and let me tell you, the waiting hasn't been easy! It's been a long hard fight for we soap fans, a true uphill battle if there ever was one! And it all started in the month of April 2 years ago, when Brian Frons, former head of daytime programming for ABC, made the ridiculous, overreaching decision to axe not just one, but two of the network's long running daytime dramas, All My Children, and One Life To Live. At the time it seemed like a permanent dark cloud had been set not just on my Monday thru Friday, but on the days of millions of other soap fans as well!
We asked nicely that the network reconsider.
They ignored us!
We gathered and signed petitions online, and the old fashioned way.
They ignored us!
The Hoover company supported us by pulling all their advertising from ABC daytime. (Don't forget to buy Mom a Hoover vacuum for Mother's Day by the way!)
The network not only continued to ignore, but indeed openly thumbed their nose at us!
ABC replaced our favorite daytime dramas with... uggg... a "lifestyle show" and a "cooking show."
The first of the soaps to disappear was All My Children, in September of 2011. It was replaced by the ridiculously named cooking show called... gulp... The Chew. Hosted by, and I stick by the following opinion, so-so chefs, Mario Batali and Michael Symon. I actually spoke with Chef Symon one evening over Twitter, when, to my dismay, he decided to laugh at my assessment of him. I backed my opinion by telling him exactly why I felt the way I did. Let's just use one example here. His 5 in 5 segment. 5 ingredient meals, you could, or should, be able to prepare in 5 minutes for under $5 dollars. First of all, in the 3 months I watched The Chew, he never, ever, finished successfully in that amount of time and as for the $5 part... it was iffy at best! Not impressive! If it doesn't work, have the courage to say so, and move on! Right? Then there came the insulting way Batali introduced each show by saying "there are two types of people... Italians, and those who want to be Italians." Chef Batali... I have never wanted to be Italian! And should we talk about the many, many times I saw the chef's touch raw food without washing their hands? I could go on about the other elements about the show that bugged me, but there is no need for it. I don't watch it, but some do. In my opinion ABC won't be cancelling it anytime soon, so why belabor the point... right? It's awful. The End.
Now, as if a ridiculous cooking show wasn't enough... the network decided to replace One Life To Live with the short lived lifestyle show... The Revolution. The reviews were awful, right out of the box. It was so bad it lasted a total of 6 months on the air. It was BAD! It was so bad that it never came close to garnering the kind of ratings One Life To Live did in the same time slot. It was a sad embarrassment for all involved. But the saddest part about the entire situation is that The Chew, and The Revolution replaced shows that had been on ABC for over 40 years! Yep, that's right, both were on ABC for over 40 years! It truly was insulting to the fans to think that one more cooking show, or one more lame lifestyle show could possibly replace a show we had watched, and cared about since, as in my case, a small child. You know how when something big happens, and years later you reflect on where you were when it happened... the day Elvis Presley passed away, my sister and I were in my room, watching One Life To Live on my portable black and white TV. It was August 16th, 1977. She was just a few months away from getting married, and she and her fiance had planned to get tickets to see Elvis perform later that year. It was going to be their wedding gift to each other. It was one of those moments I never forgot, nor did I forget what I was watching when the "Breaking News" chimed in.
Brian Frons, and ABC made a big mistake. We fans made our voices heard loud and clear. And then one day we got some unexpected news, something was about to happen that has never happened before. A couple people got together and said... "What if?" What if we can relaunch those two much loved shows online? Long story short. There was some rough going with that idea, and at one point we fans accepted the possible reality that it probably wasn't going to happen, then just after the first of the year came the news that it was A GO! Now, most of the casts of both shows are back. It's a new day, and as of today, Monday, April 29th, All My Children and One Life To Live are back! They can both be seen Monday through Thursday with new 30 minute episodes, and on Friday with the recaps on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
I said at the time Brian Frons made that dumb decision that it would go down in entertainment history as one of the stupidest decisions ever made in daytime! And guess what... I was right! As for Mr. Frons, well, he was let go from ABC in January of 2012! Bye Bye Mr. Frons have a nice time in oblivion!
Sometimes Mondays get a bad rap, but I think this Monday will go down in history as a pretty good day!
Now, here is a clip from One Life To Live, featuring one of my favorite daytime characters, David Vickers, played by Tuc Watkins. In the clip David debuts in his big break into acting by doing a commercial for a certain type of health product. It's funny! Watch it! Get your day off right with a little humor. Life is too short, we need a little escape once in a while... right?
By the way, some really great actors have gotten their start in daytime, among them are, Judith Light. Julianne Moore, Christopher Reeve, Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, just to name a few. Soap actors are some of the hardest working people around, and they have made my life much nicer just by sharing their talent with the world. I am honored to be a fan!
Congratulations on your new start All My Children and One Life To Live! I will be there every single day!
Oh boy, this is difficult to admit. I... ahem... am older than the daytime drama General Hospital. LOL. I was born on June 29th, 1962, while General Hospital debuted on ABC on April 1st, 1963. As I type this we are both fifty, but that will all change in just a couple months, much to my dismay. Something I am not particularly dreading, it is what it is, but when put into the context of being slightly older than daytime's longest running soap opera, my poor brittle bones and my wee arthritic joints begin to alternate between laughing at me for even letting it be a passing concern, and yelling at me with pain for not giving the situation the proper respect! LOL.
Life is, after all, a soap opera!
And I am so glad it is!
Say what you want about soap operas, you will not budge me from my opinion that the artists who work all the magic to bring those characters to us for an hour each Monday through Friday are some of the hardest working performers around! Plots that take us to romantic destinations, or the edge of our seat drama, or perhaps to the very edge of dark places everyone carries around, soap operas touch we fans on a much different level that movies or regular TV offerings. You can literally watch someone grow up, watch them go through their own real life personal dramas, and we can sometimes find something in the story telling that will make us feel a whole lot less along in our own struggles. It's might sound strange if you haven't been a fan of this entertainment genre, but if like me you have seen yourself in a character on a soap, even just a little bit, you know exactly what I mean!
I have found a great deal of comfort from "my stories" over the last fifty years! LOL. "My stores" makes me sound like a little old lady, but I guess there is no shame in that, at my age I kinda am, and I think of it as a badge! Hey, considering all the comfort soaps have brought me, I am only to happy to step up and say THANK YOU! I was happy that I could retreat to another room during my father's wake brunch, when the family decided to fight over the contents of his desk! Or be grateful that as I laid in bed, too sick to lift me head for 6 months, there was familiar voices on the TV to help me feel like I wasn't alone, friends where near by. Even a decade or so ago, when I was so sad that Anhedonia had me beaten down, I knew that at 2:00 PM, on ABC Channel 7 (KGO), General Hospital would be on to let me step out of the pain for an hour, and relax in someone else's world for a while.
It's therapeutic. It's comforting. It's a larger than life refreshing flight of fancy... for an hour. The perfect amount of time. On Monday, when the daytime TV week resumes again, I can just forget for a moment that there is yet another nut job in the world, think Kim Jung Une, who has a massive weapon pointed at the mainland of the United States, specifically the coast I live on! No, I get to find out who sent LuLu and Dante a cheap copy of the Ice Princess! I get to see if Patrick Drake will finally tell Sabrina he loves her, or at the very least would like to date her, LOL. And ooh... check it out... Laura is back, engaged to Scotty Baldwin, but on the run with Luke! That seems like old times to me! YAY! And while all this is happening, lovable Lucy Coe is planning the Nurse's Ball once again! Will she end up in her underwear again this year? Well I certainly hope so, it's been a Nurse's Ball tradition forever!
Beginning this week, General Hospital will be celebrating half a century of the lives of the citizens of Port Charles, New York, and I can admit I am having a great time watching all the returns of wonderful characters of the past. Frisco, Robert Scorpio, Nicholas Cassadine, Scott Baldwin, Audrey Hardy, Lucy Coe, Heather Webber, Anna Devane, basically all my favorites over the years are home for the anniversary, and the story telling has never been better, thanks to Producer Frank Valentini and Writer Ron Carlivarti, who came on-board at General Hospital after the sudden cancellation of ABC's One Life To Live in 2012. ABC also ordered the cancellation of All My Children, the networks other soap, on the same day, which led to a backlash from irate fans, such as myself, and the determination to keep General Hospital alive, not just on life support.
And we did it! We petitioned. We tuned in. We sent letters. We asked major corporations to join us in our passion to keep our soaps alive, and to our delight we got strong support from Hoover! They listened. I wish there had been more support, but I am not dwelling on things. General Hospital made it! And while I am not sure how much longer we will have this beloved soap around, I am not going to think about it's eventual end. There is no time for it. I would rather just take that one hour gift, Monday through Friday and escape into the intrigue. The romance. The humor... OMG... the humor is so good! And be grateful for the familiar voices, and faces, that help me feel less alone.
I love my stories, and I am not ashamed to admit it!
Here, for a little fun, is the General Hospital rap song from 1981. Go have a listen... go ahead... you know you want to! It's so much FUN!
General Hospi-TALE ~ The Afternoon Delights...
Lyrics (Should You Feel The Need To Burst Into Song)
Rock it hard, rock it steady
Pick yourself up and
Get yourself ready
Wave your arms
Let me hear you yell
Were gonna rap about
General Hospital
It started out
In Port Charles town
Where Frank Smith's mob
Used to hang around
No one could prove
That he was a crook
Till Luke stole his
Little black book
It had names and
Numbers all in code
So Luke and Laura
Had to hit the road
They had to find
The left-handed boy
Watch their step
They had to be coy
The gold involved
Was worth so much
Others wanted it
Like Sally and Hutch
But there's one thing
I must confess
Sally was a man
Who wore a dress
Luke kept his cool
He ain't no fool
He set them both up cold
Well Sally died
Hutch survived
And no one got the gold
Paging Dr. Noah Drake
To ICU to treat a
Case of heartbreak
They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy
My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
My hands start shaking
My knees start aching
I just can't cope
Without my soap
General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction
Monica likes
To have her fun
That is why
She had a son
She told Rick
He was the dad
Soon found out
That he'd been had
There's one thing
That you can give me
That Leslie can't
And that's passion
Alan was the
Father, of course
And he won't give
Monica a divorce
Rick wants to
Get Leslie back
Heather's having
An insane attack
I'll get Diana Taylor
She's not crazy
Uh uh, no never
She just wants to
Get Dr. Jeff Webber
Jeff wants Annie
For his wife
But he might have to
Wait all of his life
Cause good girls don't
And Annie won't
And you all know
What I mean
Amy Vining likes to blab
Richard Simmons
Helps fight flab
Susan's having Alan's baby
Noah wants Bobbi
For his lady
Well, Luke got another job
The Quartermaines are
The brand new mob
Laura's the receptionist
What's missing now
Is the Ice Princess
Yes, Luke Spencer, please
Diamonds, not gold
Are in it this time
Scorpio, the house
Of Cassadine
On and on
And on it goes
How it ends up
Nobody knows cause
They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy
My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
If I don't find out
It blows my mind out
I just can't cope
Without my soap
General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
You're my inspiration
General Hospital
Gonna stay tuned
To this station
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Tell me what's going on
Did you see it today
General Hospi-Tale
Tell me what's going on
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
I love my General Hospital
General Hospital...
It's my addiction...
I will be posting about my love of soaps all through the month of April, as we get closer and closer to the reboots of One Life To Live and All My Children on April 29th!
