General Days

From what I'm reading on my affiliate's Facebook, the network (nationwide) is taking the President's announcement, live. Here, the episode ran, until ABC broke in around 2:22pm. Son of a bitch.

GH airs at 2:00pm Eastern in my market and the President is going to have a press conference around 2:15pm, Eastern. I'm afraid my head will explode when they preempt.

I kind of love you, Lillybee. During today's episode, I found myself sympathizing with Luke (Fluke?) because I did so love early years Luke and I don't want him to be a raping monster. While part of me digs the idea of Bill being Fluke, I'm kinda glad that he isn't. I never watched ONTL. I came back to GH, just when "Todd" was putting cameras in teddy bears, or something. I just decided then and there that I would ignore the Todd and Franco stories, and decide RoHo wasn't at fault for them.

Wait. What? About what was Stamos right? I am ashamed to admit this, but I thought NLG and JT had just great chemistry, that I enjoyed their nip scenes. *hangs head* Yeah. Forget about hating Ric for this plan. I just disdain him for this plan, because it is unsustainable. I decided long ago that RoHo's Franco isn't James Franco's Franco. I chalk it up to writer error, lawsuits, etc. and move on. This is an original character (I mean, in my mind) and I'm not going to hold RoHo's performance hostage to this insufferable writing. LW was awesome as Lena. I want her to be a new character named Lena. I really liked today's scenes, even though I still hate TG's performance. The kids were great. It's silly that Pat is supposed to be older than Luke, because, oy, she's younger. It's also silly she's supposed to be older than Bobbi, because JZ has so fucked up her once lovely face. That said, I still love Pat. I love the kids. I thought baby Bobbi did a great job with her first scene (April Fool hiding behind the curtain) and was TERRIBLE with her more dramatic scene. But kids? What are you gonna do? I just -- I can't even be mad at this story any longer. I just want it to be over.

I have to confess, this flew straight out of my head, last night. I think when I read "panther" I thought "cougar." When I was going to bed, I realized panther does not equal cougar, Googled, and found this blast from the past. How could I have forgotten? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiNtB7I0zQo

Thank you. Was Ric and Sonny's mother Latina (or Italian, or Greek, or Spanish, or what)? I'm trying to find a Ricardo connection.

Thanks!

Really, once Marlena was possessed by the devil (and/or once Vivian buried Carly alive for fucking months, but she didn't come back dehydrated, starved, or with poopy and peepee pants), all things became possible. Or maybe it was when everyone accepted that John Black was Roman Brady with plastic surgery that darkened his skin over his entire body, changed his DNA, so that his hair went from curly to straight, and even made him taller...

For the record, is it Rik or Ric Lansing? I've used both today (although I think I later edited them all to be Ric), so this question isn't coming from a place of judgment. It's coming from a place of personal pedantry. Also, why the hell can't it just be Rick? (I know. Not our call.) I get why Nik is Nik, but I don't get the Ric (or possibly Rik) thing. I was on my own private barge when his character was introduced, so if he's a Ricardo, rather than a Richard, I'll accept this, quietly. I just need to know.

LMAO. I think I would too, chassiecrane. Soap fans. We're a dying breed.

I seriously loved Nicole telling Marlena to mind her own business (regardless of the fact that Mar is basically right, and BTW HOW COME NICOLE HASN'T LEARNED TO "EWE SEARCH" SERENA IN THE PRIVACY OF HER OFFICE OR HOTEL ROOM). People need to say MYOB more to Marlena, to Maggie, and more recently, to Daniel. A good old, "This isn't something I can discuss with you," should have come out of Jennifer's mouth, the moment she decided to leverage JJ and Eve's affair (I struggle to call it that, but I'm trying to avoid "fuck fest" and now I haven't) against Eve. A simple, "Daniel, I know what's going on with JJ now, but I've promised to keep it private. Please back off," would have saved us all so much aggravation. I hate when TV characters fail to say what real people would say. Hell, I've told my own mother (in re situations with my teens), "I can't talk about it with you, mom. I gave my word."

To what does this refer? I don't get it. On Days of Our Lives, Wally Kurth played Jane Elliot's love interest. Did you happen to watch?

But he hasn't seen him yet, right? Until Sonny, Justin, Adrienne, or Victor see Xander and fail to respond to him as if he's Alex, I don't know that the show needs to "retcon" Xander into Alex.

Wait. When was Sonny hanging out with Xander? Have they even shared a scene, yet?

To me, Alison Sweeney was a 16 year old, when she started on the show, whereas Guy Wilson is rapidly approaching 30. I give child/teen actors a lot more leeway as they hone their craft. I wouldn't cast Guy Wilson in a McDonald's commercial. Ali grew into her role. To me, Guy is worse now, than when he stepped in. Granted, the writing is doing him no favors, but it goes beyond that, for me. I know if Chandler were in the role, I would feel way differently. I loved that kid. He was so natural, I never thought about his acting; I just thought about Will. Aw, I'm sorry. I know how much that sucks. I felt the same way about Sarah Joy Brown's Madison. I was so excited she was coming to DOOL and then the writing turned her into a nightmare, as far as I'm concerned. I wish Melissa Archer the best. Back when the show was switching writing teams, every six months, I was annoyed. I didn't even care which team they ended up with. This is the first time I can remember being actively happy that a writing team got the boot. I swear, these writers were saboteurs. I get that one, because there's a marriage and child involved. I can imagine if my husband and I were on the outs because of infidelity, but we still loved each other, that both of our parents would be counseling us and trying to help us restore our family. What gets me is the adult involvement in the JJ/Paige story. Why are all the parents so frigging interested in their kids' romantic lives? The writing for Kassie DeP, Missy Reeves, and Shawn Christian (who I think we can all agree are soap vets of some talent, regardless of whether or not we like their current characters) is horrible. These three vets have no story of their own. Their biggest storylines right now, revolve around the sex lives of 19 year olds. And, I caught myself venting about this in GH forum earlier today, so I might as well say it, here, where it belongs: Daniel's involvement is the worst (worse even than Eve and Jennifer's). Daniel and Jennifer are no longer involved. Jennifer (which, yes, I love her, but yes, I agree with all of you who are appalled by her level of engagement with her college freshman son's romantic life) isn't even his girlfriend, anymore. Sure, she turned to him for help at times (as did JJ), but they've both been sending pretty fucking clear signals that they no longer want Dan involved. Fine, he puts the pieces together today, and realizes JJ is the guy who was banging Eve. He's disturbed by it. Right there with ya, buddy. But let's look at Dan's history. Did he not sleep with both Kate and her granddaughter, Chelsea? I'm sorry, writers, but a guy with Daniel's past -- once he puts the pieces together of what went on with JJ and Eve? A guy with Daniel's past should say to himself, "Ouch. JJ is a stupid, young prick. I will mind my own business," and seriously bow out. He might continue to let JJ and Jennifer know that if they need a shoulder, he's there, but he would not come off all huffy, like he was with Jen, at the end of the episode. What's he gonna do? Tell Paige that JJ banged her mother? No, he's going to slink back into a dark corner, and hope no one remembers he bedded a woman and her granddaughter. I'd like to offer a tiny defense of Rafe, but have to admit that I'm not always the best on remembering things, so if my memory is faulty, please feel free to set me straight. As I remember it, after Gabi was convicted (or at least after she confessed to killing Nick, I can't remember the timeline), Rafe was distraught. He had all this guilt that he'd failed to look after both his sisters. Didn't he then tell Jordan he couldn't be with her anymore, because he sucks. (Paraphrase.) I always thought they were broken up (granted, for all of 2 minutes) when he hit the sheets with Kate, but it doesn't seem he ever offered this in his own defense, once Jordan found out about Rafe and Kate sleeping together. I don't know, to me, what he said to Jordan at the time (and I'll allow that it wasn't "I hereby break up with you,") was (still) a break up. She just didn't accept it as one. In other words, I'm not completely ready to judge Rafe for cheating on Jordan. In my memory, he thought he'd ended it with her because [reasons]. He still loved her and she still loved him, so he regretted his time with Kate, but I'm not sure I think it's cheating. Am I remembering wrong? You know, the actress isn't unattractive, but to me, she always looks like The Wonder Years Winnie Cooper mated with a pug. She's got a cute figure, gorgeous hair, and a basically pretty face, but someone either pushed in her nose, or arrested its growth after her 8th birthday. I think the character is blah, but given the writing, I don't know how much to blame on the actress. That said, the girl who played Roxanne showed more personality in what -- 2 episodes -- than Paige has shown in her tenure on the show. I'm totally ready for her to be recast in the role, with a voice-over that says, "The role of Paige will now be played by a human with a pulse, who whines much less." I thought Daniel said he looked familiar, to hang a lantern on the fact that enough of the audience is going to recognize this actor as the same actor who played the henchman who failed to kill Clyde. (Damn you, dead Damon.) That said, I would love for him to be Alexander Kiriakis. I will totally hand-wave the accent issue. Damn, it's good to have a man look at Nicole like he is actually a heteroman with working sex organs. Board question: Why do people refer to Jennifer as as raccoon?

What's this popular opinion doing in here? ;)

It's the wine. (Just kidding. I didn't even see the promo they aired during Grey's unless it's the same one linked on the last page, from HitFix or TVLine or whatever.)

Right? It would be like an hour or two. I Googled Port Charles, after I asked. On Wikipedia is said that PC would lie somewhere between (I think) Buffalo and Syracuse, and is on the shore of Lake Ontario. If that's what the PC waterfront is, Lake Ontario's southern shore looks to be ~100 miles from northern PA. It's especially not justified that Dante, a cop, wouldn't think to call the local cops. If this were Lulu and Tracy, or Lulu and someone impulsive like Carly or Maxie, I could see them not thinking of it. This is just poor writing. Thanks, Lexx. My kids always come home from school about halfway through the episode, and also, sometimes I play computer games, so I don't have to pay too much attention to the storylines that annoy me, but I don't usually miss a detail like that.

As long as the alter can be the one who told her she's like an old sweatshirt.

I don't remember thinking it look sped up (I'm taking it you mean whatever the opposite of slow-motion would be), but it was physically awkward and pretty brief, which I chalked up to needing to accommodate Tony's back. I have a question about yesterday's episode (I think it was yesterday). I can't remember how Ric got out of Hayden's hotel room, after Jake showed up. Did we ever see that? Also, did anyone notice the dorky editing in whatever episode it was when Tracy and Lulu finally left Valerie's apartment? Valerie closed the door behind them. They talked out in the hall, while Luke came out of the closet (now, that would be a good storyline, but I digress) and approached Valerie and the door. The scene ends. The next time we see any of these characters, Lulu and Tracy are already seated at a diner. Meanwhile, back in Valerie's apartment, Luke is just turning away from the door. Also, I have a question about today's episode. Isn't Valerie's apartment in PA? I seem to recall something in the diner about PA's best coffee or pie or whatever. Even if Dante had the town's brain, today, it still is only a Port Charles brain. They think Fluke could be terrorizing Lulu's newfound cousin, and so they don't call the local cops, who can get there in minutes, but instead, drive from PC (which is upstate New York, right?) down to Pennsylvania?

Valerie unwittingly reveals Pat isn't dead (she uses the present tense when talking to Fluke about her). He's ready to kill her, because she says she'd rather die than unleash him on her poor mother. At some point while he's bloviating, she frees her wrists from the rope. Meanwhile, back in PC, Lulu tells Dante about her visit to Valerie. Dante, as people have mentioned, has the town's brain, today, so he figured out that maybe the "cat" that made the noise in Valerie's apartment might have been Fluke. Lulu tries to call Valerie on the phone. Valerie surprises Fluke, stands up, and pushes him. He drops the gun and falls onto the couch. (It was hilariously bad blocking, but it also made me worried for TG's back issues). She dives for the phone but he manages to unplug it, before she picks up and screams for help. Down on the floor, Fluke and Valerie struggle for the gun. That's the last time we see them. We don't know if Valerie got away. Because Valerie never picks up the phone, but the phone doesn't go to voice mail or an answering machine, Dante and Lulu decide to return to Valerie's apartment. Dante pretends to hear a noise, so he has probable cause to bust in, with his gun drawn. He and Lulu are shocked by what they see, but we didn't get to see it. In the Jakeson story, Ric has even supplied Hayden with a copy of medical records, proving he had a prior brain surgery. When Liz reads it, she's convinced Hayden is legit. Jake chases after her. He assures her he felt nothing when Hayden kissed him, and nothing at all about her seems familiar. They kiss, but then Elizabeth leaves in tears, telling him he owes it to himself and Hayden to try to get back what they've "lost." Alone with Hayden, Carly rips her a new one. It's amusing, not annoying, at least to me, because Hayden is a big fraud, and for once Carly's in the right, even though she has no reasonable reason to believe she's in the right. Ric has been pretty thorough with manufactured evidence. What Ric hasn't been thorough about is ensuring the guy he hired to pose as pre-surgery Jake Barnes in the photos, doesn't extort another 10K out of him. I hate this Ric storyline. He should have just let Molly find him a date on E-Harmony, or whatever. Let's see, Danny bursts into Sam's room and climbs into bed with her and Patrick, which set off prude sensors I didn't even know I still had, and I think it's because they're not married AND Patrick isn't his dad, because if they were married and/or if Patrick was the kid's father, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have bothered me. I'm still surprised it did. Anyhow, Danny asks if Patrick is his new daddy. Sam says he's mommy's special friend and that daddy is looking down on him from heaven. I'll break the paragraph here, to give you a chance to laugh at the idea of Jason in heaven. Patrick has a nice talk with Danny about how he can't replace his father, but he wants to be best buds. Scott testifies that Franco told him he was faking his mental illness. After he leaves the stand, he sits behind Franco and explains that he's in collusion with Franco's defense attorney, who is going to argue that Heather kidnapped Carly, Shawn, and Jordan, and that Shawn is the one who broke Heather out of Ferncliff. He is also going to argue that Franco didn't know Nina kidnapped Avery, until they got to Canada (which is out of this jurisdiction), so Scott will have to drop the charges. (I like the Scott & Franco interactions, so I'm sure other people will have more to say on it, but it worked for me.) Alexis does a good job arguing for Nina's freedom, but Nina doesn't know Franco's free, so wants to get herself recommitted. After the judge starts to leave the courtroom to deliberate, Nina begs her to put her on the stand, and starts to blurt out that the baby really belongs to her and Silas, but then Franco enters the courtroom a free man. Nina babbles to cover up for what she started to say about the baby, apologizes for lying, assures the judge she knows the baby belongs to Ava Jerome (I HATE THE WAY Stafford says "Jerome"), blah blah blah. The judge lets Nina go free. In the preview for tomorrow,

I want Sam to realize that she's happier (and she and Danny, who could have died of leukemia are SAFER) being involved with a respected brain surgeon, than with a mob enforcer. I want her to have some growth. It was always gross to me that she could live with Jason's job. Tony used to be capable of talented acting. He was never better than when he was playing off Genie, when she was young. I suspect her looking up at him like he hung the moon didn't hurt. He was also really good in scenes with Tristan Rogers, and the old crew, Emma Samms, and of course Jonathan Jackson. Yeah. I liked their story better when Patrick was suspended from GH and was learning the P.I. biz. At least that made sense, and it was about Patrick's story (the baby's death, etc). I've got to say, JT still has it better than 3 talented vets on Days of Our Lives. Kassie DeP. and Missy Reeves do nothing but worry about their adult children's love lives. And poor Shawn Christian. His Daniel is a parent to neither child, is no longer involved with Missy's character and can't keep his nose out of the relationship of two college freshman. It's such a waste. As much as Ron can drive me crazy, to me, he's a treasure when compared with the Days scribes (who just got the heave-ho). I feel sorry for Billy Miller. They need to write the Jason reveal, so he can start playing a real character, rather than an empty shell. I've never seen him on another soap, but he was on Ringer and was just fine, as far as I can remember. Ron is doing the man no favors, either. The hardcore Steve Burton fans will never accept him in the role, but dragging out the story risks alienating fans who could accept him.

So Ron can't remember it, either. Check.

Oh, I can never remember if their divorce was finalized. I think I've even asked about it, before. I'm sorry. She didn't want it when he asked for it, so what I probably should have said is she no longer wants to reunite.

I just went back and watched that scene again. Patrick says that Sam is a widow, raising a child on her own. To me, what's missing is logic. Okay, say Jake bought the story and wanted to go live with his alleged wife, in Beecher's Corners, in hopes that it will kickstart his memory. He's going to get to town and want to meet their neighbors, and the people he did odd jobs for, and nobody is going to know who the hell he and Hayden are. It's a terrible plan and Ric is smarter than this. Franco and Nina have bothered me far less since they got together. And yeah, with Julian, Sonny, Shawn, Duke and even Ric running around free, why should these two whackaloons be imprisoned. I get it. Believe me, I do. But....I blame the writing and TIIC here. The writing for obvious reasons. Patrick is not a character. He is Sam's fuck toy. And TIIC won't try to wrap this shit up by asking KMc to cameo again, so Patrick "trying to search" would just be a huge tease and go nowhere. It needs to have a resolution. This shit makes everyone look terrible. And stupid. And dickish. And... I tell myself that Robin Skypes Emma just often enough that Patrick has no reason to believe she's still being held against her will. But yes, the idiot writing team needs to address this, even if they can't get Kimberly back, they need to wrap it up offscreen, if need be, by Anna getting a call from Frisco or Robert saying they've rescued Robin and she, Patrick, and Emma need to fly to [wherever]. Patrick can come back first, without Emma, and have some decent guilt storyline. It could even shake up his relationship with Sam, because he could blame himself for being so into her that he wasn't thinking straight about Robin's Paris story. Then Anna could come back to town and tell Patrick she's helped Robin move into a place in NYC or Corinth or Beecher's Corners. Robin no longer wants Patrick back. It's too late to salvage what they once had. They can share custody of Emma. We'll never get this though, because Ron is going to continue to ruin Patrick, until he's ready to use Kimberly in Jason's story. When Carly was ripping her a new one, I kept wondering what this character's motivation could be. I mean, I know it's money, and she won't get it all, until Jake leaves town or whatever, but if Carly were coming at me like that, I'd do anything to shut her up.