It's the Summer of Amazon Prime!

As a full time student, I know how important it is to stretch a penny so thin you can see through it. Tuition is expensive enough, but add the extra costs of textbooks, parking and other sundries and you have to be pretty crafty if you want to afford other things. You know, like food. I buy most of my books through Amazon because it is super cheap and it makes me feel super smart. But I also know that sometimes you need to spend money to make money. I decided to take advantage of Amazon Prime because I get a lot of stuff and the free shipping allows me to hold onto my holier-than-thou-look-what-I-saved-smugness that I enjoy so much. Amazon Prime is for more than free shipping though, as it has given me access to a whole new avenue of streaming TV movies! Who knew, right? I didn’t until recently, when I was poking around the net and came across the Scarecrow and Mrs. King episodes on AP. After I screamed in utter delight, I started surfing and found not jut a decent amount of TV movies streaming, I found some super crazy cool titles. I came across way more than ten, but here is a list of the films I think might be of interest, and some I plan on watching this summer myself (and some of which I've already watched, of course). You can access the TVMs by clicking on the titles. So simple. So awesome. Enjoy!

 
Death Follows a Psycho: I was gobsmacked when I ran across this TVM, which is actually two episodes of the short-lived series Griff edited together. Griff ran on ABC during the 1973 season and only produced 13 episodes. Griff, played by Lorne Greene is a private eye who used to be a cop. His assistant is played by Ben Murphy and The series has an interesting history. According to Wikipedia, the pilot didn’t actually air until 1975, but the reason is unknown (although I'm sure someone out there can tell me why). There were also two movies compiled from different episodes. Psycho was comprised of the episodes Countdown to Terror and Elephant in the Cage. The editing is clumsy and odd, as you can tell that footage/sound was added after the fact to make the two episodes feel like they existed simultaneously. However, it’s worth seeing for Montalban’s harrowing performance as the lunatic with a bomb strapped to his chest. As far as I know, Griff is fairly rare, making this TVM an ultra-rare TVM treat. See it.

The Defiant Ones: Robert Urich and Carl Weathers team up for the small screen remake of the classic film, which originally starred Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. Wowee wow wow. Although it’s been years since I saw the 1958 version, I love the original film. However, I’ve been dying to see this remake, which originally aired on ABC on January 5th, 1986, because the charm factor of both Urich and Weathers can go a long way. The biggest issues critics had with the film was that they felt it didn’t carry the racially charged politics of the first film, and was therefore rendered moot. In 2009, a writer for the Michigan Daily picked The Defiant Ones as one of the top five most unnecessary remakes (along with Psycho and the 2004 TV remake of Spartacus). I dunno. I can think of at least ten movies less interesting as far as remakes go, but of course I haven’t seen this one yet. But I will. Mark my words. I will.

Dixie: Changing Habits: OK, let me get this straight – The premise for Dixie, which originally aired on CBS on February 16th, 1983, is that Suzanne Pleshette is a madame who must go to a convent as part of a rehabilitation sentence (!) and goes up against Mother Superior, who is played by Cloris Leachman?!? Surely, I’ve died and gone to TV movie heaven! Maybe Dixie will show the nuns a trick or two, or maybe old habits die hard… har. This is also on DVD.

Murder of Innocence: I caught this movie by accident when it originally ran on CBS on November 30th, 1993, and was completely swept away with Valerie Bertinelli’s harrowing turn as a young woman dealing with a serious mental disorder. For whatever reason, I was not able to finish the movie and had never had a chance to catch up with it. Well, here it is on AP (and DVD and Hulu!), and it’s very close to the top of my Must See Stream list!

Rebecca: This is a 1962 adaptation of the classic Daphne Du Maurier novel, which had been turned into a fantastic motion picture by the one and only Alfred Hitchcock in 1940. I have not seen this adaptation, but love Joan Hackett and I think it’s pretty damn cool that this live broadcast is still with us. After a brief google search, it seems the biggest gripe is that the story had to be told in under an hour. Otherwise, the critics were kind to this adaptation. NBC’s Theatre ’62 seems to have been short lived, but featured many interesting actors, including Elizabeth Montgomery and Lee Remick, among others and was produced by the man behind Playhouse 90, Fred Coe. As far as I know, this is the only episode from the series that is available. The original airdate was April 8th, 1962.

Smash-Up on Interstate 5: Fantastic 70s tele-drama with a cavalcade of friendly small screen faces, Smash Up is surprisingly moving, and extremely well crafted. The film, which originally aired on ABC on December 3rd, 1976, starts at a major crash site and then backtracks 48 hours to show how everyone arrived at this moment. And not unlike the great theatrical disaster movies of the same decade, you are never quite sure who will make it out alive. Seriously amazing storytelling, this is one to put at the top of your list. Click here for a full review.

Starflight One (aka Starflight: The Plane that Couldn’t Land): At the tail end of the disaster genre, Starflight One comes along to kiss the beloved world of all-star-casts-in-big-time-calamity-flicks goodbye. Starflight, which originally aired on ABC on Febrary 27th, 1983, stars Lee Majors as Captain Cody Briggs, a philandering airplane pilot who must find a way to get his new hypersonic plane back into earth’s orbit! Yes sir, this is one crazy premise for a fun, if silly, made for TV movie. The cast alone makes it worth seeing. Check out Hal Linden, Lauren Hutton, Tess Harper, Ray Milland other great faces in one of the last of great disaster flicks (for more small screen supersonic mayhem - and you know you want it - check out SST: Death Flight).

The Stranger Who Looks Like Me: This is a rare ABC Movie of the Week featuring Meredith Baxter and Beau Bridges as two adoptees looking for their biological parents. The tele-film featured a scene between Baxter and her real life mom Whitney Blake and was well received upon its original release. Director Larry Peerce had just come off two theatrical films that did not meet box office expectations, A Separate Piece and Ash Wednesdays. In an interview he said he asked to make a TV movie because he “needed money to live on.” Stranger, which originally aired on March 6th, 1974, was a success and he returned to, and became a prolific, tele-film director in the 80s and 90s. Stranger also features great early performances from Patrick Duffy and Jocelyn Jones during a groovy rap session in the film.

 

Through Naked Eyes: OK, so I’m not a super huge fan of this movie, which originally aired on ABC on December 11th, 1983, but unless you have the VHS and a VCR to watch it in, this one is a little rare. It’s definitely worth checking out at least once, if only to see the great John Llewellyn Moxey’s take on small screen sex thrillers. David Soul is appropriately creepy as the weird voyeur who finds a beautiful young woman (Pam Dawber) who likes to be looked at, which further provides some interesting small screen scopophillia! Unfortunately, a rash of killings begin to occur in the area and guess which creepy peeper is Suspect #1? I do have a copy of Naked Eyes on VHS, but I plan on giving the movie a second shot this summer on AP, if only to see if the print has been improved upon… Hope is good.

The Women of San Quentin: This NBC tele-film, which originally aired on October 23rd, 1983, features an elite team of female prison guards stationed at one of the most infamous male prisons in America. Stella Stevens, Debbie Allen, Amy Steel and Rosana Desoto make up the group of guards. Apparently this film features self-reflection, female bonding and riots. One critic said the movie made your living room feel like a drive in! Oh yeah, I’m watching this one soon!

And here are some other cool tele-films floating around AP's ether:

Assassin (also on DVD)

The Burning Bed (also on DVD, but tre expensive)

The Last Days of Patton (also on DVD)

The Pioneer Women of Television (this one has Stefanie Powers, Nichelle Nichols, Linda Evans and Angie Dickinson... if that's not must see TV, I don't know what is!)

Return of the Rebels (also on DVD, and click here for my review)

And there's plenty more. So, why don't you stop by, say hi, kick back and stay awhile. 

Chain of Passion Part 2: Harlequin Adaptations and the Shades of Love Series

Here is part two of my look at Romance TV movies. If you were curious about part one, you can click on this link , or just keep in mind that the mid 80s were all about the revolution of Romance Theatre on VHS and hot kisses in cool rain. OK, you're set! Enjoy!

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Showtime took a shot at bringing the passion and moniker of the Harlequin romance books to the small screen in 1986. The first film, Love with the Perfect Stranger, starred Marilu Henner as an American businesswoman who finds love and adventure in Italy. Such a no-brainer. Sign me up!

From Harlequin's At the Midnight Hour
The Harlequin films were a co-production between Harlequin Books, Showtime, Video Ventures and Yorkshire Television, Ltd. Harry Chandler, who was in charge of Showtime’s program development remarked that “romance was something the audience wasn’t getting,” and that it was a “good compliment for male orientated programming, like boxing.” And how!

At the time, Harlequin romance novels accounted for 35% of all book sales! What a great market to tap into and in 1987, Showtime also aired Cloud Waltzing and Dreams Lost, Dreams Found. There have been over a dozen Harlequin movies released to date, some of which aired on Showtime, while the rest were televised in the 90s as Sunday afternoon movies on CBS. Lest we forget that the success of these films is often considered the precursor to our favorite television for women, Lifetime.

Thank. You. Harlequin.

The success of the Romance Theatre distribution and perhaps the release of the Harlequin movies prompted the creation of the Shades of Love Series in 1987. Shades has a somewhat dicey history. Co-producer L/A House, which was run by Kenneth Achity saw great potential in the market. However, every source I checked has a different story on where Shades was originally released. Some say the series was made for television, others say they were produced for the direct to home video market and still there are others who claim some were made for cable TV and also made for video! Geesh! Can anyone clear this up?

I’m a huge Shades of Love fan. This Canadian series of films featured many a hunky and familiar TV face, such as Dack Rambo, Simon MacCorkindale and the swoon-erific Parker Stevenson. The female love interests were lesser-known Canadian actresses. The idea was that the viewers could envision themselves in the female role, and fantasies would ensue! Shades had much higher production values than Romance Theatre, and a bit of nudity which I assume was to entice the boyfriends/husbands who were forced to watch it. Hey, everybody wins, right?

The 80s were a great place to find love in the afternoon, on cable and on video. It’s unfortunate that most of these movies have fallen by the wayside, with the exception of the latter round of Harlequin TV movies, which are mostly available on DVD. Below are my recommendations for the Shades of Love and Harlequin series, should you so desire. And it’s all about desire, right?

Shades of Love:

Make Mine Chartreuse: Yes, this is perhaps the worst titled movie ever, but boy, is it ever romantic and fun! Chartreuse converted me into a complete Joseph Bottoms lover. He plays a romance writer who falls for a pretty business executive (played well by Catherine Colvey). Their careers keep getting in the way of the sexy stuff, but by the end, you know these two are destined for long nights of… um, chartreuse, which is the name of a drink in the movie. OK. It’s still romantic and silly and all those things that make me giggle. I love.

Honorable Mention: I like all of the Shades of Love movies I’ve seen so far, and I’m going to mention two more.  

Champagne for Two: This was the first movie in the Shades series I saw and it is just the cutest movie ever (yes, that’s my critical review of it). It’s sweet, the leading lady is great and the love interest (Nicholas Campbell) is pretty damn sexy. See it!

The Rose Café: Full disclosure: It’s really not my favorite in the series, but it does feature Parker Stevenson as the perfect leading man. The lead actress (Linda Smith) is a bit grating, but Parker smoothes the whole thing out with his luscious locks and gorgeous blue eyes. I’ve seen this one probably more than the others in the series because I just can’t get enough of Mr. Stevenson. And I’m thinking I need to give it another spin soon!

Harlequin: I haven’t seen as many of these, so I’m only able to recommend one, but it’s great.

Change of Place: This piece of fluffy goodness is about a top model that has to go into rehab so she asks her mousey art historian twin sister to replace her! No joke. Rick Springfield owns the fashion house she works for, and love blooms amongst the shoulder pads and stonewashed jeans. I bought this movie on a whim because I adore Rick, and I was happily pleased with it. The lead actress, Andrea Roth is gorgeous and talented and I was rooting for her the whole way.

And just cuz it’s my blog, here are some Danielle Steel adaptation recommendations:

Daddy: Yes, I know this is not the fan favorite of Steel’s wonderful tele-films, but it’s the one I watch the most. Patrick Duffy is fantastic as the happy family man who has his life torn apart when his cold-hearted wife (Kate Mulgrew playing one of the most dislikable characters I have ever come across) leaves him. He ends up meeting the gorgeous Lynda Carter, and the story is just so darn engaging and well done. It’s a perfect rainy afternoon movie, and one I love with all my heart.

Secrets: I can’t say enough good things about this one. It’s pretty over the top, featuring a story about a nighttime soap where the actors’ lives are just as melodramatic as their characters. This is a fast and fun flick. And I have to give a nod to Stephanie Beacham who appears in both this and A Change of Place. I so want to be her!
 

A Chain of Passion Part 1: Romance Theatre

I started to write an article about Romance Theatre and found that I kept adding and adding information until I finally had written about RT, Harlequin adaptations and the Shades of Love series. I decided to break my article up into two smaller bite sized pieces, with some recommendations at the end of each post. Enjoy!

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It was the early 80s and everything was pastel-ish and perfect. Soft wavy hair fell down the slim, brown shoulders of young, nubile actresses as they kissed their leading men, who were often rippling muscles underneath tanned flesh. It was a great time for love, wasn’t it?

Well, on TV for sure.

In my real life, I was about 10 and obsessed with the Hello Kitty stickers that I collected from Rainbow Station. It was the only thing that I wanted to be near when I was that age. But I became an adult and quickly realized that I had grown up too late. I missed those ruggedly handsome men of yesteryear. My only recourse was to seek out made for TV romances. OK, maybe that wasn’t my only option, but short of building a time machine, I felt limited.

For whatever reason, I have never been particularly impressed with theatrical love stories, yet, I find the small screen romance offerings beckoning me. Honestly, I’m not sure what the difference is, but that’s how the world revolves for me. Maybe it's those addictive Danielle Steel adaptations where cupid first struck me with his bow and arrow (thank you, Lifetime). Who knows? All I can say now is that I love, love, love TV love.

When I was a kid, I remembered a syndicated series that featured week-long novella-type stories. I watched a couple of them over summer break and then quickly forgot about them. Flash forward to 2005 and I’m in a video store in the middle of nowhere. They are blowing out their vhs collection and I stumble across something called Isle of Secret Passion. Hey, for $4.95 I figured I couldn’t lose. When I searched for it on IMDb, I came up with nuthin’ and began to feel like I had a very rare item in my possession. The three actors listed, Patch MacKenzie, Michael MacRae and Zorah Lampert were all known to me because of their work in horror movies (Graduation Day, Madhouse and Let’s Scare Jessica to Death respectively). I was excited. I popped it on and instantly, Louis Jordan and his beautiful accent flooded my airwaves. He spoke only of love, and I listened. And I remembered the Romance Theatre from my youth. It was a wonderful moment. I was reborn. OK, maybe not reborn, but the whole thing was awesome, trust me.

Photo from David Hedison's website
As luck would have it, the vhs box had a list of titles for other Romance Theatre episodes, and my journey began. When the series originally appeared on the home video market, it caused a couple of modest waves. The show might have been edited down to fit into an approximate 100 minute running time, but with ads, the 5-episode anthologies probably ran that exact length. However, I believe Jourdan was definitely edited down because I have a memory that he appeared in every episode, but he’s only featured at the beginning of the tape here. This is disappointing because I could hear him speak of nothing but love all day! Swoon, right? Right. 

These newly converted episodes were shot on video romance movies that captured the essence of love in the afternoon. They were melodramatic and slightly over the top, and boy were they focused on love! There were no side conversations about Reganomics or the housing market or anything. They were wonderful.

The movies often featured early performances from actresses who were just around the corner from success. Case in point, The Awakening of Cassie starred an adorable P.J. Soles, and Bayou Romance featured a super cute Annie Potts! Oh, and hey, is that Deborah Forman I see in Love in the Present Tense? Yup.

In an interview about Romance Theatre, Louis Jourdan commented, “Here we see glamorous men and women caught in seemingly hopeless romantic situations. The characters are often slaves to their passions, saying and doing foolish things. This is not high tragedy or great art -- none of these tapes has any redeeming social value. What they do offer is fun and entertainment -- and the suggestion that they are probably closer to real life than most of us would care to admit. How many times have you said of your own love life, ‘I can’t believe this; it’s just like a soap opera?’”

Ummm, Jourdan rocks!

This is Jourdan rocking (oh, and speaking only of love)
Prism Entertainment released the movies and they were considered the wild card of the new home video industry. A 1986 article about the new VHS business model reported that the series originally released six titles and sold over 100,000 copies! Six more titles followed afterwards.

Life was good in 1986, that’s all I’m going to say here.

Courtesy of Vintage Toledo TV
If you think you are in the mood for love and own a decent VCR, may I recommend the following for your rainy Sunday afternoon pleasure?
 
Love at the Top: This entry in the Romance Theatre collection is somewhat interesting because, unlike Bayou Romance, Love in the Present Tense and a few others, it does not feature an actress who went to become famous. However the wonderful Janice Page is featured as the owner of a lingerie business who needs a smart woman to help get her line cracking. Glynnis Kidwell (such a romance novel name!) must decide between business and pleasure when she becomes friendly with Kyle Durant, who is up for the same position as her. Get it? Position… I have to admit, Kyle may start off unlikable, but I was rooting for him by the end of the film. He’s totally hot too. The lead actress is only OK, but overall, I think this Romance Theater episode is a lot of fun.

Honorable Mention:

Lights, Camera, Action, Love: OK, this one also does not feature a leading lady who went on to stardom, but it hits all the right romance notes, and the casting of the gorgeous Gary Hudson as one of sexy suitors left me sighing all the way to the end.

Petticoat Junction: A Cannonball Christmas

Now that I’m finally on vacation, I have not been able to find a better way to unwind than with episodes of Petticoat Junction. When I was but a wee Amanda By Night I watched the Beverly Hillbillies and was a fairly voracious Green Acres fan, but I had never bothered to sit a spell at the Shady Rest. I am not sure why, but I don’t recall this show rerunning in my neck of the woods. Such a shame too, because I think growing up with the Bradley girls in charge of fashion would have helped me greatly. As it stands, I remain a victim to acid washed jeans and am a newfound fan of Petticoat Junction.

Life at the Junction was syrupy sweet and innocent and made for a nice antidote to the tumultuous 60s with its bright and hopeful stories. Heck, it’s still an antidote. Give me Uncle Joe over Dexter any day (I know, I’ll catch hell for that, but I gotta follow my heart).

I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the holidays than with a Christmas episode of my new favorite show, and I made it so. A Cannonball Christmas is from the first season of the series, airing, appropriately enough, on December 24th of 1963. I have only been watching the color episodes from 1965 on and was not familiar with the actresses playing Bobby Joe and Billie Joe. They really don’t have a big part in this episode, so I'm kinda still unfamiliar with them. The main focus falls on the engineer and conductor of the local steam train affectionately called the Cannonball as they go up against a big city Scrooge set on making a name for himself by ruining the little train that could.

Things are always hopping at the Shady Rest when the holidays hit. This year is no different as Kate (Bea Benaderet) and her girls (Jeannine Riley, Pat Woodell and Linda Kaye) are hustling and bustling in an attempt to get the Cannonball decorated in time to sing carols from their beloved train. However, Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane) is set on ruining the holidays for all of Hooterville. To reinstate himself as VP of C&FW Railroad, he’s going to prove how inept the Cannonball crew is. The Bradleys band together in an attempt to save the day but are ultimately rescued by a Santa Claus whose one gift is to stop Bedloe in his tracks.

Despite the fact that I have never seen any of the black and white episodes of Petticoat Junction, I have to say this was surprisingly consistent with the later ones. Sam Drucker (Frank Cady) is (not so) secretly in love with Kate, the girls are knockouts who will only use their feminine wiles in the most innocuous ways possible, and Uncle Joe is moving kind of slow. In short, I loved it. Although I do miss the hunky Steve Elliot (Mike Minor) giving guff to his tomboy-turned-Stepford-wife Betty Joe. But I guess that’s for another blog post!

According to my handy Tis the Season guide, this episode was remade in 1968! I might get my Mike Minor Christmas cheer after all! Rawr!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Read more holiday reviews:

Terror on the 40th Floor
A Mouse, A Mystery and Me
The Gathering (written by guest blogger Joanna Wilson)
Ebbie
Nestor, The Long Eared Christmas Donkey

Five Reasons You Should be Watching General Hospital

As some of you may know, I was a big One Life to Live fan, but my fandom was cut short when the suits at ABC cancelled my story. I migrated over to General Hospital because it was announced that some of the OLTL crew was heading to Port Charles. I used to watch GH back in the 80s and a little into the 90s, so I was excited to see who had survived and what was left of the actors from their heyday. I’ll be honest, I thought this current mobster ridden version of GH was a mess. When I started watching it earlier this year, the series was dealing with the Woman in White and some guy with a fedora. The pacing and dialog was hackneyed. I know it’s hard getting into a show like GH when it’s been on for years and has a ton of history, but I’m not going to lie - It was bad.

Fast-forward 10 months: Now I am knee deep in romance and suspense and could not be happier with the show. It recently moved to a new time slot, inviting much speculation about its future. Actually, there’s been a lot of gossip going ‘round about the future of daytime dramas in general. It looks dim guys, but let me tell you that there is still plenty of great entertainment to be had. And here are five reasons why you should check out GH:

The One Life to Live Characters are awesome!

OK, I’m biased on this one, and it’s actually my number one reason to tune in. However, I am not deaf to the negative reaction the migration has caused among some die-hard GH viewers. In some ways I get it, maybe I’d have my own nose out of joint if the same thing had been done to OLTL. But in the end, I think this addition only makes the show more fun, and it gives us fans a nod that we have not been forgotten. That said, the three main recurring characters from OLTL: Starr, McBain and the delicious Todd Manning have been wonderful additions to Port Chuck. There’s been a backlash regarding McBain cheating on Natalie, but Soaps in Depth recently featured an article on yo-yo relationships and highlighted the couple’s tumultuous history. I think sometimes we want to remember certain couples as perfect - and don’t get me wrong, when Vicki and Clint separated, I was devastated, but soap life goes on. I grew to love every single one of Vicki’s husbands (Sloane, I still miss you). I do like McBain and Sam together and I think it will be nice to watch a new relationship blossom.

That said, Todd is the real standout on the show. Roger Howarth has some insanely wonderful comic timing, and I’m glued to my seat every time he's is on screen. Even though I’m not a huge Carly nut, I have to admit that they make an interesting potential couple. I’ll be tuning in tomorrow for sure!

The mobster stuff isn’t as overwhelming as it used to be!

I heard through the sudsy grapevine that GH survived the ax because the ex President of ABC Daytime, Brian Frons had a serious hard-on for mobsters. But GH was never The Sopranos. It has some great hunky bad guys, but a mob war turned some people away. Many of those gangsters remain amongst the locals, but they are more focused on other issues. I’m not quite sure how you rid Port Charles of the mob clans, because characters like Sonny and Johnny remain extremely popular (while also being just as unpopular). Steve Burton who has played Jason Quatermaine/Morgan recently left the show after spending over 20 years as that guy with the anime hair and a black tee shirt. I know he was a very popular character, but this will probably level the mobster stuff a bit more. I think they’ve done well to give Johnny a guilty conscience and in the end this will diffuse a lot of the gunplay. If I could have suggested one thing regarding these changes it would have been to focus on the Quatermaines. And they did! Monica and Tracy are awesome and beloved characters who have been enjoying some well deserved screen time.

On a side note, I was extremely sad to read of John Ingle’s passing. Ingle had played the loveable curmudgeon Edward Quartermaine since 1993. The show wrote in the death of his character and featured a voice over from the late actor, as well as one from Anna Lee, the actress who played his wife Lila. Lee died in 2004, so it was pretty amazing how they worked her into the episode. Kleenex, please!

The stories are insane and insanely gripping!

It might be impossible for me to actually tell you everything that’s been going on since February because sooooo much has happened. From Robin’s fake death to Anna and Luke sharing some bed time, to the whole Kate/Connie story to Patrick’s drug abuse to learning the surprising truth about Lisa Niles’ death to Jerry Jacks poisoning the town’s water supply, to the awesome latex Duke mask to the sweet and romantic Ellie/Spinelli/Maxie triangle, most of the stories have kept my head appropriately spinning at the end of every episode. The stories are fantastic and rolled out at lightening speed. The way the Jerry Jacks story unfolded was a work of complete daytime artistry. I don’t have clever words to describe the tremendous leaps and bounds the show has grown, so I'll just say it is fantastic.

The acting is great!

OK, I know. Soaps are famous for running the continuum of great to horrible acting. Even actors who normally knock it out of the park have bad days, especially now with the new one-take policy that seems so popular on these daytime shows. So I just want to focus on one actor in particular who has done an incredible job with his storyline. Jason Thompson plays Patrick Drake and recently he lost his wife (who isn’t really dead) and then became addicted to drugs (which he beat fairly easily) and has now become a crush for a sweet new character. Since I just stepped into Port Charles only earlier this year, I found that Patrick's story was the one that instantly captivated me. Perhaps some of that is due to the fact that I’m still quite familiar with Robin Scorpio, who was his wife, but I think most of it boils down to Thompson’s performance. Also worth noting is that he plays Noah Drake’s son. Noah was played by Rick Springfield and I do admit, I see a nice resemblance between the two. I love the Drake history on the show and I’m pleased they are rolling out Patrick’s story slowly, so we can feel the process of grief and recovery along with him. That’s what daytime is all about really. If it can’t get to the heart of our deepest emotions (good and bad), then it’s a failed experiment, but Thompson makes the whole thing a success.

And as a sidenote: Todd is hilarious! Wait, I think I already said that. He's also adorable, in case you were wondering. 

Soap Opera Digest named General Hospital as the Most Improved Soap!

And they aren’t the only ones heaping praise on the once beleaguered sudser (I loved writing that sentence). The Hufington Post and even Hollywood Reporter have written some very encouraging things about the series, and it continues to rise in the ratings.

I would be fooling myself if I thought the soap genre had an infinite lifespan. These are dark days. Soaps are expensive and don’t garner the huge numbers they used to. However, that does not mean that we have to go gently into that good night. Indeed, we should be kicking and screaming the entire way. There are still a few million passionate fans out there and this has been an interesting time to have something called the interwebs. I’ve been watching some wild dissension among fans, mostly because we are in a panic. Sometimes the knee jerk reactions from fans are even more dramatic than the soaps themselves! However, aside from those dark bits of negativity, which the net is unfortunately prone to, the internet is also a great way to have your voice heard. I have actually emailed everyone from network execs to advertisers in an effort to let them know how important the genre is to me. If you like soaps, you should take a shot on one of the four remaining shows. We have hit a high with stories, acting and pacing. This is a great time to rediscover love in the afternoon!

Update: And as luck would have it, One Life to Live and All My Children may, like so many characters from their shows, rise from the dead. Check out this breaking news article about the shows going online here!

Biddi, Biddi, Biddi: Oh, Buck!

When I think of Buck Rogers I think of those warm summer days and nights of my childhood, where Twiki was a hot topic and Princess Ardala was one scary Draconian Princess! Although it only ran two seasons, Buck and his merry day-glo band left a deep impact in my heart. As an adult I see why, although I'm sure I didn't catch a lot of the suggestive humor or camera trickery. Nor did I truly appreciate the awesomely awesome costumes which adorned such lucky actresses as Erin Gray and Pamela Hensley (btw, did they sew Erin Gray into that super tight blue thing she always wore? Holy cow). But now that I'm revisiting the series via Netflix I am reassessing all things late 70s spacey.

The episode Escape From Wedded Bliss isn't necessarily better than any of the other episodes, but it left me gobsmacked by the colorful cornucopia of glittery royal bikini wear (really Princess Ardala, that's just a bathing suit with a sparkly hat and cape) and the bright, bright lights of New Chicago. If you remember Buck and think you might not find the show as much fun in your adult years, I think you should go to Netflix now and get your Dr. Theo-on because it's even better now. Or maybe I'm just remembering it better now... who knows? At any rate, I encourage one and all to re-fall in love with all things Buck!

  Never, I repeat never bother Princess Ardala when she's getting a rubdown by slavegirls! 

  Did you know that in the future they will get rid of roller blades and go back to roller skates! Oh yes, they will! 

  This is seriously the most suggestive space ship landing I have ever seen! 

  Princess Ardala whips out the royal bikini wear for an auspicious occasion 

  Col. Wilma Deering decides to go undercover as a creamsicle 

  Tiger Man: Fashion Forward 

  Space age roofie! 

  Space age girdle? 

  Princess Ardala's faboo bikini wedding wear! 

  Shotgun wedding! Ha! I'm here all weeks guys! 

The highlight of the episode was that they actually featured a scene with Twiki acting! I'm not kidding. He's all upset that Buck won't take him on an adventure so he starts to mope (in the dark no less). Buck finally feels the guilt and invites Twiki along for the ride. Here are two of the more moving moments from the episode:

Twiki Sad 

  Twiki Happy 

  And one last thing: Dr. Theo = Adorable