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So, Days, what are they thinking?

I know that we’re talking about an ever-changing set of behind-the-scenes players other than that Corday guy, but I’ve decided that figuring out what Days casting and story strategy is may well be impossible.

Let’s look at what we know irrefutably:  Days got renewed for a relatively short period of time with a much reduced budget.  

As viewers, I think that no matter how much we may like certain characters, we understand that means changes and cuts we may not like, but can ultimately accept.  Those cuts were most noticeable with Days letting, over a period, 7 veteran actors/characters go.  John and Marlena, who I am on record as believing were played out anyway, Steve and Kayla who never really got the return story they (and we) deserved, Tony and Anna who were in a similar boat to Steve and Kayla but got a more respectful exit than the other four put together, and, earlier, Adrienne, who was never really used.

Okay, we don’t like it necessarily, but we get it.

At the other end of the spectrum, they finally, finally, developed their 30-something set, introducing some new and recast characters and moving it to a group as opposed to just a trio. But they then had the previously strong early-20s set decimated thanks, mainly, to the call of prime time.  Sure, Nick was sent off by choice, but Blake Berris was already booking prime time gigs when that happened, and Rachel Melvin and Darin Brooks have followed.

So Days casts a new “Horton”, and then, in stark contrast to their behaviour over the last six-odd months, goes on a veteran casting spree.

First, Crystal Chappell as Carly Manning.  Which I, for the most part, totally get.  She’s one of the best actresses in daytime and currently part of the most buzz-worthy couple in daytime on a soap that’s already cancelled.  Go for it.

Now, Wally Kurth as Justin Kiriakis.  I love Wally.  I wish he was still being used extensively as Ned Ashton on GH for any number of reasons.  But despite the resurgence of the Kiriakis family, isn’t the return of Justin now just the MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER?

See all those comments above about Adrienne and Steve and Kayla, aka Justin’s family?  Not to mention all of those comments when Adrienne was last around about where the hell Justin and their four boys were given that Kurth was already dumped to recurring status over at GH by then?

When Adrienne last appeared is was established that she and Justin were still married, so now are we just going to have the reverse, with Justin present and Adrienne and the boys absent?  Will he take over management of the Cheatin’ Heart?  Or will they pull Judi Evans back from selling cemetery plots?

Either way, though, what’s the point now when Adrienne’s family, aside from Stephanie, is gone with and without explanation?  And do we really think they can write for Adrienne now when they couldn’t before?  Will Justin be back to do anything other than spar with Phillip and Bo about an inheritance Justin himself gave up 20-odd years ago?

To summarise, I’m pleased Wally Kurth is back, but I have no idea what the powers that be are actually thinking, if anything.

And I do really, really hope they surprise me enough to get me watching again.  Because although they seem to be making the right casting moves in terms of the actors, unless they’re going to deliver me story I’m interested in they’re not going to get me back.

OLTL Catch-up: Week 5

Week Five

- Brody and Jessica continue to be super sweet, but not saccharine, especially with the fake fights, and Viki gets in on the secret

- The killers are revealed, and creepy; one of them is insane and the other somewhat dim, and a bad actress.  They make their move with straight jackets, invitations and botox

- Marty and John continue to convince me as friends-ish, but not as a couple, especially given that John and Blair have more chemistry in a phone call than Marty and John have sharing a bed.  Heaven help me, but Marty has better chemistry with Todd

- Cole continues to be chased by his demons, and is supported by Starr, but as it turns out a good night’s sleep cures Cole of his addiction to pills, and Starr of her addiction to Schuyler

- Blair finally (in soap time) leaves the hospital, but moves in with Todd

- Oh so surprisingly, Cristian, who hasn’t worked in any form whatsoever in the more than a year I’ve been watching this show, can’t afford to buy his suddenly going co-op apartment, while sometime off-screen Adriana sold her business so Layla conveniently also cannot afford her rent.  I wonder what will happen next?  

- Speaking of off-screen, Talia does not get an on-screen funeral

- Kyle gets tied to the serial killer story as well as informing Starr and Cole that the hair sample from “Hope” isn’t from their child, figures out the baby switch in the process, and calls Jared and Natalie on their knowledge of it before employing a little blackmail

- Jared and Natalie are apparently now getting married “tomorrow”!  With no planning.  See this post for my thoughts on that

- Tea decides to show up at Todd’s wearing not much, having apparently forgotten that he got custody of his kids.  However she makes up for that by making a nice play of “if you’re sleeping with someone, you’re sleeping with everyone they’ve slept with” both figuratively and, by the end of the week, literally

- Cole, Nora and Bo reach an understanding of sorts

- Lola tells Dorian that Markko and Langston are planning on having sex

- and I continue to fast forward all of the Fiasco except the conversation between Gigi and Viki, and the Scott Clifton bits which didn’t technically cross with the story at all this week. Unfortunately the Fiasco invades my screen 4 out of 5 days

Rating for the week: 3 out of 5.  On the plus side the serial killer story started to move to a climax, and there was progress with the baby-switch, but there was far too much of the Fiasco to make it a good week.

Come on Days, pull a Y&R

 So, Crystal Chappell is returning to Days as Dr Carly Katerina Von Leuschner Manning.

My first response is, of course, a big yay! for Days bringing back one of the best actresses in daytime.  And a character I liked.  And breaking their no one over 40 rule.  

My second response is déjà vu, going back to this post.  Not that you need to be bothered reading that post, because essentially what is was about was a few questions on Y&R bringing back Tricia Cast as Nina.  I was concerned that Nina was no longer – at the time her return was announced – much tied to the canvas due to the rampant retconning that had taken place during her absence, and therefore what was the point of her return unless they were about to undo some or all of those retcons?

The answer, fabulously, was “all”.  Jill is once again not Katherine’s daughter, Cane is not Jill’s son, and Nina and Phillip Chancellor IV are suddenly tied right back to the canvas.  All without the need to bring back Cricket.

With Days bringing back Carly I have some similar questions.  Of all the people she was involved with, the only one really still around is Bo.  Now, sure, that’s the most important one, and Carly was involved with both Peter Reckell’s and Robert Kelker-Kelly’s versions of Bo, so there’s not a complete detachment there.  But what about everyone else?  There’s no best friend Jennifer, there’s no brother Frankie, there’s no Shawn-Douglas, there are no Alamains whatsoever, not even not-quite-sorta Alamain John.  

So, does Days just bring Carly back with some lame/non-existent/a la Adrienne off screen explanation for where Lawrence and Nicholas are and throw her straight into an, admittedly potentially fabulous, triangle with Bo and Hope?  Or do they take a leaf out of Y&R’s book and use her return to do some fabulous things with the people she was involved with back in the day?  Like, we could only hope, Louise Sorel’s Vivian Alamain.  Or bringing on someone as Nicky who can mix it with the younger set who, after all, he’s connected with but not at all related to.

And one assumes that Crystal Chappell’s real life hubby Michael “Lawrence Alamain” Sabatino is coming back to LA with her. Of course, it’s just a pity that Steve isn’t around anymore, given that Lawrence is the one who was actually responsible for faking his death…  But that’s the stuff of about five other posts.

So, Days, great casting coup, but now let’s really see if you can step up to the plate and create something that will make me tune back in.

On a semi-related, small soap world note, I’m also thrilled to see that Lynn “Lucy Coe” Herring has joined the As the World Turns cast.  Obviously, it’s not a show I watch, but anything getting her back on the air, not to mention in some way reunited with Jon “Kevin Collins” Lindstrom, is a great thing.  And related to this post as little Nicky Alamain was of course responsible for off-ing Lynn Herring’s Days character, Lizette Whatsherface, when Herring took a brief early 90s break from GH.  Which she thankfully rapidly went back too.  Otherwise we would never have had Sigmund the Duck, which would have been a huge shame.  Oh dear, now that’s got me remembering the days when GH had several pets as featured characters.  That were far more entertaining than many of the characters they have now. Sigh.

With this glowing purple ring, I thee wed

As much as I’m reluctant to praise AMC which sucks on so many levels – though the promise of an Erica-Ryan hook-up is the kind of comedy gold viewers have been sarcastically predicting for years, thanks for throwing us a bone, AMC – I really enjoyed the Jake-Amanda wedding.  

Not just because I like the couple, but also because of how it was put together.  

Almost all soap weddings take place in one of two ways: months or years of couple angst finally overcome and followed by a big wedding prepared in what seems like less than 24 hours; or JP/Vegas marriage of convenience/drunkenness/animosity etc.
 
Jake and Amanda’s wedding didn’t break those rules in terms of time, but it turned the haste into an asset – and not even an unrealistic one.  

Having decided to get married – they might be in the midst of an angsty situation, but I loved the way she just said “yes” instead of um-ing and ah-ing before getting there – they did two things so right.  They (a) went straight out and got, dun, dun, a marriage licence (how practical of them); and (b) got Tad ordained on the internet in order to marry them in the living room in slightly dressy normal clothes.  

In this day and age, that’s what you do if you’re not going for the all out a year in the planning affair that most soap weddings usually look like.  You get a friend or family member ordained on the internet (diversion: remember the quaint old days when Northern Exposure’s Chris had to get ordained by responding to an ad in a magazine?), and have a simple ceremony.

There was no improbably big gown or huge floral arrangement, they didn’t have time to go out and buy rings, and it was all the sweeter for it.

Of course, this is a soap, so they still managed to have David show up – out of nowhere admittedly – so Opal could bash him over the head with the bouquet and they could wind up with this set of witnesses:


And it is a calm before the soap storm type of wedding, but such a cute one.  Not overdone, not ridiculous, just fun.  Loved it.


Though, wow, that Marissa is annoying, isn’t she?  Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given her sister, and mother.

Diversion into Pratt-land

I'd been hearing good things about a tiny pocket of AMC known as Jake and Amanda, so I took a moment out of my OLTL catch-up to track down some scenes. 

I had liked what little I saw of them back when I last checked in to the show for a day and a half during Tornado-fest 2008, and sure enough I do rather like them now.  Even if the pregnancy story does have the ring of a copy-cat familiarity and sent me flashing back to the origins of Tad and Dixie, they have really lovely chemistry and it's about time Amanda had a proper story after all that time languishing on the back-burner.  Also, it's nice, especially on this show, when unplanned chemistry is eventually played to when it appears instead of sticking with the original, bad, script.

However, it strikes me that nothing about giving this baby to Fauxliza can possibly be a good idea.  Much as nothing about Fauxliza is a good idea except perhaps the way they have actually remembered the history with Colby's parentage and Jake.  But that's not enough for me to entertain anything positive about this casting debacle. 

Jake and Amanda, on the other hand, I give a thumbs up too.

OLTL Catch-up: Weeks 3 and 4

Week Three

- Charlie is jealous of Clint and Viki, leading to Charlie agreeing to move in with Viki despite being uncomfortable with living at Llanfair

- Talia dead, stabbed, pool, John arrested, Major officious, John escapes (at least there’s no fake-hanging this time), fugitive, indispensable hero complex, etc, etc

- Talia’s death reverberates, Cristian and Layla get closer (Tika Sumpter does a great job with her reaction scenes), Antonio returns, rather creepy morgue hugging scenes ensue

- Viki and Todd share a few good scenes about the state of the newspaper business and Tea

- Lola continues to be a little bitch. A psycho little bitch, but absolutely everyone sees through her

- Tea continues to use Todd for sex, and use sex to distract him, and provide Marty with the excuse to make this wholly appropriate face upon walking in on the aftermath of them doing it in the court room – “I’ll admit it was a poor choice of venue”

- Starr appears to be coming back from the brink of teacher-obsessed madness, which is both good and rather fast

- Cole delivers one of those hilarious potted soap histories to Rachel in order to justify his drug use, and then makes progress, and starts to go into withdrawal

- RJ reappears, David reappears, his marriage to Dorian disappears

- Nora gets strangled by a blouse

- Natalie punches Brody in the six pack

- Starr and Cole begin the testing process to find out what happened to Hope

- and I fast forward all of the Morasco Fiasco (except where it crosses with Brody and Jessica), which invades my screen for 2 of 5 days.  Can I add that one of the most disappointing things about this story is that the one promising bit, the reveal of Rex’s father, has been left to hang around

Rating for the week: 3 out of 5. The John being framed thing is utterly boring because it’s so damn predictable and makes no objective sense, but with far less Morasco, far more Tea, an actual appearance by Blair, and shirtless Brody, an improvement over the previous couple of weeks.

Week Four

- David and Viki hang out

- John and Marty go on the run, snore, try to track down Powell, blah, blah. I don’t have a problem with them in theory, but in practice I find him and Blair far more interesting.  Though at least the story is now progressing

- Brody comes clean to Jessica about fake-sleeping with Gigi, she forgives him, and hotness ensues, and later, total cuteness

- Cole confesses to Starr that he’s an addict, and the scenes are heartfelt and really good, they then decide that going through withdrawal in her bedroom in a house where approximately 265 people live is a good idea

- Ray and Dorian go on a date, but again I don’t care so much because Ray is leaving, even though they have great chemistry. RJ and Tea go on a date, but it’s only to make Todd jealous, and it works.

- Markko and Langston start to heat things up

- Todd gets custody of the kids, which, given the circumstances, is hardly a surprise

- Matthew goes back to school, Bo and Nora sweetly and hilariously follow him there, almost make-out, get sprung by Marcie, and get a lesson in parenting a teenager

- and I fast forward all the Morasco Fiasco, which invades my screen for only 2 days out of 5 and only 1 of those involved Stacey.  Much improvement

Rating for the week: 4 out of 5.  I’m bored with the serial killer story, mainly because it just seems to be a really obvious way of throwing John and Marty together, but everything else was pretty damn good.

OLTL Catch-up: Weeks 1 and 2

Yeah, yeah, so I took a 8 week soap break.  At first unintentional, and then semi-intentional.  

But how does one come back from that kind of hiatus?  By taking it like the proverbial sportsperson: one week at a time.

And they say nothing happens on soaps…

OLTL Catch-up Week One

- Starr goes over-the-top loony in her desperation for Schuyler, and Cole isn’t much better, returning once again to pact with the devil and tittle-tattle to Todd when Starr does something he doesn’t like. Todd reacts predictably. Schuyler, however, stands up to Todd and I love Scott Clifton even more

- Everyone starts pursuing Zach as a possible killer

- Zach holds Starr and Cole hostage, causing Todd, John and Marty to voluntarily work together without too much crap

- Jared and Natalie talk, talk, talk about telling or not telling the truth about the baby

- Brody tries to explain the Gigi situation to Jessica

- David appears in a hilarious haemorrhoid commercial and Dorian and Ray dance around each other some more but I am no longer interested in the second part of that because I know Ray is leaving

- Jack Manning remains fabulously brat-tastic. And pretty smart.  Though Ray is pretty hilarious in return.

- Matthew comes home, we start to get a hint of a larger story with Destiny and Shaun, and Rachel makes an appearance. On that note, of course I have no idea about the character of Rachel, but I like the actress, and you can see she’s soap experienced because she was extremely natural right from the beginning, nothing stilted there

- Marty’s hair goes from wavy to straight mid-way through a conversation as the episode changes

- Lola’s psycho streak becomes more apparent.  But then I fast-forward through most of that, except for Langston being smart and cool

- Todd’s narcissism is called out by numerous people

- Tea and Viki continue to rock

- I fast forward every single second to do with the Morasco Fiasco (except the bits with Brody and Jess mentioned above, and a bit involving Schuyler which had more to do with the Starr story) which invaded my screen on 3 out of 5 days

Rating for the week: 2.25 out of 5

Week Two

- Jared and Natalie talk, talk, talk about telling the truth about the baby, or not. But Jared does it in a towel, thus gaining .25 extra rating points

- Zach continues to hold Starr hostage, and John and Todd eventually fix up that situation

- Cole continues to be in the least convincing in-house rehab program ever, and high as the proverbial kite on the 4th of July, using his friends to cheat the drug tests

- Charlie and Viki are on together and get to be romantic, but get interrupted, of course.  However the ensuing conversation between Viki and Clint, with Viki pointing out the problems with Clint dating Nora, is a good thing.  And duelling conversations between Viki and Clint, and Bo and Nora redeem the interruption

- The sibling relationship between Matthew and Rachel is nicely established, and Rachel inappropriately agrees to be Cole’s counsellor, because in the least convincing in-house rehab program ever it is not possible to have an appropriate counsellor, apparently

- There were no scenes of John having to wrangle his step-kids.  Or interact with his wife for that matter

- Tea resists the urge to stab Todd in the eye with a sharp stick and uses him for sex instead.  Which is amusing, but still more than he deserves

- Chloe is Christened.  In the middle of a weekday, when everyone is supposed to be at school/work.  And prompts Starr and Cole to decide to exhume the baby

- John as murder suspect/general fugitive is set-up, the officious Mayor returns and I roll my eyes. Marty starts to get more of her memory back

- Talia gets stabbed and thrown in a pool

- and, I fast forward every single second to do with the Morasco Fiasco which invaded my screen on 3 out of 5 days, though as it quickly slid by it did appear that Stacey was finally getting stuck with needles and Shane was getting his transplant

Rating for the week: 2.5 out of 5

I take responsibility for my own opinions

I do not like Sharon Newman Abbott.

I have stated this before, but feel it needs to be put out there again.  I just don’t like her, and find myself utterly incapable of rooting for her (to use the American venacular) in any circumstances.

At first I was just ambivalent towards her.  But then it grew to actual dislike.  And now it’s at dislike and annoyance.

In the past I haven’t necessarily been able to grasp exactly why.  Was it because I preferred Nick with Phyllis?  And Jack with Phyllis?  And everyone with Phyllis?  Was it because I didn’t like her hair?  Why am I so concerned with why I do or do not like a fictional character?

I never thought that (hair aside) it had anything to do with Sharon Case.  She’s fine, not spectacular, not annoying.  But her character is one that I find myself barracking against, rather than for, in every single instance.

Thursday and Friday got me closer to figuring why.  Mainly because in those episodes, especially Friday, she had me actively annoyed as opposed to just passively meh.

It’s that she’s just so goddamned needy.  With a edge of the martyr.  And a healthy dose of unjustified self-pity.  And she always seems to play the little girl instead of a grown woman owning her decisions.

Like most soap characters – with a few exceptions – Sharon is rather promiscuous.  This is not a problem.  I’m a fan of the unapologetic soap slut, and occasionally even the apologetic ones.  Unfortunately Sharon is more a woe-is-me soap slut.  Both in the way she gets into these things and the way she acts once she’s in them.

Using sex as a coping mechanism – particularly for something like grief – is an interesting and fairly real kind of character trait.  But the way Sharon tends to repeat the pattern, not learn from her mistakes and still come off as kind of put upon throughout is unendearing.  Cassie dies, she becomes emotionally estranged from her husband, flirts with, strings along and ultimately sleeps with Brad.  She and Jack break up, she tries for some ‘me’ time, then sleeps with Nick.  Brad dies, she flails around, gets drunk and sleeps with Billy. And Nick. And Jack.

And winds up, predictably, pregnant.  This is a soap after all.  

Which brings us to Thursday/Friday. She (wo)mans up and tells Jack what he already knows, that any one of three guys, including his brother, could be the father of her unborn child.  And he, for better or for worse, reiterates the fact that no matter what he wants to be with her and take care of her and the baby.  (Parenthetical diversion into things that go without saying: Peter Bergman rocks.)  What is Sharon’s reaction?

Sniffle, sniffle, no one loves me, I don’t deserve to be loved, I’m scared of Phyllis, I don’t want to hurt anyone, Jack I will tell you what you’re thinking instead of taking you at your word because it makes me more alone, blah, blah.

And I became moved to write this post.  

She’s a grown woman, the mother of two teenagers (dead and alive) who, feeling guilty for dumping her non-boyfriend (boy was her non-relationship with Brad a hot mess of mutual immaturity and stringing along) right before he died saving her son, went and slept with both her ex-husbands and her ex-brother-in-law.  And got pregnant. 

Own it Sharon.  You slept with three hot guys.  If you're going to sniffle, sniffle in your own corner.  Do not sniffle in front of any of these guys.  Do not be all woe-is-me in public.  Suck it up.  Quit acting like a girl and take genuine, not sympathy-seeking, responsibility for the whole giant mess.  And if one or more of the potential Daddies is offering to step up and take responsibility – as they all damn well should because you didn’t get into this alone - then be honest with him about whether you want him to or not.  You’re allowed to say “I’m not sure, I want to wait and see what the paternity test says”.  That’s fine.  What bugs me is the “you’re not really feeling this and anyway I don’t deserve to be cared about” attitude which just comes across to me as (a) self-pitying; and (b) fishing for the “but you do deserve it, I love you” that she got from Jack.

I actually liked Sharon and Jack’s early relationship.  Sure, it came out of almost nowhere, largely a reaction to their respective exes hooking up and having a kid, but it seemed to me to be an adult relationship for her.  The only time I’ve seen it.  And while I truly hope that Jack is the father of this child – he deserves for one of these to turn out his way, I prefer Nick with Phyllis and would like Billy out of this mess ASAP – even in her relationship with him she’s now reverted back to little girl in a mess Sharon.  She may have reached a pact with Jack at the end of Friday, but I just can’t see her sticking with it medium to long term because (a) she’s Sharon; and (b) this is a soap.  Also, if she does stick with it the kid will turn out not to be his and I won’t be happy.

The other main reason that her playing all little woe-is-me girl bugs the hell out of me is that it comes across as an attempt to differentiate her from big, mean, crazy, independent Phyllis.  Even when the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and she's in the pregnant, doesn't know who the father is, homewrecker role, Sharon's positioning remains that of the victim as against Phyllis. She's scared of Phyllis and her reaction, etc, etc.  When really, they're both just as bad and almost as crazy as each other.  And I think they both know it, it's just that Phyllis is strong about it and Sharon is not.

And just to confirm, I still think this story is unnecessary, and aging Summer and having the characters point out the whole shoe being on the footedness of it doesn't make me like it any more no matter how good the performances.  I would have preferred that they kept having Sharon go down a path of self-destruction and then get herself out of it rather than have her get pregnant.  Chances are that then I may have come to like the character a bit more, as well as the story.

All of that said, I really did like the parallel conversations between Sharon and Jack, and Phyllis and Nick on Friday.  Lovely structuring and performances.

So, there we go.  I am purged.  I do not like Sharon Newman Abbott, and I own and take responsibility for my dislike.

I now open the doors up to the cyber throwing of things in my direction and general defence of Sharon.

I offer you some Beefcake with this rant

Why yes, my first post in some time, and my first post about Days in an age, is going to be a rant.  

And what’s more a rant about an obscure largely historical point rather than anything actually on the show yet.  So, you’ve been warned.

So Days, which has lost/thrown out/is losing most of its under-25 characters – to go with having thrown out half of its over-45 characters – has cast a new Horton lad for the beginning of summer.  

We all know how that’s going to turn out.  

(By the by, isn’t it kind of amusing that the safest characters on the show seem to be the over-70s and the 30-somethings, the two demographics that for all intents and purposes didn’t even exist on this show two years ago?)

Anyway, we will now welcome Nathan Horton.  A character who, I suspect, we will be expected to enjoy due to his (a) supposed Horton-ness; and (b) abs.  Not necessarily in that order.

Well I am sorry, bringing on Hortons may be a good idea and abs may be good for many things, but neither are going to distract me (for long) from the fact that this is A MADE UP CHARACTER.

For Nathan Horton is apparently supposed to be the child of classic 80s pairing Pete and Melissa.  

I am sorry, but no.  

Nathan could certainly be Pete’s child – although he’d need to be named Charlie and there wouldn’t be any point anyway – or he could be Melissa’s child from after she left town.  In fact bringing on a child of Melissa’s, a grandchild for Mickey and Maggie, would be a sterling idea (memories of their attempt at Jeremy Horton notwithstanding).  

However, the idea of him being Pete and Melissa’s child is just stupid.  It reeks of “let’s flip through the Days history book of couples that got the patented Days supercouple treatment and bring on their child”.  Without ever looking to see if (a) they actually had a child on-screen; or (b) it was in any way likely that they had one off-screen.

Pete and Melissa certainly got the patented Days supercouple treatment.  They were the teen/young couple of the moment when I first started watching – after Hope and Bo, before Jennifer and Frankie - so 12 year-old me had quite an affinity with them.  Good rich Horton girl, boy from the wrong side of the tracks.  Sound familiar?  Runaway teens, drug-related misunderstandings, gangs!, kidnappings, major obstacles in the form of him having to marry the other girl he got pregnant, (adulterous) summer on the run, big wedding.  

Of course, their story did have a couple of unique elements.  Most importantly his secret career as a stripper at Beefcakes, and the fact that they ultimately broke up because she left him for Lars, possibly the wettest catalyst for permanently breaking up a major couple in the history of this show.  

But still, Lars and his leg warmers are important in all of this, because he’s part proof of why Pete and Melissa having a child makes no sense.  Melissa and Pete broke up over Lars and Pete left town to go be with Ivy and their kid.  Melissa stayed in town for, small break for recasting aside, the best part of 6 years afterwards and then made various other appearances for family events over the ensuing years.  She had a series of boring, bad or downright horrid relationships: Lars, in-love-with-Kayla Jack, Emilio, Brian Schofield (he was the in a band with Keanu brother, not the John McBain brother, right?).  She was ultimately responsible for knocking off Emilio and his mullet.

She morphed from a “dancer” into a “singer” and moved to Nashville where she was later reported, I believe, to have married a doctor.  Which was, I assume, an in-joke about the fact that the original and returning Melissa, Lisa Trusel, was/is in real life married to the actor who after leaving Days played Dr Tom Hardy on GH, a part also played of course by Matt “Jack Deveraux” Ashford because soaps are a small world.  But even if that was a to-be-ignored-later in-joke, it doesn’t mean that they can just say she moved to Nashville and married Pete, because if she had she would have said something!  You don’t have a character come back occasionally for funerals and christenings and not throw the audience that kind of bone.

Therefore, I say, this Nathan person should not have been defined as Pete and Melissa’s child.  Nope.  Just wrong.  Melissa’s child, fine.  Pete and Melissa’s child, not fine.

And that’s even before I get on to the fact that no matter the parental permutation, his surname shouldn’t be Horton.  Pete’s surname was Jannings.  Melissa married “Dr Unspoken Surname” but I’m willing to bet that unspoken surname wasn’t Horton.  And Melissa herself may have been Mickey and Maggie’s adopted daughter, but she was always Melissa Anderson, not Melissa Horton.   The slapping on of the Horton surname just seems to be further proof of the plucked out of a barely informed someone’s arse nature of this character.  When Nick was introduced they didn’t feel the need to give him a Horton surname to make him part of the family, so why the need now?  

Ahhhh.  I feel better now. (And perfectly content with dwelling on the past. I am a child of 80s Days, and I am proud. And fond of parentheses.)

And to make you feel better too, relive the most important part of the story, Pete the Beefcake (also featuring Calliope):

Courtesy classicdaysof80s, which you should absolutely check out not only for a lot of Melissa and Pete’s history, but lots of the rest of the show’s classic storylines.

Emmy Nomination Reaction

It's reasonably well established around here that I don't give two hoots about the Emmys aside from what people choose to wear to the ceremony.

That doesn't mean I don't have a gut reaction to the nominations announced today.  Complete list at We Love Soaps.

That gut reaction: pretty solid except for whatever the hell they were smoking when they came up with the Outstanding Drama Nominees.  How Y&R and OLTL did not make that list, but Days, B&B and freaking AMC did, I have no idea.

I think all the women's nominations were pretty fair, though I would not have had Bree Williamson nominated for anything she did last year (though I've seen much improvement this year), and I would have liked them to find room for Kristen Alderson even though I actually have no problems with any of those that got nominated in the Younger Actress category, especially as Kirsten Storms has been rightfully de-snubbed after last year.

I don't have all that many problems with the guys either, except that the noms for Tony Geary and Cristian LeBlanc just feel like default settings and are no longer interesting.  And as much as I like David Irrizary, was he even on AMC enough last year to warrant a nom?

It is nice to see some more consistent nominating of Days actors.

Now, bring on the red carpet.