actors

 critical condition

 soap opera weekly (may 18, 1999)

Outspoken Letters

"I enjoyed your column ("Do the Right Thing," Vol. 10 Issue 18), and agree with you that it's but great when soap characters do what is morally right. I think the General Hospital writers did a terrific job with Lucky and Liz. Having them refrain from sleeping together and keeping it warm and romantic was absolutely wonderful. Let's hope other soaps will take a lesson from them.

"I have just recently stumbled across Danny and Michelle on Guiding Light, which I didn't watch before, but because of these two I have added it to my soap schedule. I don't like all the storylines, but the Santos family and Michelle have quickly become my favorites. I really do believe that they are trying to do the right thing (or what they perceive as the right thing) for each other. She wants to try to make a go of their marriage, and he wants to let her go because she couldn't accept his lifestyle. Of course, I think Danny's perfect, lifestyle and all. But to me, it looks like the writers are having these young people 'do the right thing' for each other, which shows loving and caring."

LT60513, via e-mail

Everyone knows GL has gold in the Danny/Michelle matchup. The very good actors who portray them, Paul Anthony Stewart and Joie Lenz, are capable of doing that silent "longing for each other" thing through any adversity that kids of any age (like me) adore. I'm hoping that GL keeps the purity of their loving and caring sacrosanct. If Danny and Michelle continue to be written with intelligence and emotional insight—and that's a big if—I think this exciting pairing has not just Lucky and Liz potential, but Luke and Laura potential.

— Marlena De Lacroix

critical condition

soap opera weekly (june 1, 1999)

Let's get past this right away. Guiding Light is not my personal cup of tea. But as an unbiased soap analyst, I think that GL is poised to have a very, very successful summer, especially when it comes to attracting the demographically desirable 12-17 age group. Moreover, I think GL could finally make some serious inroads into General Hospital's ratings, its time-slot competitor in most cities. Doesn't it almost seem as if GL is specially designed to take advantage of GH vulnerabilities? If you're a young channel surfer with a remote in your hand, what would catch your attention fastest? GH, a show full of dark-hued sets, or GL, a show that's always airily lighted in bright, white light? GH, a show with kids in casual sportswear, or GL, with characters in hip, flesh-revealing outfits? For the past three-quarters of a year, GH has been wildy uneven, featuring whole episodes filled with badly paced, boring scenes. Many days, the show is a snooze! But you can't through GL! Every single scene is rife with conflict, as characters emote their lines mucho con brio.

"Take a pill," Marlena cries out to her TV set whenever overwrought mob mama Carmen Santos (the beautiful and soignee Sandra Santiago) long-windedly reproaches whoever is in a scene with her. Now, they've introduced Carmen's daughter, Pilar, who is just overwrought as her mammasita. But want to know a secret? I like watching Carmen, because she's a campy hoot. And I really love the very, very emotional young Drew (Tammy Blanchard), even if she does seem to be in need of a tranquilizer in every scene. But Paul Rauch, please don't ruin Blanchard's very promising career by encouraging her to overemote! Speaking of young characters who are interesting enough to attract both adult viewers and teens, you've got to give GL credit for creating two such characters who are in that crucial 12-17 age range: Susan (Brittany Snow), Harley's birth daughter, and Max (Jesse Lee), currently of mysterious origins. Both Snow and Lee are exceptionally fine young actors. Since this is GL, a soap that's all-conflict-all-the-time, both Susan and Max are bad seeds. After all, to be young in Springfield usually means that you are up to no good—think of that fabulous midget murderer Lizzie (future Academy Award winner Hayden Panettiere). Isn't it interesting that Josh and Reva's kids, Marah and Shayne, are the only tukes who are allowed to be normal? Oh, well. Max and Susan clearly exist to evoke conflict and trouble with GL's adult population. And isn't stirring up trouble for adults the fantasy of every teen-ager on summer vacation?

The centerpiece of GL's summer, of course, must be Danny and Michelle. As I wrote last week, the pairing of Paul Anthony Stewart and Joie Lenz is gold to GL, and everyone knows it. Females of all ages love the soulful Stewart, from teenagers to Marlena's own mother, who usually hates everyone. Really, my mom got giddy when I took her to see Stewart in Cyrano on Broadway a few years ago! I think Lenz is a very good young actress, but so far her Michelle has been clueless. That's entirely the fault of GL's writers, though, because they have not been supplying Lenz—or the audience—with any kind of information about who Michelle Bauer actually is. As written now, it feels as if she has no history. Is she a grown-up version of mournful, soulful child Michelle, who was played by the magnificent Rachel Miner? Or is she an older version of the good-hearted cheerleader Michelle, who was played by Rebecca Budig? Is she a girl who never recovered from the messy death of her stepmother, Maureen? Tell us! Without a clear understanding of Michelle's character and motivations, the audience can't care enough about her to root for her. Now I seem to remember—isn't Michelle's father a guy we used to see on the show a lot... somebody named Ed Bauer?

As much as GL has going for it—great production, a good cast, a thinking executive producer—what's crucial to a successful summer is good writing. GH's Luke and Laura wouldn't have become a national phenomenon in the summer of 1980 (the summer of their love on the run) unless someone (Pat Falken Smith) wrote a good, emotional, meaniful, logical story for them. I am not a fan of GL's current head writers because their writing is emotionally unsophisticated and often nonsensical. But here's hoping that they get it together enough to make the most of the very intriguing characters and situations they have created. Maybe GL should hire Mario Puzo to write the Santos story?

I have to confess that I make my predicition of GL's ascendance without any inside information about either GL's or GH's planned summer storylines, which could, of course, change everything. All I know is that GH is now Lucky-less (with the absence of Jonathan Jackson), and I have no idea how audiences will like the inevitable matchup of Lucky's truelove, Elizabeth, and his brother, Nikolas. Nor have I seen enough of GH's just-introduced young character Chloe to evaluate her. But I do know that GL is so full of light, life and camp that it's a lot more attractive, even to my well-over-17-year-old eye than the dark, downbeat, highly uneven GH. Will GL kick GH's butt this summer? Let's see!

— Marlena De Lacroix

critical condition

soap opera weekly (june 22, 1999)

Return of the Five Housewives

[...] Tina told me something that I found truly shocking. "I'm really loving Guiding Light." But Tina, last year you told me you absolutely hated the clone story (moi too!), and had stopped watching the show.

"I did peek in every once in a while," she admitted, "and my 17-year old daughter told me what was going on. Bravo to the killing of the clone. But what's really great about GL right now is Danny and Michelle."

"I love Danny and Michelle," swooned Ginny and Tina and some of the other women simultaneously.

"When Danny kisses Michelle, he really, really kisses her," cried Tina as the women swooned. "We just love Paul Anthony Stewart."

Who would ever think a group of 40-something women (including moi)—who usually prefer characters our own age —would be going nuts over two teen-agers?

"It doesn't matter if characters are 16 or 17 if they are really good, " said Ginny.

— Marlena De Lacroix