GH: Laura's Awake -- Caused a Tracy/Luke Quake

Even though Laura has gone to France for treatment, her lucidness caused a problem for Luke and Tracy.

GH: Thanksgiving 2008 - The Butterfly Effect

This year's special Thanksgiving episode on General Hospital gave us a glimpse of what life would have been like if Robin and Patrick hadn't gotten involved romantically when they did.

OLTL: The Death of Cramer Enterprises

In May, Dorian Lord took control of Buchanan Enterprises renaming the place Cramer Enterprises. While the takeover happened with a bang, the fallout, which returned the company to the Buchanans, was a bust.

Warning Signs of Soap Unhappiness

There are a lot of ways to tell when someone isn't happy with their favorite soap. Here is a list of some of the warning signs. This isn't a list for those who have reached the state of apathy or those who just are frustrated with one story.

Seeing Stars by Watching Reruns

Growing up without cable television unlike most of my peers and watching syndicated reruns was a way of life. It is also a great way to see soap stars from years past or when they were younger. Luckily with the internet and certain television stations, some programs are available that haven't been shown on local stations for years.

GL: Matt's History a Mystery to himself

On Friday, September 26, 2008, GL gave us a Matt Reardon sighting. Well, seeing Matt was great, but he must have selective amnesia. Then again, this allows me to travel down memory lane, which in this case isn't a bad thing at all.

GL: Late Spring and Summer 2008

Autumn began on September 22nd. So what happened in Springfield for the last few months, when the summer heat burned through town.

GH: Laura's Return, was the Joke on us?

Lulu began to lose her mind due to killing Logan Hayes in self-defense. While on the run with Johnny, Logan continued to haunt her. Johnny risked his freedom to bring her back to Shady Brook a mental institution in Port Charles. He was thrown back in jail and tried for Logan's murder, though a jury of his peers, which included Epiphany and Edward Quartermaine, found him not guilty.

Meanwhile back at the institution, Lulu had to suffer alone or so she thought as her mother Laura began to speak with her. When Lulu brought Nikolas and Lucky to visit their mom, it was revealed that Laura was just a huge delusion created by Lulu to cope with her circumstances. So was the joke on us?

GL: How Harley Was Written Out

When Beth Ehlers decided that she'd rather play a new role on All My Children, instead of continuing on Guiding Light as Harley Davidson Cooper, the program was faced with how to deal with the character of Harley. Since Beth wasn't available to play a write off story, they could either recast the role or write Harley out without her...

GL: Gus's death and Alan's faith

When Ricky Paull Goldin decided to leave Guiding Light and join All My Children to play the role of Dr. Jake Martin, his character of Gus Aituro sustained life-ending injuries in a motorcycle accident. Even though Gus was no longer alive, he seemed to continue to influence the actions of his family members. Did Gus's death have an impact on Springfield, what was it and was there any meaning to it?

OLTL: The Fall of Buchanan Enterprises - Who is to blame?

Dorian staged a hostile takeover of Buchanan Enterprises giving the company the new moniker of Cramer Enterprises. Even if she acted alone in her revenge, certain situations gave her the opportunity to succeed.

So who is to blame? The easiest answer would be the decision makers who created and/or approved this plot after Phil Carey declined to appear without a contract as Asa Buchanan, since the takeover is fallout from Asa’s death. Including Dorian’s actions, what else lead to the downfall of the house of Buchanan?

OLTL: Todd and Marty Kiss September 2008

One Life to Live had something I never thought I would see, Marty Saybrooke and Todd Manning kissing. Way back in 1993, Todd along with his two buddies Powell Lord and Zach gang raped Marty at a college party.

Now, Marty has amnesia and doesn't remember that Todd raped her. She does know about the rape, and that they had a past. Prior to the rape Todd and Marty slept together once.

GH: Anna becoming a Grandma

Was this story just a way to devalue the character of Anna or something else entirely?

SoapNet Sunday Night Movie - How to Marry a Billionaire

Over Memorial Day weekend, I decided to watch one of the SoapNet movies. I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not. as it was called, How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale. I'm not sure if I understand the logic of airing a holiday movie over the first weekend of summer.

Love in the Afternoon Super Feud Special- Watching Family Feud from February 1982

For two weeks in May, GSN aired two weeks of special episodes of Family Feud from February 1982. At that time, Family Feud aired as part of ABC's daytime line-up, so they cross promoted their soaps on the game show. The soaps aired on ABC at that time were All My Children, Edge of Night, General Hospital, One Life to Live and Ryan's Hope. Whatever money the teams made went to charity that was chosen by the actors on each particular team. The first week all five teams played twice. The two teams that raised the least amount of money played on the fifth show as a tie-breaker. The team that won on Friday would continue on to play the second week while the losing team on Friday stopped.

AMC week of April 28 2008

Since this is the first week of this kind of summary, I'm going to have previously and this weeks...in the future that may not be the case.

TV Free Week

This year TV Free week is April 21 - April 27. The reason for the event is to try to get people to do other things than sit in front of a television set.

When I first heard about this back in the 90s, I was absolutely perplexed as to why anyone who is a huge television fan would agree to giving up a week of programming arbitrarily. Also is it breaking the rules if you are out and stumble upon a television, you listen to a program on the radio, a podcast or the net?

If I was put into a position to give up television for that long, I can't say I'd be able to do it. A part of me would be paranoid that my electronic devices would go insane and I'd be left with no recordings to watch later. Perhaps that would defeat the purpose of the week keeping hours of television episodes to view.

Can a person binge on television, I fear that's what would happen if I'd have to be without it for too long. As it is, I think it is harder for someone who watches numerous soaps to go a week without television than the average person. I do wonder if TV turnoff week will make the soap ratings go down either further.

Moderation is important when it comes to any hobby. Finding shows that are interesting is key. I admit to watching more television than most, but out of the vices one can have it is one of the least harmful.

For more information about Tv turnoff week and screen-time awareness visit http://www.screentime.org

What this blog is about...

This blog is about soaps, other serialized programs and various things that strike my fancy, which may or may not be about these kinds of programs. There will be summaries, commentaries, and strolls down memory lane. Currently I record AMC, Days, GH, GL and OLTL, so the majority of the entries will be about those programs. In another entry or more, I'll blog a bit about my soap viewing history.

The title of the blog is a play on the term "it's only a soap" that at times is used in a derisive manner, since soaps can be seen by some as just "mindless" entertainment. No television isn't typically as serious as brain surgery, war, famine, but just like the real world things can change with little or no warning.

Watching soaps in some ways is like being a sports fan, our favorite actors and characters are like the players, the producers, writers, and network and/or production company are like the coaches, managers, and ownership. Just like in sports, the people in the office sometimes make the wrong decisions and we the viewers in the process get hurt.

So that's what It's Only the Soaps is about. If you agree with my thoughts, musings, ponderings, rants or raves, that's cool, but I really don't expect that to happen all the time.