GH: The news about Leslie Charleson being taken off contract

In the last few days, it was reported by ABC: Soaps in Depth that Leslie Charleson who has played Monica on General Hospital since the 1970s was taken off contract. We may still occasionally see Monica on screen. Over this weekend, I mentally flashed to the past and thought about material from days gone by.

ATWT: August 25, 2010 Episode

Here’s another one of my semi-regular reviews of random episodes of As the World Turns that I was able to see. This week I caught the August 25th episode. The series has less than a month of episodes left to air. If things are inaccurate, that’s what you get for watching less than five episodes a month. In the real world, I think a lot of people watch soaps like this casually seeing episodes when they are home and not recording every episode.

AMC: Scott and Annie Get Married

On Wednesday, August 25, 2010, Annie and Scott got married in the park. This is the latest development in the quadrangle of Annie, JR, Scott and Marissa on All My Children. JR and Scott are cousins, Marissa is the fraternal twin sister of JR’s late wife Babe, and Annie was married to JR’s father Adam.

Soaps as Cult TV

In my television book collection, one of the more unique books I own is by John Javna it is called Cult TV A Viewer’s Guide to the Shows America Can’t Live Without!! The two exclamation points are in the title. It was published back in 1985, but even today there are things I find interesting. What follows is a quick summary of what is in the book, some of the guidelines and how I feel that relates to soap operas.

Days: Hope’s the Mugger & it is all Bo’s Fault?

This week on Days of Our Lives, Hope Williams Brady went on trial for muggings and attempted murder. She attacked acquaintances, friends and family while in state induced by sleeping pills. Pleading guilty, she was given a couple of years in the county jail to be rehabilitated.

OLTL: GL Alum Kim Zimmer joining OLTL for a Short Stint

In today’s soap opera news, Soap Opera Digest has announced that Kim Zimmer who is best known for Reva Shayne on Guiding Light is rejoining One Life to Life in her former role of Echo that she last played over 25 years ago. She’ll be in a story with Dorian, Viki and Clint among other characters. Supposedly this will be a limited run, but we do not know the duration of her stay yet.

Y&R: Does the Naked Heiress Really Have No Clothes?

The re-introduction of Abby Carlton Newman on The Young and the Restless involved much nudity of the implied sort. The character suffered an extreme case of SORAS as the character was born in 2000 and is now around 21 years old. This has caused whiplash among some viewers, which I can sympathize with, as it is frustrating seeing someone grow up and out of sequence of characters that should be on screen peers. Instead of being a good sweet girl, all she wants is fame. While Abby is a rich girl, she differs from Marcy Rylan’s former role as the last Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light. Thankfully so far, the viewers have been spared a pregnancy story as that was her first major one on GL.

GH & B&B & ATWT: Why the Brenda Experiment Didn't Work For Me

On Tuesday, ABC Daytime pre-empted their normal programming for an all Brenda Barrett marathon. While I appreciated the gesture, as I approve of the idea of showing episodes that were more than 5 years old, I skipped it and recorded The Bold & The Beautiful and As the World Turns.

AMC: Angie's Pregnant

On All My Children, Dr. Angela Hubbard has discovered she is pregnant. This should be a happy time, as for many years Angie believed her husband Jesse to be dead. They reunited and remarried, but life doesn’t go smoothly sometimes.

OLTL: The Twins are Pregnant

Currently on One Life to Live, sisters Jessica Buchanan Brennan and Natalie Buchanan Banks are pregnant. The women, who are fraternal twins (that have different fathers); both have issues in regards to the paternity of their unborn fetuses. As a viewer, I have many concerns with this plot. I’m frustrated, and it has nothing to do with supporting any pairing. At this point, I feel this is a shock or tease story as there is a possibility they both became pregnant after having sex with the same man.