My former boss (and fellow soap lover), Meredith Berlin, just started a blog, and she came out of the gate with a winner. I always loved Meredith's personal, passionate perspective on issues. Her first entry is an interesting take on the news everyone is talking about — check it out at www.meredithsmind.com.

Not that soap fans need an academic study to prove losing a show is traumatic, but they have one now. A recent study, published in the April 2011 issue of the journal Mass Communication and Society, showed that the anguish of missing a show is very real.

Hoover left its competition in the dust with its immediate, personal response to the news that AMC and OLTL were being canceled.

At first, I thought tacking on a "whodunnit?" to the story of GH's little Jake dying diminished its power. But as it has played out, the search for who hit Jake was just the prelude to an ancillary plot that carries a different kind of punch. Luke was behind the wheel of the car that killed Jake, and he'd been drinking.

Soaps know how deliver drama and romance, and they can also make us laugh. Doing all three at the same time is a bigger challenge, but OLTL pulled it off today with the wedding of David and Dorian. We felt for poor Dorian as David tried to postpone the proceedings. Was he really going to leave Dorian at the altar again?

Usually, I think it's brave for actresses to wear minimal makeup when their characters are suffering.

I loved the scenes today on OLTL, where Echo talked to Shane about the online bullying he's been enduring, until now, in silence.

GH's Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) has had mad chemistry with just about every acting partner I can think of, which is why his pairing with Erin Chambers (Siobhan) has been so disappointing.

B&B's Steffy/Hope rivalry is really growing on me. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy) is much more entertaining as a schemer than a good girl, and Kimberly Matula (Hope) has a sweetness that is appealing and believable.

There was an interesting article in yesterday's New York Times, explaining how the U.S. Census Bureau is using a storyline in a Spanish-language soap opera to help wary Hispanics get comfortable with the census process.