Soap Opera Digest

Dear ABC,
Regarding the cancellations of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIVE TO LIVE, people have been throwing around terms like "creative bankruptcy." Considering the net is replacing the iconic soaps with a food show (THE CHEW) and a weight-loss show (THE REVOLUTION), who can argue? THE CHEW? Really?

When I recently spoke to Lindsay Hartley (Cara, ALL MY CHILDREN), I told her I loved the way she and Michael E. Knight (Tad) click together onscreen. A lot of the fans do, too. She was tickled. "Thanks!" Hartley gushed.

I've spoken with Susan Lucci (Erica, ALL MY CHILDREN) on more than one occasion, and have had the pleasure to meet her more than once (the first time was waaaaay back in 1988, as a freelance writer). I interviewed her last week on the occasion of the release of her new book, All My Life (official release date: March 29). Unlike other books associated with AMC and Erica Kane — 1983's Raising Kane, Erica Kane: Beyond the Pain and 1997's Having It All, the latter an actual book published by ABC Daytime about which it's impossible to know how much, or how little input Ms. Lucci had, other than posing for the cover shot — this book is about La Lucci and her life (she enjoys being called La Lucci, by the way).

Here's a perfect example of what's funny and what's not on a soap opera.

I'm all for seeing classic episodes of my soap, but ABC's recent encore presentations of ALL MY CHILDREN might have backfired. Last Friday (February 11), the net's encore was the 2005 episode in which Erica and Jack were married in Boca Raton, Fla., under a beautiful banyan tree.

I've been watching THE VAMPIRE DIARIES since it started airing on the CW, and now I've seen the first two Twilight movies. And for me, VD is the better production, hands down.

Deus ex machina is defined as "an unexpected power or event that saves a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as in a contrived plot device in a play or novel" — or even a soap opera. Maybe especially in a soap opera. In Greek theater, it meant that actors representing the gods were suspended above the stage, and the resolution of the play was brought about by their intervention. Since soaps have been around in some form or another for thousands of years, it's only natural some of the plots are reused, rehashed, forced, strained or…well, you get the idea. Usually I'll come out against this kind of thing; it means the writers are being lazy.

Sitcoms and the soap world are a tricky mix…when does a show pass the comedy line and waltz into drama? There are some hour-long shows that can't decide what they are, and the industry has named them dramedies. Eh. A show is either funny or it's not; if not, the drama had better be aces.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting J.R. Martinez (Brot, ALL MY CHILDREN) and we talked about an upcoming event that's close to his heart — The Salute to Veterans: PepsiCo Dream Machine's Bottles to Jobs Day, being held on Nov. 14 at Sun Life Stadium, in Miami, as the Miami Dolphins face the Tennessee Titans. It begins at 9 a.m.

What does it take for a show to get that fans are incensed about a character, or storyline? Apparently, the show runners will never get it, if ALL MY CHILDREN is any example. Ryan Aloysius Lavery (sorry, his middle name makes me laugh; it's the only thing that makes me laugh about Ryan) came to Pine Valley in 1998, as a con man, and committed adultery with the first love of his life, Gillian Andrassy Martin. He was a thief and attempted murderer. Like many soap heroes, he has been redeemed and is now AMC's go-to knight in shining armor. Nothing wrong with that.