There goes another month...in which there were quite a few unfortunate departures from the daytime world. While there was a lot of deserved talk about the legendary David Canary leaving his ALL MY CHILDREN role of Adam, it was a shame to see another ABC actor, Scott Clifton (who happens to have been this site's Star of the Week this past week), say so long to ONE LIFE TO LIVE earlier this month. His work portraying Schuyler as his world crumbled was increasingly captivating. While he believably depicted a broken man trying to hold onto something in his life, Clifton had a couple of scenes where he spoke volumes with just a stare. He didn’t have much time to foster chemistry with new onscreen mom Ilene Kristen (Roxy), but they connected beautifully in the scenes they were given. Let's hope Clifton shows up somewhere else in daytime soon (and that Kristen gets a new storyline).

The kind of departure that we really don't want right now is that of soap viewers themselves from their screens, due to dissatisfaction with their shows. Viewers used to only say they would fast-forward through certain subplots; now I've read message board posts by some who have turned off their soaps altogether. So steps should be taken to prevent this.

A message to soap writers: Continue doing your best to make your shows "un-FFable." Stick with the powerful, character-based stories you've given us, and make sure the subplots regularly mix with and enliven each other (OLTL does this very well). And a message to soap viewers: Do not give up. Have confidence that your favorites will return to the front burner, and that the stories you're not wild about will either "heal" (as in improve) or wrap up (finally). Believe me, I know a few storylines are somewhat lacking these days. But there's still a lot of fun, and engaging entertainment, to be found on the tube in the afternoon. This request to hang in there doesn't come from a wall of naivete about the situation, but a foundation of faith in the industry and my fellow viewers. Feel free to keep complaining on the boards and in letters to us — and, of course, publicly praising your shows when they work. See you in May.