OLTL—7/29—Around and Around and Around

  
Good to see Clint Buchanan again.  I was hoping he was out in California trying to convince his wife, Kimberly (Amanda Setton) to come back to Llanview; but apparently, Amanda knew she could do "better" than a daytime drama, so went out and landed herself a role on Gossip Girl for this Fall.  Good job, Amanda.  Might as well do it while you're young.  We might see her again someday.  She can always come back and do an "Alex Olanoff" when she is age appropriate.

After calling Cole and having her call intercepted by Eli, Hannah calls Ford and tries to convince him to come to St. Ann's.  Eli shows up at Hannah's room instead, and threatens her again. When he finds out she also called Ford, he calls and threatens him again.

Kelly tells John McBain they finally have a description of Bennett Thompson—tall, dark and handsome—and suddenly a light bulb goes on.  John remembers seeing Eli Clarke when Rex was talking about going to Boston.  John pictures Eli in his mind's eye and Kelly notices he has left the moment.  Now she is sure he knows more than he is saying.

Highlight of the Day:  Brody proposes to Jessica and she is thrilled!!

But best of all:  Ford arrives at Hannah's room, just when she desperately needs a friend!! Please Ford, help Hannah.

   

OLTL — 7/27 and 7/28 — The Highlights

  
TUESDAY

1. Téa writes her "bucket list" and Todd takes her, Dani and Nate sightseeing in NYC.
2. Téa tells Daniella about how she grew up in a fancy NY highrise, but her father was the "Super" of the building.  Dani is shocked since she imagined that her mother had been rich.
3. Starr and Cole argue about Hannah before he goes to Court.  Cole confesses to Starr that he almost slept with Hannah while they were in Delaware.
4. Hannah fantasizes about telling Cole the truth about Eli.
5. Kelly flies to Boston when she doesn't hear from Rex; but gets no answer when she knocks on his hotel room.  She finally rouses him and he figures out he had to have been drugged.
6. Blair opens her door to find Eli; then slams the door in his face.  She knows he lied to her about working late because she went to his room to surpise him.
7. Eli covers his lie about where he went the night before, by presenting Blair with a diamond that he claims he picked up in NY.  She is blinded by its brilliance and forgets all about the night before.  (Oh, Dorian, look at this!)
8. Rex discovers someone signed for his room service and realizes that it was probably Bennett Thompson, who also drugged his food.
9. Todd flies back to Llanview in time for Cole's trial—to do "the right thing" for Téa.

WEDNESDAY 

1. Todd arrives at Court and surprises Starr.
2. Rex and Kelly confront the Records clerk, Glenn, about the files left at the front desk by Eli.  Glenn is convinced Rex is lying (because Eli told him to expect someone impersonating Rex Balsam), but finally does give them a description of what the other "Rex Balsam" looked like.
3. Hannah distracts a worker at St. Ann's and "borrows" his cell phone to call Cole.  Eli intercepts the conversation, takes the phone away from Cole and then threatens Hannah, cutting the call short.
4. Todd testifies and explains what happened before he was assaulted by Cole and for his daughter and granddaughter's sake he asks that Cole be allowed to go home.  The judge decides to give Cole a break and follows DA Nora Buchanan's recommendation:  time served, two years of probation and 5,000 hours of community service.
5. Todd takes Cole aside after the trial and makes sure he knows he didn't do Cole any favors, he did it for Starr and Hope, and "for now, punk, you owe me, and I intend to collect."
6. Hannah calls Ford and tells him he must come to see her so they can talk about Eli.  Ford's face changes when he realizes she knows the truth.
7. In the final scene, we see Eli approaching Hannah's room. 
   Dun, dun, da....

Big reveal of the day:  Nate is a FULL brother to James and Bobby Ford!!
              

OLTL—7/26—Monday—A Sad Goodbye!

This is NOT the way I hoped my Monday would go.  Today's episode was depressing and frustrating.

Yesterday, Rex was drugged by Elijah/Bennett and is incapacitated when the court clerk arrives with the records he ordered.  Eli pretends to be Rex and gets the envelope from the clerk.

Apparently Eli is making up his plan as he goes along because he decides rather than kill Rex, since McBain would easily figure out what's going on, he lets him live and decides to let Rex find SOME of the information about Bennett Thompson. Like, a marriage license?

Eli begins babbling to himself while trying to figure out his next steps and he mentions that he was lucky he intercepted a call in regard to Kelly's mother, Melinda, about her "dangerous new boyfriend."  So now, with his engagement to Blair, I'm guessing there is some grudge against the Cramer women.

David and Dorian try to talk Blair out of rushing into marriage with Eli, especially since there isn't any diamond yet. Blair tries to reassure Dorian that this time she thinks she got it right and "This is my last wedding." That's never good.

Layla and her mother finally come to an agreement about Evangeline and decide to let her go. I was hoping it wouldn't turn out that way, but that's the end of that story.  Too heart breaking!!

Summer in the City

  
Since I live in the City — I long for life in a bucolic country setting with peace, quiet and tranquility; and I imagine it with fragrant flowers, freshly mowed grass and the morning dew just outside my kitchen door.

I'm hoping this is what "Kitty Heaven," is like — the place where my cats go when they die, and where they will be waiting for me to join them.  If I could express it in visual form, it would look something like this painting.

       
But here on earth, life being what it is, my idealized paradise fails to take into consideration the less than pleasant side of summer:  flies, gnats, bees, wasps, mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers, poison oak and poison ivy—oh and, HUMIDITY.

Oh well, such is the life of mere mortals.

This is an actual photo I took of my dearly departed cat, Gypsy, in the backyard of the house where we used to live.  It is as close as I have come so far, to kitty heaven.  I have actually had a couple of dreams of Gypsy and her cat friends living there now.  It looks surprisingly like the painting!

OLTL—7/23 This guy is truly scary

     
Elijah Clarke follows Rex to Boston where he is investigating a lead on Bennett Thompson.  Eli drugs Rex's room service food and then stands in the doorway of his room staring across the hall at Rex's room, contemplating his next move.
       

This guy is truly scary!!

   

   

         
Natalie starts to tell John something, but is interrupted by Brody's announcement to everyone at Rodi's that he is going to be a father.  I think everyone concurs — Poor Natalie.

She tries her best to be happy for Jessica, but she is really on the edge and may do something drastic rather than let the truth come out!!

   

OLTL—7/22—Secrets don't stay secret for long

  
If you want to keep a secret, you can't tell ANYONE; because then, it is no longer a secret.  It only takes a short time before the first person tells "just one" person, who will tell "just one" person—and you get my point.

Jessica confides in Kelly who confronts Ford and he denies that anything happened with Jessica. Natalie confides in Gigi and they discuss the fact that she cannot do a paternity test yet. Natalie is considering what to do next.

I don't think anything happened with Jessica and Ford. He's just a wimp and isn't going to take any chances, so he goes to the hospital for a blood test. But Natalie is probably not going to escape her dilemma that easily.  Is she about to confess to John?!?

The next secret:

How long will it be until James Ford finds out about his mother? 
Today, Bobby Ford found out that Nate Sallinger is his brother.
  

OLTL—Wednesday—7/21

  
Not a particularly eventful day.

The twins, Jessica and Natalie, find out they are both pregnant; but they don't tell each other since neither of them is sure of their baby daddy.
(This is worse than a trashy novel.)

Eli dances around McBain's suspicions.

Gigi gets accepted to Llanview U.  Rex heads for Boston to check out the lead on Bennett Thompson.

Viki and Charlie take off for a well-deserved island get away. 
(After all of the exhausting fake love scenes they had last week —
they need it!)

Todd and Tea finally get some alone time.
  

OLTL — 7/20 — Bennett Thompson

  

Yesterday's OLTL was SO boring, I didn't have anything to say!  It was just a rehash of Friday's stories with nothing new except that David's muffins didn't make anybody ill except Natalie and Jessica—so they both head for the ER.  This is the beginning of the storyline that ABC has been promo-ing for a couple of weeks.

From now on, I am only going to hit the highlights of what happened on the show and comment on what I liked or didn't—instead of trying to cover every "he said," "she said."

Today was much more interesting than yesterday and so here's my favorite stuff.

Charlie/Dorian/Viki/David...blah, blah, blah.  Hope that story is over!

Best line of the day:
After Viki tries to explain to David what is happening, David says, "I feel like I'm watching LOST. Does anybody know what's going on now?"

Christian talks to Evangeline and tells her that he still loves her and will always love her, but now he has fallen in love with Layla.  He cries and begs her to come back to them.

Layla and her mother get into a hateful argument and could have killed each other if they weren't more civilized. Layla tries to make her mother understand, that Vange might already be gone. But since the Living Will was never filed or notarized, it is more-or-less worthless, so Mrs. Williamson is not going to let them pull the plug no matter what.

Kelly and Rex are getting closer to figuring out the mystery of Bennett Thompson. When Kelly consults with Eli about what her next steps should be—he tries to convince her to give up the search.

At the ER, it turns out, the muffins are fine, but, Natalie and Jessica are both pregnant.  Uh-oh.  Brody's got some 'splaining to do....

Lisa Williamson finds the business card of an attorney among Evangeline's papers and she calls the number.  Eli answers the phone.  She asks for Bennett Thompson. 

Dun dun da......

 

True Beauty Episode 8—7/19 —The Final Test

That was it for Season 2.  Whether or not the series returns is anybody's guess.  I haven't heard any buzz at all.  Did anyone actually watch it?

It has its appeal—the voyeurism and the personalities behind the facades—but it seems like America isn't interested in seeing ordinary people act badly, they like to see "celebrities" acting badly and/or doing just about anything.

Erika and Taylor are preparing the suite for Amy's return and hoping against hope, she will.  Craig's return is a surprise to both of them.

Craig to the confessional camera: "I think they wanted Amy to come home." Duh...

The ménage à trois, as Craig has dubbed them, copes with what it is.

The Final Three:

The Final challenge:

Play host to a celebrity for the night—wine and dine and kiss butt.

The "celebrity" turns out to be Jackass Steve-O and his sidekick.  Nobody is that thrilled.  Some crazy stuff ensues.  They drink, dance and party until 6:00 a.m. and then Carson presents them with their real challenge—to memorize lines and star in a commercial as The Face of Vegas.

Erika has a melt down and says she is over it and has had enough and wants to quit. It is noted by the judges, she is the only one who complains, but she sucks it up and finishes the task at hand.

They all looked great on the camera, performed as best they could under the circumstances, as tired as they were and they all did a great job. They did so well, they all "win" the challenge. Beth then gives them a key to a room in the basement of the hotel and they are instructed to go check it out.

When they get there and sit down facing a set up with multiple screens, Vanessa comes onto all the screens and says, "Welcome to the Judges' Spy Room."

The reality of the situation is explained—that they have been "Punked" more-or-less and that they are part of "True Beauty."  They are shown videos from the hidden cameras, and they see their dark sides.  They are embarrassed and humiliated in front of each other, then told to go back to the suite and prepare their defense.

They are so exhausted they sleep and then get ready for the final face off.  The ending is anticlimactic, to say the least.  Each gives their spiel and the judges make their decision.

And the winner is:  Taylor.

The end.

P.S. I'll let you know if I hear anything about what actually happens to the winners after they "win."
  

OLTL—7/16 — Temper, temper

  
At least today's surprising twist made up for yesterday's blah storylines. So how crazy is it that Nate's mother is the Ford boy's mom also?!?!  Only on a soap opera...

Can we look forward to our teen girls, Starr, Langston and Dani trying, but failing to resist the charms of the new bad boys of Llanview? Now, that's some kind of storyline.

Charlie and Viki continue with their matchmaking plans.  It's good acting, for sure, but still embarrassing to watch.  Like I said yesterday, PLEASE, leave the love-making to the teenagers (oh, and Blair—she still steams things up).

Christian and Layla are still struggling with her mother over Evangeline's care and are pushing for permission to go through Vange's papers to see if she had a living will.  Layla knows Vange can't live without life support, but Mrs. Wlliamson just wants to take her home and tries to shame Layla into thinking she would be "killing" her if they give up.

Cole talks to Hannah and she tries desperately to drop a hint to him by repeating the same phrase she has told others, "Everything I did was for you (Cole)."  But, Cole is a little slow sometimes, so he didn't catch on, yet. John McBain isn't convinced that Hannah is guilty and shares his theories with Marty.  He thinks she is covering for someone.  Marty is still grieving and would just as soon accept Hannah's confession and move on.

Blair and Eli, and Todd and Téa share their good news with each other.  Todd smarts off about something and Eli threatens that he had better watch his mouth. Todd wants to know, "Oh yeah, why's that—'Ellie'?" And Eli says, "Because I still haven't forgotten that you killed my brother (Ross Rayburn)." Todd and Téa look at each and they both realize it is time for the truth to come out.

Téa tells Eli, Ross is not really dead, but is a fugitive, so she can't reveal his exact whereabouts.  Even Blair is surprised by this news and emotions start to heat up.  What?!?!  Eli:  "Tea how could you do this to me?" 

Tea: "I'm sorry." 

Todd: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  He's too busy feeling sorry for himself to be happy his brother's alive."

Eli:  Oh, is that right, Manning?

Todd:  "Yeah, that's right."

Todd to Téa:  "Did you even know Ross had a brother until he            showed up?   And how old was Dani?"  

To Eli:  "You didn't even meet her until she was in high school.  Boo hoo, Ross.  You're so full of it, you don't give a damn about your brother."

End of discussion, Eli loses it and Ka-boom, Todd gets a fist in the mouth.

When it is apparent the tension still hasn't cooled, Téa pushes Todd into the pool and then Blair can't resist doing the same to Eli. 

Well, that was exciting!

I guess I need to mention:  Viki kisses David and Charlie kisses Dorian.  Please make it stop.

See ya next week......
 

OLTL—7/15—The guy doesn't smell right...

Here's what happened today:

Gigi and Rex were hanging by the pool—snooze.
Viki seduced David—snooze + kinda c-r-e-e-p-y.
Charlie seduced Dorian—poor Dorian. She's vulnerable right now. She'll probably believe Charlie and then, just get her feelings hurt—shame on Charlie and Viki.

(Actually, shame on the writers, but you know what I mean...)

OK, I'm old, but, I don't really want to see old people acting like teenagers. There are plenty of teenagers on this show at the moment.  So nix the bad love scenes with the oldsters!!  PLEASE.

Then we had to be subjected to another day of Layla and Evangeline's Mother from Hell. I know I said she is a great actress, but why do they have to make her so mean and scary?!?!  Even Christian is afraid of her.

My second favorite scene of the day:

Matthew and Destiny.  Destiny looks GREAT and has really blossomed in her role.  Now that she is on contract, maybe we can look forward to more storylines, instead of what has been happening lately—background filler.


My favorite scene of the day—
Jack to Blair about Eli:

"When he thinks nobody's watching, he's Ross Rayburn in a nicer suit."

"I know people—the guy doesn't smell right."

LOL
  

OLTL—7/14—More Hannah Bananas

  

Like Hannah said before, "Everything I do is for Cole." There seems to be a method to her madness and, in my opinion, it's smart of Hannah to keep repeating that same phrase over and over.  Eventually, someone IS going to catch on.  Practically everyone is suspicious already—but not because they think she is not guilty—because they think she is faking the breakdown to avoid jail.  Nora did mention to Eli that she hoped he wasn't coaching his client. Hey, isn't that the JOB of the defense attorney, to coach the client and tell them what to say and definitely, what NOT to say?

Marty is too close to the situation, like she said, to be objective and shouldn't even be involved in Hannah's evaluation.

I can hardly wait to see what Hannah will say to Cole during his visit.  He begs her to tell him the truth, but she really believes he is in danger, especially after everything Eli has done.  So, will she risk it?  My guess—eventually, but probably not this week. This storyline has to play out for awhile.

Here's a quick rundown of what some of the other characters said/did today: Blair says "yes" to Eli, Jack isn't impressed, Markko finds Langston in the park with Ford, but convinces him to take a hike. Langston begs for forgiveness and Markko is more than willing to forget her—they kiss. Nate visits James in the hospital to apologize, but Ford shows up and tells him to take a hike. You know how it is.... He had to take out his frustrations on somebody.
 

Highlight of the day:
  
Todd to Tea: "Will you marry me?"

 

OLTL—Tuesday—7/13/10

  

Eli runs into Ford in the park and Ford pushes Eli for some answers.

How has Eli been able to convince Hannah to confess to two crimes that Eli actually committed? And, WHAT does Eli have against Marty Saybrooke? 

We'll have to wait a bit longer to get that answer.

Eli suggests that there is always the possibility that Ford's brother James could still be in danger of dying, given the nature of hospitals and all.....  Ford gets the "hint" and they come to a mutual understanding.  Ford promises not to ask anymore questions.

David Vickers Buchannan has inevitably overstayed his welcome at Bo's and he is asked to find somewhere else to live. "What?!?!? You're kicking me out?"  So David moves on to his next meal ticket and seeks out Viki at Llanfair.  She has already gone for breakfast at the Buenos Dias Cafe with Charlie.  David offers his homemade muffins to Natalie and Jessica telling them that Noel made them. They both eat and enjoy a muffin, but then almost immediately become extremely ill.  From the promos I have seen recently, this is the beginning of a new storyline.  More to come....

At the Buenos Dias, Viki offers David a room at Llanfair in an attempt to make Dorian jealous so she will take David back and leave Charlie alone. We'll see how that turns out.

Today's storyline of interest:
John McBain is suspicious of Hannah's breakdown.  She was completely lucid, standing her ground and determined to make a deal for her testimony about the real "pusher" in exchange for immunity.  Then, after five minutes with Eli, she has a breakdown and confesses to pushing Marty and bludgeoning Ford.   McBain is just not buying it.

John has Eli come into his office for some casual questioning, in front of Brody, just to see Eli's reaction, and then shares his suspicions with Bo. They decide among themselves to keep their theory hush, hush for now.

Stay tuned....

7/12—True Beauty—Stop Smoking!

  

This week's episode was actually painful to watch. We're down to the final four and they are running out of activities to entertain themselves, so they play Truth or Dare for awhile, then decide to go to the pool. A full bar with more alcohol than usual had been set up for them to imbibe or not. Taylor drinks way too much, then slips and falls on the concrete. Ooooooh.

After spending the day in the sun, they return to the suite, where Carson is waiting for them. He presents their next challenge, which will begin as soon as they can get dressed. They are going to be trained as blackjack dealers and then turned loose on some high rolling players.

The Secret Challenge:
As each contestant rides the elevator one-by-one down to the gaming floor, a "pregnant" actress is in the same elevator smoking and drinking. Will the contestant say anything to her? Three of them express their concern for her baby. Amy is oblivious.

Amy has never even played blackjack before and is poor at math, so she is very worried. The others are confident they can handle it with no problem, but it does turn out to be much harder than any of them thought it would be. Taylor's alcohol over consumption has him relaxed, but he is unable to handle the cards as well as he would have normally. Erika is personable and competent in the task. Amy and Craig both had problems with some of the terminology, such as "double down" and were judged by the pit boss to be the worst dealers, so were placed in the bottom two. Taylor squeaked by.

The Final Straw Challenge:
When Craig and Amy are waiting in front of the hotel for their ride to the final face off, they are presented with an opportunity to help a young mother who is having trouble loading her luggage, baby and stroller into her van. Craig helps, Amy walks by and ignores her.

Craig is chosen to continue and Amy must then endure the video tape of all of her indiscretions: bad mouthing the other contestants, peeking at the interview questions in the elevator, ignoring the abused bride and ignoring the mother loading the car and completely oblivious to the smoking pregnant actress.

She nearly has a nervous breakdown while she watches the tape and asks to leave, but continues to watch. As she slinks out with her head down and shoulders forward, she looks completely dejected and humiliated. Her confessional reaction is the same as all the others, that she has not been depicted as the person she really is (as she sees herself). Really painful.

  

OLTL – 7/12/10 — Everything I do is for Cole

 

Just as I thought--Hannah is in big trouble and Eli is playing his "respectability" card.  Hannah is standing up to him admirably, but her weakness is Cole.  When Eli finally convinces her that Cole is his next target, she willing goes along with his threats and fakes a nervous breakdown.  (This seems a bit far fetched, even for a soap opera, but I don't see any other way for the writers can keep this game going.)  So she will await the next phase of Eli's plan in the comfort of St. Anne's----nice. 
(Hey, why not, I wouldn't mind going there myself!!)

Nora tells the gruesome twosome (John and Marty) that she won't be able to give Hannah an immunity deal in exchange for information, mainly because Ford has ID'd her as his attacker.

Starr just can't get James out from under her fingernails and Cole isn't blind to the situation.  James calls her "Twinkle" and she flirts right back.  Ford has enough of the "romantic comedy" and asks her to leave.

Blair and Todd have a tête-à-tête in regard to Eli's proposal and Todd tells her to go for it, but he wants to know--does she love him?  She says she does.

Poor Layla--her mother couldn't have been any meaner to her.  Mother Williamson is determined to keep Evangeline going, even though her organs are now starting to fail.  What a tragedy.  Too bad we couldn't have gotten Renee Goldsberry back.  I think most fans still want that.  Oh well......  She's on to other things now.

Talk later......

 

Saturday—7/10/10—Hot Fun in the Summertime

  

  
Last winter, we were all freezing here in NYC. The landlord wasn't supplying enough heat, as required by law and the tenants had to get the City Council Neighborhood Advocate involved, etc., etc.

Now it is Summer and a crazy heat wave has come early.  We are HOT!!  Last week, several heat records were broken with one day going over 103 degrees. Yeah, I know, we take it in stride, because what can we do?  Nothing!!

That's okay.  Usually, when I go to the grocery store and something that I like is on sale, I buy a lot of it, then I have a store room of goodies to pick from, and I don't have to go out into the heat.  Because remember, in NYC, we WALK practically everywhere, especially to do neighborhood errands, so that heat can be brutal.  Forget it.  I just stay in the A/C until things chill out a bit.

Welcome to Summer.

7/9/10 —OLTL — Birds of a Feather

A lot of interesting things happened today.  At least some of the secrets came out and mysteries were cleared up. 

What a sick and twisted pair they make:  Hannah and Elijah admiring each other's deviousness.  It would seem Eli will stop at nothing to get what he wants (what does he want?) and Hannah is not in his league, no matter what she thinks.  He is a "well respected" attorney and there is no way anyone is going to believe her story over his.  She is in real trouble now, and more than likely, real danger!

 

Layla and Christian finally make it to the Williamson's home in Maryland, but it is awkward from the start.  Mrs. Williamson says she needs to tell Layla something about Evangeline, but Layla blurts out the news of her engagement. Mrs. Williamson's face says it all!!


Really nice to see Janet Hubert playing Layla and Evangeline's mother, Lisa Williamson, again. She is such a great actress.

We find out that Evangeline is back in the hospital and it looks serious.  I don't understand why they have kept her lingering all this time to just end it like this now.  I guess we will see how it plays out — not like we have a choice!  


So, the teenagers had their moments today: Nate showed Dani he can be there for her, and Cole and Starr cleared up their issues and appeared to put it behind them.  It is what is ahead of them that will be the real challenge.

Thursday—7/8/10—What happened today?

The technology Gremlins were working overtime!!

Everything that COULD have gone wrong—DID!

Hopefully tomorrow, things will be back to normal.

Peace out...............

OLTL—Wednesday—7/7/10

What did we learn today?

Very little, actually.

Bull is dead.  James is rushed to the hospital, barely alive from internal bleeding, and he is stabilized and prepared for surgery.

Téa has been lying on the floor of her hotel room for at least three days (in real time, not soap time) and finally, Blair stops by to check on her.  When she hears Téa pull the lamp onto the floor, she persuades the Palace manager to let her into the room.  Then Téa is rushed to the hospital.

Now everyone is at the hospital:  Todd, Starr, James, Nate, Dani, Téa and Blair.  During the hysteria and chaos everyone just wants to know, "What are you doing here?" and "What are YOU doing here?"

Dr. Evans comes out of the examining room and starts to tell Blair about Téa's tests, when Dani realizes her mother is in the hospital.  Todd tells Téa it is time to tell Dani the truth.

By tomorrow, Cole and Hannah should be back in Llanview and then things should start to get a lot more interesting.

OLTL—7/6/10—Elijah Clarke—Split Personality

Who is this guy?

Wow—I was hoping it was a big cliffhanger/tease and that Eli went to the cabana to see Ford for some other reason.  But... Eli is actually Ford's attacker.

Yikes!!

He blamed Hannah—not because he had any particular vendetta against her—only because she was convenient.  But... Ford knows who Eli really is.

What?!?!?

How in the world could Eli be Bennett Thompson?  The details have yet to be revealed to us, but apparently, this is the secret that Ford knows, and why Eli wants him dead.  My guess is, they have previously crossed paths in California.

Eli is still trying to control the situation by threatening to finish the job he started, but Ford tells him, he has everything written out and ready to send to Todd Manning, if anything untoward should happen to him.

Other, less interesting stuff also happened.  Jessica told Brody about the night she almost slept with Ford, Blair tells Kelly, Eli proposed to her and Rex and Gigi are spending some quality time at the country club (as Bo and Nora's guests).

Hannah is negotiating a deal with the police to tell them everything they want to know about who pushed Marty down the stairs, IF she is given complete immunity for everything she has lied about. Then she calls Eli to represent her and he jumps at the opportunity.  I thought she was going to finger him as the "pusher," and maybe she is, and just wants him to think she doesn't know it is him.  Or... maybe it isn't him.

That's the best part about a well written story--it still keeps us guessing.

Back to the teenagers:  Todd shows up at the drop location and runs into Starr who thinks he is there to help James.  Todd wants to know, "Who the hell is James?" and then explains that he is there to help Dani's boyfriend Nate.  Starr is bewildered and says, "From Langston's play?" and Todd says, "How the hell should I know?" (Todd's dialogue is really easy to write. LOL)  In the meantime, Dani, who stowed away in the back of Todd's SUV, sneaks into the barn and unties Nate.

Todd goes into the barn for the exchange and then Bull decides he might change the rules again.  Nate comes up behind Bull and clobbers him with a shovel, but Bull gets up and a tussle ensues with Todd.  Somebody shoots out the overhead light (I missed that part—Todd and Bull both have guns), so now they are stumbling around in the dark.  Bull drops his gun and Starr picks it up and shoots at Bull.  He falls down, but James has also been hit and he falls down.  Starr starts screaming, "N-o-o-o-o-o!"

Dun, dun, da...

True Beauty Episode 6—7/5—Bride in Trouble

Five candidates are left standing: Amy, Craig, Erika, Michelle and Taylor.

Today’s challenge:
They will compete to be chosen as a bride’s maid or groom’s man for couples who have come to the White Wedding Chapel to get married.  The winner must be selected by three couples to be safe from elimination.  The two who are chosen the least number of times will go to the elimination.

The secret challenge:
Will the candidates offer a kind word to a stranger, or not?

Before the wedding chapel challenge, the candidates are directed, one-by-one, to a dressing room where they will dress as a potential wedding attendant. While in the dressing room, they overhear a nearby conversation between two actors who are playing the roles of an overweight bride-to-be, and an abusive mother who makes hurtful comments to her daughter when she can’t get her zipped into any of the wedding dresses; complaining that the bride was supposed to LOSE weight—not GAIN weight.

The scenario goes on long enough that it is starts to be uncomfortable and each of them peeks out a couple of times to see what is going on. When the mother leaves the room, the candidate finally leaves the dressing room and then, must walk past the “bride” who is sitting there alone, looking quite forlorn. Only TWO out of the five says anything to the bride. Uh-oh.

At the wedding chapel, Craig and Taylor are chosen over and over again. Who wouldn’t want either one of those handsome young men in their wedding photos.  Erika is blond and perky and she is also selected several times. Michelle and Amy are chosen the least, with Amy only getting chosen once. So, those two will be going to the final faceoff.

Amy has a complete meltdown in front of the others and the judges watch to see if any of them offer any sympathy or not. Michelle in particular, ignores her and is focused on herself.

Since the judges were having a very hard time with their final decision, Vanessa had set up another test that took place earlier in the dressing room. When the “florist” comes in to bring the girls their bouquet, she tells each one that her friends are one of the couples getting married that day and she was going to tell them to pick her as their attendant. As we are shown the result of that “final straw” test, we see that Michelle is happy to hear she will have an edge, but Amy tells her “no,” she wants to meet everyone first. So, that was the deciding factor.

Michelle is shown the tape of herself peeking at the questions in the elevator, not helping the lady with her dog, bad mouthing Liz and not comforting the abused bride. She is also told she was the only one who accepted the offer to "cheat" when the florist offers her friend's vote. Michelle is mortified and sobs after she leaves, saying she doesn’t want people to remember her like that. Oh well…

This week’s episode was not one of their best. It was actually pretty boring—very little drama—and the ending was predictable. Bye bye, Michelle.

Next week—Craig and Taylor, and Amy and Erika remain.

7/5—OLTL—Marty Saybrooke

What is happening with Susan Haskell?

Her character, Marty Saybrooke was recently put on the back burner when she ended her relationship with John McBain.  There was a brief rumor circulating the Internet that Brandon Buddy, who plays her son Cole Thornhart, was leaving the show and speculation was that maybe this would be her swan song also; but that rumor was recently debunked as some kind of a Twitter invasion/hacking or whatever.  So, we still don't know anything definite.

There was never any real spark between Marty Saybrooke and John McBain and I think most OLTL fans wanted John back together with Natalie Buchannan Banks, so at least that was resolved.

In the meantime, Susan Haskell's significant other, in real life, Thorsten Kaye, also known as Zach Slater of All My Children, decided against relocation to California with AMC.  He was quoted as saying he didn't plan to be an actor and has always been open to other possibilities. He plays the part of a doorman in a film called "Occupant" that looks VERY interesting. I've watched the trailers and it looks scary.  I look forward to hearing more about it in the near future.

I have been a HUGE fan of Thorsten Kaye since he played the part of Patrick Thornhart on OLTL in 1995-1997.  If there really is a possibility that we can make our fantasies come true, mine would be that Patrick wasn't really killed in Ireland (or San Diego??), as the story goes, and that he will return to Llanview and to Marty and Cole.  How could there EVER be a better storyline than that!

ABC—now is your chance—make it happen!

Happy 4th of July from NYC

I have seen fireworks displays in many cities across this country.

The Cincinnati, OH Riverfest display on the Labor Day weekend is one of the most spectacular. But far above all of them is the 4th of July display in NYC. It is just beyond unbelievable.

If you want to see it in person, you will have to get a front row seat early in the day, but it is well worth the wait.

OLTL — Friday, 7/2/10 — OMG

WHAT is going on?  Is Elijah Clarke really the bad guy?  Ford said, "...our frame job worked..." so, it sounds like Ford knows that the caller, who has so far been a mystery to us, is Eli.

Don't forget, Ross Rayburn is Eli's brother and Ross still wants his "daughter" Danielle back. Since Téa is supposedly dying from a brain tumor, there could be a custody battle brewing over Dani since she is still a minor.

Also, don't forget, Eli knew about Danielle, and blackmailed Téa when he first came to Llanview as Bo and Nora's attorney.

Since Hannah now claims to "know" who DID push Marty Saybrooke down the stairs, there has to be more to her motivation than just getting between Starr and Cole. She is either being threatened or paid by someone.

Eli's motivation would be to get Todd out of the picture so that Ross can get Dani back and Eli can have Blair all to himself.

This is an interesting twist, and totally unexpected.  BUT, if Eli really is behind all of this intrigue, WHY does he want Ford dead?!?!

There is definitely more to this story.

Trump's New "The Apprentice" Employs the Unemployed

From NBC.com

Trump's non-celebrity "The Apprentice" premiers in early Fall 2010 on Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern. 

New twist — All 16 contestants are currently unemployed due to circumstances related to the current economic crisis.

"The Celebrity Apprentice" will return Spring of 2011.

One Life To Live — Thursday, July 1

FINALLY, some adult conversation!

I know hot teenagers are all the rage right now, but is that really the fan base for OLTL?

Back to our adult story: 
Bo and Nora return from their honeymoon, Todd and Tea have a moment, Todd and Kelly have an uncomfortable moment (please don't bring those two together!) and Blair and Eli have fun in a cabana at the country club.  David walks by the pool in his very tiny, stars and stripes swim trunks and Dorian nearly has a heart attack.  Tuc Watkins, oh no you didn't.

The story has been simmering all week, but now, the teenagers are in a lot of trouble—all because of a brief case stuffed with $50,000.

James Ford wants to get away from a life of crime at his father's chop shop in Ohio, so he steals the cash and comes to Llanview where he knows his older brother, Robert, "Ford" as he is called, works at LU, and is in the hospital recovering from a near-death bludgeoning.

James buries the cash at the quarry for "safe keeping" where Nate and Dani find it. They decide to give the money to Nate's mother so she can pay her mortgage before her house is foreclosed. He tells her he got the money from winning the lottery.

In the meantime, Starr has a chance meeting with James when she can't get her car started.  He is on the run from a rough character named Bull, who has been hired by his father, to track him down and return the cash.  James goes to the quarry to retrieve the cash and finds out it is gone.  Starr tries to help James get the money to give to Bull, but they have an accident and wind up totalling her brand new SUV and now they have nothing with which to negotiate, and they have to walk.

Bull learns that Nate is the one who found the cash (thanks to Matthew, who has a grudge against Nate since he stole Dani away from him).  Now, Nate is being held hostage by Bull for the $50,000.  Dani convinces Todd to give her the money to give to Bull before something horrible happens to Nate.  After realizing that Dani's father is rich, Bull raises his demand from $50,000 to $500,000.  When Todd goes to the country club to deliver the cash, Bull and Nate are gone.

This isn't going to end well for someone.

Hannah's main agenda is getting closer to Cole and getting him away from Starr. She has concocted a story about Starr running off with James to a cabin in Maryland, and convinces Cole to drive there with her even though he is out of jail on bail. The cabin actually belongs to her grandfather. While Cole takes a nap, Hannah listens to his cellphone messages and learns that the police are looking for her; because, for some reason, Ford has identified her as his attacker. When Cole realizes she has taken the battery out of his cellphone, he starts asking a lot questions. She finally runs out of cover story and confesses everything, including that she lied about seeing Todd push Cole's mother down the stairs, which is why Cole beat up Todd in the first place and it landed him in jail.

Cole is furious that she has played him for a fool, but relieved when he finds out that she staged the whole scenario of Starr starting a new relationship with James. Cole wants to get back to Llanview as soon as possible, before anyone realizes he has left the state against the conditions of his bail.

But the big story is turning out to be, the mystery behind Ford's near-death experience.  Earlier in the story, we see Ford reading a note he has just received and he acts as though it contains some kind of a threat.  Shortly after that, he "remembers" his attacker and IDs Hannah.  A day or so later, he re-reads the letter and we learn that it says he should be dead and that the attacker will come back and finish the job if he doesn't do exactly as he was told. Then he receives a phone call, and this time, Ford reacts angrily, saying that he put the blame on Hannah like he was told.  Today, he receives a phone call and demands to know why he is being forced to blame Hannah when they both know it is a lie.

Dun,dun,daaaaa.......  Stay tuned. Maybe we'll get a clue on Friday.