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.