Nothing Much to Say

Well, I really don't have much to say. I just thought it I may as well use the computer to post something to the blog tonight.

Don't have much to say about As the World Turns, other than that Alison and Aaron sleeping together was something I saw coming. Afterall, both had just been dumped. And although they have had little contact lately, Alison has been able to revive her friendship with Aaron. The (situational) irony, of course, is that when Alison wanted Aaron, she couldn't have him. Now that she is in love with Chris, she sleeps with Aaron. Aaron and Alison see each other as friends only. Yet now they have "made love." Not too long ago Alison had unprotected sex with Chris. A couple of days ago she had (presumably) unprotected sex with Aaron. Gee, I wonder what happens next?

The funny thing is, I think that Aaron and Alison would have been a better couple than Aaron & Lucy and Alison & Chris. I realize that I am in the minority here, but Alison and Chris are not all that interesting to me. He is way too old for her and has a past with her sister/mom Emily. And, as I've said before, Lucy and Aaron's chemistry leaves a lot to be desired. There is no spark there. But ATWT couldn't resist having the rebel and the rich girl fall for each other. It would seem that wild child Alison and edgy Aaron would have more in common with each other than with their supposed soul mates. It would be refreshing to have Aaron and Alison get together, but I doubt that will happen. Instead, viewers may have to endure another "We Could Be Having A Baby Together But We're In Love With Other People" story similar to the Carly/Jack/Mike/Molly saga that ended earlier this year. Please don't do this to the viewers, ATWT. Please.

In other stuff to fill up this post: I must thank whoever is cleaning up my template so that the buttons on the sidebar line up nicely. Just about every time I mess around with the template that things get out of place. So to the person or mechanism responsibe for making Pila Posts look good, many sincere thanks.

I think I am just way too lazy to be a good blogger. I just do not have the time or the inclination to add links to the sidebar or to become someone who explores the blogosphere with authority and abandon. I will try to add links here and there. But even the idea of reading countless blogs and linking back to them is exhausting. Who can do that? Well, obviously lots of people do exactly that. Oh, how I envy them.

One thing I will try to avoid is putting a lot of the usual suspects in the sidebar. You won't find links to Kausfiles, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Reynolds, et al. here. Nothing against any of them. It is just that there is no need for links to them from Pila Posts when so many other blogs are already doing them the favor. I am probably violating some cardinal rule of blogging by breaking the chain or something. But if I am going to take time to read other blogs and link to them in the sidebar, that space is going to be reserved for things I think may not be easy to find elsewhere.

Maybe Pila Posts and Bambino's Curse and lots of others operate on the fringes of the blogosphere. We're here, but not in the thick of things, perhaps. And that is quite all right with me.

More Bloggy Stuff

Just peeked at the Bambino's Curse blog. Another blog that I am envious of. The background is a cool black and white photo (really almost sepia-toned) of Babe Ruth in his civies. The writer is a Red Sox fan who is refusing to acknowledge this year's World Series. I am not a Red Sox fan, being one who roots for the Cardinals and Yankees. (However, my fervor for the Bronx Bombers has waned since Tino left). I have to say that I do like Nomar--what red-blooded woman doesn't--and would have liked to see him and his teammates continue on this year. I still like the Yankees, especially Joe Torre and Derek Jeter. But things just aren't the same since Tino, Scott Brosius and Paul O'Neill left.

I've been following the baseball playoffs fairly closely this year, and was amazed that no one seemed to consider the possibility of a Yankees/Marlins World Series. Most of the media did stories on the Cubs and Red Sox, seemingly without giving any thought to the fact that both teams had to win their respective pennants before playing each other in a dream team World Series. As things turned out, that Cubs/Red Sox match up will have to be relegated to dreams for now. Maybe next year.

Back to Bambino's Curse . The writer mentions not having links, thus not being a typical blog. Join the club. Linking to other blogs and sites is hardly the strong suit of Pila Posts either. Yet for some reason I keep posting my stuff and nonsense for a handful of people to read. I really do want to take some time and make a links list to other blogs and to more websites. Links are supposed to define a blog. But do they? Maybe linking to others who link back to you makes one's blog more well-known. But are numerous links a defining characteristic of blogs? I have seen several blogs in Blogger's random feed and elsewhere that have few, if any, links. Some of them have very few posts. Yet they are being viewed and sometimes even being picked as "Blogs of Note."
Certainly Pila Posts, which I will admit that virtually no one reads, does not have a huge collection of links. But it is not a diary. Most of what is here is commentary of one sort or another, with almost no personal content. I have a journal and a web diary for personal stuff. Is Pila Posts any less a blog for not having lots of links? It is certainly not widely read. Yes, I am vain enough to want more readers, but realistic to know that it will take time to get more people to come here--if that ever happens at all.

But I will do Bambino's Curse a favor. Here is the link.

More Soap Opera Stuff

I am at the library--probably will be kicked out soon due to the computer room being almost full. Anyway, I "googled" Carolyn Hinsey's name just for the heck of it. A couple of references to her in this blog came up on the first page. That is scary and very unexpected. Either more people are reading this than I thought or this blog has way too many references to Carolyn Hinsey. I fear the latter is true.

Anyway, I found a reference to Hinsey's attitude about rape here. It appears that other soap fans think Hinsey needs to get a clue on the subject. Snark's comments are, well, a little snarky for my taste, but he makes some good points. I don't much like the purple background with the black print on the website. It is very difficult for Miss Myopic to read. But I think Snark--don't know what else to call him--would be a great person to start that soap opera 'zine I've been dreaming of. If only.

Suite 101 has a new soap critic. At least the person is new to me. P.K. Waddle was the last critic I was aware of at the site. The new critic is named Sarah Lee, I believe. Of course, that could be an internet persona, given its association with cheesecake and other processed delectables. Anyway, she has written some very interesting soap opera criticism and appears to be a more than worthy successor to Waddle. Check out her stuff here.

I was particularly impressed with her article regarding soaps being so much flash with little substance and little suspense. Not only do soaps reveal way too much to the mags, thus removing most suspense. But they also play storylines for exploitation with little follow-through. (I've a feeling I am mixing in stuff from more than one of her articles, but this will eventually make sense.) She used Bianca's rape on All My Children as an example of a story that started out good then went south when it was exploited to the nth degree by making Bianca pregnant, having her flirt with abortion, not using the term "abortion," then having her not do it. I am not really in favor of abortion, but to not even allow the show to use the term is ridiculous, no matter where one stands on the issue. What was the point of the rape? Was this really a dramatic story that would explore the relationships of Erica, Bianca, and Kendall? Or was it a way to exploit Bianca's sexual orientation and tease the audience with the suggestion of abortion?

I don't watch AMC, so cannot really comment on the story. But exploiting rape for plot purposes seems to be rampant on soaps these days. As The World Turns is at least as guilty as AMC. The Jessica/Marshall rape storyline started out with a bang. Then the show wimped out by having a mistrial instead of playing out the trickiness of the situation. Would a jury really buy Jessica's story? All rape trials are tricky, and this one would have been especially so, given that Jessica and Marshall had been lovers--however briefly. The audience never got the chance to find what the jury would decide. Then Marshall was inexplicably cleared of all his crimes. Now, Jessica appears to be having a delayed reaction to the rape and mistrial. She wants Marshall to be tried again because Bonnie is spending too much time with him. Huh? I can understand her not wanting to Bonnie to get close to Marshall. But Bonnie has been clear about her feelings toward Marshall--she cannot stand him. She is concerned only with Sarah's welfare. She didn't want Sarah anywhere near the man. Yet Jessica was the one who summoned up enough compassion to realize that Marshall deserved to know that his daughter was alive. So this return to anger toward Marshall seems a bit off. Her feelings are not unwarranted, but they are not consistent with her recent slightly softened attitude toward Marshall. Now Bonnie is being almost nice to Marshall. Is this changing of the mother's and daughter's feelings an interesting exploration of character or a mere plot device to hasten Marshall's exit from Oakdale?

I hate to say this, because I really do like ATWT. (It is the only soap I watch now that Port Charles is off the air.) But after taping the show for almost a year, I can see a glaring problem with the Goutman/Sheffer regime. Few of the stories have follow-through or resonance later. The whole Jack/Carly/Mike/Molly/Craig/Rosanna conundrum that dominated the show late last year and well into 2003 seems to have been forgotten. Carly and Jack are blissfully happy and barely seen. Mike has moved on to Katie and seems to care nary a bit about the goddaughter he had once thought was his biological child. Rosanna and Carly are the best of friends now. Craig and Rosanna's marriage is going to be blown apart again very soon, but that is only because he is lying to her (yet again, yawn) about the origins of their adopted baby, not because of the mess he made of things with Monte Carlo or his obsession with Carly. Molly is returning to her old ways a bit, mainly because she was the odd person out who didn't end up with the man she loved or with someone new. Now she's like a cat in heat around super stud Dusty. Sure, there has been the suggestion that she is still mourning Jake, but is that simply to justify her renewed interest in Dusty? Afterall, she didn't seem to be thinking too much about Jake during her romance with Mike. (Here's a really bad internet moniker for Dusty--Studly Do-Wrong.)

And what of the Dusty/Paul/Rose/Molly/Jennifer storyline? Rose was supposed to be so passionately in love with Dusty. He kept saying that Rose was the woman for him. Yet he had no problem kissing Jennifer and even sleeping with Molly. Rose was prepared to leave Dusty even before discovering him in flagrante delicto, because Paul decorated her beauty parlor and reminded her of how good they used to be together. Again, huh? Now she and Paul are about to run off to Paris so that they can live happily ever after. Of course that is not going to happen. But how did the show get there to begin with? Rose is now flighty and indecisive. I thought she was supposed to be a tough broad who knew what she wanted out of life and went after it. Would Rose really let Barbara run her out of town? Wouldn't she have her radar up about Paul? Wouldn't it occur to her that he might be setting her up? Sure, she had reason to dump Dusty. How about showing her fight for him? I'm not sure that he is worth it, but she could at least try. Dusty is a dog. But I thought that he was supposed to be changing. He was going to go legit, yet became involved with illegal gambling before he even got his "legitimate" business off the ground. Rose is the one for him unless Molly or Jennifer or some other hottie walks by. Couldn't he be a little contrite about sleeping with Molly? Could we have some consistency in this storyline, please?

And what about Paul and Rosanna's friendship? They did share some scenes recently, but their closeness has almost disappeared now that Paul has decided he is in love with Rose. I really liked Roger Howarth's interplay with both Cady McClain and Hunt Block. I'd like to see Paul around to help Rosanna when she discovers Craig's latest scam.

The serial killer story was pretty good. However, once again there was little follow-through. Rick Decker is off the show. Susan and Emily have been missing along with Bob and Kim. Bob's TIA's have disappeared along with him. The murder mystery, such as it was, was a nice summer story with almost no trace of it to be found now that the leaves are falling from the trees.

ATWT has exciting, dramatic episodes on a daily basis. The dialogue is superb. It is the show that won the Outstanding Drama category at this year's Daytime Emmys. But it is hollow at its core. It is being written as if it were a TV movie or mini series. That story is over. Time to move on to a new one. We'll keep the same characters, but have them change to suit the plot of the next big story. Dare I say that the emperor has no clothes? Well, maybe he is half-naked.

Boomtown Blues

Well, I certainly was not planning on posting anything about Boomtown today, but curiosity got the better of me this morning while doing some web surfing at the local library. I was curious as to why one of my favorite shows has not been broadcast the last two Friday's on NBC. Since I don't keep up with the business side of entertainment news (at least a venial sin for a pop culture blog, but I digress), I had no idea that Boomtown was still in trouble with NBC.

Turns out, production was shut down for at least two weeks--I have not found anything saying that production has resumed. NBC wants fewer viewpoints--a hallmark of the show--and more stand-alone episodes. Apparently the upcoming eps were to be part of an arc, so the network intervened to change them. Graham Yost, the show's creator, is being suitably cordial in interviews. But you know he has to be furious about the constant network intervention with his vision for the show. I know I would be.

Unfortunately, the ratings been treating Boomtown as badly as NBC has. CBS's Friday line-up that includes two new shows (Joan of Arcadia and The Handler) has been winning the night. I guess this goes to show that new dramas featuring familiar faces can be successful in the ratings if they have good, canny promotion. Despite opening and closing the night with new fare, CBS is beating the pants off NBC. You have to give it to them with their strategy. JOA was heavily promoted during CBS' daytime line-up all summer. I know this because I tape As the World Turns and saw the commercials. CBS must know that a significant number of their viewers watch ATWT and then flip the channel to watch General Hospital on ABC. Why do I say this? Because CBS' JOA ads played up the fact that the show's star, Amber Tamblyn, was from GH. I mean, they were practically promoting GH while promoting JOA, but it worked for them in the long run. CBS was counting on its viewers who were familiar with Tamblyn's stunning turn on GH to watch her in a prime time drama. Evidently it worked. JOA is one of the most popular new shows, if not the most popular.

I believe a similar thing happened with The Handler. CBS promoted the show heavily throughout the summer, especially during shows that were similar. Handler promos ran during episodes of Without A Trace , which the network wisely kept on the air throughout the summer to draw viewers from ER. Joe Pantoliano, like Tamblyn, was promoted as the main reason to watch the show. Pantoliano's Emmy win may have helped, too, but the Emmys received fairly poor ratings this year, so could not have been too much of a factor in The Handler's success. My guess is that people were familiar with his work on The Sopranos and decided to check out The Handler because of his late (and I mean really late) turn on HBO's mafia drama.

Would that Boomtown were on CBS, the network that dares to promote the heck out of its new shows and takes advantage of any awards their shows or their stars receive. NBC should have kept BT on throughout last season, rather than yanking it on and off. The network also should have promoted Boomtown's awards and critical accolades. Furthermore, they should have run repeats all summer as CBS did with WAT. WAT actually did draw viewers away from ER and pick up ratings in repeats. People, such as myself, who weren't aware of the show at its debut or were committed to watching ER, began watching it over the summer. I became hooked on its production values, acting, subtle continuing storylines, and compelling mysteries, which rarely end up the way they seem to be going. (I did figure out what happened early in the latest episode, but that is one of the few that had a fairly easy-to-guess result). Thursday nights at 9:00--soon to be 10:00, ugh--are reserved for Without a Trace. I was hoping for the same with Fridays and Boomtown. At least I will always have Ballykissangel on Friday nights--until Channel 14 finishes showing series 1-3, that is.

If you want to learn more about Boomtown, here are a couple of websites that are worth a look. A good fan venue is Almost Human's Boomtown Fan Site. A petition to save the show can be found here.
NBC's official website is, like most of its type, heavy on graphics with little else to recommend it.

The Blog Herald: More blog news more often

The Blog Herald: More blog news more often

Well, I was not going to post anything else today, but had to add a link to The Blog Herald. I've a feeling I will visit the site often. It is a news site about blogs. Pretty cool stuff.

More Soap Opera Stuff

I had half-promised myself that I would not discuss soaps until the end of the year, but recent articles in Soap Opera Weekly have prompted a response.

In the September 23rd issue, Carolyn Hinsey mentioned coverage of prime time shows in the magazine's "Dueling Diva" column. I think SOW has gone too far with that. A reader whose letter was printed in the October 14th issue agrees. She said that she had stopped buying the magazine routinely because it had too much coverage of prime time shows. I haven't gone that far, but have let my subscription lapse more than once due to the changing focus of the mag. I can read about prime time shows in TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. Daytime's coverage in the mainstream press is practically non-existent, so the magazines that are supposed to be covering it should do so without feeling an obligation to have sections on prime time. I recall both Sex and the City and <em>The Osbournes meriting cover stories on SOW in the not-so-distant past. Why couldn't Port Charles have received that kind of hype?

Like the letter writer, I too am a fan of Mimi Torchin and am happy to see her back in the fold at SOW. I have to think that Hinsey had something to do with Torchin's return, especially since she (Hinsey) is now editor at SOW. So, thank you, Carolyn for whatever role you played in getting Torchin back where she belongs. (I recently read that Hinsey is an IU grad, so she and I have something else in common besides a love of soap operas. No wonder she was bummed about the Hoosiers' fate in the NCAA's. I mean the basketball tournament, of course. In Indiana, there are no other NCAA's.)

In the October 7th issue of SOW, Hinsey and Michael Bruno, a talent manager for several daytime stars, dueled regarding recasts on soaps. I have discussed the topic before on Pila Posts, so won't go into it too much here. Hinsey thinks that ..."very few roles should ever be recast on a soap." I don't quite agree with that. (See the June and July archives). Hinsey argues that recasts usually are not that good and that soaps underestimate the connection that viewers make with actors. She has good points, but the examples she uses of poor recasts hardly suggest that the practice is always a bad idea. I believe that it is inevitable that actors will leave their shows. While recasting a role is not always the answer, sometimes it needs to be done. Having people fall off cliffs or disappear is not a good substitute. Soaps rely too heavily on the presumed deaths of exiting characters. That soap staple has been done to death--if only the practice really would die. Recasting, if done judiciously, makes sense. Why should a character disappear from the canvas simply because an actor wants to try his or her hand at other roles?

Good News

Not the good news but good news nevertheless: I was pretty psyched this week to find out that Pila Posts can now be found on both Yahoo! and Google. I had submitted the site a few months ago, but had little hope that either search engine would ever list it. But it is there. If anyone types pila posts in the search window on either site, a link to this blog will come up. Now of course, not very many people will type pila posts in the search windows, but hey, the blog is there.

On a different topic: I am starting to get hooked on Newlyweds. After seeing the episode in which Nick decorates the house while Jessica is gone, I have to say that he has gone down a notch or two in my eyes. Jessica was whining a lot. But Nick was just plain mean to her. Supposedly there is going to be a second season of the show.