The Parody and the Cartoon Villian: It's About Respect, Stupid!

Everyone enjoys a little fun now and then, don't we? If we are fans of the daytime scripted genre, we know it's called a "soap opera" and that very name connotes over the top content produced for commercial purposes.  "Soap" being a reference to the commercial companies that started this whole mess.  And "opera" being the height of over the top content, a lot of noise and drama and great costumes and excitement and no one really knows what the hell they're talking about.  So, the name alone, "soap opera" demands that the form not take itself too seriously.  But, in the end, there's parody and there's self-reflexive content and then, there's cartoon.  What often is passed off as "parody" is in fact cartoon and degrades the form, the actors, and the audience.  And, like everything else, it's killing this genre.

Now, there have been moments of straight parody that, IMO, have worked well. I may be in the minority in terms of OLTL fans, but I loved "Fraternity Row" as a stand alone episode.  The storyline that existed in the show, however, was self-reflexive but rather moronic.  By "self-reflexive", I mean that it is how the form talks back to itself.  It's how the form speaks to its own conventions and makes comments on them.  Often, this is done via mocking, but other times it is not.

Parody, on the other hand, lampoons the nature of the genre. Parody is by nature self-reflexive, but it does so from a place of fun and a large chunk of sarcasm.  The Fraternity Row episodes joked with the audience. It told them that we all know how silly this stuff is but we all enjoy it, don’t we? It made fun of bad acting and stupid stories and ridiculous characters. It was, in my mind, one instance of good, clean fun between the creative team, the actors, and the audience. I know I laughed my ass off!!

However, the cartoon nature of some of the “serious” content has gotten ridiculous. The real victim of this cartooning is the role of the villain.  Rather than being a serious threat to the town or the hero and heroine, the villain has become a scenery chewing cartoon.  Take, for example, Stefano DiMera of DOOL.  Once a truly frightening character, Stefano has become the elder statesman of cartoon villains with outrageous powers and a vendetta against, well, everyone, and a seemingly endless supply of vendetta-producing zeal.  Really, I don’t get it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Stefano.  I think it may be due to nostalgia and the actor. I just, well, like him and he’s been the scourge of Salem for so long, it was just be wrong to be without him.  But I don’t even remember why he hates them all. I don’t get it. I know it’s about the Bradys and something but, honestly, I don’t care.

The odd thing is the way they make him almost the patriarch of villains. We see him hanging at the mansion with whoever he’s married to and with his kids and so forth. It’s kind of creepy because, if I’m not mistaken, he’s supposed to be the Lex Luthor of Salem, not Todd Manning.  I mean, he’s supposed to be able to erase people’s memories and give them new identities and so forth.  What’s he doing being the surly guy who digs his wife and his kids?  He’s supposed to be evil.


The ultimate cartoon evil bad guy is one of my favorites, the delicious Mitch Lawrence on OLTL.  I know he’s super evil and cartoonish, but he’s kind of hot, in his own cartoonish way. I think the credit there has to go to Roscoe Borne, one of the original hot mob guys back on Ryan’s Hope in the early 1980’s.

Now, that’s hot.  Watch out, Sonny the Short and Jason the Fat, this is one hot mob guy!! He may be short but what he loses in height, he makes up for in hotness- and talent.

Mitch was originally a cult leader and he was a bit cartoony in his proselytizing, but he became ridiculous with every return. I do have to admit to giggling when he jumped out of Jared’s casket and had Nash’s rotting corpse sitting upright.  But, come on, that’s moronic, even for the campy OLTL.  Mitch was perfect as traditional evil and Borne was best when he taunted people and baited them. This scene with Charlie was fantastic as there were two great, mature actors and it was spine tingling.

It was pure evil. No over the top props, no scenery chewing.  Just good actors doing their job.  And, I, for one, loved it.

The real problem here is lazy writing and not enough confidence in the actors- or actors of low ability.  But, when you have some talent, like Kerwin and Borne, they don’t need stupid plotlines about people being held against their will on islands.  They don’t need face changes and doppelgangers and carnivals- Sheila, I’m looking at you on Y&R.  They only need  a decent script and an actor who’s taken a class before they invested in head shots and a gym membership.  We need quality scenes by people who can play them.

The real problem here is a lack of trust. It’s not about a “big show”. It’s about a “small show” that’s good.  That’s really what it’s supposed to be.  Character studies, not moronic plot twists out of comic books.  We want evil guys like Mitch and Stefano, but we want them to make sense, not be so over the top, we laugh at them.

Look, I love a good parody as much as anyone.  But it should be as Fraternity Row was- a stand alone, not a part of the show itself. It’s degrading to the show, the actors, the form, and the audience.  If, for once, the producers would look at their audience with respect instead of scorn, maybe they’d see that it is quality we want, not a “show” with a lot of skin being banded about.  But, they didn’t look at us as people with taste. And that’s why it’s over.


If you’re really trying to save something, Valentini, I hope you’re reading this.  It’s about the women, Stupid, yes, but it’s about the writing, too. And the audience.  And, more than anything, it’s  about respect. For the form. For the characters. For the actors.  And, really, for us.  Give us something good and we’re there.  Give us crap, and, hell, it’s over. I would have tuned in to Mitch taunting and scheming every day. But attempting to commit incest for an heir- no, just, no. It’s beneath the actor, it’s beneath the show, and, damn it, it’s beneath me to be subjected to that to see Roscoe work.  It’s degrading to everyone. 


Bring back good writing being played out by good actors. It’s pretty simple. Build it and they will come.  And it’s cheap.  That can’t be better, can it? It’s all there for the taking, if only someone can recognize it.

Oh, and by the way, I miss Viki! That can’t be said enough.