The cornerstone of these shows was always about love. What about family love? What happened to parents who loved their children and accepted them, no matter what? What happened to the Joe Martins who loved their sons, no matter how "caddish" Tad was on a daily basis back in the day? Sure, maybe it was corny but it was needed. What happened to Rick Webber is typical of this sign of the end. They take a good stepfather who loved his stepdaughter, Laura, and villianize him and make him into the devil incarnate. That's appalling. I watched that story and rewriting it as they did was beyond the pale. Instilling any good will with old school fans will be a tall order for this regime after the damage inflicted by the last. For this reason alone I don't shed a tear for the bastardization of GH. It was slaughtered years ago.
You see, you need to have stories about people with motivation. What's more motivating than love? Even if it's not romantic love, there's still so little emotion. We have parents that love their children but only as they can use them as pawns for hurting others. Don't start me on Victor Newman who 'loves' his family so much he sleeps with his daughter-in-law. Yeah, that's love. And he goes after the man his daughter loves because he's not fond of him. What an asswipe!!!Sorry, but I hate Victor. He sucks.
I have yet to see anything close to actual love with anyone who isn't over 30. Now, it's "get the kids together fast and get them in bed immediately". How nice. But, although I feel as if I'm an old lady whining about "how it was in my day", I have yet to see any supercouple in the making. Maybe that's because all of these shows are on their way out, so holding power isn't necessary. Yet it would be nice to see someone who isn't just there to "get some" or looking for the random piece to make them feel better.
The supercouples of the past hardly exist any more. There are a few left. Bo and Hope...for now. I think there may be someone on B&B but I can't get through an episode to know. Really, it's not good! But, well, other than that, they're all down for the count. We may get Todd and Blair for five minutes unless Valentini's folly survives. But even then, he'll probably bust them up just for sport, if he gets them back together at all, that is. There's no Luke and Laura. There's no Jenn and Jack. There's no Victor and Nicki, if they were one, or Nick and Sharon, if they were one. There's no one with staying power and who make the other character better. It's all about plot points now. Break them up to make a story and introduce a new character. That's, well, not fun.
Back in the day, we had Patch and Kayla, Cliff and Nina, Jack and Carly, Mary and Jack, and so on and so on. They were couples about love and passion and dedication and fun. Now, it's all about sex. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good sex scene but I like to see that there's actual emotion there above the waist. I also wouldn't mind seeing some people who actually like one another, even when they're fully clothed.
Take Bo and Nora. They loved each other like crazy. I could see it. They were sweet and touching and I'd take one moment of them looking into each other's eyes over a shower scene with two newbies groping one another. I'd rather watch them chatting about a case and looking wistfully as they mention their past than one second of a twenty year old ripping off his shirt to show his washboard abs. Yeah, I said it!! You can take all the Ford Brothers and swap them for an "older" man like Bo Buchanan smiling at "Red" and I'll be happy. It was about the love, not the pectoral muscles. I watch soap operas, not soft core porn.
I want to stab somebody when I see the discussion of how "hot" "so and so" is. That's great. They're hot. Now, can they convey an emotion? Maybe that's the issue. None of these kids can act. They can't convey love, so we get sex instead. Is it that they can express passion in terms of a gutteral sound and not show a true, genuine feeling in their eyes? Is that why we can't get a love scene to save our lives unless it's with the over forty crowd? I saw a sweet one with Bo and Hope and the final Todd and Blair scenes were terrific, sex or no sex, they were romantic and hot as hell.
And new mothers appear to be more interested in if they're being shot from a good light as opposed to loving a baby. They cry a lot if the kid dies but I saw Sam lose that kid on GH last week. I didn't care because I could see her trying to act. She sucks. The playmate needs to go to New York and study for a few years and take that dolt of an acting partner with her. He's over thirty, and I think she must be, as well, but both she and Steve Burton need to take some classes. Here's a concept, Buddy, staring into space isn't conveying grief. It's staring into space. And, please, someone change the wardrobe on that guy. The black t-shirt is ridiculous for someone who looks like he should be at his kid's soccer game, not on a TV show. Deflate him or put him on a diet or, better yet, fire him. He sucks, too.
Is it that the new kids on soaps can't act? I don't know but the last good family scenes I saw were on OLTL. The Manning Family Christmas was sweet, little Sam being a highlight, and even acting-challenged but improving Jack had some kickass scenes with Daddy Todd. I loved how Todd loved that nasty but pretty kid and relished even the scorn he got from him. It was classic Manning moments.
But was it because Todd and Blair rock as parents as the actors can express love like nobody's business? I see Alderson without them and, let me tell you, it ain't pretty. The best family moments were with the Lord "children" of Tina, Todd, and Viki, and it was not only fun but sweet and caring at the end. Hell, even Todd and Victor were amusing in a brotherly "I hate you" way. But, again, all people way over 30 and not hired for their chiseled bodies or fabulous racks. These "kids" can act.
So, maybe it was the first sign of the end and no one noticed. There was no one loving one another. Or maybe they were trying but were so bad it, no one cared or noticed. I see love but only with a select few. And they're all "mature". But, so am I. And that's fine with me.
The problem is that the douchebags in charge seem to have their interest elsewhere. I don't see Starr having "chemistry" with anyone but her parents. It's not working. I don't care about anyone on DOOL who's under thirty but Will and, God Forbid, the gay kid get a real love story. I did see some nice stuff years ago on ATWT with Will and Michael Landon's daughter, whose character's name escapes me, but the gay couples had more genuine emotion than any straight couple on that show. And look what they did to them? I think one of them got hit by a train. Nice. Nice job. And seeing how gay characters are treated elsewhere, I see little hope for Will.
It's a shame as it seems there's potential but it's not happening. If the future of everything is the children, then the end of this genre began in the late 1990s. That's the last time I saw a younger set with real stories and who could actually act. Loving people died long ago with only a few Vets holding the torch as they reach the finish line. Hopefully Todd and Blair and Bo and Hope are in the home stretch with Viki and Clint there to cheer them on. If they are, I'll be, as well, but right now, it don't look good.
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