Anyway, this week brought new life (sorry Diane) to the show.  Everyone in town has a motive but who did it?  Who felt they couldn’t possibly survive without killing Diane?  I for one am sad to see Diane go.  She was a great character – a legacy character of a sort. She had something to do with almost everyone in town and had links to one of its major families, the Abbott’s, through her son Kyle.  I’m not sure why this writing regime always feels the need to kill off legacy characters.  Just send them away for goodness sake.  That way you can always come back to it later if you need to.  I get that sometimes great story telling is achieved by killing a beloved character but I think Y&R has more than fulfilled that quota.  I mean really Colleen, Brad, John, Drucilla, the Winter’s family (because honestly, they might as well be dead as little as we see them) are just some of the latest casualties. But again, I digress.

I am enjoying the way the story is unfolding.  Whoever thought of that cool visual of Diane’s dead face under water with that sweet sound effect when doing flashbacks should get a raise.  That is a wonderful sound effect/touch that makes this whodunit feel current.  I’m also happy that this brought that yummy detective Ronan Malloy back.  I do wish though that he would have come back a little softer – not a lot, just a little.  Maura West, however, made the most and then some of her last days on set.  She is selling the crap out of this story.  While Diane made some choices that don’t make sense, once she set on her course she was great.  She got Kyle away from all the crazy that was to come and made sure EVERYONE knew exactly how she felt about them before the end.  It’s so rare to get characters who tell the brutal truth so I savor each and every one of those moments. Diane was blessed with a lot during her swan song.  If only she had spared an extra moment to go and tell Katherine just how horrible she is it would have been perfect.

Kay spent her week seriously lobbying to be the next murder victim.  Not content to just ruin the business of the son she didn’t want and doesn’t like, Kay set out to also terminate Tucker’s marriage.  Why you ask?  Yeah, so did everyone else who heard about it.  Just because Kay doesn’t like something doesn’t mean she should be able to change it if it doesn’t pertain to her.  Up until minutes before his accident Kay hated Tucker and wanted nothing to do with him.  It’s really ridiculous that she has this much say over his life now.  I really hope Tucker makes it his business to get her back.  I also hope Ashley has a chance to take all of Kay’s past mistakes and rub them in her face.  Kay acts like she’s not a recovering alcoholic and like she’s never done anything wrong – ever.  Ugh… she’s such an unlikeable person right now.  And it’s really unfortunate because I’m feeling like I will never like Kay again.  There’s just been too much of her buttinskiness of late for me.  But perhaps it will be as @susan_rodeo said on Twitter – this is Kay’s year to be the Christmas special.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

As for Ashley and Tucker, I’m LOVING the fact that the deed is not what hurts Ashley the most, but the fact that Tucker’s lie caused her to choose him over her own daughter.  She’s now realizing that she’s just as horrible a parent as she so boldly and brazenly called Sharon months ago.  I for one, think Ash should drive on up to the prison and apologize to Sharon for being such a complete and total hypocrite regarding parenting skills.  Sharon is no prize, but then again neither are you Ashley.

Now I’m hoping that this coming week will bring us some variety on the show.  I’d love to see some OTHER people in Genoa City, you know Collin or Lily, or Devon, or Neil or Lauren or anyone who’s not a Newman/Abott.  I wish the show would figure out how to balance things out more.  The murder of Diane is something that could be talked about across town because everyone knows something about her.  Then we could see OTHER people doing OTHER things.  Like Neil should still be handling business at Chancellor and somebody should at least tell Sofia that Tucker didn’t get control of his company back.  Ah well, dreams….

Lets just list a few of the people plagued by unhappiness this week shall we?  Billy lost custody of Delia based on yet another manipulation by Victor, Lily still has to “run into” and be bothered by her estranged husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Jill has a constant reminder of her rash choice to marry a man she barely knew, Victoria is grieving the loss of her daughter and the uncertainty of her marriage, Diane is caught in a bitter battle that will find her either dead or in jail soon, Tucker can’t understand business (which is his life), Nikki is in rehab, Abby is an attempted murderess, Neil/Sofia/Malcolm are caught in their own private little hell of “who’s the Daddy?” and last but certainly not least is Sharon who is facing 25+ years in jail for a crime that she didn’t commit and has no way of proving so.  Yaaaaayyyy!  Happy times  .  Sheesh, even Jack’s pseudo happiness is not long for this world – we all know that.  So what happened? Who tinkled in the Y&R writers Cheerios to make them so doom and gloom lately?  It’s getting rather frustrating and is not leaving me happy that I’ve sat down and watched this 45 minutes or so of television.

This week finally brought us the fallout from the big reveal that Sofia slept with Neil.  When the news first hit THREE WEEKS AGO, I thought it was done horribly. There was no build up, no excitement to hear the truth, nothing.  Then they ignored the story for what felt like an eternity.  But this week we got more of what i was looking for.  As Sofia/Neil/Malcolm tried to “play nice” during Lily’s party it proved too much and out came the truth.  Clearly Lily would be upset but I actually felt far more for this story in that short exchange than I had since the start.  Everyone was pulling their weight and that’s a really nice thing. My one big gripe is the playing of the “woe is me” card for Malcolm.  Apparently the scribes want us to forget that he practically raped Dru back in the day.  She was out if it due to medicine she was taking and thought Malcolm was Neil.  Malcolm knew what was going on and chose to sleep with her anyway.  So now, as upset as he might want to be, he might want to take it down a notch since HE broke up with Sofia and treated her like dirt before she ever slept with Neil.  Technically Neil/Sofia were in the clear to do as they wished since no one was in a relationship.  Morally?  Yeah that was low, but Malcolm doesn’t really have a lot of room to judge.  I’m interested in seeing what comes next and hope I don’t have to wait another three weeks for any developments.

We didn’t see Cane much this week but what we have seen is getting old.  I love the character of Cane and the possibilities he offers.  Why can’t the scribes see his potential?  They assassinated his character (literally) but brought him back.  So if you cared enough to bring him back, DO SOMETHING WITH HIM!  I get that he needs to be yelled at and treated poorly for his behavior.  I’m all for his public floggings, but can we have him do something other than stand there with that blank expression on his face?  Can he stop stalking the people he’s lied to, betrayed, and hurt more than words can say?  I want Cane to stay on the show and I think this is the perfect time to let him grow some independent roots that don’t require every story to be about Lily and the twins.  If Lane is going to end up a super couple, great.  Every super couple though needs years when they are apart or with other people.  I know Lane fans in their persistence and passion for the pairing want Lily and Cane back together but I think this is the time to build them up individually and then bring them together.  They’ve already started with Lily.  She had been written pretty docile for a loooonnnnggg time. So much time that I was ready for her to be gone already. Now though, Lily seems to be inheriting some of that fire and passion Drucilla possessed.  Can we see more of that Lily please?  She’s great and is sorely needed in the land of weakened women.  As for Cane, he now has a family in town so lets make the best of it.  Genie Francis and Tristan Rogers are fantastic actors, so give them something to act.  Right now, they’re really the only bright spot in the show.  Once Cane establishes something on his own let him slowly win back the trust of say Kay or Jill or even just Devon or Daniel – none of whom are without their own share of poorly planned ideas.  I feel like that’s the only way to get Lane back together in a less nauseating way.

Then there’s Adam who’s character was coming along fabulously until the whole gaslighting storyline which had Adam directly causing Ashley to miscarry her baby which subsequently made him steal Sharon’s baby and tell her that her baby died. It’s really hard to come back from that and I was marching right along with all the others who said Adam had to go.  Well, the scribes have been working overtime to redeem Adam just enough to make him root-worthy.  For me, they finally got there with the love and passion he displayed at the mention of Sharon’s name after her “death”.  It was subtle and beautifully acted by Michael Muhney.  I was on board.  But wait, there’s more.  The more in this case ended up being that Adam, in a fit of jealousy, destroyed seemingly the only evidence out there that would prove Sharon’s innocence.  I get the anger, but to profess love for as long as Adam did and to claim that only Sharon and his mother understood him why would he then trash that all in seconds?  It doesn’t make sense and no matter how cold and calculating Adam is, he wouldn’t do that to Sharon.  Would he?  That turn of events basically halts the progress Adam has made with Noah and the leaps and bounds he’s made with the audience.  I don’t get it and I’m tired of trying to.  DECIDE what you want to do with Adam and stick with it please!  He’s a great villain, so let him be one but just keep it within reason.  Let’s not go all Passions on the show ok?

If by any slim chance any Y&R executives or scribes is reading this, please, BRING SOME HAPPINESS back to Genoa City.  This doom and gloom is seriously depressing and needs to STOP!  What happened to the summer romances and light-hearted fare?

Agree or disagree with this post?  Let me know 

Saint Phyllis rises once again from the ashes of her own doing.  Ugh… this chick needs an a** whooping.  NOW!  She is already back to her smug and nasty self.  She spent the week “woe-is-meing” about choices SHE made.  Then she complained to Nick.  Why he listened is beyond me.  Then there’s Jack.  Why oh why is Jack giving her the time of day?  She has repeatedly used him to pass the time until she can get back to Nick or get whatever she wants elsewhere.  Ugh…

Then what happened to the whole Neil/Sophia/Malcolm reveal?  They dropped the bomb the previous week and then what?  (insert crickets here) Nothing!  The entire week NOTHING was mentioned, alluded to, or even thought of.  Who does that?  Do the writers not think we are interested in the fallout?  I want to know what happened.  The storyline is a two-bit rip off of the original story (which was beautifully done), but I STILL WANT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!  Come on!  And Tucker is awake so where is Sofia?  She would have been there in minutes to see her friend/boss/father figure.  It’s so insulting to viewers to just ignore a chunk of the shows population.

You know I felt bad for Victoria when she lost Lucy.  She truly was one of the innocents in the whole situation. But now, she’s reverted into that spoiled little daddy’s girl brat and I can’t stand it.  She’s been moping around and whining and instead of trying to process what has happened she instead ran back to her dad and her old life.  It’s INSANE.  If I were a Newman investor, I wouldn’t want her back. I’d demand she pay restitution to the stockholders if she did if fact want to come back.  All of the people who lost their jobs should sue her.  What was all of that for?  Apparently nothing.  Nice work Victoria.

Honorable mentions go to Jack for calling Phyllis out on ruining yet another marriage and Genevieve for being just delightful anytime she’s in Jack’s orbit.  They are one of few bright spots on the show these days.

Lets take a moment to discuss Genoa City’s most hated resident.  And no, I’m not talking about Adam or Diane, but the queen B herself Phyllis.  What kind of person does what she did?  I get that she wanted Lucy to be with “family” but that doesn’t always mean blood.  Phyllis expected Jack to love Summer like his own when they were together so why couldn’t Lucy grow and thrive where her dad placed her?  Oh that’s right because Phyllis decided she wanted another child to neglect.  I feel like Phyllis has crossed a line that isn’t easy to come back from.  I’ve never bought the whole “white-washing” of Phyllis’ original past to generate this sainted woman they want us to believe she is.  I really don’t get how you can EVER justify baiting a psychopath by dangling dreams that she may get her daughter back in order to try and use her.  Why does Phyllis think she’s so smart?  Has she already forgotten that the last time she tried to “manage” Daisy, Daisy escaped and left Daniel for dead on the side of the road? Did she forget what happened when Victor tried to use a crazy person to get back at Jack?  Because I do, Summer almost died.  Hope it works out better for you this time Phyllis.  I also hope that you get shunned and treated light straight crap every single moment of the day.  I hope that everyone shoots daggers at you and crosses the street to avoid you.  You have earned this.  I want Daniel to never speak to you again, except to say what a horrible mom you are and I hope Summer and Lucy grow up to despise you for what you have done!

I usually complain that people in soap opera comas are never in them for more than a minute.  So imagine my surprise when Tucker spent upwards of a month in his coma.  Then when I realized it was just going to be that shrew Katherine talking/fussing/yelling at God for each day we saw him I instantly got a headache.  Lately I’ve found myself thinking that “none is more” with Kay.  I’m SO tired of her hypocritical butt going around lecturing everyone and judging everyone like she hasn’t done squat wrong in her life.  Please, please, please make her SHUT UP ALREADY!!!!!  Arrghhh!!!  But the bonus is Tucker has awakened.  Hopefully he’ll make one of those soap opera lightening quick recoveries and we can move on. 

Speaking of judgy mcjudgersons, Chloe spent the week not working to support her daughter or to maybe buy a place of her own, but going from listening ear to listening ear bitching about Billy and his lack of ability to parent Delia properly.  Hey Chloe while you were so busy chatting up anyone who would listen and even some who wouldn’t where was Delia?  Have you actually spent more than five minutes with her this month?  That coupled with the fact that Chloe is not some angelic mom of the year make me think she might want to just shut up already.

Well, in “Who’s My Baby’s Daddy Story 2.0″ we had the big reveal this week.  Sofia apparently could no longer lie to Malcolm and blurted out – with light speed I might add – that he might not be her unborn child’s father.  Rather than go into all the obvious plot holes in this story let me just get right to the point that irritated me the most.  Sofia is supposed to be a top level business executive with her stuff in order.  She is a strong, black woman who isn’t going to be pushed around by anyone.  Unless that someone is Malcolm apparently.  This is the second time he’s decided to throw her away like some trash on the street without hesitation.  The first time he did it I was amazed at his brazenness just because she chose to think for herself WITHOUT consulting Malcolm.  Technically she only lied to him and did not cheat on him since when she and Neil did the (awkward and uncomfortable to watch) deed, Malcolm had already bounced.  Now he’s only interested in knowing how soon he can find out if he’s the father.  Malcolm!  Guess what?  You sir, need to back up and calm down.  YOU did this very same thing to your brother with Drucilla and it was NOT when they were broken up.  You basically took advantage of her for your own desires when she was incapacitated so there is NO need for you to huff and puff right now.  Nobody cares about what this is doing to you.  You now know what it feels like and I hope Sofia NEVER takes you back.  She should have more respect for herself and her baby – that same babythat all your yelling and screaming and name calling might cause her to lose Malcolm whether it’s yours or Neil’s.

Sharon and Sazzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz  zzzzzzzz.  Yeah, I never remember what they’re doing or why I should care.  I like Sean Patrick Flannery’s portrayal of Sam, but ugh this story is tedious and has dragged on for long enough.  The whole problem with these types of stories is that you eventually have to send the character back to town and then you end up taking the country bumpkin with you and kill the energy/way of said bumpkin.

Briefly I’ll say that Victor’s chair throwing scene couldn’t hold a candle to the one with he and Jack years ago.  That was passion, this was just going through the motions.  I was interested in the whole IPO debacle until it had to go and throw Jack under the bus too.  I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that if Jack ends up losing Jabot after JUST getting it back I’m going to be mad.  I just can’t deal with the torment of the Abbott’s anymore.  Why do the writers hate them so much?  It really doesn’t make for good tv if you’ve been doing the same thing for ten years.  Just an FYI.

Lastly, but certainly not least we come to the Atkinsons.  My new favorite family of GC.  I know Genie Francis’ performance is a bit over the top but I am really enjoying the interjection of something new and crazy in town.  I love that she is mad in both senses of the word and a little unpredictable.  I give it three months before she’s either gone or another lemming.

No matter what else is going on in town the costume designers and make up artists for the show do a FANTASTIC job.  Lily looked stunning all week as did Jill and Abby.

Agree, disagree?  Let me know in the comments.

With plot driven story characters “personalities” change to fit the current circumstances.  Ethan Cane Ashby’s character is an excellent example of this.  His story has been written and rewritten at least what feels like a dozen times since he began.  First he’s the real Philip Chancellor II, then he’s orphan Cane on the run from cattle ranchers, but wait, then he’s family-having, ex bad cattle rancher whistle blower.  Now he’s an evil twin having, devoted husband and dad.  Ugh… Well WHICH is it?  Oh that’s right, it’s whichever fits the current storyline.

What makes plot driven story so frustrating in a serial industry such as soap operas is that it assumes the viewer is stupid and willing to buy whatever you’re selling.  We are just supposed to take whatever they give us and love it.  I just can’t do it.  Kay Chancellor just wouldn’t be this harsh with Ashley.  She would wait to hear the facts before passing judgment.  She also would have worked harder on her relationship with Tucker before he was incapacitated.  She would have either accepted him for who he was spots and all or she would have cut him off.  Just look at how she accepts Victor regardless of what he’s done.  Even with a newer character like Tucker, who believes he would have left McCall Unlimited to Kay?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Arghh… it’s just SO frustrating.  I’ve watched this show for over twenty-five years and I KNOW these characters.  I want them to behave like the people I’ve I’ve known for a huge chunk of that time.  Are you listening Maria Bell?

Over on the E!Online Boards  I am periodically accused of not liking Phyllis.  This is true, I don’t like Phyllis one bit, but I have good reason.  This latest turn of events with Phyllis puts the final nail in her coffin I believe.  Even if my other reasons are partly because she’s an adulteress and a bully, choosing to get what she wants over the safety of the granddaughter she claims to love so much is beyond the pail.  Remember Phyllis’ whole reason for boarding Daisy in the first place was so that Lucy would know she was loved and not born in a prison hospital.  Guess we’re done with the shielding Lucy portion of the show then huh Phyllis? What kind of person, publicly puts precious Lucy’s face out there for her psycho mommy to see? How do you see this playing out Phyllis?  The last time you thought you could “control” Daisy it almost got your son killed.  This time, would you prefer it if sweet baby Lucy died since you can’t have her?  Cause we all know, the Y&R writers have NO problems killing children on this show.

So somehow Phyllis believes Daisy will just sign over custody of Lucy to her? First of all, Daisy is a wanted felon whose rights are in the process of being terminated. Second, why would Daisy want to help Phyllis?  I know no one remembers this, but hello people!  Daisy RAPED Daniel.  Just gonna gloss over that bit huh Red?  In any event, I’m guessing this will end up with Billy taking the brunt of whatever weapon Daisy has.  Will it kill him?  Maybe if Billy Miller truly isn’t coming back or maybe he’ll just be in an offscreen coma for awhile.  But, because of Phyllis, the suckfest that is Daisy will be blowing back into town along with those psycho jazz hands Phyllis pulls out whenever she’s “so sorry” about something and “she never intended for it to end up as it does”.  Ugh.. enough already please.

Then there’s Saint Katherine.  Up until roughly an hour before her son was run down, Katherine despised Tucker.  Could not be done with him fast enough.  Every chance she’s had she berated him for not being loyal to family and for not being an upstanding business man.  Well that was one side of her neck.  At the same time she was talking out of the other side of her neck praising Victor for being a great business man and father.  Yeah, great job Kay.  Remind me to never count on you, you suck.  Now Kay has made it her mission to dismantle McCall Unlimited and turn it into junk.  Remember when Tucker first came to town and took over Chancellor Industries?  EVERYONE rallied around Katherine and helped her as best they could.  Even though Kay lost her business through putting her trust in someone she didn’t know, people wanted to help her, give her a second chance.  Yet, when it’s time for Kay to consider giving Jack a second chance running Jabot, she can’t see fit to give it to him.  Really Kay?  She said that Jack had issues and made poor decisions when he ran Jabot.  Hmm, seems like Kay did the same thing with Chancellor when she took random advice from Tucker right?  So why is it ok that she get a second chance but not Jack?  Oh, that’s right, because whatever Kay says is right.  ALL.  THE.  TIME.  Meanwhile, Tucker is fighting for his life while Kay is killing his life’s work.  Thanks a lot mommy dearest.

Of course we can’t forget Cane or is it Caleb?  I guess he’s not really being a hypocrite, but he/they are getting on my last nerve.  We started the week with Caleb being all sporadic and crazy.  Then we see he’s in cahoots with Colin, his dad.  Do you know how I know it’s Caleb’s dad?  Because Caleb keeps saying it over and over and over again just in case we didn’t get it the first 200 times.  Caleb is Cane’s “evil twin.”  As the week, and the dad-count, progresses, we find out that the plan is to gaslight Lily and snatch the twins to take back to Australia.  Sigh… what now?  Why does Colin want these kids so much?  Why am I supposed to care?  Why must yet another innocent, female bystander be gaslit?  Have the writers just run out of ideas at this point?  At the very end of the week, we meet Genevieve (G from here on out) who is the twins’ mom.  I was hoping for big things with the arrival of Genie Francis, but we only got a few minutes with her at the end of the episode.  And those minutes were kind of scary – and not in a good way.

So to keep things straight, at the end of the week Cane was dead, but Caleb was alive and gaslighting Lily at the request of Colin who wants the twins for himself. But is that really Caleb?  He seemed awfully upset with the way he left things with Lily during his last visit.  Why would Caleb be upset?  But it can’t be Cane because we saw him get shot to death on the church steps and he told Lily that he loved her.  Why would anyone other than Cane do that?

I really wanted to believe the hype surrounding this story.  Daniel Goddard has been tweeting about how great it is and how much we’re going to love it.  Yeah, um, not so much man.  This is by all accounts thus far a stupid story.  Cane’s “story” has been rewritten so many times it’s not even funny.  When the news first broke about this cattle rancher crap I laughed.  Really, rough and tough cattle ranchers? Please.  But then enter Colin (Tristan Rogers) and I’m back in.  Colin was the x-factor.  He was going to make this story work.  But wait, then Cane gets killed and Colin is mostly just a sounding board periodically.  By the time they get back around to this story it is just full of crazy, unbelievable plot twists.  Who can keep up?  And more importantly, who’s trying to keep up with this anymore?  How is it that Lily STILL has not found the note Cane left for her?  Why isn’t anyone else suspicious of how much Colin talks about Lily’s children?

The one good thing to come out of this storyline though is the performance by Lily (Christel Khalil).  When she found out about Cane’s lies shortly before his death, she let him have it.  I hadn’t seen so much passion/believability from Christel in ages.  I wanted that Lily to stay in town.  Then as recently as last Friday’s episode, Lily went off on “ghost Cane”.  She was on FIRE.  Why can’t we get more of that?  Those moments are really the only time we get to remember that Lily is half Drucilla.  Please let more of that Lily out to play.

I feel like maybe it’s time for Phyllis, Katherine, and Victor to all board a plane to faraway lands for a year or so.  The constant meddling, fighting dirty, and passing judgement is growing very tiresome.  Plus, they never really have consequences for their heinous actions so I say good riddance for awhile.

By the way, anyone else not feeling the need to rush out and purchase actual Jabot cosmetics?  I know the skin cream tampering was only on the show, but I for one would not be too quick to slather a bunch of that on my face.  Seems like real life product tampering is something a twisted person would find “amusing” to do.  Just sayin…

Until next week, drop me a note/comment with your opinion. 

Happy Break:  Can we pause just a minute to talk about Coco (Erica Gimpel) being back on tv?  She is the lovely detective looking into Tucker’s “accident” but I know and love her from her days as Coco on the tv series Fame.  I loved Fame and I wanted to be Coco.  She looks fabulous and I hope she sticks around for awhile.

Back to the show.  Can we be done with this whole “who gets to raise Lucy” bit?  I have decided that whenever Phyllis is on in relation to this I should fast forward so as it not make my brain explode.  She is SO FREAKING ANNOYING in this role.  Daniel is a grown man!  Let him make his own choices and live to love or regret them.  Why don’t you focus on a) finding a new job and b) finding out where your actual, real live daughter is?  Ugh…

Another one who could stand to mind her own business for a minute is Katherine.  I don’t know what happened to Kay.  She used to be a character to root for and to agree with most of the time.  Now she’s just a meddling, whining, complaining to God old biddy who is chewing scenery wherever and whenever she can.  She’s been shunning Tucker for ages now – even as recently as the days before his wedding.  But in the eleventh hour Kay has a change of heart, but oops!  It’s too late.  This really serves her right.  She’s been SO busy sticking her head up Victor’s butt that there wasn’t time for anything else; including the son she got rid of because he was inconvenient.  Now she’s setting up vigil and making decisions like she played an important role in Tucker’s life when in actuality she didn’t.  If the rumors are true and Tucker will have amnesia I am NOT looking forward to that.

I didn’t think it was possible for Sharon’s story to be worse than it was before, but yikes!  This is dullsville.  We get it.  Sharon is torn, sad because she misses her babies.  But I don’t see her turning up to reclaim her kids or her imprisoned life.  And really, no one is looking for her so either accept it and start again as “Sherri” or start hiking back to town in your stilettos already.  This was a bust of the Victor/Hope Story 2.0.  At least so far.

I’m not sure if the current writers at Y&R don’t know the history of the show or they’re just choosing to ignore it, but Diane Jenkins was many things.  A bed hopping skank was NOT one of them.  Sure she got around, but there was a relatively decent break in her forays into new partners.  These days she’s lucky if she can make it a few hours before bedding some other rich man in Genoa City.  The worst part of this iteration of Diane is that there is no need for her desperation. Victor was annulling their marriage sure, but he was giving her a huge chunk of money in the process.  She should have been set for awhile.  Yet, there she is,on her way to try and get her hooks into Tucker and his money.  Why?  Writers any insight into this?  Cause I’m not seeing it other than the overwhelming hatred of capable, non-needy, strong women  on this show.  Note to show – it’s getting old! Not all women are incapable of functioning on a high level without a man!

Which brings me to Lily.  Poor, poor sad grief stricken Lily.  Sigh… what have they done to this character.  I get that she is grieving over Cane and isn’t sure if she’s going crazy, but she’s still Drucilla Winters daughter and when Colin came snooping around she should have slapped him down with the quickness. No matter how crazy she thinks she is, if she doesn’t find an ally soon she’s going to find herself locked up and minus two adorable babies.  Now I know it’s early in this storyline but why is everyone out to get Lily?  Colin wants her out of the way for his grandbabies.  But what did Lily do to any of them?  It’s Cane’s fault that his family is not in the children’s lives why take it out on Lily? And now that Cane’s mom is coming what’s her deal with Lily? She doesn’t even know her and again, lest we all forget, Lily didn’t get Cane killed, Colin did.  I’m excited to see Genie Francis begin her role this week, but if the rumors are true then this story is about to take a turn for the worse – Passions worse at that.  Ugh.. what I’ve seen is head-scratchingly unbelievable.  Hopefully these spoilers are either wrong or will all be explained quickly in the first few days (yeah right).

NBC Fall (see the trailers here: NBC Fall)

Highlights:

Free Agent – Hank Azaria stars in this show about a man down on his luck and trying to get out in the dating world again, sort of.  It also stars Anthony Head (formerly Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) whom I’d watch read the phone book.  This show was funny and totally unexpected so I’m looking forward to it.  It’s been awhile since Hank was on my screen.  lol

Smash – this show looks interesting.  Debra Messing is some kind of producer who’s found an idea to produce a musical titled Marilyn.  It seems from the trailer that the show will revolve around getting this show cast as well as a young singer (American Idol’s Katherine McPhee) looking for her big break, well any break.  It also stars some people with actual accents which television shows around here seem to frown on normally.  Jack Davenport (The Wedding Date, Masterpiece) is also one of the casting producers.  I adored his earlier work so I’m looking forward to seeing him in this.

Awake – A family in in a horrific car crash and as far as I can tell both the wife and son die while the husband is the sole survivor.  He then seems to create these alternate worlds where in one, his wife is still alive and the other his son is still alive.  This looks very intriguing but I feel like the emotional toll may be a little high for me.  I was sad watching the trailer and I’m thinking I don’t want to feel that way after each episode.

Bent - uptight single mom meets and hires way loose man child contractor.  Seems like it could be a fun show to watch.  It’s what I guess they would consider a dramedy maybe with more comedy than drama?  Watch the trailer for a better description.

The Rest:

DVR space is tight in our house with 50% of it going to children’s programming.  So there are other shows I’d watch if I had more time.  Those include: “Up All Night” (C. Applegate, W. Arnett), “Prime Suspect” (Maria Bello), and “Whitney”.

“Grimm” scared the beejezus out of me so I won’t be tuning in to that and “Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea” looks awful.  Yikes.

FOX Fall (see the trailers here: Fox Fall )

Highlights:

The New Girl – I enjoy Zooey Deschanel so this was a plus for the show already.  But then I found the 4-minute trailer entertaining and promising. Basically Zooey is freshly dumped and moves in with three guys.  I particularly enjoy Damon Wayans Jr. (unfortunately he’s stuck in the ABC comedy Happy Endings so I’m guessing he’ll be recast here).  He is shaping up to be a very funny actor. Anyway as you can imagine, hijinks ensue in this comedy.  I feel like it’s got sort of a Three’s Company vibe to it even though very loosely connected.

Alcatraz – I did not expect to enjoy this trailer but I was intrigued.  Basically, a cop is brought in to investigate a former Alcatraz prisoner supposedly dead long ago.  Apparently 300 some odd prisoners were supposed to be transferred to other prisons when Alcatraz shut down, but in reality they all disappeared for 30 years or so.  I just hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate of other serials like “Flash Forward”, “The Event” etc, that lose momentum during hiatus periods.

The Rest:

I’ll only mention “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” her.  I wanted to love this trailer.  I really like Jaime Pressly so I still may give it a try but it just seems stupid.  The premise made sense – two former nerds abused by popular girls in high school now have teenaged daughters of their own that appear to be turning into the very mean girls that tormented their mothers back in the day. The execution seems lacking.  Lots of “slapstick” stuff that I didn’t enjoy.  I will say that I love that one of the moms is married outside of her race and have a biracial child.  I love to see diversity on tv so they get a plus for that.

Then there’s Nikki.  Now we all know her judgment is impaired thanks to her hitting the bottle again, but I don’t care how drunk you may be, she HAS to know how this thing with Victor will turn out.  Is not the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results?  Ok maybe that’s not the exact definition but nevertheless, Nikki!  Snap out of it!  Why do you continue to go back to this man?  And I know there are those who believe Nikki and Victor are destined to be together.  They are the ones who love it whenever the pair is matched.  I however, find the couple much more interesting apart. Especially poor Nikki who always seems to end up being someone’s sounding board when saddled with a relationship with Victor.

Speaking of insanity, hey Ashley.  Can anyone explain to me how Ash doesn’t realize she’s marrying Victor 2.o?  Tucker is NO better than Victor, just craftier.  That and the fact that Tucker hasn’t had a family or wife that he can royally screw over time and time again are the only things that separate the two.  Just look at how Tucker treats his mother.  Ashley would never have treated her father that way and she knows Katherine and has for years so why is she all of a sudden ok with the way Tucker treats her?  Really Ash shouldn’t be the least bit upset with the way Abby is treating her based on Tucker’s gold standard for mommy treatment.  ugh…  it’s so frustrating to watch a formerly intelligent character turn into such a cliche.

No post would be complete if I didn’t mention Phyllis and her flailing hands of self-righteous indignation.  Ugh… this chick needs to be smacked down immediately.  All of her whining about Lucy being blood and needing to be with HER family.  Never mind that Phyllis’ living and breathing son (of blood relation) has repeatedly stated that he does NOT want to be a dad or raise the daughter he never asked for.  Daniel has done his part, as he said he would from the beginning, but oh no, mommy dearest isn’t having it.  Phyllis is busy remembering how she lost Daniel back in the day.  Does anyone else out there also notice that Phyllis is NOT remembering taking Daniel away from his biological dad or using Daniel to try and hook/keep Danny Romalotti?  She’s also not trying to remember ALL the horrible things she’s done and never paid for.  I thought it was hilarious to hear her going on and on about how she was going to take care of Lucy and how Victoria and Billy weren’t such hot parents.  Now while Bictoria might not be the best parents ever, lets see … they never tried to run down people they couldn’t stand like Phyllis did to Cricket and Paul and they never spent years of their lives obsessing over another woman for no apparent reason like Phyllis did to Sharon oh, yeah and they haven’t been running around town sticking their noses into EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE else’s business.  So I guess that means that according to Phyllis’ “high moral standards” Bictoria just don’t make the cut.  Hey Phyllis!  How’s Summer?  You know, that daughter that you actually should be spending some time with?  Sigh… scribes please, give me a break.  Phyllis needs a time out in the worst way, that or someone needs to shut her down quickly and for more than just a minute.  Enough is enough already.

Last but certainly not least on the crazy train this week was poor Jana.  She finally went just a little too far around the bend and unfortunately won’t be coming back.  I was sad to see Jana go and even sadder for poor Emily O’Brien.  She deserved better quality material for her swan song than a second/third rate kidnapping fiasco.  Things started out great.  The tension and suspense were building and we all knew Jana had gone cuckoo but the others couldn’t quite see it yet.  Then she kidnapped the girls and while despicable it was exciting.  After that it went downhill.  It was like the writers decided it was time to wrap this up but didn’t know how to do it.  I get that they may have needed to speed things up but man, were the chipmunk and closet time for Kevin really the way to do it?  I think not.  It just got bizarre and stupid way too fast and then it was over.  Jana and Emily O’Brien were no more for the land of Genoa City.  Well I say to you farewell sweet Emily and I hope to see you on my screen again very soon.

GCer of the Week Award:  Abby Carlton Newman

This week Abby showed that she truly is an Abbott Newman.  She was our truth teller, stater of the obvious and the ‘really needed to be said’.  I feel for Abby.  She has grown up in utter chaos through no fault of her own and is now trying to sort things out for herself.  Is she a spoiled little brat?  Yes, of course she is, but is she also right about a multitude of things yes.  Abby spent most of her time this week trying to shock some sense into her mother.  Abby knows Tucker is bad news as well as just a shinier version of her dad but Ashley can’t see it. Abby wants a strong female role model (hey, don’t we all Abby) but every where she turns she gets nothing.  This show used to be full of strong female characters.  Lately they all seem to fall stupid at the first look from a rich man.  Remember when Ashley and Abby first came back to Genoa City to save Victor.  Ashley was strong and confident and fierce.  What happened to that woman?  I think that is what Abby is asking. She is shouting at her mother to wake up and pay attention.  All to no avail.

But Abby wasn’t done .  She also had some lovely truth for Uncle Jack and Daniel.  Both have betrayed her repeatedly but Abby, the smart girl she is, has decided she’s not taking it anymore.  I find that Abby frequently has to remind her family what SHE loses every time they do battle.  She’s lost Brad, Colleen, her baby sister… all in the name of bravado.  I love Abby and her portrayer Marcy Rylan.  Ms. Ryan has brought new energy to the scene and I get happy every time she’s on the screen.  Congratulations Abby!

Agree?  Disagree with me? Drop  me a note in the comments section