When it comes to my critical pieces in the magazine lately, I’ve been, well, critical. There’s a lot to go off on when it comes to soaps these days and finding things that make me all warm and fuzzy proves to be a harder task than finding something that makes me all fork-stabby. But fear not! For this blog entry is completely devoted to things soap-related that make me smile. (And I promise the only time I’m mentioning cute men holding babies is right now. See? Done!)

First off, there’s today’s DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I heart John Aniston. Sure, Victor’s a misogynistic old grouch, but damn he’s funny. I love Philip (and we all know I love Philip), but watching his cantankerous father cut a few strips from his emo “wah, I gave up Stephanie” hide was priceless.

Then there’s Mick Hazen. The AS THE WORLD TURNS teen made me smile this week when he was previewing some of Parker’s upcoming story (check out the March 17 issue, hitting stands next Friday!). He’s so on-the-ball. He makes me wish I was that together when I was not-quite-16. He’s a good egg!

But, wait, let’s move from smiles to straight-up belly laughs. ATWT’s Trent Dawson(Henry), who shares my penchant for total geekdom, dished the recent New York Comic Con with me and we eventually did get to the subject of Henry and Vienna, but only after we discussed broadswords, people in costumes, and Watchmen. Then there’s Alley Mills, (Pam, BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL), who is a total treat when setting up her character’s latest wacky antics. When she takes in-character swipes at Rick and Donna, it’s hysterical. Last, but not least, I got to chat with Bryan Genesse, who returns on March 12 as B&B’s Rocco Carner. A lot of our conversation made it intoWeekly‘s March 17 issue, and there’s plenty more fodder where that came from. He was a hoot, telling tales about B&B in the ’80s and co-star Ronn Moss (Ridge).

And as long as I’m in flashback mode, here’s the #1 thing that made me happy this week: I found GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Decker and Dawn clips on YouTube! Decker and Dawn were my Nuke, my Zendall, my LL2, etc. Their love story was the first one on soaps I really remember being suckered in by. And from 1989-’91 Decker (Michael Watson) was SO my guy. I think I’ve mentioned before that I used to cut the fingers off my gloves, right? And up until recently, the only clip that existed of D&D was this one, where Dawn runs off after her wedding to Ned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11n_zZWcS1I

Now, there’s more! Yay! Here are a few choice examples…

Decker and Dawn on the run, wearing atrocious outfits:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgZKQWX7-oM

Decker pouring his heart out to a hospitalized Dawn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdfrGrLF4zk

The obligatory montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GOmqDaRhac

 

originally posted on soapoperaweekly.com