Soaps!

I've been a pretty big Soap Opera addict since I was a teenager. Ever since the start of middle school, and I got home by about 2:20 in the afternoon, and I discovered first "One Life to Live". Pretty quickly I also adopted my sister's favorite, General Hospital. Eventually I added All My Children. At some point in middle school, I found "Soap Opera Digest" and it was love at first sight. I coveted this magazine. I read it cover to cover, and over again. I read and memorized information about shows that I didn't even watch. I remember being excited when I first went on to vacation to Florida and found "Another World" on tv there, because it wasn't shown here in Boston. ( I always said, if SATs had just been based on Soaps and Royality, I would've been golden.) In college, I convertedly briefly to being a "Days of Our Lives" fan, but have remained pretty loyal to the ABC shows.

Life carried on and I would watch in the summer or on vacation. Everything changed in March of 2004. Jeremy had kindly bought Stacey TiVo for Christmas and we had all been excitedly been recording programs. ABC starting running promos for a baby switch and crossovers between AMC and OLTL. Needless to say, I decided to tape. Then I was hooked. I taped All My Children everyday till this summer- 2008. I was one of "those" people. I loved my show. When my friend JoEllen mentioned to me in the fall of 2005 that she was going to "Super Soap Weekend" at Disney World with her sister-in-law, Randi, I freaked! Two of my favorite things in one- Disney and Soap Stars! I basically booked myself then and there to go the following year.

On Veterans Day Weekend of 2006, off I went to Disney with Josie and Randi. It was an experience like no other. We had such a blast! It was also the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT which made it even better. The way it works is that lots of different stars from the ABC soaps are there and are available for meets and greets with "fans" if you as the fan are able to get a "Fast Pass", like they use for the rides. We dragged ourselves to MGM at 7:30 in the morning and were greeted with lines like I've never seen before, and Christmas decorations but that's another story.


Believe it or not, we were too late to get fast passes! So we had to settle for just "seeing" people pretty close! Which was very cool! Now, what's even just as good as seeing your favorite soap star, is seeing all the crazies who also want to see their favorite soap stars! You realize pretty quickly that everyone who is there, are people who are hard core Soap watchers. You have to think that these people are probably home watching these everyday. (Unless they had TiVo like me or the recent addition of the fabulous SOAPnet.) These people are hardcore. They wear amazing t-shirts, and proudly display all of their tokens from previous super soap weekends.
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We had so much fun, that we convinced some other school friends to come along last year. The best part was that two of my friends had never been to Disney. They aren't soap fans either, but that's okay. We had a (whirlwin) blast, visiting all four parks in two days! And best of all, we got up and dragged ourselves to get to MGM really, really early to get our fast passes. (No joke- I think we left around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., and Disney shuttle service doesn’t even run then so we had to walk to MGM from the Caribbean Beach hotel! I felt a little funny about trying to meet a soap star, because I'm not a crazy fan or anything. I decided to go for the lovely Alicia Minishew, who plays Kendall Hart Slater on AMC. The best part was that there were such crazies in front of me in line, I looked like a really normal, nice person. She was very nice! She said I had a great energy- ask Josie, she really said that. (See picture below)

Of course we were ready to make this a yearly tradition! And then we found out that there would be no Veteran's Day Weekend this year because the holiday falls on a Tuesday. So no trip to Super Soap! Then the boom fell- this will be the last year, ABC is pulling the plug! I think the shut-ins will hopefully revolt!

I was home today- and apparently they've decided to have a tornado on AMC and kill of one of my favorite characters, Babe, and bring back Bianca with a big secret. And then they are going to do some big baby switch on OLTL. Here we go again........once you get out, they suck you back in!


Long, dark, walk....we're crazy!

The lovely Alicia Minishew "Kendall" and me!

We decided to wear matching shirts too! It actually helped in the crowd.

It was really nice of Luke and Laura to celebrate their anniversary so that Randi, Josie, POTW and myself could be part of the celebration.

Dedicated Carly fans from GH.

The Real Housewives

Have you seen this delightful series? Oh my...

I have to say, I never watched the original, Real Housewives of Orange County. I don't know why, I just never got into it. Boy did I love last year's Real Housewives of New York City. That Ramona is such a piece of work and the fabulous Jill Zarin. And she always introduces herself as "Jill Zarin".

The Real Housewives of Atlanta, focuses on some lovely ladies, several who have professional athlete husbands (Lisa and Deshawn), one has recently divorced a professional athlete (Sheree), and then two other ladies who are my favorites. NeNe and Kim have been friends for "years". Kim looks like my old hairdresser, as she has a whole lot of blonde hair. She claims to look like Carrie Underwood or Faith Hill. She could be Carrie's mom or something. She made some really strange comment about being "29". There is just no way, it has to have been a joke. I mean she looks good, but not 29 good. The most intriguing thing about her is her mystery Sugar Daddy whom she refes to as "Big Poppa". He is allegedly a "celebrity" who wishes to remain anonymous. Any guesses on who we think he is? Is he married? NeNe is just hilarious, over the top, loud and an all around good time. (Natalie and I would have a field day with her.) NeNe's already clashing with Sheree, always good tv.

Apparently, Bravo is also set to air "The Real Housewives of New Jersey". Seriously.....
Based on what I've heard from Natalie, we could have potential for some really fabulous tv here.
Hopefully they'll all have au pairs and we'll have secret inside into their homes!

***UPDATE- according to Natalie, "Big Poppa" may be Quincy Jones, which seems like a good possibility. I didn't hear them say his initials, but the fact that big producer was willing to work with her without ever hearing her sing makes sense.

Shows you will watch over and over and over......

I know that I'm not alone in this. Sometimes it is a comfort just to pop in a favorite movie as comfort or background noise. (I wrote all of my college papers listening to Steel Magnolias or Shag- yeah, I've got some weird southern fetish.) The creation of "TV on DVD" has really changed my watching habits. I find my attention span isn't long enough usually for a movie, and an episode or two of a great show can be the perfect fit. (If I have school work to do- it's Pride and Prejudice (BBC version) all the way)

My greatest obsession the last couple years has been "Veronica Mars". It's an addiction. A serious, serious addiction. It's so depressing that it is only 64 episodes. Every couple months, I rewatch the whole series. This week I was so bored of tv, I popped in the first disc, and just sighed. Kristen Bell is just amazing. The show is so clever and well written. She's so underused on Heroes and although I genuinely enjoy Gossip Girl now, I only ever started watching it so I could pretend that it was Veronica doing the narrating. Boy would Veronica hate Blair and Serena!

I also love, love Alias and Lost. I own the whole Alias series, and periodically enjoy rewatching that too. Both of these shows involve complicated story lines, with chunks of dialogue that aren't in English- which is hard if you aren't totally paying attention.

DVDwise in the last few years I have also discovered Big Love, and The Tudors. I'm intrigued by Mad Men and a few others.

Anyone else find themselves watching more DVDs and less regular tv?

No new 9-0 this week, so what am I watching?

It was a really busy week.....and I have to say it didn't seem to be a great tv week. No new 9-0, no new ANTM ( a clip show already Tyra), and kind of anti-climactic Project Runway finale ( For the record, I really like Korto, but she kind of tanked the last few episodes- nerves. Leann deserved to win and I would wear her clothes.)

I thought I might mention a new show that I've been watching; The Ex-List, Friday nights at 9 on CBS. Friday nights are a tough night for tv. I have fallen in love with a bunch of shows that have died Friday night deaths (Joan of Arcadia, Miss Match and others). With TiVo and DVR, Friday night shows seem to have a better shot because people may not necessarily be home to watch them, but they may instead be recording them. (I don't know who I'm kidding, I'm so tired on a Friday night, that I'm usually home.)

The Ex-List stars Elizabeth Reaser as "Bella Bloom". Bella has recently broken up with her (hot) boyfriend because he doesn't want to get married. They share custody of their dog, so we get to see him a lot which is nice. For her sister's bachelorette party, the girls go to a psychic. The psychic tells Bella if she's ever going to marry it needs to be within the year, and that she has already met/dated this person. Bella finds herself looking for "signs", and strange coincidental things pop up that bring her back to old boyfriends.

It's a cute show, so far. You'll recognize Elizabeth Reaser as the chick from "Grey's Anatomy" who was the Jane Doe that Alex fell in love with. Her sister is played by Rachel Boston who you may remember from the 60's themed show, American Dreams. (a Sunday night show that I know my mother and I, and Monica and her grandmother used to love to watch and discuss.) She played Beth, the older brother's wife. I barely recognized her- she looks a little Hollywood thin now.

Anyone else found anything new to watch?

Hi- My name is Helen and I'm addicted to....

shows about huge families! I have this really weird fetish for shows about giant families. I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is rooted in the fact that a lot of my growing up was spent as an only child. (I think my family would balk at this, so I guess that I should explain. I am the much youngest of three; my brother is 11 years older than me and my sister is 9 years older than me. To put this into clear perspective, my brother went to college when I was in first grade. I'm close to them and I love them, but I always wished I had a sibling who was closer to me in age.)

Needless to say, I love this crazy trend of reality shows about families. I love "John and Kate plus 8". I think Kate is a lunatic, but she seems to be improving. She won't let the kids get dirty and she yells at John a lot, but I enjoy them immensely. Ten years ago I was obsessed with those specials that Dianne Sawyer and Ann Curry did with the Dilley septuplets and McCaughey septuplets. My mom and I would watch the specials and discuss at commerical breaks while I was away at college. As I got back in my mind, I realize there was also an earlier obsession with the Dionne Quintuplets. They were the world's first surviving quintuplets who were born in Canada in the 1930s.

In the last few years, my large family obsession has fallen to the Duggars from Arkansas. I found the Duggars initially in their specials, "15 Kids and Moving". (They were also part of a larger series that I of course season passed called "Kids by the Dozen".) They look like they just fell off a FLDS compound ( and mormonism and the show "Big Love" is a whole other obsession). They are actually just Fundamentalist Christians, who wear prairie skirts and the girls never cut their giant braids, but hey whatever floats your boat. I loved all their wholesomeness, and adorable kids that just kept coming and coming. The kids always seemed sooooo well-behaved.

You can imagine my happiness and excitement when i found out they would be having their own series, delightfully called "17 Kids and Counting". I have watched four episodes so far. And I have to tell you, I'm afraid, very afraid. I guess I didn't want to know this much and I'm kind of weirded out. The oldest Duggar, Josh aged 20, got engaged in the third episode. Uh, ahem, he got engaged to his homeschool network sweetheart. She got a lovely half carat diamond. And now they get to hold hands. That's right people, they are "courting" and can hold hands. They are saving their first kiss for their wedding day. I'm pretty sure that Laura Ingalls got more action on her buggy rides with Almanzo Wilder on her buggy rides around DeSmet, South Dakota in 1880.

I've also seen a little misbehaving amongst the chillin's which secretly makes me happy.....

Can you name that Duggar?
http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggargame.html

Bye-Bye Adrianna!

I hope you all have watched and I'm not letting a cat out of the bag. I think that it is safe to say that druggie/child actor wannabe Adrianna is gone. She looked pretty gone in the last scene! The question will be, what does this mean for Naomi who tried to help her friend get rid of her drugs at school.

The Annie and Ethan baby/health class thing was a total rip off and poor man's version of the Veronica Mars episode where they also had a baby for health class. Come on Rob Thomas, seriously!

Who else was getting a really creepy vibe from the new girl and the English teacher? I got really nervous and didn't like the direction it was going in at all. (I felt the same way when I watched "Juno" and Jason Bateman and Ellen Page had a really odd friendship, that as I would like to say, made me feel funny inside.) Obviously at the end of the episode, we see the new girl differently, but I think I'm done with Ryan the English teacher. Too brooding or something....

Did I miss anything? The father/principal and Naomi's mom are going to look for their son, blah, blah, blah- although this made me realize that Annie and Naomi share a half-brother. The crazy grandmother likes to skinny dip when the pool boy is there. OK.

I think I gave up too soon on Privileged......