Marlena says: When I first started writing the “Critical Condition” column in Soap Opera Weekly in 1989, I hoped reader reactions to my opinions would be strong, and I wasn’t disappointed. So early on I decided to make anybody who wrote to me my friend, either by personal reply or later by making you my Facebooks friends. I’ve made many, many … [Read more...]
Thanks, “General Hospital,” for Three Days of Riveting Soap Opera
April 1, 2026 by 6 Comments
In all the years I’ve been writing about and criticizing soap opera, I can’t recall a sequence of episodes that was so solidly entertaining as last week’s Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday “General Hospital.” Instead of one major “A” story and a few backgrounders, here was a show chock of colliding major storylines and cliffhangers that make us … [Read more...]
Marlena Asks, What Was Your First Soap, Part Two
March 23, 2026 by 8 Comments
Marlena says: Two weeks ago, I asked all of you to send me recollections of your first soap. These memories typically go back a long way. In the first installment, I described my introduction to “The Doctors.” A colleague spoke fondly of “Another World” and the interlocking rings on its colorful logo. Another went way back, to the days when the … [Read more...]
What Was Your First Soap? A New Marlena Interactive Series
March 15, 2026 by 19 Comments
Way before there was an Internet, Marlena loved being interactive with her readers. Today I am going to tell you all about my very first soap, which led me to a lifetime of soap fandom (otherwise known as addiction). What was yours? I have also asked the same question of some of my soap journalist colleague friends who were kind enough to send … [Read more...]
“Bold and Beautiful”: Coming Round Again?
March 8, 2026 by 3 Comments
My longtime readers know that I have been very attached to “The Bold and Beautiful” since its debut in 1987. I wrote the first story about it for Soap Opera Weekly, headlined “Bold and Beautiful is a Camp Classic.” This turned out to be an accurate prediction. Unlike so many others, “B&B” is still with us, and still a fast moving, relatively … [Read more...]
“Young and Restless”: Number One But Still Disappoints
March 1, 2026 by 7 Comments
A few years ago, I took a long hiatus from writing this column. My first column back, January 11, 2022, was called “Young and Restless: Such a Disappointment.” Rereading that column now, I am astonished that so little has changed. This landmark show in daytime history has many of the same problems today it did then. Did Miss Marlena, who has … [Read more...]
My 2nd Anniversary Wish for “Beyond the Gates”: Couplings, Uncouplings, and a Murder Mystery to Boot
February 23, 2026 by 4 Comments
Happy anniversary “Beyond the Gates”! Kudos to CBS for greenlighting a new soap and renewing it for a second year! I am humbled that Marlena has asked me to comment on the couples of “BTG” in honor of this occasion. However, instead of my guessing where some of these duos are headed, I countered with letting me play fantasy head writer and … [Read more...]
“General Hospital”‘s Anthony Geary Tribute: Bravo!
February 21, 2026 by 3 Comments
I’m so glad the current management at ABC Daytime finally has a clue about what made their predecessors in the eighties and nineties so spectacularly successful, with a line-up of fabulous contemporary soaps and landmarks promotion campaigns like “Love in the Afternoon.”) Executives of that era knew the only way to make soap opera successful was to … [Read more...]
“La Lucci,” Susan’s Very Thoughtful New Book
February 11, 2026 by 15 Comments
Susan Lucci is everywhere promoting her new memoir, “La Lucci” (Blackstone Publishing.) People Magazine! Us! Variety! Good Morning America! The CBS noon local New York news! It’s an over-the-top campaign worthy of Erica Kane, the superstar character Lucci so notably played for 40 years on “All My Children.” Even if you have issues with all the … [Read more...]
What It’s All About, Erica, Redux
February 3, 2026 by 2 Comments
Marlena says: Susan Lucci’s new autobiography “La Lucci” (Ballantine Books) is everywhere this week as she does a media blitz, launched with a cover story in this week’s People magazine. I will review the book here as soon as I receive my copy. But I just can’t wait until then to revisit one of my favorite subjects. I’ve been a staunch fan of … [Read more...]
