Happy Labor Day! I hope you are spending the long holiday weekend with family and friends in a nice, relaxing way, with a cold beverage of your choice and the smell of a grill outside your house. The folks in Springfield will have a few days off next week so maybe they can make nice with one another - and soon!
But Springfield is hardly full of harmony and family unity these days. I can't think of many families who would want to roast hot dogs and hamburgers together - even for a day. Reva and Jeffrey are set to tie the knot - but who will go to the wedding? For all of the food Reva ordered I'd say they are feeding an army - or a film crew!
Speaking of Jeffrey I had to pause after his scene's with Buzz this week. One thing I dearly miss about GL is the "friendship" scenes. No storyline has to move (although the rest of them should) but it's nice to see Cassie and Blake having drinks, or Jeffrey and Buzz holding hands (!) and working on the wedding plans. At first, while I laughed at the scenes (and loved the chemistry) I wondered what fans would think. Then I went right to my "source" - one of my best friends (and a devoted AMC fan) is a gay man. If he isn't offended, I shouldn't be, either.
But I have to shake my head that GL is not having Gil Rogers (Hawk) in town for the wedding. Sure, it's been rescheduled more time than a mid-season replacement show, but the chemistry between Rogers and Zimmer is not to be taken lightly. I miss the old coot being in Springfield for "sister" and lightening the mood. No Marah and Shayne, no Hawk - and hopefully no Josh. Who will be there to stand up for the bride and groom?
Daisy and Olivia seem to be two ladies who will R.S.V.P. big, fat "No" to the shindig. Not that 'Liv and Reva are always buddies (their love for Josh would damper that) but when Olivia was "dying" it was Reva who was there for her. And Olivia is, well, a woman with few female friends - something that has always bothered me. Surely she can be successful and powerful without being a bitch. She loves her kids, but I'd like to see her with someone (female) to call when she needs a girl's night out.
And Olivia and Daisy seem to have another link - Grady. What is it with this slimeball that women are falling over themselves for him? Kane Karrera is a good looking guy (although personally I'd like him to get a haircut) but Grady has not one redeeming quality in him. He doesn't have enough GL history to take over as the resident villain - although killing Tammy Winslow Randall is a great start to his career as the most hated man in town.
Olivia seemed to overlook Grady's misdeeds (or be attracted to them) this week when she seemed to want him to sleep with her. I know Olivia is a woman with certain needs, but to stoop to sleeping with a slimeball like "G" is just too much. Luckily she seems to have gotten some sense slapped into her before she stooped that low. Yes, (ex-husband) Alan isn't the love match she hoped for, but at least you could see where she was going with that pairing. What in the world are TPTB doing? Crystal Chappell is an Emmy winner and a talented actress who needs some storylines with meat on them!!! As much as I think the pairing might not work, I loved the chemistry with Crystal and Michael O'Leary (Rick) the other week.
Speaking of Alan, he's still wondering around seeing a character that TPTB were foolish enough to let get away (Gus, Ricky Paull Goldin). How much time can we see Lizzie (in some of the ugliest shoes ever - and not appropriate for a dress) and Bill wander around NYC looking for him? I guess it beats wandering around Peapack, NJ... Where is this story going? And can it please get there already?
Last week I started my picks of characters I wanted to get rid of and characters I want to return. So far, Alan with a backbone hasn't made an appearance - but I'm hopeful. Now it seems that I have to make another pick. As much as I hate to say it, there are a good many Springfield citizens I'd like to see hiring some movers. But since one is rumored to be leaving anyway, I'll pick Cassie Winslow. When she came to Springfield it was with a great story - Reva's stripper little half-sister who raised Tammy on her own. We saw Rob Layne and saw where she came from - and how she evolved into most little girl's dreams - a real life Princess. But Prince Richard is dead, and Cassie is left going through her sister's ex-husband's as possible mate material. Gone is the spunk and fire that I loved about Cassie. Now life has beaten her down (the death's of Richard and Tammy certainly took their toll on her). But the woman who overcame so much in her life has become a whiner and a character I want to see leave town. She has to either go to the same clinic as Alan to get some backbone (and a decent story) or stop sucking down so much air time!!
Cassie's sister, Reva seems to be going down a familiar road with a cancer battle. We've seen Reva battle the disease before, but TPTB really watered down the strong cancer story with that should I tell Josh subplot. I hope that, if this is the direction they are going, TPTB let Reva's story be more powerful - and use the very underused Tina Sloan (Lillian) who is cruicial to the story.
Which GL character would I like to return? When I really need a GL fix, I try to find clips of "the good old days" online (YouTube.com is a great place to see classic clips - too bad GL doesn't offer this for fans). Since I've been watching GL since 1976 there are so many faces I'd love to see back in town. Sadly, so many of them (including my favorite the late Michael Zaslow, ex-Roger) can't return. But one thing I miss is the joy that the cast seemed to share - the chemistry they had and the scenes that really allowed them to shine. I was watching a really old Bauer bar-be-que recently and found Jay Hammer (ex-Fletcher Reade) enter my computer screen and I smiled. Fletcher was Springfield's ace reporter, who always sniffed out the latest scandal in town. He fell in love with "Red" (a.k.a Holly Bauer Thorpe Linsdey - Blake's mother) and their love story really was a great pairing. I would love to see either (or both) breathe life into Springfield again. The Springfield Journal and WSPR are a joke - never used as they should to further stories as they should. Sure, Dinah "runs" the show, but it's usually mentioned only when absolutely necessary. So I say bring back "Fletch" and "Red" to spice up Springfield!
I hope that you'll check out some classic GL since GL is only on three days this week. The video quality isn't always the best, but the work, the stories, the acting, is timeless... and should encourage today's staff to bring back the spice to Springfield!
Until next week...
Keep the Light Shining and Happy Labor Day!
Kimberly
