Final Days Part 28 ~ It's Over! (1/13/12)

This is it!  I've prepared myself for this day ever since ABC announced that they were cancelling All My Children and One Life To Live.

I was prepared for a let down.  I was prepared to be sad, but something happened once Allison's narration began, I loved almost every moment of the final episode of One Life To Live!

This show!  This show is over!  Finished!

But my memories live on.

Life Goes On!

Life Has Its Twists

And Life Has Its Turns

Final Days Part 27 ~ There Is Only One More Tomorrow!

One More Episode!

Viki Explains The Importance of the Soap Opera

The fans are so loyal, so passionate, so invested in their stories.  I always ask how they got started watching "Fraternity Row".  Some of them were stay at home mothers some of them were stay at home mothers, taking a break before their children would get home from school and others were college students with free time between classes. 

Many of them inherited the love for the show from their parents or their grandparents who were long time fans themselves. 

I remember the first time I tuned into Fraternity Row; I was hooked instantly.  I needed to know what would happen next to these fascinating people. 

Would the hero and the heroine find their way back to true love? 

Would the villains get their comeuppance?  Or would their crimes go unpunished? 

Would loving families overcome their obstacles or would their troubles prove to difficult to surmount?  Ultimately, that's what soap opera is about, families, close families, rival families, even families that are unexpected, or the ones we choose for ourselves. 

And when a show is lucky enough to have been on the air as long as Fraternity Row, has, these families become extensions of our own.  Fans might become upset when a favorite actor leaves, but they're always willing to welcome a new one; even when the new cast member is quite different from the one being replaced. 

After all, this is a place where people come back from the dead

...go off to grade school in the morning and come home from high school in the afternoon.  Because for every new face, every new couple, every new family, there are long familiar faces.  Some who have grown up before our very eyes

and a few more we hope to watch grow up.

We know them so well; they've become our friends; we yearn for their happiness, especially when it's hard won.  We laugh as they laugh; we cry as they cry. We can't imagine doing without them; and when things are at their very worst on the show, that's when we seem to enjoy them the most.

There's just one thing we have to do to keep them in our lives ...

Tune in tomorrow!

Final Days Part 26 ~ "There's a trick to the graceful exit"

Two More Episodes

Wednesday 1/11/12

Wednesday's show had closure for several characters.  The eipsode began with Starr and James.  James flat out told Starr, "It's over!"  Starr didn't want to end things, but she couldn't do anything but let James go when he told her that he knew that she could never love him the way that she loved Cole.  There were tears, lots of tears, but they departed on good terms.

The Balsoms were floating on air and all was right with the world, and it was made even righter [sic]  when Shane received a letter marked urgent.  It was from an exclusive Phil Jimendez School of Cartoon Art, in England.  The school offered Shane not only admittance, but a scholarship as well.  Shane was hesitant, but after Gigi explained that she had filled out an application and sent them copies of his art work, Shane realized that it was not a hoax.  Still a little reluctant to leave his newly married parents, Shane told them that he wouldn't leave, but being full of goodness, Gigi sprang one more surprise on him and told him that they were going with him.

In the meantime, a saddened Roxy was preparing for her "Fraternity Row" party, which is intended to bring her a sense of closure as well and she's going to need it since Roxy's Rexy and family are leaving Llanview.

Shuan and Vivian had another fight over marriage.  Shuan wants to get married and Vivian does not.  She insists that it's not because she doesn't want to be married to him, but she doesn't want to be married to anybody.  Crushed again by Vivian's apparent rejection, Shuan ended their relationship. (Guess you could call that closure, but I don't think that it's over.)

Matthew got back from Washington, feeling guilty because he believes that if he had been in Llanview, he could have stopped Troy from taking his mother hostage and wounding his father.  Bo reminded him that he couldn't change the past, that the best thing for would be to fo  Oh, but wait!  There is one more thing that Matthew wants to forget and it came through the door just ahead of his best friend, Destiny.  Matthew continued to fight his battle against fatherhood and Destiny gave him an earful.  Basically, while he's deciding whether or not he wants to be a father, Destiny can't now decide that she doesn't want to be a mother.  She's already had to step up for their baby.  Destiny left Bo's hospital room, angry and upset.

On the other side of young love was Jack Manning and Neela Patel.  Neela came to La Boulaie to apologize to Jack for betraying him.  At first Jack didn't want to hear a word out of her mouth, but he listened and he allowed her to tell him how sorry she was and how she had changed her mind, but was afraid that Shane would try to once again commit suicide if she didn't help him.  Jack seemed to understand though I didn't get the feeling that he was going to forgive her.

When Starr got home, she was met by Rick(her sleazy manager) who had great news to share.  He's made a very sweet deal, concerning Starr's singing career.  He told her that he would give her until the next day to make up her mind and that he is moving on to a client who will appreciate someone who works as hard as he does for her.  Rick told Starr that it's time to move on to the next chapter.

Finally, there was John and there was Natalie.  These two have been trying to get it right for over eight years.  Eight years of an emotionally thwarted man who only expressed himself through his sexual prowess.  John couldn't say the words, "I love you", but he could whip out his Johnson quicker than a rat could eat cheese.  For weeks, he's been telling Natalie, "We have to tawk!" and for weeks, they have been interrupted by phone calls, murder mysteries, prison breaks and mad men.  Finally, John tawked and tawked and fawked, and John said the words, "I love you" to Natalie.