BC - Fri, 8/14/09

What the hell was Ryan holding onto when he did his pull-ups? From what I saw, it looked like he was simply digging his fingernails into the wood, like a cat, or maybe just sticking to it like a fly. He wasn't even gripping any handles of any kind. I call B-O-G-U-S. Not that I mind seeing a buff guy shirtless (well, I mind it if it's so that Erica can see him and get all ... tingly), but couldn't they at least have him put his fingers over the TOP of the wooden beam?

Why did Jesse call Madison a "frigid, clueless skank"? I can see the clueless part, but we've seen no evidence that she's frigid or a skank. She obviously didn't have much going on in the sex dept with her husband, but come on -- she's either frigid or she's a skank, she can't be BOTH. Besides, "skank", aside from being sexually promiscuous, generally implies a certain level of low-class unkemptness, and Madison is nothing if not neat, clean, well-groomed, expertly coiffed and well-dressed, despite her alcohol and gambling addictions. But more to the point, why is Jesse attacking her sexuality, whatever it may be? Oh wait, did he know about her hitting on Frankie? Whatever. I can see him calling her a blackmailing BITCH, a lush, a black widow, and a golddigger (among other things) quite easily but frigid and skank are just ... lame.

Gary (the guy from Lacey's) told Ryan that his reputation as a businessman was impeccable. I guess the guy didn't know about IncredibleDreams.com or Ryan's early days as a con-man.

Gary was THRILLED to see Erica in the flesh. He was probably even MORE thrilled when he realized she has such shiny new implants. I was wondering if he'd compliment her on how well she wears them. While it's true that some men act like idiots around beautiful women, and especially celebrities, that guy was just plain pathetic. To have him flip-flop from cutting back on an order to DOUBLING it just because Erica danced with him and flattered him was even MORE pathetic.

If Ryan were such an accomplished business man, he wouldn't be grinning ear-to-ear and openly admiring how Erica is so obviously playing Gary like a fiddle. LATER he can do that, of course, or he can simply look the other way and grin, but to stand there and just stare at them while it's going on obvious and stupid.

Why would Jesse and Angie meet up at ConFusion to talk about whether or not he MURDERED someone or if he knows that their daughter-in-law MURDERED someone? Isn't this a conversation best left at HOME?

How is it that Amanda (or any other person off the street) can walk around in the area of the hospital nursery? I used to go see the babies sometimes when visiting people in the hospital, but thought that newborns were locked up pretty tight nowadays to prevent kidnapping. I suppose I can cut her some slack in that her husband works there. However, I know that if my baby was missing, I'd be DOING something about it, not hanging around the hospital staring at OTHER babies.

Whoa, they might want to rethink that artsy shot of the video screen above the bar showing Erica and Ryan dancing -- it makes BOTH of them look ... WIDE.

Robin "which makes tiny Erica look SQUAT, & NO one wants to look SQUAT" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 8/13/09

Why would Angie be looking into the autopsy report of Henry North? Why was the autopsy even done in Pine Valley when he died in Washington DC or a suburb of it?

Wow, little Trevor has grown a LOT recently.

Taylor tells Tad that he doesn't have to stick around now that the baby's going. Uh, WHERE is the baby going? I know Amanda and Jake are planning to "adopt" him, but the way Taylor is talking, it sounds like the baby is leaving within the next 24 hours.

Oh, so NOW Amanda explains the next braindead plan for the baby (well after Taylor indicates the baby is about to be gone): he will be dropped off on a charity doorstep where Opal will "find" him and call Child Protective Services, and Tad will somehow magically arrange for Opal to be the foster mother. What if CPS decides Opal doesn't qualify to be a foster parent, or that there is simply someone else or another couple that has been waiting and is already pre-qualified? For that matter, what makes Amanda think that she and Jake will zoom to the top of the list of parents waiting to adopt? What if someone finds the baby before Opal does? There are SOOO many holes in this plan.

Has the Wildwind mausoleum set been recycled into a church/charity building?

I don't know what the weather is like in Pine Valley right now, but it's the middle of August and it is BAKING hot here in California. Why would Angie choose to go with a really long weave in such hot weather?

Why would Joe forcibly drag Opal off to get tested and examined when she so CLEARLY has to be somewhere else in a hurry and she just happened to be in the hallway when he walked by? Joe wouldn't do that! The way they made him act I had to wonder if they were going with some sort of mental deficiency storyline for him. So now the baby is gone and Opal is not the one who took him.

Robin "Gee, didn't see THAT coming" Coutellier

BC - Tue, 7/11/09

Is it my imagination, or did eBabe get her hair colored while she was in the hospital?

What is Annie drinking? Is it Sangria -- during a THERAPY session? Or maybe it's Fusion V-8 or perhaps red Kool-Aid, although the more appropriate drink for her would probably be Hawaiian Punch.

Since people keep breaking into Ryan's penthouse, perhaps he should consider moving to a more secure abode. He should also get some sort of scanner to find out if there are any unauthorized cellphones in the place -- I'm assuming there ARE such things, although it might get confused by other cellphones in the building. Does the balcony run all around the penthouse? If not, maybe he should move Emma's room to one that does not have balcony access. For that matter, a child's room should not have direct access to a balcony in ANY case. What's to keep her from getting up in the night and accidentally going over the edge of it?

So what did Annie actually DO to finesse a passing grade in the evaluation?

Oh, this Kendall in hiding storyline is RIDICULOUS! It does explain why he abruptly dismissed Rachel, though. And helping Zach to pull this off is SOOOOO not in character for Jesse! Not at ALL. Helping Randi was one thing, because there were family ties, but helping an unrelated prisoner that he doesn't even know that well to escape, and going along with a look-alike taking Kendall's place in prison is absolutely LUDICROUS!

Wow, both Ryan AND Erica actually said "GOOD NIGHT" on the phone before hanging up. That's practically UNHEARD of on a soap!

I can see Erica watching a romantic old movie, but Ryan? Come ON! With all the channels available to him he's watching a sappy movie with a lot of dancing in it? I realize there was a Dancing With The Stars tie-in with both characters, but you would normally have to chain a guy down to watch a movie like that.

Was I the only one who thought the closeup of the overflowing champagne bottle and the way Adam was holding it looked incredibly phallic?

Robin "just me?" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 8/10/09

Annie asks Ryan if he knows how to fix an air-conditioner. Actually, I recall him working on the air-conditioner at Holidays (formerly the tacky roadhouse out in boonies (run by Billy The Bartender), which was bought by Hayley and Mateo, renovated and moved into and out of the PV Mall on occasion. It was one of the occasions of Ryan helping out by fixing things where Mateo got very jealous (and viscious) regarding Hayley.
I'm glad to see that Erica, at least, has some sense as far as Rachel goes.

That was an intimate gesture on Scott's part to put his hand on Annie's shoulder and arm as Ryan left. It was supposed to be caring and protective, but it creeped me out -- that was NOT a "friend" kind of pat/caress.

So what's Adam's "small problem"? I'm guessing it's erectile dysfunction. Looks like I guessed right, too Although, with his heart problems, he may not be a candidate for the little blue pill.

Why is everyone so worried about Zach isolating himself and his isolation affecting the children? Kendall has been in jail less than 24 hours -- Jesus, give him a LITTLE time to adjust! I still strongly disagree with him firing Rachel, but I don't think everyone should start freaking out over his behavior in such a short time.

They did a pretty good makeup (or perhaps LACK of makeup) job on eBabe -- she definitely looks wan and like she's recuperating from recent surgery.

I was also a little creeped out by Scott saying good guys finish last and girls always go for the bad guys. I'm not creeped out by the way he said it or anything like that -- I'm creeped out because last night I watched some videos on YouTube about George Sodini, the guy who shot into a gymnasium last week , killing several people before killing himself. There are a couple of videos he made as part of his dating workshop on how to get younger women to like him:

• George Hides From Emotions
• George's Home in Pittsburgh

From there I ended up at a site by a vampy woman named Carly who had some video links and some interesting insights into the videos Sodini made, comments left on his videos and a book on his coffee table. She was particularly interested in the connection between Sodini and Don Steele, who runs the Dating Workshop Sodini attended:

• Carly's comments on George's videos
• One of Steele's Right Attitude videos

During that a Right Attitude workshop video (on older men attracting younger women), Steele asserts that nice guys finish last and girls like bad boys.

David advises eBabe to look at JAR's history and not to fall into the traps that he's made and that Babe fell into time and time again. Uh, Pot, Kettle. All she has to do is look at DAVID'S track record and traps, only a small FRACTION of which would make the average person run away shrieking in fear, loathing or, at the very least, extreme annoyance and distaste. David goes on to say JAR is WAY too messed up for anyone to fix. Again, Pot, Kettle.

I'm assuming Kendall is daydreaming about reunited with Zach. Of course, given that this is AMC, it's also possible that some sort of arrangement WAS made.

Robin "PV justice is swift, both in the imposition AND the disposition" Coutellier

BC - Fri, 8/7/09

Well, I guess Marian dusted off the gun she used to kill Zach Grayson with (she did a couple of years at Statesville for THAT one).

Why did Taylor risk bringing the baby to Tad's place just because the baby hadn't pooped since yesterday? Way to keep a low profile! Besides, anyone who has ever had a baby knows what a monumental pain it is to take it anywhere -- you're laden down like a camel!

Damn, they sure are mopping up FAST after the shooting! Where are the people with the measuring tapes and cameras and sample swabs? No WAY would a crime scene be cleaned up that quickly in real life! How much times has gone by, 10-15 minutes, if that? And why does the blood still look like ketchup, especially after being dunked in a bucket of water?

JAR admits to having been immature and spoiled at points in his life. At POINTS in his life? Puh-Leeze! He's been immature and spoiled ALL of his life! He was much LESS so when he was a kid; usually it's the other way around.

Then JAR sneers to Annie that at least he's not a self-absorbed, money-sucking, mentally unstable waste like HER. Uh, actually, he's been ALL of those things at MANY points in his adult life. Pot, Kettle.

Now we see eBabe JUST NOW being wheeled into the PVPD Emergency Dept. Excuse me? So they mopped up the crime scene even before she got to the hospital that everyone in town can get to in the blink of an eye! What did they do, stop at the Dairy Queen on the way for some soft cones and fries, or perhaps stop and text their friends, check their email, play a few video games and update their FaceBook status?

Considering that Rach has practically RAISED the two boys, that was a pretty abrupt dismissal of her by Zach. What about the children? They are losing their mother AND their mother-substitute on the SAME DAY! He just rushed her out the door. You'd think she would at least have some personal effects there. It was a pretty crappy thing for Zach to do both to Rachel AND to the children!

One or more of the children playing Spike is unquestionably developmentally disabled in my opinion. The triplets that play Spike are three years old now, yet one or more of them often babbles complete nonsense, like baby Ian. They should either replace the boys who portray him or write this into the storyline, because it gets harder every day to watch everyone completely ignore something that is becoming so obvious. Most 3-yr-olds chatter away all day long, asking question after question after question, usually in relatively complete sentences. The older the child actors get, the more glaringly obvious it will become. The 18-month-old who lives upstairs from me demonstrates verbal skills that are nearly the same as "Spike's", but more animated and intelligible (and the toddler's verbal skills improve at a rapid rate from one week to the next). He also demonstrates some rapidly improving tantrum-throwing skills, along with rapidly increasing lung capacity, but I digress

Robin "what was that weird shoe-creaking-like noise at the end of the show?" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 8/6/09

THAT'S Lucretia? I think this is the first time we've ever seen her (with confirmation) in all these years! I pictured her as being quite a bit older and stouter than that. She must have been quite an accomplished YOUNG chef because I'm pretty sure Lucretia has been working for Adam since he moved to Pine Valley in 1984.

Marian came into the courtroom and announced that SHE will NEVER forgive Kendall. The next thing I know, ABC interrupts with the news about Judge Sotomayor's appointment. When AMC returned, Marian was on the stand and was saying: "You all keep talking about the INTENDED victim and how we should take pity on Kendall ..." The interruption started DURING a commercial, and only about 5 minutes were missed, so it could have been mostly commercials. What did I miss in between?

I hate to think we'll never see Marian again She turned in quite a performance!

Why is Angie looking so stricken at seeing Randi and Madison, the DA's wife, talking? Angie DIDN'T SEE them talking, she was rummaging in her purse and looked up after Madison walked away.

Robin "of course, we don't know WHY she looks stricken (yet)" Coutellier

BC - Wed, 8/5/09

JAR gets snarky at Scott at ConFusion. He says, what, about 3-4 lines to Scott? Then JAR gets dizzy and hot outside and eBabe suggests that he's exhausted from ripping into Scott. Oh puh-leeze! If THAT'S all it takes to exhaust JAR, he really DOES belong in the hospital. My guess is that the hepatitis came back or David drugged him.

Will Randi start hooking again as a fallback to bad habits during a time of stress?

My sister, niece, nephew-in-law and I were having dinner the other night and my niece told her mother to play the ringtone she had set for when I call her -- it was the jazzy theme song to AMC

Robin "they know me SO well" Coutellier

BC - Tue, 8/4/09

It looks like Adam was triple-dosed with the tanning shower!

Liza swings her briefcase in anger, not realizing that David was right behind her. Her briefcase hits him HARD on the arm and shoulder. So why was he checking his nose to see if it was bleeding? Was his finger in it when he got hit?

JAR complains that Annie is a good student (with Adam as the teacher), learning how to be manipulative, coercive and saying whatever to get whatever she wants (minor nitpick: she was ALREADY that way before she even MET Adam). JAR says he learned everything he knows from Adam, but it turns out that he's just not as good at working people. He likes to think that it's because he has a little thing called "morals". BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!

Jake gets snotty with Tad over "loose lips sink ships" because Tad said something about getting back to the baby. Hello? Jake and Amanda talked about the baby and their big, SECRET plan to fool David for MONTHS anywhere and everywhere they went!

How is Annie managing to even WALK in that dress, let alone dance in circles? She and Adam are stepping all OVER the hem. He's probably the only thing holding her up.

Kendall is such a twit.

Robin "OFGS!" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 8/3/09

I see Taylor still isn't locking her DOOR, either. Tad just walked on in. I'll cut them a little slack today and choose to think that Tad has his own key, which WOULD make sense in the current scenario. Then I kept watching and Amanda (who also would have a reason to have a key) just walked on in (without using a key). So we're back to Taylor not locking her door. Idiot.

Why doesn't anyone on a soap ever worry about wrecking the blinds by suddenly yanking them apart to peer out as if the blinds were made out of rubberbands? They do that all the time. Most of the time they are "peeking" out to spy on people or see if they are in danger. I've had blinds in my abode off and on -- you can easily slide ONE slat slightly out of place and see out without damaging anything -- you don't need to suddenly bend and spread a bunch of slats so that you have 6" of open space to see through. In this case, Kendall was doing it in the interrogation room (again with inappropriate/weapons-potential items in an interrogation room), so she wouldn't necessarily care about wrecking them, but I know she'd do it at home, too.

Does Liza plan to cross-examine Emma? They can't just spring a witness without giving the other side time to prepare. No one likes to cross-examine a child or a mother -- they are usually biased and it is VERY easy to look like you are beating up on someone who is very vulnerable. Many mothers of serial killers will tell you that their son is a good boy or brag about their various skills which, by themselves might, indeed, be admirable ("my son is an EXCELLENT carpenter and he's VERY good with computers!"), but they might also be of interest as far as M.O.s go (he built a very high-quality guillotine, along with an spiffy soundproofed underground bunker which he monitors 24 hours a day with a webcam, microphones and motion-sensing equipment, and he archives every second of every day in the bunker on high-capacity, solid-state hard drives).

If Emma has been discharged, why isn't Ryan with her? Oh, and she was NOT catatonic for several days, as Liza asserted. She refused to talk, but the key word there is REFUSED. She was perfectly alert, cognizant of her surroundings and willing to talk when it suited her.

They managed to seat a DEATH-qualified jury within the space of about 10 minutes? You can't even get a shoplifting-qualified jury selected in less than at LEAST a couple of hours, if not half a day (possibly longer if you are Winona Rider). Jury selection for the average murder trial takes several days and maybe even longer if it's a big case.

Oh puh-leeze! Why would a courthouse have a bathroom with an easily-opened window, especially considering a) how often prisoners escape, and b) the fact that most people have to go through a metal detector to get into a courthouse?

That is one sneezy little baby. He sneezed in a scene last week, too. Maybe he's allergic to unsecured homes -- he's in for a VERY sneezy future, if that's the case.

Going on the run with a child who wears a Cochlear Implant will make it a little harder to go incognito. I can just see it now: Be on the lookout for an exceptionally skinny, big-eyed woman wearing scanty clothing that reveals a heart transplant scar. She may be accompanied by a toddler (male) and a 3-yr-old (male) -- the 3-yr-old may have an auditory assistance device attached to his left ear and he often babbles like an incoherent toddler.

Did you notice Ryan scratching his head near the end of the show? He did it so vigorously that it made me wonder if he had head-lice. It also IMMEDIATELY reminded me of his occasional chimpanzee mannerisms

Robin "Quick! Douse him in kerosene! What? No, he doesn't have head-lice; why do you ask?" Coutellier

BC - Thu & Fri, 7-30 & 7-31-09

O-M-G -- WHY is Emma still taking up space in the HOSPITAL? Does she need IV fluids? Does she need her heart and/or blood pressure monitored? Does she have an open wound (an ax in the head, perhaps) that needs stitching up? No, she's just lying down and refusing to talk to anyone except when it suits her. She's not even in the pediatrics ward! I would think it would be even MORE traumatizing for her to be in a busy hospital where most people (including her father) are IGNORING her and everyone else keeps walking in and interrogating her.

I'm glad to see that at least ERICA managed to make a space for an actual OFFICE instead of sitting in the middle of the tacky office. Not that being surrounded by photos of herself isn't tacky, of course.

According to Adam, Natalia is still a cadet. So why did SHE deliver the news of the death of the D.A. to the D.A.'s wife? Why was she even AT the investigation at a MURDER scene? Why is she doing anything at ALL as part of the PVPD other than desk duty and some ride-alongs?

Robin "talk about nepotism" Coutellier