Wanted - Dallas: The Next Generation

They say everything old is new again and apparently that goes for television shows. In the past few years, we have seen the successful revival of a show that failed the first time around (Battlestar Galatica), and a new version of Beverly Hills 90210. Now the CW has a new version of Melrose Place on its fall schedule starring Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. Seriously, a new version of Melrose Place? A show that is chiefly remembered for two things: the shortness of Heather Locklear’s skirts and Marcia Cross as Kimberly pulling blowing up the building on Melrose Place where everyone lived.

I say that it’s time to bring back Dallas. Yes, I’m talking about the series that made Larry Hagman an international star, the show that wiped out one whole season by claiming it was a dream, that Dallas. Dallas was one of the most successful and longest-running shows in American prime-time television history, and was also hugely successful across the world. The episode where J.R. Ewing was shot was one of the most highly rated episodes ever. Long before we had the Bush family from Texas, we had the Ewings. For 13 years, viewers remained glued to their seats on Friday nights to find out what the Ewings, a wealthy dysfunctional Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries, would do. The show accurately reflected the 80’s mentality of ‘Greed is good,’ and the fascination that people had with the rich and powerful.
The 80’s was also the Reagan years, and the rise of Donald Trump, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.

Dallas was so successful that Susan Lucci, an icon in her own right as Erica Kane on All My Children, joined the show to play a pyschotic kidnapper who killed Bobby’s new wife April. While the Ewings, like the Carringtons of Dynasty, were in the oil business (or oil bidness as they say in Texas), the show was more about the family dynamics between J.R. the rapscallion older brother, and Bobby, the youngest brother who was good and noble. There was also Gary Ewing, the middle brother who was an alcoholic (Gary and Valene even got their own show Knots Landing), and Ray Krebbs who turned out to be the illegitmate son of Jock Ewing. And then there was the star-crossed love of Pamela Barnes and Bobby Ewing. The Barnes family blamed the Ewings for stealing oil rights from them. Cliff Barnes spent the entire series trying to bring J.R. down with mixed results.

While Dynasty was good, campy fun complete with the yearly cat fight between Alexis Carrington and Krystal, Dallas for the most part was relatively sane. Although the Ewings were rich, they didn’t flaunt their money like the Carringtons. Sue Ellen never wore over the top outfits like the Nolan Miller designs on Dynasty, and the Ewing ranch was not ostentatious. The Ewings seemed like real Texans, particularly since Larry Hagman actually was born in Texas. The show was so successful that it spawned two TV sequels, Dallas: J.R. Returns and Dallas: War of the Ewings. There has even been talk of a big screen version of the movie with John Travolta as J.R. (miscast completely) and Jennifer Lopez as Sue Ellen (again miscast, she should be playing Pam with Matthew McConaughey as Bobby).

Now that the series has been released on DVD, a new generation of fans has sprung up, along with older fans who are getting the chance to relive a show that they enjoyed. A new version of Dallas would also allow audiences to see a newer side of Texas, a more multi-cultural state that since Dallas has been off the air has elected a female Governor, and sent another Governor to the White House. A Texas that it is more than just the oil business. It would help if the show was actually filmed in Dallas, instead of just doing a few weeks of location shooting.

Goodness knows CBS needs a show that skews younger than the shows they already have on the air. Right now, the CBS schedule is a mixture of sitcoms, CSI spin-offs and other police procedurals, and the supernatural shows Medium and The Ghost Whisperer. What it needs is a good night-time soap, and Dallas: The Next Generation would be perfect. The show has immediate name recognition. Even if you never saw the show, you know the name and J.R. Ewing. To bring in older viewers, the show could sprinkle in guest appearances by J.R., Bobby and Sue Ellen, but the focus would be on John Ross, Christopher, Bobby and Betsy Ewing, and whatever spawn Lucy and Mitch Cooper gave birth to.


The TV show would pick up 12 years after the last TV movie Dallas: War of the Ewings ended. John Ross is now the head of Ewing Oil and Christopher Ewing has started his own company to provide clean sources of energy to poor people (sort of like Citizens Energy, the company Joseph Kennedy II runs in MA), which makes him as much of a bleeding heart as his dear old dad Bobby. Meanwhile Pamela Barnes (daughter of Cliff and Afton Cooper) is the lead singer of a Sugarland type band in Austin (this would give the show a chance to show the Austin music scene). Lucy Ewing is the head of a Mary Kay cosmetics type company, and her daughter Amber is a debutante/model. This would give the show a chance to really show Dallas high society. Perhaps, she was tossed out of the Miss Texas pageant for nude photos and got drunk at the Crillon Ball in Paris. Bobby Ewing(son of Valene and Gary) has his own technology company or is involved with new media which he keeps arguing with John Ross about. Since Gary was an alcoholic, let Bobby be a drinker, a young George W. Bush as it were, screwing up and getting into trouble. Betsy Ewing could be frenemies with Amber, but strike up a friendship with Pamela Barnes. I see Betsy as a Nicky Hilton/Ivanka Trump type, someone with smarts and ambition, perhaps owning a boutique hotel in Dallas. Very down to earth compared to Amber, someone who although she grew up in Los Angeles was never part of that Hollywood socialite lifestyle.

One of the differences with the new Dallas and the old Dallas would be the introduction of some characters of color. Texas is a multicultural state, with a large Latino population, not to mention African-American. Let’s give John Ross a sexy Johnny Cochrane type lawyer and let him have an affair with Lucy’s daughter. Perhaps the foreman on the Ewing ranch can be Latino, the husband of Charlie, Jenna’s daughter.

Of course, the show would need to have guest appearances by the original stars. Let's say that J.R. has now retired but he can't keep butting in to what John Ross is doing at Ewing Oil, making deals behind his son's back, undermining him etc. Perhaps, J.R. has been spending a lot of time in Dubai as a consultant. Bobby might be member of the Texas legislature in Austin. Sue Ellen, who married a movie director, is now divorced and married to her third husband, a Euro-trash aristocrat with little to recommend him but his title and his pecs. Perhaps he's Italian, much younger or French even. The producers could cast Gilles Marini in the role.

Of course, we need to have some of the Barnes family on the show, the traditional enemies of the Ewings. Perhaps Cliff now co-owns a sports team that John Ross covets (remember that Bush once wanted to be baseball commissioner). He still blames the Ewings for Pam's death, and April's death (remember Cliff and April were once a couple). This would be a chance for a star-crossed love triangle between John Ross, Bobby and Pamela. They never did anything with the movie that Sue Ellen made of J.R.'s life. Perhaps now is the time to premiere that movie during the series, particularly if J.R. is messing with John Ross's relationships and career at Ewing Oil.

The nighttime television scene could use a little glitz and glamour that doesn't come from the so-called reality TV series. CBS should jump on this before Bravo churns out The Real Housewives of Dallas and steals their thunder.

Diversity and The Bachelorette

Once again, we have another season of The Bachelorette, and once again we have no men of color in the house (and no I don't consider Juan, even though he's from Argentina, to represent any kind of diversity). Can someone explain to me why the skanky dating shows on VH-1 have more people of ethnicity than ABC?

Seriously, there must be some educated, asian, latino, and african-american men who want their 15 minutes of fame, and want their chance at Jillian. She's cute, funny, and sweet. I'm beginning to wonder if it's ABC or the bachelors and bachelorettes themselves who put the kibosh on any interracial shenanigans going on at the Mcmansion.

This is 2009 people, the earth will not fall out of the sky if Jillian or one of the Bachelors dates a black or asian chick on the show. And yes, I know Andy picked Tessa who is half-Asian and Byron picked Mary who is Latina, but that's out of how many series of this show? 16? As a black woman ever made it to the hometown dates? Or even past a one on one date?

Given that the California State Supreme Court just upheld the decision against gay marriage in California, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that The Bachelorette is still as whitebread as they come. Still, I can't bring myself to watch Rock of Love 18, just because the show is diverse.

Sigh! I'm hoping that they add an African-American woman to the Real Housewives of New York City. Where is Spike Lee's wife or Chris Rock's wife? They would be amazing.

Guy Movies vs. Girl Movies

Yesterday I posted on Facebook how much I disliked the last Batman movie with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. This morning I was surprised to see that most of the comments were from guys who insisted that I didn't like the movie because I was a woman and it was a guy movie.

WTF?

Seriously? In the year 2009, we are still doing this? My feelings about Batman: The Dark Knight had more to do with the storyline which was interminable and the fact that the movie was so visually dark at times that I couldn't tell what was going on. While I really liked Heath Ledger's approach to The Joker, it wasn't worth sitting through 2 1/2 hours of boredom. Not even Aaron Eckhardt as Harvey 'Two-Faced' Dent made up for the disjointed storyline and Maggie Gyllenhaal was completely wasted. Maggie, go back to independent films where you at least have a character to play.

I got that they were setting up Batman for the next film where he is more of an outlaw and less of a hero, but Christopher Nolan could have tightened up the script considerably to do that. The biggest problem was trying to do the Joker storyline and Two-faced in the same movie along with a mob storyline. Too much plot for one movie. The audience doesn't need two villains, one will do fine, thank you very much.

I really resented the men telling me that I didn't like the movie because I was a woman. I go to see just as many action films as I do chick-movies and independent films. I saw Watchmen a few weeks ago and loved it. Funnily enough it was the same length as Batman: The Dark Knight but it didn't feel like it. Jackie Earle Haley's performance as Rorshach should garner another Oscar nomination for him. It was just as fine as Heath Ledger's in Batman. I read a great deal of graphic novels and not all of them are Catwoman and Wonder Woman. Seriously if I had liked the movie they would have been able to say it was a 'guy' movie or maybe they would have.

Frankly Batman has always been one of my favorite superheroes, precisely because he is not superhuman or comes from another planet like Superman. Batman is human with all the foibles and frailties of humans. Yes, he has a lot of gadgets and wears a really cool suit, but he makes mistakes like everyone and has serious issues. He reminds me of all those tortured heroes that we romance readers love to read about.

So don't tell me that I can't understand a film because it's supposed to be a 'guy' movie. Not unless you want to get kicked in the balls!

Divas of Daytime TV

Last night I went to see the Divas of Daytime TV (Bobbie Eakes, Krystal on AMC, Kassie DePaiva, Blair on OLTL and Kathy Briers, Marcie OLTL) here in New York at Prohibition, a cool bar on the Upper West Side. I dragged a good friend of mine with me because I didn't want to go alone, and I'm glad that I did. The bar was packed with people. Thank god I had made a reservation for dinner, otherwise we would have had to have stood for the evening. I haven't been to a concert in a bar since I went to see Daphne Rubin-Vega and her band at the late lamented Cutting Room, so I wasn't sure what to expect from these ladies. I watch both AMC and OLTL and I can attest to their acting prowess but not their singing. Until last night.

These women are phenomenal singers in their own right but you put them together and they are dynamite. Seriously they could have sung for a good two hours and I would not have been bored and neither would the rest of the audience. They sang mostly covers and songs from their individual CD's but the standout of the evening was Kathy Briers (who played Marcie on OLTL) who sang Brickhouse. Now this song is usually sung by a man but she just tore it up. She started off by talking about how some girl called her fat when she was twelve and her father told her that she was built like a brick sh*thouse. How many fathers would tell their daughters that?

Of course there were soap stars in the audience. Jamie Luner who now plays Liza on AMC but is well known for her vixen roles on Savannah (why oh why did they cancel that show?), and Melrose Place (why oh why are they reviving that show?) was there and sat near me. I had two glasses of wine which is why I went up to Jill Larson and mentioned that I had seen her at church on Palm Sunday. One of the reasons why I normally don't go to events where I can meet celebrities, is that I tend to act like a big dork!

Now I must go and purchase Kassie, Bobbie and Kathy's CD's.

Any Dream Will Do

Last night I watched the reality show Any Dream Will Do on BBC America. The premise for this show is the search for a male actor to play the lead in the revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's first produced musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. This is actually the second reality show about choosing the lead for a revival that Lloyd Webber was producing. The first called "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria," detailed the search for a Maria for The Sound of Music, and the third was for a Nancy in a revival of Oliver!.

I didn't think I would like this show as much as I did, probably because it is so incredibly cheesy. The show started off with 50 guys being whittled down to twelve. The twelve would perform live every week with one of the guys being eliminated in each episode after a sing-off. The guys run the gamut from a singer who has already understudied in the West End, to a builder, to one singer who is of East Asian descent whose family didn't even know he could sing.

The best part of the show was when the top twenty were flown to Ireland to stay at Andrew Lloyd Webber's castle to perform for the townspeople in the small theater on the property. The audience members got to help vote for which of the twenty made it into the twelve remaining finalists. Gorgeous castle by the way.

The thing that really got me was the fact was two things, the guys have to perform wearing the technicolor dreamcoat that Joseph wears in the show, and the loser has to sing this song called "Close Every Door to Me," at the end of which the other guys take off the coat and he leaves. Cheesefest or what? The guys got to perform with back-up dancers, depending on their song, making it like some kind of seventies variety show. Not even American Idol would think to pull that off.

Being a former thespian, I loved the idea of using a reality TV show to give a newcomer a chance at a part in a West End show. They've tried this here with that show about Grease and on MTV choosing a winner to be in Legally Blonde the musical. But it somehow doesn't seem to have the same meaning as it does in the UK. Maybe because the UK is smaller and the film, theater and TV industries are all in one spot. Meaning that an actor can do a play and film a TV show, or a part in a film at the same time, which is a lot harder in New York.

In the states, it's all about getting that movie role or music stardom. Movie and music stars get to date models, appear in People and the other tabloids. Theater stars don't. In the UK, they appear in Hello! Magazine all the time. It's just so different over there. I mean John Barrowman, one of the judges, appeared in two TV shows here that went nowhere. He goes back home to the UK, does many West End shows and gets the lead in Torchwood which is now an international sensation.

Even though I know who wins, I'm definitely going to keep watching Any Dream Will Do.

My Super Hero

Thanks to Kwana over at KwanaWrites for leading me to this cool web-site in order to create my own superhero.

In Memoriam - Natasha Richardson

I was so sad to hear this morning that Natasha Richardson had passed away after suffering a head injury in a skiing accident on Monday. It seems like only yesterday I was watching her guest judge on Top Chef (she was awesome) and now she's gone. My heart goes out to her family, her husband Liam Neeson and especially to her two boys, Michael and Daniel. Losing their mother while still teenagers has got to be gut wrenching.


It is so important while skiing or riding a bike to wear a helmet, especially if you are a beginner. And if there is one lesson to be learned, that is to not only to tell your loved ones how you feel every day but also to be careful about head injuries. If you hit your head hard for any reason, have yourself checked out. You may be suffering from a concussion or much worse.


My dad almost died from a blood clot on the brain because he ignored a head injury. He had fallen down the stairs at our house upstate and bruised his ribs as well as hitting his head. Instead of seeing a doctor, he did nothing until he almost couldn't breathe from the pain in his ribs. It was only when he went to the emergency room and they checked him overnight, that they discovered through a CAT scan, that a blood clot had developed around the injury. It was so serious that they decided to operate right away. If they hadn't, one sneeze and my father would have died.


So, even if you think that an injury isn't severe, have it checked out, just to be on the safe side.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! May you all hoist a glass of green beer (or for the teetotalers, the green milkshakes at McDonald's).

I personally have been in hiding while the streets are filled with too many people celebrating, singing endless choruses of 'Danny Boy'.

Oh and apparently both Obama and Ben Stiller are part Irish (Ben's mother Anne Meara is definitely of Irish descent).

Final Days in London

I can't believe that tomorrow I will be back in New York. I've had such a lovely time here in London on this trip that I hate to see it end. Leaving our lovely little flat in Earl's Court, while the sun is shining and people are out talking on their cell phones on their little balconies. I must stop or I'll cry a little.

Yesterday, I attempted to go to Leighton House which is the home of Frederick, Lord Leighton, a Victorian painter whose most famous painting is probably Flaming June. Well, after going the wrong way, I finally found the house only to discover that it closed for renovations until the end of 2009. Boo-Hoo. The notice suggested that one could check out the Linley Sambourne house instead but unfortunately due to time constraints I couldn't do that. The house is only available for viewing on a private guided tour and I had just missed one and the other didn't start until 2:00 by which time Hope and I needed to get going to attend the Romance Novelists Association meeting at The New Cavendish Club.

We arrived for the meeting just as it was starting. The New Cavendish Club is a private members only club which has several meeting rooms downstairs. The speakers for the RNA meeting were author Carole Matthews, and editor from Little Black Dress books, and a publicist for a literary PR firm who does the publicity for Mills & Boons for their centenary celebration. The topic was what could you, the author, do to help out your publicist. The general consensus was that authors, due to budget constraints at publishing houses, largely need to do their own publicity as much as possible, or come up with angles that might make them marketable.

It's important that a debut novelist have a web-site in place, and that they have a presence on facebook and myspace, as well as think about putting out a newsletter. That all seems like commonsense, but it's amazing how many authors out there don't have a web-site or who don't know about facebook etc. Carole Matthews talked about twitter but all three agreed that whatever publicity you do shouldn't keep you away from what is most important, sitting your butt in a chair and writing.

Afterwards, Hope and I went out to the pub with Julie Cohen, and several other members of the RNA for copious amounts of wine. We then went on to have dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant in Pimlico where we enjoyed more wine. Needless to say that I'm feeling a tad fragile today. I did manage to do some laundry and start packing for my trip home tomorrow.

Since it is so lovely out, I might head up to Camden market and to see the view from Primrose Hill.

More from London

I'm back at ye old Internet cafe, twittering, facebooking and blogging. My trip here is almost at an end and the depression is about to sink in. I have had a fabu time here in London. Went to see the always wonderful Dame Judi Dench in Yukio Mishima's 1965 play Madame de Sade. She didn't play Madame de Sade but her mother. I thought the acting for the most part was wonderful but the play left something to be desired. Not because it wasn't well written but because it was hard to understand Madame de Sade's motivations. We had standing room seats which were brutal but only £10. Fortunately the play was 90 minutes without an intermission but towards the middle it was getting pretty hard to stand. The costumes I have to say were stunning. Each actress wore a variation on the same palate for each scene.

Had an intimate tour of the Theater Royal Drury Lane in Convent Garden. Hope and I had booked the 2:15 tour which was supposed to be full. However, the school group that had also booked was late, so the tour guide just took us on a tour. It was lovely to talk to a fellow actor and to learn more about theater history in London. It gave me some interesting ideas for future projects that I'm keeping in the vault for a moment.

I had to head over to the National Portrait Gallery which is one of my favorite musuems in London. There is nothing like being able to look at the faces who have influenced history, particularly for me since I write about Scandalous Women. Saw an interesting painting of Lady Jane Grey and one of Emily Bronte that was new to me. Before I knew it, I had spent almost two hours in the museum and had only gotten to 1900!

I'm off to Leighton House today, the home of painter Frederick, Lord Leighton, and then off to the Romance Novelist Association meeting.

I'll write more tomorrow before I leave on Monday.

London Calling Update

I'm sitting here in an internet cafe in London near the flat where I'm staying. For only a pound ($1.50ish) I have a whole hour of time to surf the internet, check facebook, and write this post. So far, I'm having a grand time here in the UK with the lovely Hope Tarr and Liz Maverick. I couldn't ask for two better traveling companions. I arrived on Monday from the US and Hope and Liz took the chunnel from Paris and we met up in our glamourous flat in Earl's Court.

We're sharing a two bedroom/2 1/2 bathroom flat for the princely sum of $199 a night which is frankly a steal. The flat is centrally located to the Earl's Court tube station. We have an M&S Simple Foods nearby along with a Boots Chemist and several delicious restaurants. So far we've been to the V&A museum, which I could spent all day in frankly, and yesterday I went to the Cortauld Institute which is a lovely little museum with a lot of gorgeous Impressionist Art. I have bought way too many books, but it's hard when they keep offering them for half price of buy 2 get one free kind of thing.

I've bought Kate Williams new biography of the Young Queen Victoria, a book on Dining in history, books on Princess Margaret, Penelope Deveraux and a few more. I had to throw in some fiction just to balance it out. I was bummed that Janet Mullany's book won't be out until August even though the Little Black Dress sight says that it was supposed to be out in March. Oh well.

Trying not to buy any clothes because despite the pound being lower than it has been in awhile, clothes are still incredibly expensive here. I saw some lovely tops in Oasis and Monsoon but they were like £65 pounds, stuff that we could buy at Old Navy for $25. A great dress in French Connection was £130. I know that sometimes the French Connection in Europe like the H&M here have different stuff than we get in the states but it is still pricey.

Saw James McAvoy in Three Days of Rain. He was lovely and the play was surprisingly good. Well that is my update for today. I'll try to blog again before I leave.

London Calling

I'm off to London for a week for research (LOL!), many cups of tea, and prawn sandwiches. I'll be back with news of my trip and my thoughts on Watchmen, the Bachelor and other subjects.

I officially hate this show!

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I knew the whole story about what went down last night on The Bachelor two weeks ago, but watching it last night was painful. Seriously, Jason Mesnick has now surpassed Prince Lorenzo Borghese and Alex Michel as the worst bachelor in history. In fact I have more respect for even Brad Womack now.

Seriously, if Jason was so broken up about letting Molly go, he should never have proposed to Melissa. He should have done what Charlie O'Connell did and dated them both in the real world before he made his decision. There was no reason for him to tell Molly that he was in love with Melissa, then tell Melissa how much in love with her he was, and then two months later break up with her on national television.

I don't care what his contract said. He should have manned up and refused to break up with Melissa in front of the cameras. And you could tell from Melissa's reaction that she had no idea why he was breaking up with her. Jason told Jimmy Kimmel that he and Melissa had already broken up before the show, but if that were true, he did as lousy a job of it in private as he did on TV, because clearly Melissa was blind-sided. And all that crying? Seriously, I have never seen a man cry so much in my life. The guy should keep his day job because he is the worst actor in the world. From on the look on Chris Harrison's face, I'm amazed that he refrained from either punching Jason or telling him off. He just looked so uncomfortable to have to listen to that conversation.

And then the whole spiel with Molly? Do the producers really expect us to believe that Jason and Molly have had no contact via email or phone since the show ended? Either that or she's the world's biggest wimp to take him back so easily. She paid lip-service to being confused and having so many questions, but it didn't take long for her hand to be on his knee, and for them to be swapping spit on camera.

I believe that Jason told the producers that he wanted to break up with Melissa, and why, that he still had feelings for Molly. They sounded Molly out before the show, because how embarrassing would that have been if Molly had rejected Jason (which she should have)? Jason and Molly started emailing or talking and then they filmed the ATFR rose special.

Jason said on People.com, that he and Melissa just couldn't communicate after they left New Zealand, that the conversations were different. You mean, because producers were no longer feeding them topics? Seriously they spent the night together in the fantasy suite. Unless they were schtupping, I assume they talked that night. The ony reason conversations would have been difficult was because Jason soon realized that he had made a mistake and wanted Molly or Reality Steve's version which is that he wanted Molly all along and just picked Melissa because producer's asked him too, and he couldn't continue to go along with the charade.

Either way, Jason is the most fickle individual on the planet. And I wouldn't trust him so easily if I were Molly.

The Perfect Day

I had the joy and the privilege of speaking with historical biographer Flora Fraser yesterday at Idlewild Bookstore here in New York. She was in town promoting her new biography of Pauline Bonaparte which was just released yesterday. I couldn't help thinking about the fact that not only is her mother Lady Antonia Fraser, noted biographer and mystery novelist, but that her grandmother Elizabeth Longford was also a biographer of some note. It must be in the genes!

Afterwards, I went up to have my copy of her book signed (I'd gotten a free copy from Random House since I'm reviewing it for Scandalous Women). When I mentioned that I had written about Pauline Bonaparte, Ms. Fraser said, "Oh, Scandalous Women! We were just talking about you last night!"

I almost started hyperventilating at the idea that Flora Fraser was talking about little ole me. We talked a little bit more about the blog and Pauline Bonaparte, and then she gave me her card with her email address. I fairly floated down the street after it was over.

Sigh! It was a perfect day.

Behold the Oscars!

I know, I know, I've been a very bad blogger. I just realized that I have blogged since before Valentine's Day. Well in my defense, I've been very busy. I had to re-edit the first part of my book proposal for my agent which took some time. I'm still waiting her response to the sample chapters but I already know that I need to write a whole new chapter and cut the other two by at least 15 pages. All this before I leave for London in two weeks.

I went with the lovely Hope Tarr to see a mutual friend Leslie Nipkow read at KGB Bar here in New York on Valentine's day. Leslie read a great piece about how the actor Randolph Mantooth contributed to her awakening as a woman. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only woman who found her mother's copy of the Sensuous Woman as a kid.

Last night watched the Oscars of course. No real suprises what with the other 400 award ceremonies that came before. I was hoping Mickey Rourke would win Best Actor just so I could hear what he would say for an acceptance speech. The one he gave at the BAFTA's was hysterical.

Hugh Jackman, what can I say. I adore every hair on his Australian head. I think he is gorgeous, talented and witty and I hope they ask him to host again. I could have done without the middle production number directed by Baz Luhrmann, but all in all it was a great night. Jennifer Aniston and Angelina did not get into a cat fight but that might have been because Jennifer Aniston skipped the red carpet.

What was the deal with Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis not showing up to give out Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor? Isn't that usually tradition? Normally Best Supporting Actor gives out actor and vice-versa. Still I thought the idea of having 5 prior winners give out the award was kind of nice, although it would have been nice to see clips of the Best Actor and Actress nominees.

So what did everyone think? Any disasters? Any undeserving winners?

Soaps and Romance Novels

I was very interested yesterday to pick up the new issue of Soap Opera Weekly. In the letter from the Editor, news editor Mala Bhattacharjee wrote about how soaps could take a leaf from the romance novels about how to grow and change with the times. She used Harlequin as an example with their line of NASCAR novels and how successful they've been. She suggested that soaps should take a look at what romance is doing to keep their audience as well as attract new readers who may never have picked up a romance before.

It was really exciting to read the editorial because I have often thought that soaps should look to romance for a way of keeping their audience. When I first started watching soaps, they were all about romance. Greg and Jenny on AMC, Patch and Kayla on Days of Our Lives, Luke and Laura on GH, Tad and Dixie on AMC, and Erica Kane and all her many husbands. It was couples coming together and than being pulled apart. Now soaps are all about mob bosses and people coming back from the dead. Where is the romance?

I think that every soap should have at least one romance novelist as a consultant, especially one who writes romantic suspense, since the weakest thing soaps do is mysteries. Actually Another World had hired Katherine Sutcliffe to be a consultant on their show at one point. Every soap always does the "who killed so and so storyline." Recently on GH is was the Cellphone Stalker. Guess who the killer turned out to be? A guy who had been killed off the year before! Yeah, apparently he wasn't dead after all, although the audience saw his dead body on camera. Diego Alcazar patiently waited for over a year before coming back to Port Charles. His motive to revenge his father's death! And they pulled this same crap on AMC with the Satin Slayer. Again the killer turned out to be someone who was dead, who conveniently came back to life.

What soaps need are couples that people can root for, whose love story we have watched unfold. Give us lush romance, couples who have obstacles thrown at them, watch them fight those obstacles and come together. This what soaps used to do so beautifully before they started believing they had to do crazy stunts to get viewers. Romance is what viewers remember, not crazy storylines.

Bring back romance and hire me to write for you!

The Bachelor Conspiracy

Sorry I've been such a lazy blogger. Between looking for a job, posting over at Scandalous Women, and working on the changes my agent wants on my book proposal, I just haven't had the energy to blog regularly.

But The Bachelor has been pretty darn good this season. And now a certain blogger named Reality Steve has ignited a bit of controversy over on his blog. He claims that he has inside information about how the whole season went down and why Jason picks the woman he does and what happens afterwards. He's been threatening whether or not to reveal all before the season finale and the two After the Final Rose specials that ABC has scheduled.

Seriously I haven't seen so many theories since I used to read books about the conspiracies behind the assassination of JFK. People are going crazy leaving comments on Reality Steve's blog and on other message boards speculating on what really went down. Everything from Jason knew one of the contestants before the show started, he gets engaged to one woman, and then gets engaged to someone else, why Deanna has come back, one woman gets pregnant, no another woman gets pregnant, all the contestants are plants etc.

It is so fascinating to read, it's better than a thriller. I've never seen so much interest in a Bachelor before. For some reason, people are particularly invested this season, probably because Jason is a single dad and they feel for him. Ratings are up for this installment of The Bachelor after several lackluster seasons (Prince Lorenzo anyone?).

Personally, I'm rooting for Jillian but I suspect she gets booted next week, and he's left with Molly and Melissa. I already sense there is more to Melissa's story than we are getting, particularly since her parents didn't appear on the Hometown Dates. None of her friends seem to know her family and her brother didn't even show up. She mentioned that her parents never even went to a Dallas Cowboys game when she cheered for them. Also her friends seemed to indicate that she hadn't been truthful about her relationships, since she stated that she was with someone for 7 years but hadn't dated in three (she's only 25) but her friends made it seem like she'd dated alot of jerky guys.

Oh and interesting that Jason didn't mention to Naomi's dad when he was going on about Jesus, that he was Jewish.

Arrgh, Calgon Take Me Away!

So my new laptop has a virus! Despite the freezing cold temperatures, I schlepped all the way down to the LES (lower East Side) to have it repaired. Unfortunately, they are backed up and won't get to it until Monday, so I'm forced to find other ways to blog, like using the computers at the Career Center.

Then I schlepped out to Forest Hills, Queens, to audition for Princeton Review. Anyone who has teenagers who are about to take their SAT's probably know who they are. We had to prepare a 3-5 minute audition teaching something. I decided to teach astrology. Others taught how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how to open a bank account, do improv, make pancakes and speak Filipino. Then we had to take a mini-SAT test, which was unfortunate because I suck at Math. Seriously if they didn't give you 200 points for signing your name, I would have been really screwed on the SAT's. And get this, teachers now have to teach both Verbal and Math! When I first taught for the company in the dark ages, you could teach one or the other, or both. Now its mandatory that you teach both. How can I teach something I don't even understand?

The biggest shocker? If you make it into the training program that starts on Sunday, you have to take a 4 hour SAT test and then bring into the Center today!

Arrgh!

Disgusting Habits

I think this picture expresses exactly how I feel about the guy sitting in the cubicle behind me who is insisting on slurping his coffee. Not to mention the chick I had to sit next to on the subway who kept popping her gum to the point that I wanted to pop her.

Lady Jane's Salon, a Triumph!

Last night was the first night of many for the new romance reading series, Lady Jane's Salon, at the sexy bar Madame X downtown in Soho. The decor lent itself well for the reading, imagine a Victorian living room in a bordello, and you'll get the picture, red walls, comfy velvet sofas, slightly erotic pictures on the wall. I think it is safe to say from the turnout that it was a smashing success. Andrea Pickens read from her latest book in her trilogy, The Scarlet Spy from Grand Central publishing, and one of the co-founders, the lovely Hope Tarr read from her latest Harlequin Blaze, Every Breath You Take.

The drinks were cheap but delicious. I drank several Indecent Proposals, a concoction of champagne, and peach schnapps. Katrina Tipton brought her adorable son, who I'm very much in love with. We drooled over co-founder Maya Rodale's hunky British boyfriend, who seemed very nice and very attentive to our girl.

Check out Barbara Vey's blog over at Publisher's Weekly for more, as well as the blogs of founders Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Heiber and Maya Rodale for more dish as well as photos. The lovely ladies will be chatting over at Romance Novel TV this Friday as well. Also check out Kwana Writes for her take on the evening.

Next month, NYTimes bestselling author Lauren Willig and Jenna Peterson will be reading.

Hope to see everyone there.