Seriously?

Okay, someone out there who watches One Life To Live - is Jean Passanante really recycling the tragic-death-leads-to-heart-transplant storyline on that soap as well?

That's the rumor I've been hearing, and if it's true, I'm absolutely disgusted.

It was bad enough that she was responsible for the ridiculous, anvil-laden, offensive killing off of one of the most popular new characters on daytime at the end of As The World Turns. She and her team took a promising storyline - the Luke and Reid romance - and shoved it on the backburner, destroyed its momentum, dialed down the heat and sexual tension until it almost disappeared (it's a testament to the talent of the actors that they were able to maintain any romantic spark through months of "I want you and I will show you how much by brushing lint off your shoulder" bs), and shifted the focus to Reid the brain surgeon trying to save the life of a self-centered jerk who refuses proper medical care and exacerbates his own health issues. Followed by a meaningless death and the character assassination of almost everyone involved in the storyline.

And now she's doing it again? On another show?

And I hear this is actually the THIRD time she's done the same storyline?

I have a hint, OLTL team - GET SOME NEW IDEAS.

And if your writing team is incapable of doing that on their own, it might be a good idea to GET SOME NEW WRITERS AS WELL.

*wanders off, grumbling under my breath*

Ten Things I've Learned From the End of ATWT

Oh, the things you learn! As The World Turns, currently the longest-running soap opera on TV, is ending its 54 year run on Friday. And in that spirit, I'm focusing on what I've learned from the show, particularly as it winds down. (I haven't been a long-time viewer, but got hooked in the past few months thanks to the the fabulous Luke/Reid storyline.)

So. These may not have been the *intended* messages, but they came through loud and clear in the last few weeks of As The World Turns:

10. Viruses can be treated with antibiotics. (Really? Try telling my pediatrician that.)

9. Straight men with heart disease that could kill them at any moment, in an insta-relationship with someone for three minutes, get to have sex.

8. Two healthy gay men, in a loving, committed relationship for months, don't. Ever.

7. Therefore, if you meet someone you kinda like, have sex with them IMMEDIATELY. Just in case.

6. If a hospital refuses to release an organ for donation to another hospital, any random doctor with a Coleman cooler and an ice pack can storm the building and demand it.

5. Brilliant neurosurgeons in a hurry will not only ignore all warnings in order to speed across train tracks in front of a train, but when their car stalls, they will completely forget how to work a seat belt.

4. Corrolary: seat belts kill.

3. If you're injured near another town, police from your town will be called in to handle the situation, make the EMT's take you back to that hospital instead of one closer by, then show up at said hospital before the ambulance gets there. And even if you manage to survive a train wreck, the excessive delay of medical attention, and the extra time needed to get back to your home hospital, if it's Oakdale Memorial, YOU WILL DIE ANYWAY.

2. If you're brought into a hospital with life-threatening injuries, but are conscious, coherent, and talking, no one will help you. Instead, they'll stand around boo-hooing about how all hope is gone, and then berate your significant other into signing over your organs the minute you flatline.

1. Straight = HEA, gay = dead or grieving. Because EVERYONE gets a happy ending except Luke, Reid, and Noah.

What a marvelous way to finish out 54 years - with plot inconsistencies, failures in logic, poorly paced and written stories, a mean-spirited and ugly focus on a completely unnecessary death, and deeply homophobic messages. Thanks so much, ATWT.

(And an honest, heartfelt thank you to Van Hansis and Eric Sheffer Stevens. You created a beautiful love story, and acted the hell out of every one of your scenes, even the ones I hated. If it wasn't for you two and your amazing talent, I wouldn't care so much. I wish you all the best in the future.)