Cameron Mathison

You have to give bladder man Brian Frons credit for the cross promotions on ABC Daytime. On The View, All My Children stars, Susan Lucci (Erica) and Cameron Mathison (Ryan) strolled on through to discuss the latest storyline of Lucci's Erica taking a younger lover Ala Mrs. Robinson with her daughter's baby daddy, Ryan. Check the two out at the 5:22 mark.

It's Monday morning and you may not have a lot of time to go back and dig through the weekend's stories. Here is a quick recap of the weekend. Enjoy  READ MORE

• Veteran Soap Journo Lydia Hirsch on "Clues" About Guiding Light's Future
• Ryan Gets Cougar Scratched By Erica Kane This Summer on AMC!
• General Hospital: Perkie's Observations
• General Hospital's Nancy Lee Grahn Reminisces on "Sexis"
• DAYS Video Preview
• Rachel Melvin Snags Heroes
• General Hospital Caption This: I See Mobsters
• Creepiest Scene Ever?: Adam Newman as Sabrina
• General Hospital Spoilers!

Erica Kane was right. Everything she does is breaking news! The Associated Press has a new feature article about Erica's upcoming cougarific love match with none other than Ryan Lavery. Get this, according to the article, it's AMC viewers who the show attributes with wanting this storyline. How about that, they do listen to the fans occasionally! I know I will no doubt be in the minority here at DC, but I can't wait to see Susan Lucci purring all over Cameron Mathison. Both stars have international appeal, and can get this storyline talked up in the pages of Us Weekly and People. This could be a really good thing for the show in terms of buzz factor. Hopefully the storyline will also lead to some good, old-fashioned mother/daughter bitch slappin' between Kendall and Erica. Bring on the cougar scratch fever I say!

Hot on the heels of my admittedly scathing review of Friday's ultra-campy, Scooby Doo meets The Munsters inspired episode of All My Children which culminated in the murder of Stuart (Not Adam) Chandler, I finally had the opportunity to catch up with Guiding Light, which had its own less heralded "Who Killed Edmund Winslow?" whodunit kick off.

Since I received a little bit of blow back for my harsh (and well-deserved) criticism of AMC, I'd like to take the opportunity to explain why Springfield's simultaneous murder mystery is infinitely superior to Pine Valley's. READ MORE

Regular Daytime Confidential readers and aficionados may have noticed that this lovely website has added daily recaps of most of the soaps on the air, in addition to Perkie's longtime (and often hilarious) observations about General Hospital. Conspicuously absent from the recaps — at least as of this writing — has been what might be considered the quintessential forerunner of the modern soap opera, All My Children.

Not too long ago, our fearless leader, Luke, asked if I would be able to write a daily recap of the show since I've been watching it; I regrettably informed him that because of a currently unpredictable schedule (hence, why there are long lags between my posts these days) I would be unable to do so. Instead, I suggested that I would divert my recent attentions from Guiding Light to AMC a bit more closely and blog about life in Pine Valley more regularly. Since then I've mightily tried to get a grip on the show, but unfortunately watching All My Children is not unlike walking on pine cones barefoot: it's not the worst feeling in the world, but it is still pretty painful. READ MORE

Take your best Caption This at Ryan (Cameron Mathison) from today's All My Children.

UPDATE: Found a clip of Susan Lucci. Check it out after the jump starting at 2.13 in the clip. It is worth the watch.

It has been so long since I've been able to say anything remotely positive about All My Children that a scene on today's episode was like having water poured on a wilting plant in the middle of the desert.

Susan Lucci did an outstanding job as the pressure of life, children and lack of love bore down on her and made her explode in a tirade or tears where she told Ryan she was tired of worrying about everyone else and wanted to get back to doing what she did best, making everything about her. The dialogue was great, Lucci's delivery was spot on and for the first time in years I can actually say something positive about Cameron Mathison's Ryan Lavery. His expression as Erica had the melt down and then, as she started to cry, he took her in his arms and hugged her comfortingly, were comical, sad and refreshing.

Susan Lucci's performance today is definitely my pick for Performer of the Week and as soon as I find a clip of it on You Tube I'll update this post.

Who is your Performer of the Week? READ MORE

As the World Turns may be recycling 2006 scripts, but in the arms race for unoriginality All My Children is going back even further. Apparently Kendall and Ryan are back in fashion again. What could be more exciting then then Ryan and Kendall back together, yet again? I mean seriously. The angst, agony, romance and sorrow of this "iconic couple" - and I use the term so loosely a mac truck could drive right through - will spark the imagination of fans, immediately make All My Children "must watch TV" and save the genre from itself. Ryan the superhero, Kendall the second guesser and Zach the man who never loses are here to save the day! Whoop-de-do-da-day, inspiration abounds! I'm so happy I need to take a prescription drug to calm my excitement.

I know that many General Hospital fans think that it is the worse of the three ABC soaps, but I enjoy it exponentially more than All My Children, even with the mob. Only in the world of soaps do shows such as All My Children and Days of Our Lives have their ratings go up while shows like One Life to Live are hanging on for dear life.  All My Children even beat General Hospital in the ratings. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions about what that means, but it says something. READ MORE

And a little General Hospital as well! Broadway Cares is tonight!