The sky has fallen

Due to the departure of one of our columnists, there was not a new column this week. Instead, please enjoy a look back at what was happening in Salem during the week of February 27, 2006.

For the last few years (since James E. Reilly has come aboard as head writer) we fans have worried that Bo and Hope would fall prey to JER's penchant for breaking up the most successful and well-loved couples on Days. Well my fellow Chicken Littles...the sky has fallen...the worst has happened. Due to the most unfortunate set of circumstances...Bo and Hope have split up. And when I say "unfortunate" I am glossing over all the ridiculousness of the story that led to their separation. To be more precise; Hope kicked Bo out of the house after discovering that he lied to her about the identity of their son's killer. And who can blame her? She's been grieving her son and Bo has been doing everything he could to keep his daughter out of jail while lying to Hope about it. I probably would have kicked him out too. Bo decided to drown his sorrows at the Cheating Heart (which looked even seedier than usual) and one bar fight later, he finds himself being "rescued" by none other than Billie Reed. How convenient. [For those of you who asked...the bartender said that he called Billie because he didn't want to disturb Hope after all she had been through]. Billie took Bo to a No-Tell Motel somewhere and of course, the little-tramp-who-could took her opportunity to drive the wedge between Bo and Hope even further by making Hope think that she and Bo slept together. How did she do that? She took her clothes off and climbed in to bed with a drunkenly-oblivious Bo. Hope saw the scene as choreographed by Billie and rather than confronting the pair and kicking some ass all over the place...she took off. Too bad - it would have been satisfying to see her jump Billie and tie her up like a pretzel. Oh well...Hope has now decided to leave town. Wonderful. Conveniently...Patrick is also leaving town. I think we allllll can see where this is going. Patrick and Hope will end up at the same place (some island I believe; oh joy, another island) and Bo and Billie will be left behind to console each other. All of the aforementioned was essentially engineered by Chelsea the master manipulator. Oh Chelsea...what can be said about her other than...

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...make room on the bandwagon, because I want on. I hate Chelsea; She is Evil!. She really must go. Now. Is there anything else to say? I don't know why I didn't see the extent of her evil-ness before...wishful thinking I guess. I like the actress, I think she's doing a fabulous job at portraying this crazy character and maybe for that reason I also wanted to give Chelsea a break. Or maybe it was because I was hoping that the character's introduction would be a breath of fresh air to a totally stale, bland and boring storyline. But alas...that was not to be. Instead, we have been treated to the 'same-ole-same-ole', just with a different face. No thanks. Been there, done that. I've watched enough people try to come between Bo and Hope. I don't need to see yet another one. Chelsea is so completely manipulative, it's scary to watch. Her phone call to Billie - when Hope was on her way to the motel - was what convinced me of Chelsea's heartlessness. The simple fact that she had absolutely no regard for Hope, despite the enormous pain and grief she is suffering, was sickening. Chelsea thought nothing of taking away the one thing that could help Hope in her time of need. Of course, I am referring to Bo. Wow; I'm stunned. I had thought that we would see a redemption of sorts for Chelsea once it was revealed that someone else ran over Zack. Obviously...that's not going to happen now. Culpability in Zack's death aside - Chelsea's recent actions have placed her squarely on my bad side for the foreseeable future. If I hear her "give me a family" baloney one more time, I'm going to scream. I mean, give me a break! This is the freakin 21st century! You can have a family without your parents being married! At first I was happy that Billie stood her ground against Chelsea's attempt to manipulate her, but then Billie weakened and pulled that ridiculous stunt of making Hope believe that she and Bo slept together. How disappointing. I had come to like Billie in recent months and I was really rooting for her to have a backbone for once. She knows that Bo doesn't and never will love her like he loves his Fancy Face. She even said it herself on Friday; Bo and Hope always find their way back to each other. Let's hope that she remembers her words and does not pursue a relationship with Bo. It would be futile for her to attempt to replace Hope in Bo's life. She should have a smidge more respect for herself and choose someone else to love. Sighhhhhh...I know this is simply storyline driven. TPTB think that by keeping Bo and Hope apart, it will keep us tuned in...waiting with baited breath for their reunion. But I think it could backfire on them. They've taken away the couple we rooted for and it looks like they plan to replace them with two couples we will hate. I know you guys are as upset about this as I am. I have the sack-full-o angry emails that say so.

You know...I've never really been the biggest fan of Bonnie. Sure, she provides comic relief at times but lately; she's looking more and more like a carbon copy of Kate. Bonnie even uttered the dreaded "I will do whatever it takes to see my children get what they deserve" piece of dialogue that Kate often uses to justify her outrageous actions. In my opinion, these two characters are the same person; the only obvious difference being that Bonnie is a bit trashier. So my question is; why the hell do we need two meddling monsters on the same show? Isn't one enough? Isn't KATE enough? I sure as heck think so. The last thing I need to see is more of the same crap. Bonnie is supposed to have a heart underneath all that makeup and brashness. But all she cares about it setting her children up financially. Case in point was when she tried to convince Patrick to pursue Hope and score himself a piece of the trust fund (all of a sudden, the Bradys are rich). I don't know how much longer I can watch Bonnie urge Mimi to "hurry up and get married". Why does she think that a quickie wedding will prevent Claire's paternity from coming out? All their marriage will do, is complicate the situation. Shawn won't love Mimi more after they're married than he would have two days before. Love grows between people over time, not strictly because they said a vow. And why do both Bonnie and Kate keep insisting that the rest of Mimi's life will be miserable if she tells the truth and loses Shawn? You don't get one shot at love and then pfftt - it's over. That's like saying that people who get divorced will never find love again. It's so dumb that Bonnie and Kate keep saying that to Mimi as way to pressure her not to tell the truth. But that brings me back to my issue here...Bonnie and Kate have become interchangeable. One was bad enough. Two is intolerable. One of them has to go and my vote goes to Kate.

As far as Mimi keeping the secret of Claire's paternity...I guess I can't really blame her. Bonnie has her hamstrung with guilt and manipulation. Belle herself is not helping the situation by circling around Shawn and telling him that she loves him and that they need to find a way to be together. What a nice friend Belle is...absolutely no regard for Mimi's feelings; or Philip's for that matter. Once again, she selfishly puts her own feelings ahead of anyone else's. I can't believe how distorted this character has become since the time Kirsten Storms portrayed her. Time to let that go I guess, and accept that the sweet, lovable and considerate version of Belle Black is gone. Given how much I dislike Belle and knowing what she has been up to with Shawn on the roof, I would keep Claire's paternity to myself too if I was Mimi. I think. Sigh....I don't know...it's impossible to know what you would actually do in a certain situation until you are actually faced with that situation. Moving on...can Shawn say "Claire is NOT my daughter" just a few more times? I don't think we've gotten the point yet. Shawn thinks he's not the father; but he is. Uh-huh. We know. I think that TPTB need to move this storyline along and reveal the truth. Just get it over with and let the chips fall where they may. Stop torturing us and move on.

I don't think there is much more that I could add to Melissa's comments on the Alex/Marlena storyline. She summarized my thoughts completely. I miss the old Marlena as well. The character that we all know and love has been replaced with a woman who has half a brain in her head. The old Marlena would have at least found it suspicious that so many people were warning her about Alex. At the very least, she would have been doing some snooping on her own. Memory or no memory...she should still be the intelligent and thoughtful woman that we know her to be. John is not helping matters either. I have recently realized that the biggest appeal of his character was his love for and partnership with Marlena. Now that he fills his days obsessing about Alex and freaking out to anyone who will give him five minutes...he bores me. I have said this repeatedly for the last 4 months but they really need to move this storyline along. There have been so many switch-backs in the plot line that I can't quite remember if Alex loves Marlena or wants to kill her. And I don't care.

More Rumors...Hope's grief will prompt the 'Princess Gina' personality to emerge (say it isn't so) and she will become pregnant which will result in a 'who's-your-daddy' storyline (if this is true; it will be a carbon copy of the storyline at the time she became pregnant with Zack)...the Sami-pregnancy rumor is circling around again but this time the father is Lucas (yay! My fingers are crossed on this one)....Kate is pushed down the stairs and left for dead (double-yay and no I didn't make that up)...Victor has a heart attack before he can tell anyone the truth about Claire (all together now...SIGHHHHH....).

Reader Feedback: Thanks to everyone who wrote in and provided their feedback! I truly look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions so keep them coming!

From Ma Pe:"RE: your column of Sunday 2/12/06. Love your column. Just wanted to clarify something. Clarification as to final air date of actress Arianne Zuker (Nicole): It was confusing reading the post on Arianne's website. A lot of people (including myself) thought it said she was taping until Feb 10 or 20. But if you read it carefully, and learn when she originally made that post, you'll find out what she really intended to say. The post quoted on her website was written by her in mid-JANUARY. She said her last taping date will be "next Friday the 20th." This means that her final taping date was Friday JANUARY 20th. January 20th was on a Friday, but Feb 20 is NOT a Friday. So her last tape date was January 20, 2006. When she posted her message, she was not sure when those scenes would be broadcast. Someone posted on another board that the February 8th broadcast episode, (episode #10247) was taped on January 20th, so yes, it was her last day. She also said that the last date of her contract would be Feb 10. However, we know that "the Powers that Be" don't have to use her every day of her contract. So she was under contract to Days until Feb 10, but the show stopped using her on January 20th. She has had nothing to do since then. I read on several boards that the soap magazine S.O.W. confirmed that her last air date was Feb 8th. If you go to SoapCity's official Days website, go the section that bids her farewell, and click on the photo gallery. On the caption of the very last photo it says: "Now, after an unusual hookup with Roman, Nicole is traveling for Austin Reed and Company. Will she ever return to Salem? Only time will tell." Photo gallery site: http://www.daysofourlives.com/specials/specials_detail_1694.html To see the last picture, go here: http://www.daysofourlives.com/imagerepository/adieu_arianne_14_roman_304x444.jpg What a weird way to end Nicole's airtime. She walks into Roman's apartment, takes off her coat, and is never seen again. Apparently, there will be on-screen comments by other Days characters that Nicole went out of town on business for Austin's company. How lame! No send-off? No flash-backs about her time in Salem? No phone call to her mom Faye that she's leaving town? So the writers are just going to have the other characters say she's out of town on a business trip, implying that it was a short trip, so no need for good-bye scenes with other characters? I suppose they won't even mention her again? (all of this is pure speculation on my part. But they say that Don Craig went out to mail a letter and was never seen on screen again.) The only hope I have is --- Well, it may be true that Nicole's last taping date was January 20th. However, there is always the extremely *slim* chance that the show has not yet aired some scenes that were taped *before* Jan 20th. But that's just my wishful thinking, and it probably won't happen. According to other message boards, the soap mags say she won't appear on screen again. But, since I don't have any of these magazines, I have no idea what the magazines actually say."

From Linda::" I have watched DOOL for over 30 years. If they break up Bo and Hope they will break up Days. I have felt that Bo and Hope were the young Alice and Tom Horton who were together FOREVER. I for one will turn off my set if this is the road they are going down. We viewers have put up with some pretty stupid storylines....but enough is enough. Chelsea is a witch....a true granddaughter to Kate...get rid of them both and get some true honest to goodness storylines about people we will once again care about."

From Dawn Quintance:"I have just a few comments. This week on DOOL Hope received a box from Zack's school with his stuff. In it was a Valentine's card that he made for his mother. Now correct if I wrong, but didn't he die on New Years Eve/Day. Kids in school do not start making Valentine cards in December. Usually around the end of Jan, beginning of Feb. So Zack would not have made a Valentines card before he died. Belle is making me so mad. Back when Shawn kept telling her that he loved her, she didn't want anything to do with him. Now that he has a chance to be happy with someone else, she wants to ruin it. She's so selfish. Lastly I would like to say that you can tell that Chelsea, Billie and Kate are related. All three of them are conniving witches. Thanks for letting me speak my mind."

From Stacy:"Is anyone else as sick of the Bo/Hope/Billie triangle as I am? Bo/Hope have never needed this kind of conflict to be interesting. For the first time in 22 years I don't even know if I want to watch DOOL anymore. Kristian and Peter are doing an outstanding job. That is the only thing that is keeping me. They deserve the fan loyalty even if the storyline stinks (and according to the spoilers it is about to get even worse)."

From DeeCee:"I've been watching DAYS since I was 8 (my mom watched it) and then again during my High School years (the 70's)! I remember when Hope was born. Her acting has come a long way since her teen years when she first joined the show, probably because she has a son of her own & the thought of losing him fuels her performances as the grieving Mom... very heartfelt and moving. But Bo suddenly defending Chelsea whose continued irresponsibility and brattiness has now resulted in the death of his precious son?? That's just ridiculous, I can't grab onto that storyline at all. Hope leaving him because of it? Yes that's totally believable. But if they split up, the show will lose a huge share of it's audience. The super couple is what drives soaps and their viewers, killing off the Hope & Bo Supercouple is like suicide, what are the writers thinking?? Let Shawn and Mimi marry and let Belle live with her choices, the baby should be Philip's when paternity is finally confirmed. It was hard enough accepting the return of Chris Kosacheck as the "new Roman", but now bringing back the original Roman as Dr. North -- that's just too much for a long time, die hard DAYS fan like me. The new writers are screwing up a classic Soap and the storyline is growing more and more unappealing."

READ MORE OF THIS WEEK'S TWO SCOOPS The Bold and the Beautiful | General Hospital | The Young and the Restless

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