Happy christening?

As one baby's life was celebrated, another's was mourned.

As one's baby's life was celebrated, another's was mourned. I'll begin with the celebration. The Newmans, far too moneyed and powerful to be bothered with toting their tot to a minister for blessing, ordered decorators, caterers and the reverend himself, to the family estate. Reed, his little blue cap at last outgrown and nowhere in evidence, was cuddled, cooed at and christened in turn. Though pretty much a fractured family affair, a few outsiders were sprinkled throughout the small gathering. One such non-Newman (at least for now) was Sabrina. When she wasn't being roasted by hot glares of hatred or ripped wide open by razor sharp retorts, except for Victor, she was being pretty treated as if she had the substance of John the ghost. Of course, Victor didn't help smooth the ruffled feathers of the annoyed Newman natives by bellowing early in the festivities that he'd "invite whom he damn well pleased" to any occasion being held in his home. But if any fan wondered whether this caused an outpouring of sympathy to gush from me toward Victoria, you needn't wonder any longer. It did not. Because Victoria knew well in advance of her home christening that Sabrina was the latest lady in Victor's life and would likely show her face in the place. Victoria could have changed the christening's location, just as she crossed out the former godmother's name and penciled in Phyllis'. Although I concede, Victor could still have chosen to show up with Sabrina holding lightly to his bicep.

And even though you didn't ask, in case you were curious, I don't blame Victor either. Why should he be held to a higher standard? Her hypocrisy as usual showing clearly, I didn't hear Victoria whining about Nikki not brining David to Victor's house. Nikki is allowed to rub David in Victor's face (a rubbing she has done on numerous special occasions, even before the divorce) whenever she should so choose, yet Victor should not be afforded the same right. Sabrina took the Newmans' repeated snubs in stride, proving yet again that though they might be of like age, next to Victoria, J.T. and Nick, once again Sabrina appears by far the most mature. I couldn't help but giggle when I heard Nick proclaim his happiness at living rent free just down the lane from his sister and her tiny tot and subservient spouse, yet fail to aim a single word of gratitude toward the man whose ownership of the land and homes built upon it made such cozy closeness possible.

And speaking of gratitude, though she's been moaning and groaning ad nauseum about Victor taking away BON, handing it to Adam then sticking her with bland and boring acquisitions, when Victor reversed his decision, Victoria thanked him by instantly moaning and groaning about that too. Equally damned if he does or he doesn't is Victor, when it comes to Victor. Now, is Victor, as Victoria accuses, favoring Adam at her expense? Of course he probably is. But is his behavior really anything new? I haven't forgotten how he once knocked her down and trampled all over her in his rush to lift her belligerent brother to a position just ahead of her.

But enough about Victoria and her whining and whimpering. After Victor's latest act of uneven high handedness, she'll likely soon be echoing her brother and shouting I quit. Let her go over to Newman where it is assumed Nikki will be overjoyed to order her daughter's name to the payroll. Where will her head appear on the totem pole? With Jill, Nikki, David and Brad, it's already top heavy with executives. And since J.T. is careful to walk well within his wife's large shadow, room will likely have to be made for him too. I won't bother feeling too sorry for Victoria, though, because something tells me there will come a time in the future when she will get to say a satisfying I tole' ya so!

But onward. As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to babies, the news was not all good. After seemingly come to terms with their impending parenthood, all the worrying and partial planning of Cane and Lily turned out to be in vain. And Lily and Cane were excellent in their despair, as they were forced to come to terms with it. As for Neil, I guess he may as well call the maintenance man and ask him to return Dru's old rocking chair to storage now that Mother Nature has naturally nullified Lily's pregnancy. That takes care of the rocking chair, but its clear there's nothing to be done about reversing what Neil has done to his relationship with Karen. Of course, after the rude and rather unfeeling way Neil treated Karen, she should continue to race away from him as far as her little legs can carry her. His behavior still makes me wonder whether the road ahead is being cleared for Dru's return.

Over at Restless Style, anything goes continued to be the workday mantra. The ragged edges of their fake friendship finally started to unravel, more and more Phyllis and Sharon are showing their dislike of each other. Is Sharon murmurs blue, Phyllis will be sure to shout, no, it's green, and vice versa, if I'm going to treat them fair and equitably. And once again, Nick is the man seated in the middle, although I'm sure he won't remain the lone man long because I'm guessing Jack will soon join him on the hot seat as the women continue their sniping attacks. But that's for later. For now, the new Newmans are pronounced the poster children of extreme insensitivity as they literally poured carton after carton of stinging salt in the still sore wounds of the exes they betrayed with their treasure hunt of past tender times.

But, the bright side of that tarnished treasure hunt coin tossed to Phyllis by Nick was the brutally honest emotions their behavior evoked in the scene between Jack and Sharon. Even if you've never felt the painful pinch on your baby toe by having walked a block in Sharon's too tight heels, or winced at the chafing on the back of your heels from walking too long in a pair of Jack's expensive dress shoes, you had to be able to feel Jack and Sharon's pain as they both acknowledged the painful past is not all that far back after all.

Still in the anything goes category, Amber was awarded the second place ribbon for her public screeching about barring Daniel from her vending machine treats.

I sure hope the scribes one day come up with a very good back story to explain Adam's obnoxious behavior to make him somewhat likable. I don't know, though, because as it stands now, their have their work cut for them. He's like one of the emotionless robots sometimes, although he sometimes slips and shows slight human qualities, like when he left the cross for Reed. But so far, Victoria hasn't stood a chance against him, and Nick doesn't even want to. He's washed his hands of the whole smelly business, which leaves Sabrina as the only one able to shrug off his barbs and deliver some zingers of her own. Anyway, thank goodness for Skye, who has made him appear at least partly normal. Although after meeting her, it's even less conceivable that he would be bowled over by the much older, though still fine figured Phyllis. Is it all about the possible destruction of Nick and Phyllis' relationship or does he really want her for himself. It was nice to see Adam show what appeared to be genuine liking and attraction to Skye. His sibling and Sabrina sniping and scowls for all but Victor, are getting tiresome. He's got a thousand irons in an increasingly hot fire; if he doesn't slow his roll, he's bound to be badly burned.

And being burned is surely what David's fate will be as well because we can already see he's completely incapable of slowing his roll or folding his bad card hand. Nikki's quarter of a million dollar debt settlement turned out to be nothing more than the proverbial drop in a bucket, as David has quickly amassed another small fortune of debt. With Nikki all but having called off any plans for tying the knot with him, David has grown desperate and disagreeable and the cracks in his subservient devotion is beginning to show. Nikki may only just now be getting a clue about David's renewed addiction, but Skye can smell the acrid stench of David's desperation and probably already has his number neatly written down in her little black book of easy marks. I actually feel a bit sorry for the guy.

My pick for scene of the week featured my current favs: Jeff and Gloria. When the two finally connected, I should have known it was way too easy and had no business rejoicing so soon. Because by the morning after, they were already at odds with one another. Gloria complained about the rose she failed to find on Jeffrey's abandoned pillow and he had no patience with her need to continue her karma payments. He swallowed his prickly pride and gave her one final chance to admit they might have a chance together, but Gloria was too stubborn to say so and he was just stubborn enough to give up on the first real try. So, for now, he's demanding a divorce and half her fortune (turnabout is lovely fair play, isn't it?), except what he doesn't know is that if Gloria succeeds in giving away half of the fortune she got from William and John, his take will be considerably less than he's anticipating. Oh, it's all so delicious. I can't wait!

Well, that's it from my keyboard. Here's what you all typed.

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SHIRLEY - I'm interested to see if Dru turns out to be another look-alike if she returns to the show. With John and Jeffrey turning up as new characters, what could be better than a Dru Look-alike? I'd hate to see Karen go because she's such a pleasant addition. Cane needs to be more convincing to win Lily over to marrying him before she decides to move in with Daddy. What a crock! She may be young in years but that didn't keep her from growing up with Cane.

COLLEEN - Amber console Cane? I think not. That broad swallows a person whole, one of the most needy characters on the show. As far as Adam is concerned, I've said it before. He is going to be as vile as Brad. He thinks this is his world and the rest of GC just lives in it. He's insecure because he was not raised like a Newman. So, now we have snake number 2. Brad, of course, being snake number 1.

KAMAL - Victoria and her led-by-the-nose husband, TJ as Adrian calls him, can go burn in H-E- double hockey sticks for all I care. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when TJ had the nerve to step to Sabrina about her relationship with Victor. How is that any of his business? He basically called her a gold digger who was throwing away her friendship with Victoria over a man she hardly knew. Sorry, from where I'm sitting, it is Victoria who is throwing it away. And what really gets me is that TJ gave her a verbal beat down in Victor's own living room! I was praying Vic would arrive in the midst of TJ's attack and kick his sorry behind out of his house, off his property and fire him on the spot. I've never had any use for TJ in the 10 years he's been on this show and never will. I'm so done with Victoria. How can she be so disillusioned with Victor over Sabrina? I mean, she wouldn't even have met Sabrina if Victor hadn't bribed all those stores back in the day which got her so upset she had to run away to Europe. GMAB! And if one more person says how much Lily is like Dru in ANY way, I'll scream. I'm sorry, I'm no Lily fan and she is nothing like Dru IMO. The constant comparison of Lily to her mother for this ridiculous modeling story (and did she win the contest? I haven't seen hide nor hair of the other contestants and am wondering if I missed Lily being announced the winner) is really making me angry. It is so fake and contrived and I'm so tired of it. The only bright spot in the story is Chloe - as mean as she is, she's still pretty funny overall.

ANN - Ted Shackelford is the best actor on Y&R and Judith Chapman ain't so bad either.

CATHY - With all of the family drama, why have we never seen J.T.'s parents? Even if they didn't have a storyline, certainly they would appear at their son's wedding and grandson's christening.

JANETTE - JanetteI love reading your column (commentary). I feel you are always right on about the show and its characters. I have a question that is totally off subject. Where can I send a note to Michelle Stafford? I've just been diagnosed with a brain tumor and doing research online they mentioned that she had one in the past. I would like to send her a note about this. Is it possible?

MARY - I'm betting that when J.T. finishes his investigation of Adam he's going to find out all kinds of interesting things: (1) Adam has known for years Victor is his father and he's been planning revenge; (2) Adam has never seen Harvard, much less graduated from the Business School; (3) Adam is a very sophisticated con man and his friend Skye is his partner. What is up with Neil? On one hand he's trying to convince Karen to continue to live with him and then in Tuesday's show calls her heartless! Way to win her over Neil! I wish that they'd put her together with Brad - she'd give HIM a run for his money!

L.MICHELE - I must be the only one who likes Gloria. Yeah, she has done some messed up things but she's so much fun to watch. I don't like Brad but have this feeling that when he brings down David it is going to be so much fun to watch. I still think David killed JiMin; that is why they put the murder on the back burner. Adam makes my skin crawl, he looks greasy and slimy. I am getting tired of Nick and Phyllis, or maybe it is just Phyllis, but I love Sharon and Jack together. This would be a good storyline, Adam and J.T. start getting along and Victoria can't stand it. We would really see how much of a brat she is.

KAISHA - When is Victoria Rowell coming back to the soaps?

CATHERINA - Everything you said on last week's scoop was 100% on the money. I just can't stand Victoria's whining any more. I actually prefer to watch Gloria than her and that says a lot. I really hope Adam turns out to be good and I'm glad he has a girlfriend. Why does Victoria think her and Nick are more of a Newman than Adam is? Is it because Queen Nikki popped them out and that makes them more special? I hope Nikki and Victor never get back together and I'm still crossing my fingers that maybe Ashley will come back.

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As always, I appreciate everyone's comments! See ya in the City of Genoa.