Interview With A Vampire King

Full disclosure, y'all. I did not watch Port Charles. It is the one blip in my ABC daytime soap viewing history. I mean I've got The City, Ryan's Hope, Loving, all of 'em. I did watch the very first episode of Port Charles with some friends over a great deal of what was probably tequila and we had good laughs at Audrey's impromptu brain surgery or whatever it was, but I did not have time in my schedule to take on another soap at the time. I was tempted by Lucy Coe, but it just never happened. I sort of vaguely knew about the evolution of the show into conceptual story arcs and I definitely knew that Caleb and Livvie were a hot item, but I don't have the full story.

And I'll admit, when I heard about this upcoming callback to the vampire story, I was less than excited. I'm always on the side of minor stunts or character "gets" that might add some viewers' eyes to the show so that it continues its uptick in ratings, but are there really that many Port Charles viewers who don't already watch General Hospital? And those who don't, would they really be lured back with this sort of thing? Not to mention that this is not like jumping Todd, Starr, and John over from One Life to Live. Because those are now GH characters. They are who they were on OLTL (well, the Todd part has been hotly debated, but you know what I mean). But didn't PC basically happen in some alternate universe? My feeling was always that PC events didn't really happen in GH's Port Charles unless it was occasionally convenient. You'd think someone on GH might have mentioned a vampire takeover in the town. Moreover, Kelly Monaco is not playing Livvie and Michael Easton is not playing Caleb. It's one thing to throw out a few winks at the audience like when Sam and John first met. But it's another to actually turn it into a story arc.

But then I heard this:

Lucy: I am just as impervious to you as I was the day you arrived in Port Charles with that stupid band of yours, thinking you could hypnotize everybody with the glamour. Well, you can't glamour me.

Look, I don't know what the everloving fuck she's talking about, but that is hilarious. HYPNOTIZE EVERYBODY WITH THE GLAMOUR?! He had a band? You mean like a band of marauders or something or a rock band? Either way I am REALLY EXCITED and I need to look this up.

Then later there was this gem:

Lucy: He's turning the police department into his own personal coven!

The PCPD, a coven! I'm enjoying the image. Plus, after Lucy stabbed John with a stake (!), she kept screaming that's he supposed to "combust." I am seriously going to have to hit up YouTube for some of this madness. Combust? I want to see a vampire combust on a daytime soap special effects budget, like, yesterday.

And I imagine for any of us who spent years fuming at John McBain on OLTL for how he treated the women he allegedly loved, this was a pretty fun image...

That said, it's fine with me if they just wrap this little homage up ASAP. Lynn Herring is just awesome and was hysterical in her scenes today, which is always fun to watch, but here's hoping this mini-storyline is super-duper mini (like Lucy's hot dress today).

As for Todd, I just don't care about a Todd who doesn't put Starr above everything else, and he pretty much hasn't done that since the second he found out that Johnny killed Hope and Cole and kept it from her. So I try, I really do. I try to watch for Roger Howarth's charm and the character's excellent snarky one-liners and amusing reactions to the population of Port Charles. I try. But today I was honestly just bored by him. However I must confess that wee tiny Sam trying to overtake Todd physically to keep him from escaping?

Priceless.

I'm a little bit adoring seeing Sonny get a taste of his own medicine. His love interest is a moody piece of work who verbally abuses him at every turn and is an emotional basketcase. Sound familiar? I hope Connie starts hurling barware across the room soon. Karma's a bitch, Corinthos!

And finally (speaking of karma), how hot were A.J. and Carly? What's that all about?

When's the hate sex coming, please? And can he keep calling her out on her hypocrisy and how she brought all this on herself, and running through a litany of her past sins? Because I keep thinking I'm just watching some fantasy sequence and then I realize it's really happening on this show.

And Laura Wright now has an adorable new haircut (huh, what messed-up paramour of Todd Manning's have we seen do that before in a fit of heartbreak and self-loathing? GOSH I CAN'T THINK OF ONE) and got to give part of it to herself on air in the episode that may well be her Emmy reel for this year. Oh, there are so many chickens coming home to roost right now, it's far too fun.

A.J.: Dammit, Carly, I swear only you could take the joy out of a revenge rant.

Well said, sir!

Comments

[ALC]

When Carly started cutting off her hair, I screamed Noooooooooooooo! Because her hair has looked so fabulous lately!!!

[C]

Oh Louise, it's a whole thing, but when PC brought the vampires back around the second time, it turned out that the frontman of this super popular rock band called the Stephen Clay Experience or something like that was a back-from-the-undead Caleb.

Truth be told, my favorite "book" of Port Charles was the one with the angels. Kevin and Lucy were married and the Orbit Gum girl tried to interfere. LOVED.

[TV's Tim]

She stabbed him with a wooden stake. A WOODEN STAKE. I f**king LOVE this show.

"COMBUST!"

[Cindy]

Today was some crazy fun scenes. Diane's reaction to Lucy's vampire rant? Pricless! Missed Johnny's reaction. Sam trying to stop Todd! Poor Sabrina having to deal with Todd in disguise AND a staked cop. I had way too much fun today with this. And then, I agree, A. J.'s line about Carly taking all of the fun out of a revenge rant...What a great hour! I enjoyed every minute.

[Paula Kate Meserole]

The reference to the vampire storyline on Port Charles that we all saw on General Hospital today is simply an homage to that old show and Lucy's involvement in it as vampire slayer to Caleb Morley's Vampire and his love interest Livvie Locke.

Its an homage..... nothing more...so all you kill-joys out there can just relax.

[Bea]

All I can say about yesterdays show.....or the previews for today's really, is You go A. J. way to show your kid you have changed! Cause we all know where this storyline is going. They did't sleep together.........it's payback time!

One more thing, get back to the Robin story, leave the damn vampires in the past. Most likely If you watched PC then it was because you were already a viewer of GH.

Oh, and the "suggestion" is there that A.J. and Elizabeth are going to form a "friendship" of some kind. Isn't it about time that the writers gave her a real relationship...a normal one. I guess what's the fun in that? But it sure would be nice for her to grow up and learn a bit from her past mistakes.

[Janet B.]

Not only was Caleb in a rock band, but his manager was played by...wait for it...Ian Buchanan, who was also a vampire. I'm not into vampire stories, but I admit I enjoyed the show when it took the turn to the supernatural, because the show was only a half hour and it was fun to just go with it and enjoy it for 30 minutes. I do think this is just a little quick nod to PC and then it'll be over.

[SZima]

The vampire references were fun at first, but as usual, they have taken to too far.

Thanks to posting the link to Blair cutting her hair. I could care less about that, but I LOVED seeing Joey and Dorian's hot sex! Love, love Nathan! I wasn't watching back then so it was fun to see!

[LadyBug]

The only way to end Robin's story is for Patrick and Emma to leave town. Why should JT lose his freaking job just because KMc wants to become a director? Let Scrubs reunite and then decide to move on with Robin/Emma moving off to Paris with Patrick staying in PC.

[Elizabeth]

Wait, what? Patrick needs to leave town, but JT shouldn't lose his job, but Scrubs should reunite, but Robin and Emma should leave town?

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but I'm honestly confused about what you want to happen.

[marz]

Why should Emma lose her job? That little kid can act. She's already miles better than Lindsey Morgan.

[MD]

The extensions that LW is leaving on the floor are miles better than Lindsay Morgan.

Having watched, and not necessarily loved, Port Charles, I would agree that if it goes on for more than a teensy bit it will get really old really fast, but a brief soapy nod? (Which, having been avoiding spoilers was way bigger than I thought it would be?) Momentary loads of fun. Which goes back to all the light we've recently had after years of darkness. And I can't hate that. Because, as I've already said, I like joy! Besides, it's the very same fun that brought us the Duke mask. (Which, since you may have missed my recent birthday, makes a lovely gift.)

[marz]

Speaking of miles, AJ/Carly is miles hotter than Todd/Carly or Johnny/Carly.

Laughed when AJ called them Johnny slash Todd to Carly.

[Ziyal]

Sean Kanan and LW are insanely hot together! Like OMG! And I'm sure LW can rock pretty much ANY hairstyle!

[Lisa]

The way I would like to see the vampire thing dispatched is that Doc comes to bail out Lucy and he explains that she disappeared for so many years because she was in mental hospital with vampire delusions. Which has the added bonus that the f-ing Ian Thornhart situation NEVED HAPPENED!!

[LadyBug]

Yikes! Now that I'm actually wearing my eye glasses instead of them sitting on the desk, let me respond to my early post.

1)KMc chose to leave the show which means Patrick/JT should move on to another pairing and not be held hostage waiting on Kim's availability to wrap up the current story.

2)Scrubs could leave town, but that means JT and the little actress that plays Emma would be out of a job.

3) Patrick and Robin could decide to move on and share custody of Emma, which would allow KMc to concentrate on her desire to be a director and free JT up for another pairing.

[gjb]

in regards to LadyBug's postings, I don't agree. I don't think JT should loose his job, but come on, you have to agree that IF they have to move him on to someone else that it shouldn't be a Lisa britt bitch #2, or a 20 yr old KID like that STUDENT nurse. I feel for JT cause right now he has the worse story on the show. There are sooo many other stories they could come up for his character one of them being that HE FINDS OUT HIS WIFE IS ALIVE and starts on an adventure to start looking for her. If they really wanted fans like me who is not only a fan of scrubs but of JT, to see Patrick move on to someone else then they shouldn't have 1. showed that Robin is STILL alive
2. but him between a crappy obsessed crazy bitch #2 and a woman who is barely out of her teens.

but in regards to the other stories on the show, I'm LOVING AJ with everyone he's in scenes with lol. and I can't believe this but I really liked the AJ/Carly scenes and as for Laura, when I saw Carly start cutting her hair I was like, nooooooo lol.

[soapbaby]

^^Jason Thompson is currently saddled with the worst story on GH. I experience second-hand embarrassment for all of the actors involved. This storyline makes Patrick look shallow and ignorant. Britt & Sabrina are empty shells of actual characters. Jason Thompson and Rebecca Herbst deserve better than to be peddling this schlock.

Regarding the episode, I think Carly & AJ have great chemistry and I wish the writers would pursue a layered, complicated hate-to-love relationship. When was the last time a soap opera did that?

I really enjoyed Lucy The Vampire Slayer but I hope this very, very short-term but I've read otherwise. Still happy to have Lynn Herring back and I thought today's episode wored because it featured Lucy, Felicia, Mac, Anna, Duke, Tracy and Monica! After the past few weeks of Kristina, Trey, Starr, Michael, Connie, Spinelli and Maxie seeing vets front-and-center in an episode was the least the show could do for the audience!

[Stlbf]

And this is how we get Kevin back! SQUEEEE! The Port Charles years explained as Lucy being bonkers? Awesome! I am completely loving the PC stuff. The look on Duke and Felicia's faces as Lucy starts trying to explain the Caleb stuff? Priceless. "Mac was the police chief for years, Lucy. How could he miss all of the bodies?" " He was hypnotized!" HA! I only wish that Alexis had mentioned making 2 calls. One to Kevin and one to Scott. I wonder if they will be keeping Christina Baldwin afterall. Mac did mention contacting Lucy's kids.

No AsshatIan! No stupid dead Thornheart sister would looked exactly like Marty Saybrooke! Karen should be alive! No reconning of Scott's paternity! Chris and Eve have a shot at being happy together, somewhere in the world! YAY for the PC fan in me!

The rest? I couldn't possibly care less about Britt and Sabrina. The black nurse actually has some spirit. JT deserves so much better than this crap right now. Patrick and Liz should be pushing the Nurse's Ball. With help from Anna, Mac, Felicia, Duke and even Maxie. We don't need to see Patrick getting romantically and/or intimately involved with anyone. The man clearly isn't ready. And trying to push Sabrina to be the better option for him is just plain stupid. Her having a crush on the gorgeous older doc is one thing, him ever seeing her as anything but a sweet handy babysitter for Emma is quite another. Brit is just an ambitious doctor, a younger female version of Patrick Drake. Only not anywhere as interesting as Patrick was in his early days. Robin needs to come home pronto. Why can't Robin be in PC and just off screen? She has a job that can require her to be out of town. She can just sort of fade into the hospital background and just have Patrick front and center. It isn't like Robin is a neurosurgeon/OBGYN/Cardiologist. Her first medical love is research. We just hear about her whereabouts/news from Patrick, Emma, Liz, Mac and others. Not that hard. "Robin had to fly to Paris for 3 weeks." "Robin just called and she has the flu." "Robin is taking Emma to her Girl Scout camping weekend" See? Not hard.

Monica/Tracy stuff? Fantastic. AJ? SK is on fire.

[Lucy D.]

Shocked at how much I enjoyed the AJ/Carly scenes. Truly HOT!!! And interesting stuff to explore.

I love having Todd on the scene,but he and Carly are too similar in nature (at least GH's Todd--didn't watch OLTL). It would be interesting to see him with someone who's "nice" to create some natural conflict.

And for some reason I'm not really into Duke& Anna. He seems somehow too old for her.

[dealwithit]

I disagree about the Patrick situation. I don't really have a problem with his current storyline. I was (and still am) a die hard Scrubs fan. But I am also a Jason Thompson/Patrick fan and I am fine with him moving on. I don't despise his current storyline. Of course, it could be better, but I don't hate it. Britt is one-dimensional, but I can believe that Patrick can't see her major flaws right now. And I don't think of Sabrina as a child. Robin will come back whenever KMc and TPTB want to. Until then, on with the show.

Sean Kanan has mad chemistry. It is so great to have him back. He sizzles in scenes with pretty much everyone - from Chad Duell to Becky Herbst and Laura Wright.

I'm loving this show again. It's far from perfect but it's so far above what it was under the previous regime that I don't recognize it. YAY!

[lena]

Like most people I didn't care about Port Charles so this crap is just lame to me.

SK is just so cringe worthy on this show

Robin's story has gone on for too long.

No one was connected emotional to Trey to care about his death

[Anne]

JT is a terrific actor. I think both Sabrina and Britt are underwritten, stock characters. But I don't agree that JT has the worst story on the show. He has been given terrific material around Patrick's grief over losing Robin, and JT has consistently turned in some of the best, most subtle work I've ever seen on any soap. If Robin were alive and just constantly offscreen, that would marginalize Patrick's character, which would be a huge waste. There's no story with a happily married couple, one half of whom we rarely see. I don't mind that for Mac and Felicia. But I think it would be absurd of the show to sideline a talent like JT that way.

[marz]

Epiphany (AKA "the black nurse") will be back this week, I believe. Her portrayer has been working on another show and took a leave of absence. I'll be glad to see her return.

I have been watching SK since he first was cast as AJ and even watched him as Deacon on both B&B and Y&R. He has mad chemistry with everyone he works with-male or female-and I'm so happy to see him back as AJ. The scenes with LW were amazing, because that was Carly and AJ-so much lost potential to be the power couple, because she was bent on bringing him down instead of lifting them up. He also sizzles in scenes with RH which makes me so conflicted on which couple AJ/Carly or AJ/Liz I'm shipping. And that's just so much fun for me.

Yes, an off screen story with Robin would be so compelling. Listening to her name being paged would bring so much drama and move the stories so quickly. She could be Monica in the last 4 years of Guza's reign. (Sarcasm emoticon.) Robin is better off in an undisclosed location where her sightings create story and drive story. I love not knowing when she'll pop up next. Her absence has given JT some of his best material and he's killing it.

The show isn't perfect quite yet, but it's miles better than it used to be. It's back to being the soap I don't want to miss. Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Sparky]

"The extensions that LW is leaving on the floor are miles better than Lindsay Morgan."

Could we have someone tie one onto a stick and wave it around when Kristina is needed? I'd prefer that.

[Leanne]

I think that all of Port Charles (the show, not the town) was just one giant hallucination brought on by a brain tumor or something but Lucy has no idea. I can't think of a better explanation for this storyline. It doesn't help that I've been watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix, so every time Lucy says something like "I have to stop him! I am the slayer!" I start yelling things like "No! Buffy is the slayer! Who do you think you are????" It's really dividing my loyalties to TV shows.... oh God, I really need a life.

[Jenius]

I still can't get over AJ throwing Carly over his shoulder an carrying her out of the bar. "Put me down, AJ." AJ has been my favorite character on the show since I started watching in '99, so I'm conflicted on his possible relationship with Carly.

He hasn't had a serious girlfriend/wife since Courntey in '02. He had fling with Lydia Karenin in '03, and he and Faith Roscoe might have been more than business partners when they kidnapped Michael and Kristina in '05. He still desperately needs a woman to keep him preoccupied.

As Mallory put it in a previous post, Carly is beast, but a pretty face can cover for a multitude of sins. It's like Carly knows she's so good looking that she can get away with doing or saying anything.

[lel]

I don't think Patrick has the worse s/l on the show and there is no way in hell that Robin being on the show but not really on the show would be better for JT or fans. I like knowing that Robin is out there and not knowing when or how she'll come back. It makes me happy knowing that one day she will come back and reunite with Patrick but in the meantime, let Patrick Drake live his life.

I was not a PC viewer and I don't mind the vampire references, but I hope they don't drag it out too long.

An A.J./Carly love/hate relationship could be interesting, but a straight up love pairing wouldn't work for me because I tend to loath all of Carly's pairings and I am enjoying AJ's return too much to have it ruined by him becoming yet another Carly boytoy droid.

Not a big fan of the sonny/kat/connie thing, but it is nice to see sonny in a relationship where it isn't all about him and his psychosis.

[sjgs]

I was going to say "Wow, that really IS an awful haircut" but then I realized that was Alex Trebek. The funny thing is, the last time LW did a big-deal haircut was on GL, where it was basically "I am cutting off my pretty princess hair and getting a bob in the tradition of liberated women, which will mean I can have super hot sex with the prince's evil half brother in a linen closet."

And speaking of super hot sex, go Dorian. Holy shit.

[sjgs]

And I forgot to mention...Todd and AJ need to become BFFs and do lots of activities together like saunas, shirtless volleyball, fixing the showers in the metrocourt and ending up soaking wet...I know this is completely implausible but I don't really care. I would love to see Todd and AJ comparing their misdeeds though. "I shot my father and brother." "I KILLED my mother and brother!" "Damn, dude, you win."