I stopped watching probably around the time Carly was buried alive. Too creepy.

Someone's brought up the Cruise of Deception by now, right?

Kristen, I vote Pussycat Gladiator.

...I do get a vote, right?

That was under the same head writer who did the possessed-by-the-devil story. And created Passions. He is my hero.

Oooh, is this James Reilley? 'Cause that's my friend's name, and it's also the name of the person behind Passions, (which we used to get in Cairo) iirc. And also Sunset Beach, (which we used to get on Channel 5 in the UK).

Our UK soaps just aren't made of crack the way you folks make them. Your soaps leave me just reeling at the crazy. They are weirdly compelling.

(I had no idea that Passions was a real show for ages, incidentally. Just that it was something Spike and Joyce had bonded over. Imagine my glee upon discovering it was real!)

Oh! I have nothing substantial to add to Days of Our Lives talk, other than the fact that the last time I was in Luxor, with 2 American friends and one Brit, we apparently saw the guy who plays Tony DeMeara? Or something along those lines? There was something about an evil twin...anyway, yes, he was in our hotel and also visited The Valley of the Kings on the same morning as we did. His skin was a disconcerting shade of orange that initially screamed 'gay gay gay', but which may, upon reflection, have been a side-effect of being a soap star.

Missed Cruise of Deception. Loved the Carly buried alive stuff, but was sad to see her go because I liked her.

Soaps were big for me in HS (Days and Another World), late 60s early 70s, then I didn't watch except for snow days or holidays until the mid 90s when I had the children and started working more from home. My niece came to live with me to help with the boys and she got me into GH. Since then it is hit or miss depending on whether I am working at home or at the office. When the brain is fried at the end of the day and SciFi has something stupid on it is SoapNet before syndicated sitcoms. YbraindeadTVMV.

His skin was a disconcerting shade of orange that initially screamed 'gay gay gay'

Sounds like our governor.

I saw that Passions was on some channel on my DirectTv the other day, but I don't know if it was new or old.

Our UK soaps just aren't made of crack the way you folks make them.

I remember reading a thing once that compared America, British and Australian soaps. It kind of went like -

American - Billy's wife's evil twin's amnesiac son has an affair!

British - Billy's wife gets cancer and a divorce down the pub.

Australian - Billy's got a new haircut!

The Latin soaps they show on our Spanish language stations are great fun. The clothes and scenes are steamy, and the characters yell at each other a lot. Hard to say much about the plot lines when I don't speak Spanish. They do seem to be the good crack though. (that's what my friends tell me)

Soaps were big for me in HS (Days and Another World),

my sister in soaps! Well, 10 years earlier. I loved Santa Barbara. I was sad when it went off the air, even though I wasn't watching it at the time.

Santa Barbara was wonderful, while it lasted. Was sad when Another World bit the dust too. Why oh why didn't Days die decades ago and put me out of my misery. I would shed no tears.

From Ask Ausiello:

Question: I hear that the strike is over! Is it true?— Danouk

Ausiello: Nothing's official, but the buzz is that a tentative agreement has been reached, with an announcement coming as early as tomorrow. But it's hard to tell what's solid intel and what's just spin. To wit: In the past 24 hours, one source close to the negotiations insisted that talk of a resolution was way premature. "There's no deal," maintained my spy. "That's just misinformation put out by the AMPTP to pressure the WGA." But moments before I put this column to bed, I heard from another very plugged-in source that the deal is done. Short story shorter: There's cause for optimism, but not celebration. Yet.

Question: If the strike ends in the next week or so, can the current TV season be salvaged? — Donald

Ausiello: Depends on the network and the show. A source at one of the Big 4 tells me that should the strike end by mid-February, one best-case scenario being bandied about has established series going back into production and working through June, making more episodes for this season and some for next. Then they'll take a summer break before starting regular production on next season. The reason for this is twofold: They don't want to bail out on this season, but they also don't want to go to the expense of putting shows back into production for just two or three episodes. One industry observer describes this as "a smart plan," while acknowledging that there's another variable in all this: the actors. "The trouble is, a lot of actors schedule hiatus movies, or just elaborate vacations. And if they ask them to work through certain dates, that could trigger some contract issues." Now, continue reading for the worst-case scenario….

Question: G'day, fellow Snapple lover! Pushing Daisies is my absolute favorite new show. Any scoop/news? — The Doctor

Ausiello: I posed Donald's strike-aftermath Q to Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, and here's his sobering response. " Even if the strike ends in the next week or two, it looks like they will scuttle the rest of the season. This is for many reasons. One is that it will be hard to launch a big promotional campaign for four or five episodes; it's just not cost-effective. Two is that if we did come back we would land right in the path of the American Idol juggernaut, and would likely be decimated. Three is if we came back in the fall with a full slate of episodes, then ABC could relaunch the show in a big way. The tentative plan now is to start the writers immediately [after the strike is resolved] so we can get some scripts stockpiled, and then hit production in June. But that's all tentative. We've talked about so many options since the strike began and they fluctuate on a weekly basis. But right now a short first season seems the most likely."

crosses all digits

Writers writing again would be a wonderful thing.