On behalf of TAMARA OBSCURA and OBSCURE MEDIA, I’d like to wish all of my visitors and Tamara’s fans the brightest of holiday wishes. Please be safe and take care. Yours, Dianne

Carrying on with the Year End review of the soaps, I was finally able to get a hold of a copy of ABC SID’s 2009 YEAR IN SOAPS after enduring a month long transit strike in my city that ended last week that allowed me to make that pilgrimmage to my favourite newsstand. There were a few pages with Tamara, not as many as in past years, but some just the same. Honourable mention went to the Hechian confused Lesbian Reese and the wedding that should have been a daytime first having been preceded by the Reese/Zach pre-nuptial snog. Then there’s a recap of the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards where Tamara won her very first Emmy as Best Supporting Actress for her role of Ava Vitali on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Finally, a page where Tamara mentions her political stance on the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Then there’s a recap of the year on AMC. Just a little note here. Although it’s not a fullblown site, I’ve started a gallery for Tamara’s former DOOL co-star Stephen Nichols here: RENEGADE: STEPHEN NICHOLS ONLINE. With news of Stephen’s role on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, I’m trying to decide whether to go wholehog and expand it to include daily screencaps of Stephen’s work on the soap. I don’t even have a theme for the gallery, which right now is just that, themeless. If any of Stephen’s fans visit TAMARA OBSCURA, please feel free to drop me a line here: RENEGADE: STEPHEN NICHOLS ONLINE and I’ll see what I can do. Yours, Dianne

I thought I’d share with you what I received in the mail today from Tamara’s fan club. It’s her 2009 Christmas Wish to her fans. I’ve tagged the image so that it won’t be disceminated all over the internet. I just wanted those who don’t belong to Tamara’s fan club to see it. I think it’s lovely. On another note, I’m in the process of figuring out what to do with the remaining images Hurley handed over to me from her website. I’ve got something up my sleeve and will let you know when it’s done. As for the remaining GENERAL HOSPITAL screencaps, I’m still working on finishing up the retagging and getting them ready to enter the gallery. I’m also awaiting Hurley’s delivery of the articles of her press section. Again, I’ll let you know when I’ve gotten those up.

I have one more new scan for you. It’s of course, the year-end round up of all the soaps and each magazine has its “Best & Worst” list out. This one is from SOAP OPERA DIGEST and according to them, AMC had one of the worst weddings … if not the only wedding on AMC this year. They cited that the wedding in and of itself was beautiful, but the dramatic turns it took both before and after the nuptials were to say the least … sudsy. The only thing I truly have to take umbrage with is their interpretation of what happened before. They cited: “Reese and Bianca’s lesbian wedding, a daytime first, truly was beautiful, but its emotional impact and integrity were diluted by Reese’s prewedding makeout sesh with Zach (and in fact that they split the next day.” I’m not truly happy with that assessment of what happened between Reese and Zach since she was clearly drunk on the stilettos of Kendall’s rebuke of everything Reese was to Bianca and Bianca not coming to her soon-to-be bride’s side. Once again, Charles Pratt Jr’s contemptable writing and complete disregard for what should have been a respectful depiction of what was a monumental moment in Daytime history. At least both Tamara and Eden Riegel gave it their all.

I’ve added some new scans to the press section in the gallery. They don’t mention Tamara directly, but they have photos of her accompanying the articles. The first is about the recast of Steven Lars Webber with Scott Reeves as Liz’s (Rebecca Herbst) brother. The photo that goes with the article is of Tamara as Carly and Shaun Benson as Steven Lars. Remember that Tamara and Shaun were Edie Lowe and Truck Sugar in the fourth season episode The Red and the Blue of the CBS show COLD CASE. There is a slight mention of Tamara as one former Carly on the same page that announces Laura Wright has inked a new deal to remain on GENERAL HOSPITAL as Not-OurCarly. The other is a six-page year-end wrap up of ALL MY CHILDREN in 2009. Included are images of Tamara as Reese and a mention of the Reese/Bianca nuptials and the aftermath of the infamous Reese/Zach kiss. Enjoy.

I just got through reading a thread on the SOAPCENTRAL board where they took a poll as to who was the respondents favouriate Carly. Well, out of 114 posters, the numbers broke down like this:TAMARA BRAUN ……….. 45SARAH BROWN …………. 33LAURA WRIGHT …………. 32JENNIFER BRANSFORD ….. 4My interpretation of it is as I have always thought, Tamara made the most impact as Carly. She was THE one to bring Carly into adulthood. While yes, Sarah Brown was the originator, she didn’t have the ability to make Carly truly a character in her own right or one capable of showing the deep humanity and humility Tamara did. To me, I think it’s very wrong that Jennifer Bransford got such a low number. Like Tamara, she was given a Herculean task of following a popular actress. Most of the comments about Tamara’s version is that she had chemistry with everyone she was paired with and more. The other comments were that Tamara was just simply the best Carly. I actually had expected a higher number for Laura Wright’s version considering that she’s the one currently on, but the majority wants Tamara back. I know it’ll never happen due to how they’ve recreated Carly the way Bob Guza wants her. Also, there are so few members of the cast left for Tamara to come back add to that one, the fact they’ve SORASed Michael and Morgan. Tamara simply doesn’t look old enough to be the mother to someone as old as Michael now is. On another GH note, I’m still retagging all the screencaps Hurley sent my way. I’d like to get them all done and up, but I thought I’d take a slower go at it. So just keep track on the gallery and I’ll let you know when they’re all up. Be safe and take care.Dianne