Sorry for how late in the day these are, but I had some tweaking of the media section and some of the video files I had to do. As for today’s episode I’m still trying hard to accept Tamara as Kim. I’m trying…. Really I am. I’m still not buying it though not when I’m seeing not just shades of Carly, but whole swathes of her coming out in Tamara’s portrayal. What I’m seeing is Carly at this age. Carly in this state of being and Carly in this day and age. The one thing I have to take umbrage with this show on is their constant use of Tamara in a supporting role. It’s clear they do not think of her in a lead capacity and this reinforces my feeling Tamara has signed short-term. Otherwise she’d be driving these stories instead of being a supporting player to Julian (William deVry) and Drew (Billy Miller), and to a degree Oscar (Garren Lake Stitt). How you can tell this is the amount of time the camera is on her and from what direction the scenes are being told from. Most of the tags on scenes are from the other player’s point-of-view, not Kim’s. It’s been five months and Tamara has had a total of 40 episodes so far, grossly under any of the other soaps she’s been on. During her time as Carly (2001-2005) Tamara was on during the average month 20 episodes. In the average year she had about 240 episodes because she was a lead actress at that time. When she went to DAYS OF OUR LIVES as Ava Vitali both times, she was on at average of 20 episodes per month. Same with her role of Taylor Walker, and as Reese Williams on ALL MY CHILDREN. As Ava, Taylor, Reese, and Carly she was in the lead capacity as we got to see things from Ava/Taylor/Reese/Carly’s point-of-view. She was driving her own stories. Whatever Ava/Taylor/Reese/Carly did she affected other people’s stories by her actions. Here none of her actions affects anyone or anything. Yeah, you could say bringing on Oscar affected Drew’s story, but Oscar was already on the canvas. Kim didn’t bring Oscar on. On DAYS the character of Tripp Dalton (Lucas Adams) wouldn’t be on if not for Ava and what she did to affect Steve (Stephen Nichols) storyline. She had her cause and affect. Kim has no cause or effect. I hadn’t planned on another commentary, but when I got typing it just came out. Like it or not.

 

A cute day with Tamara and William deVry (Julian Jerome). I think their chemistry is cute, but gosh I miss Tamara’s scenes with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos). I watch the show and I somehow feel something is radically missing in the show. While I might possibly warm to Kim, I’m not really sure I will given that she’s on a show that so far has grossly underused her and belittled her fanbase with not bringing her back as Carly. Yeah, I know……

 

New press scans for the gallery and article for the press section. We are finally getting some direction for K(arly)im in terms of where she might be going. As per the episode on 2018/04/05 where she told Julian (William deVry) her true feelings for Drew (Billy Miller) and on 2018/04/06 where Oscar/Morgan (Garren Lake Stitt) confronted his mother, here’s hoping Tamara is out of storyline limbo. Not too sure what to believe about this spoiler on Celebrity Dirty Laundry but according to them K(arly)im will end up pregnant from her one-night-stand with Julian. So are you going to tell me a woman who is an OBGYN doctor is NOT going to use contrceptives? Is GENERAL HOSPITAL and or Frank Valentini going to further insult our intelligence? Likely. He can’t seem to help himself. Remember though right now those “spoilers” from CDL are just theoretical and not actual fact. But hey….. You can click on the press link in the post to go to the article.

 

In the latest edition of ABC Soaps in Depth where they celebrate GENERAL HOSPITAL‘s 55th Anniversary, there is an article on the Julian (William deVry) and Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) pairing and whether Julian’s dalliance with Kim means the end of the couple. It’s pretty benign as to what it says and no direct mention of Tamara so I’m not including the article in the press section, only the scans in the gallery. If you want to read the article you can click below for the scans and go to the gallery and read them yourself.

• Tamara Braun [ In The Press ] >> 2018 >> Articles – April 2018 ABC Soaps In Depth: The End of Julexis

Well another day where Tamara doesn’t drive her own story or do anything else but play drag to other characters’ stories including Julian (William deVry) and Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and Drew (Billy Miller) and Sam (Kelly Monaco)? Judging by what I’m seeing on Twitter no one wants her in the Julian/Alexis sturm and drang. In fact they’re pretty much demanding her stay out of their couple’s orbit. I have a guess the Drew/Sam fans feel the same way so where does that leave Tamara….. Exactly?!

 

In the most recent copy of Soap Opera Digest, actor William deVry (Julian Jerome) talks about the reinvention of the character, but he also talks lovingly about working with Tamara. As usual the scan can be found in the gallery and the text of the article can be found in the press section. I’ll link both below.

 

Apologies for the extreme lateness of this post. I had a couple of appointments yesterday plus some quality time with my partner. I’m going to ask this one question that so far has remained unanswered: When does Tamara get her own story and drive it? Seems her primary job is to forever be the cheerleader for Julian (William De Vry). She’s also very much a hypocrite. Her first episode back had Kim chastising Sonny (Maurice Benard), openly, for his being a mobster, yet here she is wanting to get together with Julian even though he’s committed crimes of his own. They are:

– Committed various crimes while working for and running the Jerome organization [1988-1990]
– Kidnapped and murdered his sister Olivia [1990]
– Killed Johnathon Paget during a gunfight [1990]
– Operated an online gambling ring and knowingly lured Morgan Corinthos into gambling debt [revealed Aug 2, 2013]
– Shot Vince, a henchman within his organization, and left him to die in the harbor [Sept 16, 2013]
– Ordered Carlos Rivera to destroy a shipment that belonged to Sonny Corinthos [Sep 18, 2013]
– Ordered his henchmen to ransack the Corinthos coffee warehouse [revealed Oct 23, 2013]
– Ordered Carlos Rivera to kill Morgan Corinthos [Oct 28, 2013]
– Imported and distributed illegal drugs [Apr-May 2014]
– Arrested for drug trafficking [May 21, 2014]
– Shot Mickey Diamond [Jul 29, 2014]
– Arrested on charges of fraud and conspiracy to aid in the wrongful imprisonment of Luke Spencer [Dec 3, 2014]
– Ordered Carlos Rivera to kidnap Ric Lansing and hold him in the trunk of a car [Dec 18, 2014]
– Falsely confessed to the murder of Anthony Zacchara and sentenced to Pentonville [Jan 8, 2015; charges dropped Feb 18, 2015]
– Escaped from prison [Jan 29, 2015]
– Shot Johnny Zacchara in the shoulder [Feb 3, 2015]

While Kim may believe in second chances, I’d say she needs to be a little more even in her condemnation of criminality. But then given we see her so little, my feeling is no one cares. Right now Tamara is averaging about seven episodes per month despite the fact she is a proven talent. I could care less about he “chem” test with De Vry, they need to cut their losses and make her Carly again because right now most of the boards I’m on are tired of “you know who” and her yelling, snarling, grimacing…. You get the drift. They’re also saying they want Tamara as Carly. That call is clear. Now whether the powers that be or the ubiquitous TPTB listen is another matter altogether. So here we still sit waiting for the storyline we were promised. (or the Prince that was promised….. Game of Thrones reference).

 

Media for today. Is anyone at all interested in “Karly” with Julian (William De Vry)? I know I’m not and quite frankly, I’m still wondering why they brought Tamara back to have her just basically sit on the sidelines. She’s on way too infrequently for my liking. Valentini wanted her back then he should be using her. Tamara is one of soap’s VIPs and he’s just having her play third wheel in two stories. So far I’m not impressed with the Jason (Steve Burton) return, or with Tamara’s return. It all feels so hollow and false. Putting her in scenes with Michael (Chad Duell) and any with Jackie Zeman who plays Bobbie would just be like smacking that beehive with the stick with the obvious.