Red Room Where the Writers Are

it was a lovely wedding. yes, there was a lot if silliness in the runup. a wedding cake of twinkies held together with canned whipped cream? the wrong date on the invitations?  unless i missed something, the spauldings are still rich, aren't they?  it's easy to lose track.

i've never been a huge fan of bill and lizzie as a couple, but what made this wedding work for me was the inclusion of so much history: the conversation between michelle and bill -- a couple i loved when they were played by teenagers rachel miner and  bryan buffington; the acknowledgement that mindy lewis is a fashion designer (and her scenes with her father, billy) -- and that shane and bill are cousins. and when was the last time a soap bothered to explain why characters weren't  there -- josh and reva, danny santos. i particularly loved how the episode handled the relationship between matt and vanessa: the awkward conversation between billy, vanessa and matt; matt's mentioning his and vanessa's daughter, maureen, the reaction shot of matt as vanessa and billy walked down the aisle

and i know many otalia fans positively hated the rafe's snarky comments to olivia --  "are you going to breakup this wedding too? you already had the groom. maybe this time you can get  the bride too -- get lucky."  -- but the exchange was right on the money for those characters. and for those otalia fans who asked how dare the writers show other characters being happy when oliva's sad (you know who you are over at TWoP), guys, the show's called guiding light, not women in love. i don't know how things are going to turn out for otalia, but there are other characters on the show. 

predictably, there was some carping on the boards from those who felt that the couple (and fans) deserved a big blow-out church wedding with all the bells and whistles. some posters acknowledged that the show was making lemonade out of the lemons. no doubt that the makeshift wedding was driven by budget constraints, but i was reminded of another impromptu, outdoor wedding back in 1983, when soaps' budgets flowed like the mighty mississippi during the spring floods.  it was on gl's sister show, as the world turns. the happy couple arrived on a motorcycle driven by the groom, played by justin deas. last year, tom and margo, now played by scott holmes and ellen dolan (the orginal maureen) celebrated their 25th anniversary. of course,  we won't get to see bill and lizzie make it to their first.