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I love soap operas.

I've never hid this fact. I watch All My Children with my boss, Bold and the Beautiful when I get home from work and As the World Turns on weekends. In high school I used to watch General Hospital (before it became a terrible, terrible show about the mob,) One Life to Live (when it was a beautiful show about race, class and gender struggles, which THANKFULLY it is getting back to) and Days of Our Lives (with my Nana - and for mindless entertainment.)

There are two reasons that today's episode of B&B prompted me to create an entry about my soap addiction. 1) The casting directors deserve credit for casting Jacqueline MacInnes Wood as Taylor (Hunter Tylo) and Ridge's (Ronn Moss) daughter Steffy

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Though you can't totally tell from this picture, this girl is a dead ringer for what I think Hunter Tylo might have looked like as a teenager. From word one I TOTALLY buy her as Steffy Forrester. She's even got similiar vocal inflection as Tylo. It even makes me forget that Steffy and Phoebe are supposed to be identical twins. It's the soap universe...they'll either re-write history or they won't even mention it - doesnt matter - I'm excited to have Jacqueline around all summer.

2) Heather Tom shouldn't have to wait until next Summer to get her Emmy. This whole Storm-kills-himself-so-Katie-can-live-on-with-his-heart storyline felt painfully contrived and forced when it was initially happening. Storm's weird little decent into attempted murderer, stalker and eventual gun toting crazy was laughable to me and his weak attempt at redemption by actually killing himself in order to save his sister was not the direction I would have taken this plot, but shit if it hasn't provided Heather Tom with simply some of the best acted scenes I have ever seen on a soap. She is absolutely flawless.

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