As if we needed more proof of what a dismal joke the Daytime Emmy Awards have become, the two best leading men in daytime this past season, Eric Braeden (Victor, The Young and the Restless) and Trevor St. John (Todd, One Life to Live), were both left off the list of Emmy Pre-Nominations, according to TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco. Someone remind me why we still bother?  Branco managed to get his hands on the Pre-Noms for both OLTL and Y&R, Click here to see what else he found out.

How do you sell a rapemance? We're still asking ourselves that one, but the peeps over at One Life to Live managed to pull it off. Integral to that success has been the almost-too-good-for-daytime Trevor St. John (Todd).  I say almost, because at the current time, the show Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati are turning out five-days-a-week in lil' ol lamented daytime is just as good as any in hour in primetime (better than some, 90210 anyone?). TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco talked with the one actor who has ensured that this blogger didn't click off his TV five minutes after I started watching in 2004, long before Carlivati's amazing keypad made the soap appointment TV. 

Take your best Caption This shot at Margaret Cochran haunting Todd (Trevor St. John).

Now that Todd's (Trevor St. John) dastardly behavior has been revealed I wonder what he's thinking? What do you think Todd's thinking?

"You have changed me."

Those desperately uttered words have perfectly and succinctly summed up the sick, twisted and ultimately riveting story line of Todd and Marty on One Life to Live.

I use the word "riveting" in its purest sense: not to imply something that is entertaining or enjoyable for entertainment's sake alone, but rather as a thing that keeps our attention for better or worse, against whatever other instincts that might ask us to look away. In other words, this story line of compounded lies and grand delusion has kept many of us as glued to the screen as a car accident might induce a chronic case of rubbernecking or a nasty lover's quarrel in a supermarket might cause us to turn and watch. Yes, this is the story we thought "they" would never tell, but there is a question lurking just beneath the surface reactions for those fans titillated by the prospect of the loathsomely nicknamed "Tarty" and those other fans filled with disgust and anger:

Exactly whose story has been told? READ MORE

I would like to take a moment to recognize Susan Haskell and Trevor St. John's amazing performance today. For the first time since her arrival, I now understand why Susan Haskell's return was looked forward to by so many. Her portrayal of an emotionally betrayed, unstable Marty holding a gun on Todd was gripping. At the same time, Trevor St. John did an outstanding job conveying the rationalization of Todd trying to make the right decision after realizing he had done wrong.

It should be noted that my applause of these individual performances do not negate my overall disdain for this truly awful rapemance storyline. At this point, it is what it is. Hopefully, One Life to Live can salvage something out of this hurricane-like disaster.

My suggestion, don't give Marty her memory back all at once. Let Marty continue to have the occasional flash of memory, but require her to question everything and everyone. Haskell's performance today as an innocent who has had the wool pulled away from her eyes, yet not knowing what or who to believe proves there is merit in dragging out Marty's total recall.