My belief is that we have to remain optimistic. Perhaps this onslaught of very positive Manny predictions has flooded us because we have been hounding TPTB and begging for them to not break up this couple and to keep the story interesting and exciting for the viewers. (Not to mention to give us more hope for their future.) Perhaps that is what Rauch meant by the "star-crossed" lovers remark.

I must agree with you in that his choice of words struck me as odd on first reading. The more I think about it, however, the more that I hope it was Mr. Rauch's way of hinting that yes they will be together and no, you won't become bored and disappointed. Perhaps he didn't mean "star-crossed" in the Shakespearean term which meant, at least according to my English professor, that the lovers would never truly get together or achieve happiness because it "was not in the stars." I think his remark was off the cuff and a way to make us relax and enjoy the show.

As far as the potential predictability of the storyline, I don't mind some cliched moments so long as they are true to the characters and make sense in the unfolding of the story. Think about this: Michelle is at the Towers, and she's sitting with her family, or heaven help us with TWV and enjoying a light supper. She's sitting there completely absorbed in her own thoughts, virtually ignoring her dinner companion(s), and cannot get Danny off of her mind. She's already admitted that she has some feelings for him but she's young and she had only one hokey, quasi-real love affair -- and then boom, this hunk of a MAN, not the boy she's used to comes into her life and turns it upside down.

Michelle is not sure how or what she feels. So she's sitting there paying no attention to the incessant droning of TWV and then in walks this object of her confused affections and on his arm is a beautiful young woman (Pilar.) Wouldn't this feel like a punch in the heart? Predictable yes, but don't you think in this moment that Michelle is going to be seeing green, not to mention red? This will hurt, and it's going to hurt her deeply until she knows this woman is her sister-in-law. This must be one of the catalysts that's going to push Michelle into her much-needed and long overdue reality check. I just don't think that she's going to wake up one morning at the Bauer house, or -- banish the thought -- at Jesse's and realize that it's Danny she loves. She gets too comfortable in her cozy, protective, everyday routine and friends. Michelle needs a push, and a big one.

A comment on separations that don't make sense -- I think that if this happens, which is a genuine worry, then we have to alert TPTB that we are not at all pleased with the direction that the story is going. You can't tell me that if their ratings begin to drop, that TPTB aren't going to do everything in their powers to hang onto their jobs. The fact remains that GL is beginning to climb in the ratings and within the demographics that they are targeting. I suspect that they have little moles who peruse these boards for Manny (or Phillip and Harley, or Josh and Reva, etc.) feedback to gauge immediate viewer reaction; don't you guys think this as well? The advent of the internet has to be one of their best forms of patterning viewer feelings on a storyline.

Finally, and I don't mean to offend but I, on the occasional day, enjoy Josh and Reva. However, I do remember when their relationship began and to me it's always been a bit predictable and in a word -- goofy. I can do goofy, just not for fifteen years and running.

Sorry I'm rambling on and on, but I'm really jazzed about the spoilers. As a very vocal, but I think also level-headed and respectful, group of viewers we are getting what we want. We may have to put up with some occasional goofyness, but I predict that if the current regime stays in place we will be more pleased than displeased. I really think so, despite my occasional visit to the doldrums after a really sad Manny day.

Kristie