I watch soaps for two reasons: 1) to be entertained 2) to take my mind off of the day's events, i.e. to escape. For the last ten years or so, soaps have been a mere diversion for me, they've been background noise while I was working, or rocking my children, or putting away dishes. But then I started paying attention to this storyline and I began to surprisingly feel emotional things about this couple. They have affected me in a way that no other couple has in daytime drama. I was rather young when Luke and Laura were the "it" couple of daytime, but I remember the excitement and the pull of that story.

I make a comparison here. Luke and Laura were the first really character-driven couple in my memory. Yes, there was passion and excitement, and drama, but you cared about these two because the characters were so well crafted. I think soaps took a departure with Luke and Laura, and then their PTB realized what a really good storyline, acting, and writing could bring to them: unbelievable ratings.

I think that since Luke and Laura, writers have been striving to write characters, specifically in pairs, who will strike the same fascination that happened in the '80s. Why it's not worked is, in my opinion, because of storylines which have a promising beginning, but dissolve with the advent of too many adventures abroad, too many unrealistic and just plain stupid side stories, and a staleness which pervades the writing, acting, and attention given to a particular couple.

Fast forward to Manny -- what caught my attention in the beginning, and holds it today is that the acting is, in all honesty, very, very good. Manny are not given silly lines to recite; they share interesting and real dialogue. They aren't trying to save the world, or trying to take over the world, they are trying to figure each other out and attempting to make a relationship out of the chaos surrounding them. There's tension, passion, and almost a breathlessness to every scene they share. In a word it is electrifying.

I think, and I mean this in the kindest of ways, that while Paul Anthony Stewart and Joie Lenz are two good-looking people, neither of them are the most beautiful people walking on earth. But through their acting, personalities, and the way that each character feels for the other, we are drawn to them in a very animalistic way. Look, we all think Paul Anthony Stewart is great! Yes, he's cute, but more than that, he's hot! Why? Because he makes his character live up on that screen and Joie Lenz is doing the same thing.

If everyone connected with the show, and we as well, will keep our wits about us, this couple has a very strong chance of being one of the most carefully crafted couples in daytime history. All of the key ingredients are there: Story, writing, acting, intensity, excitement, and most importantly, in my opinion, tenderness. It's so sweet to watch them together, even when the scene itself is painful. They have magic. And let's face it magic is a rare, rare thing.

Kristie