It looks like the Scorpios are returning to Port Charles with a bang this week – and I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve made no secret of my Scorpio family love – and the fact that Tristan Rogers and onscreen daughter Kimberly McCullough are both set to make their triumphant returns is the best news to hit Port Charles in recent memory.

I was worried for a little while that Robert Scorpio wasn’t going to return for the big Robin reveal. For those that don’t remember, Robert discovered his daughter was alive months (and months) ago and was then injected with a powerful drug that left him comatose before he could tell anyone.

If spoilers are to be believed (which is always a mixed bag) Robert is set to wake up Friday (although we’re supposedly going to see Robin on our screens before then). When Robert first wakes up – with both Mac and Anna at his side – reports are saying he doesn’t remember seeing Robin. It’s not long, though, before he announces to the rest of his family that he does indeed remember the minutes before he was incapacitated – and his beloved Robin was there with him.

That’s supposed to kick off an umbrella story that has Anna and Robert searching for their daughter.

For her part, Robin has been shuffled from one mad person to another. First Faison had her. Then Dr. Obrecht. Now Jerry Jacks. Apparently, our hero Robin is the one keeping Jerry alive and working on a cure for his poisoning.

That cure, not coincidentally, can also save Sean and Luke.

This past Friday, a hallucinating Luke though he saw Helena Cassadine. I believe he’s also going to get a gander at Robin this week – but, since he’s sick, not realize that she is actually alive. My guess is, when he trades notes with Robert, they’re going to combine their considerable resources to not only find Robert’s daughter – but a cure for Luke (and Sean) as well.

While all this is going on, Dr. Obrecht is set to kidnap her “grandchild” and bring it to Robin to taunt her. Apparently Jerry has been telling Robin little tidbits of the truth here and there – and when Ben is brought to Robin she is going to believe it’s Patrick’s baby.

Most fans actually believe that baby is Lulu and Dante’s – but that’s a whole other story.

The Ben kidnapping brings Britt and Nikolas into the story. With Nikolas joining the fray, I’m betting we get a few more Cassadine tidbits. One rumor has Stefan being resurrected, which I’m actually mixed on. I love the character of Stefan, but the GH canvas is so bloated right now it’s draining all the momentum out of the show. They need to be cutting some characters, not adding them.

Back to Nikolas, though. Nikolas and Robin have a long history together, so I would like him involved with her rescue.

While all this is going on, though, the one person that doesn’t look to be involved in Robin’s rescue is Patrick. Now, don’t get me wrong, I used to love Patrick – but I’m fairly irritated with him right now. Apparently Patrick is going to be playing high school relationship with Sabrina and Carrrrrrrrrlos (what’s with Sabrina’s sudden accent?) while the big Robin rescue is transpiring.

Then, I have no doubt, that Robin will be reintroduced to Patrick with as much drama as possible.

Personally, I can’t wait to see Robin kick Sabrina in the head – but I know that’s a long way off

Here’s my question: If Anna knows that Robin is alive and she goes off to find her daughter, why doesn’t she at least give Patrick a heads up at what’s going on? I know she doesn’t want to get his hopes up if it’s not true, but isn’t it worse to just spring Robin on Patrick and Emma? I’m not advocating telling Emma, she’s a small child, but shouldn’t Patrick get a chance to get his house in order before Robin is unveiled in what I’m sure will be a very public way?

I have no doubt that Patrick and Robin are the love story here (although, given the fact that Patrick has made me want to puke with Sabrina for months, I’d like to see him squirm). However, if Robin’s return is used as a further prop for Sabrina, I’m going to be a little ticked. They’ve obviously introduced Carrrrrrrlos (his accent is just as annoying) as a love interest for Sabrina when she quickly loses Patrick, but I would like to have Patrick involved in the rescue of his wife. Is that too much to ask?

Oh, and while I’m making requests of the soap gods, can we please get a slow motion reunion between Robin and Emma? I’m thinking a mirror of when Robin was a little girl and ran to Anna’s arms in slow motion would be best. Thanks in advance.

What do you think? Are you ready for Robin and Robert to be unleashed on Port Charles?

Sunday marks the return of one of my current favorite shows – ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

To say that the magical show had something of a sophomore slump last season would be an understatement.

The Storybrooke denizens spent the first nine episodes of the show floundering – and it took a little while for things to get back on course.

To be fair, I have re-watched season two of Once Upon a Time twice since it came out on Blu-Ray – and I like the second season a lot more now than I did while it was airing.

I think the second season’s biggest problem was separating Mary Margaret and Emma from everyone else so early (and for so long). I understand what they were going for - -a bonding between estranged mother and daughter – but it still felt like the time in the magical realm dragged by.

When you watch the episodes stacked on Blu-Ray, that separation seems to go by much quicker.

The initial separation wasn’t the only problem with the show, though.

Personally, I was disappointed with the lack of family hijinks. These are two parents that have a

daughter that is roughly their age – and the opportunity for hilarity was embedded in the story – so I don’t know why the writers didn’t play with that more.

Not everything has to be doom and gloom in Storybrooke either. This is a magical world – and even Lost knew that sometimes you just needed to have a little fun to keep the audience invested in the characters.

I also thought the writing for Regina was all over the place. I don’t want her to be totally good, but she doesn’t have to vacillate so wildly, does she? That being said, the flashback to little Owen and Regina’s realization that the curse she created wasn’t going to make her happy after all was one of the best episodes of the show to date.

Despite those complaints, though, there was a lot to love about season two.

I loved the revelation (although most fans had guessed it) that Henry’s father was also Rumplestiltskin’s son. The reunion of Emma and Neal was both bittersweet and heartbreaking. And, yes, I am invested in Emma and Neal and not in Emma and Hook. I’m pretty tired of pirates, and Hook is kind of a bad Jack Sparrow rip-off, in my opinion. I just don’t get his appeal.

I also hope that the truth about Neal being alive is resolved sooner – rather than later. I don’t want to see a Hook, Emma and Neal triangle – mostly because the fact that Hook was Neal’s stepfather gives the triangle a creepy quality.

I also liked Emma and Regina’s attempts to work together – especially in the final episode. These are

two women that should hate each other and fight with each other, and yet they have a common goal.

Which brings us to Henry’s abduction. I like the twist that Peter Pan has been looking for Henry, that he’s somehow special to the evil Neverland scamp. I do not like Tamara and Owen’s “company” mantra, though, and I think the fact that they were actually trying to take Henry came out of nowhere.

Just because this is a show about magic, that doesn’t mean that you can let all continuity go out the window.

At the end of last season, Emma, Rumplestiltskin, Regina, Mary Margaret, David and Hook all agreed to open a portal to Neverland to rescue Henry. It sounds like this little adventure is going to last nine episodes – up until the mid-season break.

The show has a chance to fix some wrongs here – but separating characters is a risky story choice. It didn’t work out so well last season. Still, the most important characters will be going on this adventure together – while Storybrooke will be left to fend for itself.

I’m attached to the secondary characters in Storybrooke – especially Red and Leroy – so I’m hoping that this estrangement won’t be as painful as the last one.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to the third season of Once Upon a Time?

It’s been an interesting few week for pickups and cancellations.

Why interesting? Because it comes at the same time that the big five networks are premiering their new slate of shows.

First up, what’s been cancelled? TNT announced that King & Maxwell would not be getting another season (and Franklin & Bash’s future is up in the air), while AMC axed The Killing (again), and HBO announced that the upcoming seventh season would be the final one for True Blood.

This was all before Lifetime announced the axing of Army Wives (after seven seasons) on Tuesday.

I can’t muster a lot of anything about the King & Maxwell news. I’m still mad at TNT for axing Leverage – and the only episode I saw of King & Maxwell was the Christian Kane episode. The vindictive part of me wants every show that TNT tries to replace Leverage with to fail.

The honest side of me, though, admits I still watch Falling Skies and Dallas. Still, the vindictive side Leverage -- and I hope they learn it the hard way.

of me is going to win: I hope TNT learns a lesson from cancelling

As for The Killing? I can’t say I’m surprised. The fact that the show was saved after the second season cancellation was a miracle. Am I disappointed? I would have said yes after the second to last episode of this superior third season. Since I saw the final episode, though, and saw the corner they wrote Linden in (and the ripoff of the movie Seven) I can’t say that I am.

I’ll miss the talent involved, but the show lost with the season three finale.

As for HBO’s True Blood, I have to say that the cancellation is actually a relief.  Even fans of the show have to admit that the quality in the writing has went systematically down each season. This last season was almost impossible to watch.

I’m not joking, the only characters I could tolerate for the bulk of the season were Jason and Pam. Although, if I’m being fair, Steve Newlin’s demise (and his hilarious utterance at the end) were a series highlight.

That brings us to Army Wives. The show started out great. It was interesting, giving fans a glimpse of army life, and it was well-acted. It was the simple things that were interesting about the show, including the struggle for money and the inherent loneliness associated with having a spouse overseas.

Then the show started going the ultra-ridiculous route. I mean, consider the Pamela Joy character: her daughter was blown up, she was almost raped, she was held hostage at gunpoint, she got diabetes, she almost died in a car wreck, she ultimately died of heart failure in a hotel. It was just too much.

And, while in my head I know that it’s realistic for military families to move, the show started losing

me when it started shedding original cast members. Losing Pamela was bad enough, but losing Roxy was the final straw.

This is a cancellation that was really overdue. At least fans are getting a two-hour wrap-up from the network. Fans of The Killing will never know what Linden’s punishment was.

Also cancelled were ABC Family’s Bunheads and The Lying Game; A&E’s The Glades; BBC America’s Copper; Showtime’s The Borgias; Starz’s Magic City; and TNT’s Southland.

And what’s been picked up? USA has ordered another season of the gritty Graceland; Lifetime wants more Devious Maids;  and HBO wants more of The Newsroom. These are three shows that I can’t muster the energy to watch, so I really have no comment.

What do you think? Are you upset at the flurry of cancellations over the past few weeks?

No one is ever going to like everything on their soap.

That’s a simple truth.

People can hold up the 1990s as the best era artistically for ‘General Hospital’ – but that doesn’t mean I liked every story and every character from that decade.

The truth is, ‘General Hospital’ has seen an increase in ratings lately.

There are a lot of different reasons for the increase – but there’s no one thing that should be taking credit for the jump. Instead, it’s a number of things.

First off, GH is still riding high after the 50^th anniversary this summer. There are a lot of vets on the canvas right now. Sure, they’re not on every day, but they are on regularly. Old time fans want to see Mac, Felicia, Lucy, Kevin, Laura, Scotty, Luke, Anna, Duke and Tracy. The key is fitting them into umbrella storylines.

For example, Anna and Duke easily fit into the Jerome crime saga that is unfolding on the canvas right now. Luke, Anna, Duke, Mac, Felicia and (the rumor is) Robert are going to play heavily in the return of Robin next month.

Mac, Felicia, Luke and Laura will have key parts to play in the reveal of baby Connie.

And it sounds like Lucy’s kid will come to Port Charles to join in with the young adult fray in the next couple of weeks.

GH also brought on high profile – and beloved – vets from other soaps. Whether you like Ava Jerome

or Silas Clay, Maura West and Michael Easton have big fan contingents. They are bringing in viewers. The same goes for Roger Howarth, who has been saddled with one of the worst characters in history. His fans will still watch him, though.

Finally, GH has struck a balance with airtime. The reason ratings plummeted so drastically over the past 15 years is that Bob Guza pimped Sonny, Jason and Carly like they were the only three characters on the soap. He decimated the Quartermaines during that time, and made many of the other characters props for the mob.

Fans turned out in droves because of that.

So, GH is seeing an upswing in viewers – and all I see on message boards is complaining.

“I hate Kiki.”

 

“I hate Olivia.”

“I don’t Robin to come back because Sabrina might cry.”

We should be embracing the fact that GH is doing so well right now guys. I’m sure ‘One Life to Live’ fans would love to be in our shoes – fighting over Sabrina and Robin – instead of coming to the slow realization that they’ll probably never see their Llanview faves again.

The reason we love soaps is because they’re a mixture of things to love and hate.

I loved when Emma verbally kicked Sabrina in the face this week.

I hated Olivia shrieking like a banshee.

I loved Anna and Duke working together to solve a problem.

I hated Sonny’s sudden descent into madness that arrived in the form of propping Michael to high heaven.

I loved Sam and Silas’ flirtation.

I hated Lulu and Dante suddenly turning into unfeeling monsters.

You know what’s important to take out of all of that? I love GH – and I want it to survive. I’m happy it is getting higher ratings. I am biting my fingernails in anticipation of the Robin return. And, for the first time in years, I’m not worried about the imminent cancellation of a show I’ve loved since I was a child.

That’s a win for me.

What do you think?