How to not write off a supercouple

Antony DiMera dead, again

The Diva has been dreading writing this blog. I knew all along that the show would do a crappy job withTony's death as soon as I was alerted to Thaao's firing. Yep, I was right.

First off, Tony was written totally out of character again. When Higley (I think it was her) wrote the advertising companies storyline, at least that was more in character with Tony and Anna. Tony never gave a shit about whatever business dealings Stefano had. Tony always had legit companies that he managed. But advertising was a bizarre pick. They should have brought back Anna DiMera Designs. That could have tied in with Basic Black and Titan. Anyways, the Diva digresses, but I have no clue why Tony was interested in the alternative fuels project. And of course that idiotic storyline died with Tony. So glad Tony died for absolutely nothing.

I preferred the more brotherly Tony. He gave good advice to clueless EJ for months. Watching him turn on a dime on EJ didn't make much sense. His last dying thought should have been of his wife, not of revenge against his brother. It was fun though to watch Tony drive Nicole nuts. lol That was in character. Tony was never a saint. Thaao's best scenes were with Arianne. He totally made her squirm. The christening scenes were written and acted very well. The reception afterwards at the DiMansion was hilarious.

So Tony packs up his things. I have to say, Tony's bedroom sucked. Who the hell designed that? The set decorating on the show is friggin awful. The sets are so boring. Anyway, Tony announces he's moving with Anna to NYC. Stefano throws a fit. Then the AFP stuff hits the fan. Even EJ threatens Tony after that. I was disappointed with these scenes. They should have been longer. Also Tony should have went through his decades long list of grievances against Stefano (with flashbacks). Instead we just get Stefano insulting him and cutting him off.

Then came the ridiculous pier scenes. Philip throwing a hissy fit and beating up the guy who took the project he lost awhile ago was ridiculous. Philip attempting to beat up a man twice his age, and only breaking even was kind of funny. The fall from the stairs was awful. Then we got to watch it in flashbacks for several days. The whole accident looks physically impossible.

Then the show got worse at the hospital. Thaao didn't speak for his last 3 episodes. wtf? Yeah, Thaao does a great job acting with just his face. But he's amazing with his voice too. Having EJ and Nicole bother him into 2 heart attacks was ridiculous. If Tony was that fragile, why wasn't he isolated from his dysfunctional family? The editing for those 3 episodes were awful. They kept cutting up the hospital scenes to the point that the audience had a hard time getting emotional over them. Bope wasn't concerned at all with their friend Tony. All they cared about was covering Philip's ass for the millionth time. They wanted Tony to live for Philip, not Tony or Anna.

Tony dies without his wife. Seriously why? Why couldn't they have Leann there when he died? That would have been a 3 handkerchiefs moment. Instead we have Lexie give up on her brother without attempting CPR. Joe M's look of death at Philip when he found out his son was dead was priceless. Stefano's scenes with Tony's body would have been better if they weren't chopped up to ten second soundbites. If they refused to have Anna there when he died, why not have a scene with him with his body? Instead we just get a less than 5 minute scenes between Stefano and Anna that were campy. It was all about Stefano's revenge on Philip and not about Anna mourning her husband. Oh, and Tony's memorial service was off screen. Nice.

The Diva doesn't get it. This was supposed to be the big sweeps storyline, yet they didn't try to cash in with a memorial. That would have given them at least another big day or two of ratings. The show did hit 3 million viewers during Tony's death week. Why not have a memorial to let Anna and the fans mourn for a beloved character that's been off and on the show since 1981? Of course, the show didn't even bother to use flashbacks. I have no idea why since they are quite fond of the Tony falling off the stairs flashback over and over again.

Soap Opera Digest was perplexed too in the Editor's Choice section last week. "As for Thaao's Penghlis's Tony, it's a total shame that the talented thesp got his best work on his way out. Seeing him in such fine form makes you wonder why Penghlis was relegated to the back burner for so long." The rest of the article has several Tony quotes delivered perfectly by Thaao. Of course we know because of Thaao, Mary Beth, and Stephen why Thaao was "relegated to the back burner for so long". It was because of his age and his pay. The show doesn't care about good acting. Just stand there, look pretty, and say your lines.

Anyway, once again the fans do a better job with a Tony memorial than the show did.