Episode 110, originally published 18-Sep-98

T'd V

Victor is in his office when Connie enters. "I think you have to see this," she says, going to the TV and turning it on. The theme to the Leanna Love show is playing. "What's this?" Victor asks rhetorically. But Connie has left the room to avoid the firestorm she knows will follow. Victor is immediately on the phone. "John?" Victor asks. "Yes, Victor?" "What's going on with the Leanna Love show? I thought I fired her." he asks. "As far as I know, you did, too," John says. "Well, she's on the air right now. I want you to call the station and get the plug pulled on her. I don't care if she's mid-sentence." "Right away, Victor," John says. Both hang up. We stay focused on Victor who's watching the show.

Callie is with her bartender, Rob. He watches her quietly as she sits there pensively, frowning every now and then. Finally he says, "I'm worried about you, Callie." She forces a smile. "I'm fine, Rob. I just need to keep a low profile." He looks unconvinced and a little sad. "With a voice like yours? I should be featuring you. You could really go places," he urges. She shakes her head. "I don't know," she says. "I just don't know."

"And so," Leanna says to her audience, "Victor summoned me to his office after my show with Diane Newman, and he fired me! Can you believe that?" The audience is making angry noises as the phone rings in Victor's office as he watches. He mutes the TV and answers. "Victor, it's John Silva." "John, the woman is still on my screen." "I can't do anything about it," John says. "What do you mean you can't? I bought that damned station. Fire the whole lot of them if you have to, but I want that show shut down." "I'm sorry, Victor, but she's not there." "What do you mean? Of course, she's there. I can see her." "But you're not tuned to the station you bought. When you fired her, she went to another station and they snapped her right up. Oh, and it gets worse." "Worse? How could it get worse?" "Well, first of all, that was the only profitable show you had. So now you're losing money." "Hire another profitable show then," Victor says. "It's not that easy Victor. Oh, and it gets worse." "Worse? How could it get worse?" "Well, Leanna's contract was pretty well-written. It says that if you fire her when her ratings are above a certain level, you agree to pay her one year's salary for each rating point about a certain level as insurance against the possibility she wouldn't ever be hired again." "What's the matter with that? That damned show can't be that popular," Victor said. "Actually, Victor, you couldn't have picked a worse time to fire her. Her ratings went through the roof after Diane was on. Probably they would have gone back down in a week if you'd just let it go. But because you didn't wait, you're out quite a lot of money." "Well, I don't care. I want you to buy the station she's on," Victor says. "Victor, the same thing's just going to happen again." "I don't care, just do it. And keep doing it. I want that woman out." "Victor, I can't, I--" "John, if I hear that word ``can't'' one more time, you'll be out on the street with her." "Victor, my firm isn't--uh,--never mind. I'll see what I can do."

"Hello," Nina says uncertainly. "I'm Nina McNeil. Your computer match." The guy, Kyle, stands up to reveal he is extremely tall and thin. There is an awkward pause as they shake hands. Then they sit and stare at each other awkwardly until Nina says to him, "So... the computer rated you very highly." He blushes. "You didn't come up short yourself," he admits. "So, tell me about yourself," Nina suggests. "Who you are, what you've been up to?" "Getting right down to business, eh?" he asks. "I'm a writer, actually. How about the lowdown on you?" "Oh," she says. "I'm a writer, too. What kind of things do you write? Tall tales?" "No, I like to think I'm above lying to my readers. I write highbrow non-fiction, mostly." "Really? I'm a fiction writer myself. I worked under Cole Howard. Didn't they give you the skinny on me at the dating service?" He shakes his head. "Fat chance. They told me business was heavy and they didn't have time." "Guess I was a massive surprise then?" "Well, I tend to give them tall orders so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when they come up a little short." "I'm not going to be the light of your life, then, am I?" Nina asks. "That's kind of a heavy question," he notes. "Sorry, just trying to narrow in on the truth." "That's fine," he says. "I just usually prefer speaking broadly to avoid having things turn ugly." "Pretty sensible," she agrees. "Still," she adds, "the long and short of it is that I think the computer must have been down the day it matched us up." "So you're giving up on me, too?" he asks. "Yeah," she nods, "I just don't think we communicate."

Callie is with her bartender, Rob. Once again, he watches her quietly as she sits there pensively, frowning every now and then. Finally he says, "I'm worried about you, Callie." She forces a smile. "I'm fine, Rob. I just need to keep a low profile." He looks unconvinced and a little sad. "With a voice like yours? I should be featuring you. You could really go places," he urges. She shakes her head. "I don't know," she says. "I just don't know."

As he's about to leave, Trisha walks up to say `hi' to Nina and Kyle. Kyle stands to shake hands with her. "You're tall!" she says. "You certainly have a firm grasp of the obvious," he says. Nina just giggles.

Cole is pacing back and forth in the tack room as Ashley watches. "Cole," she says, "you have that look--like you have an idea." Cole stops with a childlike happy smile on his face. "Listen to this, Ash," he says. "I have a great new book idea." "What happened to the last one?" Ash asks. "Other one?" he asks. "You know, about the murder?" He looks at her blankly for a moment and then finally gets a vague look of recognition. "Oh, you're right. I remember that." "You haven't been working on it?" "Didn't occur to me," Cole says. "It was as if that whole chapter closed on me and I didn't look back. Maybe the book was just something God had me doing to help me be on the track of the killer and then when I found the killer, I didn't need to do the book any more." Ash nods. "That makes sense," she says. He smiles, happy that she agrees. Then he says, "So, you wanna hear about my new idea? I'm tellin' ya, Ashley. This is incredible. Just incredible." "I don't know," Ashley says. "Is it about a woman?" "Well, yeah," Cole says. "Two women, actually." Ashley scrunches her nose up as if worried. "Do these women like each other?" she asks nervously. "Nope. In fact they hate each other." "Oh, Cole, I don't want another book about me. I'm not ready for that." "Oh, it's not about you," Cole says. This upsets her, too, of course. He continues: "It's about what we just witnessed between Katherine and Jill. I mean, think about it. Here's this pillar of the community and here's this other slightly older pillar of the community. But here's the thing, Ash: What would cause the younger pillar to suddenly go ballistic and serve the other pillar with papers about a lawsuit on a matter everyone thought was long since settled. I mean, the mind boggles. I'm just sure there's a book in it, Ash. It's almost too incredible for words."

Ryan comes home to find Trisha. "I saw Nina tonight," she says. "Did you?" he asks. "Yeah, she was with a guy." "Did you talk to them?" "Only to him. Nina didn't seem very talkative." "What did he have to say?" "He seemed like a really nice guy," she says. "He liked me, too," she says proudly. "Oh yeah?" Ryan asks. Trisha nods. "He said it was obvious I had a firm grasp on the world," she says.

Callie is with her bartender, Rob. In case you can't guess, he watches her quietly as she sits there pensively, frowning every now and then. Finally he says, "I'm worried about you, Callie." She forces a smile. "I'm fine, Rob. I just need to keep a low profile." He looks unconvinced and a little sad. "With a voice like yours? I should be featuring you. You could really go places," he urges. She shakes her head. "I don't know," she says. "I just don't know."

It's the following day and Victor is sitting smugly at his desk, scanning the stations. Suddenly, he sees the Leanna Love show. A moment later, he's on the phone to John Silva. "John,..." Victor says. "I know what you're going to say, Victor. But there was nothing I could do." "I'm out of money?" "Not yet, Victor, but it doesn't matter." "What do you mean ``doesn't matter''? Money is the only thing that matters," Victor says. "Victor, there are laws that forbid you from buying all the stations." "Laws? Made by whom?" "People in Washington, I imagine." "Well, can't they be bought, too?" "Well, they could. But there's usually a line. And lately I don't think they're doing anything at all." "Nothing at all? What are they doing?" "Victor, don't you ever watch television?" "Of course, I do, John. That's how I ran into this whole ugly business with Leanna Love." "Well, I'm amazed it hasn't been interrupted by all the coverage of presidential scandals." "Scandals?" "Yes, Victor. Scandals. The president had sex in his office." Victor pauses and looks puzzled. "And that's unusual?" he asks. "Yes, Victor. In Washington, unlike Genoa City, that kind of thing is not done." "Let me get this straight," he says. "If there were more scandal, there would be more interruptions?" John pauses a moment. "I think the President is really full up on scandals, Victor. I'm not sure you could really embarrass him further." "Well, what about other people in Washington? There's more than just him, aren't there?" "Congressional Representatives and Senators?" "Yes, those. Can they be embarrassed?" "Easily," John says. "Ahright then," Victor says. "I want you to do it. Buy whoever you need, but just do it."

Victoria has been babysitting Lily. Neil enters and Lily runs to him, panicked. "Daddy, Daddy, a monster is chasing me." He picks her up and calms her. "Did it have really big eyes? Like this?" he asks, making his eyes big. She nods vigorously. "And big a big, spotted belly?" he asks, making his stomach stick way out. "No, it didn't have that," she says with a giggle. "But it was very ugly," she adds. He says, "Don't worry, because if it comes back I'll throw it against the wall and beat it to a pulp." She smiles and hugs him, tight. Then he puts her down and she turns to go to her room. Suddenly she sees Victoria and shrieks. "There it is, Daddy!" "What? Where?" Neil asks. "Right there," she says pointing to Victoria. "That's just Victoria," he says. "She's a monster and she scares me. Throw her against the wall, Daddy. You promised. Do like you used to do to mommy Dru. Beat her to a pulp."

Callie is with her bartender, Rob. By now, you know the drill. He watches her quietly as she sits there pensively, frowning every now and then. Finally he says, "I'm worried about you, Callie." She forces a smile. "I'm fine, Rob. I just need to keep a low profile." He looks unconvinced and a little sad. "With a voice like yours? I should be featuring you. You could really go places," he urges. She shakes her head. "I don't know," she says. "I just don't know."

Victoria is with Neil, apparently shortly after the incident with Lily, who has apparently gone to bed. "I'm sorry she called you those names," Neil says. "It's ok, Neil. She's just a kid. She doesn't know any better. But tell me what that was about Dru and you beating her to a pulp. That doesn't leave me feeling very comfortable. In fact, maybe I just rushed into this relationship a little fast. I'm going to go elsewhere and think for a long while about what I've gotten myself into."

Another day passes, and Connie enters Victor's office and snaps on the TV. "What is this?" she asks. Victor smiles. "Why, it looks like scandal coverage," he says. "It means that Leanna Love will not be able to get through." Connie frowns. "Victor, that may be so. But it also means my favorite soap opera, The Young and the Restless, is getting preempted, too. And I won't have it." "What do you mean you won't have it?" Victor asks. "You work for me." Connie pulls out a gun. "I've had about enough out of you, Victor. I've been through you for years. I've put up with your attacks on people and your ruthless behavior. I've even kept track of the changing last names of all your wives and ex-wives. But I draw the line at having my soaps cancelled. Now either you call Congress and confess that you created this latest round of scandals, or I'm going to do something I may--well, no--I can't say I'd really even regret it. Just do it, ok?"

Malcolm and Callie are in the offices of Collins & Sons talking to Cassie, who has apparently just heard their story. "So is there something we can legally do?" Malcolm asks. Cassie thinks for a moment and then says, "I can think of one thing." "What's that?" Malcolm asks. "Cut her hair and change her name." Malcolm looks puzzled. "I don't get you?" "Well," Cassie explains, "this guy is apparently looking everywhere in the country. Don't you think you've brought the problem on yourself by using the same name and looking the same as when he saw you? He can't afford to go door to door to every club in the nation looking for someone with similar facial structure." "So that's it?" Callie asks. "I don't know," Cassie responds. "Did you have another matter you wanted me to advise you about?" Callie and Malcolm shrug. "I guess not," says Callie. "Ok," Malcolm says. "We're out of here. Hey, what do we owe you?" Cassie waves her hand dismissively. "No charge. Anyone could have thought up that answer--even a Hollywood scriptwriter. I couldn't possibly charge you for it."

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 111!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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