One of ongoing gags in the soap biz is the mythical return of Vanessa Marcil to General Hospital. I say it's mythical because for six years now, a certain magazine regular writes about Vanessa's return and it never actually happens. But now, there may be some truth to the rumor. ABC has contacted Vanessa Marcil about returning to General Hospital to reprise the character of Brenda Barrett. Maybe as soon as this spring.

For a change of pace, the news is coming directly from the show. GH headwriter Bob Guza has said that talks are underway with Vanessa. He has also always maintained that Brenda's one of his favorite characters and he'd love to have her back on the show.

Executive experience. We've been hearing an awful lot in the media lately about what constitutes executive experience and how important it is when a person gets the chance at an important position. Well, you know what I've learned while watching soap operas? Experience is overrated. Anyone can be a CEO or mayor or run a company, it's easy.

Take Donna on The Bold and the Beautiful. Until recently, Donna was a model. She used her beautiful body, great features and dazzling smile to show the finest in Forrester Creations. Now, due to her husband's heart attack which resulted in a coma, Donna has taken over the company and appointed herself CEO. It doesn't matter than Donna's never designed a thing or knows how to mass produce, market and distribute a clothing line. Never mind that she couldn't balance her checkbook let alone the bottom line of an international fashion business. Because she had Eric's power of attorney, she took control of the company. Executive leadership was something that she absorbed from Eric, right? Like osmosis or transference. Yeah, right.

What constitutes a good kid these days? I ask because if I go by the standards put forth by some of the daytime soaps, it's a pretty low bar that's been set. Take, for example, a good kid on Guiding Light. Daisy, Harley's daughter, was told last week that she would not be allowed to graduate with her high school class. Her mother was dismayed. How could they do that to her daughter? Daisy is such a good kid, Harley said again and again. She'd worked hard to get her grades up and she deserved to graduate with her classmates.