In "Romeo and Juliet," Juliet's father shouts at his daughter, "my fingers itch!"  He means he wants to slap her for her actions.  I know how he feels, because my fingers itch to slap the nonsense out of Barbara Ryan.  She's a psycho, she's a schemer, and she's not above plotting a murder to gain what she wants.  She's really a villain I love to hate.

Barbara Ryan, played by Colleen Zenk Pinter,  used to be sweet, sympathetic, and a stable person.  She was a heroine who was loyal to her friends, and she was free of complications.  She was happy to come to town when her mother married Bob Hughes, and she even fell in love with Bob's son, Tom.  But then one 'small' mistake came back to haunt her past affair with James Stenbeck.  She'd given up their baby when she thought he didn't love her, and was happily planning to marry Tom.  But of course James showed up, and convinced her that he loved her and wanted to be a good husband and father.  Tom was out, James was in, little Paul was located and reunited with his family, and all was well in soap land.

But poor insecure Barbara had not chosen wisely in the husband department, and James was soon cheating on her.  She also found out that James was an international criminal talk about ruining a romance!  She met Gunnar St. Clair and fell in love, and James threatened to kill her to get custody of Paul.  Barbara and Gunnar finally found happiness, but we all know soap happiness never lasts long, and soon Gunnar was dead.

Barbara was still a heroine though, and after two short affairs, she met Hal Munson.  Good old Hal, salt of the earth, one of Oakdale's finest, a perfect match for Barbara.  But one staple story in soap land is the previously unknown child, and Barbara found out that Hal was the father of his partner's son.  Margo Hughes had married Tom, and they were raising Hal's son Adam.  Barbara tried to keep this secret from Hal, but his redheaded temper went off like fireworks when he learned the truth that Barbara had kept from him.  Barbara immediately ran off to Europe, and returned pregnant herself.  Hal eventually accepted baby Jennifer, and later he and Barbara had a son together, Will.

Barbara was ready for a happy marriage.  She had a strong husband, three beautiful children, her own designer clothing business, a lovely home; what more could she ask for?  But a happy stable Barbara was a boring Barbara, and so she drifted into an affair with Dr. John Dixon, her ex-uncle, and a man Hal detested.  Soon she was expecting his baby, and they married.  Even though I wanted Barbara back with Hal, it was fun to see the older John Dixon getting so excited over his impending fatherhood, and how protective he was of Barbara.  But a fire caused her to deliver early and after little John Jr. died, Babs and Dr. Dixon divorced.  But there was Hal to help her pick up the pieces.  They remarried, and boring normal matrimony returned to the Munson manor.

Enter Craig Montgomery.  While not the same level of villain as James Stenbeck, Craig was still nevertheless dangerous, cosmopolitan, and sexy as all get out.  Barbara tossed caution and Hal to the winds to run off with Craig.  Too late she discovered he was stealing money from her design company.  Then poor Barbara was caught in an explosion and suffered disfiguring facial injuries.  Her insecurities raged at volcano level, and she was a ruin of a woman.  And who appeared in her life again at this time?  You guessed it, none other than the suave and sneering James Stenbeck.  He manipulated her and assuaged her battered ego, and eventually drew her into his nefarious plans.  Those plans included kidnapping and murder, and although Barbara was able to escape from him, she was charged for those crimes.  Her attorney was able to save her from prison by portraying her as a poor innocent victim whose friends had turned on her when she needed them.  She was free, but her friends didn't appreciate being stabbed in the back and they abandoned her.  Hal had married Emily Stewart, and they were raising Barbara's son Will.  Barbara's daughter Jennifer had departed to Europe, and her older son Paul was engaged to Rose DeAngelo.

Next Barbara realized she had a new and urgent mission; to reunite her children under one roof with herself as the matriarch.  She wanted the teenaged Will living with her, she wanted Jennifer back in Oakdale, and most of all she wanted Rose DeAngelo out of Paul's life.  Barbara became fanatically single-minded in these goals.  No matter whether it would take bribery, lying, breaking and entering, or hiring a hit man, Babs would not be deterred from her mission.  She brought back her son Paul's childhood friend to break up Paul and Rose.  She talked Will into taking the blame for trashing Paul's apartment.  She has convinced Will to lie to his father.  She even hired a hit man to take out Rose completely.  Barbara canceled the hit, but she's now running around town toting a gun herself.  And why is she flirting with that gorgeous hunk, Dr. Walker Daniels?

Now I don't know about you, but I really enjoy watching Colleen Zenk Pinter portray Barbara.  There are times during her close ups when I look into her eyes and seem to see real madness flickering there.  Her voice when she is whining or threatening is the voice of a person whose bag of marbles has a big hole in the bottom.  She portrays a conniving, insecure, obsessive woman to perfection. Zenk Pinter has been around ATWT a long time, and has been underused, overused, and everything in between.  She's a bonafide veteran, older than the usual soap ingénue, more talented than a lot of the current crop of soap ingénues, and savvy enough to take this opportunity to play the psycho to the absolute hilt.  She makes me boo, cheer, and shiver! 

At a time when many women soap vets are used to people the background while young nubile no-talents prance around in our faces, it's great to see Zenk Pinter ripping up the scenery in her descent into madness.  However, I think it's time to start reeling Barbara back from the pit of insanity; either that, or check her into the nearest asylum.  As much as I enjoy this Barbara, I would love to see her wend her way back to being a strong, dynamic business woman.  Since Lucinda Walsh seems MIA, the show needs some strong females who can romance a man and also run a company!  And ever since I saw her giving Dr. Daniels the eye, I've had visions of the two of them doing the wild hoochie!  Now that would be a hoot, Babs could have some fun, Dr. Daniels would get some airtime, and viewers could see some mature love splashed all over their TV screens.

So, ATWT writers, thanks for letting Zenk Pinter flex her fine acting muscles, but get her out of this one-way ticket to looneyville and point her towards the boardroom and the bedroom!