B, easily. There's very little I don't like, but I don't like everything yet, so I can't give it quite an A.

I'll agree with what everyone else said. The majority grade around here is B. I think Hogan deserves that.

Phoenix, in many of the things I was trying to say I was trying to think like someone who doesn't go on the Internet and doesn't read the soap mags - which describes a large amount of viewers out there. As we have talked about here before there are alot of those out there. They don't look at spoilers and they don't know a new writer is coming on.

This transition period has gone on too long for them. If even viewers who do come online are getting frustrated just imagine how they may be feeling. They obviously have to know that something has changed because the diologue is much better, but for them not much is happening.

For instance my 2 daughters don't read anything about soaps on the Internet. The only soap they even watch is Days. They got hooked on it during the "Saved By The Bell" years. They watched before that, but those years hooked them. They have continued to be fans all along even through JER. I have not told them anything about coming things except that their favorite actor Jason Cook was leaving. They just don't want to know what is coming up. My youngest daughter quit watching a few weeks ago. She says she will probably come back, but the show is just not interesting to her. My oldest daughter quit this week over several things, but really hates the Willow story. I will be the first to say that both are the types that can lose interest easily if something is not interesting, but I have seen them hold on to Days when even I thought it was a little slow.

They have asked me questions about why I quit watching, and I would not go into anything of the spoiler things that influenced my decision because as I said they don't want to know. And I did not want to influence them to quit a show. I let them make their own decision. I feel that both will be back to watching when things get exciting, but right now daytime has lost them as viewers because Days was the only soap they even watched.

I know that Corday/Wyman were thrown a lot of curves this summer, but I do feel they could have made some changes quicker than they did. I have seen things change very quickly in daytime before. For instance in just a matter of days the bomb story was changed and reshot on GH I think it was after 9/11 or one of the school bombings. So the idea that they couldn't have worked quicker is not something I can buy.

As I said I agree with you that it is too early to judge Hogan. I have watched a few shows since he has returned and I don't see it as all that bad. I love the day to day writing, but the only thing new that has really taken place is the reveal of the EJ thing which doesn't interest me at all because I for one knew how that was going to turn out. And I hate Hogan's only new character so far. She is terrible and the actress is not that good either.

As I said I was trying to think of viewers like my daughters and many others. They don't see the spoilers and don't know what is going on. Somewhere or somehow somebody needed to have made some decisions a little better - esp. knowing that today's audience is a very fickle one and you have to keep them excited to tune in.

Yeah Steve I know and understand that those who don't come online or read about stuff like this would react that way but how do you explain those online or that read the mags and know what has been happening. Of course, those that read the mags don't know that much either because the ghost writer was not credited and JER's name was above Beth's so no one would be the wiser unless they were online or paid really close attention. SON has been great and has given Days a fair shot but many fans out there who are in the know about what has happened have not been and that is the group that angers me. They know what happened and don't cut the show any slack and are already all over Hogan after a month. True, Days could've handled it all better but they didn't handle it horribly. They did a decent job given how it all went down. I would think everyone knew it would take alot of work to right the ship but apparently many thought it would be magic and the bad stuff would be gone overnight. That would never and could never happen. It can't be erased but some fans don't understand that and they just want their couples or new stories and so on. It is widely known that fans are fickle but those that do know of the situation should cut Days some slack like the posters on SON have because it is only fair IMO.

On ATWT:

2000-2001- A-

2002-2003- C+

2004-2005- D

So I guess it would average out to a C+/C

I'll give him a low/mid B.

He has done wonders for Days. I am interested in most of the storylines that Hogan has been writing for. I love that he has repaired it and has made it enjoyable again and I think he is doing a fantastic job but at the same rate he is introducing these lame characters like Willow and Abby's cousin and I can't help but think it's all just alittle contrived.

Is it too much to ask for no new characters right now? and just focusing on the regular cast for atleast 3 months or so?

I don't like what he is doing to Shawn nor do I like the way Max has chosen Mimi or that Mimi has basically been seen as this saint all the sudden and as if Shawn has no real reason to be angry at her. He has every reason in the world to be but yet he is outcasted for it.

That and i'm hating this destruction of the Shawn character.

If not for that I have no problem with most of Hoagie's stories. Oh and I hated the Carrie stuff. I hate her with a passion and so glad she is gone :cat hiss:

For me Days went from F (JER) to B-/C+ (Hogan). I like the character interactions and like that not everything is being driven by plot plot plot. There are some contrivances but I make allowances based on what he has had to dig the show out of. Storylines are moving along decently, some relationships are rushed but I think for a purpose (Billie and Willow both being the girls Steve and Shawn run from when finding their ways back to Kayla and Belle, etc). Younger characters that used to make me feel like I was stuck in this horrible conjunction of Mickey Mouse Club meets Dawson's Creek now are tolerable if not downright interesting. My intelligence is insulted a lot less than under JER and I appreciate it. There is still work to be done, but this is just a progress report after all.

Steve makes a valid point about the timing of S&K's return. I do think TPTB would have been better advised to wait until August or so to bring them in. There was huge excitement when they returned but alot of it has faded away because the story has fizzled. Their long-term fans will have tolerated the wait but alot of viewers didn't see S&K in the 80's and needed something to hold their attention. I fail to see the point of bringing them back during a transitional period, placing them in a holding pattern, and showing them once a week for several months. It just took momentum away from their return. And it didn't help that the Jack/Steve scenes, which were received very positively, were abrubtly ended after Matt's firing.

S&K returning when they did was clearly a producer's decision taken before any writer had conceptualised how to handle the return. Their attitude was "let's get them on the canvas ASAP and worry about the storyline later". The approach was flawed.

There are similarities between Kate and Barbara Ryan. But it isn't fair to say that Hogan has anything to do with it since Kate has always been an overbearing mother. One character I definitely see similarities with is Sami. Sami Brady is definitely the new Carly Snyder. The same bad girl about to be a heroine, always struggling with being good. I would say that EJ is a bit like Craig but he reminds me more of the Steinbecks: James and David. David was powerful and messed and manipulated many people's lives. Mimi also seems to be the new Katie Perretti. Maybe it's just me but I can see similarities. I believe Hogan is a definite fit for Days. His writing can be dark. He has a creepy, gothic and intriguing style of writing. Days has always had an underlying creepiness about it. His pace can be slow but even when it is slow, there is still stuff happening. He's not about repeating the same dialogue and having nothing happen. It sometimes may be slow reveals but he keeps building on them for it to have bigger impact. But it can also be fast-paced, depending on the SL. He also writes cops in a smart way so we should no longer see Roman, Abe, Bo, Tek acting stupidly. On ATWT he had a lot of scenes revolved around the police station.

I hope this helped.

Thanks for providing your insight of Hogie's style of writing. I watched Sheffer's ATWT during what some viewers including posters in this thread would call his his nadir--2004--when he was having clashes with P&G big wigs over the direction of the show. There were a lot of abandoned storylines back then so it was difficult for me to get a read on his pacing of the show, particularly in the beginning/middle of the storyline....

I know that he's said that he doesn't want to duplicate his writing at ATWT with his writing at Days. But a writer has a certain style that is going to be consistent from show to show. I'm just trying to figure out what Hogie's particular style is.....

P.S. I'm sorry that I gave the impression that I abandoned this thread. I've been offline for the past couple of days reveling in what happened in Tuesday's elections!! I still can't get over it!!

Reading some of the comments, I know that some posters didn't want me to start the thread. They thought that I started this thread too soon and wanted to give Hogan more time before assessing his performance so far. I would have to respectfully disagree. Already, the ratings posts and a few spoiler posts have touched upon and in some ways been dominated by support/criticism of Sheffer's writing. I thought that it would be better if we had a thread that focused on what aspects of Sheffer's style of writing people liked and disliked. I saw this thread as more of a progress report to assess what he was doing right (if anything) or wrong (if anything). It might be fun in another couple of months to look back on this thread to compare the show then with what is said now. I know when I watched some of Hogie's work at ATWT, at times, I didn't know what direction some storylines were going but after a couple of weeks/months went by, I understood why he started the storyline the way that he did. The pieces started coming together. I know that a lot of you were uncomfortable with providing a grade for his work b/c of his short stint at Days. I understand your misgivings about not wanting to criticize him, but I think it's really important that the Days network honchos get feedback (that is if they read this board) to know what's working and what's not.

JMHO!!

Steve makes a valid point about the timing of S&K's return. I do think TPTB would have been better advised to wait until August or so to bring them in. There was huge excitement when they returned but alot of it has faded away because the story has fizzled. Their long-term fans will have tolerated the wait but alot of viewers didn't see S&K in the 80's and needed something to hold their attention. I fail to see the point of bringing them back during a transitional period, placing them in a holding pattern, and showing them once a week for several months. It just took momentum away from their return. And it didn't help that the Jack/Steve scenes, which were received very positively, were abrubtly ended after Matt's firing.

S&K returning when they did was clearly a producer's decision taken before any writer had conceptualised how to handle the return. Their attitude was "let's get them on the canvas ASAP and worry about the storyline later". The approach was flawed.

Thanks Ponz. I think at least they should have kept Steve and Kayla apart during the transition. To have them know that Steve was alive and sit in limbo for so long was what bored me to death with them. As I have said numerous times, I love Nichols and I love Evans. I actually hate the character of Kayla. I just never have liked her like I do the other Bradys. But Evans tore up the roles of Katherine on GH and Sierra on ATWT. So in essence I hate the couple together. There needed to be more to the story than it was. I just think they made a bad decision in the way the story was executed during the transition, and so much of the momentum that was gained by bringing them back was lost. JMO