It amazes me how much can change in one year...and how little some things change.

For instance...the show I watch (ATWT) has yet to deviate the focus away from such characters as Dusty, Meg, Paul, Emily, and Craig.

So here's the deal. Go to whatever source you can and look up what was occurring on your favorite soap no less than a year ago..then post it so we can discuss the changes/similarities re: certain things that are happening on canvas now.

Here's an ATWT episode summary for November 17, 2006:

With Gwen in the studio, Jade offers to buy Will a cup of coffee to celebrate the fact that he passed his G.E.D. exam. Jade uses this time to play on Will’s insecurities about Adam and Gwen. Meanwhile, Gwen questions Adam about a failed music deal she heard about from the musicians. He opens up and they grow a little closer. Later, as they’re listening to music, Will arrives, unsettled by their newfound closeness. As Will and Gwen leave, Adam watches them go, revealing more interest in Gwen than he’s ready to admit. The couple returns home to celebrate, as Jade sees Adam lose himself in Gwen’s voice as he listens to the tracks they laid down. Mike is angry when he realizes Katie and Henry have tricked him into showing up at the cottage. Seeing Katie donned in her wedding dress, Mike agrees to hear her out, but even after she recites their vows, he ultimately decides he can’t stay married to her, leaving Katie devastated. Carly, still reeling from the necklace, worries about showcasing the stolen goods, but Simon informs her it’s a reminder of their first night together. Carly is still nervous, and Simon realizes its because she’s worried about Jack’s reaction. He puts her mind at ease and as they share a flirtatious moment, Katie arrives and sees the happy couple. Extremely upset, Katie vows revenge via the new installment of "Oakdale Confidential – Secrets Revealed." Craig’s attorney reminds him of the damage Lucy could do should she testify against him for kidnapping, but Craig’s not worried. Dusty helps a nervous Lucy prepare to testify, and he reminds her that putting her dad away will guarantee their safety. When Lucy overhears Craig talking about the lengths he’ll go for his son, she confronts him. Craig plays on Lucy’s fears that if she were to testify, something awful might happen to Dusty. Lucy is torn and when she’s called to the stand, Craig’s warnings ring in her head.

And here's what was happening a year ago...on November 17, 2005:

Nervous Carly gets ready for lunch with Gwen and Will, while Jack tries to calm her. He realizes that it’s important to her to have Gwen as a sister. Meanwhile, Gwen and Will have a run-in with Iris, and Gwen makes it clear that she wants Iris to lay off Will. After they go and having already drunk the poison, Iris takes a glass that Will was holding and pours her poisoned papaya juice into it, wanting to make sure both their fingerprints are clear on the glass in order to implicate him. Stan comes over and urges her to put one more dose in so she’ll get sicker. Later, when Gwen and Will come home from Carly ’s, Will tells Gwen he wants to move in with her as Iris walks in and collapses at their feet. Lily insists to Holden and Lucinda that she is serious, and that she and Keith are together. Keith reveals that they are going to be married. Lily is forced to convince Holden that she’s doing this because she wants to, although she never comes out and says she loves Keith and not Holden. A stricken Holden leaves and tells Lucinda that he’s certain something fishy is going on and he’s going to find out what it is. Emily shockingly turns down Paul’s offer of marriage. She doesn’t want a marriage of convenience and won’t marry him unless he really wants her. Paul admits that he loves her, but can’t give her the level of commitment she’s looking for. He thinks what he’s offering should be enough but Emily isn’t sure and goes. She comes into Java to find Hal and Susan and thinks they’re conspiring against her. After getting into an argument with her mother, she returns to Paul, determined to accept his proposal after all. Instead, she finds Paul ruminating over Rosanna memorabilia and accuses him of still being in love with Rosanna after all Emily has done for him.

I think about that often to Dusty...

GUIDING LIGHT

Friday, November 17, 2006

Buzz is ready to propose to Olivia, but can’t seem to find her. Ava informs Olivia that she’s already aware that the man who fathered her is less than hero material. Olivia worries that Ava will side with Jeffrey, but Ava claims she is not proud of either parent. Later, Olivia is overwhelmed by Buzz’s support and goes straight into his arms and plants a big kiss on him. Buzz prepares to propose but feels like the setting is too ordinary and takes her out. Jeffrey reads the article Olivia planted, and Doris tells him to clean out his desk. Jeffrey decides to give the people his version of the story in response to “The Mirror” article, and tells Ava that they need to really talk. Unable to figure out how to have a Thanksgiving that includes Tammy, Jonathan, Reva, Billy and Josh, Cassie considers canceling the holiday altogether. Meanwhile, Reva goes to Billy for help with Alan, only to have him tell her she can’t have it both ways—to want his help but not his love. Josh gets a call about an emergency meeting at Towers, and finds Reva there. It turns out they’ve been set up…by Marah.

November 17, 2005

Jonathan arrives at the house he’s picked out for Tammy only to discover she and Sandy have arrived there first, hoping to buy the house together and begin their lives. Jonathan watches from the outside but once they leave, he breaks into the house and begins to destroy it. Later, he goes to Ava to warn her to steer clear of the wedding, but concerned and adamant that she has as much invested in this wedding as he does, she insists on being his date. Beth runs into a flirtatious Alan-Michael and accuses him of trying to use her to get back at his father. Alan-Michael insists he hasn't given his father that much thought in years. Gus tries to force a double date with Harley, Dinah and Mallet and admits to Harley he’s doing it because he feels Mallet won’t give up on Harley unless he has someone else to focus his energies on. Harley tells Gus he’s being ridiculous but later, Gus hears her tell Mallet she just doesn’t like the idea of him seeing another woman. Mallet’s thrown but Gus is angry as he lashes out at Harley for lying to him while Dinah, Beth and others witness it. Danny and Michelle attempt a first date only to run into Marina and Frank. Marina does her best to remain above it all, but Frank can’t help himself and asks Danny to keep his distance from Marina. Danny is happy to but reminds Frank that Springfield is a small town. Upset that their date had such a bad ending, Danny then gets an idea and gives Michelle a secret address to meet him at later. Marina, however, hurt off her run in with Danny, surprises Alan-Michael when she asks that he buy her a drink.

November 17, 2004

Reva is faced with painful memories of her past when she finds Jonathan making a scene in the Country Club fountain, just as she did so many years before. She shuts him up when she jumps into the fountain with him. After they talk for a bit, it appears that they have reached a new understanding. Later, Billy warns Reva that this kid could still be trouble. Following a tip from a bartender, Cassie goes to J Farley’s bar and finds Tammy struggling to deal with all that has happened. They share a hug but the emotional mother/daughter reunion is short-lived once Tammy learns that Cassie suspected she was stripping. Tammy asks Cassie to leave and resigns herself to leading the life of the damaged person she thinks she’s become. Dinah offers her sympathy to Cassie in the aftermath of her miscarriage. A fuming Cassie accuses Dinah of helping Tammy run away and intentionally misleading Cassie and Jeffrey as to her whereabouts. Dinah doesn’t deny it and Cassie’s left very unsettled about Dinah’s hold over her family. Lizzie is stunned when Coop arrives to quit his job as her driver now that Phillip is dead. Coop points out how far gone Phillip was at the end, but Lizzie vehemently defends her father and vows to carry on Phillip’s legacy. Bill makes peace with Billy before taking on a new role as Emma’s father. Olivia sees Bill trying too hard and tells him the choice to continue with their marriage and partnership in the aftermath of Phillip’s death is up to him. Bill stuns Olivia with his declaration that he does indeed want to be with her and will give their marriage a shot if she will.

November 17, 2003

On a stake out, Harley and Gus have trouble keeping their hands off each other. An intruder enters the apartment, and they’re stunned to realize it’s Phillip. He thinks Olivia lives there. When Andrea returns home, Phillip apologizes and promises not to bother her again. Later, Phillip sees his fantasy daughter again, and tries to convince himself she's not real. Alan runs into Lucia, who senses his sadness. She encourages him to reach out to Phillip. Lizzie complains to Beth about being cast as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Beth attempts to convince Lizzie that the nurse is an integral character to the story. Lizzie thinks Beth, like Juliet, is unlucky in love. Alan tries to make a case for the nurse. Beth informs Alan that she dumped Jeffrey O'Neill. Alan believes Beth could help Phillip find himself again. She agrees that they all need to pull together and fight for Phillip. Marah, Michelle and Marina realize they've all been visited by the same woman: Carrie. Carrie appears and explains that the early houses were all built by the same man, and include secret panels and access to the tunnels under Springfield. She reveals that she lives in a secret wing of Michelle's house, and that she has another secret, which she will only share if they promise not to tell another soul. They agree to keep Carrie's secret.

This is a cool idea. Here's the daily update for DAYS for this year:

Daily Update for

Nov. 17, 2006

On their way back from Canada, Marlena tells John she doesn't want him investigating EJ and Patrick anymore. It's too dangerous. John refuses. Alone, Marlena goes to Bo in hopes that he'll convince John to opt out of the investigation. Bo reluctantly agrees to help Marlena. Meanwhile, Abe and Roman give Tek the task of sifting through EJ's bank records. John asks Abe to deputize him so he can help with the investigation in an official capacity. Just then Tek emerges with information: EJ has a safe deposit box.

Kayla's feeling much better and thanks Steve for all his help. She knows this has been hard for him, so she gives him the option of walking away from their relationship. Steve is unable to do so when Stephanie arrives and interrupts the moment. Steve tells Stephanie that when he and Kayla leave the hospital it will be together. Later, Steve confides in Hope about his predicament with Billie/Kayla. He wants to help Kayla, but Billie is the one he has feelings for.

Bo arrives at his house with a suitcase. He's moving back in after Hope agreed that they should give their relationship another try.

http://www.daysofourlives.com/updates/dail...etail_2328.html

From November 17th, 2005 courtesy of soapcentral:

John has checked and can't find a record of Alex and Marlena ever having been divorced. He believes this is proof that they were never married in the first place. Alex shocks them all when he tells John, Marlena and Kate that he and Marlena aren't together because he was declared dead. Alex was a special ops agent who was captured. Marlena was told that he died and suffered her first bout of hysterical amnesia. All memory of Alex was erased. When Alex finally was found and returned, he learned Marlena had moved to Salem. When he tracked her down, he saw that she was married to and had children with Roman and Alex couldn't break up a family. When he heard she had amnesia again, he couldn't stay away. John verifies that Alex was in special ops, but that doesn't prove he and Marlena were ever married. He wants all the details of their relationship because Marlena's still his wife. Marlena says no, she's not... If what Alex said is true, then Alex and Marlena are still married.

Austin takes Sami to see the space he's considering for his offices. Sami's shocked when she sees it is Brandon's old loft. She thinks this is a bad idea but Nicole disagrees. They need a space that's more credible than Sami's place. Austin's torn; he's usually conservative, but now that they've landed the Clear Visage account, he thinks they should go for it!

Lucas is at Chez Rouge with Sophie when Hans Schnitzel and Lulu arrive. Sophie recognizes her as the "diamond divorcee.".. a woman who marries, then divorces wealthy men, bleeding them dry. Lucas uses this info to blackmail Lulu into convincing Hans to take the Clear Visage account away from Austin and give it back to him/Titan. Lulu has no choice and Lucas celebrates having stolen Clear Visage back from Austin, Sami and Nicole.

Jack is going to take pills tonight and has arranged a final, ultra romantic dinner for himself and Jennifer. They share memories and make love. After Jennifer falls asleep in his arms, Jack stares at the bottle of pills, knowing that the end is near...

http://www.soapcentral.com/days/recaps/2005/051114.php

ATWT was sooo good last year, and this year, for the most part, it's been completely boring. And I don't even want to think about how much better GL was 2 years ago, it'll only depress me.

Days was HORRIBLE last year. the John/Marlena/Alex storyline was stupid,wasted WN talent and ruined years of history.then of course the Austin/Carrie/Sami/Lucas drama..they should have gone for a Carrie/Austin/Nicole instead,but that would have required writting something new instead of coping old scripts.

I did enjoy that episode's J/J scenes,but the following ep(Nov.18) had a great powerfull scenes when Jennifer wondered what if this was their last night together.great acting.I Miss both of them.

Days now..Too boring for my taste.I watch scenes here and then,but still cant get back to the show as a whole.I dont really have an opinion on Hogan yet since he is in a building stage,which I just find boring.good written,but boring.

_______

I loved last year's ATWT. started watching since Days was pure crap fest..and really enjoyed all the storylines. I still watch it but it became a bit dull for the past few weeks,hopefully it will change soon.

Interesting that the main story STILL revolves around Gwen and Will on ATWT, but now it's just feeling tired. Maybe because this is their 30453049530498 tragic and dramatic storyline in that year's time, and they still have barely dealt with the original ones. I like them a lot, but they need time OFF the front burner for a while.

I'm glad the Keith story is long-gone now.

I'm glad the Keith story is long-gone now.

You ain't the only one...