What would you do to improve ATWT?

[Soapsuds]

I really love 4, 5 and 6. That would make me happy.

[Adam]

Well first of all can we please get Gwen and Will on the backburner? I know Jennifer Landon has alot of fans here but I personally do not see what is so great about her. I mean sure she should be a part of the show but not the only part.

ATWT has so many vets, why don't they use them?

Um make Barbara a front and centre character again. One thing Hogan did right! I loved his version of Barbara!

But like everyone else said, Fire Jean Passanante!

I've never been a die hard fan of ATWT but I always recognized it as damn good soap opera! At least for the last 7 years or so. But man once Hogan's influence was gone from this show, its focus was lost.

Jean seems to be good when she is in the shadows of a great HW (Hogan, Agnes Nixon) but once she is given the reigns, she bombs harder than anyone ever has.

[kelly1142]

1. Enough with the hooker story and enough with Paul being isolated with the Snyders. Have Paul and Emily's baby miraculously be alive and have a story (the kind that JP purports to like, multigenerational family stories) that involves them, their baby, Susan, Barbara, James, Will, and Ali...two core families and the baby with the best soap genes ever.

2. When Carly comes back, let her have her designing career back. Either go into business with Paul (who also desperately needs a job) or find that check Rosanna gave her years ago to start her own business.

3. Jade is Rose's daughter - where are her interactions with people Rose had contact with? Carly, Emily - Rose's BFF's, Dusty/Paul, Rose's men...

4. It's hard for me to buy Brad/Katie/Jack for many reasons...one of which is it doesn't fit Jack IMO. But the other is Katie just supposedly lost the 2 loves of her life 5 minutes ago, stop trying to rush her into another romantic relationship.

5. Tie up the loose Johnny ends. It's not believable that Dusty and Craig would just forget about him and not even be looking.

6. Most of all, quit the isolation in stories. When was the last time Emily and Henry had a scene? When was the last time Paul had a scene with his family? Barbara hasn't even mentioned her granddaughter's death. Paul's visions being only about Snyders when his brother and his ex - wife are certainly having tons of issues in their lives makes no sense.

7. Backburner Gwen/Will for a bit.

8. Casey and Maddie are untapped potential. Give THEM a story.

9. Give Luke a story.

10. When Carly gets back, CarJack need to get on the road to reunion.

Most of all - use the characters' histories/relationships....

[Soapsuds]

Firing JP I've said over and over. That is a given. So is firing CG too. He is a damn good director though but his vision for ATWT is just not there.

[P.J.]

Kelly---

I love all of your ideas. The suggestion for Jade would especially give Jade some focus. But I think the non-Casey/Maddie story just means ZR is not re-signing with the show. I don't think the Em-a-ho story is really about anything other than screaming "LOOK, Emily's a WHORE!". If they wanted to deal with Em's issues, just having one-night stands with guys would have been more true to Em's character.

And DOUBLE WORD to reuniting Carjack, and giving Carly a career.

[RogerNewcomb]

The show desperately needs FOCUS. Goutman's vision is way off. He only sees Nancy and Kim usefulness as being Katie's talk-to? Yuck.

I would focus the show on the Hughes and Snyder families and cut the peripheral characters. We are so far removed from the original family, The Lowells, that it's not worth saving at this point. The show needs a smaller, focused cast. Henry and Vienna might be cute but what are they to Oakdale?

The next generation is already in place. I'd just bring back Chris Hughes and a son of Frannie or Sabrina to round out the family. Luke's new love interest should be a Hughes. If they cast another peripheral character not tied to anyone, it will be more fragmented Oakdale.

If you always keep in mind what the show is about, your holiday episodes, special occasions, etc will satisfy fans. Based on how ATWT treated the 50th anniversary and treats holidays, TPTB have no clue what fans watch this show for.

[winterguy125]

I totally agree with your whole post, but I really agree with the bold part

[Soapsuds]

See thats the main problem with ATWT right now. They dont know how to use their reach history in telling their storylines. Case in point bringing in Andy for Luke's drinking problem and later bringing in Hank Elliot back to the canvas for a short while to help Luke out with his sexuality. The writers and executive producer have no clue what ATWT is truly about. I agree with that statement.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

ATWT has the best script and dialog writers on all of daytime, it's just that hack at the top of the writing team that screws everything up.

For one, I'll start with ATWT's large veteran cast. ATWT was always the soap that showcased multi-generational storylines, yet we get none of that anymore. The show needs to widen its focus in terms of diversity, on all accounts!

The stories they do need better payoffs.

The stories need thorough examinations since a lot of what we see just doesn't make any sense.

Give Barbara a damn storyline to herself, CZP is one of ATWT's most dynamic actresses!

Place more focus on Luke and his love life. It might turn some people off, but they started it and they must follow it all the way through.

SO many of these problems can be instantly fixed, but TPTB choose to be stupid.

[Adam]

Its coming up a year since he came out and we basically have had no movement. The whole storyline has been really handled in a very negative way. If they were so worried about making their conservative fan base throw their arms up, then they shouldn't have done it in the first place. Unless you were going to go full steam, why eve bother. No representation is better than bad representation. That's when things with this show really starting going downhill for me. The Luke storyline became all about other people's reactions.... other than Luke himself.

Granted, I have not watched more than an episode every few weeks or since last June, but from what I hear on the boards, not much has changed.

[Soapsuds]

That's the thing though. I have read mainly positive comments about Luke's coming out storyline. Why TPTB wouldnt take full advantage of this is beyond me. ATWT's ratings when Luke came out to Lily and Holden were higher than they are now. So why not go full steam with this story? Dumb...dumb...if you ask me.

[All My Shadows]

First of all, like Steve, I'd backburner no one. One of the main reasons why fans complain about soaps in general is because veterans are backburnered. Isn't it sort of hypocritical, then, to automatically say put so-and-so on the backburner?

No characters should be backburnered ever. If you're going to intentionally decide to not use them, why not just fire them? Characters like Gwen and Katie are on a whole lot, but, still, they are legitimate characters on the show with connections to many other characters. Having them suddenly disappear to the backburner would be no better than having Lisa suddenly disappear or Kim or Susan. It wouldn't make any sense.

All characters need to be treated equally. Some should play supporting roles now, leading roles later, while others should do vice versa. It's all a matter of equality among the cast. You can't just give all the storylines to the vets either. One day those vets will be gone, so what happens then? The show is cancelled? You have to build the future generations so that the show lasts into the future.

My main suggestion would be to restore the families. When doing a run-down of the show's families, I find myself coming up with so many names. Hughes, Snyder, Munson, Ryan, Stewart, etc. So many of the families are connected to each other and should be considered the same. Barbara and her kids have always been considered Hugheses by association, but we rarely see it. The two branches of the Snyder family currently on the show rarely interact with each other, save for Parker and Faith. Also, the show desperately needs to restore the Stewart family (the RIGHT way). Emily, IMO, is a character I would never kill off anytime soon simply because she is the only blood relative of the Lowells, who were an original core family when the show first debut. Her maternal grandmother is Ellen Lowell, of course, who should have never been fired from the show (or did Pat Bruder leave?) in the first place. Dee and/or Annie need to return. Annie has fricken quadruplets! At any time throughout the 1990s, why did none of the EPs or HWs think of bringing one or two of those quads (or all four of them) to be a part of the teen scene? Adjusting the year of their birth (1984) for SORASing, they'd be in the age range of Paul, Meg, Dusty, etc.

[Soapsuds]

As to your question AMS, Patricia Bruder was fired by John Valente. When he replaced Laurence Caso as EP he fired her and Scott Defreitas(Andy Dixon). A big mistake if you ask me. I miss Ellen Stewart. I say bring her and Lyla Peretti back too. It's a shame we have so many vets on the show and they are not being used.

AMS, I agree with your balancing of characters. That's what Douglas Marland did very well.

[WTGH]

Bring back some focus to the Hughes's. It's been ages since we've seen Bob and Kim's house.

If Katie must torment us with her presence, give her a story where she has some growth. Natalie Snyder is more mature than this heinous wench.

The stories are for the most part OK, but they're just boring. I'd like stories with more excitement and action.

Barbara. 'Nuff said.

Let Jade move on from the vomitous GWill and have her spread her wings elsewhere. I dunno... become a model for Carly's fashion line or something.

Let Paul do something else other than wallow in self-pity.

If they'll bring back Rosanna, have someone who is willing to commit to the role. Not enter and leave whenever she wants (2003-2004ish). And after the show has accomodated to her schedule badmouth it once she quits. Yes, CM, I'm looking right at you...

Unpopular Opinion Time!!!!! For the most part, I like JP's writing. She lacks the excitement Hogan brought to the stories, but under her some sense of family has been restored.

[P.J.]

Eh...there are times I agree, it's not the writing, but the execution of the stories that drives me nuts. It's pretty bad when stuff that's happened off-screen (Cheri describing Jack making waves for her business; Margo and Maddie's close relationship which is the excuse for Maddie not wanting to take the blame for an accident; Hal's posthumous award, etc.) sounds more interesting that what's onscreen. I mean, does having one more under five player cost so much that we can't see Dusty run in to Emily's latest john and scare him off?

Then I think JP's pacing is so off, it affects story. Look at the build up to the Simon/Katie story. Like four months we got of Katie jealousy boffing Mike to rub it in Simon's face that she was happy. Then one night, Katie, seemingly out of the blue, pulls out a box of old memories and screws Simon because he shows up. Okkkaaaayyy.....does that lead to anyone dealing with their feelings? ANYONE? Not that I remember. By the next week, Mike read her confession, slugged Simon, informed Carly, and Carly yelled at him for five minutes before forgiving him. Then everyone moved on to the next plot point, which was Katie's vendetta and Carly being so blindly enamored of Simon she couldn't live without him and following all of his stupid suggestions to the letter. (MY Carly would never have worn that stupid diamond around her neck for weeks. NEVER!)

So, whether it's JP's bad writing, or lack of writing fundamentals, something has to change. And the easiest thing to do is fire her.

Oh, and about backburnering characters....it may sound hypocritical, but I don't think it is. Backburner used to mean huge chunks of time off. They really don't do that anymore. Now everyone is in their own little story, and never supporting someone else's. I'm tired of Gwen's consistant front-burner status. Let her run around for six months, being Maddie's friend and Carly's sister and not driving yet another "Perils of Gwen" story. Gwen was brought on as Carly's sister...for pete's sake, they hadn't had a scene together in months before Carly skipped town. What is the use in that? If you build a bond between them (a true bond, not just reference it when it's expedient), it only adds to the show. Katie could fall off the face of the Earth and I wouldn't care...but in six months, she's had maybe THREE scenes with nuCraig. It's not like Katie didn't spend every day rehashing her stupid need for revenge on Simon. At least she could have brought Craig up to speed. Instead of spending day after day insisting she just "needed to prove to Mike she was over Simon" by obsessing about getting Simon out of town.