For the last time FIRE.....FIRE ...FIRE JEAN PASSNANTE AND CHRIS GOUTMAN

[Soapsuds]

Lorraine Broderick had Jack and Carly up there too. Along with Emily. The only difference is that Katie is at #33 or so. No where near the top.

[jfung79]

The key differences for my point are 1) that Margo and Tom were also way up there, and 2) that Carly was there too and it wasn't Jack alone.

Katie back then was one of the teens. She was introduced late in the year, and actually did get a lot of airtime once she was introduced.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Word! And Eileen Fulton (Lisa Miller Grimaldi) was in 123 episodes for the year of 98, when's the last year she's been used in at least 50 episodes since then? I can't think of any!

[P.J.]

Well, it took a while to type that out. My point is, if the story made sense, it would be exciting, and you wouldn't notice "character X" is on constantly and feel like you were enduring story, instead of watching it.

And I violently disagree that Jack is by definition, a boring character. He's been written into a rut, and I don't just mean with Carly. Jack should, by his family connection and his job, be a hero. But thanks to a shift in the soap universe, criminals are now the more "sexy" characters to write for. Heroes aren't always heroic, but this soap (and certainly this writer) aren't talented enough to explore any character's inner struggles. Probably the closest ATWT came to being the ATWT of old (lately) is February, when both Jack and Lily were struggling with their children's issues. And instead of building on that and leading to Carly's return, TAIC dropped it like a hot potato, making Lily a diet pill addict, and Jack a horny teenager.

And this show suffers from the lack of interactions outside their particular story bubble. No one has friends, and people are rarely even enemies on this show anymore. Why isn't the Kack relationship being affected by Craig & Meg's? Why doesn't Barbara ever talk to her children anymore? Does Jade just get stuck in a closet for 6-8 weeks at a time, until Gwen needs to be hounded again? Why can't Ali and Will talk? Couldn't anyone outside of her children (at least 2/3 of them anyway) welcome Carly home? Does Gwen even know she's been released? It's just redonkulous.

[Soapsuds]

Yup, I noticed that and Lucinda at #8. Barbara was at #19...could be higher but she hasnt been seen at all anymore.

[Soapsuds]

Gwen and Carly did have scenes already. Carly went to see Gwen to tell her she was back. If you blinked you missed it. But it was more to redeem(get her out of jail) Cleo then any other thing. I dont think they've had scenes since.

[Soapsuds]

Here is the cast appearances back in 98

AS THE WORLD TURNS (ATWT) 1998

A list of how many episodes each actor appeared in 1998,

1. Maura West (Carly Tenney) 196

(19/17/16/20/17/15/21/14/12/13/17/15)

2. Ellen Dolan (Margo Hughes) 188

(14/17/15/14/13/20/19/18/18/18/10/12)

3. Michael Park (Jack Snyder) 187

(18/18/16/18/12/17/21/14/15/10/15/13)

4. Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily Stewart) 157

(9/10/10/17/5/17/16/18/17/19/8/11)

5. Scott Holmes (Tom Hughes) 154

(4/8/10/14/12/18/17/18/18/18/8/9)

6. Lesli Kay (Molly Conlan) 150

(15/5/15/18/11/7/11/10/12/18/13/15)

7. Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson) 148

(14/14/17/20/17/10/13/13/9/9/9/3)

8. Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda Walsh) 140

(16/16/12/12/10/8/12/12/12/11/13/6)

9. Jon Hensley (Holden Snyder) 129

(14/11/9/11/9/6/11/13/15/9/14/7)

10. Eileen Fulton (Lisa Miller Grimaldi) 123

(13/17/14/11/10/10/3/10/9/7/9/10)

11. Larry Bryggman (John Dixon) 122

(11/9/13/19/15/7/6/4/5/5/16/12)

11. Annie Parisse (Julia Lindsey) 122

(0/0/0/7/11/17/17/16/17/12/16/9)

13. Nathaniel Marston (Eddie Silva) 120

(0/0/3/10/12/19/19/17/11/10/7/12)

14. Daniel Markel (David Stenbeck) 115

(10/13/16/16/11/8/8/13/16/3/1/0)

15. Martha Byrne (Lily Walsh Snyder) 114

(12/16/9/14/8/0/3/3/14/12/13/10)

16. Peter Parros (Ben Harris) 105

(7/12/7/6/8/16/11/8/5/5/9/11)

17. Anthony Herrera (James Stenbeck) 103

(12/14/5/6/1/6/0/16/16/11/14/2)

18. Lauren B.Martin (Camille Bennett) 98

(4/6/5/7/9/15/8/9/4/8/9/14)

19. Coleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara Ryan) 90

(10/9/10/13/10/3/3/9/7/7/6/3)

20. Scott DeFreitas (Andy Dixon) 88

(10/10/8/10/6/8/6/8/8/6/1/7)

21. Kathryn Hays (Kim Sullivan) 78

(12/10/3/7/3/8/5/12/6/4/4/4)

22. Nick Kokotakis (Brad Snyder) 77

(0/0/0/0/0/9/14/9/5/10/13/17)

23. Jordana Brewster (Nikki Munson) 68

(8/12/14/8/8/10/1/3/4/0/0/0)

24. Marie Masters (Susan Stewart) 67

(3/0/2/5/4/10/15/7/5/8/3/5)

25. Sherri Alexander (Samantha Markham Anderson) 63

(12/12/6/9/3/1/9/11/0/0/0/0)

26. Tom Wiggin (Kirk Anderson) 54

(12/11/5/6/3/1/6/10/0/0/0/0)

27. Jamie Dudney (Georgia Tucker) 53

(0/0/0/0/0/0/10/12/7/7/7/10)

28. Don Hastings (Bob Hughes) 52

(10/6/1/0/3/5/4/10/3/2/4/4)

29. Craig Lawlor (Adam Hughes) 37

(0/0/0/0/3/2/0/7/6/9/4/6)

30. Saundra McClain (Sara Ruth Bennett) 35

(1/2/1/4/4/7/1/3/0/0/4/8)

30. Kathleen Widdoes (Emma Snyder) 35

(4/1/1/3/1/11/3/1/1/0/5/4)

32. Terri Conn Colombino (Katie Peretti) 33

(0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/8/9/6/10)

33. Tamara Tunie (Jessica Griffin) 23

(4/5/3/3/1/2/1/1/0/3/0/0)

34. Helen Wagner (Nancy Hughes) 21

(2/0/0/3/1/4/1/5/1/0/1/3)

35. Cruise Rosso (Casey Hughes) 17

(0/0/2/0/1/0/0/3/0/5/2/4)

36. Patrick Tovatt (Cal Stricklyn) 15

(4/3/0/0/0/5/0/1/0/0/1/1)

37. Yvonne Perry (Rosanna Cabot) 8

(0/0/1/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/0/1)

38. Lisa Brown (Iva Snyder) 7

(4/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0/0/1/0)

38. Valerie Perrine (Dolores Pierce) 7

(0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7)

40. Patricia Bruder (Ellen Lovell Stewart) 5

(0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/0/0/1/0)

41. Rosemary Prinz (Penny Hughes) 4

(0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/0/0/0/0)

42. Alexandra Herzog (Jennifer Munson) 3

(1/0/0/2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0)

43. Barbara Garrick (Rita Renfield) 2

(0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2)

44. Bryan Abadrabo (Will Munson) 1

(1/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0)

[P.J.]

But since Carly was released from jail???? I don't think so. Sigh.....y'know, it's damned frustrating when family never talks to family. I don't even remember the last time Will was allowed to talk to Paul.

[jfung79]

P.J., I agree with your point that characters should interact outside thier immediate story bubble, and with your positive reference to Jack and Lily dealing with family problems in February. You also make a good case that Jack is not by definition a boring character.

[DevotedToAMC]

They need to get rid of Pissanante but Goutman is alright....who knows they might hire Megan McTavish to replace Piss

In fact that is what I am predicting...Goutman and McT worked at AMC together in the mid 90s

[Chris B]

Unless we hear something soon, CBS is planning on cancelling ATWT and GL. In one year they've gone from a 2.7 (beating mega hit GH) to a 2.0 and nothing has been done? This should be emergency time and that writer should be GONE. No way you lose that many viewers if you're doing the right thing.

I said when they won the Writers Guild award that Passanante wasn't going anywhere. Sad thing is that LUKE's story got them that award and they don't even write for Luke! Sick! It's been six months and what would Van have to submit for the Emmys? Nothing.

[RogerNewcomb]

I like Jack and Katie. But the writing once again let us down. If they wanted to have a triangle with Jack, Katie and Carly, they should have hooked up Jack and Katie soon after Carly left and had them at a stronger point by now. Instead they cast a "hunk" (Brad) to fill the hunk quotient and wasted a bunch of time.

The long-term story planning stinks and the show is too gimmicky. Goutman doesn't "get" As The World Turns.

If Goutman and Passanante aren't fired, I see it as a sign that CBS has resigned themselves to this being ATWT's last year and they will let the current regime finish off the show.

[Chris B]

I don't think there is anything wrong with Jack and Katie where they are now, but Jack, Katie and Brad can't carry this show. To even think that is ridiculous. Why are they on all day, everyday? Michael Park is a brilliant supporting actor, but lead? My ass!

Then you have boring Paul and Meg hogging screentime and stinking up Criag and Lucinda's storyline. Ellie or Iva are the Snyder daughters who work with Craig. By extention you have Sierra and Rosanna as well. Meg and Paul need to be far, far away from Craig. In fact, I'd put Dusty back with Meg (or write her off) and put Paul in a triangle with Jade (Rose's daughter) and Rosanna.

[P.J.]

Oh, Roger....they couldn't invent a strong enough point for Kack to be at, to create some viable triangle. The only thing TAIC have done half-right, is waiting to have Kack screw until after Carly came home.

[P.J.]

I agree Meg and Paul should be far, far away from Craig. Why they didn't make Craig and Emily some "bad" power couple out to make Maul miserable is beyond me.

Michael Park is too a lead actor....but why I sat through FIVE years of Hunt Block's Craig sticking his nose in everyone's business, and on nearly EVERY episode, but can barely get SCOTT BRYCE's Craig on the show, when the plot revolves around his character, is beyond me.