ATWT: Spoilers for the week of July 2.

[petunia]

Okay...can still taste the vomit in my mouth from reading the Jack and Caty skinny dipping spoiler. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dragonflies]

LOL I remember Carolyn Hinsey saying in her column not too long ago "Someone should tell ATWT's Noah that he's gay, cause he and Maddie just heat up the screen"

I'm wondering if he's really going to even get with Luke at all.

[WTGH]

Surely, you jest.

A little black and white short played in my mind while reading this.

-->

MEG mourns Paul?! When are they going to allow BARBARA to be the star of these stories that clearly belong to her.

Jennifer dies...Dusty is shown mourning, not Barbara.

Hal dies...Margo is shown mourning, not the true love of Hal's life. Obviously they needed Margo's connection to Hal to reintroduce Adam.

Barbara's granddaughter dies....she is never told on screen and to date has never said a word about it.

Barbara's Grandson is missing...despite being hugely obsessed with Johnny, she's not even involved with the search for him or taking down Craig!

Now, Paul is dead...yes he's Barbara's son, but do you really expect them to allow her to grieve in depth? I give her one, two episodes TOPS.

Oh yeah and we have Will's car accident and Hal's concert in Branson. Where are the spoilers about Barbara going to speak? Didn't she recently accept an award (off screen) for Hal?

COLLEEN ZENK PINTER DESERVES BETTER!

That boring Meg sucks with Paul and Craig. Barbara, Ellie, Rosanna, Betsy, Iva, Carly, Lily, etc. all put her to shame when it comes to Craig. She's such a dull heroine to be taking up so much airtime.

So much WORD!

[P.J.]

Y'know at least like 30 years ago, when Barbara was starring in the "Perils of Pauline" stuff with James, he was a someone truly worthy of contempt. Cleo? It's like hatin' on your annoying twirpy cousin who lisps and follows you around.

[stenbeck212]

Yes, there are bisexual people. But this Noah/Maddie thing is a COP OUT so ATWT can ease the viewers into a gay romance and maybe carry on the hope that Noah is totally straight. On the P&G board, people replied by saying explicitly that they'd STOP watching if Luke and Noah become a couple. You better believe they take that more seriously than hundreds of letters saying the writing sucks.

[Soapsuds]

Well...hell no one is watching now as it is...so why not go for it....go full steam ahead with the romance.....And I agree with you about the cop out.....I wish Douglas Marland were here to write this story....hell all of ATWT to this point.

[jujie]

I think any group that is homophobic is generally "bi"-phobic as well, so I'm not sure what good "easing" them into the story does. Sadly, it just muddies the waters for people who, with the best of intentions, think being gay is a choice rather than a biological imperative. AMC's writers did the same thing by writing Bianca as attracted to, essentially, a male. I don't understand why they did it, since she was already out and the network had already withstood all the flac. It's not as if it somehow lured that viewer segment back: "Hey, it's not a gay story, it's a transgender story. Well that makes it okay then, count me in."

Also, when you think about it, having a truly "bi" storyline on network tv would be pretty revolutionary. There is certainly a story to be told there. Unfortunately, this is not the right time or place to tell that tale. (See "muddies the waters" above!)

Oh, question. I've been watching ATWT for about 6-7 months now. I don't mean to actor bash because I think she does a great job, but what's the story with Barbara? It sounds like she's got some sort of speech impediment, like someone who wears dentures that slip, or like she's had a stroke. Is there a health issue here or is it just my imagination?

[sungrey]

I gotta confess I'm not crazy about the whole Luke story, but now that they're into it ATWT best stick to its guns. I'm kinda surprised P&G is letting ATWT tell the story, given that company's history about keeping its soaps conservative, but face it... the times have changed and Doug did such a good job with Hank Eliot.

I shared the same sentiment, though, once I saw Noah with Maddie. When those sparks flew, I went "uh oh, ATWT, you've got a problem"...

And by the way, AMC copped out. Eden Riegel and Liz Hendrickson had tremendous chemistry and they blew the entire story just so McCrappish could tell a half-baked transgender tale. Sooooooo glad B&E are taking over there real soon.

[Marilyn_M]

What thread is that in on PGP?

[P.J.]

That happened out of the blue. I've assumed CZP had some kind of dental work that will have cleared up by the time she appears this week.

[ATWTCarOn4Ever]

Because they don't feel comfortable with homosexuality they're homophobic? Theyr'e just being honest IMO. I'm the last person to say what defines homophobic or w/e but I don't think that those statements were meant to say, "I hate gay people".

Anyways I don't see how being bi could ease them into a Luke/Noah pairing.

I just find the relationship to be stale. As much as I want to enjoy Luke and Noah and I loved Luke's scenes on Wed or Thursday of last week, I still find the progressing to be quite horrible. Theres only been 2 or 3 scenes where we see a hint that Luke didn't like Noah. And now we're suppposed to suddenly believe that hes madly in love with Noah! Beyond pathetic really.

And all to bring the gay viewers that ATWT will lose as soon as the storyline is over ALONG with the viewers who don't want to see a gay character on tv.

[winterguy125]

Can I ask what you would do to bring up the ratings seeing as you seem to have all the answers?

[stenbeck212]

In a nutshell, YEAH, those protesters would certainly be homophobes. Luke has never had a relationship on the show, and we haven't even gotten used to Noah. So what other reason would a viewer have to STOP watching just because they're together? We don't even know if they have chemistry yet! It's not like CarJack lovers sickened by the idea of Katie tearing them apart. There's a history to back up strong opinions there. How are Luke and Noah "stale" when they've had maybe 3 conversations thus far? Okay, even if I give you benefit of the doubt about their freshness, I don't recall you saying that's enough to make you stop watching. It's a matter of degree. Some bigots will beat you up to make a point, while others will simply stop watching a soap. It's not complicated.

[Actor87]

WTGH, you should go check out the Spoiler Island thread I created "CBS Daytime: New Promo" ...that is...if you're no longer spoiler-free.

[jujie]

I don't know. I can see where ATWTCarOn is coming from. I loved Bianca's storyline but felt absolutely NO INTEREST in watching a transgender storyline. I quit watching the show for that an many other reasons (primarily I was bored, the zarf/zoe was reason #2 and the reason I never went back was that they killed off Dixie and dissed Brooke English so I changed to ATWT). Am I "transgender-phobic"? I hope not because my best friend is a female to male transgender and I've been through most of the journey with her. (And yes, I know that sounds like the old bigotted remark, "some of my best friends are black ...." but it's true.) I just don't need to watch a transgender story on TV because I don't find it compelling at all.

People like what they can relate to. I happen to think "gay sex is hot" (said in Will Truman's voice to Grace Adler on W&G). It leaves other people cold so they don't care to watch it. It's a lot like the people who get so up in arms because their favorites aren't featured ("I'll quit watching if they pair so and so together" ... "I'll quit watching unless Scrubs gets more screen time" ... "I'm on the barge!!!") Most of those people still watch, oddly enough. There's also a large segment that doesn't want yet another teen storyline, regardless of whether it's groundbreaking. People are selfish (love them anyway, as the saying goes), they don't care about things that don't reflect directly on their needs. Sad but true.

So while I don't necessarily agree with ATWTCarOn, I can see where he/she is coming from. I do agree, however, that there's a difference between the people who just aren't interested in a gay storyline taking over "their show" because they can't relate to it and it takes time out from "their" couples, and a person who refuses to watch because the idea of anything gay on tv is indecent in their opinion. I guess I'm reluctant to term someone a homophobe unless I have a bit more to go on.

ETA: Re "we don't even know whether they have chemistry yet." So far I'm in the camp that wants a gay storyline to be told on tv but think Luke and Noah have absolutely NO chemistry. That might change but the fact that Noah DOES spark with Maddie is problematic.