Is ATWT all teens?

[Andre]

I just need to say I'm absolutely appalled by the behaviour of certain posters. All opinions are equal, but some, it seems, are more equal than others.

[All My Shadows]

Wow...this thread is funnnnny.

But anyway, there's no doubt about it, ATWT has several teens. Talking about characters alone, we have Will, Gwen, Jade, Maddie, Cleo, and Luke all on contract. Noah is on recurring. Dallas...well...today he just happened to show up. Back to nowhere land he goes (because, you know, today was his first episode in months, and maybe only nuDallas's third episode). So, logically, there's 7 teenaged characters on the show (I say teenaged because that's what I view them as, the teen set. Jade, I'm sure, is probably 20-21. Gwen is probably not too much younger than Jade. Maddie and Luke both just graduated (but we didn't see it, of course), so they should be in the 17-19 range).

They are most definitely isolated, no doubts at all about that either. Will's brother just went over a cliff and is missing, so he's at the police station trying to stick it in....I mean stick it to Jade? Luke and Jade are the only two who regularly have scenes with their family, but those scenes have even come few and far between now that Lily and Faith are getting past their eating disorders. Maddie and Henry have scenes together rarely anymore.

Eh, I don't know what the point of this post is. I just think that the teens on the show are indeed showcased a lot, but I don't think their ages should play a part in anything. People act as if teenagers are by default boring and uninteresting. Sure, these do have a tendency to get that way, but I'd much rather the stories that the teens do on ATWT than the musical theatre and Vegas shenanigans that the teens are involved with on the others soaps I watch.

ETA: Oh, and to answer the title question...no, ATWT is not all teens. Today just happened to be a day where two of the teen storylines were featured prominently. If you don't believe me, ask Katie Peretti, Jack Snyder, Carly Tenney, Craig Montgomery, Meg Snyder, and Paul Ryan. They'll gladly put you "in the know."

[WTGH]

The teen scene is HUGELY overrated.

Yes, Will and Gwen were good one summer a couple of years ago. They haven't been remotely interesting in as many years. Their stories have sucked, the acting has dwindled (Landon, I'm looking at you Miss Mumbles) and the characters have gotten more and more stupid.

Maddie, Gwen, Will and now Noah are way too sanctimonious, when they're just as morally corrupt as Jade, who is supposed to be the Salem witch.

[rxcats]

Teen storylines are common during the summer. They are trying to capture a new, younger audiance during the school break. It seems like a reasonable thing to do.

[Ryan]

The soaps need to realize that capturing the "new younger" audience isn't going to work. Their money is bringing back the longtime viewers who will then expose the younger people to the show.

[Actor87]

I actually think Jay brought up a very valid point. It is kind of dis-heartening for a potential ATWT viewere to turn on the channel one day and see a slew of teens and only a handful of the talented older actors.

ATWT shoves teens down our throats and we constantly whine about them being on all the time, but when a potential ATWT viewer makes the same observation and insinuates that he might as well go back to the show he watches now (instead of continuing his recent start to watching ATWT, we get defensive?! That's not right.

Jay, you should have seen these teens at the beginning of their tenure. When Jesse S. was first shown talking to a therapist about his mom, I praised the soap gods above for casting such a talented actor. Now. all he does is walk around with the same polo short and the same hideous slicked-back hairdo and talk about his eternal love for Gwen.

Jennifer Landon never impressed me until the Casey/baby storyline. And then the subtle hint of a Will/Gwen romance really brought out her natural ability to act out love, devotion, confidence, commitment, and yet keep the same stubborn, hard-working, tight-emotioned personality of "Gwen". Now, all she does is recite her lines. Like yesterday when she found out Will was in a wreck, she basically read the line "Oh my gosh" like it was on a cereal box.

Alexandra Chando had a rocky start, but came into her own in the role. Then, she was paired with Casey and all things "Maddie" were thrown out the window. Her insistent devotion to her brother Henry, her nosiness in others' love lives, her funny, imaginativ daydreams. They all seemed to come to an end. Now that Casey's gone, she's getting her groove back. Slowly, but surely.

Van Hansis....eh....sorry, guys. But I'm not his biggest fan. He's a good actor. His scenes with MB when he came out of the closet rocked the house down. He has his good days, and he has his bad. Most recently, (IMHO) they all seem to be bad.

Elena Goode started off reciting lines, and after a few months, when I look at her, it's almost difficult to imagine she's an actress and not really "Jade". She's gotten that good.

And Cleo *shudders*....not one of Jen Landon's strong suits..playing a dual role. Some people can (Martha Byrne, Eileen Davidson, etc.) and some people can't. Yeah, "Cleo" makes me laugh....but like I said, Jen Landon did her best work (as "Gwen") in the beginning of her start at ATWT.

And you're right, Jay. They are constantly shoved down our throats. Summer or not. Them...and a handful of other older actors. But how many times does the lovely Kathleen Widdoes grace our screen?

I'd take "Emma" over "Gwen" any day!!!

[stenbeck212]

Don't forget Dallas, who is now the only person of color in Oakdale without his aunt Jessica because Tamara Tunie was smart enough to jump ship and dump the raw deal ATWT gave her for the last couple years. And if you go even younger, the Faith/Parker/JJ set isn't being looked after by the adults properly either. Those 3 frequently run around town with no supervision at all. 2 boys with anger issues and a girl with an eating disorder, just hanging out!

I could not agree more. I can't believe how many times I've watched Alex Chando and thought "wow, she can't cry...at all!" Van Hansis is so overrated, it's not even funny. Just watching highlights of the coming out story on YouTube, you can see how lacking his work was. He didn't come across as a young man in emotional turmoil at all. His Emmy nomination was clearly a reward to ATWT just for having a gay character. Don't even get me started on how Jennifer Landon has been humiliated with the Cleo mess. It's confusing to see that character, knowing Hogan Sheffer had nothing to do with it. To top it off, all indications are that we'll see a Luke/Maddie/Noah triangle. But why, when Luke had so much trouble coming out last year? Now we get another guy with sexual issues? We should have gotten an openly gay guy to balance what we saw in '06, because I don't trust this show to write a character of the bi persuasion.

[SpiritualJunkie]

.

Exactly. Sure, there might have been more teens on Friday than the past few days but overall, there has been a teen overdose on ATWT for a very long time. Just look at how long it took for Will & Gwen to finally drop in airdates.

OMG! Finally! Someone other than me sees how wasted JS has been over the last couple of years. He did his best work 2004 to mid 2005, IMO, and that's because Will was a shady character in terms of sanity, he was interacting a lot with the adults, and he was more of the focus rather than the throwaway sidekick. I'm appalled by how much they have wasted JS's talent since Jennifer Landon came into the scene. I won't be the least bit surprised if he decides not to resign.

JL has always been meh to me...always a bit overrated. They changed so many character dynamics to fit her character's history. They changed Carly's childhood, they put Will in the backburner..and for what? Gwen is one of the dullest characters on the show now and yet the higher ups seem to love writing for her. JL has her great moments but 90% of the time, she seems to be just phoning in her lines.

I've never liked AC..she's vastly improved..but I just can't get into the character of Maddie for whatever reason.

I mentioned in another thread that I found Noah and the actor who played him overrated. I've got the same problem with Hansis. I don't think he's all that at all. He's another throwaway character and I'm not sure whether that should be blamed on the writing (which is pretty awful...Luke was much more interesting when played by Jake Weary..and I didn't like him much when he was actually on the show) or on Hansis's portrayal. It seems like people love Luke because he's gay. Ditto with the Luke & Noah story. The fact that it's a gay romance is what have some people overly excited about it. Otherwise, the lack of real substance just doesn't make Luke or the Luke/Noah story interesting. A love story should make you feel love but I'm just not feeling it with these two.

[RogerNewcomb]

Degrassi is one of my favorite shows and it's all teens. Even if ATWT featurs all teen characters on some days, so what? That doesn't make it bad or boring. The writing is what sucks. The kids can act. Bob and Kim and Lisa could be on every day but if they had to recite the same lines as Will/Gwen/Cleo, they'd look like fools and no one would want to watch that either.

And for the record. 20 year vet Scott Bryce was brought back and dominated the airtime in June as Craig with soap legend Liz Hubbard heavily involved. Marie Masters also rocked in her appearances this month. ATWT has made a huge effort to draw on history with the return of Bryce, and now other actors have/are returning.

Things look promising for July from what I've seen.

As for the actors themselves, I think Van Hansis is amazing. He knows how to play the nuance and subtlety of a scene which is lost on many young actors. Soffer and Landon are superb. Chando is good. Silbermann is too new to judge fully but I like him so far.

[All My Shadows]

What show are you watching? The only time Parker, Faith, and JJ have any scenes alone is when they're out with their parents at the store or when they're at home (Carly's house or the farm). Most of the time, the three of them are with Carly and Jack, and sometimes the chipmunk.

[Chris B]

When DAYS backburned it's four most popular characters (Bo, Hope, John, Marlena), the ratings went in a freefall. No matter how bad the writing could get, they managed to remain steady because viewers could tune in and see their favorites. At ATWT the vast majority of adult characters are neglected or simply not used, so is there any surprise ratings are down?

It doesn't matter how good any of these teens are. You can't take a 50 year old show and turn it over to newbies who have all been with the show for like two years or less. They could be in their 30s or 40s and the ratings would still tank.

People want to see the characters they've invested themselves in for all these years. Barbara, Margo, Tom, Craig, Lisa, Nancy, Bob, Kim, etc. are the faces of ATWT. In addition, they could do a better job of bringing back past actors. Scott Bryce and Cady McClain are a good start, but will it last?

[stenbeck212]

You are sadly mistaken. There have been several episodes this past spring with the kids wandering around that glorified alley by themselves. When Faith spied Parker with the cute girl and the time they ditched a school trip are just 2 examples that come to mind. Lucinda made the biggest deal about making Faith eat at Al's diner, and then she got to go off many times with adult to monitor her eating habits. Just the other day Brad sent the kids out into a storm. Any of this ring a bell?

[P.J.]

My point was the older teens/twenty-somethings have little to NO adult interactions on the show. While I agree sometimes the pre-teen set runs around without proper supervision, they ARE at least shown with their parents on a regular basis. But the storm thing? C'mon....those kids went no further than the screened in porch.

WORD on Jesse Soffer being choked down by the show's focus on Gwen. Will suffers from the same simplistic writing Paul does...here are two guys who should be driving story by battling their inner demons. Instead, for the most part, you've got two males playing lapdog to the women in their lives. Whatever. When Meg is bent on revenge, and Gwen's traumas drive your life...you're in trouble, boys.

[Ann_SS]

The ATWT youth scene is overrated and chock full of mediocre actors. The only barely likable ones are Jade and Luke. I want to line up Will, Gwen, and Maddie and slap them all. The best actors are Elena Goode and Will Sofer. Cleo is evidence of how overrated Jennifer Landon is as an actress. Alexandra Chando and Van Hansis are tolerable. The actor who plays Noah is wooden.

P.J. is right that these younger characters need to be integrated into the older generation. If they interacted with stronger more experienced actors, they would improve. At this point I am sick of their adventures and dramas. If there was more of Jade and Will with the others on the back burner, I would enjoy them a whole lot more.

[therethan4eva]

I think it is.