I personally loved the Hogan Sheffer years on ATWT.There seemed to be more fast-paced storylines and more mystery and adventure back then.It seems miles above anything we get from JP now and her storylines drag out way too long.At least with Sheffer if the story was a clunker at least it ended quickly,but with JP she doesn't know when to end the madness and draw it to a close.Even reading the ATWT synopses from 2002-2003 on soapcentral.com seemed more interesting than what the show is spewing out now.What is everyone's take on this topic?

It doesn't take much to write something that is betetr than Jean Passanante. While I was not a fan of Hogan's time on ATWT, it was miles above JP's tenure as a whole.

Not really, he had about 1 good year out of all of them. I think the guy was just over hyped IMO, because he was never that good.

Quite liked the first year, because it seemed like he was making sense of the mess Leah Laiman had made. Things that seemed like stunts under LL were grounded in the show's history: Andy faking his paralysis seemed much more rooted in character; Rose became less of a cliche dual role and there was a backstory with Iva.

But outside of a few good episodes here and there, the show really went off the rails around 2002 for me.

2000-2001 were really good. Things started to go downhill when JP came in as Hogan's co-HW.

I liked parts of his tenure. Going back to that damn island for a third summer was absolutely ridiculous, and the Scottish adventure quite underwhelming(though it was nice to see people of color do something light and whimsical on a soap). I didn't care for the additions of Jordan, Celia or her boxer brother either. Sheffer's was probably the best example of plot-driven writing that I've seen though. After a long drought, it was the first time in a long while that I felt I couldn't miss a day.

I liked parts of his tenure. Going back to that damn island for a third summer was absolutely ridiculous, and the Scottish adventure quite underwhelming(though it was nice to see people of color do something light and whimsical on a soap). I didn't care for the additions of Jordan, Celia or her boxer brother either. Sheffer's was probably the best example of plot-driven writing that I've seen though. After a long drought, it was the first time in a long while that I felt I couldn't miss a day.

You hit the nail on the head for me. Those were Shaffer's worst.

Toups you also nailed it mentioning Jean's arrival as Co-HW. I don't get Goutman's hard on for her. Some friends from his time on AW should just be left alone.

I gave up on ATWT shortly before the killed Bryant off, with the intro of that Billy kid.

When you look at the state of the show since he's left, it looks like gold.

I hated his last year or so but it was miles ahead of this. The women characters were still strong. Like Barbara!

Wtf did she go>?

I hated his last year or so but it was miles ahead of this.

It definitely had its blunders, but the Who Killed Rose mystery was great (even though I was sad to lose the character). Wasn't that close to his last year? If it wasn't his last year, it was definitely his second-to-last year. First of all, it's the first time I can remember that the murder victim in a soap whodunnit wasn't some evil villain who had ruined the lives of half the town, which is original in and of itself. And second of all, the Will reveal was really powerful, and actually made sense once it all came out.

and I liked the concept of the Cabot story, so to speak. It was more poor Cady McClain being stuck crying about the damn kid all the time that drove me insane. But I can understand how it must have looked like a great umbrella story on paper.

Edited August 28, 200718 yr by brimike

Jean P finished off that Cabot business.... and look what happened.

It seems like a lot of revisionist history here. Hogan had a great first year. His break-up of Hal and Barbara's marriage created an umbrella story that churned out story after story. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. When reliving Hogan's "glory days", please remember classics like "Bonnie In Scotland", "Pilar Kills Katie's Rabbit", "The Dahlia Mystery", "Teens On The Run" "The Return Of Nikki Munson" "Aaron's Boxing Adventure"' and , of course, "Celia In An Orange Crate". Please. I'll take JP over Hogan any day of the week.

He's a dialogue writer, that's clear. He could at least rely on that when his plots stunk. Unfortunately Passanante has mastered neither element.

As I keep saying, Hogan is good when surrounded with the right people (i.e. people who are good writers and who KNOW and RESPECT the show that they are working for). His first year at ATWT were brilliant because he had Carolyn Culliton, Hal Corley, Stephen Demorest, and Richard Allen, plus scads of other talented writers that I don't remember. Once they won that Emmy in 2001 and MADD COW decided to screw around with the EMMY-AWARD-WINNING writing team, that is when things went down hill. Demorest, Corley, and Allen were fired to bring on the rank Craig Heller, probably one of the worst script writers ever (he was so bad on GH that Mulchahey was credited along with him).

His work is miles above Passante's. Plus IMO I like his work better on ATWT than on Days

Edited August 29, 200718 yr by AMC Zendall Fan

Well, Lynn Martin is certainly in contention for "worst script writer EVER"...but that's hardly worth debating.

Hogan had better "highs"...but his lows were just as bad as Pissy's. JP can't seem to write anything remotely suspenseful. Neither the cliff confrontation between Craig and Paul, or Gwen and Jade on the railroad tracks seemed to have any energy to them.

Sheffer whipped the stale and aging ATWT into shape when he began in Summer 2000 and that continued until mid-July 2004. From mid-July 2004 to May 2005, the show lost a lot of momentum and its spark. I think it had to do with Sheffer's weight problem. He underwent surgery in late 2004/early 2005, and during that time, he relied heavily on Passanante.

I've yet to watch a Sheffer penned movie/series. What kind of script writer is Sheffer? I feel that he's a good, not great, storyteller who should always have a strong team of writers to support him. ATWT had a rockin' writing team from Aug 2000-July 2004. How I loved 2001 & 2002 scripts! Absolutely delicious.

Great: 2001 & 2002

Very Good: 2000 (Aug-Dec) & 2003

Okay: 2004

Bad: 2005