Okay, I thought we should revisit this topic again. I keep reading spoilers and regretting that I read them in the first place. I'm beyond SICK of this soap. I don't watch anymore, but keep up with the boards. Will they ever listen, comprehend, and do something as a result to our complaints? Seriously. Why is JP still writing and bigger question- Why is Goutman allowing her to throw the show under a bus? Is he really the reason for keeping JP past her expiration date?

He's writing the show, and she's been fired months ago, and when they find a replacement, they'll announce Jean is gone. An ooooold rumour... So probably - not true.

To answer the question at hand, pigs haven't flown and Hell probably hasn't frozen over, so there goes hope.

I believe JP has been fired and Goutman is writing the show and once they find a replacement, they will announce she is gone.

But I don't think Goutman is the main problem...when he has a good head writer like Hogan Sheffer, he does well. But with a bad head writer, his work is not the best.

What I find puzzling is why has the dialog writer's list shrinked down from 6 to 2? At the end of the show on Monday, when they ran the ending credits, only two names were listed at the end of the writers list...Susan Dansby and Richard Culliton. Judy Tate's name was missing and that newer chick Jeanne Marie Ford (she wrote that sweet Montana episode that aired last week). So, unless I'm missing something, this definitely looks problematic for the show.

I do remember some fans posting after the fan club luncheon in the spring that the actors told them not to be so hard on JP because Chris Goutman is in full charge mode and Jean is only writing what she's ordered to write. They said she has no more power over the stories than they do. Don't know if it's true, but several of the fans posted similar input after the luncheon.

No, it doesn't look problematic. The overall vision, however, is problematic. You don't need a gargantuan staff, just good dialogue writers.

The problem with Jean is that somehow - she's a poltroon par excellence. Not one single tenure she had was judged "good". Not a single one. And that endless question - why on Earth would you hire such a bad writer to head your show? Perhaps exactly because she is so got at executing someone else's vision and do what she's been told.

I do remember some fans posting after the fan club luncheon in the spring that the actors told them not to be so hard on JP because Chris Goutman is in full charge mode and Jean is only writing what she's ordered to write. They said she has no more power over the stories than they do. Don't know if it's true, but several of the fans posted similar input after the luncheon.

Oh, great. Now I have to take back every bad thing I've said about her. I don't see why her puppet master doesn't take credit, if that's true. TPTB must know by now that we're aware of how no writer in daytime is autonomous.

They are down to two dialogue writers? For years we've had like 7. Budget cuts or strike preparation?

Oh, great. Now I have to take back every bad thing I've said about her. I don't see why her puppet master doesn't take credit, if that's true. TPTB must know by now that we're aware of how no writer in daytime is autonomous.

stenbeck212, I guess we can agree that regardless of who's really writing ATWT, Passanante is a bad head writer. Perhaps Goutman does not take credit for "writing" ATWT for more than a year now because he is not a Writers Guild of America member. I believe he is a member of the PGA & DGA.

As for ghostwriters, Vola Voof was a ghost writer on Y&R late last year. I do not know if she was a Story Consultant, Associate or Breakdown writer.