Hey Guys,

I have created a website that has all kinds of information about who you can contact if you are upset about Martha Byrne leaving. Please go here:

http://www.freewebs.com/keepmarthabyrne/index.htm

Eh...Scott Bryce job was not saved. Maybe this will be the wake up call to fire Goutman as EP of ATWT. He needs to leave ASAP.

Signed.

This is like the third fan campaign on the show that's been started in about a month. Something should tell the folks at ATWT that the decisions they're making aren't smart.

We don't even have confirmation about this yet. Even TVGuide put a question mark after their headline saying she was out; and plus, very reliable sources can sometimes be very reliably wrong!!

P.S. I don't think she's asking for control of her storyline. I think she just wants a guarantee that she'll HAVE a story that she approves of, or perhaps she has an idea in mind and wants the wheels set in motion. If it's the latter, shame on Chris Goutman for allowing Colleen Zenk Pinter to offer a storyline, but not letting Martha Byrne.

Edited February 29, 200817 yr by Actor87

Ok guys, you know I have been pro Goutman/Passanante in the past, but....

*sigh*

That's it. I want both Goutman and Passanante off this show. I'm not even a huge MB/Lily fan, but if they think the show can survive without her they're crazy. She's the star of the show.

We don't even have confirmation about this yet. Even TVGuide put a question mark after their headline saying she was out; and plus, very reliable sources can sometimes be very reliably wrong!!

P.S. I don't think she's asking for control of her storyline. I think she just wants a guarantee that she'll HAVE a story that she approves of, or perhaps she has an idea in mind and wants the wheels set in motion. If it's the latter, shame on Chris Goutman for allowing Colleen Zenk Pinter to offer a storyline, but not letting Martha Byrne.

Actually Goutman pitched the story to Colleen first. Colleen had been thinking about it but she herself said that Goutman came to her first with it. It's also been rumored that Martha had a lot of input into stories. Perhaps she wants it in writing. I can also understand TPTB being afraid to put that in a contract since how do they decide who can have that and who doesn't get it. It wouldn't stop with Martha.

If they lose Martha and I don't believe it's been confirmed yet, I do think this could cause big trouble for Goutman and hopefully it would. I tend to think he didn't take her request seriously and try to work out a compromise.

Having input here and there is one thing, having creative control in your contract is another.

She is officially leaving:

http://community.tvguide.com/blog/TVGuide-...-News/800054969

Martha Byrne Exits As the World Turns

Martha Byrne by Robert Voets/CBSThis totally sucks. Procter & Gamble has confirmed that two-time Emmy winner Martha Byrne will soon exit As the World Turns. Other websites are reporting that the fan fave — who plays Lily Snyder — nixed an insulting offer to re-sign her contract. Not so, claims the soap’s executive producer Chris Goutman. “We made Martha an incredibly generous offer in hopes that she would remain a valuable member of the ATWT cast,” Goutman says in a statement. “Unfortunately, Martha has decided to leave despite our best efforts to keep her.”

Those close to the situation swear that’s no baloney. “When Goutman says ‘generous,’ he means it — the offer was generous by anyone’s standards,” insists one longtime staffer. “I don’t know what else the show could have done for Martha.”

The actress, who is still taping episodes, will be off the air by April. Word is, a recast is likely. —Michael Logan

Goutman dear, part of the "generous offer" should've been you losing your job...

Recast Lily so soon? Oh dear, ATWT is just asking for a backlash and the show isn't exactly stable now, I can only imagine how much worse things will get in a few months.

Anyway, I applaud Martha for standing up for the integrity of the character she plays and the creative state of the show in general, because we know no one else is...

Edited February 29, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

There's no possible way of recasting "Lily". Martha Byrne has been, is, and will always be the ONLY "Lily". Any new-name, no-name actor that bring into "play the role of Lily" will only cave under the pressure of having to live with the awful guilt of replacing a character that was lost with the exit of a class act like Byrne.

"Lily" won't be "Lily" without MB in the role. It'll simply be a new character......that I won't be watching.

This time it was the actress decision to leave and not the show firing her unlike in Bryce's case. I think it was a few different things that caused her to chose to leave (i.e. money/raise, and storyline which she really hasn't had anything juicy in awhile).

I think they could have at least given her a storyline veto. Nobody knows Lily better than Martha does, having played the role for forever. Her having a storyline veto would probably benefit the show.

^ The only story she wanted veto was the same story they give her over and over again, being an idiot so Holden will dump her, then they get back together. When Chris Goutman took over during the strike he rewrote Holden and Lily's break up and immediately put them back together. According to Nelson at TVGC, he's the reason she's out. After this and Scott Bryce's interview and the vague comments from Cady McClain I think Goutman is an undercover [!@#$%^&*]. Something fishy to have these major actors reacting this way. The show needs a complete overhaul, but unfortunately we don;t have someone like MADD above him who can fire him and JP.

An undercover what? It censored whatever it was.