From the chatroom:

Catseye: What was the contract dispute over?

MarthaByrne> I wanted to work at least the same amount of days this year as I did last year. That is it all I asked for.

I can't believe TIIC can't abide that request....or at the VERY least attempt to negotiate it instead of immediately sending out a casting call....

I may not be a big Lily fan, but MB is a class act and is talented, and I'd sure rather see her Lily onscreen in any number of episodes.

Ryan is going to be so pissed when he reads this. OMG. Hes gonna go ape [!@#$%^&*].

What makes no sense is that if you look at the top ten ep counts last year, Martha is 10....but 3 of the top ten are gone or will be gone in the next few weeks...(Jen, Jesse, Grayson)...so WTF is the problem with at least giving her the same amount of eps? Three of the actors with more airtime are gone or will be?

I don't effing get it. I can say that ATWT is DONE after this.

WTF? They wouldn't give her that? What dumb asses!

That's it!?!? Jeez ATWT you deserve the loss that you're going to face without Martha. Unbelievable.

Thats all??????? That is "unreasonable" by the fucktards in charge? Seriously WTF are they smoking over there?

I hope ratings sink low, they deserve too after this

You got to be friggin kidding me?

I thought she wanted more time off or some input into her story.

ATWT didn't want to guarantee Martha a minimum in her salary which means that they probably were planning to put Lily on the back burner for long periods to save money. I would have never thought that the soaps would reach this point in terms of budgetary constraints. I wonder how much longer they can last on network tv.

Wow, she was the anchor of that show. I'd love for her to come to OLTL or AMC (since both are also taped in NYC), but I don't think she's glamorous enough. Part of her appeal on ATWT was that she appealed to the everywoman. She looks like a soccer mom! Frons tend to hire blonde, big-breasted, lingerie-model types.

I really wanna see how Goutman is going to try and weasel himself out of this.

He might not be able to do it. Provided they haven't recast the part already, I could see a scenario where MB returned if Goutman was gone.

It sounds like this goes way beyond Goutman, and is more about TPTB at P&G. They'll probably find some cheap unknown actress (a la GL's Nicole Forrester when Wright left) to keep the character going. And who knows, like the Forrester/Wright situation, a recast could infuse new life into the character of Lily, as well as Holden, and open up some other story possibilities for Lily/Holden. I think the writers had a hard time seeing past having Hensley/Byrne joined at the hip storywise. With a new actress in the role, that could all change.

Nicole Forrester "infused new life"? People only hate Cassie more.