ATWT: Week of May 19th Discussion

[dragonflies]

I honestly have no idea why people think that. It was never shown he was attracted to men in any way or whatnot

[Ann_SS]

Hilarious. In an interview years ago, Trent admitted that he asked TPTB if Henry was gay and/or bisexual because of how his character was being played. There were tons of subtle moments where Henry seemed to be attracted to Simon, even Coolie on the island, and later Mike. There were also other moments, when would he say and do some things that were tv parodies of gay men. They may not have been written, but Trent definitely played it that way. Clearly, TPTB got scared, pulled back and instead Henry him fall in love with Katie and all of the sudden he was straight instead of being her fag hag. Poor audience, here we see Henry, another character defined to the demands of a fanbase.

[P.J.]

Excuse me? If there's any nugget of truth Goutman keeps repeating, is that he doesn't pay attention to his "vocal on-line fanbases". My "justification" as you call it, is based on the fact that the viewership, aka Goutie's customers, want a decent pay-off to stories. It's WHY the fans invest in story at all. If there's any one factor killing the genre, it's the lack of respect from TIIC to their fans. We're told to shut up and go with the flow, instead of expecting anything close to continuity, logic and recognizable human behavior. A strong, independent Carly? GREAT IDEA. Unfortunately, the writers (Hacks R Us) wouldn't know what the [!@#$%^&*] to do with a happy, content, and successful Carly who didn't need a man. HOGAN admitted that in his NewYorker interview years ago.

As for your pre-edited comments, just know that "fans like me" have hung on, in spite of the writing. We tune in, suckers that we are, hoping to see any story that sparks some interest. We survive questionable recasts, iffy actors and bloated egos who reassure us they're reinventing daytime tv. THANKS.

As for Henry...he's clearly drooled over women since his days at WOAK. He just had evolved, metrosexual tendencies that appeared alien to Oakdale's midwest, conservative mores. Henry's ambiguous early days have a simple answer...TIIC used him as comic relief, and delighted in his effeminate moments.

[MTSRocks]

I say its time to write of that sociopath Carly. The character has become self-destructible, and has less than little rooting value. Like Phyllis on Y&R, she's become very stale and tired -however in Carly's case, she's been replaying the same scenes for years.

[P.J.]

You could argue that for most of the current cast of characters.

[dragonflies]

PJ you rock my socks

THANK YOU!

[MTSRocks]

Of course you can, but Carly is a redundant bore, and the writers refuse to give her any layers. I'd rather watch a handful of other characters other than Carly (at least they still have some sort of value). I can't believe West is up for an Emmy again this year, for playing virtually the same old sh-t.

[P.J.]

We'll have to agree to disagree, because I think Carly's one of the few characters on ATWT that actually has layers.

[dragonflies]

LOL yeah the writing is so great, I forgot that Paul, Meg, Emiloon, Holden, Lily, etc..... all have layers

I completely agree!

[JackPeyton]

i agree.

[Ann_SS]

Like I said, I don't believe Goutman for a second when he said that he doesn't pay attention to vocal online fanbases like CarJack, etc. These couples are features too consistently and are kept in each other's orbit to for too many years to believe Goutman's comments. At some point, soap couples run of stories they have done and said everything and it is time to split them up and take them in other directions. However, these fanbases clamor and clamor until the headwriters cave in, even Hogan Sheffer said this about the CarJack fans.

I edited my comments because I thought they were unfairly harsh, but next time, I won't bother since they are going to responded to anyway. Ultimately, soaps can't survive with only its couple fanbases because there are simply not enough people. This is one of the main reasons that soaps are dying.

Sure Henry is metrosexual, he is also gay or bisexual. Henry has drooled over both men and women since arriving on this show. May Henry be freed from the closet one day.