http://www.elle.com/featurefullstory/13993...y-children.html

I found this part interesting:

plot has increasingly trumped character development on soaps, says C. Lee Harrington, a sociology professor at Miami University who studies daytime TV. “The industry is really in trouble,” she says, “and soaps are doing everything they can to compete with prime time, which sometimes means characters making 180-degree turns. They’re trying to mimic the pace of prime time, but it doesn’t really go with the genre.”

Edited June 14, 200817 yr by Zendall Fan

They’re trying to mimic the pace of prime time, but it doesn’t really go with the genre.”

Amen.

Although All My Children is one of the higher-rated daytime dramas, even Budig admits, “Soaps are a dying breed.”

Woah...who did the fact-checking on this piece?

Fantastic piece! I think I watch largely for the same reasons as the writer. I especially identified with this: "When I was younger, the soaps seemed a window into a wider world; now that I’m older, the world they depict seems soothingly small. "

Great article. I cringed however when she brought up fetus boy. When is the show going to fix their mistake and let us all know that he is not Erica's son? C'mon, there was no DNA test done!

On set I overhear several complaining about their lines, that their characters are becoming incoherent. “You ask us to make a commitment—‘Go deeper, go deeper,’” says Thorsten Kaye, the actor who plays Zach. “Then there’s this big change that doesn’t make sense. You can’t have both.” He is perturbed because the writers have Zach suddenly making peace with Aidan, who slept with Zach’s wife. Sure, Aidan is just back from a heroic rescue mission in the Sudan (to attract male viewers, the soaps began including topical adventures, sci-fi, and mob stories in the 1980s). But who would forgive his friend’s “[!@#$%^&*] his wife,” as Kaye kept grumbling, based on his derring-do?

Ditto YRBB's Amen.

C'mon, there was no DNA test done!

Wasn't there? Not trying to start an argument, Jonathan, but I thought there was (and I thought Tad was the one who ordered it). If there really wasn't one done, though...WOAH.

Edited June 15, 200817 yr by Khan

Ditto YRBB's Amen.

Wasn't there? Not trying to start an argument, Jonathan, but I thought there was (and I thought Tad was the one who ordered it). If there really wasn't one done, though...WOAH.

No. I'm 99.9999999% sure there wasn't a DNA test done. Can someone please confirm? Sorry to bring this up again but you know how this issue upsets me.

I thought Erica had a DNA test done, and once it was confirmed she kept it a secret for a while, and even tried to get Josh to leave Pine Valley before he found out the truth.

From what I recall, I think there was a Jeff-Josh test but not an Erica-Josh test. Maybe I'm just confused and this is all wishful thinking on my part.

But hey, if Ryan can go from being a Lavery to a Stamp and then back to being a Lavery, then Josh can be aborted again.

From what I recall, I think there was a Jeff-Josh test but not an Erica-Josh test. Maybe I'm just confused and this is all wishful thinking on my part.

But hey, if Ryan can go from being a Lavery to a Stamp and then back to being a Lavery, then Josh can be aborted again.

If there was a Josh-Jeff test it was never seen or mentioned on screen. When Tad told Erica the truth he said all they needed to do now is test Josh/Jeff to confirm. It never happened.

Well, son of a biscuit-eater.

Okay, Mr. Pratt. If you (or whatever assistants you might have on payroll) are reading this thread, then you know to do, lol.

Thanks, Adam!

Thanks Adam.

If there was a Josh-Jeff test it was never seen or mentioned on screen. When Tad told Erica the truth he said all they needed to do now is test Josh/Jeff to confirm. It never happened.

There was a completed Josh/Erica test. Tad took a bloody napkin that Josh used to stop the bleeding on his arm after a drugged Erica stabbed Zach and then cut Josh's arm when he tried to restrain/disarm her. Tad ran a DNA test and found it to be a match. He then pulled Josh's birth certificate and found that Josh was born seven months after she aborted Jeff's baby. The night of the Mardi Gras Ball, Tad told Erica that a DNA test confirmed that Josh was her son and that the lab was running a Josh/Jeff test and they were awaiting confirmation.

From that point on, Josh was assumed to be a Martin by everyone including Dr. Joe.

Oh nutz! Well, this can still be rewritten. I want it rewritten damn it!