According to TVGuide, on June 27, Holden and Carly will begin to have an affair. The atcile says that 'the tryst will trigger the demis e of the soap's most beloved duo. "We're treading into dangerous territory here, "Hensley says "To berak up Holden and Lily, plus Jack and Carly, leaves our show with no main couple. It's a risky thing to do" Expect fireworks once word of the affair gets out, especially since Holden and Jack are cousins and best buddies. Carly and Lily are also very tight.

The new coupling is a real head scratcher: Holden is a grounded salt o' the earth kinda guy and Carly is a sneaky, demon driven mess. "They're a total mismatch - Holden has never even liked Carly all taht much, Hensley notes with a laugh. "But after 20+ years, there was really nowhere else for Holden and Lily to go. We've done every possible story"

Not only did Colden's kiss hit 1.7 on Friday, Tuesday was the second highest rated day of the week, 2.0, +400,000 or so from Friday, and...you guessed it...the day Carly and Jack were featured.

The problem imo is that there isn't much else to draw people in either. People wouldn't abandon the show so quickly just because they aren't getting the couple they want (this month), if there were other things to draw them in. Too bad there really isn't all that much going on with ATWT to keep people interested. ATWT is like GH in the sense that they refuse to change a writing team that isn't delivering the goods.

I agree that Carly and Paul would be all kinds of hot and messed up. It would be perfect because a year or so down the road Paul could do something totally messed up and Jack could ride in to the rescue, but instead they are moving Carly from Jack, to Jack's even more self righteous blood brother. I'm convinced Holden and Brad were switched at birth.

Edited June 21, 200817 yr by Juliajms

The problem imo is that there isn't much else to draw people in either. People wouldn't abandon the show so quickly just because they aren't getting the couple they want (this month), if there were other things to draw them in. Too bad there really isn't all that much going on with ATWT to keep people interested. ATWT is like GH in the sense that they refuse to change a writing team that isn't delivering the goods.

Oh, I totally agree that this isn't just about Carly/Holden. I think the bad decisions of the past couple years have finally really crashed in on the show. There's been a glut of established actors leaving the show (Landon, Soffer, McCouch, McClain, Byrne, Bryce) in the first five months of the year. TIIC haven't really built up other characters to fill in those gaps. There's a whole lot of newbies who people don't feel connected to yet. It all adds up.

One of the winners at the emmys last night said something about the shows being about "love and hope". And frankly, that's exactly what's missing in Oakdale right now. There needs to be a balance, and it just seems like Oakdale exists in the Fifth Ring of Hell.

I'm obviously in the minority, but I don't find this story character, pairing, or even history destroying.

I like it.

It has moved fast - but I think that's because we, as viewers, have almost no attention span left, and soaps are scrambling to figure out how to move things forward in a timely fashion but still hit all the beats.

But yeah, I like it.

I like how Carly and Holden are both handling it. They're both appalled by what they feel. Suprised, horrified, and appalled - and yet they're drawn to each other in SPITE of that. They can't help it, and they aren't sure why. Their separations from Jack and Lily have forced them to evaluate each other on their own terms, for a change, and they like what they see.

They like it a lot - and that freaks them BOTH out, because they know what it could do to Jack, and Lily, and their kids.

But they can't seem to stop themselves.

This is, IMO, soap opera in a NUTSHELL.

I don't think CarJack is dead forever. I bet Holden and Lily aren't, either. But you're talking about four longtime characters, with ties that are long established, and stretching and twisting those ties in new directions with one unexpected connection.

I don't necessarily trust this writing team to write the fallout well, but I think this has real potential to shake these characters up in ways they haven't been in years.

And, although I'm clearly in the minority, I'm enjoying the execution, even though I was as appalled as all of you when I first figured out they were, indeed, going to go THERE.

Perfect summary...

I wonder what is next for Lily in all this? We have an idea of where Holden,Carly, and Jack are headed, but I haven't noticed

Lily getting any scenes that might be chem tests. Have I missed something? I miss Martha, but this Lily is growing on me, so I hope she doesn't just sit around for six months waiting for Holden to come crawling back.

I wonder what is next for Lily in all this? We have an idea of where Holden,Carly, and Jack are headed, but I haven't noticed

Lily getting any scenes that might be chem tests. Have I missed something? I miss Martha, but this Lily is growing on me, so I hope she doesn't just sit around for six months waiting for Holden to come crawling back.

OMG...I hope we dont have 6 months of Holden and Carly....that would drive me up the wall.

Edited June 22, 200817 yr by Soapsuds

^ I'm not bothered by it. I just wish it was being played differently. This show needs some good scandal. Something, anything to shake it up. But I don't see how putting Holden and Carly together will give us that right now. Carjack aren't together and Lilden have been limping along for months, so it's not like this will even be a full blown affair. I don't know, ATWT is lacking excitement and I have no idea how they can bring it back, but something needs to be done. I'm all for giving CarJack and Lilden a year long break though.

OMG...I hope we dont have 6 months of Holden and Carly....that would drive me up the wall.

Just when you thought TIIC couldn't invent something worse than Kack....up pops Colden. I doubt it'll even be that involved. It's a totally different situation. (Oddly, the only respect TAIC have ever shown Carjack fans is them being divorced and never technically cheating on each other. 'Bouts of amnesia don't count.)

I'm hoping the Jack/Janet thing is supposed to show us Jack's supposed to be letting Carly move on...but he'll still blow his stack when this comes out.

Just when you thought TIIC couldn't invent something worse than Kack....up pops Colden. I doubt it'll even be that involved. It's a totally different situation. (Oddly, the only respect TAIC have ever shown Carjack fans is them being divorced and never technically cheating on each other. 'Bouts of amnesia don't count.)

I'm hoping the Jack/Janet thing is supposed to show us Jack's supposed to be letting Carly move on...but he'll still blow his stack when this comes out.

I'd love to see respect for any and all fanbases blown to hell, if it would shake this show up and produce some actual drama. I've almost given up all hope that anything can be done to make Oakdale an interesting place. Carly is the perfect character for a red hot affair. It should have been done years ago, but not with Holden. I mean, if Margo and Tom could survive numerous affairs so could CarJack, but these writers are determined to bore this show into oblivion.

Anyway, I'm sure Jack will get angry, but he doesn't have all that much right after he's pushed Carly away time and again. I just need something to shake up this dull canvas and there is nothing in sight. There aren't even any good female rivalries on the show. I do like the enmity between the Hughes and Stewarts. That's something, but I would love to have a good rivalry like Dorian/Vikki on the show. I think it could have been Carly/Lily, but I'm not sure that will work with NuLily. She's ok, but she just doesn't have that spark Martha had.

I'd love to see respect for any and all fanbases blown to hell, if it would shake this show up and produce some actual drama. I've almost given up all hope that anything can be done to make Oakdale an interesting place. Carly is the perfect character for a red hot affair. It should have been done years ago, but not with Holden. I mean, if Margo and Tom could survive numerous affairs so could CarJack, but these writers are determined to bore this show into oblivion.

Anyway, I'm sure Jack will get angry, but he doesn't have all that much right after he's pushed Carly away time and again. I just need something to shake up this dull canvas and there is nothing in sight. There aren't even any good female rivalries on the show. I do like the enmity between the Hughes and Stewarts. That's something, but I would love to have a good rivalry like Dorian/Vikki on the show. I think it could have been Carly/Lily, but I'm not sure that will work with NuLily. She's ok, but she just doesn't have that spark Martha had.

What frustrates me is that I can see TAIC passing up opportunity after opportunity to create real drama, in favor of craptastic plot-driven drivel. The rivalries they force on us stink up the joint. They're struggling to define Paul--so every man within pissing distance becomes his rival. It hasn't really worked since Scott Holroyd assumed the role. Beefing up the role with Howarth hasn't done it either. Craig was the most worthy, but instead of becoming a force, Paul reverts to childish bouts of screaming at Dusty, Craig, Chris and now Mike on some pretense or another. But other than Margo/Em (and Kim/Susan) no one has that person that just always seems to be in your face. Even the Carly/Katie rivalry was almost an afterthought...there were comparatively few direct confrontations between the women--and of course, never referenced Simon or Mike, because of course, reminding the viewers Katie was less than the perfect little bedmate for Jack was forbidden. FCOL...you spend that much time building that story, and it was day after friggin' day of Jack coddling Katie and reminding her how perfect she was now. I don't think Teri stood up to Maura in a scene, and I doubt Martha or Noelle could/can. That's part of the reason I loved Cady McClain because she brought it in scenes with Maura. (Another mistake TIIC made, healing that rift...) Perfection would be Babs/Carly, but that'll never happen.

The characters now have no real defined "role" on the show...all the women seem almost interchangable. There's no villian, not even powerful man in town (I'm sorry, but Paul has failed miserably in that role.) No young bitch, no heroine (although I guess they're trying with Ali.) I think TIIC are trying for that "everyone's human" approach, but it leads to temp villians like Sophie, Sam and Grey Gerard (although I think he would have rocked...) who stick around for a couple months and die off like drones after servicing the plot.

That's another reason why this Holden/Carly thing pisses me off. In X amount of months, it won't matter, and everyone will gather at Emma's like it never happened. I mean really...even if Jack and Holden never speak again, will it really matter? They live in the same house now, and barely ever are in a scene together. TIIC are trying to build this up as some "forbidden" affair, and yet, there's no jeopardy in them hooking up. Lily isn't Lily, Jack's off whoopin' it up with Janet. Emma might as well be buried on the south 40 for all she's been on. You think Aaron or Luke is going to say spit about this? They've spent years deconstructing the show into story bubbles, and it never fails to bite them in the ass.

^^ I agree with everything you said. I love Roger Howarth, but Paul is a lackluster character. He had a good rival in Dusty, but the show rarely pushed that the way they should have. I was hoping that Sophie would turn out to be James Stenbeck's daughter (before she slept with Paul). Then she could have run around terrorizing Oakdale and pushing Paul's buttons for years to come. It's too bad they got rid of Jen Munson because she was a good, clear cut heroine.

For me one of the biggest mistakes the show made is turning both Lily and Carly into soccer moms with 7 kids between them. I just don't know what they were thinking, especially with Lily having 3 kids with her husband. Where is the drama in that?? If I wanted to watch a life as ordinary as my own I'd get a camcorder. Anyway, I will continue watching this show because I've been watching over 20 years (started early), but I don't have much hope that it's going to get better until TPTP care enough to hire a new writer.

Edited June 23, 200817 yr by Juliajms

Me either.