Oh, and I don't see the need for the Doctor to commit suicide. Ron is fascinated with OTT behavior that stems from nothing and leads to nothing isn't he? Jesus.

I disagree. I think RC writes everything with a purpose. Sometimes it is short term and revealed very quickly, others longer and we may not know for years, and there are those times he gets diverted from his original purpose, but I think everything he does is very deliberate, and his motivation is well defined to him, if not apparent to the viewers. I have no idea where I heard this, but I thought the new hot teacher in town was supposed to be Dr. Joplin's son, and he's supposed to lure Matthew into doing drugs. Who knows? Maybe the new teacher's primary motivation for coming to town is to seek some sort of retribution for his mother's death. That opens up all sorts of possibilities since he's going to be interacting with the children of all the people who forced his mother into this stressful situation (Todd, Dorian, possibly Nora?).

Edited November 29, 200817 yr by rhinohide

What you mean Dr. Joplin shouldn't be jumping up and down and throwing a party for herself?

Seriously, it's a sad end to a recurring character/actor that has grown on me, but I don't see how anyone didn't see something like this coming. Sadly she's just another one of Todd's victims.

LOL, I had to reread your second sentence a couple of times. At first I thought you were mocking me...you weren't, were you? I read it as "I don't see how anyone COULD see this coming".

You're right.....sadly enough, it fits. That despair she had when she cried in the corner........

Todd........boy, there's a lot of work for redemption there, if they ever redeem him. How they write him out of this one ought to be good.

I disagree. I think RC writes everything with a purpose. Sometimes it is short term and revealed very quickly, others longer and we may not know for years, and there are those times he gets diverted from his original purpose, but I think everything he does is very deliberate, and his motivation is well defined to him, if not apparent to the viewers. I have no idea where I heard this, but I thought the new hot teacher in town was supposed to be Dr. Joplin's son, and he's supposed to lure Matthew into doing drugs. Who knows? Maybe the new teacher's primary motivation for coming to town is to seek some sort of retribution for his mother's death. That opens up all sorts of possibilities since he's going to be interacting with the children of all the people who forced his mother into this stressful situation (Todd, Dorian, possibly Nora?).

Hey, I hadn't heard that, but it's a good theory and would be cool if it happens. I sort of thought maybe she found out that her son went back to drugs and that was the final straw for her. But, your spumor is pretty good, too!

I disagree. I think RC writes everything with a purpose. Sometimes it is short term and revealed very quickly, others longer and we may not know for years, and there are those times he gets diverted from his original purpose, but I think everything he does is very deliberate, and his motivation is well defined to him, if not apparent to the viewers. I have no idea where I heard this, but I thought the new hot teacher in town was supposed to be Dr. Joplin's son, and he's supposed to lure Matthew into doing drugs. Who knows? Maybe the new teacher's primary motivation for coming to town is to seek some sort of retribution for his mother's death. That opens up all sorts of possibilities since he's going to be interacting with the children of all the people who forced his mother into this stressful situation (Todd, Dorian, possibly Nora?).

Actually, you are right. He does have purpose. The motivations generally seem weak to me, though, and the actions always are so strong.

I don't see why the doctor would choose Matthew to destroy, though. He has nothing to do with Todd. Although I love that kid and he deserves a storyline. I don't see that motivation working in the end.

I disagree. I think RC writes everything with a purpose. Sometimes it is short term and revealed very quickly, others longer and we may not know for years, and there are those times he gets diverted from his original purpose, but I think everything he does is very deliberate, and his motivation is well defined to him, if not apparent to the viewers. I have no idea where I heard this, but I thought the new hot teacher in town was supposed to be Dr. Joplin's son, and he's supposed to lure Matthew into doing drugs. Who knows? Maybe the new teacher's primary motivation for coming to town is to seek some sort of retribution for his mother's death. That opens up all sorts of possibilities since he's going to be interacting with the children of all the people who forced his mother into this stressful situation (Todd, Dorian, possibly Nora?).

I think you are being generous to a fault. But for your sake and the sake of others who are still willing to place their trust in Ron I hope that you're right. I'm currently choosing to exercise the same trust with one of my fave primetime shows that is sorely testing me this season. So in the name karma hopefully we'll both be rewarded.

Again, he's great with the sweeps and the resolutions. It's the exposition he's incredibly weak with. Nobody thinks or plans rationally under him. It's as if everyone's Tess LOL.

Again, he's great with the sweeps and the resolutions. It's the exposition he's incredibly weak with. Nobody thinks or plans rationally under him. It's as if everyone's Tess LOL.

But... (and I absolutely do NOT mean this to challenge you) ... don't you think this is a big problem across the board with most head writers right now. That all of their energy is put into sweeps for many, many weeks... so the weeks in between feel (in hindsight) like just stalling?

I feel like I've read this a few times about a few different shows, and a few different head writers. I don't disagree, just making an observation.

I don't watch anything but Y&R and OLTL so I can't make an across the board comment. But watching Y&R's sweeps this past month compared to the Out of the Ashes fiasco last year and OLTL this year, it's a big difference when the writers approach their characters individually and realistically versus approaching the show as a plot machine or as a combination of OTT personas whose decisions aren't interesting enough at all until sweeps come up. And when it does, they do the worst things imaginable. It's really annoying. It's like last May when Todd pushed Starr down the steps and when everyone stood up at Rex and Adriana's wedding. The big difference was that back then, Todd's hatred for Cole was understandable, as was Adriana's insecurity and the connection Rex and Gigi had. So, that sweeps week was incredibly poignant and quite riveting. Also, the fallout was just out of this world. So many possibilities came from those events. This doesn't seem the case currently on OLTL, particularly with the Bess/Tess/Jessica story. Lord.

So, yeah, there's a right way to do sweeps and a wrong way. For me, Y&R November 2008 was definitely the right way. Because right now, it is the only soap opera where I cannot wait to see what they'll do for the next sweeps period.

btw, challenge me all you want. I'm not a fanatical soap fan at all.

I think you are being generous to a fault. But for your sake and the sake of others who are still willing to place their trust in Ron I hope that you're right. I'm currently choosing to exercise the same trust with one of my fave primetime shows that is sorely testing me this season. So in the name karma hopefully we'll both be rewarded.

LOL. Something about this post made me start singing "Good Vibrations" in my head. Sending good thoughts your way.

Let Antonio accept a job in another city and send him on his way.

So long it's not in Pine Valley or Port Chuckles.

So long it's not in Pine Valley or Port Chuckles.

Really? I thought Antonio would fit right in with Bob Guza's Port Charles.

I seriously wish we could ship all the Ryan Lavery's, Antonio Vegas, John McBains, and that orgy of male ego's on GH all away from our screens. Damn Brian Frons and his misguided mandates.