Members danthig Posted August 1, 2009 Members Share Posted August 1, 2009 Does the pace for As The World Turns move too fast? First of all after Hogan Sheffer stopped being headwriter in 2005 from that time until late 2007 when the writer's strike the pace dragged out big time.Then during the writers strike the show started moving fast again.For example meg got pregnant in Oct 2007 and in Dec 2007 the baby was kicking.Then Meg finds out she's pregnant in August 2008 and gives birth to Eliza in December 2008.Pregnancies don't last long in Oakdale anymore.Katie found out she's pregnant in May 2009 and in late July she's showing bigtime.I think when the strike ended P and G told the writers to move up the pace just in case they get cancelled so storylines won't be left daggling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted August 2, 2009 Members Share Posted August 2, 2009 The simple answer is yes. And it goes back to 2004, when Hogan and Gouty decided to try the "primetime jump cuts" method around the time of Rose's death. Since then, rarely do plots "unfold", (one of the rare exceptions being Carly's alcoholism, which was more about filling the time until they sent Maura off anyway), employing a "blitzkrieg" approach to storytelling, where a convienent two day gap is supposed to let us believe Katie's suddenly built like a house. Or even more blatantly, where Damian and Dusty's bomb explodes on Friday, the next Monday Paul's in the hospital getting a chip pulled out of his head, and that Friday, Dusty's in court pleading guilty and awaiting sentencing after "his trial". What Goutman's done is gut the show of suspense. There's no buildup. Without buildup, there's no investment in the plot. Without an emotional investment in the outcome, there's no satisfaction when plots are resolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soapsuds Posted August 2, 2009 Members Share Posted August 2, 2009 All soaps move way too fast. I loved the old days of slow pace storytelling. Although ATWT was never slow paced show. Y&R was the slow paced soap with big pay-offs at the end. I think there can be a middle ground with storytelling. The Meg and her men drama has gone on and on and on. Great post PJ. I agree with ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tgilbrea69 Posted August 2, 2009 Members Share Posted August 2, 2009 Excellent posts, and I totally agree! I hate the way the show is being written to have story lines introduced and resolved all in the same day - there is no investment, no enjoyment, and no reason to come back tomorrow. It is a horrible way to tell stories. And the pace is insane - a bomb plot, bomb explosion, operation at hospital, and recovery in two episodes?????? This format also is bad because you will have a small group of story lines for a given day, and the next day, completely different story lines with different actors. They should show ALL story lines on ALL days - a full mix of actors and stories. I think splitting everything into such separate blocks is a complete cop out with respect to writing and plot development. Also, they give away too much in the previews - I think these should be done away with completely. When people see a preview of tomorrows show, and it exposes all of the players for that day, if you don't like them, you won't tune it at all. You already know what will happen and who will be involved. Does anyone out there (and this will show my age) when Dallas went from drawn out story lines to self contained episodes - it marked the decline and end of the show. I remember back in the day, way back in the late 80's, when ATWT had some of the longest plot lines and the stories were so much about the interactions and dialogue between the characters. It built a feeling of family. I would always scoff at shows, especially DAYS in the early 90's about how unrealistic and gimmicky the story lines were - now ATWT is 10 times worse. Finally, would it kill the writers to write a believable story once in a while. Recently there was the introduction of a new character. In stead of the character contacting someone in Oakdale and showing up that way, they had to dream up some ridiculous and unbelievable story. The person comes to town on a bus for an unknown reason, befriends a child at the bus station who is running away, builds close bonds with that child over the course of the next 20 minutes, has an offer made to become a full time baby sitter for the child, is then introduced to the family and surprise surprise it happens to be the sister that she hasn't had any contact with in 18 years (but she recognizes her immediately). WTF?!? And all this in one episode. BAD BAD WRITING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted August 2, 2009 Members Share Posted August 2, 2009 I understand that there's no way to budget a show to feature every story every day anymore (although I'm not quite sure they ever did..). It's sad, but necessary I guess. What blows is the story that gets one day per week, where it's nearly impossible to maintain a semblance of "continuing story". And I don't understand why the story bubbles on this show are so completely isolated. If you're featuring both the Carly and Em stories on a given episode, why can't they have one scene together? KWIM? I swear to GOD, as much as I loathe Katie (and by extension Brad for marrying the twit) I nearly fainted to see them interacting with Craig, Janet, Libby and Jack the other day, simply because they've been stuck opposite Henry and V for so long. I wouldn't have a problem with our previews, if they didn't inherently ruin what little suspense we have on the show. Paul blows up one day, and at the end of the show, you already know he's going to be fine, because they told you in the previews. Sometimes even worse are the Friday ones, where you find out how a situation will end almost a week before it happens. Whoever does ours should be shot. At least they cut out the mid-show previews they were doing a couple of years ago. OY... I suppose the only real way they'll end is when the show needs that extra twenty seconds or so to fit in more commercial time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tgilbrea69 Posted August 3, 2009 Members Share Posted August 3, 2009 I think they get that 20 seconds from the fact the show doesn't have an intro (like every other show) :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted August 3, 2009 Members Share Posted August 3, 2009 At the rate the ratings are sliding, they'll need that twenty seconds pretty soon. They cannibalized that thirty seconds from the intro over a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sedrick Posted August 4, 2009 Members Share Posted August 4, 2009 Actually WORLD TURNS used to be THE SLOWEST PACED show....storylines that built for months and sometimes a year or so slow-cooking until they buit to an explosive and/or powerful finish. This was back when the show ruled daytime as the top-rated show for twenty years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted August 4, 2009 Members Share Posted August 4, 2009 As much as I love ATWT, that title goes to Y&R. Heck, they just kicked it into second gear a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.