January 2010 ATWT Thread

[DRW50]

I don't give Sheffer that much credit for what he did with Susan or Barbara. The main reason they showed Susan was to try to generate pity for Allison. They rewrote her history to make her a drunk and neglectful mother to Allison, which was not true. Other than that, and a brief story with Decker, Susan had little to do. Barbara was turned into a pathetic joke and a plot device, one of many characters damaged to prop Craig, and then used to give story to others, like Carly, Rose, Paul, Emily. She was just the crazy lady. When it came time to actually write a Barbara who was not a caricature, he didn't bother.

Mike and Mark were on the show and Sarah joined them. I think there were rumors that they were casting a Kasnoff mother. Mike became closer and closer to Lily. There were no longer any Snyders on the show, aside from rarely seen Emma.

Only after a regime change and Christian's inevitable departure did the Snyder presence return.

Wasn't there some rumor that Jack originally wasn't going to be a Snyder? I can't remember.

[soapfan770]

Actually Marland should be credited with saving the Hughes family for the most part--except for Bob and Tom Bunim and the Dobsons had wrote everyone else out. As for the Stewarts its a shame there aren't more but there were some problems. Mainly the fact Patricia Bruder was four years younger than John Reilly. They aged her children wayyy too fast as Bruder was only her in 30s and 40s in the 70s and 80s. Hence why Eileen Fulton had a no grandchildren clause in her contract until Lien Hughes was introduced in 1988 and Casey Hughes was born in 1991.

The Kasnoffs were apart of Marland's outlines, but he had intended them to be abused and neglected rather than just blue-collar. The Mike and Lily pairing got cut short and was dropped with Holden's return.

[DRW50]

I think Eileen Fulton claimed she'd dropped the grandmother clause some time before Margo's 1987 miscarriage, I'm not sure though.

You're right about what Marland did for the Hughes family. Of course the Dobsons chose to build up the Stewarts at the expense of the Hughes, so at least they didn't bring in a new family.

I do wonder what might have been if they hadn't aged all Ellen's kids so severely, and hadn't killed off Dan and Paul.

[Paul Raven]

Irna Phillips started the SORASING (to the long term detriment of the show)by aging Dan to a young adult in 1966 when the character should have been 8 yrs old!

Tom was aged to late teens by late 60's when he also should have been 8.

This kind of aging is lazy writing!!Sorry Irna.

Lisa,Bob and Ellen were suddenly an older generation and Ellen a grandmother by early 70's.

Mike came on in 94 after Marland's death.I don't know whether he was a Marland character or not.

Stern and Black focused on Mark and Sarah.I think the mother was to be called Nora,but Stern and Black were fired before she was introduced.

Marland didn't bother with Annie or Dee on the Stewart side.I think Dee in particular had a lot of story potential as an ex wife to John.He also wrote out Frannie.

He wisely gave Kim/Bob and Don/Mary children but Chris Hughes has been a squandered character and Kristina never seen.

Stern and Black brought on Ryder(Don's stepson)Paul Ryan and Dani Andropolous so some heed was being played to history.However,the writing was bad and the chracters suffered.

ATWT has suffered,like every show by no-one using history and past characters effectively.

[P.J.]

I do give Sheffer a little credit for revitalizing Barbara....under Broderick, she completely lost her edge and wound up getting preggers by John. Sheffer repositioned her as a force to be reckoned with, even if he went way into BatSh!tCrazyville. I think the other women in her age range (and older) completely got destroyed by Sheff.

Michael Park auditioned for the role of Paul Ryan (that John Howard won) in '96, and he read with Maura West sometime before shortly before she left the show. He remembers it because she was pregnant with her first child (which makes it the first half of '96.) I don't think Maura remembers it. So I don't think it was that Michael wasn't hired to be a Snyder, just that he auditioned for another role.

[DRW50]

I think I might have liked crazy Barbara more if they hadn't repeatedly reminded viewers that she was dominated by men. She was obsessed with Paul. She was obsessed with Craig. James manipulated her into doing what he wanted. Barbara was just a pawn, and Sheffer seemed to see her pain as something to laugh at. This pathetic woman who is now worthless because her looks are gone and she doesn't have a man.

It was better than having no story at all, and CZP did a great job, but overall I thought the whole thing was more about Sheffer's low opinion of women than about Barbara herself.

I do agree she hadn't had a lot to do; the interim writers in 1997 made her pregnant, then the baby was killed in late 1997. When Broderick was headwriter, Barbara had that story with Julia which was dropped, then she reunited with Hal. I always loved Barbara and Hal, and probably always will; no matter how many problems their marriage had and how many times Barbara was frustrated by him, I could never believe she'd look twice at the sleazo version of Craig.

[P.J.]

^^^the first of many women destroyed to paint Craig as a "powerful" man. *eyeroll*

Sigh...I loved Habs too. They were my Carjack before Carjack.

[Saving ATWT]

Thank you Soap Fan...A friend once told me about Pat Bruder's age being a problem. He said that this was the reason her character was basically destroyed. I don't think that is totally true but may have been part of the problem. I'm guessing that is why Bruder had her odd/bad hairdo? For some reason, I always loved Ellen. She had the most awkward yet joyfull smile. I have always missed her as well as Lyla. I was taken with Anne Steward (sp?), thought she was a great actress. This show had such great talent already and that is why I've always thought it was a mistake for Marland to bring in the Snyder family. Certain characters had to be pushed to the side in order to make room for a new family. I would have loved watching this year's Christmas eppy with Ellen and Lyla spending time with thier grandkids.

[P.J.]

Anne Sward...

Anyhoo....may I be the first to say I found today nearly perfect? (I suspect a fever, 'cause I even liked Katie/Henry/Simon) and I rarely like (or feel inclined to admit it) them.

Sure---my joy has lots to do with positive Carjack movement---their near kiss/cheek kisses were on fire---but even with some setbacks (Jack making the move on Janet) it felt like a turning point. It's an honest to God soapy plot, but it's built more on character than connect the dots plotting.

LOL...I've been waiting a year for Jan to fall from her pedestal, and she landed smack on her ass, big time, today.

[DRW50]

I don't think Marland was the reason Lyla was pushed aside. He gave her a fairly strong amount of storyline, compared to what she'd had before him, when she was just a mother. She had the relationship with Casey, his death, then she had brief relationships with Larry and Cal.

I think if he'd lived, she might have stayed around, although with the budget cuts, I don't know.

[Soapsuds]

You're loving ever moment of it. Aren't you PJ?...lol. I've only gotten to the part where Katie discovers where Simon is working.

[Mitch]

As a kid I always bought that Ellen was older...though I know storyline wise it made no sense, history says she was Penny's best bud, but all of a sudden she is a grandma at the same time and hanging out with Nancy Hughes( I remember seeing a picture of her in one of my mom's soap mags and I was suprised her kid was younger then I was, I always thought of her as being old) ! I always thought she, and David looked like they had gas all the time. LOL, on her weirdo hairdo!!! Was that the original "old lady," bun they gave her (no doubt to make her look old,) or the hair down kind of cut she had since the 80's. I remember they unveiled that during the whole, Ellen and David divorce, where Ellen got an apartment in a swinging singles (though all old people) development. They brought in some old actresses, Betsy Palmer of Friday the 13th fame to befriend her and cheer her up though Ellen must be fickle as soon as she was screwing someone you never saw them again.

Lyla was another character who suffered from someone too young being cast in the role..I think Sward was like two years older then Colin. But I always felt Lyla was boring, throwing her in bed with a younger guy and plopping her on a piano didn't help (IMO.) I always cringes when ever she or Fulton were in a scene with a piano as I knew some horrible yowling was going to take place (remember when Lyla was supposed to have a hit song..some bad adult contemp piece that the younger kids were all in love with, as a matter of fact, her song stopped a whole bachelor party of Marland's wimpy men, as they stopped to moon over the song and their missing ladies.)

[P.J.]

Only with every fiber of my being.

[NorrthCafe]

I haven't liked Lily since that time. What she did to Dusty was awful. There have only been two times since then that I liked the character. The first was when Rattray took over the role and gave Lily a bitch goddess edge. The second time was when she was first with Damian -- and then she cheated with Holden in the church bell tower! when he forgave his dear one, his 'cara', I forgave her too and then was done with her as soon as Damian died.

[Mitch]

Lily is a bitch...a self centered bitch...I never understood why Marland (and every writer since then ) had everyone treat her like she was a heroine! On GL Reva even caught [!@#$%^&*] from people on her behavior but no one has ever been allowed to call Lilly out!