ATWT was 'cancelled' in my mind when...

[DeeeDee]

Yep.

[Saving ATWT]

I'm thrilled, someone else sees why the show fell apart! Mitch, as usual, you are very on point. At certain points, they could have called the show 'As Carly Turns'. Even strong characters such as Emily went on backburner for prolonged periods of time. I really lost interest when it became all Snyders all the time. Question: who was MADD?

In general, I am against a writer's work being censored. People, such as your dad, fought for the freedom of idiots like Noah and writers such as Pissy to burn important symbols such as the Purple Heart and the flag. While I find it distasteful, I love the fact that Americans are free to do such radical things. In most nations, a person would be jailed for this as some crime against the state. Only in America are we free to burn the symbols that metaphorically protect us. As the World Turns penned a bad storyline; however, it is this story that should remind all of us of how free we really are.

[Mitch]

I could totally see that IF anyone at ATWT showed any interest in dramatic integrity or, in fact, in balls at all. One of the reasons we see the continued breaking up and making up off "supercouples," is that they dont have balls to make the characters move on (imagine, Lisa and Bob would still be together after 234 break ups.) They wont even show their simpering annoying gay couple show any affection, or ever refer to them screwing. So I think it was more of PG asleep at the wheel, not caring as the show is dead, then something JP or dorky Dave put in to make a point.

MADD was Mary Alice Dwyer Dwight (or Dwight Dwyer??) executive in charge of production for PG. She used to have that role on ABC when they were number one so you would think she would be idea for the job but she still was stuck in the 70s and 80s and tried to "ABC," the PG shows...it became less about people dealing with their families and jobs and life, in addition to love, and all about "TWU LURVE," She hated corporate stories (so we quit seeing Lucinda doing her thing or the Spauldings in the boardroom) as she thought no one could undestand and care about corporate intrique. The shows became more shallow, cartoonish, bland and generic under her, and we got the supercouple formula over and over with her.

However, the shows were still better off with her in charge, so she could stay both Wheelers and Gautman's hands.

[Saving ATWT]

Thanks for telling me about MADD-now I know why anything Lucinda or WorldWide was dropped. I loved those Marland stories, Lucinda always holding the trump card, working all hours with her assistant, Jane. Didn't MADD notice that the number 1 show, Y&R, heavily focused on corporate stories with Newman and Jabbot? I guess she never got the memo or looked at the ratings. I would guess that the twu love formula might have had to do with demos.

I've said before that Carly should already be on her 6th uber-rich husband by now. Carly is the new Lisa and it would have been so simple to build the character this way: the writers could have, if they lacked for inspiration, recycled some of Lisa's old stories and just taken a moment to give them them a slightly modern twist. I also dislike how the transformed Lily into a baby machine. I hae no idea where she finds the time for drama and sex with all of those brats to raise. It might have been smart to, at the least, give her a nanny who could have also been used to mix things up. I almost feel like Goutman turned the show to [!@#$%^&*] on purpose. The show was by no means perfect in 2007 but, at the least, it made sense. Viewers will settle for a lame show provided it is consistant.

Was just thinking that OLTL should really try at getting Maura. She has been the 'star' of World Turns for almost a decade and would bring some sort of following over to ABC. Kelly would also be a wise grab. If CBS were smart, they would get both women under contract and deny ABC the chance. I could see Maura showing up on Y&R as Nikki's long lost sister. I'll bet anything Michael Park ends up as a cop on AMC.

[NorrthCafe]

We're a Marine Corps family so I agree that it was a DEEPLY offensive action (to me, at least) but it wasn't the moment that killed the show for me, nor do I think the writers intended it to be offensive. It was stupid and careless writing on their part. Col. Mayer was the traitor. He disgraced that uniform. It would have been better for Noah to want to return his father's purple heart and other memorabilia, even if he couldn't really do something like that. To have him destroy them was stupid. They should have left it at Noah destroying anything else that tied him to his father. I say this as a let-it-all-hang-out-Obama-lovin' liberal.

ATWT has been on such a long slow slide to no where, that I don't think I can point to just ONE moment that killed the show for me. I've loved the show just because of sentimental reasons, but never with the same affection after the 'Can-her' recast (Susan Batten for Allyson Rice Taylor), and the slow death of Lucinda Walsh - whose body remains but whose spirit has moved on.

[GregNYC]

It was cancelled when they hired Jean Passanante.