ATWT July 2010 Discussion Thread

[Saving ATWT]

I'm, for the first time, actually loving Trent Dawson and Henry. He always seemed too campy but today managed to actually pull off real dramtic acting and calling Vienna evil was like hitting the nail on the head. I hate the manner in which TPTB have turned Vienna into the mental case of the month (as was the case with NutMeg and Damien); however, she has always been a campy and rather pointless character. Katie has been way too out of character for a while now and should have spilled the beans before the wedding. I guess we're going to get Babs and Henry as the next 'supercouple' which sucks because Barbara has always had real men like James, Gunner, and Hal. Henry really isn't her type. Also, Henry wants a child and will never get to be a father while married to a 60 year old.

I'm glad TPTB are not totally centering the show around Carly anymore. For the longest time, ATWT felt like The Carly show which must have added to the soaps demise. Yes, Maura is good but should not dominate the canvas. I still think she, along with Jack, remain too much in their own little pod not interacting nearly enough with other characters.

BTW, I like Gwen's new hair and think it looks a lot better than anything she wore before. Her life has been a bad hair day and now, for once, the style brings out her face.

[Saving ATWT]

By 1999, ATWT was basically a dead show way too focused on aging vets and worthless under-developed new characters. I think the highlight may have been the Margo screws evil Alac Wallace and Eddie Silva--ouch! Like him or not, Hogan saved ATWT by forming a stable cast and giving the show some sense of direction. I'll even give Goutman some credit because he was able to get Liz Hubbard back. No, none of the work was perfect but Will kills Rose and Rick Decker were both great stories that included vets. I wonder why CBS Daytime didn't try at getting Hogan back at World as opposed to Y&R because, maybe, he could have gotten ratings up.

I forgot about the serial killer story but loved it. I honestly do not think Jean could have done it alone. The story had flaws but it drove ratings and had a Blair Witch Project feel to it. Actually, it almost didn't feel like daytime soap material. That story was only a few years ago and it is shocking to see how far the show has declined in three years.

[DRW50]

All I remember of the Rose story was endless airtime for mumbling and bored-looking Dusty and Paul recasts.

It was nice to see the occasional story for Susan (even if they trashed her character just to prop worthless Allison) and some other vets, but I think the show mostly got attention at that time because of stunts. Hogan and Goutman were very good at promoting stunts. The problem was once the stunts ran out, Goutman and Hogan seemed to lose interest. I think that they both had little interest in ATWT itself. Goutman's contempt for the show is barely hidden in interviews.

[P.J.]

I remember the sabbactical...but I can't recall the finer points.

IA, the baby switch was one of the better stories of the Hogan/Pissy era, but moreso because of the acting than the actual plotting. I never for a moment understood Paul's justifications for keeping/perpetuating that secret and the myriad of flip-flops he did to keep Jen and Johnny apart.

I wasn't as impressed by the reveal as most here. I can't pin down why, but it just fell flat for me.

Carly and Jack aren't more or less isolated than anyone else on the canvas. I truly hope you've got a snarky little comment coming about "Gwen's World Turns" since her dominating airtime surely lead to the show's cancellation too.

And no...Gabe wasn't on today. I think he may be on tomorrow.

[ChiTownBoi03]

I must say today was just okay for me. I was all hyped up, but--yeah--after seeing the Katie/Henry/Vienna drama on-screen it could have been slowed down. I mean, Henry only yelled at Katie for like 5 seconds? That heffa deserves a b*tchslap right along with Vienna, and I wished it was from Babs.

Also, the fact that Vienna's romps with Casey didn't drizzle out right along with everything else just makes all these little devices (Babs kidnapping, trying to get pregnant with Casey)seem pointless. I guess that could perhaps come out later (???)--but still. Its all happened in typical Jean P. *blink and you missed it* fashion.

[Ann_SS]

I'm completely agree. Hogan gave ATWT balance and direction. He wasn't perfect, but at least, ATWT fel like a soap opera with romance, angst, and deception. The last time Carly had any career ambition was under Hogan. I don't think that Barbara Ryan Originals has been mentioned once since Hogan left. Even when Hogan was at his worse, ATWT still had potential which something I never felt under JP and Goutman. At least, the ratings didn't collapse like they did under Passanante and Goutman a year or two later.

CBS may have tried for all we know. I certainly hope that they did. Other Richard Culliton, Sheffer is the only other recycled headwriter that I would give another chance if I worked for a network. Sheffer might have been able to do enough to get ATWT back on track and push cancellation off a year or so.

[dragonflies]

Actually Henry's never wanted kids, that came from raising his siblings. Once Vienna got pregnant he wanted it, but overall he's never wanted to be a father

[DRW50]

Ann, just curious -- wouldn't you consider the story where Craig worked with Carly on a fashion line this past year, bankrolling it with Parker's trust fund, to be about the same as her days at BRO? They had more focus on it around the time Barbara went nuts but I guess I saw both stories as being the same -- thinly veiled excuses to push Craig and his uncomfortable, sometimes excruciating obsession with Carly in the spotlight. I think I would have enjoyed Carly's fashion stories more without him. Early on they tried to make it their idea of some kind of 30s comedy banter, but 30s comedies don't involve killing a man's son as an excuse for him to have pity sex. This relationship has veered from smarmy to downright pathetic, depending on the actor playing Craig and writing at the time.

[Ann_SS]

Other than the Reid story, I haven't watch much of ATWT this last year so I can't comment really though I saw a bit of the drunk stuff. However, I can believe that the Craig/Carly relationship became pathetic under Passanante and Goutman. They long changed Carly from a stylish ambitious business woman into a jean wearing housefrau whining "Jaaack" every day of the week.

You hated Hogan and seem to have disliked Hunt Block as Craig, but I loved Craig and Carly's cat and mouse game and Carly and Barbara's business rivalry under Hogan. Until Hogan fell apart and Roger Howarth showed up, my only main complaints were Bryant's death and Hogan making Marshall Travers, a rapist, otherwise ATWT was my daytime crack. I could not get enough.

[DRW50]

I think that Hogan had some good ideas but then things would go insane. I know that a lot of people loved PsychoBarbara and I know that that stopped CZP from being fired but I just thought that made Barbara into a huge joke, an embarrassment to everyone around her, a crazy and desperate throwback to Vanessa Prentiss who spent all her days plotting against whatever relationships her children were in at the time. I guess what bothered me the most was that when they finally tried to redeem Barbara, it was brief, and a dropped story, and she seemed to have almost nothing to do until recently.

I think we've both watched ATWT for a long time but I am too embittered to be able to give big story and character changes a chance the way that a lot of longtime fans might. I was just so horrified by what Craig was on his return, his coldness and the contempt he had for everyone, that I never invested in any relationships he had because I felt like the show wasn't investing in them either, they just wanted to have him do nasty things and this was supposed to be fun. With Barbara, I was so bewildered by what she became that I couldn't adjust to that ether.

I can see why fans have said that Barbara's current story demeans her, as I know it does in some ways, but I still go along with it because I feel like it's still closer to the Barbara I remember than most of what she's had to do over the past 10 years.

[Ann_SS]

I have never understood the love for Barbara. I have never liked or had any use for the character whether she was sane or psycho. She is had had some good moments, but as a whole, I never thought that she was anything special.

[DRW50]

I like Barbara best when she's not too good or too bad. She can be a bitch, a romantic heroine, a passionate woman, a bitter ex, and CZP trades barbs with some of the best.

I think I have a soft spot for Barbara because Barbara's stories were one of the main reasons I kept watching in 1993-1994-1995. Stuff like Julie and her son Pete, Eduardo and Orlena, Kirk/Sam, Barbara faking her stalking, Barbara's affair with Evan Walsh, Janice's reign of terror >>> Courtney whining, Lily whining, Rosanna whining, Mike yelling about his probation officer, Holden droning about Lily and Damian.

[All My Shadows]

I think my dislike for Hogan's ATWT stems mainly from what I think ATWT should have always been about. The business stuff, the islands, the jewels, etc, etc...just no. No, no, no, no. 2005-2006 ATWT (and really, though the stories are pretty crappy, most of the last few years of ATWT) got back to simple storylines of family issues, relationships, etc. Corporate drama had a place, but not at the expense of more domestic stuff.

Truth be told, I've never been that big on James Stenbeck, at least not the way Hogan and Jean have written him. Characters like James have always bored me. And then they kept trying to make that lame ass Jordan happen.

Hogan's writing for Barbara is why the character is now put into stories where she's talking to inanimate clowns.

[P.J.]

I think I love Barbara for the same reason some love Lily---I've seen her grow up. If not technically from a teenager to an adult like Lily, from an incredibly naive girl to a bitch to insane and back to a strong-willed woman.

I didn't like the Babs/Henry hookup when it first started as a pay-for-sex-and-blackmail romp. But it changed when Babs supported Henry after Brad's death. They built a friendship and I can now accept that they care deeply for each other. Since they're both characters I liked anyway, it's easy to enjoy them.

[P.J.]

I know people don't like them...but I love fun and FUNCTIONAL Carjack so much more than randomly mad and bizzaro-world Carjack.

Hate me for being a fan-gurl. Today, I offically don't care.

*snort* And I LOL at Gabe's Danny Zuko hair.