ATWT July 2010 Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

maybe and maybe not but at least changes were being made ...I cant say Goutman tried anything to save the show!

[Ann_SS]

I'm not grieving nor do I solely blame Goutman and Passante for failing ratings. The social demographic shift of fewer women at home is the main reason that daytime as a whole has such poor ratings. However, that does not excuse almost a decade of poor storytelling and casting. Ultimately, P&G is to blame. Its poor decision to keep them in charge for such a long period that contributed to the poor quality of ATWT. Goutman and Passante should have been fired in the early 2000s. Under a new headwriter and producer with new ideas the ratings erosion may have slowed down a bit. Who knows. I enjoyed Kreizman's brief stint as headwriter. I thought he brought something interesting although I hate him on GL. Regardless, I'm not giving Goutman and Passante a pass for the [!@#$%^&*] and creative bankrupcy that has been on my screen for almost a decade. ATWT deserves to be cancelled. I do feel for the cast and crew who had no voice in this crap.

[Saving ATWT]

Agreed, yes and no: For the 2007-2008 season ATWT, under Goutman and Passante managed to snag 3ed place in households so I'm sure PGP and CBS were both happy with the creative direction of the show. In fact, the ratings were never really a problem for Goutman till he went ape [!@#$%^&*] and fired seven actors within one year (2008) at which point the ratings tanked. I am no fan of the current regine; however, I understand why they stayed in power up until the cancellation of GL and ATWT slide which began a few months earlier. My Oakdale died long ago but the show did really well for most of the decade besting the entire ABC lineup.

The show seems to be rebounding, has been gaining viewers year to date, but it seems as if CBS and pgp want out oif the game. Otherwise, I think more time would have been given to World for a turn around.

[Saving ATWT]

Agreed, yes and no: I love the vets but ATWT has never given the right focus to 'the next generation' and that explains the poor demos. For example, Chris Huges should have never been recasted five times; Andy should have been back; Frannie and her kids might have been a nice addition. I'm more into characters than actors so the issue of who the 'real' craig is doesn't matter so much to me. Many viewers are too young to ever remember Craig in the 1980's and, for them, Hunt Block might be the 'real Craig'. As for Martha, I totally agree and the ratings never did recover. I will never understand Janet except for her being used as a means of being anti-WASP with all her Pasta and trips to mass. A numbers of soaps have tried to attract Latin viewers and that may explain why they made her so so so Cathlic.

I do respect the manner in which Y&R is trying at forming a new generation of Newman's and Abbot's. I believe a show needs to mix vets with newcommers but an entire cast of 60somethings would be painful to watch and tank in key demos.

[All My Shadows]

Happy to see Will and Gwen. Sad to see them being used for this ridiculous Barbara talks to a clown storyline.

Gwen's hair doesn't look right.

[Franky]

Jesse Lee Soffer is SOOO MUCH LOVE!! :wub:

And little Hallie is cute as a button, too. As far as Gwen's hair, she must have gotten Jon Hensley's stylist.

What a pity that, while Gwen and Will were on the show, they got such dud storylines as "Cleo is Gwen." Yeah...Sorry to remind you about that. It hurts me, too.

[Ann_SS]

Gwen's hair is not flattering. I was never a Will and Gwen fan, but this is a good return. Too bad like you said that it isn't more substantive.

Oh, I just saw next week's preview. Reid and Luke are in it, probably for one day.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

Ugh...I haven't seen my man in two days!! I need more Gabriel!!!

[Ann_SS]

I say appreciate what you get. Reid wasn't this week and he is usually only on once a week.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Yeah. I can't even think of one that was successful (at least in my eyes. ) If it didn't work the first dozen times, why keep doing it?

That's what really killed the show for me. Because there was a good few months where it was dominating the entire show (along with the show hiring newbie "teens"). If I had wanted to watch ABC actors, I'd watch an ABC soap!

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

She would look so much better with bangs. My hair is the same way when it's long (flat and straight.) JL looked a lot cuter with her shorter hair.

Will and Gwen definitely grew on me. I was sad when they left.

[Ann_SS]

ATWT had been doodoo for years, but the decision to recast the role Paul with Roger Howarth spoke the volumes about how Goutman and JP had no confidence in their ability to write interesting stories so they went for stunt casting.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I remember maybe in December when Janet and Jack were about to divorce, her saying that as a Catholic she didn't believe in divorce. Okay, but she married a man who had divorced a few times? The church wouldn't have allowed that in the first place.

That and so many other discrepancies.

The show tried several times to appeal to Latino viewers with new characters and whatnot, but it never worked.

[All My Shadows]

I never got the gripes against the hiring of ABC stars. Has the show hired a LOT of them? Yes. But who else are they supposed to hire? In cases like Craig where they had no business firing Bryce in the first place, I understand and agree. But Pinson? Damon? Herring? McClain? Were they supposed to ignore those auditions simply because they had already made names for themselves on ABC soaps?

[DRW50]

Howarth. They pretty much destroyed the Paul character between that hire and the drastic change in Paul's personality to try to make Paul "edgy." The problem is that Howarth has looked so bored for most of his time in the role, it undercut most of their intention. I thought Kavitovit and Scott Holroyd were both much more suited to the part.