ATWT: August 2010 discussion

[Mitch]

It think the Reid thing is very ATWT, not only does it echo the famous character dying in a car crash (that was part of a plot point on Mad Men..and I think that one was a train too) and Irna's response in writing what I have to think was ment to be oversentimental poem (which basically was a soap writers first "f*ck you" to a crazed fan base) but it also s goes down to the main thrust of ATWT...if you arent part of a family, or the community, then you don't count for much. Its harsh, its not nice, and it is totally Irna's ATWT tude coming through. Its a very differnet vibe from say, Guiding Light, where we are all family, kind of thing.

I think you have a point about the generational thing, i.e. character repeating the same storylines, adult children still acting like they were still 23. That has been a major problem with the P & G soaps, especially since MADD took over. Guiding Light had that same problem where Alan, Alex, Ed, Holly, Reva, Josh, werent allowed to age..they kept repeating the same things over and over (Alan twirlign his mustache and getting invovled in his kids love lives, Alex rolling her eyes at him, Reva and Josh, getting together and splitting up like they were still 25) or were basically ignored or written off (Ed, Holly.) They should have killed Alan off years before they did, and have Phillip take over Spaulding and the family, they should have had Rick take over at Cedars and stop playing him as the class clown who will never find love, Holly and Ed should have gotten together and then come back from time to time for family emergencies and wedding, etc. Then the kids of Rick, Phillip, Blake,etc, could have been developed as real characters and given some depth. As it was, both shows were stalled in place, so we had Lily and Holden breaking up, making up, Jack and "KERRLY," (I HATE the way he says Carly) making up and breaking up, boring, boring stuff.

I am in the minority in that I think Chris and Katie are cute together. They arent any more annoying (IMO) then the rest of ATWT's selfinvovled "lovers," of Carly and Jack, Holden and Lily, etc.

I dont think Lisa is the suprise. I really dont think they will even mention much of Lisa, she will be there at the end, standing behind Bob and Kim, but that will be it. In a way it would be nice if they showed that after all these years of having to have a man, and "romance," in her life, she finally settled down and decided she had had enough of all of that, and she was fine on her own, with her life, her business, her kids and grandkids. Echoing the lives of the women who have been watching her since 1950, who married had kids, lost their husbands and have found their lives are full anyway. I dont think everyone needs to end up with someone in the end to be happy (though I wouldnt mind if she opened the door and found poor, stiff, boring Grant Coleman there!) However, I dont think they have given that much thought, and just feel they are stuck with Lisa so they will have her in the background. Susan the same way, and she was never my fave character, I love Marie Masters but Susan has alwasy been a downbeat bore... but I do like her new personality, when she just rolls her eyes at everyone and seems kind of annoyed with them. Maybe she could get a research grant and they can show her going off to work at it..and then, her associate in the grant is revealed to be..."Dr. Dan Stewart," alive and well.."Kim was starting to bug me, she would get mad and call me buster one two many times..so I faked my death waiting for one true love,"

Or maybe they can just make Lisa and Susan late in life lesbians...so we can watch endless homemade montages of them together on you tube ala the Otalia freaks.

[P.J.]

I think what's most annoying about Chris and Katie is the BS way they've been rewritten as "friends" to fast-track this romance. Back in 2000, they were NOT friends, Katie blackmailed Chris and as a result, he teamed with Molly and Jake to expose her duplicity at the Endicott Awards. And since then, the characters have barely crossed paths.

And it really doesn't help that Cosgrove and Columbino have NO chemistry. I guess Katie fans have just as much right to have a "positive" ending for the character as anyone else, but a lot of people are simply worn out by Katie's endless parade of "soulmates". IMO.

The one thing I truly adored about yesterday was the Parker/Will talk and bringing up Hal. Ben Hendrickson's presence is sorely missed, and it seems to be a deliberate point from the TIIC, mentioning Hal on BH's real birthday.

[All My Shadows]

You know what's sad? I really, really DGAF about Barbara and Henry's wedding. That whole storyline's been tainted from the jump, and I'm not buying this "Barbara and Henry are soulmates!!" nonsense. I can believe that they're together, but I can't believe that they'd get married at this point in the relationship, especially Barbara, whose marriages have all been disasters.

And why do they insist on making this the only storyline on when it's on?

YAY it's John!!!

Oh, Henry and Barbara dancing to disco music is supposed to be cute and quirky. Boy, they ruined the frick out of Henry for me these last few months.

Okay, so we pretty much know who will be with who with it all ends:

Am I right?

[Mitch]

Oh, I forgot about that Endicot award stuff. That was when Chris was freaking cute/hawwttt!

Reminds me, whatever happened to Eplin. I know a lot of ATWT hated his intrusion (I was never an AW fan) but I liked Jake..and actually thought Eplin was hotter when he uh, "filled out!"

I agree that Cosgrove and Columbin dont have sizzling chemistry, but on paper and their "looks," go together. I really havent watched much since the start of Hogan's take over of ATWT so I just remember her as a bad apple, and then a heroine with Simon..(where the two of them had SMOKIN' chemistry.) so I dont have the history of her great loves. They just seem like two nice, cute people who should be together (and at this stage of the game any character from the core who has a story is okay by me....Blackie the freakin' high voiced midget gangster????WTF

Parker grates on my, I want to take him someplace and shave that freakin mop of hair off, but anything remotely connected to Jack and "KERRLY," makes my eyes glaze over..but I did like the shout out to BH...its weird, I never really like Hal that much, I couldnt believe that such a plain guy could score all that hot ass (Babs, Carly and wasnt he with Em too???) but now that he is gone, theres a weird hole in the show..like I expect him to come on and mumble his lines a bit in the cop station.

[Jay]

Now, that is the wind beneath my wings.

[Mitch]

Pretty much, no surprises there...I don't think you even need to put the spoiler quotes around it.

I still think that Lisa and Susan should be revealed as late in life lesbians so I can see Kim clutch her pearls one last time as we fade to black!

[dragonflies]

Today's episode was good.

I loved Henry & Barbara's wedding and OMG Barbara looked smoking hot in that wedding dress.

I can't help it, I laugh whenever Emily tells someone it's not about them, that from the queen of self-absorbed

Babs & Gwen, Babs & Kim=made of win

Only thing missing was Maddie

I know he wasn't on today, but OMG I've come to love the character of Reid

[DRW50]

I think it's because Hal had a lot of charisma and he was a nice guy (rare to find in soapland).

[P.J.]

I think that Hal was just such a regular guy. And Hal filled a big hole in the moral center of Oakdale in the days when vets where being shunted off in the late '90's-'00's that you miss that. It's one of the things I adore about seeing Bob as much as we have in the past year, he's a reasonable, calming influence on everyone. It's not that Holden or Jack aren't supposed to fill that role either, it's just a little awkward buying it from them given their age. Ideally, Tom should be filling that role, but Scott Holmes (IMO) is so low-key to the point of putting people to sleep.

I liked today---I'm so glad AH got a final scene that didn't have him in hokey clown gear. I thought Henry and Babs' vows were nice. As was the family feel of their ceremony. It gives me a little hope we'll get more family moments in the final days.

I could have done without the entire Chris/Katie drama, but at least we got a shot of ol' Johnny.

[DRW50]

Oh it was definitely down to Hal being a regular guy, with morals, and standards. I do think there was something about Ben, at least in the time I was watching (I stopped watching that much after about 2002). He was a very handsome man when he was younger and even though he aged he still had this charisma about him. He had such natural chemistry with all his leading ladies.

I think the show gave up on Tom years ago. So much of Tom's humor and his tenderness were shrugged away and what is left is this basically dull guy who sometimes starts yelling at people. Scott Holmes is the only Tom I knew for many years and I still think he did a great job as Tom for a number of years, until the show lost interest (and until that nasty triangle with Emily which I think damaged all the characters involved), but when I see old clips of Gregg Marx I can't help feeling like he is what Tom was supposed to be. I guess that's easy to say when he was only around for two years, but he was just so perfect.

[dragonflies]

From the previews I can tell I'm gonna wanna smack Fluffy(Katie) next week.

[Jay]

AH?

[DRW50]

Anthony Herrera.

[Jay]

Ohhhh...yeah. Thanks.

[P.J.]

Agreed. I don't even have clear memories of the Justin Deas/Gregg Marx era, but it's really hard to imagine Deas playing the role today. I wonder if TIIC would have kept Holmes if he wasn't playing the son of Lisa and Bob.