ATWT: September 2010 Discussion Thread

[All My Shadows]

I can't believe I forgot to mention the Barbara/Henry disco scene. Carl, of course I was thinking of you and that 70s disco set that you're so amused by

I agree with this. We Love Soaps said that they wanted to see Kim/Susan or Margo/Emily do something to remind the viewers that they've had trouble in the past, but I passionately disagree with that. We know these characters, what they've gone through with each other, and how they feel about each other. I didn't need a random side eye to tell me that they would never be the best of friends because I already know that, it was already a thought running through my mind. And besides, it would have been very tacky of either Kim or Susan to make that moment, which was about Bob, a man they both love in different ways, closing a chapter of his life, all about them and something that happened 20 years ago.

I didn't want flashbacks either. I don't think any soap finale has been built around flashbacks, and I don't they should.

[Mitch]

I will give Gautman credit, he somehow cobbled together and kept a few sets, not elaborate ones, but as you say, nice, and the lighting, made the show look warm and cozy. I am just glad the show ended like that instead of having to see poor Bob and Kim standing on a dirt road in Peapack. His biggest miss was using Kim's kitchen as a set at WOAK. It makes me think that there was a mandate at P& G not to use kitchen sets (though the Snyders kept theres) as they bundled up the Bauer kitchen on GL, though it was the most familiar set of the show, and would have gone a long way to making Wheeler's nightmarish vision of Springfield, a little warmer and more familiar.

I havent seen the show yet but disagree with the poster that Lisa's ending was appropriate. Lisa had come along way from her former self invovled self, and while still being "Lisa," she became a warm caring, though still wise cracking woman. I think Lisa's "hey day," was really right before Marland, when they had a widowed Lisa getting involved with all her step kids lives, meddling and trying to help. After the actors playing those characters left Lisa was left stranded, and while she was always considered a Hughes she became kinda just a hanger on there. I think one of the real misses of Gautman's regime is that he could have easily had Lisa mentoring many, many of the younger characters who were a little lost, Carly being the obvious one, but others too (imagine Lisa knowing that Luke is gay before anyone else, cause you know she has to be the oldest fag hag on earth) Marland used to comment that Fulton is really good with the younger actors so he always had them work with her at first, and you can see on You Tube that Fulton really glows when she is working with Marisa Tomea and all the younger actors at that time. In the last interview Fulton says she loves Gautman but I cant believe it, she HAD to have pissed someone off or it is because she does seem a little vague at times in her scenes, and she can't remember the lines that well

They really should have had Fulton at Memorial with Bob, Kim and Susan, and then John and Lucinda stopping by to say goodbye and then we could see them all acting their selves, Lisa getting in jabs at Susan and John and Lucinda, Susan rolling her eyes at Lisa, John laughing at her, and Lucinda giving it right back while Bob and Kim smile and act peacemaker one last time, showing how they all became this weird "family," simply because of knowing each other all these years.

[Llantano Incorporated]

That is funny about the kitchen sets, the only sets on OLTL that I can call beautiful (like Y&R at its peak beautiful) are Viki and Dorian's kitchens.

I found the Lucinda/Lisa/John scenes awkward or something, mainly because of Eileen's odd line readings. Maybe they were supposed to seem this way? Again, I have no right to talk because I did not watch the show.

Oh and I agree! The voiceover of Bob was a GREAT touch.

[jcar03]

Mine says it is on newstands until 11/30/10. I was initally looking at the checkout stands for a SOD size and just happened to walk down the regular magazine aisle at the grocery store and found it. It is a SOW size. It is a really good read!

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I did tear up watching the final episode, but surprisingly I didn't cry. After the episode ended, though, I just sat there and had to catch my breath... because it all hit me at once that it's all over.

Bob's voiceover was good, I thought... but I couldn't help thinking that of course it would have been Nancy instead had Helen Wagner not passed away.

Everyone was great. Even Katie and Chris were tolerable. Only could have done without seeing Janet and Dusty. Replace them with Parker and Sage.... or even just Jack and Carly alone.

[Soapsuds]

I have the episode too somewhere. I need to find it.

[bellcurve]

Gotta admit this was better than the gorilla at the wedding, right?

[Eric83]

The last scene with Bob made me tear up, especially hearing the music as the globe turned.

Totally just remembered the first words of the show were "Good morning, Dear" and the last are "good night".

Overall, an okay ending. It was much better than GL's, which was just downright embarassing. Seriously, all of the residents of Springfield running down the street from Remy's wedding to see Ashlee and Daisy leave town.

Can't believe there are now only 6 soaps left, and none of them are P&G.

[Sylph]

So what did you think, bellcurve?

[DRW50]

As stupid as the gorilla was, it was at least based on a previous story, so it didn't bother me as much as the obtrusive narration and loud music. I felt like Goutman was basically saying that what ATWT was and ATWT ending was not meaningful enough for him.

Things like the wedding guests saying goodbye and giving advice to a camera (and to viewers). That last scene with Rachel in her room of family photos, and then the toast of Mac.

ATWT's finale had some wonderful moments but I was looking for more heart, which I did get with the other P&G endings. I think that type of thing, Goutman was just ashamed of or was too cynical to know how to do (leading to stuff like Luke listening to Reid's heart, which just didn't really work for me). Or perhaps I'm too cynical, I don't know.

[Max]

I actually felt that the finale was a very good show, enough for it to earn an A-. (The rest of the ATWT's final week left much to be desired, however.) I liked the narration by Bob as well as the fact that the final dialogue was between Bob and Kim. The very sad and majestic music played during the show's final few minutes was a really nice touch, and perfectly matched the mood so many ATWT fans were feeling. Additionally, most of the characters had satisfying endings. The only big flaws in the finale were the following:

*no flashbacks or even mention of Nancy (all that was shown--for about two seconds--was a picture of Nancy on Bob's desk)

*no Emma

*the absence of a short clip showing that James Stenbeck is still alive (since it's not believable that Oakdale's greatest villian is really dead, given past history)

and

*the ending (or should I say non-ending) that Lisa received (while Goutman and Fulton despise each other, it was inexcusable for Goutman to let this hatred interfere with giving the iconic character of Lisa a decent farewell scene).

[Soapsuds]

I doubt Goutman had any friends left at the end. I have a feeling most of the actors despised him by the end. They just didnt show it off screen or to him......

[P.J.]

I really don't mean to be argumentative either...it's funny you say you got your GL back for the last week. I had tried SO hard to muster up some enthusiasm for GL in the final months to no avail. I do have the final week on dvd, but I've never been tempted to rewatch it. Believe it or not, GL and ATWT are the first soaps of mine that have been canceled. (I did watch Capitol, but that was preVCR, so I only really watched during the summers.)

WLS is sometimes full of himself. Yeah, historically Kim and Susan have been at each other's throats, but IMO, Kim's sniping only means she's insecure, and I certainly wouldn't want to rehash that in the final eppy. Susan hadn't been seen in months--any sniping on her part would have seemed bitchy in light of Nancy's death and Chris' health problems.

I liked that we got (nearly) everyone having a "good morning" (if not directly saying it) and a "good night". I don't know if Nancy would have narrated the entire show---the focus was obviously going to be Bob's retirement, and therefore from his POV. I wonder how they would have worked Nancy's "good night" in.

[Soapsuds]

Same here with me. GL was the first show cancelled but by the end I didnt care. The show was not GL at all for me. I thought ATWT would outlive me...sadly it didnt.

[DRW50]

I had a tough time getting involved in GL's last months...I really wanted the show to stay on and I think almost any show is salvageable but a year later I can see that the show probably did need to go. I think the last week or last few weeks managed to pull themselves together, with a few exceptions, and present probably one of the better finales the show could have produced at that time, moreso than I'd have expected based on the last 15 years of GL.

ATWT is another story, because I think the pieces were still there for ATWT to go on. On the one hand, this meant that there was still some strong stuff in the show's last year, when Goutman and JP actually made the effort. Some of Lucinda's schemes, and the Barbara story, I think that was some of the best material the two of them had had in a long time. And Reid, at least before he was sucked into the dull and sexless story with Luke. They also produced some good standalone episodes. But the downside for me is that they didn't really make enough effort for a finale and also to represent how special ATWT was and what made ATWT unique and so resilient. Goutman never seemed to get most of what ATWT its own and almost seemed to feel he was superior to that. I've seen this type of attitude in some stuff like the ATWT writeups at Daytime Confidential, how, oh this all so well put together and so superior and things like returns weren't necessary. The problem is this isn't being graded as some type of statement. It's the finale to a national institution. And more focus on what made ATWT an institution would have been great, not the Cicciones, or the Reid stuff that was a ripoff of St. Elsewhere, GH, et al.

The real vitality was from people like Carly and the Hughes family and Susan and Barbara and Lucinda. I did appreciate seeing them. I'm just selfish enough to have wondered how much effort it would have made to even have some throwaway lines mentioning names like Penny and Adam and Lyla and Andy. That type of respect for history was what made ATWT stand out for so many years and if it had kept that up it might still be with us.