ATWT: September 2010 Discussion Thread

[dragonflies]

I meant the screenname

Yeah I figured CBS probably posts it on their website after the west coast airing

[Soapsuds]

Actually I wasnt going to resurrect it but someone higher above prefered it to Ruxton Hills. I decided to change it too cause I dont know how much if at all I will be posting once ATWT is gone. I haven't really posted anything significant about the storylines in a while. Really what is the point now that the show is cancelled. No one cared to listen.

ATWT is my show and well I dont DVD the other shows anymore. I might catch a ABC soap on SoapNet when I dont have anything to do or watch.

Gawd ...I hear Goutman already got a job...directing at another soap....Ugh....bastard!!

[Saving ATWT]

Pissy love families, provided the center around Janet and Libby. Pre-Hogan, ATWT had lost all focus with core families consisting of aging vets. By 2000, Betsy along with Frannie, Sabrina, Andy, realDusty, Meg, Ellie, and Seth were all gone. I wish Hogan had just recasted a character like Frannie or even tried something with Bianca Walsh; however, he did center the show around community and I loved the interactions between Emily, Carly, Molly, Nancy, and Roseanna. ATWT has always been demos challenged and, for a while, the show took on the structure of a show like Thirtysomething or today's Parenthood. I just keel like Pissy lacks any focus, any institution thinking, and that here stories more or less just jump around. I will agree that characters like Casey and Allison are plain boring! Pissy doesn't seem able to write for younger characters except for one dimential Reid. As for Lisa, I've seen her on talk shows and she seems fine. I get the feeling Goutman hates here and prevents Fulton from really working.

The reid scene today hurt--ouch! It was like an act of God: Car stalls, seat belt fails, he can't run--all the save pathetic Chris. Also, I hate how Tom is trying to basically steal a heart by calling in favors. The Hewes family is supposed to play by the rules and this is almost out of character. Chris wasn't responsible, if he had seeked medical attention, none of this would even be happening. Furthermore, Tom's actions are the reason Reid is on his way to Bay City. That preview hurt, with Reid shaking is head about beig an organ doner. The writing comes off like Chris has a birth right to a new heart. I might like this story more if Chris wasn't such a goof. Also, I adore Reid and this just sucks ;-(

[dragonflies]

Just watched

Gotta say I freaking love Reid, The "if he wasn't so stupid about his heart condition" was the best line of the day

I can't help it I've come to love Reid and Luke. Reid has made me like Luke again

I swear John and Reid look and act like they could be father and son

[soapfan770]

You know if it weren't for the show ending and with Nancy's funeral I would be skipping out this mess. This is pretty much the same fare TPTB have given us since what, 2006 2007? Just this time last year there was that glimmer of hope with Rosanna being back in town, Carly's drinking, the return of Adam story but all that was wasted for the same old same old earlier this year. Hell Billy Warlock's character was the usual VOM story Passanate and crew did so well. Yeesh, I'm sorry that the show is ending like this.

[P.J.]

It's hard to believe the Ztwins were actually interesting in comparison to BW's Blackie.

[Saving ATWT]

The Z-twins were at least sort of funny, sexy, and the story might have worked if maybe they examined Zoe and why she was so bitter. Blackie is just STUPID and wannabe GH mob junk. If I were Italian, I would sort of be offended--every one of Janet's old friends/family is somehow connected to organized crime.

Just watched today's episode again and the Reid stuff almost made me cry. He is great with Luke, funny and just learning how to use his own heart. I'm not going to call this lazy writing but there were many other options.

[Actor87]

I love As The World Turns. The impending finale has made me re-think why I love this show so much. It's the cast of amazingly talented actors. With some exceptions here and there, the cast has always had terrific acting chops. It's also the history of the show. Late 80's/early 90's would be my pick for "best time", but then again, I wasn't alive before 87, and from what I hear, there were some good times before that, too. And lastly, it's the characters. As long as soap operas exist, there will never be another "Barbara Ryan", "James Stenbeck", "Henry Coleman", "Lisa Grimaldi", "Bob and Kim", or "Nancy Hughes". The characters are so integral to the canvas.

So let me ask this: why is it... with the finale only ten episodes away... that Goutman and Passanante have decided to uproot Oakdale once again? If they kill off Reid (and remember: I'm spoiler free; and yes, I realize the foreshadowing that took place today) then they will have done JUST THAT. Writing off a character simply because you want to take the "easy way out" is SICKENING to me.

It's no secret that Luke has been torn between Noah and Reid for some time. The decision of Luke's "partner" was eventually going to have to be made. So, they devise a plot to "cleverly" (and I use the term sarcastically) segway into the Chris drama and ultimately, leave them withOUT a decision to make. Probably because they were afraid of the backlash from either fanbase...moreso the (sometimes) psychotic-tendencied Nuke fans.

It IRRITATES me to NO END!!! THIS CLOSE to the END and they're COWARDING out!!!!!!!!

I can't even SPEAK, I'm so furious.

[soapfan770]

The Z Twins Man oh man I still can't believe that story got played out. A jealous and bitter long lost Grimaldi heiress devises a master plan of revenge by using her gay friend to pretend to be her gay twin brother to destroy the current heir who happens to be gay himself. As a gay man myself, I just saw it as extremely bad camp and was horrified by the terrible casting they did. Plus they brought back Damien to resolve this nonsensical tale, yikes. I enjoyed the tale of Noah and the Professor better, because Forbes March was sexy as hell with Luke as the creepy professor.

[P.J.]

I didn't intend to imply that I liked the Ztwin story....just that as Willians of the Month they were more interesting than Blackie the Midget Mobster with a Juicy fetish. The Ztwins were twisted, Blackie was simply ineffectual and about as unmenacing as someone in "the mob" could be.

[P.J.]

I understand. I don't necessarily share your outrage over Reid, but I really don't understand some of these "safe" choices TIIC made.

[soapfan770]

I didn't mean to imply you did because I remember you were the first to complain about them straight off the bat But you're right, the whole Blackie and the Ciccones was terribly bad. Actually, have they even had Terion at all recently? If not, then thank god!

[P.J.]

IMO, Teri's the only likable Ciccone. Yeah, she was on for a day to tell Dusty that Blackie, Ralph and her Pops all had the same coin, and it meant they were members of a club.

[DRW50]

I always kind of feel sorry for the actors that come in right when the show is about to be canned and then they are in limbo. Back in AW's last days they had Jake's nephew, and then they had Toni's sister who worked as a reporter, and it was always a bit awkward watching them.

[Jay]

Did you all notice that Monday and Friday of next week, CBS is having TENNIS in the afternoon. Either we only have eight more episodes, or the show ends on the 21st.

I've decided I'm not that pissed about the way things are ending. They've gone ahead and put the "opera" back in "soap opera" with what they're doing to Reid, who will suffer a hero's death brought on by his own tragic flaw, which you can take to be either his inherent humanity, decency, heroism, or his perfectionism. In a way, it's the best possible ending, something truly tragic, and if I resent the hell out of anything, it's that we won't get to see these people anymore, so we won't share in Luke's grief. Obviously, if the show hadn't been canceled, they would never have killed Reid. I'm more depressed that the show I watched this week -- the one that had all the good characters in it -- is dying than I am over Reid's death.

I'd love to be able to come back to this group of characters and find out what happens next, but it isn't going to happen. So I'm just gonna declare splendor in the grass:

From William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood:

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind...