True, Luke had his faults.  However, at the end of the day, I saw him as a decent, if self-involved and naive, human being.  Ergo, I always believed that the right kind of love interest for him needed to be someone who was darker and edgier than Noah or even Reid.  Someone who wasn't clean-cut or up to doing the "right thing" all the time, but who, through Luke's love for and influence on him, became, through the usual fits and starts, a better person.  IOW, a "good girl who falls for a bad guy" story -- but with a twist.

Also, I don't care what anyone says -- Kim Zimmer pulled her son off the show, because she didn't want him to "play gay."  That's my belief, and I'm sticking to it.

 Ergo, I always believed that the right kind of love interest for him needed to be someone who was darker and edgier than Noah or even Reid.  

Really?? Noah had no edge at all. He was Luke's beyotch…LOL. I thought Reid was perfect for Luke. He didn't take any sh!t from him especially at the beginning of them meeting.  I wish their story would've had more time to develop. It is probably the only story I wanted to continue watching after ATWT cancellation. 

Jake was like 16 at the time---I can understand KZ being leery of her son being thrust into such a controversial storyline. It wasn't what he'd signed up for. But yeah, I think a truly teenage Luke struggling to deal with what being gay means, and not as focused on rushing into a romance with the only other gay guy in town would have played out better.

 

I'm pretty sure Scott's return lined up with Maura's maternity leave. At the beginning of 2007, Carly left with Simon in January, returned in April, and then had to deal with Parker's hostility on her return. That fall was about Kit and Sam, and Parker shoots Sam in Feb of 2008. So, I see where there wasn't a lot of opportunity for Craig and Carly scenes. But it kind of sucks.

I don't think Goutman had directed at ATWT. It's hard to judge by his imdb profile, but it looks like he directed GL sometime in the early '90's before going to AW.

@P.J.  Look what I found…I don't remember this!  Must have been from 94??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRM84dxzdy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRM84dxzdy0

Edited April 3, 20169 yr by Soapsuds

I liked Jake Weary as Luke and was very upset when I learned that they'd be recasting for the coming out storyline, but I took to Van pretty quickly, and I genuinely thought he was a fantastic actor the first year or two. .I don't recall a whole lot of backlash at the time.

Ultimately, I think the Luke/Noah pairing (and, by extension, them as individual characters) suffered from a lack of real planning and care on TPTB's end. It was established pretty early on that they didn't have to do too much to keep the fanbase happy. Granted, they cycled through the same stories over and over again with the other characters, but with Luke and Noah, as long as they ended up together (complete with kisses and cliched lines), that group was going to give a resounding applause. In fact, the ONLY huge backlash from the Nuke Squad was when the show had gone too long without showing a Luke/Noah kiss, and so IIRC, these fckers literally ended up on CNN to talk about it. I was pissed because I wished that much effort and attention had been focused on improving the stories themselves. But, like I said, the stories simply did not matter to a lot of people as long as they got those one or two scenes of fluff per week.

Oh, and Re: JS being uncomfortable. I don't necessarily mean uncomfortable playing gay like Chris Engen was uncomfortable playing gay (which...well, I'll leave it alone). I mean uncomfortable in that he was just completely awkward and clumsy with it. Maybe it was more the pacing of shooting a soap, idk. I always thought he seemed more at ease in scenes with anyone other than VH.

As tepid as the character of Noah was at times, and as stagnant as the character of Luke could be, I do give kudos to ATWT for telling this story on a once EXTREMELY conservative series. Thanks to the baby steps taken by shows like ATWT, the acceptance of gay characters has broadened across the board on television, and that is a good thing. It reminds me of how the soaps gingerly introduced black characters into the mix way back when. Some viewers rebelled against the very idea, but the audience eventually came around. Was the writing for the Luke and Noah saga good? Not particularly. But it helped open the flood gates of diversity, and I appreciate that at least.

The Craig return would be late 1993.

 

Paul Howarth's introductory promo back in 2003 was hilariously bad! 

 

I will forever resent the time and energy wasted on Martha Byrne's alternate personality, the fact they fired Scott Hoylrod to bring in Howarth, and how TIIC trashed yet another character we knew in Dusty, simply to throw out their chests and scream about how they were "honoring history" with their revamped, retooled strangers with familiar names.

P.J., I agree 100%, and was just about to write the exact same thing. The dreadful miscasting of Paul and Dusty was EGREGIOUS. Paul Hoylrod had been so charming as Paul, and Brian Broom's sweet, noble Dusty had nothing whatsoever in common with Grayson McC's smug, smarmy version. Add to that, the awful choice to replace Scott Bryce as Craig Montgomery with Hunt Block made me cringe every time I watched any scenes featuring the "fake" Paul, Dusty, or Craig. 

After finishing watch the 1984 episode I post on here last night, I didn't know that Steve had a half sister on the show. How long did she last on the show? 

I will forever resent the time and energy wasted on Martha Byrne's alternate personality, the fact they fired Scott Hoylrod to bring in Howarth, and how TIIC trashed yet another character we knew in Dusty, simply to throw out their chests and scream about how they were "honoring history" with their revamped, retooled strangers with familiar names.

Are you referring to Rose? I couldn't stand Rose. I was not a fan of hers. Scott Hoylrod was my second favorite Paul behind Andrew Kavovit. Brian Bloom is and was the only Dusty to me. McCouch was just awful as Dusty. I remember at first they tried to make McCouch an older version of Brian's version of Dusty and it didn't work. They quickly changed his personality instead of recasting with a better actor that would fill the role since BB didn't want to return. As for Howarth….he is one awful actor who's ego was sent to the hills with all the praise he got for playing a scum bag of a person. His role as Franco is just laughable and pure garbage.

Edited April 4, 20169 yr by Soapsuds

I disagree somewhat about Rose. I think that first year was excellent, with Martha making the two characters totally their own. After that first year, though, I don't think they knew what to do with both characters, so they watered down  Lily, constantly dressing her in dowdy brown clothes and making her just a downer.

I absolutely agree about the miscasting of Paul, Dusty and Craig. Scott Holroyd did an excellent job of conveying the inner conflict of being James Stenbeck's son, but still trying to do the right thing. Scott Bryce's Craig was always a complex character who could swing from dastardly villain (the Betsy days) to noble hero (the Sierra era), but still remain neither black or white. Replacing him with the hammiest, most one-dimensional actor in soap history will always be one of ATWT's greatest mistakes.

Rose is the only time I actually liked Byrne on the show, outside of a bit of Lily/Damien.

After finishing watch the 1984 episode I post on here last night, I didn't know that Steve had a half sister on the show. How long did she last on the show? 

Part of a year, maybe. There are a few 1984 episodes on another channel and she and Brian are in one - he's wearing a Hawaiian shirt and singing to her, or something. She was one of many interchangeable ingenues floating through ATWT during the early/mid-80s.