Not true. If the days of character-driven drama are "long gone," it's only b/c the genre itself is on the fast track toward total extinction. And it isn't the audience who is fickle and has low attention spans but the network execs who aren't trained to know good storytelling in the first place.

When I posted that I was being somewhat facetious, but I stand by my argument that audience is fickle. Posts on here, SOC and other sites support that.

Edited April 10, 201114 yr by MontyB

I think the show has been deeply broken since the rapemance in 2008 on a fundamental level, and I think that has trickled down into virtually every storyline, with characters like Ford, Cutter, etc. They half-assed the biggest "redemption" on the show so they think they can do it with everyone. They don't know what to do with Todd, but they still want him to be "sexy and dangerous" yet allow people to feel for him, so they keep setting up people who are "worse" and they believe that allows them to do both - keep Todd a sociopath, but make him "not so bad" and allow them to sell him as a great family man who can do no wrong.

I think there have been some very, very good all-around stretches on OLTL since 2008, and I think the show is very capable of balancing serious character material with lighter fare, but the Todd sphere has always been a mess, even now when a potentially very interesting storyline is percolating. It all hinges on the idea that poor Todd is in trouble, what will become of him? And unless it turns out this man is not Todd, or they write Trevor St. John out anyway, it's going to be dishonest on at least one level. And now there are some good stories, good weeks - these past couple have been quite good - but it's tainted on a deeper level by stuff like the angle of the Ford/Tess storyline, the fact that Brody and Marty are bound to get the shaft, the Kelly/Joey debacle, and of course everything with Andrew Trischitta.

Despite everything Todd has done over the years, I still believe he could become (after a long and rocky road) a much more honorable human being - maybe not as honorable as Dr. Larry Wolek, but certainly, more honorable than he is now. Unfortunately, OLTL has this habit of hiring actors for this particular role (first, Roger Howarth; now, TSJ) who are bored easily and want to keep the character in this state of suspended, perpetual annoyance.

Posts on here, SOC and other sites support that.

Perhaps. But I think there's a difference between fickleness and impatience with corrupt storytelling.

When I posted that I was being somewhat facetious, but I stand by my argument that audience is fickle. Posts on here, SOC and other sites support that.

On some level an audience is always fickle. You address that by writing stories that a viewer can appreciate even if they don't agree with them. Instead the soaps just blatantly ignores viewer interest or tries to manipulate them. I doubt more than a small minority of viewers want to see sexual abuse turned into hot times, yet this happens every damn year.

On some level an audience is always fickle.

Agree. And that's true regardless of age. No one young or old(er) wants to sit through a story that feels like a ginormous waste of time. No matter what year it is, whether or not women still stay at home during the day, how many of 'em tape or DVR their shows, or if Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were still alive.

I do. The days of "character driven" anything on daytime TV are long gone. They just are. The audience is way too fickle and have low attention spans.

Depends what you see. As dull as half the stories are, I think AMC right now is character driven. OLTL certainly is the opposite.

i don't think there's anything camp about the aubrey character -- nothing in the way it's written, nothing in the way it's played.

david is campy, tess is campy...aubrey's not campy.

i thought FF was decent during the suicide crisis. she wasn't emmy-worthy, but she wasn't bad, either. JPL, on the other hand, was great. he gets a ton of flack on here, but he did great work on those episodes, and so did the kid who plays shane. i felt bad for all of them as a family.

as jack, adam trischitta continues to be THE worst kid actor of all time. unbearable. i didn't think the blair/jack scenes were strong, either. blair underwhelmed me with her upset at jack's involvement in shane's crisis.

i don't think there's anything camp about the aubrey character -- nothing in the way it's written, nothing in the way it's played.

david is campy, tess is campy...aubrey's not campy.

i thought FF was decent during the suicide crisis. she wasn't emmy-worthy, but she wasn't bad, either. JPL, on the other hand, was great. he gets a ton of flack on here, but he did great work on those episodes, and so did the kid who plays shane. i felt bad for all of them as a family.

as jack, adam trischitta continues to be THE worst kid actor of all time. unbearable. i didn't think the blair/jack scenes were strong, either. blair underwhelmed me with her upset at jack's involvement in shane's crisis.

You must be JPL in the fletch!

Depends what you see. As dull as half the stories are, I think AMC right now is character driven. OLTL certainly is the opposite.

The problem is you need strong plots if you're going to be plot-driven. In the last two years OLTL has been lucky to even string a story together that isn't rewritten halfway through.

Depends what you see. As dull as half the stories are, I think AMC right now is character driven. OLTL certainly is the opposite.

Well apparently character driven AMC is not working with the audience.

Well apparently character driven AMC is not working with the audience.

I wouldn't blame AMC's current struggles on the writing not being "exciting" enough for fans. I would blame them on the show no longer having its unique mix of small-town warmth, gentle humor and social relevance, as well as the fact much of the storyline features characters (and actors) who've long since worn out their welcome with the audience.

OLTL was really good this week. I rarely cry but with everything that was happening I just had to let it all out!

AMC has its good points and ideas, but a series of dismal or played-out characters, and a lot of weak tea concepts from the head writers.

OLTL has good ideas and characters, but a wild plethora of horrific storylines or new actors. The Shane story is crippled by poor writing up til the last week, and the unbelievably bad Andrew Trischitta. The Todd/Tomas story is still hinging on the idea that we should care about and fear for Trevor St. John's Todd and his fate. The Brody/Natalie/Marty/John mess has some promising chemistry between ML and MA but is perched on the idea that we must eventually accept John and Natalie back together and Brody out in the cold, and Marty just hopefully not dead. And then there's Kelly, Joey, Tess, Cutter, Ford, etc. - don't get me started. While Eddie Alderson is doing amazing work, I have no faith that he will be allowed a major storyline this summer while Lenny Platt and company still draw breath.

Word, Vee!

For God's sake, Fronsie! If we care enough about these shows to be this critical of them, don't you think it's in your best interest to salvage and not snuff out these shows?!

I wouldn't blame AMC's current struggles on the writing not being "exciting" enough for fans. I would blame them on the show no longer having its unique mix of small-town warmth, gentle humor and social relevance, as well as the fact much of the storyline features characters (and actors) who've long since worn out their welcome with the audience.

I won't argue this point. It's the exact reason why I stopped watching.

I think there have been some very, very good all-around stretches on OLTL since 2008, and I think the show is very capable of balancing serious character material with lighter fare, but the Todd sphere has always been a mess, even now when a potentially very interesting storyline is percolating. It all hinges on the idea that poor Todd is in trouble, what will become of him? And unless it turns out this man is not Todd, or they write Trevor St. John out anyway, it's going to be dishonest on at least one level. And now there are some good stories, good weeks - these past couple have been quite good - but it's tainted on a deeper level by stuff like the angle of the Ford/Tess storyline, the fact that Brody and Marty are bound to get the shaft, the Kelly/Joey debacle, and of course everything with Andrew Trischitta.

The rapemance should have been what would have ended Todd as a character. When the show changed gears from a suicidal Todd to a heroic-serial killer fighting Todd, where RC had Blair and Tea fighting over him again, all hope was lost. It's been the same cycle ever since, Todd does something irredeemable, and his supposed redemption comes in the form of him either being in danger or someone being sacrificed to illustrate his greatness.