Frankly, I'm still mad over how this rape has been retconned into Kate's history in order to explain her DID. Not only has nothing about Kate's past behavior ever suggested a history of sexual abuse and mental illness, IMO, but to suggest that an isolated trauma is the cause of all this is (to me) an insult to real rape survivors. Not every rape victim has had to create an alter ego in order to cope with memories of the attack -- in fact, I can't think of one story concerning DID that suggests such a cause -- but most DID victims share a history of repeated sexual abuse that has its origins in the victim's early childhood.

This in a nutshell, as a SAFE examiner and DOVE sdvocate this entire storyline and especially those scenes were insulting and embarrassing. I have sat through so many sexually abuse cases, listening to them recount the events to the point where I feel numb inside and none of them have ever describe their tragedy with so much theatrics.

John I feel what you are saying and I am not judging the act and yes many a rape is acted out in such a manner it is the delivery, the performance and the writing that is making a mockery of the subject. If viewers are laughing then blame the writer.

Lol sure Sarah the breakdown in soap writing didn't occur until 2008.

Didn't bill bell do all the writing himself at Days? Storyboard, breakdown, and script?

He may have... I know before soaps went to an hour often HWs would do their own breakdowns--I believe Lemay in 8 Years in Another World even said he had to change that when he went to an hour.

Connie "raping" herself today. Bitch looks posessed like a demon as if this were Marlena on Days

Oh my God, I can't I just.....

The problem with taking this story seriously is we have no reason to believe this will even be the ultimate story. Can you imagine how an OLTL fan felt if they identified with Jessica's rape by Ford, and then, months later, learned that Jessica was apparently in full control, wanted to have sex with Ford, and that he asked her a dozen or more times if she really wanted to do this?

To be fair to Bobby Ford he actually did do that. We saw him ask Jessica multiple times if he wanted to sleep with her and she said yes.

As to Sullivans over the top acting I don't see how it's anything different then the likes of Bree Williamson, Deidra Hall, early Alicia Minshew or Melissa Egan's. All of them were more or less just cartoon actresses whenever they had to play drama.

Edited June 15, 201213 yr by Skin

Harding Lemay did everything himself at AW.

Yeah he did also. Of course those were the days before focus groups and network interference so they also had more freedom.

To be fair to Bobby Ford he actually did do that. We saw him ask Jessica multiple times if he wanted to sleep with her and she said yes.

He asked her over a dozen times?

It's funny, I just read an article from 2010 by Sara Bibel (not a fave of mine, but) about how after the writing strike in 2008 she says GL, ATWT and AMC cut breakdown writers altogether. I'm not sure how long this lasted--I assumed AMC at least for its last years always listed a breakdwon writer, but she said it was a way for them to save huge money and marked the downturn in soap writing...

AMC stopped listing daily breakdown writers after the strike in 2008. Michelle Patrick said that she was in touch with Joanna Cohen and that the way it worked was each script writer was responsible for structuring their own day. Cohen, who had just started writing on AMC 18 months earlier under the original process was a bit concerned with this new form of writing, according to Patrick. I believe this process continued under Pratt from 2008 to 2009. I don't know if that changed, however, when Lorraine Broderick came back as the interim head writer in 2010. My personal belief is that it probably wouldn't, due to the fact that JHC cut the breakdown process to save money -- and AMC was in desperate need (in hindsight) to keep costs down.

To be fair to Bobby Ford he actually did do that. We saw him ask Jessica multiple times if he wanted to sleep with her and she said yes.

As to Sullivans over the top acting I don't see how it's anything different then the likes of Bree Williamson, Deidra Hall, early Alicia Minshew or Melissa Egan's. All of them were more or less just cartoon actresses whenever they had to play drama.

No one is arguing consensual sex. The problem is sexing up someone you know is off their rocker. That is what Ford/Johnny did. That's foul!

WTF is this show trying to sell me? Kate decided to change her entire life and become Kate Howard to run away from her rape? That is NOT why she reinvented herself. I hate that they had to tie rape into her backstory as this was not necessary at all

They can only sell what you are more than willing to buy.

As to Sullivans over the top acting I don't see how it's anything different then the likes of Bree Williamson, Deidra Hall, early Alicia Minshew or Melissa Egan's. All of them were more or less just cartoon actresses whenever they had to play drama.

So it's okay to suck as an actor because others have sucked or continue to suck?

LOL...MCE is a MUCH better actress than the sucktastic KS

The problem with taking this story seriously is we have no reason to believe this will even be the ultimate story. Can you imagine how an OLTL fan felt if they identified with Jessica's rape by Ford, and then, months later, learned that Jessica was apparently in full control, wanted to have sex with Ford, and that he asked her a dozen or more times if she really wanted to do this?

Wait...I don't think i read this correctly the first time. It was later discovered that Jess was Jess and wanted it?

Yeah he did also. Of course those were the days before focus groups and network interference so they also had more freedom.

One interesting thing brought up in the same book was by Tom Casiello. Now, I think he's honestly overated and I don't agree with a lot of what he says, but this made some sense. He thought the real decline of soaps started when, by the early 90s soap headwriters no longer had control or even choice over their writing staff--though he does grant that all the other aspects (women at work, more viewing options, bla bla) obviously play a role too. Up till then, even on network owned shows like at ABC, the headwriter hired their team. Due to how the contracts were made, in theory an exec would be less likely to try to interfere because they could risk having the entire writing team walk with the head writer, and they'd have to start from scratch (or so Tom says). He thinks when the execs had control over who was hired in every position, etc, it not only added to them being abkle to interfere more it also added to a less stable and harmonious writing team. (It is true that most primetime shows, and nearly all cable shows, work by that same method with the showrunner being the one who controls her team).

AMC stopped listing daily breakdown writers after the strike in 2008. Michelle Patrick said that she was in touch with Joanna Cohen and that the way it worked was each script writer was responsible for structuring their own day. Cohen, who had just started writing on AMC 18 months earlier under the original process was a bit concerned with this new form of writing, according to Patrick. I believe this process continued under Pratt from 2008 to 2009. I don't know if that changed, however, when Lorraine Broderick came back as the interim head writer in 2010. My personal belief is that it probably wouldn't, due to the fact that JHC cut the breakdown process to save money -- and AMC was in desperate need (in hindsight) to keep costs down.

Thanks R--that makes a lot of sense, and I suspect you're right, I can't see JHC or ABC giving the writing staff more money once the position had been shelved. And while I can laugh at just how many writers some soaps seem to employ (have you seen the credits under writing at DAYS? WTF?), with such a product like a soap that has to run like a well oiled machine, it really is not a position they can afford to lose if they want to keep up story and tone consistency.

Wait...I don't think i read this correctly the first time. It was later discovered that Jess was Jess and wanted it?

Yes. They rewrote this over and over. At first it was teen Jess and it was rape. Then it was Tess and they said Tess wanted it. Then they said it was adult Jessica, who knew what she was doing, and wanted it to the point where she had to all but beg Ford to have sex with her.