ATWT:

 

Katie going on about Lyla forcing her into child pageants and eternal cruise ship journeys in some failed attempt to reach showbiz glories. As someone who remembered what a good mother Lyla was, this pissed me the hell off and I held a grudge against Katie for the ten long years she remained on the show afterward.

 

Holden casually mentioning upon his 1996 return that he was leaving Aaron with Julie and Caleb. My reaction to this was just about literally - what the [!@#$%^&*]? Julie was such a terrible mother that she lost her children more times than I could count. She had also never had any strong, lasting interest in claiming rights to Aaron, a child conceived with a man she did not care about, who happened to be the brother of a man she dearly loved. It would have made much more sense if Holden had said he'd dropped Aaron off with Iva. That they instead chose Julie, likely because someone told the new writers and producers that Julie was Aaron's biological mother, was one of the first moments I realized Felicia Minei Behr had little to no idea of ATWT's actual history or continuity (later writers, rather than tell a story about a consistently terrible mother raising a child she did not want, instead just said "Julie's sick," and never much else - what a sad, sad fate for such a lively, complex character). Speaking of FMB and history and continuity...

 

James Stenbeck isn't dead and had a love child with Lucinda (even though they met oncamera in 1986) who was dead at birth...wait, no he wasn't...wait, yes he was! Awful, awful, awful. No wonder Liz Hubbard quit.

Edited May 22, 20187 yr by DRW50

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

ATWT:

 

Katie going on about Lyla forcing her into child pageants and eternal cruise ship journeys in some failed attempt to reach showbiz glories. As someone who remembered what a good mother Lyla was, this pissed me the hell off and I held a grudge against Katie for the ten long years she remained on the show afterward.

 

Holden casually mentioning upon his 1996 return that he was leaving Aaron with Julie and Caleb. My reaction to this was just about literally - what the [!@#$%^&*]? Julie was such a terrible mother that she lost her children more times than I could count. She had also never had any strong, lasting interest in claiming rights to Aaron, a child conceived with a man she did not care about, who happened to be the brother of a man she dearly loved. It would have made much more sense if Holden had said he'd dropped Aaron off with Iva. That they instead chose Julie, likely because someone told the new writers and producers that Julie was Aaron's biological mother, was one of the first moments I realized Felicia Minei Behr had little to no idea of ATWT's actual history or continuity (later writers, rather than tell a story about a consistently terrible mother raising a child she did not want, instead just said "Julie's sick," and never much else - what a sad, sad fate for such a lively, complex character). Speaking of FMB and history and continuity...

 

James Stenbeck isn't dead and had a love child with Lucinda (even though they met oncamera in 1986) who was dead at birth...wait, no he wasn't...wait, yes he was! Awful, awful, awful. No wonder Liz Hubbard quit.

I hated how the writers gutted Lyla too.

 

And yes Liz was livid with the James story and was very vocal on how much she hated it. I don't think Liz quit though. Didn't FMB fire her?

1 minute ago, Soapsuds said:

I hated how the writers gutted Lyla too.

 

And yes Liz was livid with the James story and was very vocal on how much she hated it. I don't think Liz quit though. Didn't FMB fire her?

 

I think Liz quit, although it was probably more mutual than anything else. 

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

I think Liz quit, although it was probably more mutual than anything else. 

FMB got rid of two of ATWT most popular actress in Liz Hubbard and Allyson Rice Taylor.

I thought it turned out that Katie was lying about Lyla being a neglectful mother.. when Lyla came back for Christmas one year and Margo/Craig alerted to her to what Katie had been telling them... and all three confronted Katie.

Just now, Soaplovers said:

I thought it turned out that Katie was lying about Lyla being a neglectful mother.. when Lyla came back for Christmas one year and Margo/Craig alerted to her to what Katie had been telling them... and all three confronted Katie.

 

It may have been the case - as that was Sheffer material I didn't really pay attention. If so, it's better than nothing, but it still angers me. 

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

ATWT:

 

Katie going on about Lyla forcing her into child pageants and eternal cruise ship journeys in some failed attempt to reach showbiz glories. As someone who remembered what a good mother Lyla was, this pissed me the hell off and I held a grudge against Katie for the ten long years she remained on the show afterward.

 

I don't recall any clarification that Katie's sob story was a lie. Not that I care to research it. I thought Lyla only showed up after the Endicott awards fiasco, and they were trying to get her away from Simon or something. 

 

And it was 12years we were cursed with that...snitch. 

I still have fantasies of writing an epilogue series that basically undoes the worst storylines from ATWT's final decade. 

I'd thoroughly undo/rewrite most of the stories having anything to do with most members of the Montgomery family.  Their story lines were, for the most part, awful.

John Not being Roman after 6 years as the character.
Bobby and the shower scene. 
The Moldavia Wedding Shooting....where hardly anyone died. 

8 minutes ago, Roman said:

John Not being Roman after 6 years as the character.
Bobby and the shower scene. 
The Moldavia Wedding Shooting....where hardly anyone died. 

 

And the "John is not Roman!" part was such a waste since Wayne Northrop left AGAIN. Should have re-retconned it after Northrop left. Now it's much too late.

The problem I've found with trying to undo a retcon is that sometimes you make it worse then if you just left it alone (i.e making Jill and Katherine mother/daughter.. then undoing it by making Jill.. Lauren's half sister.  Also making Philip and Cane switched at birth.. then it turns out Cane was a con artist and that Philip was really Jill's son.. but he faked his death because he was gay when trying to undo Philip's death from the late 80s, etc).

 

Sometimes I think a new writer should just leave a retcon alone and try to make the retcon work as much as possible or just downplay it as much as possible.  A truly talented writer can make a retcon work to the best of their ability.

19 minutes ago, Roman said:

The Moldavia Wedding Shooting....where hardly anyone died. 

 

That wasn't really a retcon though, was it? Just a bad cliffhanger.

2 hours ago, JellicleCat said:

 

That wasn't really a retcon though, was it? Just a bad cliffhanger.

it's the good, bad & ugly. that was ugly. waiting 3 months to find out all the main characters survived. 

2 hours ago, Wendy said:

 

And the "John is not Roman!" part was such a waste since Wayne Northrop left AGAIN. Should have re-retconned it after Northrop left. Now it's much too late.

it is now. if he became Roman again, many characters would have their SLs retconned. and IA....why didn;t he find out who he really was after Wayne left? but now......he's been everyone from Shakespeare to Bug Bunny.

4 hours ago, Roman said:

The Moldavia Wedding Shooting....where hardly anyone died. 

 

Am I wrong, or was there a character who was in the cast and was involved in the massacre, but when the show returned for the next season, he/she was never seen or mentioned again?

 

I don't think it's too late for John to become Roman again.  Yes, many characters' histories and such would have to be retconned, but a smart HW would know how to spin story from all the entanglements that would arise from John turning out to be Roman after all.  (Also, it would explain why Marlena was drawn to John even after Wayne's Roman returned...and why, when Wayne DID return as Roman, he wasn't at all like how I remembered him.)

 

For me, though, the big question would be: if John is really Roman, then who is Roman?  I'm okay with Josh Taylor's Roman leaving Salem to find out -- and maybe, since Josh has that job only because he and Ken Corday are buds, having him come back a month or so later as Chris Kositchek -- but that might not be satisfying for everyone.

 

Speaking of retcons and DAYS, have we mentioned the horrendous "Alex North" storyline?  Because, if we haven't, then we should (...I guess).  What an illogical, excruciating, and ultimately pointless mess to watch unfold.  Even worse, it wasted a good return on Wayne Northrop.  I'd much rather had seen him come back as Roman's long-lost twin brother than as some psycho, forgotten ex-husband of Doc Evans' who just happened to look like the police detective who was once her husband and the father of her children.

Edited May 23, 20187 yr by Khan

20 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

The WORST was when Victor supposedly turned up alive. I NEVER accepted that tripe. I appreciated, years later, when referring to that god-awful plot, Dorian said, "...if that was really even him." The show at least offered the possibility that the "Victor" we saw resurrected was really an imposter. That idea was dumb too, but not as heinous and stupid as the real Victor Lord still being alive.

 

I would have LOVED for Viki to run into "Victor" at some point and realize that Dorian's suspicions were correct and that he was an impostor.  I mean, maybe he was just an actor being paid by Mitch Laurence to pretend to be Victor Lord and presumably drive Viki crazy.