The last time I watched AMC was after Johnathan was holding Greenlee, Kendal and Lily hostage in the cave. I had in the past taken breaks from AMC but would watch if I had a day off. Now that they have Lily and John as a couple and Erica's aborted fetus alive and well I will never watch again. They can bring on a new writer but there will be no un-doing the damage that has been done. I feel really sorry for those who have managed to stick with AMC after I turned out, they must have a very strong stomachs. Watching AMC is almost like watching a well loved family member dying of a horrible incurable disease.

DOOL:

Bringing Jack back to life and killing him over and over again.

SENDING JAN INTO A COMA AND FIRING HEATHER LINDELL!!!!!!!! (that did it)

OLTL:

Having Clint go for Dorian and act like Viki is nothing and giving Viki no sotryline what so ever.

Spencer coming

Passions:

I lost track of that!

jiz ram mucky PUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

jiz ram mucky PUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Good heavens! You ain't lyin'! That made me a little queasy as well!

OLTL:

Having Clint go for Dorian and act like Viki is nothing and giving Viki no sotryline what so ever.

That one burns me the most, especially the complete lack of Viki story, what the hell are they thinking over at OLTL? Clint going for Dorian? Clint being rude to Viki? What is this crap on my screen? No wonder I tune out so much.

See I completely agree with you. As a long time soap viewer I personally believe that the appeal of soaps is that they provide a fictional place where all the people and places are familiar. It's like a fictional home away from home and you grow attached to who these people are. That's not going to happen if the characters are constantly written differently to accomodate playing fan wars or to get a WTH moment. It won't happen if a viewer remembers a very important part of Pine Valley history because it changed the canvas or told a very compelling story and then that story is completely rewritten. The viewer loses that connection. Storytelling weaves a tapestry and if you tug a big string like Erica's abortion storyline, you are unraveling the whole thing.

I think that daytime can draw in new viewers if they ACTIVELY do the exact opposite of this "dumbing down" that you mentioned. People will be attracted to the "home" feeling of Pine Valley, Port Charles, Genoa City or whatever soap city you like if they feel involved. In order to make it home and people to feel involved, the history HAS to be there, the characters have to be strong and consistantly written, and there has to be a real story to tell. The more stories and adventures that a viewer experiences with characters they love, the more connected they will be and then they're hooked. It's the HOME of it that is the hook- not the young hot bods or friday shockers.

ITA. Soaps are a unique genre BECAUSE of their history; even the best prime-time dramas only last 5-7 years before they run out of stories and collapse into themselves. But soaps go on and on, and that's what makes them appealing. The main story never ends, and viewers can re-visit and leave and come back and still be able to catch up and check in on their beloved favorites. Viewers don't WANT to let go of favorite characters and stories, even with primetime TV. Why else are DVD sales of old TV shows so popular? Viewers can jump back in whenever they want.

Soaps should absolutely play up this unique feature they have, instead of trying to pretend it's not there. Or worse, blowing it when they do decide to use the history and affection old viewers have; for instance, I know so many ex-GH watchers who were thrilled beyond words when Robert, Holly, and Anna (and Robin and Noah, etc) came back, but their joy was short-lived when GH had stupid stories for them. And I have a whole group of ex-DOOL fans who tuned back in when Patch and Kayla returned -- I need to check in with them, but I've heard rumblings they're disappointed. That's a shame.

That one burns me the most, especially the complete lack of Viki story, what the hell are they thinking over at OLTL? Clint going for Dorian? Clint being rude to Viki? What is this crap on my screen? No wonder I tune out so much.

Higley's style is to anger fans and fanbases, and TPTB seem to think it is good policy. Angry fans may be invested at first, but anger turns to apathy...which is why there is less posting here and other boards, and I think this month may well see a 2.2 or 2.1 -- even with Starr's not exactly publicized accident. IF there are a few Dorian fans crowing over Clint/Dorian, the VIki fans have waited over five years even to see Viki have a chance at a love life. It didn't escape my notice after RS's contract dispute that they only signed her for two years instead of the standard three - not a resounding vote of confidence in the character.

They need to cut Higley loose quickly, but will twelfth hour rewrites decimate the show further?

These days, shows aren't taking advantage of the medium. A show can HAVE thirty contract characters, and ideally, there's enough time to tell stories for them -- and change the material that doesn't work. It's not like a primetime show where they only have 22 episodes and are pretty much locked into what they've written or else do drastic and hasty rewrites. If something doesn't work, the story can go away for a while, bring other stories to the forefront and the story in question can be retooled. That way, it can either be presented from a different angle to make it work, or it can be concluded altogether.

That's only if they didn't come so fast and hard with the stories these days. At least on ABCD.

They come up with a plotline (very rarely a STORY line these days), and push it fast and hard, and when it fumbles, they have no choice but to be so obvious with the rewriting and selective memory of certain things because... well... they've focused solely on this storyline, and failed to write anything else to bring to the front while the kinks to the other story are worked out more smoothly on the backburner.

And, of course, we all know the biggest complaint is everything is plot driven -- not character driven. You can tell it's a huge problem once you start complaining about characters you hate acting out of character.