ATWT

[flipp525]

Carly looks like she could be Marg Helgenberger's younger sister.

Will is kind of hot.



Edited By flipp525 on 1180396393

[Penelope]

Due to recent pre-emptions, Jake's first airdate is June 1; from TV Guide:


Boy Meets Boy As the World Turns’ gay teen Luke (played by Emmy front-runner Van Hansis) is finally getting a love interest, more than a year after coming out of the closet. Some fans have expressed impatience with the delay, fearing the lack of lust meant ATWT was trying to whitewash Luke’s sexuality. “That was never the intention,” Hansis insists. “Waiting has made this a more realistic story, and it’s still not a love-at-first-sight sorta thing.” The set-up: On {Friday} June 1 Luke will meet Noah (Jake Silbermann) at the Oakdale TV station, where both are working as interns. Noah first appears to be straight and is wildly enticed by Luke’s gal pal Maddie. When the boys do hook up in July, expect fallout. Luke’s parents, Holden and Lily, have gradually come to terms with their kid being gay. “But now they’ll have to really deal withy it,” Hansis notes. “Accepting is one thing. Seeing their son with a boyfriend is something else.”.

[flipp525]

It's official!

Noah will begin to air on May 31st. Look at first for Maddie and Noah to become friends and very fast at that, but we will also be on the look out for the fact that Luke is also interested in Noah, and Noah may feel the same way about him...

Yes!

[flipp525]

Consider yourself lucky to be getting Heather Lindell (ex-Jan Spears, Days). She plays a great psycho and is loads of fun.

[flipp525]

or woefully inept (the Gwen/Cleo doppelganger plot, a scenario that has rarely if ever worked -- unfortunately, they seem to be borrowing from Dynasty's failed Krystle/Rita attempt rather than, say, the gripping Sonni/Solita storyline from Guiding Light in the mid-80s).

Or, even more recently, the Kristen/Susan doppelganger storyline on Days of Our Lives circa 1997. Kristen DiMera, desperate to hang onto John Black and keep him away from his precious Marlena Evans, decided that after her miscarriage, she needed to find some way to keep up the ruse of a baby in order to hold onto John. Her adopted father, the nefarious Stefano DiMera (played with delightful aplomb by Joseph Mascolo) located a buck-toothed brunette lookalike named Susan Banks who, of course, happened to be pregnant. Susan went to Kristen's doctor's appointments and served as a stand-in for Kristen whenever she was summoned. Since this was a soap opera, the inevitable switch happened and Susan turned the tables on Kristen, locking her up in a secret room in the DiMansion (along with Marlena who had already been placed there by Kristen herself) and Susan assumed Kristen's life -- completely.

As for ATWT, we all know where this story is going -- Cleo is going to get a Gwen makeover and then she'll be a dead ringer for her. And then she'll most likely try to take over Gwen's life.

That's pretty much where that soap storyline always goes. In the case of Kristen/Susan on Days (which, was hilariously campy and ultimately successful because it was being pulled off by a much stronger actress and the show recognized it as ridiculous instead of the faux-seriousness of Jade confronting Cleo), Susan supposedly wore a set of Real!Perfect!Teeth when she took over for Kristen, as per Kristen and Stefano's instruction. However, once Susan turned the tables on Kristen, Susan felt more comfortable taking her new teeth in and out, giving us fun scenes of Susan having to "become" Kristen very quickly if she was suddenly surprised by John or whoever came rushing into a room where she was stripped down to her buck teeth.

The most classic moment of that storyline was at the infamous Elvis wedding (Susan's idol) when her fake teeth flew across the room and landed in Vivian's champagne flute! I'll never forget it as long as I live. Eileen Davidson fucking rocked that storyline. She had five characters going at one point because, of course, Susan turned out to be a quadruplet. ED was recognized with a well-deserved Emmy nomination that year.

And that whole s/l gave us the current hotness that is James Scott's EJ Wells (a.k.a. Elvis DiMera), who was the baby Susan was pregnant with by, of course, Stefano DiMera (who, as it turned out, had been the one to personally artificially inseminate her dressed in an Elvis costume). Sure, he should only be about ten years old right now, not a strapping, hot, young 28 year old (thank you, Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), but I'll take it because James Scott has proven to be one of the show's most valuable assets and the future backbone of the DiMera dynasty. His rape of Sami Brady in order to impregnate her with the first DiMera-Brady child has led to an entire umbrella storyline that could play out for years. Whew, that was a lot of ground to cover!

Getting back to that open letter, I think it truly details a lot of what's wrong with the soap opera genre today. I just hope that somehow the right people read it. I'm almost tempted to email blast the entire NBC/ABC/CBS daytime power structure just to knock some sense into them. The fans have spoken and we're not happy!



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[Penelope]

Thanks for that, flipp; I'd heard things were pretty dreadful over on the ABC soaps, but I didn't know they were this bad (I must admit, however, that I caught a few episodes of AMC during the Zarf/Zoe storyline and was appalled).

The powers that be are really digging their own graves; just to reiterate some of what we've said already, and using my beloved As the World Turns as an example: right now, they've got one of the best stories they've had in a long time -- Henry and Vienna's romance -- utilizing one of their long underused talents, Emmy nominated Trent Dawson (Henry), and I'm thrilling to it; unfortunately, everything surrounding them is either dreadfully uninteresting (Lily's addiction, Craig taking over WorldWide, the Jack/Katie/Brad triangle) or woefully inept (the Gwen/Cleo doppelganger plot, a scenario that has rarely if ever worked -- unfortunately, they seem to be borrowing from Dynasty's failed Krystle/Rita attempt rather than, say, the gripping Sonni/Solita storyline from Guiding Light in the mid-80s).

What this writer says about "density" in classic soap storytelling is precisely what I miss; the greatest soap storylines of the past -- most famously, Karen Wolek's witness stand confession on One Life to Live -- were intricately plotted and impacted every character on the show; the other day, on ATWT, Maddie tells her best friend Gwen about her brother's wedding -- on the very day it's happening, and nobody raises an eyebrow! I can't blame the actors, naturally -- the acting on ATWT is consistently great -- but I must imagine they're as frustrated as the audience is with this careless, half-assed writing.

[flipp525]

Here's a great open letter to Carolyn Hinsey, a Soap Opera Digest columnist, about the sad state of affairs in the soap opera world today. While it's mostly about the sad state of soaps on ABC (yes, they do truly reek over there right now) it reminded me a bit of our discussion awhile back, Penelope, about golden era soaps getting canceled and the general decline of the genre. It virtually sums up everything that's wrong with the soap opera 'powers that be' today, mainly their sacrifice of beloved veterans for New!Young!Hot characters and lazy, uninspired writing.



Edited By flipp525 on 1176857706

[Penelope]

According to what I've read, it should be May 31, but CBS seems to be very cagey lately about confirming dates -- for the past two weeks, they've said we're getting a new opening for ATWT, and each week we've been disappointed, now they're saying Thursday for the new opening.

Anyway, the more I find out I will definitely let y'all know.

[flipp525]

Great news, Penelope! Can you keep us updated of when Jake Silbermann debuts as Noah?

[Penelope]

Rumor has it that TPTB have been so impressed with Jake Silbermann's portrayal of Luke's new love interest, Noah (and the episodes haven't even aired yet), that they've already bumped him up from recurring to contract, so hopefully this means they're really committing to the story; also, Karl Girolamo will soon be reprising the role of Luke's first "mancrush," Kevin.

[Big Magilla]

Who was that hottie terrorizing Gwen on today's show?

I haven't watched today's episode yet, but it's probably Matt Cavenaugh as Adam Munson, half-brother of Will and Casey. Matt's previous claim to fame was playing the John Travolta role in the short-lived Broadway production of Urban Cowboy.

I would say Matt Cavenaugh's greatest claim to fame is as the co-star of Grey Gardens for which he is a serious contender for a Tony for best featured actor this year.

[OscarGuy]

I was sad for Vienna. I genuinely like how her character has developed. Though the preview makes me wish they weren't going to turn this into a Vienna/Bubbles feud...

[Penelope]

Ok, I know disrupted weddings are a classic soap staple, so it's surprising that this device can still get to me -- but there I was, blubbering like an idiot when Henry told Vienna that he couldn't marry her because he didn't love her enough. I honestly hope they can somehow get back together, because they are the only really great thing going for the show right now.

[OscarGuy]

I didn't like the character of craig montgomery. I didn't mind the actor. Matter of fact, after today, I can at least say that the old CM could act. This guy's taking his cues from a cracker jack box.

[Penelope]

Woah! They replaced Craig Montgomery with a new actor...anyone know why?

Actually, that's Scott Bryce, who originated the role of Craig back in the 80s (here he is on the cover of SOD with Finn Carter, who played Sierra Esteben Reyes [Lucinda's other daughter and mother of Lucy, by Craig], but who you will probably remember as the leading lady in Tremors); from what I've heard, Jeffrey Meek wasn't popular as Craig, and recasting the role with Bryce is an attempt to goose the dwindling ratings (they should, instead, try writing better stories, but that's just my opinion).