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I'm an optimist. A big optimist, actually, often accused of looking at the world through rose colored glasses. That may surprise some of you. That's because I don't look at our World (As the World Turns) that way. I look at the show very critically. I do so because I love it. I want it to be the best soap on daytime. It once was. And we, the audience, deserve a quality show. Not perfection, but good quality. I'm also a realist. So that means I won't ignore signs of trouble when I see it. It means I won't cross my fingers, close my eyes, and wish for the best. It means when I read that a character scheduled to appear on ATWT (Hugh) has been scrapped, I get very nervous. It concerns me because it may indicate the writers have no long arc stories developed and don't even know where current stories are headed. They're making it up as they go along, which is never, ever a good thing. What else concerns me? I used to rave about the dialogue on ATWT on a regular basis. Now I'm shocked at how cliche-filled and basic the dialogue has become! Also, I wonder about those five days the show went dark after EP Chris Goutman and co-head writer Leah Laiman came on board. Why? Because I'm not seeing the early results of that week of brainstorming and storyline formation. Maybe those five days were used to clean up former head writer Lorraine Broderick's work. I truly hope not, because the way Goutman and Laiman resolved Broderick's stories was average at best! If I love ATWT -- and I do -- I'm forced to believe those five days were devoted a little to resolving Broderick's work, but mostly to setting up future story. Yet, so far the story playing out has featured the regular debasement of several female characters (e.g, Emily, Carly, Lucinda), fantasy sequences, "comical" fantasies (Carly's in curlers, so start cackling), character inconsistencies, often horrible dialogue, and sloppy story structure and continuity. The most recent example? The callous way the writers are disposing of Andy. Because Molly took an apartment upstairs and Andy doesn't want to run into her anymore, Andy decides to leave town. How emasculating! Any man would have hated playing the scenes given to Scott DeFreitas this week! And did you hear how Molly dismissed their relationship? Molly to Andy: "Okay, Andy. I know things went south for us as a couple." Talk about trivializing a relationship and past story. What a terrible way to acknowledge the outstanding performances DeFreitas gave over the last year, including his part in helping the audience accept a Molly/Andy pairing. (Initially, before the Lorraine Broderick writing team remolded the character of Molly, a majority of the audience was vehemently against a Molly/Andy pairing.) While I think EP Goutman has the show LOOKING great, I am nonetheless frustrated and only cautiously optimistic about the future quality of ATWT. Watching the show is like standing on the biggest, most beautiful yacht in the harbor. . .but still being tied to the dock. "Tom likes his No. 2 pencils nice and sharp." That cringe inducing line was Emily's, spoken to Lisa this week. We also got to witness Carly applying for a job at the police station, showcasing her inability to perform basic data entry. And would you believe pencil sharpening was mentioned again on Tuesday by a vapid brunette named Sherry interviewing to be Eddie's secretary? In fact, an entire montage was devoted to Chris and Eddie interviewing secretarial candidates, scored to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell's song, "Look at Me". So I looked. And what I found was that ATWT this week often played more like a bad advertisement for Kelly Temps than it did a soap. I guess that interview montage was yet another thigh-slapping funny scene. After all, ATWT needs more humor, I'm told. But don't confuse mildly amusing with funny. The only humor was Eddie's imitation of Sherry and her nails. Otherwise, the montage wasn't very original. Anyone thinking these types of scenes are the writers ways of bring real humor to ATWT is being snowed. ATWT has always had humor. Maybe not in large doses, but it was there. The difference was the humor was intelligent, and mostly founded in character. (Think Frasier or Everybody Loves Raymond). The dream sequences and silly montages head writers Leah Laiman and Carolyn Culliton are providing are filler, an easy way to pad an episode. You doubt it? Then ask yourself this: Did you find yourself wondering when Eddie and Chris got to be so close? Or what Chris was even doing at Wallace Enterprises? Or why he sat in on the interviews (with Alec's blessing, no less)? In other words, what was the point, other than to showcase more bad dialogue? (Chris to Eddie: "What? Did you lose your mind? Leaving the Oasis? For what? The smell of fresh office supplies in the morning?") Chris' visit at Wallace Enterprises did culminate in a second, umm. . .dream. . .vision. . .fantasy. . .whatever sequence. This time he was beckoned by a shimmering female (the ideal secretary, perhaps?) who disappeared when Chris got within reach. Confusing? A little, because I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to represent. Chris subconsciously looking for love? A symbolic angel sent to help this troubled lad find his way? What flashy montages, rudimentary attempts at humor, and attractive females can't disguise is that the writers are ignoring character, motivation, and logic for simplicity. To me, dizzy, brain dead Sherry represented the ATWT audience, as viewed by the writing team. "Everything I write stinks." No, that wasn't co-head writer Carolyn Culliton in a recent interview. It was actually Emily again, this time to Tom on Friday. And with so many reporters now covering Oakdale, e.g., Molly, Julia, Jake, maybe Emily has reason to worry. Not only about her writing, but about how her character has been turned into a whiney, clinging, and weak caricature. Remember the scenes a few weeks ago where Lisa delightfully humiliated Carly at the Mona Lisa, scenes that culminated with Carly perched on the toilet in the ladies room? The exact same type of scene played between Lisa and Emily on Monday. The similarities were obvious. Lisa loved putting Emily down. More disturbing, Lisa seemed to be trumpeting her own past mistakes. (Lisa: "I wrote the book on how to trap a man.") And the scene ended with Lisa sending Emily out to cover -- I kid you not -- an exploding sewer. Like the Carly scenes, these scenes, too, ended up in the toilet. Meanwhile Emily, always portrayed as a self-assured and successful businesswoman (even as her personal life crumbled) is now a pencil-sharpening, Tom-obsessed femme fetale. In a way, that would be fine. . .if it hadn't been done before. I enjoyed the Tom/Emily/Margo story a lot the first time around. What's important to note is that the resolution squarely placed Emily at the threshold to move forward. She had paid for her mistakes and, I thought, had learned something. It was so obvious that Emily was poised for a new direction that Laiman and Culliton's decision to have Emily go after Tom AGAIN borders on the absurd. If Laiman and Culliton keep the story in the apparent direction it's heading (and Friday's pathetic scenes with Emily asking Tom to help her with a news story indicate it will), they will have in effect wiped out a year and a half of prior storytelling, reducing what was overall a great story to, well, pencil shavings. Given the weak material, Kelley Menighan-Hensley was fantastic. But I think this talented actress, and all the players involved, actually, deserve a better, fresher story. As Tom said to Emily on Friday as she kept badgering and badgering him to help her, "I can't do this! I can't help you! Please stop it!" Yes, writers. Please. Stop it. Scott Holmes and Ellen Dolan rose above their material, too. Their scenes on the rooftop had so much potential. But just as I was being pulled into the emotion of the moment, the horrible dialogue would jolt me back to reality. After Tom sprinkled the ground in a circle of paper and coaxed Margo inside, she eventually retreated and said -- (Get ready for this one) -- "No amount of confetti is going to keep Emily Stewart away." Later, in the theme and variations writing style this team prefers, Margo stated, "I never let Emily get in the way. She just showed up like some evil Jack in the Box." How Ellen Dolan kept a straight face after saying that is a testament to her talent. It's a testament to Scott Holmes' talent that he took Tom to tears in his attempts to reconnect with Margo. But it shows the sloppiness of the writing, the careless style the writers are using to move the story forward. Lurking and eavesdropping have returned with a vengeance. Tom lurked in the living room on Monday, overhearing Margo and Alec's conversation. On Thursday, Margo was "disguised" in a hat and coveralls, hiding behind a newspaper. Emily double lurked on Friday, first eavesdropping outside on Tom and Margo and then again outside Alec's cabin. A bonus? Emily crouched down by the garbage dumpster after pitching a fit when she found Tom and Margo together. Two scenes were wasted between Carly and a landlord, a ridiculous device to get a few scenes between Jack and Carly that eventually ended in a kiss. But the landlord came off as buffoonish, Michael Park's Jack looked understandably embarrassed, and Carly just looked humiliated. I guess we can add to it to the ever growing list: Carly can't wait on tables. Carly can't type. Carly can't hand out towels in a ladies room. When the set-up isn't bad, often the scenes are. The characters yell and they badger each other. No wonder Alec looks so angry all the time. First it's Eddie. "WHY do we have to do this tonight?" "Why am I here, Alec?" "Why are you doing this?" And then it's Margo: "Why Eddie? What is it about Eddie, Alec?" "WHY won't you trust me?" "WHY did you have to bring Eddie up here?" When Alec finally got to ask a "WHY" question of his own to Margo ("Why would I need security in the middle of nowhere?"), he got an answer that truly makes one never want to ask a question again. The response from Margo? "Oh, you know -- Lions and tigers and bears." The best writing and the best scenes were on Wednesday and Thursday. The past swirled all around John and Barbara as they talked, from their loss of Baby Johnny to John's recent loss of Parker. Though the dialogue was basic, it was still insightful. Larry Bryggman was fantastic, and the moment John was about to leave when he reached out and. . .almost. . .grasped. . .Barbara's hand was beautiful. It was solid, emotional drama. The good stuff kept coming between Carly and Barbara. I don't know why, but I was floored by how powerfully Colleen Zink-Pinter can play Barbara's manipulative side. Barbara didn't tempt Carly with the money, though the way she dangled the check like a brass ring was magnificently sadistic. Ultimately, however, Barbara deliberately and calculatedly cajoled Carly into taking the check. Zink-Pinter played the scenes with quiet resolve, speaking in a near whisper, her face as set as stone. So was this action in line with Barbara's character? Oh yes! Because -- and pay attention, writers! -- from the beginning we saw and heard Barbara's reservations about having Parker come into her home. The writers wisely had Barbara convey this again in her scenes with John, but the foundation had already been set. Therefore, Barbara's quick and desperate act -- bound to one day have some serious repercussions -- made sense. And the scenes planted a delicious little seed in my mind (and I hope the writers): Perhaps Barbara and Carly are more alike than even they realize. For Another World viewers (and I used to be one years ago), the scenes between Jake, Vicky, and Donna at the McKinnon's Bay City home just had to have put a giant size lump in their throats. Even for me, memories of Another World came rushing back when Jake and Vicky walked through the door and into that house. Thankfully, the scenes surrounding Donna's cancer built on the emotional connection already there. Written quietly and solemnly, they played out with a charming simplicity. The best moment? As Vicky was about to leave with Donna for New York, she asked Jake to hug her, tighter, tighter. Then she said, "I don't ever want to forget how you feel." Good scene. Good dialogue. For a while on Wednesday and Thursday, ATWT was good soap opera! Odds N Ends:
Grade for the Week: D+ |
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