I'm not watching, but following on the boards. McT is still writing... once a new HW comes in it will still take some time for his or her stories to get to the screen... the show shoots a month ahead of time, and writes farther back than that...so if a new HW comes on April 1, then we'd probably not see anything until June, and they still have to wrap the other stories.

When Dena Higley took over on OLTL she was told she could just quickly wrap what was there and start her own stuff, but she chose (wisely, I think) to work with what was there... and she made it better. No sudden resets. (unfortunately that changed about a year and a half into her time there... probably due to orders from above on whom to feature and pairings to make. blech). But I think at this point AMC is such a mess... that I would wish (and it amazes me to say it because I was always opposed to this sort of thing) for them to do a "Dallas" and make the past year all a dream. Someone's mardi gras explosion coma dream.

then start fresh.

She ought not have come back. Viewers knew she could still be "alive" somewhere and that was probably where to leave her for now. The show wasn't strong enough for her return. But even given that, the return could have been done very well- it was botched.

I had a problem with the existing storylines being destroyed to make room for her return as well.

If they make the last year or so (from Mardi Gras on) all a dream of someone in a post explosion coma- they can fix a lot. I think the damage is too great otherwise.

Wow, this is sad... Blood Tear and Sunniest, I could have written what you wrote... it's even getting harder to follow on the boards... it's so bad and I feel like the show died probably a year ago (again- the last good part was Feb/early March of 06 with the Mardi Gras stuff). It's just NOT AMC.

Now that McT is gone, and we STILL don't have a new HW... I think we're seeing Frons at work. His Vision. I've argued that McT was not the main problem. She had writing problems, but the core problems predated her and continued after her exit. Before she came on, ratings were spiraling down and cast moral was low because the writing was poor...why? Newbies, mishandled returns (maria), shallow characters and stories, focus on grabbing the youth market with hot young thangs (and pushing vets like ERICA to 'only' grandmother and bb mode) and what someone THOUGHT was modern and cutting edge stuff (Fusion? Sexiest man alive contest?). When McT came on she actually helped things by providing an ensemble story that brought back the vets and used a bit of history. Her weakness is characterization and follow through, plus an overemphasis on certain themes and too much darkness.

But the Bimbo Hour, the All Ryan All the Time, the Forced Supercouples... that's all Frons trying to reinvent daytime for Disney.

Disney is reinventing it alright. Right into the trashcan.

I'm VERY happy at Y/R right now... I followed VI over there and found an AWESOME soap that does it all RIGHT. I think that also has made me even more bummed about AMC... because it ought to be doing the same. Well, with the cast they've lost I don't know if it's possible to make AMC strong again.