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There’s been a lot of buzz about ATWT lately. Writing is sharper, characterization is tighter, performances are top-notch, and history, large and small, is being remembered and respected. Both the numbers and the demos are starting to inch up. But, what’s really driving ATWT to the top of the must see soaps list?
I can sum it up in one word: PAYOFF.
Far too often, soaps will start potentially intriguing storylines, only to let them meander on endlessly and pointlessly, until the writers have wrung every last drop of potential they could muster. At some point, the writers eventually come up with new and intriguing ideas. But, instead of having the decency to properly wrap up the storylines they have going on now, the writers will simply end them, and move the characters on to the next plot, with no real sense of payoff.
Payoff is crucial to the genre, and to storytelling as a whole. Payoff is when the hero triumphs, the villains are foiled, the couple gets together or breaks apart. Payoff is when the story reaches it’s intended goal or climax. Since, barring cancellation,a soap opera never really ends, payoff is the closest thing we get to a denouement.
But we don’t get it. Ask DAYS fans if the writers fully explained the Princess Gina/Hope connection, or if they just ran out of steam? Or what really happened with John’s missing years? Or Marlena’s? Does GH even know the meaning of payoff anymore? Two brilliant stories that GH was playing out a couple of years ago were Alan’s pill addiction, and Tony’s descent into madness. Eventually, the writers played these for all they were worth. But, instead of actually seeing Alan go through the pain of becoming clean and sober, Alan decides that he needs to stop being an addict, and takes some drug to make him stop being an addict. A week later, we don’t hear about it anymore. Tony decides to stop being a nutcase--boom, he’s lucid again! Katherine gets pushed off the balcony, and falls to her death. Big murder mystery with shocking results promised! A year later, it’s Katherine who?
And, of course, ATWT fans know. Just who killed Diego anyway? Whatever happened to Kirk? Why was Alec trying to kill those men in the photograph?
The story flow is even worse when a writer is fired in the middle of weaving their storylines, and a new writing team comes in. The previous writer’s work is obliterated. Storylines do 180 degree turns. Characters rapidly change over and disappear, all in the name of getting their stories off and ours on.
This makes the current renaissance at ATWT even more amazing. Hogan Scheffer, a brand-new writer to the genre, is turning ATWT inside-out. Not by bringing in bizarre Reilly-esque plots, or by ignoring everything that went before. Indeed, you could almost forgive Scheffer for wanting to ignore everything that happened in the year before he was hired. A ridiculous ‘’evil twin’’ storyline; two characters trapped on a deserted island in a plotline that makes one long for the realism of Gilligan’s Island; a major villain, whom most of the town hated, simply being caught and going to jail, with no trial; and a minor villain, whom few people cared about, being killed off, resulting in a major murder mystery, complete with bizarre investigation, and lengthy trial.
So, what did Scheffer do? He took these stories head on, and decided to make them work. In a brilliant example of taking the twisted mess that was ATWT, and making it coherent, Scheffer staged an event out of Katie’s comeuppance. Oh, how do I boil down the storyof Katie Peretti? Katie, a scheming reporterette for WOAK TV, decided to climb up the ladder, and snag Lily’s husband, Holden, for herself. In order to climb up the ladder, Katie had to knock out chief rival Molly for good. To accomplish this goal, Katie sent evidence of Molly’s tryst with Chris Hughes to a tabloid paper. This would not have been so bad, except the much younger Chris was now dating Molly’s teenage daughter, Abigail, and Chris and Molly were determined to keep the truth from her. The tabloid revelation led to a bitter fight between Molly and Abigail, which led to Molly falling down the stairs and going into a deep coma.
Further cementing herself, Katie teamed up with news producer Henry, to make the audience love Katie. Together, they concocted a plot in which Katie was being ‘’stalked’’, a plot they kept up even after Chris was accused of the stalking. As it turns out, someone did start stalking Katie--Garth, a WOAK worker, who was obsessed with Molly, and knew what Katie had done. Garth forced Katie to admit what she had done on videotape. Garth was then caught and killed, and the videotape began an annoying phase of Hot Potato.
Meanwhile, Katie stepped up her plans to get Holden. Figuring out that ‘’Lily’’ was really Rose, Katie began blackmailing her into breaking up Holden and Lily’s marriage. And she nearly succeeded. Certainly, Katie was on top of the world. Lily was back in town, but her marriage was clearly on the rocks. Plus, Katie was going to receive a special Endicott journalism award for the piece she submitted, in which she covered the aftermath of her own stalking! It was Katie’s night...to fall.
Molly was out of her coma, and feigning amnesia, in order to re-establish her relationship with Abigail, and get info to bring down Katie and Henry. She got it in spades when she eventually snagged the video of Katie’s confession. But Katie figured out that Molly not only had the video, but was faking amnesia. Katie went to Molly, and told her that she would tell Abigail (who didn’t know Katie went to the tabloids, and considered Katie a friend) that Molly was faking. Katie didn’t know that Molly had already told Abigail the truth, and that Abigail was standing nearby when Katie revealed her true colors.
Meanwhile, Molly’s boyfriend, Jake, paid bail for Rose to get out of jail, and over to the hotel where the awards were being held. On the night of the awards, Abigail distracted the videotape operator, while Chris switched the tape. The video played, and Katie’s life was destroyed. Just to cement things, Jake made sure Rose gave a little speech afterwards on how Katie helped her take over Lily’s life.
Katie was in hysterics, as she realized her oh-so-clever self had been duped. Condemnation was swift, as everyone lined up to give Katie a piece of their mind. Margo, Katie’s duped older sister, a cop who had fallen for the stalker ruse; Holden, who couldn’t believe Katie had snowed him on so many levels; reporters who instantly swarmed on Katie like the vultures that she was; but, the last laugh was saved for Molly, who found Katie collapsed, nearly on the floor in tears. Molly, by no means a saint, made sure Katie knew she got everything that was coming to her. She also let Katie know that she had been where Katie is right now, and that if Katie wants to salvage her life, she better start now. With that said, Molly went off into the arms of Jake.
On another show, or under a lesser writer, Katie’s machinations would’ve been swept under the rug. The video would’ve been destroyed or explained away; Rose would’ve been easily discredited. Or worse, everything Katie did would’ve been forgotten completely, as a new writer decided to use Katie for bigger and more evil things. There certainly WOULDN’T have had been a payoff of the magnitude Scheffer provided.
Seeing Katie’s comeuppance reminded me of a couple of stories involving AMC’s Adam Chandler. The first, in the mid-80’s, revolved around Adam attempting to gaslight then wife Dixie. Not only were all Adam’s misdeeds exposed in public, at a Masquerade Ball (in Adam’s home yet), but Adam’s chief enemies, Tad Martin and Palmer Cortlandt, teamed up to make it all happen. Palmer masterminded a scheme to buy out all of Adam's holdings, leaving Adam penniless, and eventually led to him having a stroke.
The other story was more recent. Liza Colby, decided she wanted to have a baby, and she wanted Dr. Jake Martin to be the sperm donor. Adam, now Liza’s ex-hubby, decided that he should be the father. So, he bought the clinic, and switched Jake’s sperm with his. Instead of another climax the magnitude of Adam’s Ball, the writers now had one anti-climax after another. Allie knew the truth from the beginning, but she quickly left town. David knew, and continued to dangle the info, WITHOUT ever saying anything. When he did blurt it out, it was to Gillian, a character barely in the story, as she was only a friend of Jake’s at that point. Gillian raced to tell the truth--but then she was in a car crash. By the time the news finally trickled to Liza, sixteen months after the deed, no one gave a damn. The story quickly turned to “Will Jake learn the truth?” He did find out, some months later, at which point he quickly left town.
And Adam? After being locked in a secret room for a few weeks, while his twin brother, Stuart was coerced into taking his identity, and spending his money (don’t ask), life pretty much went on as usual. Why? Because TPTB were ready to explore other avenues, and what Adam had done to Liza was no longer important--it was now something to be quickly dealt with and forgotten. And that’s what the whole storyline turned into--something best forgotten.
The comeuppance of Katie, however, is to be remembered for a long time. Perhaps the first of many memorable payoffs from Hogan Scheffer.
You know the drill: E-mail me at snarkieposter@yahoo.com. Because, hey, if we don't communicate with each other, how do you know I’m really here?