Since I know that there are Butters fans here, I'll tell you a couple of things. The actor who plays him to me is a superstar waiting to happen. It shows how much I know since I wrote him off the day I saw him. He has brought humor and vulnerability to scenes that are not even centered around him, but here's the skinny of yesterday's tour de force action and line of the week.

Recap: Emily and Casey start going all Risky Business at his parents house and in typical ATWT fashion.... guns get pulled by crazy mothers, secrets get exposed, both Casey and Emily walk around half naked begging crazy mother to put the gun down, and bottom line, their gig is up. Everyone now knows what is up. Emily runs back to her office and her know it all mother comes by make matters worse and making my week by delivering a line that basically stated that it was bad enough that she'd been robbing the cradle with Chris Hughes, but Casey? That's like robbing the womb.... Deadpan face.... The actress who plays Emily's mom is such a pro that her delivery made it priceless as she was stating her truth and not trying to be funny..

"Robbing the womb"...... How can this show be last in the ratings with all those hip 18-49 women ;-)

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There's more sexual heat between this twink and this cougar than anything Nuke has produced.

And "Robbing the womb" had me rolling on the floor laughing.

Margo (Ellen Dolen) was beyond brilliant when she confronted Emily (in her bra and panties not to mention the fact that she was in her kitchen) with her great big gun.  Even tough she had the wildest look on her face, she calmly and clearly stated that she came into the house and was surprised by an "intruder" so to protect her home and child she had no other recourse than to shoot.  Too bad she didn't.....now that would have been really exciting.  There is so much bad blood between Margo and Emily and to be perfectly honest, Emily deserves all that she gets.  Love Kelly that plays her, but Casey could do so much better.  Susan's line also made me laugh out loud.  She, like a lot of the older actors on the show, is extremely talented and able to make the most out of what they are given to play.  Love seeing Casey stripped and sweaty, but the Emily pairing is just a little on the skanky side.  Just wait to his little brother finds out what he has been up to....not to mention Kim, Bob, Nancy, Lisa.........

Margo's delivery of "whore" was really delicious too!

I think Groutman split up Holden and Lily to try and get the fans to accept the recast.  After watching Martha Byrne grow up on the soap with John Hensley, I don't think I will ever be able to accept the recast and splitting them up and making Holden act like a middle aged jack ass is not helping.  Of course this is not the first time that he or any of the other males on the show have  acted in the same fashion because their dicks usually rule out their brains.   Bring Martha back....

Meg and Paul were married by the grave so as not to make Barbara suspicious after she chose the site for their wedding (they still thought at that time that they were protecting Barbara).   

.... to see what has happened to this show.  It was just a few short months ago that the show's ratings were decent and they were in the top three.  But in those months so much has changed/happened.  They lost Martha Byrne (Lily), one of the show's leading ladies, when they didn't have to.  They took one of their sexiest and hottest couples, Brad and Katie, married them and immediately saddled them with a bratty teen daughter and brassy ex-girlfriend.  They brought on Liberty and Janet and shoved them down your throat (the month they dominated the show is when the ratings really took a plunge).  They broke up Jack and Carly AGAIN after teasing the viewers with a reunion for two years.  They put one of their hottest couples (Luke and Noah) in an absolutely horrendous storyline that nobody liked.  They paired Carly and Holden, two characters who should never be together in a ugly story that turned them both into aduterous liars and cheats, destroying two of the show's supercouples, Lily and Holden/Jack and Carly.

The only thing that is working for the show?  Em and Casey.  And that story is played once or twice a week.

Every week the ratings are lower.  And every week I wonder WHY TPTB have not been fired.  People are leaving this show in droves.  None of the stories that got them the healthy ratings they had (Jack and Carly, Luke and Noah, Brad and Katie) are currently being told.  And what they are doing is NOT WORKING.  I have watched this show for over 20 years and it is painful to see what these writers are doing to it week after week after week.  This show needs to bring back it's couples and characters that fans want to see and put them in interesting and compelling stories.  They are not doing that now and the ratings show it.  But these writers have shown they are only interested in giving us more of what we don't want.  And for that they need to GO.

I'd been calling on Chris Goutman and Jean Passanante to be canned for years, but for whatever reason I have a feeling that at least Chris Goutman will be part of this equation no matter how low the ratings go as he obviously is a good politician and I can see him putting all this time that he should be putting on the show writing some great CYA memos blaming everything on the actors, general trends, AND most importantly more cost-cutting measures that can offset diminishing returns. Maybe he can write another expensive actor into a wall, which can only help if he already has another in mind as the ratings seem to be plummeting worse than any other show. Less 18-49 women viewers than GL? How will he talk his way of that one?

I really have a feeling that no one is going to come back so easily no matter how marginally better the show gets as you are so right about the show focusing on the least interesting characters as if tempting viewers to take a hike. To make things worse even these uninteresting new characters (Janet and Liberty) have not only been shoved down our throats, but they have been integrated (with even more coming) to the canvas in ways that Nuke NEVER has. The once fun and steamy Katie and Brad are now these old lugs and I am amazed that Terri Columbino is not being dragged into being the whiner in this latest forced mess.

I am enjoying the camp, and moments with veterans, but as has been the case for a few years, Chris Goutman's ego gets in the way of what people want and he seems to have earned second to none support in an industry that plays musical chairs even when the ratings don't collapse as badly as ATWT's have.

I am also starting to agree about Carly and Holden. While I like that Jon Hensley is getting to chew on some meaty material, the show is already deteriorating their interactions by introducing yet another forced character who is getting more airtime than loved characters. Mr. British is such a cliche and I am counting the seconds until he shows himself to be a fraud....

Having said all this, I am enjoying the show more as the dark humor (Sofie's burial/unburial), bitch fights, Casey and Em, seeing the intolerable Paul and Meg rationalizing their actions, and Susan's line of the week don't make me fast-forward the entire show. Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.

http://springintoaction.typepad.com