It’s sad that Jean Passanante will look at this award, see validation, and ignore or put aside the fans’ outrage. Her interview given here, full of excuses and complete lack of true understanding of what she’d done with the story she told, was appalling. And now I suspect she’ll feel very proud of herself for telling a homophobic gay tragedy story that was senseless, poorly executed, and that I still become angry when I think about nearly six months later. Taking the heart out of a good, unabashedly gay man to give it to straight man, one with a history of being a terrible jerk who sexually harassed women, and violated the trust of family members and friends, so that the straight guy can have a happily straight ever after is so. darn. appalling that it still stuns me. I wonder if I’ll ever get over being offended by it. Putting something out there with that message alone should flush her with shame every time she thinks of it. Let’s not even get into what she did with the character of Luke, leaving the LGBT community with an unhappily ever after vision of the first gay male on daytime. That message is also pretty horrible. Honestly, I can’t even imagine what they were thinking.

I agree that the only person deserving of an award in all of this mess is Van Hansis for his performance of grief. Something I never wanted to be the last visions I had of Luke, but he definitely knocked it out of the park.

You are so right when you say the LuRe ending was sensless.I will never understand it if i live to be 100.(and I’ll probably still be devastated by the death of Reid and Luke shocked and destroyed)I would have loved to remember this show that I watched for so many years with a smile, but now i can’t and never will.The Luke and Reid story was wonderful, but the writers destroyed what they created.The only award they deserve is one for stupidity And once again I’ll say, Van deserves an award for his acting.He could have been given a script from The Barney Show and he would have made it look good!

Don’t worry, Karma will definitely bite CG, JP, TPTB, and whoever scripted the out and out homphobic ending of LURE; where they sacrificed a golden super-gay couple (LURE) to give the pathetic and thoroughly mismatched straight couple (Katie and Chris) a happy ending. The day Karma rages its fury especially on the frighteningly ugly and stupid, JP, that day will be a day of celebration with champagne.

I have to say that I completely agree. These people make their living by making us feel things that are “melodramatic and over the top”, and therefore, they should very much wish to satisfy us. We’re their bread and butter. And yet they’ve so offended me that if I ever hear the names Lucky Gold, Jean Passanante, or Chris Goutman in association with any media of any type, I absolutely will not trust my “melodramatic and over the top” emotions to them, and I suspect many betrayed fans feel the same way. Sadly, we’re apparently far too much in the minority for it to really matter, but it should.

WorldTurnsTV: Your statement
This is a show that didn’t just focus on the rich and famous, but showcased characters that each one of us could relate to in some way. This is a show that didn’t rely on gimmicks, teen exploitation or the supernatural; instead it focused on family, relationships and everyday people who could have been our best friends or relatives.
Is completely absurd. Thia show is an epitome of out and out discrimation and 100% homophobia. The LURE gay supercouple was destroyed to give the shitty pair of Katie and Chris a haapy ending. Many among the viewers and fans of ATWT identified with Luke and Reid. But the show sold this fan base out. A million times shame on the wrtiters and producers for their homophobia.

It is extremely extremely heartening to know that ATWT is off the air. If ATWT was half as good as what you say it was, it would never have been rejected by the audience and ultimately being cancelled. The rejection of ATWT by viewers worl-wide is testament that it was the worst soap towards the end of its tenue on screen. The testimonies presented here are in support of a few characters (overwhelmingly about Luke and Reid), and definitely no one else associated with the show, especially the writers.

Didn’t rely on gimmicks? Mick Dante. Chuckles. Ghost Brad and Henry. Hmmm.
Yes, writing isn’t it easy. But that’s their job. They chose it.
The people who really deserve the kudos are the actors who somehow made something out of nothing.

True, the writers gave us the story of Luke and Reid but it wasn’t so much the writing that made us fall in love with them it was the chemistry between Eric and Van, the looks, the smiles , the speaking without words.To kill off half of such a beloved couple and to leave Luke grieving and destroyed is why the writers don’t deserve an award.They made us fall in love with their creation of LuRe(and we did love them and still do) then they destroyed what they created and gave everybody else a happily ever after but Luke and Reid.To me that is not good writing to leave the fans totally destroyed when this show of 54 years was going off forever!!!

If Barbara talking to a clown for three weeks, the uunending nuances of Janet, the constant cheating and break-ups going on among almost every couple, not to mention the embezellings of the likes of Craig is good story telling and plots; then it remains to be seen what mediocre and bad writing is. Just to clarify, my GF and me are straight, but we were mesmerized by the LURE story until the horrible ending. If the writers knew that they had created two characters that enthralled the masses. then it is even more difficult to comprehend why they destroyed their own creation. How could it justified that the love of someone’s life is squashed by a train and the very next instant that individual is literally coaxed by almost everyone in authorizing donation of the beloved’s organs. And, why was every straight couple given a happy ending while the three gay characters relegated to getting killed, left devastated, or sent packing.

But the issue here is that they won an award not for the Luke/Reid love story, but for the homophobic tragic death, and that? That was crap. I don’t care how hard writing its, or how they did a great job bringing us this love story; they junked it all in the end in a way that was so offensive that it will forever taint what they brought to us and taint them as writers. So, yeah, they brought us something good, and if they’d given them award for that then I’d understand. But they got an award for what was, in the end, clumsy, awful, terribly executed, and homophobic.

The fact is these writers did not create Reid. David Kreizman did. Then he left, and it appeared that JP and her gang really didn’t know what to do with him and Luke. The writing for everyone was lackluster. Don’t even get me started on the writing for Carly and Jack. I have said it before elsewhere: The only thing that saved the show and kept me watching was its phenomenal cast.

Some good points, but overall, I disagree with your assessment, especially Luke being surrounded by family and friends in the last days. On the the very last day, the only person that showed him any consideration was his little sister, Natalie. Lily and Holden weren’t there (and we did get the hint that they would likely reunite, so that’s another point in which I disagree with you). Reid and Luke weren’t the main reason that Nancy’s death was overshadowed – it was Chris and Katie. Even on the day of the memorial, Chris’s and Katie’s rushed relationship was pimped. Chris and Katie basically took over the show until the end. To say that Lure fans think they were the best couple of all time is ridiculous. That may be true for some of the viewers that came to ATWT in the last year or so, but I have watched the show for years, and I can name numerous couples that were popular or so-called supercouples: Nancy and Chris, Betsy and Steve, Barbara and Gunnar, the early days of Margo and Tom, the early days of Lily and Holden and so on. I personally loved Simon and Katie, and I did love Reid and Luke. However, the greateast supercouple in my estimation in soaps wasn’t even on ATWT. It was Luke and Laura on GH. Practically everyone was glued to the TV on the day they got married. Even if you didn’t watch GH, you knew who Luke and Laura were. I have to say that to suggest that homophobia didn’t play a part in what happened to the three gay characters is naive. The last day of the show we had scenes of all these happy little couples and then cut to the gay LEGACY character and he is staring at a photo of the man he loved with only his little sister to comfort him. Reid is dead, in the most cliche and ridiculous way, and Noah is alone, but he did get a tiny bit of happiness because he was going to get to live his dream of becoming a producer. I don’t remember Van expressing being upset about accusations of homophobia, and I read many things about Van. Maybe I missed that one, but I do remember Van, Terri and Colleen saying they were shocked (Colleen tweeted about it) about killing off Reid, especially by train. (The only thing missing from that was a damsel in distress tied to the tracks and an evil man in a top hat with a handlebar mustache grinning like a madman.) Yes, Nuke had history, but there were a lot of gimmicky storylines involving them – the Z twins and Ameera, for instance. SLs are supposed to be character-driven (that was why the show was so successful under Marland’s direction – it was character-driven) and soapy as you mentioned Reid’s and Luke’s was. If you don’t buy homophobia, then at the very least, I would think you could buy the fact… Read more »

My GF and me are straight. But, to us the ATWT ending appeared 100% homopphobic. Every straight couple (including cheaters, liars, porn stars, criminals, swindlers, money embezzlers, clowns, clown talkers, cougars, multiple partner swappers) were given a happy ending including the worst ever pair in soap history (Katie and Chris). And! the three gay characters were ruthlessly destroyed (one literally murdered, the most lovable character on the show left to a life of perpetual pain, suffering, and misery; and the third one who was almost reduced to non-existent on the show sent packaging). The message that ATWT sent in the end was out and out homophobic. If an individual is straight, everything under the sun is forgiven, no how badly a life is lived. But, if you are gay, you are doomed forever, no matter how qualified, and good way of life you lead. A million times shame for such out and out discrimination, even if it is pure fiction.