Extremely poor judgement by WGA! JP and her team does not deserve any accolade, especially for the horrendous LURE story ending. May be this confirms the extent of homophobia and stupidity existing even among people who are considered to deal with making the right choices and fair judgements.

Thanks so much for the info, Michael. Good to know!

How horrendous that those horrible writers who destroyed the show have been rewarded for that appalling storyline. I watched the show for over forty years and Reid’s death was badly written, pointless and homophobic IMO. The sacrifice of the gay characters in favour of the worthless Chris Hughes proved that the writers had no concept of who the worthwhile and interesting characters were on the show.

The final show was the worst soap finale I’ve ever seen and I’ve probably watched about ten of the soaps’ endings by now.

Ugh. That really depresses me. Writing that sloppy, inconsistent, and offensive should never have been rewarded.

Dear Michael, Thank you SO much for posting this! You’ve answered a question many of us have been wondering about (even if we were too stunned to email you about it!). Many people have hypothesized along the way that the ending was plotted to give TPTB a shot at Emmys, and, so it seems at first glance, that they may be right. I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual scripts for these episodes – the “writing” (not the plotting) got more than the usual attention with award submissions in mind. I think part of the problem with these awards is… Read more »

P.S. Just reread your post. And I see that the phrases “well-planned” and “thoughtfully-considered” came from David Levinson, and not a representative of WGA, and that “thoughtfully-considered” referred specifically to the “final phrase.” Not to be too cynical, but my response to that is: “DUH!” I started following ATWT again in March after watching off-and-on for 20 to 30-some years. I don’t know when the speculation began, but I have to believe that almost starting from the day the cancellation was announced, fan forums have been dotted with people suggesting “Wouldn’t it be great if Helen Wagner could say the… Read more »

As annoyed as I am that they’d win for something as poorly written and disgustingly offensive as Reid’s death, I’m even more flabbergasted by the inclusion of the finale. It was truly one of the worst episodes I’ve ever seen and a horrible way to send out such beloved characters. This is clearly a pity/farewell award than anything based on actual merit. I have no problem with any of the actors getting respect or awards for the number of times they turned the writing into something worth watching, but the majority of the writing team should be ashamed of themselves.

The WGA voters obviously don’t watch the show. They don’t know that the so called family feel of the final episode was only achieved by dragging out people who hadn’t had any screen time for years, or that nothing was done to build up to Reid’s death, so it looked like he died to prop up the vapid relationship of the heterosexual couple. They also didn’t know that Chris and Katie had been slapped together at the last minute, and that their relationship was not developed at all. It’s sad that Jean Passanante will look at this award, and not… Read more »

i too am stunned that they won an award for best writing. as lovelure stated they didn’t watch or know the show to award them this for how they ended it. if they did they would of been laughed out of the race with the Chuckles the clown story alone.

The writers never should have won an award for having the gall for letting Reid die and leaving Luke alone to grieve while all the others had their happily ever after.They gave us the LuRe storyline and then destroyed it after we fell in love with these wonderful men and were so happy to see Luke with a man he loved and who loved and appreciated him.I will never forgive them for the horrendus ending.As a long time ATWT viewer I loved Luke and Reid and their story.It was my favorite of all time , but not the tragic ending.No,… Read more »

Like everyone before me I am stunned they won for these episodes. The Luke and Reid love story was what they should have won for. Not Reid’s death, which was contrived and plot driven. Luke and Reid were sacrificed for Katie and Chris, who barely even had a story. So the writers will now be justified in writing a crappy ending to a wonderful show, and for sacrificing the gay couple for the straight one.

My GF and me are so glad that we have completely stopped watching American Soaps. This award decided by AWG is a thorough mockery of faithful viewership and travisty of justice. I wish we had never started watching ATWT in the January of 2010. We still do not understand the senseless LURE ending. JP and CG may have friends in high places and win all the awards they want. We have only one question for them. How would they feel if the person they loved the most on this earth was squashed by a train and they had to authorize… Read more »

Wow. I’m terribly offended that they would be rewarded for that homophobic, offensive, and wretched ending. It actually enrages me to the extent that I have a hard time expressing it. I’ve been waiting for karma to take these people down a peg for doing this horrible thing to their audience, and instead they get a reward? Ugh.

Just goes to show what nonsense these awards are much of the time, when the voters are judging only a few episodes completely out of context. The end of ATWT was offensive and unsatisfying on so many levels. Hell, the last year of the show was! They wasted our time with the unending captivity of Babs and Chuckles, Janet’s mob ex, etc., etc. — and Helen Wagner/Nancy Hughes’s death got ONE episode. Appalling. And don’t get me started on Luke being the only character not to get a happy ending. The staggering homophobia in ending with Reid dead, Luke grieving… Read more »

The testament of this show’s writing is here… we’re still talking about it so it must have had an impact. That’s what writing — good or bad — is all about. When As The World Turns writers began congratulating each other Saturday evening via Twitter after winning the best writing award at the Writers Guild of America awards ceremony, I have to admit that I felt waves of both happiness and bitterness. Happy because the writers of my favorite show were recognized for their talent and bitter because such a great show – one that means so much to millions… Read more »

Let me get this straight. You’re sitting here typing ad nauseum about two characters from a show that was cancelled SIX MONTHS ago and you’re saying they, and the show, had no relevance to you or others posting here? If you ask me, your comment is absurd, not mine. I am neither gay nor lesbian, but I was able to relate to this couple’s love story in a way I did not relate to others. Their love story transcended homosexuality as well as the typical way gay relationships are shown in the media. We owe that to the writers. The… Read more »

I cannot believe that JP and her minions actually won for that “can you write better than a fifth grader?” tripe. Yes, a fifth grader could write better than that. I’m not saying that writing is easy; I have been a writer and an editor. However, the last couple of months of the show were beyond ridiculous. The Reid/Luke storyline completely morphed into the Katie/Chris zippo-chemistry storyline with Reid and Luke being the props for that slapped together couple. Katie and Chris, if they had to exist at all, should have been props for Reid and Luke. The stupidity of… Read more »

I was mad about the ending. And I didn’t even like LuRe (who. btw. are being called a supercouple a lot here. Um. This is the first soap I’ve watched where a ‘supercouple’ was toted as one and hadn’t even lasted a year. amazing!) I thought it was insulting. The Nuke vs LuRe battles grew nastier than a custody battle. Nuke fans had relationship history and actual soap conflict on their side whereas LuRe had character interaction and a soapy hate into love relationship. Ultimately, the writers had to make a choice. And it was clear to us atwt fans… Read more »