Dr. Reid Oliver made the final sacrifice this week, becoming a heart donor with his dying breath. In a move that I’m sure the writers thought was supremely ironic and dramatic, Reid was destroyed by a train when his car stalled on the railroad tracks (an idiotic ending, btw, because I would expect a doctor to have enough intelligence to get out earlier, and showing his seatbelt jammed doesn’t say much for car safety in America) and his heart was given to Chris Hughes, a doctor who did not have the common sense to get treatment months ago before he needed a transplant.

I can picture two scenarios with the writers: first, they might have thought that this last, selfless action brought Reid full circle, from a hardened bastard to a caring, loving, and now tragic figure. Or the writers might have merely said, “what the hell, let’s kill someone off–spin the character wheel and choose a victim.” 

In either case, the show sadly misjudged the appeal of Eric Sheffer Stevens and his character. Instead of stupid Iris and Gabe this summer, we should have had more Reid. And even now, at his demise, the show has rushed through his death, left too many unanswered questions, and given the character a ridiculous ending. Although I do have to point out that Reid’s end got more screen time than Nancy’s did–but then Iris, Blackie and Gabe all got more time than Nancy did.

Either way, I just don’t want to talk about it. I know you all come here each week to read about the show, and my job is to comment on what I saw, and share my opinions and those of others. Instead, I would rather comment on another death, the murder of a great soap. My prime suspect? One Christopher Goutman.

After a limited career as an actor, Mr. Goutman moved to directing daytime dramas, and worked at five different soaps. Four of those, Edge of Night, Another World, Guiding Light, and now ATWT, are gone. Hmmmm. He became the executive producer of Another World in 1996, a position he occupied until that show was cancelled. He has won 5 group Emmys, including 3 during his time at ATWT once as part of the directing team at ATWT in 2007, and twice for outstanding daytime series, in 2003 and 2001.

As Executive Producer, Goutman was in charge of making top decisions about the direction of the show. He did this for AW, and the show died. He moved to ATWT, and it died. They were both owned by Proctor and Gamble, but on different networks.          

IMHO, he is the reason for ATWT’s death (and also for AW’s, another murder he never paid for). Goutman made one bad decision after another over the past few years; he held stupid reality-style contests where a group of, and I use the word loosely, actors, vied for a 6 week contract on the show. None of them ever lasted longer than that, even though they were in the forefront of the storyline during those 6 weeks. Goutman shoved newbies down our throats, either discarding them as fast as he hired them, or keeping them around and making them insufferably obnoxious.  Remember Mike Kasnoff’s cousin Nick? He disarmed a bomb his first day in Oakdale, made an ass of himself around Carly, and was a general annoyance and nuisance until his death a few months later. He was a typical example of how Goutman found actors of limited talent and handed them huge storylines. We viewers suffered through the likes of Sophie, Cole, Iris, Audrey, Hunter, the Zs, and so many more forgettable characters. And if Goutman managed to get hold of some talented and usually experienced actors--Judi Evans, Wally Kurth, Lynn Herring, Stuart Damon, Michael Lowry, Kin Shriner (and so many more) come to mind–he created stupid, moronic characters that wasted their talents.

The sad thing is Mr. Goutman could have saved this show instead of murdering it, if he had only listened to a voice from the past; a very powerful voice who, IMHO, was the be-all and end-all of soap genius. I’m talking, of course, about Douglas Marland.  

Doug Marland was a soap writer par excellence. He wrote for ATWT from 1985 until his untimely death, Unlike Mr. Goutman’s pallid creations, Mr. Marland is responsible for creating the Snyder family, Hank Elliot (daytime’s first gay male character), a mixed race couple and their baby, and he wrote a very controversial abortion story. He also wrote a set of rules he called, How Not to Wreck a Show.” Too bad Mr. Goutman didn’t read it before he murdered ATWT. (And right now I’d like to tattoo it on the man’s forehead.)  Let’s examine Mr. Marland’s rules and see how they are nails in Goutman’s coffin.

First, watch the show and learn it’s history. Did Mr. Goutman ever know the history of ATWT? The way he twisted so many characters from how they originally were into what they were at the end tells me no, he did not. This is seen over and over again, most recently in Lucinda Walsh, to name one character. To tell us 3 weeks before the show’s demise that a long term character knew and associated with a criminal in her youth, when we had never seen a hint of it in all these years, shows that he knew not a bit of who Lucinda Walsh really was. In the past, Lucinda was one of Luke’s biggest supporters; but this week she gave him little comfort in his time of heartbreak. Multiply that type of character assassination over and over with many characters, and you have Goutman’s MO. One nail.

Next, read the fan mail, because the characters that don’t thrill you are often the fan favorites, and vice versa. An excellent example of this is Janet. The show became, in the last few years, As The Ciccone Turns. It was everything Janet, even though many fans abhorred her, made fun of her, gagged on her, and ranted about her. Fans wanted more veterans, but they were shoved aside time and time again. Goutman stated in a now-famous interview that he just knew what fans wanted without reading a single piece of mail from them. His arrogance was that fans would love whatever he put out there on the screen. I totally expect the last week to be all Janet, all the time, every storyline. Two nails.

Be objective, put your own likes/dislikes aside and develop the characters the audience wants to see.  So I ask you, readers, what did you want to see? Did Goutman develop your favorite characters? I personally wanted more Tom and Margo, I wanted Reid to live and be with Luke, I didn’t want more Iris and Audrey, I didn’t want Janet with Dusty, I wanted more John and Lucinda (I would have given my kingdom for more scenes of them like we had this past week) and I wanted no Gabe, no Hunter, no ruined Adam, no Mick, and no ruined Damian. Goutman sure didn’t give me what I wanted to see. Nail number three.

Talk to your actors; who knows the character better than the actor? I think Ellen Dolan could have given Goutman an earful about her character and what Margo should have been doing the last 3-4 years. So could a bunch of other actors. And I have to mention how much I laughed when Michael Park, Maura West, and Julie Pinson thanked Goutman as part of their Emmy-winner speeches. I could not believe there was a droplet of sincerity in their thanks; the words were those of an employee thanking their employer as an example of their hopes of impressing any future employers (“see how nice I can be towards anyone who hires me, even idiots like show-killer Goutman?”). But that was JMO. That’s the fourth nail.

Don’t change a core character. Give them edges and logical reasons to change, but if the audience says, “he would NEVER do that,” then you failed. Failed, Mr. Goutman. FAILED. Jack would have never done that, Dusty would have never done that, Emma would have never done that, Lucinda would have never done that, Barbara would have never done that–well, you get the picture. Goutman gets nail five.

Build new characters slowly; it takes 6 months to a year for the audience to care about a new character–don’t shove them down the audience’s throats. What’s this down my throat, Mr.G? Why, it’s Gabe, and Janet, and Iris, and all those others you shoved and shoved and shoved. The ONLY character in the last 3 years that you shoved down our throats who was any good at all was Reid Oliver, and look what you did to him. Six nails.               

If staff changes are in order, promote from within, with people who know the show. Don’t fire anyone for 6 months. And remember good soap opera is not rocket science, it’s telling stories, and telling them well. The seventh nail.

That’s the evidence against Mr. Goutman. He neglected to follow the simple rules for not wrecking a show, and he killed it, plain and simple. I know there are those who will rise to his defense, but he was the captain on this ship, and he ran it right into the rocks. Then as it sank, he heaped it with crud.

It's too bad he didn't attend the fan events, or send in some spies to mingle with the fans, he would have learned a lot. It's too bad he never had people surfing the net reading message boards, he would have learned even more. One perfect example is the Noah-Luke-Reid story--Goutman said in a recent interview if the show was continuing LURE would be a great love story–why did that have to change just because of the show was ending? Again, if you thought there was a great story there, why didn’t you dump the dreck over the summer and concentrate on LURE?

I’m not the only one who feels Goutman is a show killer. The word is that CBS Daytime Vice President Barbara Bloom tried to get him a job in Genoa City when the contract of YR’s producer Paul Rauch was up for renewal. Apparently there was a lot of laughter over her efforts. Something about a log of ‘professional transgressions at ATWT’ kept YR from offering him a job in any capacity.

I have cautiously unloaded on Goutman in different columns over the years, but I didn't want to say anything that would have gotten Soaptown in trouble or excluded from any contact with the show. We were very fortunate to have a relationship with those at the show who would provide us with interview opportunities and spoilers. But IMHO I think he's a show killer, he is talentless, and I can only believe he has schmoozed all the way to the top. I see no other way he could have otherwise been employed all these years. If I passed him on the street I would spit on the ground in front of him! I saw him once at that Emmy party Trent Dawson invited me to a few years ago, but out of respect for Trent I didn't approach the man--and Goutman is just lucky I didn't bend his ear backwards filling it full of my anger over what he did with our show, our beautiful show.

My good friend Vickie wrote in, “I am so enjoying the last couple of weeks of ATWT! What an absolute treat to watch the scenes play out with Lucinda and John Dixon!!! It makes me long for the good old days when John gave everyone in town a piece of his mind. He was always so good doing that. You know, one to never hold back. And Lucinda being Lucinda is just at her best with the dialog between them, and especially today's show. You know I had forgotten that Margo is John's daughter, but can you tell me who Margo's mom is and some of the storyline there?”  
Margo Hughes is a classic soap character when it comes to family! Her mother, Lyla Peretti, provided her with half-siblings Craig, Cricket, and Katie. Her dad, John Dixon, fathered Ian, Andy, Matthew, and John (deceased).  Since John was also the legal guardian of Dusty and Hayley, they were also part of Margo’s family for a while.  And although John was married 8 times while residing in Oakdale (including Kim, Lucinda, Barbara,, and Carly) he was never married to Margo’s mother, and Margo always used the last name Montgomery.   

Well, are you ready for the last week? I know I’m not, but I won’t miss a single minute.