OLTL Just Got Kate Howard'ed

It's been a bad week for soaps, mainly One Life to Live. In case you haven't heard, notorious show-killer Jean Passanante has been hired as Associate Head Writer of the show. Ron Carlivati will continue as head writer but rumor has it that he'll be out when his contract is up in June. This is particularly bad news for the show, which has been going through a lot of negative changes the past few weeks. As the entire soap world knows, OLTL has seen a casting bloodbath the past month, with fan favorites Brett Claywell, Scott Evans and Scott Clifton being fired, and talented newcomer Amanda Setton quitting. What is going ON over there?

Some people have blamed Ron Carlivati for the show's sudden nose-dive in quality the past few weeks; I am going to disagree and blame it on the "higher-ups" at ABC. The ratings have been low, the budgets are getting smaller, and rumors of the show's cancellation have gotten louder and louder. What I can't understand, though, is the decision to bring on JEAN PASSANANTE, known for her sub-par work on a variety of soaps and known for being the head writer of Another World when it was cancelled. Passanante's had a long run on As The World Turns, the end result being... CANCELLATION. I'd say someone should prepare the death knell for OLTL, as this cannot be a good thing.

Listen to next week's Dayplayer Dish for our thoughts on the show's sorry state, in addition to the sinking ship that is the entire soap industry. Be sure to leave us some comments about what your thoughts on all the latest soap crises.

--Lee