Not taking up for TPTB, believe me I'm not, and I do have my issues with how they are doing it, but I understand some of it..TK isn't coming back....He has a life, family in NY.....and he's doing what is best for his family at this time..TPTB need to write Zach off, for awhile (still hoping for a return when AM's contract is up so that he can walk her off the screen, and Zen ride off into the sunset)..What is so wrong about this and so disrespectful, tacky, insensitive, and classless is this...1) When Zach returned, the writers gave interviews telling fans that Zen would have a s/l....Their own s/l...What we get instead is a few scenes talking about some fake partners, but Zen's story has been Rylee infested from day one and will end Rylee infested...The writers lied...AGAIN!!!2) Zach is going to supposedly die in the process of helping Rylee.......Again, Rylee..... Zach's last scenes will probably be with the gruesome twosome......and that tickes me off...3) In an interview in SOD.... They talk about Zach's death, but in the same interview they are already pushing a new pairing for Kendall with a new guy, Griffin, and comparing him to Zach and this supposed new pairing to Zendall..How tacky, disrespectful.....and it has angered even non-Zen fans..This reminds me of the "REAL" GL campaign.... SS was still working playing GL, but they were promoting RB/GL as the second coming... Tacky, insensitive, disrespectful...I understand and accept Zach being written off.... I respect TK a great deal... He's an amazing actor & this is another lose for AMC....Frons wanted this LA move and it's cost the show more than money...JMO... DC & TK are huge losses...and to be honest... They don't have any powerhouse males to take their place..MN/Caleb is good, but he's new.....TK/Zach was the lead male...... CM/Ryan will never be that... JMO.... JY is good, but JR is not in the same league as Zach...DW, MEK are terrific, but they have no story...But to do it this way... Promote it this way...Hell, they did little to no promotion for Zach's return and now with Zach leaving, they are promoting Griffin being paired with Kendall..This will flop..The ratings are dismal at best.... The Rylee hour is killing what is left of this show.....Losing Zach will hurt big time....Losing Zendall will kill them..Soap characters die all the time,..,... Actors/Actresses move on for whatever reason..I truly believe that TPTB didn't try hard enough with TK...but that is just me....I think Frons and his obsession with his pets gets in the way.....Again, JMO...You can't keep lying and expect to get away with it...You don't tell fans that they are losing a great actor, an amazing character, and the most romantic, loved couple in daytime, all the while pimping a new pairing for the half that is left on the show..I truly hope and believe that once AM Contract is done, so is she... this is just my spec....so I hope that Zach is found alive, comes back, and Team Slater exit together...That is if there is a show left in 2011...I'm angry at how TPTB are doing this...Angry that Zen's final days are Rylee infested.....Angry that they disrespect TK/Zach by pimping Griffin in the same interview....Disgusted at the disrespect and tacky behaviour, but not surprised...Losing TK/Zach will hurt them and their precious Ryass, Rylee won't be able to fill that void..I will not be watching after Zach leaves... I love AM/Kendall, but if they don't allow Kendall to grieve, cut ties with Rylee, and give her a story of her own , I don't want to watch...I also dont' want to watch Kendall move on to someone else at warp speed.... .Have no desire to see that...

Do we know how much longer AM has on her contract?

I can't accept AMC killing off Zach quite so easily, so I'll put up a fight here. First, I still think they could have made it work if they wanted to. I've said it here before, and I'll say it again: sophisticated attorneys, working creatively to make a deal happen, could have gotten it done if the spirit was willing. I'm not convinced ABC did all they could to make it happen. JMOSecond, I'd rather think of Zach as having left his family to keep them safe with a heartfelt and emotional goodbye than think he's "dead" having helped Ryan and Greenlee. I don't really care about the Rylee aspect of it, but it's more romantic and more in keeping with who he is if he makes a sacrifice for his family, rather than dying to help the man who tried to ruin his life last year, stole Cambias and Seasons East, and had sex with his wife many times over in his house. And I have a hard time believing that he'd die for Greenlee, bomb shelter story be damned. I had wanted to see Zendall and their boys at Thanksgiving. I thought Christmas was a longshot. Instead, there will be grief, guilt, regret and little boys waiting for their daddy to go skating with them. Why would I want to watch that?I was with my mother in a supermarket the other day, and we saw the cover of SOD which reads "Zach dies!", and my mom, a longtime vet of soap-watching, said two things to me. First she asked why they would do this and why would they promote it like it's good news we would all rush home to see, and then she said that hopefully he'll be back, since no one ever really dies on a soap. Boy, do I hope she's right about the second thing.

Gator, I agree with you that ABC did not try hard enough to give TK the right conditions to entice him to stay with AMC. I fail to understand how these people collecting enormous salaries make such poorly planned decisions. First the move to CA in this struggling economy was ill advised and now there are rumors that the show is struggling financially and the move, which was supposed to strengthen it

Well, if you're not a fan of grief for the holidays for a young wife with two small boys mourning the love of her life (and who is?), then you're not going to like the latest--Kendall not only finding love with new guy Griffin, but another new guy is being hired to make a love triangle for Kendall.Yeah, just what I want to see. Kendall moving on with more than one guy after her beloved husband is gone. If I weren't already planning on not watching, I'd be making those plans now.

Quote:Gator, I agree with you that ABC did not try hard enough to give TK the right conditions to entice him to stay with AMC. I fail to understand how these people collecting enormous salaries make such poorly planned decisions. First the move to CA in this struggling economy was ill advised and now there are rumors that the show is struggling financially and the move, which was supposed to strengthen it

You're making alot of assumptions, and I don't think that's fair. None of us know what was offered or what TK wanted. We know that his family is on the east coast, but for the right money, or schedule, or amount of vacation time, or whatever, he might have commuted. In fact, the lovely Alicia Minshew said just that in Soap Opera Digest: she said he was happy going back and forth, and ABC was happy to have him go back and forth, for as long as they wanted him. My question is, what happened? Because if his leading lady and good friend said that in SOD, which sure sounds like he had a commuting/recurring deal with ABC, how did we go from that to soap death? I don't get it.

I could care less about what deals were made, or offered real or imagined...let's put the blame exactly where it belongs...On ABC and AMC for the fool hardy idiotic decision to move this show to LA. It hasn't helped with the budget at all. It's rumored to be still woefully overbudget even with the salary cuts, costumes etc. This move has cost them not only the likes of Thorsten Kaye, David Canary and Vincent Irizarry, but the budget cuts have cost them production values as well.The costumes alone are atrocious, with drab colors and hideous styles that are unflattering... and the shoes! OMG! the shoes that especially Rebecca Budig wears look as though they were bought at the local Army/Navy store . I understand the show was going to be cancelled but was given a reprieve and moved to LA to save it. They should have cancelled it. What's left reminds me of 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.' That's how it looks, shriveled, dusty and ugly. How sad.

At this point I would rather they recast Zach than do that crap to him and Kendall and the boys.

Quote:At this point I would rather they recast Zach than do that crap to him and Kendall and the boys. What AMC did to Zach and ultimately to Kendall today is beyond reprehensible. To have Kendall ask Zach to go off and save two of the most worthless characters on any soap and to have him say he was doing it for her was infuriating. I won't mention spoilers concerning Zach but I will say this: this show is sunk. I will no longer watch and I bet AMC will lose even more viewers after the next few weeks. I won't watch a show that has no history any longer just newbies who are bland and dull. By now I'm sure almost everyone has seen the videos of the new guy in town. I don't believe that one mediocre actor who takes his shirt off often will supplant the huge talent that is Thorsten Kaye or make up for the loss of him, David Canary and Vincent Irizarry.Pratt decimated this show; nothing was fixed when he left, just swept under the rug. So then they took all the broken shards of the show and shipped it to LA where it's just lying limp and weak. Sorry but Rylee cannot carry this show. If they could they wouldn't have to involve every other character in their storyline. They're killing it.What they did to Kendall today will make her feel ravaged with guilt and in no way did it respect the character or what she and Zach had.AMC has lost me as a viewer.

Quote:You're making alot of assumptions, and I don't think that's fair. None of us know what was offered or what TK wanted. We know that his family is on the east coast, but for the right money, or schedule, or amount of vacation time, or whatever, he might have commuted. In fact, the lovely Alicia Minshew said just that in Soap Opera Digest: she said he was happy going back and forth, and ABC was happy to have him go back and forth, for as long as they wanted him. My question is, what happened? Because if his leading lady and good friend said that in SOD, which sure sounds like he had a commuting/recurring deal with ABC, how did we go from that to soap death? I don't get it. Assumption, I read the interviews with him. Thought he clearly stated he would never consider doing that but I guess I am wrong.

At least this time when Zach died, Kendall didn't jump into bed with the nearest thing in pants. That has been how she deals with grief. This time she is actually grieving.

Quote:At least this time when Zach died, Kendall didn't jump into bed with the nearest thing in pants. That has been how she deals with grief. This time she is actually grieving. That's how the writers deal with grief. Not Kendall.

Quote:Assumption, I read the interviews with him. Thought he clearly stated he would never consider doing that but I guess I am wrong. TK said he'd never go back to OLTL in a May SID interview, and now he's said he'd go back to OLTL in the We Love Soaps interview. TK said soaps were not his thing, he'd never meant to make it his career in SID, but now he's saying that for the right story, he'd do a soap again.AM said in SOD that ABC wanted him back and he wanted to return to AMC, and yet that didn't happen. So something happened. And if he's willing to do a soap again, for the right story, who's to say he wouldn't return to AMC if a deal can be struck?