BABY LOVE: PART IIIn response to my Baby Love post below, several viewers responded with a passionate request for ATWT's Gwen and Will to have a baby of their own. And, they stressed, a biological baby of their own.
In a medium where some of the most emotionally intense (outside of Barbara Ryan) parent/child attachments have been between adoptive parent and child (ATWT's Lucinda and Lily -- and, more recently, Dusty and Johnny; GL's Alan and Phillip and, say what you will about the health of their relationship, the Jonathan/Alfred bond was pretty intense, too), where Rosanna literally went to hell (also known as James Stenbeck) and back to protect little Cabot, where Carly put her life in danger to save JJ, where Holden went head to head with Damian over Luke, and where Tom raised Adam and Hal raised Jennifer as their own for years, is biology really that important?
One of ATWT's earliest stories was Ellen Lowell fighting David and Betty Stewart for custody of her son, Dan, whom they'd adopted. The Stewarts won. On GL, Alan-Michael tried to court his new wife, Harley's, favor, by kidnapping her daughter, Daisy, from the little girl's adoptive parents. Harley was incensed and returned her. A few year's later, Vanessa fought Bridget for custody of Peter, the baby boy she'd adopted. In the end, the two women decided that Peter needed them both and agreed to raise him as co-parents.
Soaps have always valued the adoptive parent/child bond and frequently portray it as a positive experience. And yet, there is the common fan demand for a biological baby "of their own."
Why is that, do you think?
Let me know in the Comments section!
For me it boils down to what I saw on screen. Lily and Lucinda came on as an established parent/child relationship. We didn't see Lucinda suffer the loss of 2 babies like we have for Gwen. Dusty and his Johnny attachment rings false since he never bothered to go look for him after Lucy left. I don't know about Ellen or other shows cause I never saw those stories. With Will and Gwen we saw how overjoyed they were to be having the child they never thought they could have. This was the story I had been waiting over a year for. The writers gave it to us, but then they turned around and took it away. After seeing how happy Will and Gwen were with their miracle, I have my heart set on seeing them have a biological child of their own.
ReplyDeleteAs a Will & Gwen fan, it does matter. All I have ever wanted for the two of them is a miracle baby of their own since they lost Billy. When they found out they were finally getting the baby that they never thought possible, I was so happy for them. It was also a dream come true to me since I thought I was getting the story I wanted for them. I couldn't wait to see them with their very own baby. Then it was cruelly snatched away.
ReplyDeleteIf Gwen hadn't gotten pregnant, I would not minded seeing them adopt. But now that a biological baby was dangled in front of me, I will only accept them having a biological child and nothing else. All I can say is the writers better fix this mistake & give Will & Gwen another miracle biological baby. Adoption is not an option for this fan.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAdopting a child that’s in need of a good home is a wonderful thing. However, that doesn’t change the fact that I still want to see Will and Gwen have a child that is biologically theirs. One that is a blood relative to longtime cast members like grandparents Barbara and Hal, Aunt Kim, Aunt Carly, and Uncle Paul. I hated the Cabot story and I hated that the writers wrote a hysterectomy for Rosanna. Carly, Holden, Tom, and Hal raised/are raising other people’s children, but they also have biological children as well. Why can’t Will and Gwen have 2 kids, one adopted and one that Gwen gives birth to? Let Will and Gwen have their own baby now, and they can adopt another child later.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that really irks the heck out of me and makes me sad and angry is that Lilly has four kids and Carly has two of her own and Gwen is supposed to be one of the top female characters on the show right? SO wouldn't it make sense for her to have atleast one of her OWN offsprings for future stories- make it a miracle baby I don't care but please, please just do it. It's like the writers have forgotten how heart breaking it was when she lost Billy this is beyond cruel to the characters and they need to do major damage control and give us a Willen baby or a lot of long time viewers (myself included) might start forgetting to set a tape. It sounds harsh but I just HATE when writers use a baby's death as a dramatic episode I think a more dramatic structure would be if the baby was sick and needed something to survive and the baby LIVES in the end (you know living not dying writers) the roller coaster of emotions would be beautifully done by the two actors. I just don't understand the need for Gwen to be unhappy all the time you know there are other emotions writers like here's a shot in the dark- happiness. I just want 1 just one bio baby for Will and Gwen because it would so work for future stories come PLEASE I m like begging now seriously. While I m begging for things, can we loose the new Celia AKA: Sophie her character is boring and frankly so is the actress I m sorry just the way I feel...she needs to go give more airtime to Katie or Henry she just needs to go.
ReplyDeleteA
I agree with everyone that has posted so far. At this time, I only want to see Will and Gwen with a biological child of their own. After they have one of their own, they adopt as many as they want. I just want them to have one that biological child.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that most of the characters listed in the blog had biological kids in addition to their adopted ones. Two characters in particular jumped out at me: Holden and Carly. These two characters are part of supercouples on the show. Yet these two supercouples have biological children of their. Carly and Jack have Sage while Holden and Lily have three biological children together. So if the other popular couples on the show can have biological children, it is only fair that Will and Gwen get their own biological baby too. At this point, I want to Will and Gwen to find happiness by having a biological baby together. Nothing else will do for this viewer. I think that a lot of other viewers feel the same way since I am hearing that a lot of viewers are turning the show off since Baby Munson was killed. I encourage the show to fix this mistake by giving Will and Gwen a biological baby of their own.
Like one of the other bloggers mentioned, if they had never made Gwen pregnant then an adoption story or a surrogate story would have been ok. But now that I've had a taste of them as biological parents, that's what I want to see. I want to see Gwen going through all the stages of pregnancy and see the joy on Will and Gwen’s faces in the delivery room when their baby is born.
ReplyDeleteOk, I have a lot to say about all of this and it's hard to know where to start. But first and foremost, I do not like the implication that Will & Gwen fans are against adoption just because we want Will & Gwen to have a biological child. Like many others have already stated, had ATWT Never made Gwen get pregnant in the first place, we probably would have all happily accepted an adoption storyline. But for the writers to make Gwen get pregnant again and call this baby of theirs a "miracle baby" over and over again, and then kill it, was just plain cruel and sick! Why call it a miracle and then kill it? What kind of miracle is that? I never in my 20+ years of watching soaps recall seeing a couple given a miracle pregnancy that was then taken away. It's called giving the fans pay-off for a couple, which is something ATWT never seems to do apparently. Even Days of Our Lives, a show I'm not fond of, at least gives the popular couples on their show pay-off. All of their popular couples get to have at least one biological child. And it really galls me that Will & Gwen never get to be happy and all they ever get is one tragedy after another! Meanwhile, we have a headwriter who claims she wants them to be happy and then proceeds to kill their miracle child! So I think it's understandable that the Will & Gwen fans are angry. I think we have every right to be when we were given exactly the story we wanted, only to then promptly have the rug ripped out from under us! Again, if they had just done an adoption story to begin with, instead of giving us false hope with Gwen being miraculously pregnant, then the hurt, anger, and outrage over this story wouldn't be so great! It would be nice if this show could respect its loyal fans for once! And also, why did this very P&G blog contribute to our false hope by putting up that new photo of Will & Gwen on this very site to announce that they were expecting, and then saying something like, "here's a photo so we can see how pretty their baby will be and what names would you like for a girl or boy, etc...," when the show had always intended to kill their baby anyway. So what was the point of all that? I know, it was just some more false hope, so the fans could be even more devastated when it happened. This is not how a show that cares about their fans treats them!
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I also need to say something about the examples that were sited about all the characters and couples who have adopted. Like others have already pointed out, each and every one of these characters also have biological children in addition to the children they adopted. Carly, Jack, Holden, Tom, Hal, they all have children that are theirs biologically. And when it comes to the supercouples of the show, they all have at least one child that's theirs biologically as well in addition to the adopted ones. Tom & Margo had Casey, Hal & Barbara had Will, Jack & Carly had Sage, and Lily & Holden have actually had 3 children together, Faith, Natalie, and Ethan, in addition to Luke and Holden's other children with other women, and the list could go on. So your point isn't valid in regards to all these other characters and couples because they all got to have children of their own, unlike Will & Gwen are getting. Another difference and point I want to make is that in the case of a lot of these male characters, they adopted the biological child of the woman they were in love with so that makes the situation different as well. Tom adopted Adam because he was Margo's son and he loved her. Hal adopted Jennifer because she was Barbara's and he loved her, and the same with Holden adopting Luke, it was because he was Lily's son, the woman he loves. Now if they wanted to do that with Will & Gwen then they should of just let Gwen's other baby with Casey live, and then Will could of adopted and raised him as his own because he loves Gwen, which is exactly the story they did have until that baby was taken away from them too because Gwen's baby was really dead in the end of that story.
So now after they already lost that child, they get this second chance with Gwen pregnant again only to lose yet another baby! Like I said before, this is beyond cruel and sick! Why would we want to watch Gwen & Will lose another baby? And to see Gwen have to go through that physical pain again was pure torture. Why must she always be put through this agony? And I don't like how she's made to feel inferior because she can't carry a child either. Why couldn't the writers just let her be able to carry her own child? We wanted to see Gwen pregnant, not some girl we don't know or care about. We wanted Gwen & Will to have all the pregnancy moments together, and now just like they were robbed of it, the fans are being robbed of it too, again! So yeah, I'm angry and bitter and I know that some dumb second rate alternate adoption story with some girl who I don't care about, is not going to be good enough now. It will never measure up to the story and baby we could of and should of had, and we will always be wondering what could of been instead of the crap story we'll inevitably get now again instead. So yeah, someone else's baby isn't good enough now. It will only pale in comparison and just be a painful reminder of the baby they lost and should of had! So please ATWT just let Gwen & Will get pregnant again. If you want them to adopt too then fine, they can have two kids then. But I want to see Gwen pregnant again with her & Will's child or I won't be a happy fan either, nor will I be watching this show's definition of entertainment, because it's not mine!
Great post atwtfan12! I had totally forgotten that this very blog announced their miracle pregnancy by asking us for suggestions on names for the baby. I'm sure that the person who runs this blog knew at the time that this baby was never going to be born, so why on earth did you lead on us by asking our name suggestions for the baby? That was nothing but another cruel act from the show on the Willen fanbase. TPTB have slapped the Willen fanbase in the face with all the false hope that was given to us not only on the show but also on this blog. Yes I am bitter and anger. What can you expect when the story I had been wanting was taken away? Now I have been robbed of seeing them go through all the little pregnancy joys and seeing the joy on their faces the very first time that they held their very own baby. It will take a lot for the show to make up for killing off the Willen miracle baby. The only way is by giving me another bio Willen baby in return. No other baby is good enough for me at this time nor will it ever be until Willen gets a child of their very own.
ReplyDeleteHere's is my major major issue with Soap opera's in the first place. Baby deaths, miscarriages..happen way too much for my liking. That is a terrible terrible tragedy in the first place. I know its a soap and not real life, but I fast forward anytime this is occuring, so in the past 22 years I have done alot of fast forwarding!
ReplyDeleteSo when my favorite favorite couple Willen finally get some happiness! Then they the WRITERS! decide to throw us all under the bus and kill yet another poor baby!
Sick! I have really had it will ATWT anyway. Why make Gwen PG in the first place? Just to have her lose another baby?
I understand drama, but unless they get their act together, they are losing fans left and right. This years writing has been terrible! and its getting worse all the time. I have pretty much stopped watching. I couldnt watch Monday's epi since Gwen lost the baby!
Get a clue , read what your fans actually want!
Lisa...a very very dissapointed viewer.
I agree with the sentiment that Will and Gwen deserve some happiness. I don't doubt that if they did adopt a child they would love it as fiercly as any of the other couples. I'm just afraid of the possibility of them getting a baby, then having it taken away by the biological parents. Good drama, perhaps, but I just want them to catch a break.
ReplyDeleteIt's not fair to dangle the possibility of a Will and Gwen miracle baby only to rip it out of our hands. Where is the payoff for fans who have wanted them to have a biological child of their own? Why have them and their fans get excited for nothing? I honestly don't know how this can end well with Alison donating her egg. I sense more heartbreak for Will and Gwen and I don't see the justice in that. They've had enough of it to last a lifetime.
ReplyDelete