Paul Raven

Before Gwyn Gillis was cast, Judith was approached but they couldn't agree on contract negotiations. Although I'm sure Judith would have been open to an occasional return in the 80's.

I wonder if they will tweak anything in the interim?

Nate's return to surgery just seems like filler. Probably because it is. and like most if the stories it's a focus for a few days of conversation. Now if things were different we would have had an event that made Nate rethink his walking away from medicine. Maybe someone close has a medical emergency and it brings home to Nate that once upon a time he would have been in a postion to save them. Of course Olivia should have been a part of Nate's story, Instead of bringing back Amy or Stephanie, Olivia should have been recast as a recurring character. Tonya does not want to come back and I think the audience would accept a good recast. They could have examined Olivia's disappointment that Nate turned away from medicine and his feelings that she perhaps had too strong expectations etc. Then when the chance comes for Nate to have the surgery, we meet the surgeon who offers say a 50/50 chance of recovery. Nate wrestles as to whether he wants to go down that path. In other words , tell the beats of the story instead of a few conversations and stuff happening offscreen. Hopefully Jamey and Dan will be smart enough to realize this is a quick fix to the storytelling style. Similarly with Mariah who has had years of offscreen limited stories. We never even got to see Mariah/Tessa and the baby have a reunion scene. It's hard to get invested when we only hear about stuff. Cane and Lily talked endlessly about their kids and we never saw them.

Kat is interesting in that she had two high achieving, career oriented parents in Ted and Nicole and a brother who is a politician, so she is the odd one out. Has this ever been addressed? You would think her parents would have had high expectations for her, but everyone seems happy for her to parade around town in her little outfits and not really have a conventional career. I know this can happen in these sorts of families, where there is one child who goes against the grain, but I wonder if this has ever been explained as to why she chose this path and why her parents seem happy about it.

The Soderbergs had two successful stints at ATWT and GL but P&G didn't use them again. Soderberg worked at AW in the early 80's but his stint didn't make much of an impression. Looks like Mrs Soderberg (Edith Sommer) wasn't interested in continuing? Maybe if they had have gone to SFT after ATWT in the early 80's, it might have helped that show. Richmond County Daily Journal, Rockingham, N. C. Tues Aug. 10,1976, Not All 'Soap' Writers Tormented New Yorkers By JAY SHARBUTT AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Most soap operas are taped in New York, and their characters and plots have much grief and woe, It must mean all their writers are tormented New Yorkers, reflecting the travails of Fun City. Guess again. Case in point: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Soderberg, head writers on CBS' "As the World Turns." They say they're quite happy. They should be. Their show is taped in New York, but they cook up its daily diet of angst from 2,800 miles away, working at their home in the pleasant, unhurried coastal city of Santa Barbara, Calif. Soderberg only laughed when a caller suggested it must be awful hard in all that tranquility for him and the Mrs. to compose daily difficulties acted out in the frenetic, nervous hamlet of New York. "No, there's an advantage to it," he said. "We're more out in the world than you are if you're in the world where they make the show. "Very often, we'll say (to the show's, East Coast end), 'Please look out the window and see what the rest of the world is doing.' Sometimes there are little everyday things you don't see or do in New York." And, he said, the community In which he and his wife live "pretty much reflects everyday stories" of the sort going round and round on "As the World Turns," a show they've been lead writers on for three years. The Soderbergs have been writing for 30 years, and married for 28 years, but they only began writing soaps together eight years ago when they started as a team on "Guiding Light." How do they put together their New York shows from California? Soderberg says it works this way: They create what they call "the longterm story," which charts the course of the plots, subplots, stars and lesser players tor as much as a year in advance. Then they outline every act in each show, writing a detailed daily outline concerning what the day's plot and characters are up to, occasionally tossing in suggested lines of dialogue. As the show became an hourlong opus last December, this works out to seven acts per show, 35 acts a week, 52 weeks a year. Were the Soderbergs the only writers, this might cause a buzzing in the brainpan. But they have help, two other writing teams and Gillian Spencer, a scrivener who once acted in the very show for which she now writes. They work on the actual shooting scripts of each day's show. They're sent various plot outlines by the Soderbergs and write the scenes and dialogue. Then they send the scripts back to the Soderberg works in Santa Barbara for editing. Then, Soderberg says, each script is dispatched to New York. He expressed amazement at how it all works out there when the shooting starts, "I don't know how they do an hour show each day." But he didn't find it strange that he and his wife write in Santa Barbara for a series taped in New York. He cited several other soap opera writers around the country who also work that way. A check with CBS disclosed there's even one head writer, Bill Bell of Chicago, who doesn't have to get his scripts to New York for taping. Of course, this may be because his show, "The Young and the Restless." is taped in a place called Hollywood.

Yes, killing off Ann, member of a core family seemed harsh. It's not like Paul moved on to any great romance. He was written off a few years later. They could have sent them out of town. But soaps do like an unexpected death every so often for added drama. Of all the Tylers and Martins only Ann and Phil got killed off. At least Linc, Tara, Jeff, Amy and Chuck lived on offscreen.

I guess Christina must have been referring to some jokes they were making in rehearsal.

That demo success is important for BTG survival.

Iris donating her eyes?? WTF??

Coming after Wesley Eure's long run. Paul Coufos seemed totally unsuitable as Mike Horton. Nothing in the writing or his onscreen presence was that interesting. I think he was mainly involved with Trish? Or were there any other love interests for him? It's odd that during Days restructure towards a younger cast both David and Mike were written off. At least Mike returned throughout the years, whereas David was completely ignored.

I'm not convinced by Smitty ace reporter who keeps getting the scoops on major happenings. Now he's uncovering sweatshops operated by major labels. All by his lonesome. The Bill/Hayley story had all the makings of a classic suspense tale and they've repeatedly fumbled it.

When Jack and Diane announced their trip, I thought the actors were getting an offscreen break, but no, the footage of Tahiti appeared. Fade to a tiny hotel room that looked suspiciously like the NY room in the Holden/Claire trip. And then we're expected to believe that Diane booked this. I'm no millionaire but I've stayed in better accommodation. Some claptrap about it not being the right room. God, this show is so cheap. No way should those charcters be in that set. Why did they had to have the bed filling up the room? At least use that space as a sitting room with some doors suggesting the bedroom. Jack & Diane could have snuggled up on a sofa for the robe convo. And a terrace might have helped. Anyway the whole thing was filler, needlessly reminding us of Diane's awful BFTD story. Maybe be better to be more vague eg "When I came back into your lives".. etc. The set decoration is pretty awful overall. Billy's house an exception as is the Tackhouse (although not suitable for billionaire Victoria) The GCAC is fine overall, although those cushions on the sofa and chairs have to go. But Lily's penthouse with the tiny 2 seater sofa and cheap artwork and knick knacks. The dated CL and Sharon's unchanged cottage. Society is overly busy with so many colors and clashing patterns, different surfaces. The Abbott redo was horrible and the revived ranch is too gloomy.

@Aback Interesting perspective. I have to agree about Nicole. I really liked her in the earlier episodes and thought she was going to be someone special-a wise, poised and confident woman. But after the break up and the 'menage a trois' she lost some of that and became more generic - basically having her life revolve around courting two men. I get what they were going for-Nicole rediscovering herself -but it just didn't come off for me.

Yes that mention of Margie being Peter's wife and committing suicide? Seems unlikely. There was possibly some C story going on for that character that wasn't worthy of inclusion in these summaries. We would have to see the daily scripts to get a true picture. Would be interested to know more about Dusty and Tyler. And Flip Malone was brought back years later to almost kill Mike. A rare case of referring to a past story.

In the words of RuPaul-"Don't read the comments." If I read one more time of some celebrity being hurt by some anonymous nobody's postings....