Quent

As The World Turns: The Good: - I loved Margaret Colin, and swore I'd stop watching when she left, but replacement Hilary Smith ended up being my favorite Margo Hughes. - Everyone knows Julianne Moore was fantastic as Frannie Hughes, but I also enjoyed Mary Ellen Stuart when she took over. Very natural acting style. - Scott Holroyd was perfect as Paul Ryan, combining all the hero qualities with all the conflicts of having The Devil as his father. The In-Between: - Kelley Menighan(?)-was very durable and long-lasting as Emily, and usually a good actress, but she lacked the natural sex appeal that Melanie Smith had. - Scott Holmes was a journeyman actor who made Tom Hughes a reliable member of Oakdale, but he didn't have the charisma that Gregg Marx had. - Graham Winton was also a good actor and better looking than Michael Morrison, but he had none of MM's fire and edginess. The Bad: - Susan Batten may have fit her role on OLTL, but she could not have been more miscast than as Connor. - If Hunt Block had chewed any more scenery , there would be no more sets at ATWT. The hammiest actor I've ever seen, he had NONE of Scott Bryce's finesse to go from Villain to Hero and everything in-between. - As cartoonish as Block was, at least he was still entertaining. Jon Lindstrom committed the cardinal sin of making Craig Montgomery boring. - And now, the Worst Of The Worst: Roger Howarth as Todd/Franco/Paul...because they're all the same. He basically has two acting styles..the blank stare, and the sputtering manic rant. How they could fire the wonderful Scott Holroyd and replace him with Howarth is beyond me.

Since the subject of Tom and Margo has been brought up, is there any consensus about who the best actor/actress for each character was? I started watching ATWT when Margaret Colin was on, and swore I'd never watch again when she left. I hated HBS when she started, but she ended up being my favorite Margo. As for Tom, I know Justin Deas is the Emmy-winner, but I think Gregg Marx made Tom his own in his short stint. Scott was nice, but boring.

I remember that the actor who played Julie Wendell's forgotten husband (Keith Pruitt) (ATWT) was involved in some kind of gay-bashing incident.

None of Conner's men really suited her. At least Patrick Tovatt was a good actor, but the age difference was creepy. The actor who played Mark Kasnoff was terrible, a real graduate of the "Lee Majors School of Acting". Although they danced around it, they never went with a Connor/Kirk pairing , which would have been great, especially in Lucinda's storyline orbit.

Wow, I had totally forgotten that Shannon's storyline on ATWT began with her living with John Dixon. I must have blocked that out, although they had a fun chemistry to them.

While I loved Kathryn Leigh Scott, I feel her version of the main victim/heroine was not as good as Alexandra Moltke. It has nothing to do with acting (I actually think KLS is a much better actress). AM just had that vulnerable quality that the camera just loved.

Whatever happened to David O'Brien? Was he ever in anything else besides The Doctors? Was he considered the lead male character on the show?

At what point can you find Edge Of Night episodes? My earliest memory of the show is when someone (Mike Karrs wife?) ran outside and was hit by a car. Then I remember a character named Orrin Hillyer who married someone who was a double for his late wife. But when I really started paying attention was when Nicole Travis appeared on the scene and the great Stephanie Martin Murder Mystery happened. I LOVED that storyline, but I guess all video traces of it are nowhere to be found?

Any ratings from the year 1970? I would think that Dark Shadows would still have been popular at that time.

Wow, I can't believe how many actors have had to use the old chestnut about not getting married because "they're married to their work."

This started me thinking...what ATWT recast best captured the spirit of their predecessor?

I know there was a memorial for Ben Hendrickson, but I've never heard anything about it. I was curious about who attended, what was said, who spoke, etc. Have there been any written pieces about the memorial?

Walters was so bland he faded into the woodwork. A hunk who was brought in for no other reason than to be a hunk. Maybe that's why they made the Taylor/Batten switch. Could anyone really believe that ART's Connor would be content with this airhead Kasnoff?

Every new writing team wants to create their "legacy family". Sometimes it works (The Snyders) and sometimes it doesn't (The Kasnoffs). The K's had several problems. One, there was no Matriarch or Patriarch figure. Two, it was built around por actors. I guess they were trying to duplicate building the family up from the hunk (Mike/Holden) involved with the heiress (Rosanna/Lily), but lightning didn't strike twice. And Sarah Kasnoff...don't even get me started.

I started watching ATWT at the end of the Margaret Colin era. I remember having a little crush on her, and vowed to stop watching when she left. I HATED HBS at first, but she soon won me over, and became my favorite Margo. The Margo/Tom/Barbara triangle was wonderful, partly because of the Smith/Marx chemistry, but also because Zenk and Smith played their rivalry with delicious venom. When Marx left, the chemistry between Margo and the new Tom (Holmes) was almost non-existant. I know we were supposed to want Margo and Tom back together, but I was rooting for Margo/Hal all the way, because their scenes were just so natural, not like the forced Margo/Tom scenes. When ED took over as Margo, she had more chemistry with Scott, but the T/M glory days had already passed. P.S. Never cared for Justin Deas' Tom. He epitomised the term "over-rated".