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".

I thought the first year of Lily/Rose was excellent. Martha richly deserved that Emmy for creating two distinct characters, without the old fallback of one being good , the other evil. MB's best work was as Rose pretending to be Lily. Her observations about Lily's life were prriceless. I remember when she met Abigail, thinking to herself..."Wait a minute, I know I'm not old enough to be HER mother". I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of year one of the twins. The problem was that after everything was sorted out, Rose should have moved on. While Year One gave Martha a chance to play the equally troubling trevails of both ladies, Year Two made Lily drab and uninteresting to contrast with the colorful Rose (Remember how Lily dressed in nothing but brown colors constantly?) Also, pairing her with Paul was a mistake. Scott Holroyd was my favorite Paul Ryan, but he seemed way too young for Rose.

Although the clips above happened WAY before, whenever I see Susan, Emily and Alison together, I think of when poor Mama Stewart learned that her two daughters were a prostitute and a meth-addict porn star. Happy Mothers Day, Susan!

I saw the recent comments about Frank Runyeon. Boy, I hadn't thought about him in years, until I got the recently released DVD. I have mixed feelings on FR. On the one hand, I can see what a ham he was in his prime. "Angry Steve" and "Romantic Steve" chewed scenery like nobody's business. But maybe that's what the show needed at the time. I know the Steve/Betsy/Craig triangle was what first lured me into watching the show. It was a solid two years of an adventure ride , and I loved it at the time. The Marland Era had many casualties among ATWT vets who were there before Doug arrived, and FR was chief among them. I don't know if this was deliberate planning on the part of Marland, or if he saw that Runyeon and Betsy-replacement Lindsay Frost had no spark, and just decided to cut his losses. On a side-note, thanks for posting the "Return Of Shannon" clips. Although the follow-up storyline was poor, the initial appearance of Shannon was one of the last times ATWT COMPLETELY surprised me. I was floored when she appeared at that police station . Margaret Reed was the only soap star I ever sent a fa letter to (to which she graciously replied), so I was thrilled to see her back.

juppiter, I have to agree with John. Kiberd was pretty god as a temporary Hal, but Mantooth was just awful. I've like RM in many other roles, but he just made Hal as boring as possible. There was another guy who filled in for BH twice who was very good, but I can't remember his name. Then again, no one could REALLY replace Ben Hendrickson.

Well for worn-out ATWT phrases , the record had to be held by either "the truth about Adam", when his paternity was hidden, or "the search for Sierra" when she was missing in the wilds of Montega.

Just curious if anyone has seen the reunion DVDs of Dark Shadows. I saw the 30th and 35th reunions, and they're fun to watch. Alexandra Moltke only appeared at one of these get-togethers, and the years haven't really been kind. Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott, however, seem to have found the fountain of youth. The stories the cast tells are very funny, and everyone seems to agree that Jonathan Frid NEVER could get his lines straight.

I loved that first year of the dual roles, where Martha truly earned her Emmy. Watching Rose play Lily was fun, as Rose tried to digest the details of the Princess' life. I remember her running into Abigail, thinking to herself "Okay, I KNOW I'm not old enough to have a daughter that age!" My favorite scene was when Holden learned the woman he was sleeping with was not Lily. Rose reverted back to her Jersey ways, and a disgusted Holden screamed at her "Is that REALLY what you sound like?" It's funny how some dual roles can be tremendous (ATWT's Lily/Rose, Frannie/Sabrina, AMC's Adam/Stuart) and some are just dreadful (B&B's Amber/April, AW's Rachel/Justine. ATWT's Gwen/Cleo).

Does anyone know if it's possible to view or purchase the pilot for "Loving"? The pilot was given a prime-time slot, and had guest stars Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Fitzgerald. I'm most interested in the actor John Shearin , who played Roger. Any info appreciated!

Although no one could fill the shoes of Ben Hendrickson as Hal Munson, I thought one of his replacements was good (James Kiberd) and one was terrible (Randy Mantooth).

So Karl Giralmo tested for the role of Luke before then playing the object of Luke's affections? Wow, I think I would have liked to see that. He would have brought a less stereotypical vibe to the role, and he was a major hunk. I can definitely see Philip Brown as Clint Buchanan, but no way could he play Ben Warren. By the way, in all those commercials he's currently in, he doesn't seem to have aged one bit. BERT CONVY as BARNABAS COLLINS? You have to be pulling our legs on that one!