Quent

Wasn't the Rosanna/Mike story (and before that Rosanna/Hutch) an attempt to duplicate the success of Lily/Holden?

I never thought Lily and Holden would have any serious competition until Damian arrived.

Tad Channing was great. Didn't he suffer a particularly gruesome demise?

For me, it will always be Stephanie Martin on "The Edge Of Night". Her reign of terror was so overwhelming that when she was finally done in, you knew everyone in Monticello would have been justified to kill her.

The most ridiculous SORASing I ever saw was Bonnie McKechnie on ATWT.

On ATWT, did Steve Andropolous ever get out of that Greek jail?

The Colleen Zenk / Hillary Smith feud actually worked out well for ATWT. Barbara and Margo hated each other, and this probably carried over from their portrayers personal issues. Barbara/Margo scenes (as well as Barbara/Shannon scenes) were must-see-TV for me. Turning Barbara from perpetual victim to bitch was the best move ATWT ever did.

Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows murdered how many women, but became the show's lead hero?

And no mention of the ultimate matriarch, Earth Mother of 6 problematic kids.....Saint Emma Snyder of ATWT?

This may sound strange, since she wasn't a major player in Oakdale, but...Vienna Hyatt. I know she was just brought on as a limited-run Paris Hilton, but she ended up having a fun storyline with Henry Coleman, and was the only scene partner who could make Henry seem straight. I get that they wanted to pair Henry with Barbara, but they could have given Henry and Vienna some final scenes where they have a true break-up. Vienna's last scenes were with Chris Hughes in some laundry room, as I recall.

What ticks me off about Meg Ryan is how she can be so ungrateful, when she was given opportunities the average actress would kill for. As a complete newbie, she was made the center of ATWT for two years with (how should I put this) very limited acting skills. She could play cute and had a quirky style which made her popular with viewers, but that can fade over time. What worked in her favor was that unpredictable quality called chemistry, which she did have with Frank Runyeon (and that the better actress Lindsay Frost clearly did not). 

 

From what I've read, Marissa Tomei isn't much better in the gratitude department.

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.

Pelphrey was the worst. Oops, second worst...no one beats the awful Roger Howarth.

A small part of me thinks Goutman was good at maintaining "the look" of the show, since he was dealing with a dwindling budget. ATWT never got to the ultra-cheap production values that Wheeler's GL did. 

 

Everything else about him was terrible. He had more time to wrap up his show than any of the other canceled  soaps, and he wasted it all. Instead of giving the viewers a chance to honor and say goodbye to 50-plus year show, he kept introducing disposable characters and plots that no one cared about. Why not bring Martha Byrne back at the end, reunite Katie and Simon, have some temporary health scare for Emma Snyder to reunite all her brood, give Lisa a happy ending, bring back some veterans like Ellen, Penny, Shannon, maybe a scene of James sipping a drink on a tropical island, mumbling "I'll be back soon"...

I guess Lucinda on ATWT was the only holder of that name.

 

And it's safe to assume there was only one Barnabas, Quentin or Angelique on any soap?

My favorite baby switch was on ATWT. The show did a great job of creating an umbrella storyline involving a large part of the cast including Jennifer, Craig, Gwen, Emily, Carly, etc. Probably the only Jean P story I enjoyed.

Wasn't there talk about Roger Howarth and Marie Wilson (Meg, ATWT)? Also, Paul Anthony Stewart and another GL actor?

I wish I knew how to post videos. My choice would be from ATWT, when Kim Hughes learned of Bob's affair with Susan. Kathryn Hays knocked that scene out of the ballpark.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, for pure enjoyable camp, I'd love to see the scene from Dark Shadows where Barnabas "walls up" the Reverend Trask...alive!

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?