ATWT: Hal Spoiler

[DruRocks]

I have hope.

[Chris B]

Barbara and Margo don't matter to the current headwriter, so I doubt this will go beyond a few episodes. It's a shame, the two best actresses on the show and they don't get storylines.

[winterguy125]

This is from TVguide, I think we should change the dates they give because they are wrong they should be Oct 20th for the phone call and Oct 23 for the Yo's part.

http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000047

As the World Turns Says Goodbye to Hal Munson

Back in July, we were deeply saddened by the news that daytime veteran Benjamin Hendrickson had committed suicide. The 55-year-old Daytime Emmy winner was beloved by soap-opera fans as Oakdale P.D. detective Hal Munson on CBS's As the World Turns. Hendrickson was last seen in the July 12 episode. At the time, the show's spokesperson told TVGuide.com that there were "no plans to recast" the role of Hal.

Since then, loyal World Turns viewers have been asking me what would become of the Hal character. Now, I finally have something to tell you.

In the Friday, October 13 episode, Hal's son Will (Jesse Lee Soffer) receives a heartbreaking telephone call. On Monday, October 16, we'll watch the rest of Oakdale learn that Hal was killed off-screen in the line of duty. Hal's loved ones celebrate (rather than just mourn) his life with a get-together at Yo's, a longtime local hangout.

"We all felt that we needed to give the character of Hal the respect he deserved," World Turns head writer Jean Passanante tells TVGuide.com. "It is a difficult situation. We have needed some time to let things settle. Ben had very close relationships with everybody at the show. The audience obviously adored him, too. Hal Munson, as played by Ben, was definitely a moral compass for Oakdale. We miss him."

[Ms. Walsh]

I'm sure that ATWT will write the death and the immediate aftermath really beautifully, but then 2 weeks later we'll be back to the same old BS.

Just look at how the show has handled Jennifer's death after only a few months.

[Chris B]

Ms. Queen Lucinda Walsh, you mean you didn't like the focus on her husband of ten minutes, Dusty Donovan?! And to think, they did a great thing by progressing Barbara from her cartoonish villian status, but we got nothing from it. I wish we could've seen her, Will and Paul grieve SERIOUSLY and not just for a little bit before running off to their own stories.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

This story needs to affect a lot of folks, and not something that is going to be a "two day" thing, where they are affected, then the next time, they are acting as if nothing has happened or changed.

Everyone should be affected by his death, however I want to see a lot of focus on:

Barabara/Will

Margo/Adam

Carly/Parker/Jack

and Emily

As much as I can't stand Emily, I know she truly loved Hal, and I really liked her more when she was with him.

[Ms. Walsh]

I think I knew the show was going to do a bad job w/ the aftermath when during the memorial ALL they did was show Dusty!! Including a montage of all those years they were together! (Oh wait...it was only 7 months!) It would have been nice to see other family members deal w/ her death...like those who had known her since the day she was born, as opposed to 1 or 2 years!

Even Will and Paul, who get loads of airtime, just returned to their boring storylines right after Jen died.

Obviously I have little faith in the aftermath of Hal's death. B/c wasn't Jennifer one of JP's favorite characters? And look how awful the continuity was for her death. Why would they even bother for a character that was hardly ever given storylines at all?

[kelly1142]

I'm still shocked at the fact that Barbara apparently hasn't been told her granddaughter died.

[Chris B]

You know, I had completely forgotten that Paul was Barbara's son! That happens a lot in Oakdale. I'm still wondering why Nancy is so attached to KATIE of all people!