ATWT Tribute Thread

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think there was a "fun", if not sometimes ridiculous element, to the Dobson's ATWT that the show tried to recapture years later and couldn't. They did help to comtemporize the show, as they did more successfully on GL.

I think Sheffer wanted to write the show in the style the Dobson's did, but he wasn't very good at that particular style.

[Mitch]

Totally agree. I did really like their last turn on ATWT, the Craig/Besty/Steve/Diana stuff, the Gunnar/Barabar/James/Dee (despite the terrible actres who played the second Dee) and James trying to gaslight Babs. The Spain stuff. Even Mr. Big. I didnt like the Whit McColl actor but understood what they were trying to do, as they actaully started to write Lisa as not some dingbat but an equal to her formniable husband, (and Echo of that SB couple I cant remember their names.)Of all times for Fulton to quit..they were actually creating a family around her and she was bitching about her air time. I think if they had actually put Nancy and Chris back and wrote for the Hughes it would have been very, very good. However, I was also in high school/college so maybe now I woudlnt be so enthusiastic.

I don't think Sheffer had the smarts to know who the Dobsons were or their style. I think he just looked down on soaps and wanted to treat it all like a joke..where the Dobsons, as much as I didnt like everything, were in on the joke, and if they didnt love ATWT, they loved soaps, so most of it worked.

Plus, Sheffer's misogoistic view points shown through, making the show unpleasant.

[DRW50]

So was ATWT thinking of pairing Cal and Barbara together right before Marland took over? They're not too bad, although making Barbara "bad" was probably the better choice. Cal is such an odd character, the actor also has somewhat strange mannerisms, although he's interesting. I guess he was sort of an attempt to be like what the ABC soaps were doing at this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xTdvjYqf1Y

[Mitch]

I remember they had Lisa mentoring him before Marland wrote him off, and I always wondered why they didnt just have Lisa and Cal having it off together. Then I read that Fulton asked them to have them sleep together, but they wouldnt go for it. However, when he died they dressed her in mourning and she said "Why, I didn't even get to have sex with him but now I have to wear mourning?"

Zenk looks almost the same. I forgot how much I hated Finn Carter's acting style and Sierra herself.

[DRW50]

That cracks me up -- Eileen said that? She always has such a sense of humor...I did think that Lisa's reaction to Cal's murder was OTT. Then again Lisa wasn't in a good place at the time.

I liked Finn but I think she grew into the role later on. Sierra was such a generic role. They even all but said as much in a promo after her marriage to Tonio was ending, bragging about how Sierra was now stronger. I guess she had to be, as within the space of a few months she was almost raped twice. I think there was a certain sincerity and calmness to her which worked, at least with the characters she knew. I thought Mary Beth Evans was good but again Sierra was not actually written for as a character.

Here's a bit on Eileen from an early 1980 Daytime TV.

[edgeofnight]

I'm all set and ready to go to this evening's Paley Center tribute to ATWT in NYC. I have a DVD to give to Don Hastings from the SECOND episode of 'The Edge of Night' on April 3, 1956. Both ATWT and EON had premiered the day before as the first two half-hour dramas. There is an even a plug for ATWT at the end of the episode. Don Hastings had just turned 22 years old two days earlier. Also in the cast is Mark Rydell...who went on to Daytime Superstardom as Jeff Baker on ATWT and is now an Academy Award winning director.

This really is my swan song for soaps are concerned, because when ATWT is done, that will be it for me. I'm 3 weeks younger than both shows, and I can not imagine my life without my friends in Oakdale.

[DRW50]

I'm glad you're going to get to see the show's legends and I'm sure Don Hastings will appreciate such a nice gift.

In some ways I feel ATWT left a long time ago but I'm still sorry to see the show end, and to see that classic P&G soap brand gone for good. P&G built shows with legions of loyal fans, shows with very unique identities which spoke to us about family, friendship, morality, yet also humor and warmth and eccentricity and being yourself. It's a shame that they chased many of those fans away to try to appeal to those who were never interested. Look where it got them.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I wonder if P&G will hold on to its PGP archives, or eventually sell it to another conglomerate. With their soaps done, and PGP not producing any new shows, there's essentially nothing left for PGP to do.

[DRW50]

They could make some money putting some of the episodes out on DVD or trying to sell them to a cable channel or an online deal where you pay for a subscription, but I will be surprised if that ever happens. I just hope they don't junk everything.

I thought it kind of said it all when last year P&G did an online mini-soap for one of their products, and hired...Cameron Mathison.

[Mitch]

That soap spoof that failed miserably..probably because the humourless Mathison came off like a psycho?

I think P & G don't give a fig about their soap library. They dont feel they could make any more money, but they sure as hell wont give up any of their control over them.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Question, but did anyone notice a change in the show when Robert Calhoun went over to GL, and Laurence Caso succeeded him as EP in 1989?

I know the writing under Marland remained mostly consistent, but were their any noticeable changes to anyone with the switch in Executive Producer's?

[Mitch]

I remember loosing interest in the show, and moving my "loyalty," over to GL at that time. I don't think I ever really got back much into ATWT after that time. I think Marland wasnt as consistent introducing a string of misc. characters not connected to the core and some really boring stuff, like "Aunt Mary's Coffeehouse," etc.

[DRW50]

This isn't oncamera but Hillary Smith did suggest in her WLS interview that she preferred Calhoun, as Caso wouldn't let her have the flexible schedule she wanted.

[Soapsuds]

Not sure if I posted this one already

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[Soapsuds]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DryNVXhlVg&feature=related

Two clips of the Ruxton Hills Story

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