ATWT Tribute Thread

[Soapsuds]

Thanks!!

I found a pic of her

[Franky]

How soon after Doug Cumming's murder mustery did Tad Channing show up? Marland loved him some "whodunnit," but none ever seemed to live up to Doug Cummings. (This is coming from someone who only knows pre-Passanante ATWT thanks to YouTube).

[Paul Raven]

Murder: Necessitated(from Time magazine August 1962)

When Jeff Baker turned up on TV six years ago, he was a puny, pampered high-school kid. But burning love soon made a man of him, standing trial for murder sobered him, marriage gave him strength, annulment brought him misery, alcoholism aged him, and—all the while —pericarditis, the dread killer disease, haunted him. Thanks to such experiences, Jeff aged 15 years in just six, growing up to become groovy, talented Jeff Baker, 33, pianist, composer, company president, and the worshiped mate of Penny, his no nonsense wife. Small wonder that Jeff became the most important figure in As the World Turns, the biggest show on daytime television.

But while Jeff manfully suffered catastrophe on camera, Mark Rydell, the actor who plays him, winced at success backstage. Held to the show by salary and sentiment ($50.000 and 5,000 fan letters a year). Rydell pined for Hollywood, where offers to direct television taunted him. Worse, he bolted from the program for two weeks at a time to take on summer-stock roles, forcing the show's agonized writers to send Jeff out of town on a business trip or—"I got it!"—out to Hollywood for a recording date. To the show's producers, Mark Rydell had become a problem that needed to be solved.

So had Jeff. After weathering so much misfortune, he and Penny had become distressingly stable.

Last week the producers found a solution to both problems. Into the script they had the show's writers insert a scene in which Jeff's life is unceremoniously snuffed out—and with it Rydell's career in As the World Turns. This week Jeff is scheduled to die in an automobile accident, thrown from the wreckage of his car out onto the rainy highway. Said the show's producer, smiling over Jeff's lifeless form: "A loved one passes—it's good for the story."

[Soapsuds]

You know I never really noticed. Another whodunnit was the Neal Alcott murder. I thought that one was nicely done. The Carolyn Crawford murder had its good spots but some bad spots too cause Marland was torn on whether or not to make Daryl Crawford the killer. At the last moment he changed his mind and didnt make Daryl the killer.

[DRW50]

Tad Channing showed a few months after Doug was murdered.

I think the Marland murder mystery stories worked because they were about the affect on the people in Oakdale. They had consequences and resonance. That mattered more to me than a big shocking twist or shocking killer -- we saw how well that worked with the Stuart "mystery" on AMC this year.

[Mitch]

Tad Channing did indeed show up a few months after Doug Cummings....that You Tube clip shows him taunting Betsy at the opening of the Mona Lisa(which was previously Caroline's Doug's restaraunt, by the by, who told Fulton that red hair worked for her???)which was the night Kim was arrested for Dougie's murder (remember the old days where big things happened and the entire cast was there to witness it????) I liked his murder mystery, besides the fact that a nobody did it (the genius of DC was that they built him up to be the typical Marland hero, perfect, clean, polite and deferring to his woman, an accepted part of the Hughes family, and then bam, he is a killer) as Marland did know the secret of a murder mystery, it wasnt who dunnit, but what is revealed about the characters who are invovled...how does that affect their relationships (i.e. Iva and Lucinda teaming up to keep Lily in the dark and "safe,") I thought the who killed Phillip story on GL had that potential, as it effected the whole town, every character and family, but the small minds of TPTB kept the focus on the perils of Gush and the poor widdle Cooper family. Plus, Ted had a really, really bad ending and a cool reveal of his body (his arm sticking out of the cement.) Caroline Cummings failed as it was removed from the rest of the community. The only ones who were involved were Franny and Daryl and by extension the Hughes family. The rest of the town, not so much, so it was boring and it went on and on and on...

The hot men on ATWT during Marland's tenure...well, its kind of a matter of taste. I never thought the Snyder boys were all that(besides the fact I though Seth was cute and I could see why people would think Holden was HAWWWT) But he kind of steered clear of men who had any overt male aggressive sexuality. I always felt that his men were so neutered. Holden had it at first but then he fell in LURVE with Lily and became a puss, Duncan was kind of close but then Shannon made him a !@#$%^&*] too. It seems that Marland had three types of men, villians, aggressive businessmen who are cold because they dont know love, and !@#$%^&*] men after they find love.On GL Ross was a prime example of that, a ladies man who was a bit shady, he gave it all up for the love of all women, Carrie (who wasnt exactly a vixen) I remember long scenes of other characters commenting on the change in Ross, how he started to eat health food and they actually had a scene of him in a bad velor track suit, (as they took up "jogging!")But then, I would have gotten rid of Scott Defrietas and Kovatt, two of the most troll like teens on soaps.

I think a prime example of Marland's weird casting is for the Courtney character. She was supposed to be this top model (cause you know, many short stumping, okay looking girls from small midwestenr towns become super models overnight, all without leaving their small town) but we saw otherwise. But we were subjected to scenes of photographers exclaiming over the great beauty, etc!

[Franky]

Speaking of supermodels making careers in small, Midwestern Oakdale, was there ever a specific reason given for why Lucinda hung around? I think I read that she originally came to town because of her husband, Whit McColl. I'm just wondering why she chose to stay for so long.

[Mitch]

Lucinda wasn't married to Whit, Lisa was. Whit took over her husband's business and he shot himself..which was the original reason she came to town to take over his company, which she did, for revenge. The companies headquaters were in Oakdale so she stayed. However, Marland rewrote it that he shot himself because of the Lily adoption thing (or that he would be stuck with the whiney ass bitch for the rest of his life) so I may have missed something.

[Soapsuds]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=RDIiJ7rHHu8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQpGhf65MW4

[Soapsuds]

I loved Doug Wert as Scott Eldridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-upqiayDLg

[Paul Raven]

Scott was a character that definitely should have returned,rather than having Craig monopolising the show.

[DRW50]

I loved Neal! I was so upset when they killed her off. The show was starting to go through so many depressing changes then. At the time I didn't know what went on behind the scenes but I could still feel the change.

[Mitch]

Forgot about him, he was smoking hot...why did they write him out..and yes, why didnt they bring him back???

[DRW50]

I thought Caso and Culliton brought him in and then Valente/Black and Stern wrote him out.

All I remember Wert doing for his whole tenure was smirking. They never showed him around his family, they just had him scheme with Carly and manipulate Rosanna. Same scene over and over and over.

[Soapsuds]

I think that was the problem and fans were use to and in love with Joseph Breen's version of Scott. Wert's Scott was totally different from Breen's version and as you said....he didnt interact with Lisa..and was always with Carly and Rosanna. I hear he was let go because he didnt click with the fans. I personally loved him as Scott even though he was totally different from Breen.