Link to Part 1 of the interview

Discuss.

Edited January 10, 201015 yr by Actor87

They're up to part four now.

I thought this was interesting.

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/01/don-hastings-wls-interview-part-three.html

We Love Soaps: And that is completely missing from the shows now, including WORLD TURNS. I think that was most obvious this past summer when your character was in the hospital, having surgery, and there was a very small circle of people that even came to see him.

Don Hastings: That story was aborted. There was to have been a long story about that.

We Love Soaps: Can you tell me what the story was originally intended to be about?

Don Hastings: It’s hard for me to tell you because what I was told by several people never happened. They lost interest in the dynamics of it. It was to have involved the whole Hughes family, but that’s all I can tell you. I really don’t know. It was never really fleshed out to me, other than it was to be a long story arc. And it just stopped. Maybe they get audience reaction that they weren’t interested. But I said to our producer, “Every two years Bob has a stroke, or a heart attack, or he falls down, or he’s poisoned.” There’s got to be more motivation for things to happen then something that dramatic, or trumped up.

As always, the Hughes family comes last with Goutman.

^^^and instead we got Audrey. *eyeroll*

We Love Soaps: And that is completely missing from the shows now, including WORLD TURNS. I think that was most obvious this past summer when your character was in the hospital, having surgery, and there was a very small circle of people that even came to see him.

Don Hastings: That story was aborted. There was to have been a long story about that

We Love Soaps: Can you tell me what the story was originally intended to be about?

Don Hastings: It’s hard for me to tell you because what I was told by several people never happened. They lost interest in the dynamics of it. It was to have involved the whole Hughes family, but that’s all I can tell you. I really don’t know. It was never really fleshed out to me, other than it was to be a long story arc. And it just stopped. Maybe they get audience reaction that they weren’t interested. But I said to our producer, “Every two years Bob has a stroke, or a heart attack, or he falls down, or he’s poisoned.” There’s got to be more motivation for things to happen then something that dramatic, or trumped up.

I think David Krietzman squashed all that. It's a shame cause it looked like the story would have been great to watch. Goutman still calls all the shots and he let this story go. That's the problem with this show. Awful stories are given to mediocre actors. We still have some mediocre actors getting storylines and running this show...ie....Liberty. After watching ATWT from last week I have come to realize that it's time for ATWT to close its doors. No one on this show cares for ATWT. Goutman lost steam long time ago. At this point I think all soaps should be canned. There is no more originality in soaps.

I like the Jack and Carly pairing but boy was the scenes with them last week so damn cheesy/bad. If this is all Goutman can come up with it's time to close the curtains on ATWT.

I wonder if it was replaced with the Mick stuff.

At one point Don Hastings says Irna fixed the story where Bob had impregnated both Jennifer and Kim. I thought Irna wrote that story, and got fired (for the last time) over it?

I wonder if it was replaced with the Mick stuff.

I want to like the Mick stuff cause of CZP but I don't know. I think ATWT could've had both the Hughes story and the Mick going on at the same time. We could have done without Juicy Janet and LiberHo.

I'll never understand the hard-on that TPTB seem to have for the Ciccone family. They're boring, useless, hypocritical, annoying characters. Great actresses, but verrrrry BLAH characters.

Part 5 (the final part) of the interview is up now.

I was very surprised to learn that the very 1st Bob Hughes was a 12 yr. old boy named Bobby Alford. (My last name---a very rare last name, BTW.) Very interesting!!

It's a shame that Mr. Hastings thinks his story was squashed because of fan reaction. To the contrary!! I think it was a wonderful story, rich with emotion and history (2 things fans love) that was harshly discarded.

It was also interesting to hear him say Les is totally anti-daytime. I'm sure most of us inferred that much from Moonves's scathing remarks about ATWT's cancellation, but it puts it into perspective to have such a distinguised, well-worked actor (such as DH) come right out and say it.

The only part of that story I saw some complain about was the Adam whitewashing, but I don't think that alone would have killed it. I still think that was a missed opportunity.

Les being anti-daytime isn't a big surprise. There used to be a lot of daytime/primetime crossovers which all ended a few years into his run, I believe.

At one point Don Hastings says Irna fixed the story where Bob had impregnated both Jennifer and Kim. I thought Irna wrote that story, and got fired (for the last time) over it?

I thought so, too. Remember, Irna wanted Bob to end up with Kim, not reunite w/ Jennifer. She also wanted Jim Lowell and Edith Hughes to end up together, too, and P&G squashed that.