As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

Re Velekka/Lyla.

Was it Velekka who stated in an interview that there was a clash with Don Hastings and he wanted his wife Leslie for the part?

[DRW50]

Yes it was her.

If anyone wants to see more of 1980 I have a few - I don't want to post anything Paul Raven's posting or already posted, so just let me know.

[P.J.]

I gotta say, these write-ups read like bad fan fiction.

Re Dee and Ian's death---I have a dim memory of this, but Jackie Schultz's Dee was fragile and downtrodden. I couldn't tell you what made her that way---if there was a radical shift when Schultz was cast or the writing. Given the "Perils of Pauline" stories they wrote for Barbara, my guess that's the way they wrote their heroines. Rereading Dee's history, it seems she took up with Ian after being rejected by Beau Spencer, and probably still a virgin before Ian bedded her.

I remember it playing a little better on-screen...but what do I know, I was like 12. But, you gotta remember, it was 1980, and it was ATWT, and characters didn't really have one-night stands (or affairs with men probably 15 years older) the way soaps do/did without consequence. Good girls waited for marriage. Bad girls got "reputations"/V.D./pregnant. Look at Barbara's story---she had premaritial sex with James and gave Paul up for adoption.

[DRW50]

You should see the ones from the '70s. They get progressively more brisk as the years go by.

I know at this time ATWT was starting to address intimacy, which seems to have not been addressed in the bedroom romp type of way before 1978 or 1979. The Dobsons seemed to like to write about repressed lust and how it damages a psyche - Amanda had that story on GL. Reading it I get the implication that Dee was a "good" girl who paid a price for her moments of lust (the later one where she wanted Brad and mistakenly had sex with John, leading to the rape trial, and then this with Ian), and Melinda, who was naughty, pays with a brutal death. But it may not have happened that way onscreen.

I've seen so little of Dee - her screaming at John's murder trial (I can never remember if that was Schultz or Vicky Dawson), a few clips with James, and then that mid-1981 episode where both Annie and Dee seem so matronly compared to Lisa and Kim. I know Schultz was popular in the role, and had a lot of story until her last months (lack of story is one of the reasons she said she left). It's hard for me to know how to react to her. I guess this type of heroine was just par for the course. At least they handled her better than a lot of recent soap ingenues.

[DRW50]

April 1, 1980 recap.

[soapfan770]

What did people think of crazy wicked old Joyce pretending that she was dead? I believe that story was right before these synopses, and I understand it was ATWT's first back from the dead story I think.

How did you guys like Peter Reckell as Brad Hollister? I remember being totally shocked at seeing him in a 1981 episode because I had no idea had done anything before joining Days in '83.

Edited September 28, 2011 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

August 19, 1980 Digest recap.

[DRW50]

This is from the Sept 2 1980 Digest. This is the recap right before Paul Raven's.

[DRW50]

Feb 19 1980 Digest recap.

[DRW50]

March 11, 1980. Sorry, the first two pages of this are missing.

[DRW50]

Jan 8, 1980

[DRW50]

August 5, 1980 recap.

[Mitch]

Interesting reading these synopsis. You can see its an uneasy transition to the Dobson material and things seem a bit rushed...(people are "falling in love," and agreeing to marry quickly.) You can see the Dobson's repeating some themes (i.e. both Dee and Amanda being "frigid," ) and you can see the early hostility towards the Hughes family (Tom is brushed aside and leaves town, Nancy tells a little boy is "Aunt," pushed him mom down the stairs, and in what could have been interesting, Don shows an interest in going to the dark side..) Some of it could have been interesting, the Dee and John relationship, Don going to the dark side, but most of it didnt translate well. This is also an early example of misogony, as Lisa, Annie, Melinda and Dee are enthralled with the lumpy Brad, Brad is not interested in owing money to a "woman," (uh, you took it easy enough) and Lisa of all people falls for Brad's act and then apologizes for not trusting him later, even when it is proven that he was not being above board. The Dobson's material really wouldnt work until their second go around with Bunim as EP, but it still wasnt really ATWT until Marland comes aboard.

[DRW50]

I was interested in the part about Chris yelling at Lisa. It's so tough for me to picture Chris yelling at anyone.

It's also interesting to see how quickly they started to try to reposition Ellen's role, slowly at first. I wish someone had asked them about why they were willing to put her in a larger role when so many writers didn't make the effort.

Probably the parts that catch my eye most are with Joyce and then with James. I wonder if these stories were most popular with viewers at the time.

A lot of the people leaving in these synopses came and went so fast, but based on paper I can't say Doug, Marcia, Dana, etc. were very interesting. Do you remember them?

Sorry for them being out of order. I have a few others somewhere and will try to find later.

Edited September 28, 2011 by CarlD2

[Mitch]

Started really "watching," (as opposed to my mom having it on in the background so I knew who the people were) that summer, right around July of 1980 (that is why it seems these synopsis are a bit late, the August ones seem to be aired in June.) I think I actually started watching during Brad's party of all things, my first memories are of Melinda falling in the lake and dumb ass Brad being pushed aside by a little drunk girl, him falling on his head and being knocked out!. I remember Babs being chased through the museum by "Hans," I think and the Masqurade Ball, which I think was the first time that ATWT put on a big glamarous event.

Obviously James was popular..though I think it was more of Herrara's (whom my little high school fag self was seriously hot for) and Zenk's chemistry. He went from dream prince to villian in no time at all and it didnt make much sense. The Joyce/Grant/Lisa thing was fun, as it gave Lisa a chance to be a bitch again (this time for a reason) but made Grant look like a tool. It seems the Dobson were trying to turn Don into a villain, which would have made for good drama for the Hughes and kept Chris and Nancy in the game, and was actually a good move as Bob was the "good," brother. I dont know if it was a mandate from above to make the show younger and sexier, or if it was because the actor playing him just kind of came off as a douche, but that ended abruptly. They should have recast Don with someone sexier to give the show an older villian (remember James was supposed to be in his early 30s at the most, a practical teenager for ATWT at the time.) Would have been funny to pair him up with Nick's "back from the dead," evil wife Andrea when she comes to town later.

Odd that they sent Tom out of town at this time, I know it was to usher in the Deas recast, but JD was totally miscast (but popular) as Tom. I could seem him being a combo of staid Bob and live wire Lisa, but it just didnt jive with Tom's earlier portrayal..I just cant see him having a scene with Wagner in the Hughes kitchen (probably never did.) I remember my mom stopped watching at this time, she didnt like the way they pushed Nancy and Chris aside and some of the "new," people. I think it would have worked except for the fact of pushing the two tent poles out the way they did.