As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

I love smooth in control Babs..I hated that they made her a freak show under Shaffer (a couple months yes, but after that they just forgot who she was.)

The show was starting to loose its way at this point. Marland kept trying to have a Lily and Holden redux and kept bringing in young hunks and willy girls and bad vixens...not to mention all the Cals, Connor and her gay brother, ...the show just started to get more and more away from the core that Marland wisely wittled it down to. No wonder the succeeding writers had problems. They probabaly were told to not axe Marlands characters but there was no way for anyone else to write them.

[DRW50]

I loved Barbara in her non-crazy days, I just think that the whole thing with being apart from Hal, dating slimy Gavin, and having a child with Darryl was kind of confusing. I guess Ben Hendrickson was gone again at this time, but I would have had Barbara alone or have her in a hot fling with a surprise guy. Gavin was just a bore and a creep, and I think CZ even said in an interview in those years that she thought the story dumbed Barbara down.

You have a good point about the Marland characters - I know SOD, in the first year or two after his death, kept saying "pare the cast down," and were very happy when the show did so. I think most of the people who were left at the end of Marland's run, the major characters anyway, still had potential - I just would have dumped Caleb, Hutch, Debbie, Rosanna.

[ekm]

How long was Lisa Brown on after Marland's death? I remember it seemed like they got rid of Anne Sward almost immediately.

[DRW50]

Welcome!

Lisa was put on recurring at the end of 1993 and written out in early 1994, so she was on for less than a year.

Lyla was on for a few months less than Lisa - she left in October or November 1993.

I always thought it was a mistake to get rid of Lyla.

[Mitch]

Really, what the hell could you do with Lyla? I thought Marland and co. were extremely generous in keeping her on when they took over, as she lost all potential except to listen to Margo and Craig. Sward always looked too young and was so dull. Never mind that I hated her singing and the whole ridiculous "Lyla is a singing sensation going across the country with a hit album and sequin pant suits," thing. I remember that really dumb scene of I think it was Casey's batch party with all the stiffs of Oakdale standing around in suit and ties, (at a bachelor party no less) missing their wives (at a bachelor party no less) and then Lyla's bad song comes on the radio (at a bachelor party no less) and they all call their wives to join them (at a bachelor parthy no less!)

That scene was Marland in a nutshell, so totally cut off and living in his own gay waspy bubble.

[DRW50]

Marland managed to keep giving her small stories even when Casey was gone (like the relationship with Cal, and the Native American land rights story which Anne Sward pitched to him), but even if she had no stories, I think she served an important purpose as a talk-to. Margo aged very quickly and became increasingly shrill and unpleasant without Lyla around. Lyla's days of stories may have been over, but I would have kept her on recurring to visit with Margo and Craig. They also could have used her in that later Katie intro mess.

[Khan]

Why? As it was, Katie's intro made Lyla look like the worst mother w/ the crazy suggestion that she was too busy entering her daughter into beauty contests to be a real mom.

[ekm]

I really liked Lyla, the character was never the most interesting, but I always felt soaps needed characters in that mold to ground them a bit. And as good as I thought Anne Sward was I do think she was too young for the role, I always had a very hard time buying Lyla as a contemporary of John, Bob, and Kim, and I remember Margo constantly referring to her as "Mama" during their scenes which I always suspected had something to do with them looking more like sisters age wise.

I loved the Marland years in general though, and I never really enjoyed any of the characters brought in after that (except Maybe Damian), I still watched sporadically for Susan, Lucinda, Kirk and John though.

[RogerNewcomb]

Next DVD out today http://www.welovesoaps.net/2012/03/lilden.html

Some new characters worked in this time and other stories come into play.

[DRW50]

Thank you for keeping us informed. I'm glad you included some 80's stuff. I wasn't thinking that it would be tough as I'm not sure there would be a fan demand for Heather or Noelle Lily (I did like Heather though - Noelle was OK, just no chemistry with Jon Hensley, and miscast).

I want to get the Philip GL DVD but was waiting for another to see about the two being combined, so I may get this.

[RogerNewcomb]

Was going to include the Heather Rattray wedding but that was an example of Lyla singing a pop song in the middle of an episode and rather than cutting out a chunk of the episode, I picked something else.

[Chris B]

It's such a shame that wedding couldn't be included because it was very beautiful from the pictures and clips I've seen! I wouldn't have minded an episode with Heather Rattray. She seemed like a good fit in the role. I wouldn't have been completely crushed if Noelle Beck was on it either, but I wouldn't have watched that episode most likely lol.

So far I'm loving the Carjack collection, although I'm only 3 episodes in. I have mixed feelings about the Reva set, but that's for the GL thread.

[RogerNewcomb]

Heather was a stone cold Lily that was jarring for me personally but some liked it. A number of people mentioned that wedding so I was hoping to include it. I love Noelle Beck as a beautiful human being but in terms of making the 10 episodes on the DVD tell a story, her Lily was all over the map. Seeing Lily suddenly sleeping with a 20 year old Mike Kasnoff made no sense. Thinking back, her Lily sure did a lot in 2 years time.

I was glad to finally work in a good Terry Lester episode and a good Tom Eplin episode for fans who have been wanting that. The first two have a lot of Doug Cummings, we see young Scott DeFreitas and Andy Kavovit on the 1987 summer episode, they go on location for Holden and Emily's wedding (I love Melanie Smith) and there's lots of cool things included in each in addition to the Lily and Holden romance.

[greens_dupres]

Amazed and excited how quickly these are coming out! 2 ATWT sets and the Phillip Spaulding all in one March- makes me excited for April!! Also I loved Tom Eplin on ATWT- never saw AW but I really enjoyed Jake/Molly and his friendships with Lucinda and Isaac so I'm very excited to see this one.

[DRW50]

Oh that's right, Lyla sang "Forever Young."

Heather was the first Lily I remember, and I thought she did a good job showing the coldness of Lily with heart and vulnerability underneath - her last few months had many good performances. I can see why she wasn't a fan favorite...Martha Byrne's melodramatic Lily just didn't ever do a lot for me.