As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[slick jones]

Their best scenes were in the abortion storyline.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks for clarifying!!

[P.J.]

ICAM!! As talented as DM was, I think he could write things into the ground. Poor Iva always got sand kicked in her face. Sometimes I wonder if he purposefully kept Iva tragic, to keep her separate from Nola, who he'd also written.

But Kirk/Iva were my favorite couple. Damn I wish I'd kept my videocassettes of them.

[Soapsuds]

I didnt care for Ellie I dont know if it was the actress that made me not like her. Renee was just a blah actress. I preferred Jennifer Ashe and Lisa Brown over here. My favorite Snyder was Iva and Meg followed by Holden. I didnt care for Caleb until Graham Winton portrayed him. I am probably the only one that liked him in the role. Steve Basset as Seth was a bore.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Soapsuds

[DRW50]

What I liked about Ellie and Seth was I thought they were believable as part of the family. Seth the guarded, protective big brother. Ellie as the sensible but offcenter girl who left the family as soon as she could.

I do think that all the interrelationships were a bad idea (especially things like Caleb/Lily) and made the family seem trashy.

I feel like Marland offloaded certain aspects of his personality onto characters. Lisa Brown got a lot of the quirky stuff on GL. Margaret Reed got it on ATWT. I think he initially wrote Iva as tragic to show Lisa Brown's abilities as an actress (making Iva the anti-Nola), but then as time passed he kept her that way because she could help push his ideas about therapy and about overcoming sexual abuse. And then he started using her misery as a reason to facilitate story (and I must say, using her to push the Aaron story was a damn good idea - IMO far better than the way he handled things like her long lost family).

[DRW50]

12/16/86. I don't think anyone else has uploaded this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8eHs7aeHo

[DRW50]

Hadn't seen this before either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E8znG-0h24

I love Kim's hat and coat here. She wasn't allowed to be stylish very often. This reminds me of Barbara.

I also like the music cue when Betsy is looking in the courtroom.

Edited April 18, 2014 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks for posting, DRW50. Thoroughly enjoyable!

I'd love to see that confrontation between Steve and Tonio--that must have been a doozie!

Speaking of music, the music is much subtler in the '86 scenes while, although poignant & effective, in the '84 scenes, the music is competing with the dialogue between some characters and nearly threatens to overtake it.

In some ways, those scenes with Steve would have had more resonance today after the '07-'11 global financial and housing crisis, even though it might have initially made Steve look extreme back then. But during the housing crisis, I've read stories of people, threatened with foreclosure, barricaded themselves in their houses. Was Steve going to burn down Ruxton Hills? Well, Steve wait a year and someone else will do it for you...

LOL@ Lucinda griping that one cannot eat in any decent restaurant without putting $ in Lisa's hands. Even the mighty Lucinda has to (grudgingly) admire Lisa's entrepreneurial wherewithal.

As much as Craig and Sierra were my favorite couple, I kinda like the way she's putting both Craig, as well as Tonio, at a distance in these scenes, asserting her independence. Had Finn Carter stayed, I think Sierra would've been a thoroughly modern heroine. Loving and vulnerable yet fiery and even somewhat combative.

Oh Steve :/

[Mitch]

God I hated Steve and the actor's serial killer popping eyes and flaring nose. I love Lucinda but It kinda gross seeing hot James getting all horny with Lucinda. I hate seeing Lucinda used. I wish they had just kept them as mutually wicked business people getting off on each other's wickedness then lovers. Though you have to love the old "James evil scheme," monoloque from him to let us know what he is up to. James looks much better in his black turtleneck then those bad beige sports coats with the patched sleaves he had to wear during the Dobsons.

Wussy love lorn Craig is boring. I know no one agrees but I like Hunt Block's sleaze boy even better then this.

[DramatistDreamer]

You're right, Mitch...I'm not going to agree with you on the Hunt Block comment, who I thought had zero sex appeal. In fact, I would have just left the character of Craig stay gone and make Block and/or Jon Lindstrom (whom I preferred to Block) a totally different character, like Barbara's brother, who was basically a blank slate in those '86 episodes. It even looks as though he was intrigued by Emily so I would have brought him on to get in between Paul and Emily and irritate Barbara to no end.

Steve was over the top but the director should have reeled him in. You can tell the difference between the Steve in turmoil in '84 and the Steve in turmoil in '86--he is very OTT in terms of his mannerisms and his tics. The story itself was truly a Greek (soap) tragedy.

[Soapsuds]

Watching the June 29, 1987 episode on ATWT right now on my tv.

[slick jones]

Angry Steve always looked constipated when he got angry, his eyes would bug out. Frank Runyeon was an OTT actor. When he was in quiet scenes, though he did a nice job.

[Soapsuds]

I had forgotten that Meg's real name was Margaret.

[amybrickwallace]

Heavy on the tragedy, I take it - for the character or the audience?

[P.J.]

I am speechless with how much I disagree with that sentence. Hunt Block put the suck in sucktastic.