As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Thank you!

I was trying to be diplomatic but sometimes you just have to call it what it was. I actually would've had Jon Lindstrom portray Barbara's otherwise long forgotten brother. They could've imbued the character with the exact same qualities as Lindstrom's characterization had and it would have still worked. Barbara could've used another Ryan besides Paul and her brother could have mixed it up with a lot of characters and still ended up with Roseanna Cabot in the end.

There was no good reason to drag a character out of the archives only to destroy all the character build from the past decades and then after it has been butchered by poor writing and hammy acting, change it around again with a new actor.

If you're going to dig out a character from the archives, it would've been smarter to go with a little known character that could've provided an almost clean slate with which to create on.

ATWT made many odd and self defeating writing choices in its final decade.

Edited April 19, 2014 by DramatistDreamer

[Mitch]

LOL....I knew I was going to get people upset with that! I actually thought Block was hot but will agree, he wasnt Craig..even Dobson's Craig was that smug!

Let me clarify....I liked the original Craig actor I just hated how Marland did his usual neutering on him and he was a wuss constantly in love. I prefer even smug Craig to that one. Though I thought Block was best on GL. He was SUPPOSED to be annoying. Though I still think Block is hot I I know, no accounting for taste.

Though I have to say, in that clip above, I would have laid snug on that couch with James forever..."Okay James, tell me one more time your latest ridiculous evil plot. Kidnapping Barbara? That was so 1983. Kidapping Lily??? You'll have to get at the end of the line. Kidnapping three women and changing them to old hags? This is Oakdale not Port Charles or Salem.! You just stay right here with me and we will keep you out of trouble...."

Edited April 19, 2014 by Mitch

[Mitch]

One of my favorite scenes of all time was when Steve charged James and James flat out knocked him on his ass! I wonder if this was Marland and the producers "F*ck you," to Mr. "You can't touch me, I am the star of the show."

[P.J.]

Believe me, that's as diplomatic as I can be about Hunt Block. I guess I have to credit Sheffer with some kind of success in keeping ATWT afloat...but damn that man for ruining Craig (and Paul, but that's another rant...) and undoing YEARS of story to service his obsession with Hunt Block, who couldn't wring water from a sponge if he was on fire.

I wouldn't say upset....but I admit, I couldn't not say something! LOL. In theory, a rebooted Craig would have been fine. IMO, Hunt Block was simply the wrong person to be someone so iconic to the show. Showing emotion was not his strong suit, and the writing played to that, disastrously.

As much as I hated him on ATWT, I loathed him on GL even more. I'll never forget Blake crawling across the floor to get away from him, only to give in and screw him anyway.

[cassadine1991]

Found this interview from 2001

http://youtu.be/m07eisS6HNo

Edited April 21, 2014 by cassadine1991

[DramatistDreamer]

Interestingly enough, I had the opportunity to see Lea Salonga's final Broadway performance of Miss Saigon. I used my money from my summer internship stipend (meager though it was, was more than the $0 most internships offered) to treat me and my cousin to the show.

[cassadine1991]

I heard Lien was paired with Peter Parros' character. I wonder why she gone from the show after a few months. Could that pairing have something to with it? Or did they not know what to write for her? Also wonder why she wasn't brought back besides that 2003 appearance?

[Soaplovers]

The actress only signed on for a six month stint, and she didn't want to do more then that. With that said, I think she was too islanded and didn't really interact all that much with her father, Margo, Bob, or Lisa. I'm not sure if Paul or Andy were on the canvas at the time or not.

She was a great actress, but I think the time limit on the contract prevented the show from doing too much with her character.

[cassadine1991]

I see, still surprised the character didn't return after that one episode in 2003

I find it so funny how Lea and Ming-Na shared two characters, this one and Fa Mulan from Disney's Mulan

[Khan]

I don't know why they bothered with Lea Salonga OR with Lien if they had her only for a short period of time.

[DRW50]

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[P.J.]

2001, Andy was definitely on the canvas. I think Paul (Scott Hoylrod) came on in July after Babs was burned.

I don't know why they bothered either, I couldn't tell you anything Lien did. They probably could have plugged any Asian actress in, and Solanga happened to be interested in pocket money.

[amybrickwallace]

I never understood why they never did anything more with Scott DeFreitas after the story of baby Hope, because Andy Dixon was one of those tentpole characters who could carry the next generation of Oakdale. Then again, he wound up meeting his future wife and mother of his children, so I guess everything turned out OK.

[DRW50]

Andy left the show in late 2000, I believe.

Andy wasn't a "man with balls," so why would pighead Sheffer want to write for him?

I missed Andy so much, and not having him return for a visit at the end was one of Goutman's biggest failures (one of many), but I'm glad that that hack didn't get his paws on Andy.

[Limenade]

Wow, watching this clip made me miss Finn Carter's Sierra so much...

In a large cast headed by such acting supernovas like Liz Hubbard and Larry Bryggman, not to mention the venerable ensemble of the Hughes family, I guess it's not easy for a newcomer like Finn Carter to stand out.

Watching this clip from late 1986, it just struck me how Marland's writing took Sierra's character in so many directions since his arrival only a year and a half ago, and Finn Carter's performances, so nuanced (thus easily overlooked), made the character quite compelling. Some of my favorites were scenes of her breaking up with Craig in late 1985 and her encounter with Tad Channing in summer 1986, when he nearly assaulted her.

I'm so curious as to how Marland felt about Finn Carter and Sierra, especially after Lisa Brown arrived to play Iva, whom he must have felt closer to, having worked so successfully together on GL. I don't think you could say that there was a triangle of Sierra-Craig-Iva in the same way as, say, some of the textbook soap triangles, e.g. AW's Alice-Steve-Rachel. The story of Lily's parentage was just heating up in 1986, and Liz, Martha and Lisa played their respective parts with such convictions that there was not much room for anything else in the lives of those characters.