As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

I can't get over how garish that set looks.

Not that I forgot, but Liz Hubbard is smokin' in that scene. It's interesting to see her as Lucinda without the constant head-tossing and other signature tics going on.

Karen was a fun character, even though I don't remember much specifics about her stories. But the actress (and I forget her name) frequently turns up in bit parts and always remember her face.

[Soapsuds]

Noticed Richard Backus and Fiona Hutchinson in the credits....loved Karen and I hate that they wrote her out.

[DramatistDreamer]

...and Courtney Cox.

Edited October 1, 2014 by DramatistDreamer

[slick jones]

I never knew Braden Danner of OLTL was a Paul Ryan. Ann Shropshire was also Helen Eldredge.

[antmunoz]

What was never written onscreen, and is not often mentioned in these comments, is that Kim's problem with Bob's affair with Susan WAS ALL ABOUT DAN.

Sure, Kim's husband cheating on her hurt her. But it's WHO it was with--a woman who'd caused her years of misery and kept her from ANOTHER man, Dan. A man who died. A man who Susan, in a way, cut short Kim's time with.

Dan Stewart was long forgotten, even by 1990, and certainly over a decade later, when Kim and Susan sparred regularly over Chris and Alison. But to those of us watching THEN, Dan was always the silent, unspoken elephant standing in the room.

Anyone who posts about Bob/Kim/Susan needs to reference the history with Dan. It's essential. I howl at some of the posters on message boards like these. They want us to believe they were watching back then with us. They weren't. I appreciate their interest. But don't speak of what you don't know.

Kim and Susan? IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT DAN.

[antmunoz]

Kathy McNeil, later Kate. She had a fun role as a vixen on the CBS prime timer WIOU, which I really liked. I think she was a series regular on a few short lived shows. I last saw her a few times on BIG LOVE as a nun who helped polygamist wives gain shelter after they escaped the compounds.

BTW, somebody asked why ATWT never brought Lisa Loring back as Billy's mom, Cricket. Actually, soap fans ask why a lot of "retired" actors and (especially) actresses don't "come back" to their shows for appearances.

I hate to sound mean, but Google Loring's physical appearance in years following ATWT, and you'll see why she (and dozens of others) never returned onscreen. Sorry, but television is a VERY visual medium. Not every actress is Kim Zimmer and gets to keep her job after she blows up. Right, Laura Malone and Patti D'Arbanville?

It wouldn't bother ME. But I'm not a casting director or executive producer.

[P.J.]

That's the name! She was on a Quantum Leap back eppy set around the Civil War and ended up being Sam Beckett's grandma or something.

Ditto re: Dan. I kinda get where it was hard to bring him up decades after he died, but when it came to Bob and Susan's affair, he should have been brought up. Hey, but it's not everyone who gets not one, but two grandchildren named after them.

Edited October 2, 2014 by P.J.

[Mitch]

Wow, that Bob/Kim scene....man Kim is brutal. But in the context of what was happening...(his affair, her estrangement and David's death) it makes sense. I love the Kim/John scene..I liked them as friends and co-parents but he was still able to get under people's skin. I love the line, "Do you ever regret divorcing Lucinda?" Uh, if John didn't the viewers did. What was up with Marland doing that?

I do realize that the big thing is not that Bob had an affair, but it was with Susan and that he still had the hots for her of all people. I still can't beleive Marland never brought Dan up. I can here Susan saying "Face it Kim, its about Dan as much as Bob, let it GO!" and Kim laying into Susan for that.

I thought the Karen actress left the show, not that she was written out. A lot of characters with potential left right before Marland....Karen, Diana, Maggie...all the kind of women that Marland could have worked with (and eventually turn into wusses worrying about Lily.)

[antmunoz]

You can add Ariel to that. And, much as I loved Felicia Gallant, I missed Cynthia Haines. David should've married her. Ellen and David had much more story apart than together. Imagine Ellen listing for John, hmmmm? Dee would've loved that. And if Brad could date Annie and Lisa, then Ellen was fair game too--she and Lisa were contemporaries. Plus, Ellen got youthified at this time and looked about 25 years younger than she did a decade earlier.

Karen was VERY complex. Much of it due to Kathy McNeil. But John's exes never lasted long on the show. To have seen Ariel and Karen later sparring with Lucinda...

And, quite frankly, every time James Stenbeck returned, these two could've easily been brought back to play.

[amybrickwallace]

Speaking of John Dixon, how long did it take him to get over Kim? I know that while she didn't marry him for love, he was in fact in love with her.

[DRW50]

I imagine it took several years. Even in the 1979 clips that are on Youtube, he still seems to carry something of a torch for her, underneath his control issues and passive-aggressiveness. I think it wasn't until Dee that he really moved on.

I've never known if Maggie was gone before Marland took over or if he wrote her out. I do agree that Diana would have been a dynamic character for him, and while Karen was much tougher than his type of woman, and he may have written her as more zany (like Shannon), I wish we'd seen a little of her with him too.

I think Ariel should have returned after James was "killed" in 1989. I mean yes, she was campy, but considering how he wrote James' mother, clearly he didn't mind some camp in that material.

[DRW50]

He was brought up. Perhaps not all that much, but he was. Kim angrily tells Bob that Susan slept with him to get back at her for Dan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f29FfY-RlI

I do wish they'd brought him up more often, but if he wasn't brought up more often it may have been down to ATWT getting many new viewers in the preceding decade who had little idea who he was, and their wanting to make sure viewers didn't see Susan as some type of homewrecker bent on ruining Kim's life.

[P.J.]

Well, I should have known Marland would. With ALL of Emily's myriad of men and self-esteem issues, Dan's name should have been more brought up than it was. And considering Emily's default explanation for YEARS of vindictive and self-destructive behavior was Susan's bad parenting, I think Em should have been more prone to throwing out Dan's name.

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, Carl.

[DRW50]

I think it made sense for Lucinda's story. Lucinda lost everything - her husband, soon her company, and her daughter (to Holden), so we could see her build herself back up and question who she was.

Unfortunately there was no story for John. Other than his relationship with Iva (did anyone care?), he had little to do for years.

I remember a fan who used to say Marland had many strengths at ATWT but they could never fully accept him because John was one of their favorites and Marland never got John and instead made John dull and superfluous.

I do think he gave John some decent stuff at times, but as odd as it is, John is one of the very few characters who actually got better material post-Marland (his cancer, the lawsuit story with Lisa, his revenge on Lisa), than he did with Marland.