As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Khan]

 

Agree.  As much as I adored GL, if I had to choose which PGP soap to revive, I would actually choose ATWT, because so much of it had remained intact, despite all the years of bad management.  Which is definitely more than I could say about GL.

 

To put it all another way: ATWT's cancellation was premature...while GL's was a mercy killing.  Pure and simple.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Khan

[P.J.]

 

Yeah, but...Babs had already been through the ringer with James. I loved that Marland gave her a backbone. Margo wasn't an innocent victim, and she'd earned  Barbara's enmity. I sure as hell enjoyed Babs a lot more than HBS' self-righteous version of Margo.

 

I understand why some saw Henry as latently gay---I just saw it as comedic. And I used to love Trent's delivery and use of language.

 

I think they're 1 and 1A. Laiman could have become as bad as Stern and Black, given the opportunity. Thank God they torpedoed her in six months.

[DramatistDreamer]

Henry often came off as campy, which was jarring because until the show's last decade, ATWT was never known to have camp in such abundance. Sure there were moments even in the 80s but it seemed that it was balanced out by the drama and the smart humor. In the '00s, the camp nearly took over the show and it drove me away, TBH.

 

To me, Henry and Vienna actually worked because together they came off as this eccentric couple who only the other one could understand.  Henry even had his moments with Katie, although they sort of tiptoed into the bizarre at times but I can agree with those who thought Henry and Barbara didn't quite synch.

 

I can see why Colleen felt that finally her character, at least, got a happy ending and it probably appealed to her ego that the show paired her off with a younger man but to me, Barbara's personality had been stipped of it's intensity and drive-- I guess it had to be, in order to make that pairing work. Colleen was probably just happy to have someone writing for her. Anyone who had high standards for ATWT at that point was going to be terribly disappointed so she probably had learned to 'make do' with what she'd been given.

[amybrickwallace]

Black & Stern...it sounds more like a brand of hardware.     

[~bl~]

Black and Decker, ha ha

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I feel like ATWT had more building blocks and had burned less things to the ground than GL. So it would have been easier to see it continue, as while ATWT's focus was slightly off its axis for me, what TPTB saw at GL as important were even more cockeyed. That though is for another thread.

[P.J.]

Or a Blaxploitation film from the '70's.

 

Sheffer's campy efforts drove me nuts. I thought he ruined the Carly/Em/Rose kidnapping story with the blue woo-woo drinks and aging crap. It was like he mentally took a vacation in the middle of stories, and instead of just focusing on something else for a while, he literally threw a dart on some weird dartboard filled with inane ideas, and wherever they landed, he just went with it.

 

I do think Babs/Henry tip-toed along the ick-factor when they made Henry James' bio-son. There's one cameo I wish could have happened for the end----Anthony Herrera popping up somewhere to let us know James was still alive. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

Or a Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor movie?

[Mitch]

Oh my God that is the funniest description I have heard of Wheeler's nightmarish vision of GL..and could there be anything duller then Frank, Matt  (despite still looking hot) and Rick together doing ANYTHING?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

By 2009, wasn't Herrera living in Portugal?  I think he may have been quite ill by 2010 as he died the following year.

 

Personally, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Gunnar returning for the final storyline arc. There could've been one final "Hello Barbara" moment as Gunnar walks into Barbara's engagement party (cue the dropped and shattered glass from Barbara's hand)

 

Gunnar, might have been held in a Swiss sanitarium (the same "spa" where Carly, Emily and Rose were held) suffering paralysis as a result of a serum that was being fed to him intravenously and with the help of a nurse who felt sorry for him and eventually fell in love with him, exchanged his 'poisonous' serums with one that slowly cleaned the poison out of his system.

Once he learned what happened to him, the memories of his last encounter was with James in a battle to the death.  With a health regimen, speech therapy, etc.  he slowly regained his health.

Assuming that Barbara was in danger, with his strength rebuilt, Gunnar  confided to the nurse that he must now search for James and make sure that James never hurts anyone again. The nurse helps Gunnar escape and Gunnar encourages her to continue in private practice far away from the "spa" and warns her that they may never meet again. Tearfully, they say their goodbyes and Gunnar sets out to find James, eventually crossing paths  in Sweden at the Stenbeck estate.

 

Gunnar tells Barbara, he and James fought and James died. Barbara says "James never dies", which Gunnar offers to prove this to be true.

Barbara asks Gunnar if he killed James and Gunnar replies that he wishes he were so valiant but it was an accident that ended James' reign of terror.  

While Barbara is shocked and conflicted, Henry is confused, Gunnar finally realizes what event he's just interrupted as he sees Bob and Kim, the Hughes, the Ryans and an assemby of guests- all slack-jawed staring at what is unfolding before them.

John, still nibbling on an appetizer, looks at Lucinda and says "what d'ya know?" and shakes his head in disbelief.

Edited April 7, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[P.J.]

 

I hadn't cringed so much since the episode where Reva (trying to seduce Josh for the billionth time) made some "smooth" crack about him "laying pipe" as he pondered some plumbing problem at her house.

 

It's not that I didn't like Rick or Frank (I could have done without the useless Matt, but that's me). The fact FD stuck around like a cockroach for nearly 20 years without a real story alone has to be admired on some level. What I minded was the fact that someone on the writing staff thought it was funny, and EP Wheeler didn't care that the venerable 70+ soap had disintegrated to the point that they were making hotdog and wiener jokes in the midst of their "groundbreaking" lesbian story.

 

 

I forget---did James ever stand in that last appearance? I'm not sure were he was living, but he died in Argentina.

[Soapsuds]

Thank gawd I missed all that. There were so many returns but the sets or non sets plus the standing around by the returned vets was embarrassing and decided not to watch. Frank D. was Y&R version of Don Diamont.....hot body with little to no acting skills. Sad how DD is still allowed to act on B&B.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Soapsuds

[All My Shadows]

I'm in major agreement with all who've said that ATWT was still very salvageable at the end. GL was a dead soap walking for at least 5, but I would say closer to 10, years before its cancellation. I mean, its continuity throughout its entire run was pretty weak. They jumped location several times and refocused the show about just as many times. By the time it hit television, you had the basic foundation of the Bauer family, but there were no stable supporting families until the 70s and 80s, so in 2009, we had a 72-year-old program ending its run with only about 30-35 years of it in tact. Sad.

Say what you will, but ATWT ended with its original family, and the last character you saw was an original character played by someone who'd been there for all but four years of the show's life. You had major characters from every single era of the show present and still regularly seen. I know they misstepped a LOT in closing the series, but one can never say that ATWT's was hollow.

[Soapsuds]

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[P.J.]

Yeah, the freeze picture kind of nails it for me.....you've got Bob, Kim, Margo and Susan (?) vs Olivia. 

 

*drops mike*

 

truce. It was what it was. 

Edited April 8, 2017 by P.J.

[Soapsuds]

And the sets for GL were just horrendous!  Add to that all the cheap remotes....GL looks more like an after party wrap celebration than an actual episode...LOLOL