As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

 

They also had the "Man and a Woman" theme in one episode.

 

There are likely a lot of episodes from the late '70s and early '80s that wouldn't have commercial music. It's a shame they can't at least put those somewhere, even if I can see why early '80s ATWT wouldn't be a huge magnet. I think they should try to get whatever '50s through '70s material they can find and do something with it. 

[danfling]

And "Willow Weep for Me."

[soapfan770]

So I had tracked down ART's final episode as Connor and it's interesting because the episode pretty much gives a summary and a conclusion to Cal/Connor overall. Batten took over the on 2-27-97 episode, I don't believe her Connor and Cal shared anything at all. From the 2/25/97 episode: 

 

 

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[adrnyc]

As The World Still Turns has a jump from 2-28-88 to 3-25-88.   A HUGE THANK YOU to whoever it was that posted the SOD ATWT Updates many pages back. Thanks to that, it's so easy to figure out what happened in-between!  

 

James has been discovered to be alive. I'm glad that it's happening right away - that Marland had this planned from the start. I was worried that in '92 or '93 or something, James would return from the dead and they would retroactively have him not be murdered. The dental work of James/Nick is a ridiculous Stenbeck plot twist which I can appreciate because I know in the aughts, it just gets even crazier!

 

Sierra is gone - back to Montega. Without Craig, I supposed what else did she have to do?

 

I had no idea someone other than Lea Salonga played Lien. I like this actress, so far, but was never a fan of Lien in the aughts - am curious to see how she fits into the canvas in the 80's. 

 

I really like Seth - the actor and the character. He's a little mopey but, had I watched it at the time, my teenage self would've been madly in love with him. I just can't stand Sabrina - hate that I usually have to see her as well whenever he's around.

 

Oh, and anything with Laura Whatever and Beau With The Long Hair has me wanting to hit the fast forward button. I have yet to do it because I'm still too grateful to have so much ATWT I've never seen. I'm trying to go with it.

 

Just realized that, if I'm at the end of March already, the writers strike is fast approaching......How bad is the ATWT 80s writers strike considered to be?

[juppiter]

 

That is Ming-Na, who went on to do ER, The Joy Luck Club, and the voice of Mulan in "Mulan" (interestingly enough, Lea Salonga was Mulan's singing voice.)

[YRBB]

 

How did I never realize this?!

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 Now that you've said it, I can totally hear it. And quite funny/ironic that Salonga ended up doing the singing voice.

[DramatistDreamer]

The two Liens and three Mulans

 

 

http://disneymoviesandfacts.tumblr.com/image/71920312269

Edited February 18, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

 

I think the worst strike story for ATWT is considered to be the Laura stuff, which was named worst story of 1988 (for all soaps) by SOD. 

 

The rest was mostly stalling and stalling. I don't want to go into plot details in case there are things you don't know.

 

You can find some March 1988 partial episodes here that may not be on the Astheworldstillturns page.

 

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(one has been deleted - I'm not sure if I have the copy of it around anywhere...)

[adrnyc]

 

Wow - I can't believe that's her! The quality is not so great on some of these episodes - I have difficulty recognizing characters I know sometimes. I only figure it out because of their voice! Not complaining though - I sit down and watch one every M-F!  (Yes, I'm slightly insane.) I'm even more intrigued as to what happens with this character now. I'm relatively spoiler free throughout the ATWT 80s - it's been fun to try to piece it all together. 

 

Thank you so much for posting that playlist!  I get so used to just going to the ATWT 1988 playlist from ATWST that I forget to check to see if other random episodes exist. (I've spoiled myself that way a few times though by accidentally watching something a few months ahead.) Will check out the March ones this week.

 

Interesting to hear about the strike in regards to ATWT. I really have no idea what goes on in the 80s - have never heard of the Laura or Beau characters. Right now a fan of Beau recognized him from Indianapolis, which is also where Laura is from. Laura is just beginning work with Kim on her TV show (Is the station called WOAK at this point?) as opposed to being Chris' nanny.

[Soaplovers]

 

I think the reason the Laura story is voted the worst story is due to how the story loses any sort of direction.  I think it was just starting right when the strike happened.. and I think it was resolved/ended during the stirke.. or right after the strike was over (not sure of timeline).  I know Marland had left a bible that the scabs tore through in lightening speed when I think he had the bible written for a year plus of story.

[adrnyc]

@Soaplovers  That's crazy to hear - that the scabs went through all of his bible that quickly!  The first few months of the strike must be super entertaining - a lot of stuff must go down!

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[DramatistDreamer]

TBH, burning quickly through a year of storyline in a matter of months seems to be the M.O. of today's soap showrunners.

[Faulkner]

To be generous, I think most soap writers of the past were operating under the assumption that their soaps would still be there in 10 years. I don’t think the soap writers of today have such luxury.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I think if someone writes scripts based on hypotheticals, their story will be already be in trouble. Better to focus on writing a good effective story with vibrant characters and a compelling plot.

Edited February 18, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[Faulkner]

Oh totally. In an ideal world where the networks don’t completely dictate what you write and order you to change direction mid-plot based on some whim. I’m sure Doug Marland had more leverage than, say, Chris Van Etten, given who he was, his track record, and the relative strength of soaps in his era. And I’m sure even Doug had to deal with significant meddling from time to time, especially in those later years. But I suspect the writers of yore were thinking more long term than the current-day scribes. Now it’s, “What can I do to give me a short-term bump around sweeps, ensuring ad rates stay high for a little while, and make this show last six more months to two more years? If I need to do something absolutely drastic that would cripple my show five years down the line, then so be it. I won’t even be writing this show by then, if the show even lasts that long...but hey, let me cash that paycheck and contribute a little bit to my 401(k).”