As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

oh, jeez...for SEVERAL years, Lily's  birthday dominated August. RME.

[DRW50]

 

I think August was also when Craig came back from the dead (1988) and returned to Oakdale. I haven't watched those episodes in years but I felt like all of Oakdale stopped for the dual occasions, as there was a big party for Craig's return. It cracked me up. 

 

They didn't just know about it - they talked about it in great detail. 

 

Early on with Byrne in the role they did have more characters who had little time for her, like John, but as 1986 rolled along that faded away and the only character on the show who was allowed to dislike her was the mixed-up vixen of the day (Meg, then Emily).

[Franko]

From a 1987 Diva von Dish commentary about parties for SOD:

"Oakdale's specialty is the birthday party. The younger set celebrates theirs every year and for some strange reason, the whole town is invited. While the entire cast is deft at establishing the party mood, I'm not sure that if I were Lily Walsh or Dusty Donovan I would want everyone in town who was over thirty at my birthday party*. Of course, Lily and Dusty don't have friends their own age. And I suspect budget cuts at Procter and Gamble prohibit anyone from calling Rent-a-Friend. So what do we do? To simulate genuine party activity, like dancing, I suggest renting clips, old or new, from the archives of Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Somehow I can't imagine Dusty Donovan rocking out; he'd be afraid of offending the Moral Majority. Holden is too uptight to let his backbone slip. Casey Peretti can definitely cut a rug and I'm sure John and Lucinda can show Bob and Kim a thing or two when it comes to modern dance techniques**, but we need more." 

 

*I'm pretty sure she lived for that.

**Please, if anyone in that town was into dirty dancing, it was Lisa.

[Soaplovers]

Even good writers like Marland were guilty of propping a character (Lily).. and having the whole town adore her.  I bet if Hallmark Channel was around in the 80s.. he would have written screenplays for their movies since ATWT during his watch was like a daily Hallmark channel movie.

[DramatistDreamer]

Based on the show he wrote for cable (A New Day In Eden), I think Marland would've jumped at another chance to write far more edgy racier fare than what he was allowed to do in daytime.

[Scrapple]

The whole "As The World Turns Around Lily" phenomenon also happened with Katie and Gwen.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Ugh. Don't remind me. 

 

I feel like ATWT zeroing in on one character at all times didn't help at times.

 

Love Marland, but that was his weakness at times too. From watching episodes all the time, it boggles my mind how he always finds a way to center everything around Lily. He was strong with doing ensemble works, but he'd always slip backwards and focus on Lily. 

 

The Katie & Gwen years were the worst! 

[j swift]

From this guy's perspective the worst central character was Jennifer Munson.  From the odd circumstances of her conception to the totally unnecessarily SORASing; she seemed age inappropriate with everyone of her mates.  The worst was Craig being de-SORASed to fit the plot.  Craig was older than Frannie who was married to Daryl Crawford, Jennifer's father.  Considering that the Crawford murder plot was critically unpopular,  Jennifer seemed like an odd choice to age, let alone build the whole show around, just a few years later.

 

This really blew my mind.  What if I actually don't remember watching any of the soaps, I just remember the magazines?    

[cassadine1991]

Agim Kaba and his wife welcomed another baby.

 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Congrats to Agim!

 

I know many didn't care for him as Aaron, but I hate how they squandered the potential of the character his last run on the show. They totally fell flat with him. 

[adrnyc]

Yes - congrats Agim!  I loved him as Aaron in his original run - a hunk just like his father - although I wasn't watching the show when he came back and missed his second run.

[DramatistDreamer]

Congrats to Agim Kaba and his wife on their new addition!

 

Agim looked every bit the part of a soap hunk but the writing just wasn't there for Aaron. 

Yes, Kaba was inexperienced but so was Jon Hensley at that age but the writing for Hensley, as well as the fact that Hensley's character was positioned in scenes/storylines with some of the strongest and most dynamic actresses on the show (Brown, Widdoes, Hubbard, Ashe, Byrne and later Smith)  from the very beginning, Hensley had no choice but to "up" his ability to at the very least, meet his scene partners at an acceptable level, which is why/how I believe Hensley improved markedly as an actor during his time on the show.

Agim/Aaron did not have the benefit of great writing for the character and many of his scenes were with other novices like himself (e.g. Peyton List) who got better after they left the show.

 

[adrnyc]

I agree that Hensley got better over time - when I was watching in the aughts, I found him to be a quite competent actor in most storylines. However, I'm at 1988 and he ain't there yet!  He's been on the show now for I think 3 1/2 years? The hubby and I have been remarking on his less than stellar acting "Ah, Holden, you're pretty but ya can't act your way out of a paper bag." was his passing comment the other day.

 

Oh, speaking of which. I so need to go back and look at what day it was but there was a scene the other day with Emily and Holden in the shower. The scene ended with them obviously starting to have sex. When they came back to the scene, in a new "act" - after a commercial break, Holden was standing in the shower with a bit of a smile on his face. He started talking to Emily and left the shower. The camera stayed on the shower and, after a few seconds, EMILY POPPED UP INTO THE FRAME and responded to him!!!!!  How on Earth did they get away with inferring oral sex during the 80's...in daytime...ON A P&G SHOW????!!!!!!!  I laughed myself silly over that. Would love to know which one of them had the idea.

[Soapsuds]

I liked Aaron but he was stuck with Lucy. They were so boring together. I can't believe they wasted time on the couple instead of putting him with Allison from the beginning.

[Mitch]

That was the trouble with the "new" (Post MADD) PG soaps, they had their teens stuck working only with other newbies who were just as bad, so no one got better...(I remember on GL they had Chele,Jessie, Bill, and whatsherface with the New YOIK...accent..moving into a loft together, which would have been fine but they never had scenes with anyone else...the Jesse actor in particular benefited working with better actors....when he had scenes with Aunt Meta and even ugggh, Buzz(Deas was always good with the younger actors then left on his own to YELL) he improved.

 

I didn't like Aaron as he was way too much a typical soap pretty boy. Holden looked like a beefy farm boy and in those early days the actor kind of just sent out a sexual vibe which was unheard of for the later soap sanitized pretty boys. LOL on Emily and Holden in the shower..reminds me of when they implied that he and Rose had anal sex..