As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[All My Shadows]

It's been a full decade since the two of the longest-running television series in the history of the medium have ever seen been officially screened, broadcast, streamed, etc. It's shameful.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

The SoapClassics company was a brief respite, having put out collections of ATWT and GL and streaming on their online platform. The SoaopClassics company wanted to continue to do so but, as I understand it, couldn't secure permission from P&G to extend the agreement.

 

The folks who wanted to make excuses for P&G (the same people who always make excuses for these mediocre soap production companies) at the time, claimed that it would take years for P&G to digitize a great deal of their episodes. Well, it's been years now, hasn't it? Imagine if P&G had actually allowed Soap classics to continue what they were doing, digitize episodes and stream them? Wouldn't there have been a significant amount of episodes in digital format?

[Soapsuds]

I'd still be buying them

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[DramatistDreamer]

 

I suspect that many people would be buying videos or even downloads, which have become more the norm than they were 8, 9, 10 years ago.

I think the consumer base might have increased with time had it kept going.

The people who try to make the argument that the digitization process would have been a "cost loss" for P&G don't understand how business actually works. For 20 years, Amazon operated certain aspects of its company either at a negligible profit margin or at a modest loss. Many parts still do not operate at a profit --their cloud business and warehouse and distribution system more than makes up for those losses. They throw in movies and music into Amazon Prime but those are not really profit-makers for them, they are investments into continuing to make Amazon the "Go To" marketplace. As much as I dislike Amazon's business strategy, I must concede that it has been a massive success for them. P&G, yesteryear's Amazon used to understand this.

Edited October 9, 2020 by DramatistDreamer

[DramatistDreamer]

It would be nice to be able to see more of the episodes that aired during the show's anniversary. I know we've all seen April 1986, for instance, but what happened on the anniversary episode that aired April 1987?

From perusing @Brolden's episode archive thread, I can see that there were many preemptions due to the Iran-Contra hearings but those began in May, not April, which makes me curious.

 

Another random question: was ATWT the only soap that has an episode featuring a family sitting down to eat Easter dinner in the 1980s? Or was this common among the soaps during that era?

[Bill Bauer]

 

I can't speak for the ABC soaps because I never watched them but it was very rare for any soap that I watched at any time. Easter was just rarely mentioned in soaps except maybe The Guiding Light when they would have a sermon or sermonette on Good Friday. Part of that had to do with Easter not being a major holiday like Thanksgiving and Christmas and part of it had to do with Easter obviously falling on Sundays when the show wasn't on. I think for those two reasons, it was easy to just skip over Easter. I remember originally watching them celebrate Easter on ATWT during the 80s and thinking it was strange. Great but strange. 

[DRW50]

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I guess, based on that story with Lien and Philip Moon, this was still around the strike, but one benefit of stretching stories means you get a lot of lovely community scenes and conversations threaded through - the Snyder party, and especially the John and Emma scenes, are pleasing. And the scene with Betsy and Seth where they are talking about other people and each other at the same time is beautifully written. 

 

This is also a look at the Kirk/Iva/Hank "triangle," as it were. 

 

And for all you Beau fans, he sings a song. 

 

Overall I think the show did a decent job with not whitewashing Josh too much (we see multiple characters here, including Craig, being wary of him), but, even if it may be in character for selfish Lily, seeing her pout and get fussy over other people not accepting him is irritating. 

[DramatistDreamer]

So is Alan, or someone going to ask John Wesley Shipp to appear on one of these reunion livestreams?

[FrenchBug82]

 

You know it is funny because I have been thinking of TT a lot in the past month (and even rewatching her rape SL episodes) because Kamala Harris reminds me so much of Jessica.
The DA thing, the way she dressed, the mannerisms, the voice... I mean, I am sure it is just me but she has been on my mind.
So catching up with the forum and seeing TWO different people mentioning TT being bitter on the thread since I last read it makes me want to ask what the story is. 

What's the deal with TT and ATWT? Is there a post or an interview ya'll can point me out to catch me up on that because all these years I have missed that T and I am eager for it.

[DramatistDreamer]

Did anyone actually use the word bitter? I'm actually trying to remember because I wouldn't call her bitter. I think if she declined the invitation she likely has a good reason. Her character was woefully under-utilized at a time when she had decades of experience with the show and had proved that she was capable of doing "meaty" stories. That final era was known for blatant disrespect of a number of their veterans, so I don't know how anyone can be confused by the possibility that Tunie may have felt disrespected and not wished to unearth those memories. Or maybe she may not trust the show's ex-publicist to give her the space (uninterrupted) to say what she wants to say. Perhaps Locher already knows all this and is perfectly fine with putting the onus entirely on Tunie. Didn't Bryce put him off initially but Alan persisted? Perhaps there is bit of relief that she declined the invite?

In any case, not one Black actor has appeared on a single one of his ATWT reunion livestreams and I am more interested in learning why that is. It's not a good look, for sure.

Perhaps if Alan got a group that she felt comfortable appearing with, the way he grouped Bryce, Bailey Smith and Marx together, he could eventually get her to accept an invitation. Unless he's not truly interested.

Edited October 18, 2020 by DramatistDreamer

[Soapsuds]

Does he even know he was on ATWT and GL?

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[DramatistDreamer]

 

Good question. I was thinking about that. He seems unaware of most of what went on before '97.

[Bill Bauer]

 

How depressing to know only of soaps post '97. If that's all I knew of the genre, I would never had been a fan. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

True. I couldn't imagine. I get the sense though that he grew up in a household where soaps were watched though. Perhaps he only really began to really follow once he began to work in the industry.

Post mid-90s, especially for CBS soaps...are not really the halcyon days, far from those days.

[Soapsuds]

It would be great if he could get Shipp, Kerr Smith and James van der beek....all were on ATWT and Dawson's creek.