As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

Which was weird as he looked so much younger then Dolan..and really doesn't seem to be the type any of the Margos (from Colin on) would be interested in...(it doesnt help that when they intro him Margo kept using his nickname in high school "Handsome Harry" even though that doesn't seem to be a nick name anyone would use since the 1920s.

 

I know Hastings wanted Dennison cast as Lyla, I wonder how that would have turned out.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

The show made many savage and idiotic maneuvers in the 11th hour of the show's end run, and killing off Jennifer, Bryant and making Adam Munson a sociopath were just a few examples. Killing off Jennifer a few short years before the real life passing of Benjamin Hendrickson, seemed like a cruel twist in the end.

 

Jennifer absolutely should've spent time as a vixen, following in her mother's previously trod footsteps.

Instead, in a bid to make "fetch happen", TIIC were trying to make Katie some type of vixen, which was laughable. Then they wrote Jade as doing the work of a vixen, which is the work they should've had a grown woman doing. A mess! Nobody in that show's last twelve years knew how to write a woman character even half-way realistically.

 Hastings must have wanted Lyla and Bob to reunite then? And do what with Kim? I could not imagine Dennison's Lyla having four grown children and grandchildren. In Perhaps if the character were brought back in the show's last years. I could kind of see her as a Maggie Crawford recast though.

[Mitch]

No, this was when they were originally casting for Lyla..he had a chip on his shoulder about Velka Grey because of it.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Hm, odd. I know that he once wrote for the show, at one point, but it strikes me as somewhat unprofessional to carry feelings because you don't get your first casting choice. I love Don but who did he think he was, Irna Phillips?

Please register in order to view this content

Edited February 14, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[Mitch]

It seems very.."Un-Don like" but he most likely had problems with the actress other then that and those issues rubbed salt in the wound. He didn't seem to have a problem with Sward but they didn't actually last long or light the world on fire.  I actually like VG as Lyla better as she seemed tougher, rougher like she actually was a former...uh...good time gal social climber in her youth and turned herself around. Sward..alway seemed to bland and wimpy.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Admittedly, VG was before my time, I think I was in kindergarten when she left the role.

It's probably because I knew nothing of Lyla's loose reputation from back in the day, and I am fine with that, lol.

[Mitch]

Alright...nice way to make me feel old : )  

 

You missed the flashback scenes of Grey with her hair down, wearing a sarong or robe..(red of course) gyrating to some music with Johnny D..(neither looking the 20 something years younger then they were supposed to be.) and John..bugging Lyla by callind her "Delilah" I thought it was interesting that they would have Bob with a former hussy, and also that she was so upset at her daughter's precieved "loose" behavior (she was mad at Cricket for going to the ball without a slip on!!) and Bob, unknowing her former slut status tellign her to calm down about it.  With the recast of Sward all that was tosssed and Lyla was just a nice girl who made some mistakes but that also lessened the impact of Margo screwing James.

[Forever8]

They should've never killed off Jennifer Munson. At least if they wanted her off the canvas maybe she could've went off to NYC with Johnny and Dusty to live for a few years. Then she returns to Oakdale for instance if BRO got in trouble and Paul is the one who calls for her to get them out of trouble because of her designs. 

 

Also, I wished they would've put more value on the Hughes family in the latter years as well. I would've loved if a teenage Hope came to stay with Grandma Kim and Bob due to Andy nor Denise being able to control their now rebellious daughter. I can see Kathryn Hays relishing to say "Kiddo" again. As well as Margo who is Hope's aunt could've been someone she confide in too. She, Faith, and Parker could've been a teen unit.

 

I thought Jade would've work like you said a few years ago if she was spread more across the canvas evenly. Maybe Carly could've took her under her wing like Lisa used to with all of the waifs and stays in Oakdale. Her just being there to come in between Will & Gwen and be bitchy with Maddie and be Luke's bestie cousin. 

 

Let's not get into them killing off Bryant Montgomery. I would've loved it if it was revealed he was alive that Tonio Reyes was holding him hostage. I'm sure Peter Boynton wasn't going to bankrupt them if they would've done this story in 2004/2005. 

[P.J.]

 

Hal and Jennifer died the same year, 2006.  Ben's last scenes dealt with Jennifer's death and funeral. Not that that makes it any less cruel.

[Soaplovers]

I think killing Jennifer was some poetic way to cap off a tragic character.  Ferrin was quite effective at playing that, but she also could have played the *itch also.

 

I would have had Jennifer, Dusty and the baby leave town to start anew when Ferrin opted to leave.  

 

And I think it is realistic having Jennifer's half sister out there and never be on the show.  I have a cousin out there from an affair my uncle had back in the early 70s...no idea where the cousin is.  Though both of my cousins did try to find them with no luck.

 

Maybe Jennifer could have tried to find her after it came out everyone had lost track of Darryl.  And she never finding her half sister.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Oh, you're not old, lol. You provide a good amount of information.

 

One of the reasons I lose my patience with P&G is that these classic episodes should have been available to stream at least once. I'd like to see it.

 

 

 

Deep down, I knew it wasn't years but the same year??! That's absolutely depressing!

I know I was watching somewhat regularly when both happened, but I just don't remember as much of the details from that period of the show. Yikes!

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I posted a few of these things similarly, a few years ago. I had proposed that Tonio was hiding out in the jungles of Montega and had ties to the criminal underground via his previous association with James Stenbeck and that he had Bryant kidnapped after discovering that Craig and Sierra had been hiding his real son, Gabriel from him. Gabriel, the son of Sierra's former house keeper, was told that Craig was his bio-father to protect him from Tonio, as a promise Sierra made to Gabriel's mother on her deathbed. Sierra convinced a reluctant Craig to go along with this, pretend he had an affair that resulted in Gabriel, which Craig reluctantly agreed to.  Word got back to Tonio who is furious and devises a plan to get Bryant in the hopes of drawing out his son, using Bryant as leverage. Sierra finds out that Tonio knows about Gabriel and there are rumors through the Sierra's contacts that there is a young man fitting Bryant's description in the remote area where Tonio has been hiding. Gabriel overhears Craig and Sierra discussing the whole thing and discovers the whole truth about his origins. Craig and Sierra plot their rescue of their son. The next morning, as they depart, they realize Gabriel has left. They wonder if he knows and discover he has taken some belongings and his passport. 

I'd have had them all converge in Montega.

 

I said this before, but I would've loved for Hope Dixon to settle in Oakdale and be on the med-school track. To see her grapple with the pressures and weight of expectations of being the granddaughter if the former chief of staff as well as the step-granddaughter of another former chief of staff, as well as a woman of color. There could've been so much story to tell. Grandma Kim would've been her rock, provided a safe space.

 

That new generation was right there for anyone to tell their stories.

The way that John used to carry a chip on his shoulder, is the way Hope should also have had a chip on her shoulder, for slightly different reasons. John understands her but not entirely. Andy loves her but is worried that she might resort to drinking to deal with the pressures, as well as the struggles of being mixed ethnicity in mostly white Oakdale after being raised in a predominantly black environment with her mother Denise.

Edited February 15, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[NothinButAttitude]

 

 

 

All of this above just makes it even harder to believe that this genre is on its last leg. Especially, when you have passionate fans devising WAY better story projections than those writing on these shows. And yes, networks play a pivotal role too but still. You'd think at this stage, these networks (if they really want to keep the last 4 alive and kicking for another 5-10 years) would dump all the hacks they have now and start surfing forums for fans to take over on these shows.

[soapfan770]

Killing Jennifer Munson off instead of recasting if Ferrin wanted to leave was the point I can pinpoint where I think was the beginning of the end  for ATWT. All for Emmy bait, ratings, and a hoping in vain that Spencer Grammer as Lucy would work out(it did not). I'd say Jennifer's death is to ATWT what Frankie's death is to AW and Maureen's death was to GL. Just never recovered. 

 

BTW was watching a 1997 episode recently and Bob & Chris were complaining about how bad DeWitt Cereals tasted even though they ate it every morning or something. It was rather bizarre small talk but I found it odd whoever the dialogue writer for the ep went out of their way to mention DeWitt, this occurring during the Demorest/Walsh/Brez era. 

[FrenchBug82]

I don't think it had nearly the same impact but it was indeed an extremely idiotic move.
Don't kill off younger heritage characters, soaps. That's Soap 101.
Ferrin was great but she was, what?, the third sort-of grown-up Jennifer by that time? After the parades of Paul, it wouldn't have been that hard to recast later on if she really wanted out of soaps altogether - Ferrin was not legendary enough to feel irreplaceable.