As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

I almost said that Marland and "humor" should not be mentioned in the same sentence, but then I remember some stuff he did on GL when he was redeeming Nola and she was in London doing something with Quint...there is a slap stick fight between Nola and some other woman that was funny and campy and poking fun at the Dynasty cat fights...and I think..did Marland have a sick day? His ATWT is so earnestly morose especially in comparison to GL at the time, which, however badly written it was in periods..had a zestiness that was lacking in its sister soap. What happened to him? He even takes the fun out of Lisa..who I must say, had to put 50,000 miles on her car every year zipping back and forth between her businesses, the hospital, Bob and Kim's, Tom and Margos, and whomever else's business she was getting into.

 

 

I agree, but at least it is better then the tired old...there is an exact unrelated double of a character impersonating them. Maybe Iva and Alex had the same doctor deliver their kids?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

And Sharon Collins, on Y&R.

Personally, I think it has rarely been employed well as a device. ATWT was particularly dumb, since we have actual scenes of Iva insisting that she could clearly recall every detail of giving birth to Lily. At least with Sharon, the specifics of her giving birth were never clarified in detail, so it didn't look as idiotic when TPTB attempted to rewrite the story.

[Mitch]

True, but I will take THIS over a clone anyday!!!

[FrenchBug82]

Another world had a character have an unknown twin and they were preparing, a few years later, an unknown triplet to the twins.
To be fair, the circumstances of those births left just a teensy bit wiggle room but still! (They dropped it before it was fully revealed so it never became canon)

[Paul Raven]

P Jay Sidney was the second actor to portray Dr Bellows on ATWT, The first was Brock Peters.

He is quoted her from a TV Guide article titled ' What the Negro Wants From TV' 20th Jan 1968.

Sidney left I believe, when he was not offered a contract.

Irna Phillips was writing at this time. I previously read that she refused to write blacks into the series as servants/janitors etc.

This is Sidney's take on his stint.

 

Sidney sites his own experiences last spring when he was hired as a regular in an important supporting role on the popular daytime soap ATWT

“I was supposed to be a research physician in that series,” he says, “and yet, emotionally and dramatically, I didn't exist as a person. My whole function in those 14 segments was getting a white boy out of jail. I was a non-person in the plot with no life of my own. I didn't have any problems. There were no things about which I was personally glad or sad, nothing to which I personally aspired. I had no past, no future , no family. I only existed for that white boy. I was, in other words an auxiliary, not a person.”

His tone suddenly becomes vehement. “Hell”, he explodes, “life isn't just going to a laboratory everyday.”

Edited April 1, 2021 by Paul Raven

[DramatistDreamer]

This may have been posted here before but somehow I don't remember seeing it so maybe someone else hasn't seen it yet either.

 

[Soapsuds]

Today!!

 

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[Chris B]

I just started the Rosemary Prinz interview, but I wanted to say that she is incredibly sharp and looks much younger than her age. Seeing her this vibrant at 90, it makes me sad ATWT didn’t use her more in their final years. She could’ve been a Jeanne Cooper style presence for them. 

[Vee]

She looks and sounds better than Ms. Cooper did by the end, frankly. She's always been a pistol and ATWT did not know what they had in her.

 

I am not surprised Locher couldn't control her candor about Irna. Prinz has never been shy about her issues with the show.

[victoria foxton]

Rosemary called Irna a bitch. This is a wonderful interview. Alan's doing a pretty descent job. For once. Rosemary looks a good 20 yrs younger. Hard to believe she's 90. Prinz is spilling tea. And Alan is letting her.

Edited April 1, 2021 by victoria foxton

[Chris B]

Alan looked like a robot malfunctioning when she called Irna a bitch lol. You could tell he was thinking if he should change the subject! I do agree with you that she seems much sharper than Cooper at the end, but I just mean just like Cooper was always able to lead her own stories, I could see Prinz doing the same and being popular. 
 

I hope she makes it back to the stage soon. I’m amazed she still acts! I truly had no idea she’d had such a successful career. Now I’m doing a deep dive into her background. 

[Soaplovers]

Alan does better with 1 on 1 interviews...imho

 

And she's 90 years old and doesn't care...just like Susan pratt

[FrenchBug82]

Yes. Because he can't accidentally speak over someone or interrupt the flow of a great conversation he should have left alone to go on its natural course.

One-on-one it is easier for him to know his timing, when to let his subject talk and when he needs to ask a new question.

[DramatistDreamer]

One of the reasons why I think Prinz has remained so sharp is because she has continued to do theater. It's really hard to become inert when performing on a NYC stage.

It's also one reason why I don't really see her on a soap except for brief periods of time, she'd become bored, especially the way daytime soaps have stuck in the last 20 years.

Still, ATWT should've at least asked and gave her the first right of refusal but as I have long said, the last decade of the show was very poor, especially the decisions that were made BTS, so I wouldn't even expect them to remember that Bob had siblings.

[Broderick]

What a CUTE old lady!   She's amazing, always has been.