As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Friday, October 1:

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[Bright Eyes]

Jake Weary does a fantastic job on Animal Kingdom. I'm so happy for his success. 

[Mitch]

Actually it was pretty good..he has a definite point of view which I don't have on his choices but...he admits that CBS wanted ATWT gone and P & G wanted out of the business, which we all knew...but he seems to shrug off some of the cancellation on that and that there was not turning back...he does discuss the budget and using the vets and how he wasnt happy on how the show looked at the end and that they had to film outside as they didnt have money to buy a fake tree...He talks about the demos but he does seem to really buy into "young actors bring in the demos" and the old chestnut that Hogan was AMAZING.  I liked that we found out that Helen Wagner did not take anyone's [!@#$%^&*]..and he never mentions Eileen even if Alan brought her up along with the other vets. He seemed more genuine then JFP and happy in what he is doing and saying that "that ship has sailed" in terms of helming another soap.

[Soapsuds]

Budget or no budget doesn't excuse giving fans a shitty ending.

Henry with Barbara... Wtf??

Margo giving Katie her house and moving into Katie tiny apartment.

Reid dies and Luke is left alone.

Emily and Paul marry....in what planet? Their version was super toxic. Hell KMH Emily left RH Paul to die from her own hands.

I don't recall anything good or memorable about the show's ending.

It boils my blood every time I think or discuss the ending of this show.

Goutman is garbage!!

Edited September 25, 2021 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it's been at least a full decade for folks to gather their excuses about why the show went down to shi*t. There will never be an iota of accountability where these folks are concerned, which is why the network daytime "dramas" will never get any better. Only worse.

Why would they improve, when daytime soap fans have proven that they'll watch the dumbest poorest written sh*t?

Also, why are folks debating trolls? It's a waste of time, y'all are only helping them get a deeper foothold in the thread.

[amybrickwallace]

He looks so much like his mom that it's almost spooky!! His guest turn on SVU all those years ago was good, too.

[Soapsuds]

It sure was heartbreaking. Heartbreaking bad!

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[Mitch]

I agree on all those points, I was pointing out that the interview was interesting...I think an interview with Hitler would have been interesting too (not comparing the two but ...) I thought JFP's was but she was full of [!@#$%^&*].

I think what is most telling is that Gautman talks about trying to get attention for ATWT....like the show was ignored by the press, etc. I find this a continuing thread with MADD's tenure..she thought the clone was a success as it made people talk...but it wasn't a creative success or have any long term ratings success. He also talks about really "trying" things that didnt' always work out. Hey dummie..you have an established show with a strong longterm core family and more vets then anyone else...why not just do "soap opera" and do it well? I also thought it was interesting that he did recognize it was the most "midwestern" of the soaps and he didn't really know what to do with that or with the two different families of the Hughes and the Snyders as they were so different.  Huh?

I think that was always a problem on all the soaps, the execs in charge don't respect the form and try to be "innovative" but fail and the writers and producers don't understand or appreciate kitchen sink drama.  Gautman claims the sci fi thing on AW was a success and from what I can see the audience hated it. Keep it simple stupid!

[Soapsuds]

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This episode is from 91 but I think the date is off...May 31 was a Friday and there is no Dan Region at the end telling us to join ATWT on Monday.

[TVFAN1144]

Sometimes I think the show should have ended sooner even though it would be sad no matter when

But if the network and sponsor is not behind it and encourages the show to do innovative things, it is at the expense of the history, writing, veterans, and long time viewers of the show 

Makes me wonder what has made the 4 remaining soaps survive when ATWT  , GL, OLTL, AMC did not.  My guess is demographics and at least Y & R has maintained continuity with the major families 

[adrnyc]

The Goutman interview is absolutely a school class in what an EP has to handle to keep a show running and all the various suits happy - CBS and P&G, which I found very interesting he said they were often at odds. The ratings pressure. The disappearing budget issue - which seems to be at the heart of everything that people complain about the last 10 years - for instance, they simply couldn't afford to pay the veteran actors their salaries. But he and the writers clearly had a love and respect for the show's history and fought as hard as they could to keep it alive while CBS and P&G constantly said, "No." "No." "No."

 

When I get there on my rewatch (am in 1997 right now) I'll have a new appreciate for what was going on behind the scenes and how hard they were trying to make everyone happy. It sounds like an impossible situation. 

[Craigger]

Exactly! adrnyc. Goutman was in an impossible situation. His higher ups were CBS and P&G and BOTH wanted the show gone. Moonves at CBS wanted The Talk for his wife and P&G had wanted out of the soap opera business for years. There was no saving ATWT. The people who complain the most could never be an EP. They don't begin to understand what was going on and how impossible the job was. Some on here are so thin skinned get butt hurt when they perceive that Alan Locher was rude and deleted a comment. They would never last as an EP of a soap opera. Well, they'd never get a job as an EP of a soap. lol Thank god!

Edited September 26, 2021 by Craigger

[amybrickwallace]

The AW audience certainly did hate it - and still do hate it!!

[Soapsuds]

Poor AW with its gorilla mess ending.

[j swift]

To be fair, and I know this isn't the AW thread, but, the Lumina Ball in 1998, saw an increase in ratings from the same period in 1997, and the resolution also saw an increase in ratings year over year.  Year to year, 23% more people watched in the final week of May 1999.  I think we often conflate critical success with ratings success, and the Lumina story was given enough publicity that more people watched it, regardless of the quality of the story.

1997 (source AWHP)
October 27-31: 2.2

1998 (source AWHP)
October 26-30: 2.4 - Lumina Ball

 

May 1998 25-29: 1.9

May 31- June 4 1998: 2.5 - Lumina blown up

Edited September 26, 2021 by j swift