As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Picking up on the thread of distinguished ATWT alum, there is a NYT article regarding the 30th anniversary of the movie My Cousin Vinny that centers around Marisa Tomei's Oscar winning performance and the backlash she faced on account of her win and how she faced and ultimately overcame it.

[Khan]

I'll never know whether Marisa Tomei DESERVED that Oscar, but I DO know that MCV was, and is, a POS movie that's funny BECAUSE of her performance in it.

[DramatistDreamer]

At this point, I'm not going to argue about whether she deserved or didn't deserve the Oscar, especially when there have been actors who have spent less than ten minutes on screen and won the Oscar (no offense to Alan Arkin) and nobody said sh*t about it.

[Soapsuds]

Roger talking about soaps. I wish he'd post here again. I thought @DramatistDreamer might be interested in hearing it. Don't worry no nudity.

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[victoria foxton]

Two bottoms in a tub. They're cute.

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[Paul Raven]

Thanks for posting.

have watched the first 30 min or so.

Interesting that Roger finds all 4 soaps enjoyable. One reason is he stays away from discussion/comments. I agree that joining the pack and criticizing does take away viewing pleasure but still there's so much wrong with today's soaps.

When I watch Y&R I can't invest too much because there's always something in the writing or production that bugs me.

[Soapsuds]

You're a mess!

Roger is married. Colleen Zenk officiated the wedding.

Damon is adorable.

You're welcome! I only watched the first few minutes. I'll have to watch it tomorrow.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks for posting @Soapsuds. I will be sure to give this a listen a little later.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

What I enjoy about Roger are not his critiques (and you know how much I enjoy a well presented critique!) but his ability to curate soaps, from a historical and cultural perspective. Whether soaps are good, bad or indifferent, those perspectives are sorely missed. I personally miss them anyway. I know that the WLS blog probably both became too time consuming for him, while he may have found good enough content in which to post lacking (he's likely much too diplomatic to say this) but to me, the absence of an updated blog speaks for itself. But the blog kept me feeling connected to serial daytime drama, even the soaps I didn't watch and imo, that presence is missing now.

Also, yeah, I miss seeing him interview past and present cast and crew members from the daytime dramas, especially because he demonstrated that he knew what he was talking about and could speak  and ask questions with competency. I'm not saying that others lack respect for the genre, I am saying that the lack of well crafted questions and discussion topics comes off as a lack of regard for knowledgeable fans and in turn, the genre. Roger had the ability to keep fans connected and engaged with the cultural relevance of the soap through his presentation and curation of the soaps and I appreciated that. No one else does that now.

 

[Khan]

I realize that times have changed, that budgets have shrunk and that producers and writers are working under more pressure from the networks than ever before.  But, even under those circumstances, I still believe the remaining four soaps are capable of giving us better than what they're actually giving.  To quote @Vee, they're just settling for "peppy" and "cheap," and that's it.

[DramatistDreamer]

Definitely this!

There are too many bullsh*t excuses being given for poor quality. Yes, I realize that some of these soaps wrote themselves into a budget corner by going "luxe" in the 1980s, but they could honestly bring the budget expectations down to earth by maybe not making everybody rich. Maybe one upper class family, a couple working class families and the rest in the middle. Even on Dallas, there really was one wealthy family consistently onscreen. And also, what do budgets have to do with better or worse writing? It's not as if they're hiring Academy/Tony award winners on the writing staff.

I remember watching episodes of soaps on YouTube from the very early 80s and the sets were cheap as hell (I'm talking when a door slam was enough to bring down an entire wall!) but the drama was so compelling that you barely noticed and when you did, you hardly cared! Honestly, I think the biggest problem is that the writing is "cheap and peppy" more than anything else.

[Khan]

Agree!

[Vee]

I took "peppy and cheap", of course, from Soapdish, where the network honcho (Garry Marshall) makes it a guiding ethos for the show over the showrunner and stars' heads. I think it applies even more in the last decade than back then.

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[Khan]

I remember that scene very well, lol.

How appropriate was it, though, to have Garry Marshall play the "network guy" who utters those words?  In the '70's and '80's, his sitcoms were the very definition of "peppy" and "cheap."

[Khan]

I'm watching the first episode of "Secrets of the Chippendale Murders" on A&E, and guess who shows up in archival footage?  That's right: Brian Starcher (ex-Hank).  Unfortunately, he was clothed, lol.