As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[bboy875]

I'm watching Wagon Train right now and only recently realized Robert Horton, who was on this show for a few seasons, played Whit McColl. He's like Mr. Cool on this show

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I've wondered about this the last few days. They would've had to task people to go to every place they store remaining episodes of every soap opera they produced and have them wipe everything. Toss them all out, maybe but wipe everything I just don't know. And unless someone from P&G confirms or denies, we really wouldn't know. And I don't think they'll ever bother to say anything 

 

[Vee]

Yeah, and I just can't see them bothering. Toss them, yes, but wipe them systematically - I can't see them giving a shīt.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Vee

[Paul Raven]

It reminds me of when MGM had a prop and costume sale and iconic pieces could have been lost forever.

Debbie Reynolds purchased many items in an attempt to salvage Hollywood history. After years of struggling to get a museum of the ground, she too sold off the pieces.

At least those items were offered up. But P&G refuse to sell off the tapes or licensing rights.

I agree that many people connected with those shows (ad agency reps, actors, directors etc)still have tapes. I hope their children or grandchildren might one day upload them.

[Broderick]

No doubt Colleen Zenk believes the "wiping" to be true, but I suspect it's a miscommunication.  That's a LOT of hassle and expense.   

Seemingly the material is worthless to P&G right now; they've made that pretty clear.   But theoretically P&G has some savvy marketing personnel who are aware of the archives and know that they could profit from hiring an intern to upload the episodes to YouTube, throw in a few commercials for Pampers, Tide, Head & Shoulders, and Swiffer, and mop up some quick cash when the time is right.     

[Soapsuds]

I have to lol at you mentioning Pampers first

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. Here are other commercials of theirs...

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I get goosebumps every time I hear the theme music.

[Broderick]

I almost said DAWN, which as we all know takes grease out of your way, because I just walked in from the store with a bottle of it in my hand.  

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[Soapsuds]

[Jdee43]

Prior to ATWT going off the air, P&G seemed to really care about their old shows and their history. They donated a lot of episodes to various museums and archives, including the Paley Center. They were the first to try and stream classic episodes of their shows and set up a classic soap blog. They got reruns of Another World on the air with Soapnet and then put them on Hulu and YouTube.

 

When ATWT ended, everything changed. It seems P&G folded their entertainment division. So all these old shows went to the parent company, and they obviously could not have cared less about them. I'd guess the parent company not only saw these old shows as contributing nothing to the bottom line, having nothing to do with their bread and butter, but probably also saw them as an embarrassment. I would not be surprised if corporate, out of ignorance, arrogance, and embarrassment, not to mention cost-savings, had them liquidated. It's the corporate world for you..

Edited August 10, 2022 by Jdee43

[watson71]

If the P&G shows ever see the light of day again, it wouldn’t surprise me if they showed up on the CBS owned Pluto TV.  Pluto TV has a lot of classic TV content- including vintage Price is Right, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and a ton of Goodson-Todman game shows on Buzzr.  They also have a Soaps channel with Y&R and B&B episodes and a Dark Shadows channel.  If you watch any of this content, P&G buys advertising blocks on the various channels.  One day, I was watching one of the sitcom channels and every commercial in the 30 minute block was for a P&G product.

[Chris B]

Actually, a couple years ago there was talk of them doing a streaming platform, but it wouldn't have included the soap stuff.

[Brolden]

With all this talk about P&G wiping everything, I'm very pleased to announce that I am currently in the process of creating an ATWT vault!

I've been inspired by the vaults for B&B, Y&R and GL that I've seen on this board. I'm currently in the process of filling it up, so give me a little time before I share the links with all of you. I need to sort through a lot of stuff that I've left unsorted on my external hard drive for way too long. I've always taken the approach of "rather have three copies of an episode than no copy at all" when collecting episodes, so I'm tryin to sort all that out. 

Stay tuned!

[MarlandFan]

I would be eternally grateful!!!  TY!

[Faulkner]

Oh that’s really cool, thank you. We are forever grateful for archivists like you.

[Fevuh]

This all reminds me of a poster on another board years ago, and I'm not so sure she wasn't 100% correct.  At times, she was kind of slammed on that board for being a little 'out there' with comments and stuff.  But - I was on that board regularly in its heydey, and even kept my same name/handle when I found this board.  Maybe this board was around then too, I just wasn't here.

But - that board I am talking about was mediadoman.com.  The poster I'm referring to was 'Rosebud'.  She said numerous times - more times than you could count - almost  on a DAILY basis when the subject of P&G and soaps would come up.  She was part of an organized group that 'saved' Another World on several occasions.  And she said she spoke to people VERY high in the chain at P&G and she was told - that P&G wanted OUT of the soap business COMPLETELY - and wanted NOTHING to do with it.  The people she spoke with stated on numerous occasions and their opinion was that Soaps were done, there's no reason to keep it going, and NO one is interested.  They don't even want the hassle of licensing or rights or ANYTHING.  And this was why it was so important to save Another World.  Because when it's gone, the remainder will not be far behind.

I think about it often.  And while she may not have been 100% correct - since they DID run AW on other channels after cancellation - her story and posts definitely are more correct than not.  The other thing she said ALL the time was that P&G thinks they know it all - they know the best - because they almost single handedly INVENTED soaps as we know them now.  And since THEY know best, NO one could possibly know anything MORE than they do.  And when they're done - they are done - because SOAPS will be done.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Fevuh

[Mona Kane Croft]

 I agree. "Wiping" tapes is synonymous with erasing tapes. P&G had tens of thousands of tapes. There is no way they would have gone to the expense of erasing all those episodes. So if P&G disposed of the tapes, they most certainly just threw them away.  But truthfully, I do not believe they disposed of them.  The archivists at P&G are obsessive (in a good way) about preserving the company's history.  So they would fight hard to preserve the episodes, even if they had to do the work themselves in Cincinnati.   I feel certain Coleen was misinformed.  There was a rumor a few years ago, that all the tapes had been destroyed in a massive fire at a warehouse in NYC.  That was completely untrue.    My understanding is that P&G Productions still exists, but now they produce video material mostly for P&G's in-house needs.   I believe Televest has ceased operations completely.