As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

Allyson Rice(Connor Walsh) will be on The Locher Room on Friday January 13th to discuss her latest book.

 

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Edited January 7, 2023 by Soapsuds

[Forever8]

She would've been great, although I wonder how much she would want to put up with P&G interference and possible network notes. Yet I can see her bringing back a stronger foundation to the show through the Hughes and developing strong friendships.

[P.J.]

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LOL...I'm not sure what to do with this. Although it brings to mind a photo shoot Lesli and Maura did with slicked back hair and cigars. I don't recall Lesli's hair being ultra short like Maura's was circa '97-99, but I always wanted to believe Maura kept her hair short at first because she hated the Monroe-esque hair they gave her during her first run. 

[P.J.]

 

Looking back on it, ATWT fell into this trope where the young women weren't allowed to be successful. "Vixens" like Carly, Molly, and Emily weren't allowed to have careers for more than a story arc. They were usually scheming for money. Their men/babydaddys would always be able to threaten them into behaving by taking away their kids. And while Lily wasn't ever broke (or technically a vixen), she ceased being any kind of business woman, and after Rose's death kept teetering on the edge of mental instability.

ATWT had a dearth of businessmen after a while, and if a man had money, they were a creep (think the horrible BJ Green.) HB's Craig never really had his own money, and I can't even think of a nice "rich" guy that showed up in town past '95. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Oh I dunno but I thought this ultra short cut looked super cute on West, back in the day. Maybe it was when she was pregnant and her face was a bit fuller but I thought it was very flattering on her. H/T @Broldenwhose site provided the image.

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Something tells me that O.G. Lily Walsh was never meant to truly be a businesswoman. I know they had her try to model herself as a Lisa type of businesswoman, rather than Lucinda, but Lisa actually enjoyed business and liked that she discovered that she was good at it (I remember her having this conversation with Barbara or another character, saying as much) while Lily repeatedly told Dusty, Holden, Sierra, Craig, Iva and anybody who would listen how much she hated business, lol. The Heather Rattray years were a departure from that but during the time that Martha Byrne portrayed Lily, it seemed as if Lily had to practically hold her nose in order to do any business dealings.

[Vee]

Thanks for this PTSD flashback. Yikes. It's still not working for me.

[DramatistDreamer]

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 To each her or his own. 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

But that's the weird thing for me--Carly or Molly didn't come on the show initially trying to latch themselves to rich men. They were zero focused on lower to middle class men (Mike or Holden). That's why it became a wee bit jarring (but made a little sense) when Carly sought out Craig. I got why but it went against what Carly liked early on. With Emily, they had her all over the place when KMH played her. If she was chasing a man for status, I found it odd as Emily had became a successful businesswoman at that point. It's like they tossed out all her growth when MS played her. 

And I don't remember a nice, wealthy man being on ATWT after '95 either. But I feel like that was done b/c the show was trying to push the Snyders as the end all, be all. 

From what I've seen of HR as Lily, she felt like she was actually Lucinda's daughter. She wasn't as shrill and neurotic as MB's Lily. While she could be emotional, I found her to be cold (much like Lucinda) at times and business driven. From finally getting to watch episodes from early 90s ATWT, I get why a certain set of fans were peeved when HR left the role. HR's Lily didn't make me roll my eyes unlike MB's Lily, who though I loved her, would make my eyeballs roll at a constant.

[P.J.]

I think Maura can pull off any haircut. The baby bangs annoyed me, but short hair was a thing back in the late 90s. I think Maura's is the shortest I ever saw on anyone on a soap, but Lesli usually stuck to a short layered 'do. Specifically, that pic was from early '98, when Holden tricked Molly into thinking he was marrying her. And it's actually a tad longer than when she returned in Sept 97. 

KMH frankly looked better to me with shorter hair. Hers was baby fine and looked wispy if it was longer.

I don't know if the sudden lack of millionaires had to do with pushing the Snyders, or an overcorrection from the Marland era when millionaires moved to Oakdale with alarming regularity, or Sheffer setting Craig up as the epitome of alpha-maleness. 

I don't think Molly had any ambition--she was out for dick. But Carly had ambition, and I hated that a lot of her story for years boiled down to her trusting Craig, getting lied to and winding up with nothing. I can't name another character who had so many fortunes slip through her fingers.

"HR's Lily didn't make me roll my eyes unlike MB's Lily, who though I loved her, would make my eyeballs roll at a constant."

LOL...same. I know people love MB, but I thought her "emotion" moments were over the top. 

I think Lily was fine with being in business---just not the cutthroat way of Lucinda's "big business" world.

[DramatistDreamer]

I can definitely attest to this. I did the “big chop” a.k.a. a “TWA” and when it grew in a bit, got a “pixie”. 

[DRW50]

I think the shortest Maura got was around 97-98. I was surprised at first because I did associate Carly with her original cut, but after a bit of time it didn't bother me. I was more bothered by the writing, for many reasons that probably aren't worth rehashing, from how they trashed her relationship with Lisa (and made Lisa look bad in the process, even though I doubt that was the intent), to the baby contract stuff, to Julia...on and on and on. 

I just got the feeling a lot of the people working on the show in that last decade didn't even like Carly, let alone try to understand her.

Edited January 8, 2023 by DRW50

[DeliaIrisFan]

 

What I really wonder about is whether Labine was ever in conversations about becoming head writer a little earlier: in 1993, right after Marland died.  She took over at GH not long afterward, so she was obviously available and open to writing an hour-long show at that point, and in some ways ATWT would have made more sense. 

Ed Trach was still heading P&G, I believe, and GL was still able to tell strong, reality-based stories at that point, so potentially Labine might have been given the leeway to do really good work at ATWT.  I do wonder how her vision might have translated on a show like ATWT at that point, with really robust core families in place.  Maybe she would have done a version of the GH heart transplant story within the Hughes family (Christopher and Casey, perhaps?).

By 1996, I think the canvas was still pretty rich, so it would have been nice.  But by that point, I don't think the execs would have given her the runway to tell her brand of character-driven stories through to an actual payoff, and she would have probably resisted a lot of the plot-driven ideas that TPTB "suggested" for as long as she could.  So I suspect many would have found it kind of boring, like when she ended up at OLTL instead and presumably faced similar obstacles. 

That said, for all the criticism of Behr's ATWT, she was an experienced producer and she and Labine had a successful working history that presumably led to the offer.  So maybe they could done something at least a little stronger as a team that what they were able to do separately at what must have been a very challenging time in the industry.

[Planet Soap]

Melody Thomas Scott and Katherine Kelly Lang both jumped on the trend and looked good aswell. I think short hair works best for Maura. Specifically these cuts, (middle one from Y&R).

 

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Edited January 8, 2023 by ironlion

[will81]

Hey everyone I was doing a bit of searching on Eileen Fulton and went down a rabbit hole. I found some info on her run on the show and her temps that contradict wiki. Here goes

Eileen first left in April 1964 not 1963 and Lisa was offscreen for a couple of months. Pamela King debuted in July 1964 but audience reaction was so strong (and negative) that both P&G and CBS (according to Eileen at the time) wined and dined her until she returned in August 1964.

Eileen then left in early 1965 to do Our Private World, however unlike what is on wiki, Eileen returned almost immediately to ATWT with press stating she would be back on daytime in early October 1965. Eileen then quit the show a second time with one report stating her last day would be Dec 17, 1965. However no idea if this is tape or air date. I could find no replacement information and it seems that Lisa was written off the show?

It was announced Eileen would return Jan 16, 1967 after touring with her nightclub act for the last year.

Temp - Lynn Rogers I could find no information

Temp - In June 1980 Eileen contracted hepatitis and was off the show for six weeks and Betsy Von Furstenburg replaced her

Eileen quit the show again, in April 1983 stating the show had gotten bizarre but it was also reported she demanded more money and better writing. Betsy Von Furstenburg replaced her until Eileen returned August 03, 1984.

Temp - Jane Powell subbed in July 1990 for a few weeks while Eileen had surgery. Eileen returned but it seems she returned too early and had to take sick leave again and as far as I can tell Jane continued in the role. Apparently Eileen returned and once again was still too sick and left again but this time.......

Temp - Maeve McGuire stepped in around Oct or Nov 1990 (couldn't find an exact date but it wasn't 1992 as far as I can tell) and Eileen committed to staying out until her health was back. No idea when she returned.

Temp - Jane Powell replaced her again in August 1996 for a few weeks when Eileen had an emergency apendectomy on Augst 07, 1996. It was reported she would return the week of Sep 02, 1996

That's all I have and not sure if this is common knowledge but thought I would share what I found as it is different to what is on wikipedia. 

[Franko]

Nice work, @will81! This solves a question I had when I first read The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, which mentioned that Eileen had quit "three times 'forever.'"