As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

I wouldn't doubt Lisa suspected John, but I think the Christmas card Kim received was the same one Lisa was sending out that year.

[DramatistDreamer]

Oh, I see. John was probably suspicious of Lisa as well then. Man, that storyline started out in such a meandering way. Remember the promo featuring Barbara blowing the rape whistle? Or was that a different year? I think that may have been somehow thought of as being tied to the stalking story too? 

[P.J.]

LOL...my memory's not that good..but wasn't Babs trying to hold on to Brian at that point? It might explain some dramatic rape whistle scenario. I did read in the ATWT book that Marie's baby was Tad Channing's, and that Iva was questioned, and she admitted she had also been having an affair with Tad. 

Also, Lisa suspected John was trying to cause trouble between Bob and Kim. Lisa was admitting to Babs she still loved Bob and that Ellen noted that the "gifts" always seemed to show up while Lisa was around. I couldn't find a specific reference to the card, but I know it tied into the lyrics of Someone to Watch Over Me, as it was a picture of a lamb and shepherd.

[DeliaIrisFan]

Whoa re: Marie and Tad Channing.  So I guess Iva's reference to having been in New Haven wasn't just a red herring - she actually was (in)directly tied to that whole story.  How long was Marie on the show, and when/where did she manage to hook up with Tad?  I didn't think he actually appeared on canvas until after Doug had died.  And did Iva and Doug ever share a scene together?

The subplot with the card was featured in the Christmas Eve episode that was on the DVD.  John was the one who sent a card, to Lisa, that was identical to the one Kim got from her stalker.  Ellen suspecting Lisa of being the stalker sounds amazing!

This is the rape whistle promo.  Whoever put it together apparently didn't watch the show.  Ken, the guy who wanted to give Barbara a message for Kim and might "face conviction" couldn't have been on the show long enough for even a soap-length trial.  Ah, what does it say about the genre that someone who worked in soap PR assumed that the protagonist—whose fate the audience was supposed to care most about—must be the character whose menacing behavior prompted someone else to blow a rape whistle?

I believe Ken was the one who worked with Doug and Marsha at the restaurant and knew Kim back in her lounge singing days, so he became the first suspect (in the stalking, not sure about the murders).  Come to think of it, didn't he also have a thing with Marie?

Edited November 13, 2023 by DeliaIrisFan

[P.J.]

Marie seems to have lasted a year or less, the book only lists her for 1985. Tad is listed as 1986. (I had forgotten there were two Tads.) I couldn't tell you for certain if Doug and Iva ever had a scene, but since Caroline's opened, I would guess they might've had a few lines. Marland wasn't a big "wink wink" , Easter Egg kind of guy from what I remember.

I'm not sure you can blame PR for that. Marland wanted suspicion to fall on everyone other than Doug.

[Soaplovers]

Marie came on in either late spring (like May) or during the summer pre-Marland.  She was the reason why Frannie/Kevin broke up.. and Frannie partly ended up coming back to Oakdale in the spring of 1985.

The only thing that Marland really did was connect Marie/Kevin/Frannie to the Doug Cummings story.. and also use Iva as a red herring because of the Tad situation.

[DramatistDreamer]

It’s really too bad that there are so few episodes from 1985 on YouTube. It would be so much easier to piece these events and story plots together if we had the benefit of seeing the episodes again.

[DeliaIrisFan]

Right, but the promo was written as if "Ken" was a major character the audience was invested in. If I'd been a longtime viewer and had missed a few weeks, my reaction to seeing this ad would have been, "Who is this Ken?"  Although I might have been intrigued seeing Barbara in danger and hearing that Kim was involved.  I just think the focus should have been something along the lines of, "Is Kim's stalker a mysterious man from her past, and is Barbara in danger next?" 

Edited November 13, 2023 by DeliaIrisFan

[Mitch64]

Good point, this was before or at the very beginning of the Stalker Storyline where Kim found a dead body in the woods behind her house and called Margo.  I remember Shannon being a jewell smuggler but I have no idea what became of that or the body in the woods. How could Shannon start off as a jewell smuggler and turn into such a Marland bore worried about Lily and honesty? 

John and Lisa were both red herrings in the stalker..John with the card (why would John Dixon send out cards to anyone, much less Lisa) and Lisa still being in love with Bob (which started pre Marland when I think when Harding LeMay was consulting) and doing some fun stuff like pitting Kim against Nancy (who LeMay or someone had as her usual stern self) by not telling Kim Nancy headed kidney pie or something) Lisa broke down crying telling Babs she was still in love with Bob and yes, Marland was great in dredging up the Ellen/Lisa feud of Ellen not trusting Lisa (and in one scene insulting her handwriting "Lisa, I never could read your handwriting...') fun stuff that made the characters seem more real. 

Marie was brought on as the spoiler in the Kevin/Frannie thing..but that was as about as interesting as a wet cracker, and Marie was killed during Shannon's Halloween party when she was dressed as Madonna.

[MarlandFan]

I liked actress Mady Kaplan very much.  She played a sweeter, Sad Sack-ish character on "Edge of Night" a few years earlier and that character was also murdered.  The demise of that character (named Bobbie) tugged at the heartstrings.  Marie's demise...not so much.  lol

After a quick Google search of her, I see that her mother was Frances Heflin who played Mona on AMC!  Wow!

[Soaplovers]

Because Marland had trouble writing certain characters well... and a character like Shannon needed a different writer to really keep her interesting/popping.  If you ever saw Susan Bledsoe Horgan, who created the character of Shannon, in interviews or seen pictures of her.. you would understand how pre Marland Shannon came to be.  Very similar personalities.

 

[Soapsuds]

Shannon was definitely written better by SBH. She created her and would've known best who she was as a character. Shannon became very watered down with Duncan as her husband.

[DramatistDreamer]

I know some people thought Brian was too straight-laced for her but I enjoyed the contrast at times and Brian would sometimes become fiery when he thought anyone was trying to get between he and Shannon (which of course, is eventually what happened). But Shannon was the living embodiment of “quirky” before the trait became an actual thing.

[Soapsuds]

I enjoyed the whole Brian, Shannon and Barbara story but once Marland paired her with Duncan ....Shannon as we knew her was gone.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

And it likely happened because he probably observed Margaret Reed and Michael Swan as a couple. Of course, by the time he paired Shannon and Duncan together, the real life couple had already broken up. As good as Margaret Reed was in the role, I still had a hard time seeing what Shannon truly saw in Duncan and his ridiculous personal history. I could see what Barbara might have seen in Duncan, an air of mystery similar to her ex husband James but Shannon originally didn’t seem the type that would want to go chasing after someone with such a fixation on maintaining an obvious lack of transparency.