As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

No actually it was impossible. She wrote that when Erica had her abortion her doctor took the fetus & implanted in his wife's womb & she carried the baby to term & he was born & Greg & his wife raised him as their child. 

[Khan]

It couldn't have happened even off-screen, because, AFAIK, it is medically and scientifically impossible for an aborted fetus to survive beyond the abortion, let alone be implanted onto another fetus and survive full-term.  AMC officially went all sci-fi with that storyline.

[adrnyc]

Is this an abortion storyline I don't remember from ATWT or am I in the wrong thread?

[Contessa Donatella]

No, I'm sorry. It's an abortion from All My Children. We sorta began to have a meta thread about soaps in general. In talking about things that happened to ATWT we also began to talk about things that happened to a lot of other soaps, too. 

[slick jones]

Everyone's favorite befuddled poster rambles in every thread. The All My Children unabortion has no ties to Oakdale.

[adrnyc]

Ah, thanks. Still, the idea of an "Unabortion storyline" is definitely fascinating. Sorta like dying by falling UP the stairs. 

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[Franko]

I don't want to start or continue a prolonged fight, but I will say that while there is nothing wrong with having an all-purpose conversation about soaps, I think that it goes against the years of show-specific conversation that these show-specific threads have had.

Anyway, I watched the Jan. 29, 1980, episode, getting a kick out of Dee & Ian living it up at the Italian disco. And "Rise," of all songs, playing.

[P.J.]

 

The NY shows definitely had better access to talent, and they would pop up in different roles. Phyllis Somerville (who played Annabelle Fettle, the baby broker) was also in episodes in '94 when Mike and Ro went to Montana, and GL in '90 as a mouthy attendant at a Spa Blake went to. Who knows how many the shows hired over the years. But I'll always know Sara Ramirez as Hannah, who married Jack and Carly in Montana.

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[Contessa Donatella]

As I said sorry we were being OT.

And, yes, fascinating is one word to use for it. Many people consider the UnAbortion storyline that Megan McTavish wrote at AMC to literally be the single worst thing to ever happen on any soap. And, so, Kendall & Bianca suddenly had a grown brother getting into everything for a while!!! 

[Contessa Donatella]

I wonder if it's happening because there is a need for it but no place for it. 

As to whether there's going to be a fight, clueless. 

[slick jones]

@P.J.

This is what I found for Somerville in my searches for her soap roles...

PHYLLIS SOMERVILLE     

THE GUIDING LIGHT    Spa Attendant    1990

ALL MY CHILDREN     Velma            Unknown Year

LOVING               Mrs. Swan          1992

                                    Grace     1994

AS THE WORLD TURNS    Alice     1994

ONE LIFE TO LIVE     Eloise       Unknown Year

               Charlotte Stonecliff    1997-98

GUIDING LIGHT        Mrs. Beasley     1998

AS THE WORLD TURNS     Annabelle Fettle         2004

 

Her role on THE OUTSIDERS was great.

[Mitch64]

My fault as I asked the question about the unabortion and I heard the unfortunate answer! I am glad McTrash got no where near ATWT or we would have the Grandpa Hughes collaborating with Nazis and Judge Lowell running a sweat shop behind the Wade Bookstore and he and Lisa had an affair and James was their son....

I love that "Rise"was playing...Poor Ian will be sorry he was rising later that night!

 

The Stewarts weren't my favorites but they were part of the show..I never got the whole Hughes vs. Stewart thing that Sheffer tried to press down our throats...the two families were friends and allies for years, and Susan wasnt even a Stewart anymore! They could indeed have brought Dee back and Annie's kids.

I do like what Wheeler did with GL in the end...characters like Van and Matt and Mindy made sporadic appearances and then Danny and Michelle.  I hate how soaps write someone off the show never to be heard from again as if they have no ties to their old family and friends. Ellen would have been a character like that..during the dumb Emily and Tom affair she should have been there, reigniting her "feud" with Lisa...."Oh, it's funny you call my granddaughter a slut when the word was practically invented for you!" 

 

[vetsoapfan]

The death-by-falling-up-the-stairs myth is firmly ingrained in soap opera lore, but never actually happened. Liz Stewart on ATWT was seriously injured when she fell while running up the stairs. Critics have spun this as she "fell up the staircase," which of course is absurd and never happened. Folks just took pleasure in mocking the soaps.

I always found it amusing how long and hard Ellen would and could hold onto a grudge, LOL.

Edited February 28, 2024 by vetsoapfan

[DramatistDreamer]

It was great to see that type of consistency in a character, tbh. Even in the 1980s, when I started watching as a child, there’d be these warm holiday gatherings and Ellen would be there and Lisa would enter the kitchen and flounce by and Ellen would shoot such a look at her.

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 Just the memory of these encounters sends me.

[Mitch64]

I always wanted Michael Shea to return...maybe during the time David had amnesia....he would have course have to have miracle soap plastic surgery but he would be able to push Lisa's ego and horn dog buttons and also get in Ellen's good graces in that he would be providing medical care for the homeless, something that Ellen would volunteer for. Maybe he would take the name of one of David's friends who had died...and of course "Chuckie " would be alive and fall for Betsy (much better then angry Steve..) Somehow the women would end up being threatened by him and held hostage and Ellen would get to slap Lisa when she was hysterical...Lisa, "I wasn't that hysterical," Ellen "I know, but it's a good excuse..that slap was years in the coming!"