As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

Lisa Brown first appearance on As The World Turns when Iva comes home

This is during the "transition" phase Marland/Calhoun was pushing from "Steve & Betsy" show to an ensemble show - Tonya Pinkins is in this episode as well at the start of her romance with Roy Franklin. Maybe Pinkins was written out because Marland wanted the Jessica Griffin character to romance Roy instead?

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[P.J.]

Brolden's created a thread of ATWT episodes. According to him, it's 1/10/86. The thread is on page two, and will probably be an enormous help.

[blueberrywaffle]

Thank you very much!

[DramatistDreamer]

That would be some far out and ahead thinking (which tbh Maryland was known to do with story projections) because Heather left around summer ‘86 and Jessica didn’t appear onscreen until early 1987, although in late 1986 (around one of Gregg Marx’s final onscreen appearances) Tom Hughes is seen looking overwhelmed and talking on the phone and pressing Jessica to come to Oakdale a bit earlier than she plans to arrive. Because there are so many missing episodes, I am not even sure if Marx’s Tom and Tamar Tunie’s Jessica Griffin ever had an onscreen interaction. The first episode that’s posted on YouTube where I remember seeing Jessica is either end of January or early February 1987.

I am really curious as to what really happened to Count Stovall’s presence on this show. Was his character deliberately phased out or did he get tired of the direction of the character and choose to leave? 

[DramatistDreamer]

Also, why couldn’t the show have more than one Black woman in the same age group on the canvas at the same time? You had Barbara and Margo, you had Lily and Meg. Lisa, Ellen and Kim were presumably in the same age group, and so were Betsy and Sierra. I don’t understand the mentality that there could only be one character of the same gender and ethnicity on the canvas.

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

Tonya Pinkins exited August 1986

Tamara Tunie joined in February 1987

Six month period between the two - when you are creating a long-term story - that is just the right amount of time to give the audience distance between the two - so viewers can forget about Heather and welcome Jessica

That said - Tamara Tunie had the same complaints as DramatistDreamer - In a town of over 40 contract player, why are only two Black? However Tamara really pushed Douglas Marland to create a back story for her character - and there were episodes where Jessica went back to visit her family, so we could get a sense of what made Jessica tick

Edited May 28, 2024 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

[DramatistDreamer]

They sort of picked up with the Griffins where they left off with the Franklins. I felt like attempts were made to do something similar with Roy and his family, the Franklins but they didn’t have the ‘know-how’, especially seeing as the show wanted to tackle the issue of race and police killings and the tension between Roy and his father, who disliked cops because they shot and killed his other son. The idea was prescient (and still is unfortunately) but the execution of the story was clumsy and spoke to the lack of intimate knowledge of the issues and relationships.
 

Maybe that’s why Tonya Pinkins felt that their personal lives and relationships were being pried into by the writers (although from personal experience, I can attest to the fact that writers are always eavesdropping for material)- because they otherwise had no knowledge of these issues. Hey, maybe hiring a few Black writers would have solved that issue but we know that daytime writer’s rooms were very insular.

[Brolden]

It's the same episode as the "Cry Of The Wind" episode on the Holden & Lily disc released by SoapClassics. That's where that particular date came from.

[Soapsuds]

I knew the episode looked familiar and that's because I have it on DVD from SoapClassics.

[DRW50]

The material that Jessica did get in her time on the show is somewhat remarkable considering the conservatism of P&G, yet you do still wonder what could have been. 

(not even getting into her second run, where she may have been more leading, but I think most of her material was extremely degrading) 

Yesterday I was thinking about how much I miss the Hughes family Memorial Day barbecues. The holidays are when I miss P&G soaps most of all. 

[P.J.]

You're very welcome! I'm trying to watch Guiding Light in order, so I understand your dilemma. 

In case I haven't said it lately, your work is very much appreciated!

[BetterForgotten]

MAGA Martha is rightfully getting dragged for this on X:

I’ve never been more proud to be Heather Rattray’s #1 supporter on this board…

Edited May 31, 2024 by BetterForgotten

[Khan]

Martha, honey, just accept that your husband is a scuzzball and move on.

[DRW50]

I'm with you there (and fortunately as far as I know Heather doesn't share her opinions on social media).

[lilyredd]

It’s interesting that now that Byrne has had some blowback from her maga tweet that she followed with a story of how Hubbard was yelled at by a fan for going to DC to support the ERA and that the two had differences but still were close.
 

Right or wrong, my appreciation of an actor or singer or whatnot can be influenced by their views. As a huge Hubbard fan it makes me really glad she seemed to have liberal views. I remember when she returned after a brief hiatus in 1999 and was in a rehab place. There was a scene where she seemed to make sure the camera viewed a book she had in her suitcase written by Gore Vidal. Lucy was a Democrat and no one will convince me otherwise

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