As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[MarlandFan]

I totally agree. Pine was over-the-top slimy (as Channing was indeed written) and it was one of those fun "soaps-in-the-summer" murder mysteries. The story itself served no long-term purpose (a short-term character murdered by another short-term character) but it managed to involve most of the Walsh/Snyder clans and it was over within a few months.  (Wish the same had been true of Carolyn Crawford...)

[Soapsuds]

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[DRW50]

A better cover than a storyline. 

They really messed that story up.

[Vee]

The P&G/Beyond the Gates post on the main forum has a lovely video taking note of ATWT and GL with some nice comments from a rep. Very surreal to see after all this time.

[Vee]

Pardon me if I am retreading very old ground, but searching can be tricky re: discussion on some of this stuff. With the back end of ATWT '86 picking up considerably as it nears November sweeps, I just realized the show will soon be at a disadvantage. IIRC (and if various wikis aren't inaccurate, which they often are) it seems Gregg Marx is out as Tom as soon as the end of the year soon after a relatively recent reunion with Margo, and apparently the show won't have another Tom Hughes (the ubiquitous if considerably less sexy Scott Holmes) for many many months. Soon thereafter I believe Scott Bryce is also out as Craig in spring or summer of '87, not too long after he and Sierra have finally reunited.

I wonder what was known when to the show - presumably well in advance, which is why they've started adding more men like Duncan, Seth and will soon add William Fichtner as the controversial Josh. I am surprised Marx was able to get out of the show after only two years?

I do find the handling of the triangle with Lily, Dusty and Holden to be interesting in that Lily is openly cavorting with Holden and making out with him off and on while at other points clearly wanting to recommit to Dusty, go on dates, etc. There are plenty of gaps in 1986 online, but this seems to be a recurring thing over many months both before and after Dusty and Meg's ill-fated jaunt to New Mexico. I'm not sure of Lily and Dusty's relationship status at his point. Not sure a show would be quite as bold or casual with this kind of young love today.

Also interesting is the seeming pivot to Barbara and Duncan, who do have major chemistry. I assume this was always merely a feint/angst re: Shannon.

Edited February 16 by Vee

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

from the book "Last Stage Manager Standing" - the time As The World Turns filmed a big remote in Greece - and forgot to record the audio!

Forcing them to hire a lip reader to transcribe the dialogue so they could loop in it later!

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Edited February 16 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

[Reverend Ruthledge]

I'm not sure I understand this. How could they not have the scripts anymore? The scripts are available even today. Why would they not be available a few weeks after the shoot?

[DRW50]

If this is true, then poor Kathryn Hays was not only getting hate mail, but having to loop old lines like she was in one of those Italian Hercules movies.

[Mona Kane Croft]

This at least partially explains why that remote in Greece always seemed so awkward and a bit off-putting. I could tell it was always some problem with the sound.  Plus, doing a remote on film (rather than video-tape), when other soaps had been shooting remotes on tape for at least a few years, was a rather poor decision.  I've often wondered if this was the final time a US soap-opera shot a remote on film.  

[soapfave06]

Is any footage available of the remote? 

[DRW50]

All I remember is a clip or photo of Kim wafting along while standing near a Greek statue, which looked a bit silly.

[soapfave06]

Ha! That’s all I have seen as well, thanks! 

[DRW50]

Marland tends to just float Barbara along as a pot-stirrer until she is paired with Hal. I'm glad he saw it couldn't last forever (maybe her being drawn into story with the inherently dull Tonio was a wakeup call). 

I assume Marx and Bryce gave a lot of advance notice. I think - although someone else will know this better than I would - they may have held the role of Tom open as long as they did because they were hoping Marx might return. 

The original plan was for Holden to just be a spoiler to Lily/Dusty so the back-and-forth might be part of Marland adjusting the canvas. I can never remember if they always planned to say Iva was adopted or it that was also because of Lily/Holden being popular with viewers. 

On paper, that Lily/Meg/Dusty/Holden should have been much stronger than it was. Given how much Marland wrote Meg as a young Nola Reardon, and his original plan was to pair Kelly and Nola for real not just through Nola's scheming, I am surprised they never tried a genuine Meg/Dusty pairing. Instead, Dusty is clearly made into a B or C player, pining after Lily and being a stopgap for her, while Meg is thrown into the hellish marriage with Tonio, leading her to be put with an older set. 

I don't think Jennifer Ashe worked as well as a bitch or in camp mode (IIRC Marland tried to give her fantasy sequences too, which never really worked) as she did as the tortured bird in a gilded cage in the Tonio/Josh year. 

I wish they'd tried an Emily/Dusty pairing. That could have been something. Honestly, I think any man would prefer to be with Emily over Lily, unless they are Holden, I guess, and he was always a bore anyway.

Edited February 17 by DRW50

[Vee]

I actually think Jennifer Ashe is great as fun schemer Meg, but the dumb Dusty pregnancy scam has a very limited shelf life for me. The super-campy fantasy sequences (which are all over 1986, not just with Meg) get goofy, but her fantasies are more amusing than most of them. You can def see the Nola influence on that. I am looking fwd to seeing her move into the adult set though, which I've seen glimpses of before.

The very sudden reveal that oh, Iva was adopted seemed like an immediate 180 re: the longevity of Holden and Lily lol.

Edited February 17 by Vee

[DRW50]

You're right, it probably was a sudden rewrite. I do credit Marland for trying to add a little story with Iva's biological father and sister, but more could have been done. 

I do remember some other fantasy sequences, including one I thought was genuinely great (Sierra having a nightmare of Craig and Tonio having a threeway with Lucinda), but they were such an odd fit for ATWT, I wasn't surprised they didn't last. 

I feel like I should have enjoyed Meg, and the axe she had to grind with her family, with spoiled rich girl Lily, etc. but everyone around her was so extremely earnest (I think the only Snyder who didn't become earnest and dour was Austin Peck's Brad, because Peck was just too much of a himbo), it was like dropping Cher Horowitz into the Grapes of Wrath. 

Edited February 17 by DRW50