As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

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[DRW50]

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Edited April 7 by DRW50

[chrisml]

I don't remember Mary Kay Adams on this show. Did she have a major storyline on this show. I am probably blanking out on her storyline. Is this around the time that Glynnis O'Connor was nuMargo? I have a vague memory of something to do with an architect. Anyway, I posted this in another thread, but Michael Logan rated soap hoppers at the time and Mary Kay Adams was a hit for her role as Neal on the show:

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There's also an interview with Douglas Marland about Margo's HIV status after the rape:

[MarlandFan]

Mary Kay Adams played artist Neal Alcott who had taken a job working as Art Director for Lucinda's Worldwide.  At the same time, architect Royce Keller (played by Terry Lester) was hired to design Worldwide's new tower.  Unbeknownst to Lucinda, they were her long-lost half siblings and they wanted to get to know Lucinda better before revealing themselves to  her.  Royce in particular had anger towards Lucinda for "abandoning" them when they were kids once the teenaged Lucinda left home after high school.  Royce and Lucinda never got along, but Neal and Lucinda formed a strong friendship and Neal ached to tell Lucinda the truth -- but Neal was murdered before she had the chance.

This had been the planned storyline all along (which was why Adams had signed only for 6 months.) The problem for the TV audience was that Neal had become a very popular character in her short stay and her death was a very unwelcome plot twist -- especially since the storyline offered no satisfying ending for the Neal/Lucinda relationship.  Lucinda found out about Neal being her sister AFTER Neal's death.  So there was very little emotional payoff for the audience.

Doug Marland unfortunately died during this storyline's arc and my suspicion/hope was that, if he had lived and had seen the onscreen chemistry between Adams and Hubbard, he might have changed the story to allow a real sister relationship to occur between Neal and Lucinda.  Lucinda came to care for Neal as a friend and that allowed Lucinda to trust again -- which I believe was the really important part of this storyline.  Maybe Marland could have asked Adams to extend her contract by another 6 months or maybe change her murder to simply an attempted murder?

Anyway - Marland died in March of 1993 and Adams fulfilled her contract and was gone by June of 1993.  Royce was eventually revealed as Neal's killer (it had been an accident during one of his multiple-personality episodes) and Lucinda attempted to repair her relationship with him.  But Terry Lester (who was an amazing Jack on YR) was not nearly as charming or interesting as Royce (which led some soap journalists to snark that Marland had killed off the wrong sibling) and without Marland to champion the character, Lester/Keller was gone by 1994.  

 

[DRW50]

You said this very well. When Lester left, he said he was proud to have played out Marland's last great storyline. That was a classy statement but...was it a great storyline? I think so much of it rested on being a Lester showcase that just wasn't especially compelling, as well as a story that suffered from the miscasting of Emily (KMH was at best of times a competent actress who had a very spotty history of chemistry with her leading men...she also lacked the depth Emily should have had).

There was also nothing left once the story was over. Did any viewers care if he stayed with Emily? I don't even know what all he did after that. I think he rode a motorcycle and was friendly with Julie and a few others.

I adored Neal. That was the first time I had ever seen Mary Kay Adams. She put her all into the role. She clicked with everyone. On paper, that's great, because it should mean we're devastated to lose her, but that doesn't work as well when the aftermath just isn't worth the loss.

They overcasted the role. Adams was too vibrant. 

I think they should have cast someone like Marcia McCabe - a good actress, likeable, worked well with everyone, believable as a relative to Lucinda, but not so charming that she was going to leave a huge hole. She did well enough in a similar type of short run on OLTL in the late '80s.

Edited April 9 by DRW50

[Mikevalleyct]

Are there clips anywhere of John Colenback and Jane House?  (Dan and Liz).  That was my favorite story.  Star-crossed lovers ...wound up as in-laws when Liz married Dan's brother Paul.  All of 1970 and 1971 when there were Stewart family gatherings we could count on Dan and Liz looking longingly at each other .... while the live organ guy would play the refrain of "the song of love is a sad song"  in the background.  Ah...those were the days.

[Paul Raven]

There are no ATWT clips (yet) of that era. I believe there is 67 ep and late 72 but nothing in between.

[DRW50]

Welcome.

As mentioned, there's nothing - this isn't exactly what you want but is from around that period.

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[Paul Raven]

Always good to revisit. I'm assuming that is parts of 2 episodes. In the first sequence Dan has an injured arm but he's fine in the latter part.

I wonder what caused Irna to seemingly change direction? In a matter of months Paul and Liz were dead, Dan left town and Susan married and divorced Bruce.

It seemed years of storyline past and future were dropped.

[Mikevalleyct]

I guess that is because they did every show live but i would think they would also make a tape for the west coast.  But then I heard they re-used the tapes to save money.  What a waste.

Live shows did have some blips though.  I remember the actor playing Paul Stewart losing his toupee in one fight scene 

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[Tisy-Lish]

OMG, really?  Who played Paul Stewart?  

[Paul Raven]

Dean Santoro. Tape was more expensive in those days and could be wiped and re-used.

Still think it was a mistake to kill Paul. He could have just left town for treatment.

[Mikevalleyct]

I don't think Irna had a choice.  if i am not mistaken Paul died never knowing Dan was Betsy's father.  That revelation may have put her two leads in a 'bad light' maybe.  And then also, the audience may have been pushing for Dan and Liz to finally get together after 3 years of waiting.  Can only make them wait for so long.  Of course, switching actresses in the middle of that hurt that slightly

[Khan]

It's incredible to me how ATWT experienced so much upheaval during that period, yet remained at or near the top of the ratings.

[dragonflies]

SJB answering ATWT question

 

 

The whole tweet since they seem to not be embedding again

 

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