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As The World Turns Discussion Thread

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  • Member
19 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

This SOU cover from 2001 made think about how much ATWT wasted MBE and Sierra throughout the last decade. What were your all thoughts?

I don't believe MBE was ever on contract at ATWT (If I am wrong about that, please let me know). So without having the actor on contract, it always seemed to me TPTB were reluctant to write any stories for her. She seemed to come and go for short periods for the better part of a decade, but only as a supporting character -- as most non-contract players did at that time. MBE played a more mature Sierra with more self-confidence than the character had displayed under Finn Carter, and I enjoyed MBE very much in the role. Plus she had chemistry with Liz Hubbard, Martha Byrne, and especially Hunt Block. MBE's Sierra didn't take any crap from Craig, and had no patience for Craig's return to being a cad.

MBE would have also made an interesting Betsy Stuart Andropolis recast. But there would have been no reason to bring back Betsy unless the actor was on contract. And I don't believe MBE was interested in a contract role in New York. Again, if I am mistaken about MBE never having a contract at ATWT, let me know.

Edited by Tisy-Lish

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Did Heather Rattray leave on her own or was she let go because they wanted Martha back? I never knew what happened behind the scenes at the time. I just knew Martha was returning and then she shows up singing.

There really not much info on Rattray and she has no acting credits after about 2000. I remember back in the day Superstation WTBS use to rerun all those 1970's Wilderness Family movies she appeared in as a kid/young teen.

  • Member
54 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

Did Heather Rattray leave on her own or was she let go because they wanted Martha back? I never knew what happened behind the scenes at the time. I just knew Martha was returning and then she shows up singing.

There really not much info on Rattray and she has no acting credits after about 2000. I remember back in the day Superstation WTBS use to rerun all those 1970's Wilderness Family movies she appeared in as a kid/young teen.

Douglas Marland was in frequent touch with Martha Byrne about six months before Heather Rattray's contract expired, to see whether she was interested in returning. Martha expressed interest, so the powers that be (TPTB) allowed Heather's contract to expire without negotiating a renewal. Once Heather's contract expired (and she left), TPTB began speaking with Byrne for an ATWT comeback, so it didn't appear that Heather had been fired for Martha.

  • Member
1 hour ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I don't believe MBE was ever on contract at ATWT (If I am wrong about that, please let me know). So without having the actor on contract, it always seemed to me TPTB were reluctant to write any stories for her.

One Life To Live made MBE an offer; when that happened, she wanted to give ATWT first right of refusal. When they heard of OLTL interest, they immediately put MBE on contract.

  • Member
32 minutes ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

Douglas Marland was in frequent touch with Martha Byrne about six months before Heather Rattray's contract expired, to see whether she was interested in returning. Martha expressed interest, so the powers that be (TPTB) allowed Heather's contract to expire without negotiating a renewal. Once Heather's contract expired (and she left), TPTB began speaking with Byrne for an ATWT comeback, so it didn't appear that Heather had been fired for Martha.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like they pretty much saw Rattray as a placeholder till Martha was ready to come back.

  • Member
21 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

Thanks for the info. It sounds like they pretty much saw Rattray as a placeholder till Martha was ready to come back.

I think I disagree with that assumption. I have no inside info at all, but if they were using Rattray as a placeholder, why go to the trouble of dramatically shifting Lily's character? With Rattray's arrival in 1990, Lily immediately became a semi-deceptive, man-hungry business woman. Since Jon Hensley had left the show, there was no plan to reunite the couple, so there was clear opportunity to take Lily (and her new portrayer) into new worlds/storylines. Also, I think I remember that Lily had some facial damage/reconstruction in the Derek explosion aftermath, so TPTB made a real effort to move on once Martha was Hollywood-bound. Maybe later on there was an eventual move in late 1992 to return to Martha, but I don't think it was the initial idea.

  • Member
54 minutes ago, MarlandFan said:

I think I disagree with that assumption. I have no inside info at all, but if they were using Rattray as a placeholder, why go to the trouble of dramatically shifting Lily's character? With Rattray's arrival in 1990, Lily immediately became a semi-deceptive, man-hungry business woman. Since Jon Hensley had left the show, there was no plan to reunite the couple, so there was clear opportunity to take Lily (and her new portrayer) into new worlds/storylines. Also, I think I remember that Lily had some facial damage/reconstruction in the Derek explosion aftermath, so TPTB made a real effort to move on once Martha was Hollywood-bound. Maybe later on there was an eventual move in late 1992 to return to Martha, but I don't think it was the initial idea.

I meant she was a placeholder during her last year before her contract expired.

  • Member
2 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

I meant she was a placeholder during her last year before her contract expired.

Gotcha -- yes, probably was in the works mid-summer of 92.

  • Member

There had been a partial episode of May 26, 1988 up for about a decade, and today the rest is available. The first video has about ten minutes the second doesn't have. Very glad to have another full strike-era episode.

@DramatistDreamer @MarlandFan @Soapsuds @P.J. @Vee @Mitch64 @Khan

Most of this episode is about Sierra's "death," although we still get a bonus of Holden being cold and unpleasant and pining over Lily, as we can never have enough of that. And Meg's embarrassing fawning over Tonio, which is in its last months.

I'm glad the first ten minutes were already available as there's some fun Liz Hubbard moments, like saying Lisa is "long in the tooth" to be a bridesmaid.

Some nice early Kirk and Iva here too. Kirk hating on Craig even as his wife is "dead" is more amusing than it should be (I think at this time Kirk wasn't much of a Lily fan either). Iva saying that Craig has something childlike about him sums up Scott Bryce's appeal in the role and is something no other actor in the part ever understood.

I feel bad for that friend of Sierra's who was gunned down protecting Craig and Bryant. In the end, not really worth it...

That Who is Julia? TV movie at the end looks so strange. I miss those days of experimental TV-movies. Or anything with a TV movie.

Edited by DRW50

  • Member
3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

There had been a partial episode of May 26, 1988 up for about a decade, and today the rest is available. The first video has about ten minutes the second doesn't have. Very glad to have another full strike-era episode.

@DramatistDreamer @MarlandFan @Soapsuds @P.J. @Vee @Mitch64 @Khan

Most of this episode is about Sierra's "death," although we still get a bonus of Holden being cold and unpleasant and pining over Lily, as we can never have enough of that. And Meg's embarrassing fawning over Tonio, which is in its last months.

I'm glad the first ten minutes were already available as there's some fun Liz Hubbard moments, like saying Lisa is "long in the tooth" to be a bridesmaid.

Some nice early Kirk and Iva here too. Kirk hating on Craig even as his wife is "dead" is more amusing than it should be (I think at this time Kirk wasn't much of a Lily fan either). Iva saying that Craig has something childlike about him sums up Scott Bryce's appeal in the role and is something no other actor in the part ever understood.

I feel bad for that friend of Sierra's who was gunned down protecting Craig and Bryant. In the end, not really worth it...

That Who is Julia? TV movie at the end looks so strange. I miss those days of experimental TV-movies. Or anything with a TV movie.

It's always exciting when a "new" Marland-era episode pops up on YouTube. I'm still hoping that one day we'll see the late-May 1986 episode where Frannie's memory suddenly returns during the Doug Cummings murder trial as well as the Labor Day 1986 episode of Chris Hughes's birth. As always, thanks to everyone who recorded, saved, and posted episodes.

Edited by MarlandFan

  • Member

Thanks @DRW50 I did love Kirk and Iva so. "You're uptight and humorless." It's too bad they didn't list the scriptwriter, 'cause someone understood the assignment.

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