As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch64]

I think they were chemistry testing him with Fulton during the scam time, (they also tested her and Nick which might have been interesting) and when they had them flirting it was after the trial during the strike material so they didn't know what to do with either of them.

Originally the plan was for Lisa to come back to town involved with Brian McColl, not his dad..so I wonder if they were going to do a son/Lisa/father triangle which would have been interesting...without the Whit the Wig actor.  Fulton wanted a relationship with Cal (who I thought was sexy) but they said no, so when he was murdered she wanted to wear a veil and cry to indicate that there was a thing off screen but they wouldn't let her.  

Oh boy, your starting something now...lol..I actually like Block as Craig and thought he was sexy..(I never liked whiney Craig Bryce but I know that's sacrilege here...) but can understand he got annoying after a while in that he ALWAYS won ( agree on Finn Carter..ugghhhh.) I wish soaps had done that more often..had people grow apart...on GL there was no reason to have Quint have an affair and have bitter mopey Nola around..all Nola had to say was she was tired of going on digs, being dirty, being away from her family and life with Quint wasn't as glam as she thought it would be ("Try taking a shower with cold water and scorpion...it isn't a movie.") or when Harley and Mallet broke up...they just drifted apart. But these shows build these dumb super couples up so much they can't have real relationship problems..

[SoapDope]

Did anyone else feel GL ripped off the Kim/Bob/Susan affair story (which was awesome) with the Maureen/Ed/Lillian ? Killing off Maureen was a BIG mistake.

Re: Finn Carter......she had the worst hairstyles. At times she would cut most of her hair off and then what was left put it up in a rubber band. 

[wonderwoman1951]

the recent passing of the great reminded me of something irna phillip told peter wyden’s when he profiled her in 1960 for the saturday evening post (which i know is somewhere, but can’t find it at the moment).

gena rowland’s only broadway performance was in paddy chayefsky “middle of the night.” at the end, rowland’s 20ish character winds up with the older man played by edward g robinson. as i recall, irna was very unhappy. what she wanted to know was how the couple fared after the happy ending. can’t remember her exact words, but i do recall something about how would the people fit into each other’s lives. 

which is really the core of soap opera storytelling: the aftermath of what happens.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[DRW50]

Thanks. That's one of those episodes which is up elsewhere but hard to find as it's undated. And also hard to watch but the material is so rare you power through anyway. I really enjoy the balance of laughter and drama with Gregg/HBS Tom and Margo before Marland just put them in misery mode.

[adrnyc]

Block was ridiculously sexy!! Sex on a stick.

I agree about soaps showing more how people just grow apart. Ultimately, the show concluding without Holden and Lily ending up together was one of those rare decisions. 

[Mitch64]

Agreed, but I will say his best role was on GL...(though the writing was terrible, it was just overnight Blake was hot for Ben...)It was a bit weird that wussy Craig who was about to cry if his latest girlfriend didn't spend every waking moment with him, the man who was obsessed with a pre teen and teenagers (Lily) volatile and annoying emotions, became basically a sarcastic prick..but. 

 

[adrnyc]

 

Well, turning into a sarcastic prick can happen to the best of us. LOL

So far, in my rewatch (am at Sept '00,) I know that Craig was pretty nasty in the early 80s before he was redeemed and became everyone's best friend. I can buy him becoming bitter after Sierra separated from him in the early-mid 90s, and he did what he could to save things but she was too busy running Montega. So he set out into the world to make his own way again instead of being Sierra's lapdog. And I've known many people to change A LOT in 6 years.

Right now, his Craig is pretty tame. He's mostly concerned with repairing his relationship with Bryant and he's finding himself drawn to Carly. Because who wouldn't? Maura West could have chemistry with a paper bag. 

I'm interested to see how I feel as I rewatch something I haven't seen in 24 years! And if I'll enjoy it as much as I did before. So far, I'm just waiting for Lily and Simon to get off that stupid island...

Oh, and as for Guiding Light, I've only seen bits and pieces of his character. It's on my "list" of things to get to eventually.

[Mona Kane Croft]

Here's a question out of the blue:  Did Chris and/or Nancy ever have a real storyline of their own?  

From what I understand, they were both created as tent-pole talk-to characters from day one of ATWT.  Their function was to serve as the patriarch and matriarch of not only the Hughes family, but the entire show.  So no storylines for them, huh? 

I did read in a couple of places that Chris once had an affair with his secretary during the run of the show, but I've not seen verification of that. If this is true, then that would be at least one storyline for the pair.  But to be honest, I don't think it happened.  

As far as I know, Nancy's only real brush with a storyline was in the late-1980s, when her second husband (Dan McClosky) suffered from Alzheimer's disease.  I was watching at the time, and Helen Wagner certainly had some very difficult dialogue and challenging scenes, as the wife of an Alzheimer's patient.  So I'd suggest this may have been the only storyline in the long history of ATWT that actually focused on Nancy Hughes.  I may be wrong about that, so feel free to correct me.

Is anyone aware of Chris and/or Nancy having any other storylines that specifically featured either of them?   

[Sapounopera]

How did feel the viewers about Nancy getting married again? I am not sure I like it. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

I was a long-term fan at that time, and I didn't mind Nancy getting remarried.  It might have been a little too soon after Chris's death, but fundamentally Nancy getting remarried was okay with me. At least it gave her something to do.

I'm not sure Dan McCloskey was the right choice for Nancy's new romance.  He was so different from Chris.  Sort of gruff and working-class.  But maybe that was the point -- to give Nancy a different kind of husband.   And of course Nancy changing her name from iconic Nancy Hughes to Nancy McCloskey was a hard pill to swallow.   But that's what happens when a widow gets remarried.  Right?    

[Paul Raven]

Nancy and Chris were the tentpole characters and heavily involved.

Their own 'stories' pretty much came about through disagreements in how to handle various family crises.

Nancy's attitude to Janice, her sister in law Edith, Chris' decision to search for and help his criminal brother John etc

She did face a health crisis in the mid 60's and had a hysterectomy. Also going to work part time.

This was something that was dropped on soaps in later years. Older characters were seldom seen and usually just talk to's. They didn't have the agency and point of view  of the Hughes and other parents/grandparents.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[NothinButAttitude]

I loved the cute scene with Kim and Andy. Their relationship has always been one that I loved on ATWT. Personally, I feel like they have one of the best (if the best) mother/son relationships I've seen on daytime. It was just effortless. It was good that they didn't go with the cliched route of Andy protesting the marriage. Yes, I know Frannie will pop up soon and is cold toward the idea, but the payoff after Doug Cummings would result in my favorite mother/daughter relationship in daytime. God, I miss Kathy Hays. 

HBS was just natural as Margo. I always wondered if the show tried to woo her back during her stint on OLTL. I know I would've. One thing that was highlighted in this episode but lost in the last decade of the show was the brother/sister relationship Margo and Dusty had. The Goutman era truly had no idea who Dusty was or his inner-workings in Oakdale. Even when they had Craig and Dusty at odds, Margo should've been in the center being conflicted between her blood brother and surrogate brother. 

And was the girl in the Pringle commercial Sarah from Search for Tomorrow? 

[Mona Kane Croft]

This is the first time I've heard about Nancy having a hysterectomy.  I do know Bert Bauer had a hysterectomy in the 1960s, while Agnes Nixon was writing GL. That was a huge deal and said to have been Nixon's first social issues storyline.   Any chance you are confusing Nancy with Bert?   No offense, but I've never read anywhere that Nancy had a hysterectomy.  Again, don't be offended by my question.  Not my intent at all.  Just trying to clarify and perhaps look for some verification.