As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Vee]

Whoa! I don't remember that. Maybe I haven't seen it yet. There was one a couple eps ago where Sierra has visions of people 'popping in' constantly to her bedroom left and right as she imagines Craig leaving her for the crippled Iva while she's now pregnant, with flashes every time someone appeared a la Q on Star Trek and it was just so silly.

I think the fact that so many of the Snyders were so earnest (most of whom I like so far) makes Meg fresh air. Though the early Holden who is at times as calculating and outright feral as she can be is also very interesting to me. And I do like Tonio as just a totally vile character.

[DRW50]

I'm probably making it seem more scandalous than it was - I believe it's Lucinda, Craig and Tonio in a sauna setting or somewhere, taunting Sierra (we don't see her, she's just the camera), but it's heavily implied they are both getting together with Lucinda (I think they are kissing on her arms or neck at some point but maybe I am making half this up).

Early Holden was very interesting, I agree. Marland tries to go back to that here and there, mainly through his wanting to be a corporate shark. I wish they'd fully committed.

I think Tonio works well for what he is in his marriages to Sierra and Meg. And Barbara and Emily, etc. were so lacking in self-worth, so I'm not surprised they got involved with him. It's just when you spend as much time as Marland did on, essentially, how many women he was dicking down, you need an actor with more charisma than the guy who played Tonio.

[Vee]

What little I've seen of corporate Holden (from later on, maybe the amnesia era) is very interesting. It seems like a very different performance, as opposed to much later where Jon Hensley seemed like a nonentity for me for much of the 2000s.

[MarlandFan]

Marx fulfilled his original 3 year contract and then left for L.A.  Marland did, in fact, leave the role of Tom open as long as he could (6 months) in the hopes that Marx would return.  Bryce also left when his contract expired but (as we saw) he basically had an open-door to return whenever he wanted.

I LOVED Jennifer Ashe as Meg.  Spunky, smart, wily, and forever-yearning. I hated how her marriage to Tonio made her a victim, but it did help to mature her.  Meg was the sharpest of the Snyders and I was always happy to see her drop in for a short term visit post-1988. 

And Marland definitely rewrote Iva's adoption to allow a Lily/Holden love story.  The revelation scene between Iva and Emma in the August 4, 1986 episode is very long (by soap standards) and covers a lot of exposition for a single scene. While beautiful and beautifully acted, the scene definitely feels like it was surgically added at the last minute.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:03 PM by MarlandFan

[Vee]

As part of the press rollout for Beyond the Gates, Tamara Tunie gives a lecture and talks ATWT around 12:50. She discusses the FBI being called in over hate speech and death threats. She praises the writing as 'brilliant' but also critiques the issues with diversity, etc later on around 1:02:30.

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[DRW50]

Thanks. Any time you hear of an interracial relationship on a soap you hear about death threats. You hear so much hostility now about interracial relationships and how they are establishment and selling out and so on that it can be easy to overlook just what a risk the soaps were taking, especially one with as conservative an audience as ATWT. 

The show didn't do right by Jessica in the end, but there were a few years where you saw all the possibilities. I'm glad Tamara is able to speak out about her experiences and the pressures she was under.

Edited 10 hours ago by DRW50

[DRW50]

"As the World Turns" Promo (1990)

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