As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

To me, Ellen and Scott's Margo and Tom were fun and believable - when I started watching, they were the only Margo and Tom I'd seen. I do agree that the rape and HIV stories took a lot of this away, but it wasn't until the plane crash story and the PTSD story that I thought they became so shouty and dour 24/7. That's how they stayed, until the show ended.

I saw a letter in a soap magazine from the early 80's, blasting the comic Margo/Tom scenes in the Mr. Big story, and asking why we can't go back to Nancy's kitchen. I thought of this thread.

[RogerNewcomb]

That's how my mother felt at the time. But as a 12 year old I loved it and they remained my fave Tom/Margo till the end. I guess a lot of it has to do on our age/perspective/experience and how long we watched. Loved Brent Collins on both ATWT and AW.

[DRW50]

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[vetsoapfan]

Oh good Lord, that dreadful, embarrassing Mr. Big garbage. Low-brow camp and farcical "adventure" stories were NOT part of ATWT's DNA. The networks were desperate to lure in a teenage audience, and foisted all sorts of painful idiocy onto the audience over the years. GH had the Ice Princess. ATWT had Mr. Big. DAYS had Marlena's possession. TGL had Reva The Clone. So many putrid stories that ruined the integrity of once-great soaps, and never did pull in massive audiences like the networks had hoped. If I had had the choice to spend time in Nancy Hughes' or Bert Bauer's kitchen, or go time traveling with Reva (barf), I'd cling to those kitchen sets for dear life!

[DRW50]

What if you could time travel in the kitchen?

I always get the feeling that the actors mostly made the Mr. Big stuff popular. ATWT's other forays into the fantasy realm, like Barbara's past life, didn't seem as well-received.

[vetsoapfan]

LOL! Well, if I could stay in the kitchen and time travel back to the inception of the series and see all the episodes from day one, I'd agree. Other than that, no thanks. I agree that the only tolerable part of the wretched Mr. Big nonsense was the performances from the actors, who gave it their all. But I really think the majority of ATWT's audience did not want to see sci-fi on their show. Trying to force the show to be something it wasn't seriously damaged it.

[Quent]

I started watching ATWT at the end of the Margaret Colin era. I remember having a little crush on her, and vowed to stop watching when she left. I HATED HBS at first, but she soon won me over, and became my favorite Margo. The Margo/Tom/Barbara triangle was wonderful, partly because of the Smith/Marx chemistry, but also because Zenk and Smith played their rivalry with delicious venom. When Marx left, the chemistry between Margo and the new Tom (Holmes) was almost non-existant. I know we were supposed to want Margo and Tom back together, but I was rooting for Margo/Hal all the way, because their scenes were just so natural, not like the forced Margo/Tom scenes. When ED took over as Margo, she had more chemistry with Scott, but the T/M glory days had already passed.

P.S. Never cared for Justin Deas' Tom. He epitomised the term "over-rated".

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTR3JMajdLA&feature=channel&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe6ykzjGaHw

[RogerNewcomb]

I liked the 18th century stuff too, it was around the time I turned 13. If they were trying to pull in younger viewers, it worked on me, although my family had always watched. I've liked the Dobsons work on every soap.

[RogerNewcomb]

This one has started out a little slower than the others. The final 10 episodes did well (better than I predicted--shows how much I know). Are people more willing to buying the newer stuff? For some younger or new fans, maybe the older stuff is taking a chance on something unknown? I find it all very fascinating. I am a sucker for the oldest material but the sales and feedback will determine what comes in the future.

barber, I found out the tape for that episode is missing. It was to be somewhere but no one can find it at the moment.

Edited June 4, 2012 by RogerNewcomb

[~bl~]

I wonder if Mother's day and the coupon also helped to convince people to buy the last ten Oakdale episodes. I have so many other things to watch that I haven't ordered anything from SoapClassics since the Bauer DVD set.

[RogerNewcomb]

It may just be that it was around the first of the month or a number of things I've speculated in my mind. Hopefully it will sell as well or better as time goes on. This is probably my favorite ATWT DVD so far.

[Soapsuds]

It's a shame the sales are starting out rather slow on it. James Stenbeck was a central character of ATWT through the years. I can't wait to get my copy. I didn't realize the Ruxton Hills story is included in the DVD. I saw the free video of Ruxton Hills story and loved it.

I wish there was a dvd concentrating on decades...like an 80s DVD release..say with 30 or so episodes....a 90's DVD release...and so on........I for one hope we do get more classic ATWT DVDs.

[DRW50]

I'm sorry to hear about the low sales. I'm not too surprised, as we keep hearing about how older material doesn't sell as well, but I hope that the older releases continue. I'm only speaking for myself, but I only buy releases with older material. I won't buy anything which is new. I'm not able to buy every release, but I am at least one person who is a customer solely for older stuff. I've bought most of the older stuff, although I haven't gotten the Lily/Holden yet and am going to have to wait a bit to get the Stenbeck one.

Edited June 5, 2012 by CarlD2

[Chris B]

It should be no surprise that the Farewell DVDs did well. Most of the fans on the internet are young and only know the show from the more recent years. Things like Carjack, Gwen/Will, Olivia Spencer on GL or Katie for ATWT are clear sellers. I suggested a while back, a way around this would be a set pairing one older couple with a newer one. Say 10 episodes focused on Olivia Spencer, plus 10 episodes of an older character that may be similar. Or Quit/Nola, plus a newer couple in a joint boxset. That would allow newer viewers to still buy the set, become familiar with the older couple and they might be more willing to buy older leaning sets later on.

I also think it was a mistake focusing so much on James Stenbeck for this new set. I would've given Barbara equal footing, since she's a character the modern fans are more familiar with. It could've been Barbara and James: Volume 1, then a Volume 2 could've been their stuff in the 90s, 00s.