As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

Thanks for the clips..(though You Tube has been stopping in the middle of the clips for some reason.)

The John coming to see Kim at the Stewart house scene is almost repeated when he comes to see Dee at the Stewart house when David dies. (they are both outside of the Stewart house and both Dee and Kim are talking to someone else when he walks up) I wonder if Marland did that on purpsose?

That guy wasnt Beau and both Annie and Dee were BORING actresses. Melinda was a live wire and would have been more interesting if she stayed. But the Dobson's were intent on obscuring the Hughes in favor of the Stewarts for some reason who I felt all of them were "mopey."

The scene were Nancy answers the phone, Wagner is so natural its like she was talking to someone. They should never have gotten rid of Nancy and Chris..the Dobson's (and Bunim, RIP) sucked!

[DRW50]

Funeral.

Who is that with Lisa? Is it Tom?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfGJE6vr3kk

I guess that girl with Betsy is Valerie's adopted daughter.

I can see why Suzanne Davison was popular with viewers. She seems very ethereal.

Edited September 22, 2013 by DRW50

[P.J.]

Yes, that's Tom. That's Tom Tammi in the role.

I thought the funeral was oddly, eerily silent. Maybe I'm just used to the modern way of things, with lines and asides cut into the scenes. They all looked grumpy to me. Except of course Kim, who's giving the most stoned version of a smile I've ever seen.

[DRW50]

I remember when they had Holden's last fake funeral and it was looked so sparse and empty.

At least we got to see some genuine somberness here, although I couldn't quite connect emotionally (I did when Kim remembered his wedding vows).

I kept thinking about when David died, and Chris, and how we didn't see much of the actual funeral (we may have with David - I can't remember).

[P.J.]

It wasn't that it was just silent that bugged me though---it's that no one was even touching during the funeral. As if the director glued everyone's ass to the seat so they wouldn't ruin his camera angles or something. You'd think either Kim or Ellen would be trying to comfort Betsy.

[saynotoursoap]

Out of context, it does look odd by contemporary standards, but consider this. No one knew about Dan's terminal illness. He was a beloved character to many. One day he was there; the next he was gone. Perhaps one reason for the solemnness and coldness of the ceremony was to convey the shock the community felt. The community was stunned. Not enough time had passed for other characters to register the types of emotions more commonly seen when death is not quite so unexpected.

Character reactions were the domain of the director, and I can imagine the lack of intimacy was intentional. He wanted the audience to feel unnerved, to experience in a small way the trauma Oakdale citizens felt. In those days, it was about character more so than plot. I also feel this is a reason for Betsy and Kim being separated. Betsy had only learned a short time earlier that Dan was her father, not her uncle. Having lost both of her fathers in the exact same manner was too much for her to bear emotionally. This is evidenced in the scene in which Kate attempts to cheer her up with the offer of cake, and Betsy pulls away, adamant that no one else knows what she is feeling.

Yes, it was a different approach than many soaps would have taken, over the top with emotion and tears, but it seems right in the context of this soap, its characters, and stories.

[jam6242]

Regarding Dan's funeral, remember that the Stewarts were WASPs and so it wouldn't be unusual that they would be stoic in public.

[saynotoursoap]

You made me LOL, Carl, with the "last fake funeral" comment. However, it is also a very incisive statement. The producers knew he was not dead. The audience knew he was not dead, It was the second time in less than ten years that the same story had been done with the same character. The producers probably thought "why bother with a significant funeral?" It was pointless, yet another problem for far too many contemporary soaps.

[saynotoursoap]

Excellent point, jam6242, and right on the money.

[P.J.]

Well, I had forgotten Betsy had just learned Dan was her father---but WASP or not, I expected more emotion than Kim's borderline creepy beatific smile. At least David managed to looked pissed off at his son's death.

And props that they used "Look to This Day", or whatever the poem is.

Edited September 23, 2013 by P.J.

[DRW50]

I'm not entirely sure whether they were setting Kim up as repressing her emotions and breaking down later on, or if they were just trying to show serenity. I thought her emotion in her scene with Bob was very genuine.

I always want to know how viewers at that point in time felt about Kim and Bob. If they wanted them to be together, or if they still thought it was wrong. I've always wondered if one of the reasons Kim and Bob never really had popular relationships with people in the 80s was because of viewers wanting them together, or if it was just other things (the Nick story seems a little OOC for Kim, and most of Bob's love interests seemed to suck).

[DRW50]

I was shocked that they even had a funeral the last time, as we'd gone through this before and it was obvious he'd be back soon. I remember just being thrilled to see Seth again, as he was one of my favorite characters.

I liked the idea of showing an actual church, even if it was completely empty, but it just didn't work. I wish that ATWT and GL had been able to try that approach with a much bigger budget, and without a hack like Goutman.

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEHQms1jSZo

[Mitch]

Who was that girl that Tom and Barbara were looking after? What was wrong with that Tom (he seemed kind cute in a cheesy 70s way) that the Dobson's dumped him for the future troll like Deas? I mean,if they wanted him why didn't they just make a new character, the hippie lawyer in town, instead of grafting in onto clean cut upright Tom?

The pace is so different at that time, the scenes last long and I expected a kind of Marland thing were Melinda would bump into Annie on the way out. I like the talk with Kim and David, it was natural and real, seemed more so then the rest of the clip, but that might have been because of Hays and Forsthy that the younger actors couldnt pull off.

And DAMN Annie, your brother was just put in the ground, and your hot and heavy for sex????

[DRW50]

He's a little wooden.

Is that the prostitute Tom had a story with?

The pace is very slow and stiff, although like you said, some of the actors make that sing.

I just don't care for this Annie at all. I'm not sure what they were going for, especially the affair storyline. I guess they wanted her to be hurt before she realized her true love for Jeff. She mostly just seems awkward.