As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

It's silly to get angry over characters who were on ten years before you started watching, but it annoys me a great deal that they killed off Melinda. She fits in so perfectly. And my feeling that Marland would have known how to write for her is confirmed in these little moments.

The most frightening thing about Bennett is that mop on his head.

The woman who works for him is a little frightening though.

Edited October 5, 2013 by DRW50

[Mitch]

You can see shades of Doug Cummings in this story...the widowed guy with the assistant obsessed with him. I love her,"But I dont have to LIKE it," as if we needed any help figuring out she was the nuttso here.

I love that the characters pull coffee how of nowhere..all of them, all of the time!

I agree Melinda was a waste. That was more backstage political then anything else..(she was taking sides in the Zenk vs. the Dee actresses fued on who was the "Star," of the show.) They should have just wrote her out for a while..to kill her as she was pining over Brad the smuck was bad...plus no one seemed to care.

I wonder what Marland would have done for ATWT if he stayed. If you are to believe Bridget Dobson (who I think is a nutball) they liked the Dobson's outlines over his, which I cant beleive as he went on to GL to bring it to number one while ATWT floundered for years.

[DRW50]

Yeah, I tend to think P&G chose Marland for GL because he was known as bringing GH back from the dead and they were concerned about things like bringing in new young characters, which the Dobsons hadn't been all that successful at (I know that characters like Ben and Eve and Amanda filled something of that bracket but they weren't exactly "young"). I think they saw ATWT as being rotted out and were hoping the Dobsons could build it up the way they'd rebuilt GL.

Sometimes I'm surprised that CZ survived the 80s on ATWT as she sounds a little...difficult.

I always hesitate to say that no one cares about a character, because I have cared about people no one else cares about (I must be the only Pam Wagner fan around), but I have never seen a Brad fan anywhere.

Are they around? Do you know any? Anybody?

I don't know why Melinda was killed for angst over this man.

Edited October 5, 2013 by DRW50

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD46HLUzRzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr7J1wynR8I

[P.J.]

I FLOVED Pam Wagner!! It totally sucked that EVERY younger actress chilled in MB's shade in the late 80's.

Brad Hollister? I don't even remember him. But one of my earliest soap memories is Melinda's death. Thunking her head on a boat---what a cruel way to go.

[DRW50]

Oh good, there are two of us. I read and SOD review basically saying Jennifer Ashe was the only young actress to emerge during Martha's reign, and it's true.

I meant Brad Hollister, yes. He was supposed to be a youngish leading man on ATWT in that era yet I have never seen any fans of his. I wonder if there were even any at the time. People talk about Dee's relationships with John, and James, but never him. He looked like an aging porn actor.

Edited October 6, 2013 by DRW50

[P.J.]

Meg emerged once they got her away from any man who would have fallen at Lily's feet---ie, Tonio---and into a more adult story. Any other "teen" actress never got an "A" story. Lily always WAS the "A" story.

Dee with James? SAY WHAT?? Part of the reason no one talks about Brad Hollister is that he had no family on that show for the last 25 years. No one would remember Jennifer Ryan had not Kim and Babs still been around. And the Dobson era is not fondly remembered in general.

[DRW50]

[saynotoursoap]

I liked Pam, too. Robin Morse was a good actress and a very non-soapy type. She and Neil Maffin who played Beau were quite unusual. I recall being disappointed when Pam graduated nursing school and left Oakdale. I would have much preferred her and Andy instead of Courtney, whose "perkiness" worked my last nerve.

[DRW50]

I never liked Courtney either. She seemed fake.

I never knew why Marland gave up on Beau so quickly. He wasn't a great actor but he was a little different for ATWT at that time, as he wasn't just another Snyder, he wasn't someone's long lost relative, etc.

His exit story, leaving town with Nella Franklin, seemed so random and rushed. I can't remember if they were a couple.

[Soaplovers]

Wasn't Pam a niece of John Dixon's? If so, I'm surprised that more wasn't done to keep her on the show. From what I recall, she was the good to Meg's grey shadings.

[DRW50]

She was John's niece, yes. Her father came on the show toward the end of her run, as part of Lucinda's efforts to make John think he wasn't Duke's father.

She mostly contrasted with Lily, as Dusty dated her, but wanted Lily. Then later, a guy, Spence, was paid to woo Lily, but wanted Pam (he held her captive until she convinced him to get professional help...Marland was quite a believer in that).

I guess they thought she just had no real potential for story, but I wish she'd stayed around. Or at least visited sometimes.

[juniorz1]

Anyone else notice that you can see a microphone drop into that scene with John, Kim, and Barbara? It happens at the 8:34 mark.

[Soaplovers]

For me, I think the Snyder's both helped and hurt ATWT in the long-run. I think in the 80's through the mid-90s, the Snyder's served a strong purpose.. but I think by the late 90s, they should have been phased out along with that tacky Snyder kitchen set. To think that the show phased out the nice Hughes living room/kitchen set for that tacky Snyder set made me really question the show's wisdom.

I know Marland died in 1993, but I heard a rumour that he was in the midst of phasing out the Snyder's.. was that true, or was it just the follow-up writers phasing them out? Plus, is it true that Marland had the Kasnoff's in his story plans?

Did the Snyder's ever hang out at the Hughes family home, and vice versa?

[DRW50]

I think he did create the Kasnoffs. I think there may have been an idea of them replacing the Snyders, although I'm not sure if that was his idea. By the time he passed away, Caleb and Holden and Iva were the main siblings left, and Caleb was a supporting character. (Seth was on the way out, Ellie and Meg were gone).