As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

I am not saying she wasn't popular, I just think that it would have worked better to have John defended by another town weirdo. I think the Dobson's thought it "daring," to have a rapist defended by a woman.

Maggie did get together with Steve's hottie cousin Frank who was three million times hotter then annoying, nostril flaring Steve.

LOL on those clips again...a LOT of talking and not much happening. I would love to see the credits but it seems so Marland with the people walking in and out and all the phone calls about "dinner," and who is coming. The only thing is I keep expecting them to say, "Where will we go for dinner...I don't know, maybe the Mona Lisa?" Love John slyly bugging Bob, and Kim's total blow off and annoyance with him.

Are they setting up the return of Joyce with Nancy and Chris going to San Francisco, because they keep making a point of saying San Fran over and over again, and with Grant saying, "I use to live there." Was it Marland's idea to bring back Joyce and the Dobson's kept going with it? It seems they werent interested in Don and Mary and completely ignored Nancy and Chris' involvement later on.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Mitch

[Soaplovers]

I believe that Marland's brief stint went from August/September 1979 till December 1979. So all of the clips being shown were during Marland's brief stint.

From watching the clips, Betsy looked to be positioned as the main teen character. Suzanne Davidson's Betsy reminds me a lot of Lucy Deakin's Lily in the scenes shown. There was one clip of Dee and Betsy having a heart to heart, and I could have envisioned Sierra and Lily having that same talk years later.

It seems to me that Joyce coming back from the dead was in the works so I'm not sure if it was a Marland idea that the Dobson's carried on or not.

[Mitch]

It seems that is the case. I can't see the Dobson's bringing back a character so immersed in the Hughes family and the whole Nancy and Chris and Grant talking about SF is a total Marland, "Something is coming up," thing. Knowing him I think he probably would have had Nancy see Joyce in a crowd for a second and then dismissing it and Joyce following them around town and back to Oakdale.

An interesting time in ATWT, and really makes me not like the Dobson's any better. There was a lot of potential at this time in updating the show but keeping the core and the Dobson's screwed it all up.

[Soaplovers]

According to a montly summary from December 1979 (when the switch happened).. Joyce was seeking therapy, wrapping christmas gifts for teddy then sent them to Don and Mary.. freaking Mary out, who suspected it was Joyce.

I can't totally dislike the Dobsons, they created James Stenbeck.. plus paired up Tom and Margo.

[Limenade]

That scene between Kim and Betsy was 8-minute long! 8 minutes!

I thought Davidson did a terrific job playing opposite Hays, very believable and natural in the way one set of emotions flows into the next throughout this long scene.

[DRW50]

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[BKuzak]

I just bought the 40th anniversary book. it's in great condition. I found it at a discount store where peole bring in all their old books and things. It's like a flea market, i always find cool stuff that are out of print.

[saynotoursoap]

It was not all the Dobsons. A good deal of "the core" being shoved aside came from P&G and the producers. The Dobsons did a fantastic job of focusing on the Bauers on GL. In fact, the Dobsons gave the Bauers front burner stories, whereas Marland made them supporting players. The Dobsons were not monsters out to destroy the Hughes family. Remember, Helen Wagner quit; she was not let go. Also, the reason she eventually left was because scenes had been written and taped with her, set to air in February 1981. At the last minute, MEB cut all of Helen's scenes. Wagner was furious when the show aired, and she was not in it. It was not the Dobsons' fault. They simply wrote what they were contracted to write. Ultimately, P&G was responsible for these changes.

[DRW50]

Were the scenes just family scenes or were there more?

I agree that P&G must have a lot of blame, although Marland seemed to handle the transition at GL better than the Dobsons did (or maybe it was Potter + Marland, I don't know).

Didn't Freddie Barthomelew have some issue with the Hughes family as well? Or was that someone else?

[Soaplovers]

I think the issues come down to writer and show compatiablity. The Dobson's fit better on GL then they did at ATWT. I think P & G had the mistaken impression that GL and ATWT were similiar shows and they weren't.

Marland's writing was different at GL then at ATWT.

What was Marland's greatest strength could also be viewed as a weakness as well. He could balance out several stories at the same time and going at different paces as well.. but if he left a show suddenly, things always fell apart since he created very complex and intricate story threads that very few could carry on if he jumped ship without warning. At GL, he abruptly quit and the show struggled to finish out his complex stories with two different writing teams before they settled on Pam Long.. who promptly started tying up his stories while introducing her stories.

In ATWT's case, Marland suddenly died during routine surgery when stories were in mid-steam.. and his successors couldn't maintain his style.. even though there was an attempt to do so for two to three years.

As I stated before, I think P & G should have done a writer swap in late 1989/1990... and put Marland over at AW (who had a very interesting vibe that I think Marland could have written... he would have had a ball writing for Iris)..maybe put Pam Long at ATWT (she seemed to love community and family.. plus she was good at writing male characters)..

[DRW50]

Fascinating article NYT put out yesterday talking about the episode which was airing when JFK was shot. They mention that the full episode is at Paley (I didn't know that), talk about the scenes that didn't air, and interview Don Hastings, Eileen Fulton, and Rosemary Prinz.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/arts/television/as-the-world-turns-interrupted-by-kennedys-shooting.html?from=arts

[cassadine1991]

Good for Rosemary to do that..

[Mitch]

That is interesting, I didn't know that..where did you hear that? Plus Freddie Bartholemuex was still producer at that time, not MEB. Did he have a problem with the Hughes as he was a producer of the show for a long time.

I love Behind the Scene stuff.

[Khan]

Hey! I actually know the guy who wrote that article (I think)! He's what we Philolexians (of "The Philolexian Society," Columbia's oldest literary society) call the Avatar, since he was the one who spearheaded the club's revival while he was an undergrad.

Good article! Thanks for sharing, Carl!

But I DO take umbrage with Sam Ford's comment. There ARE scenes in a soap opera that can be considered "pivotal."

Edited November 23, 2013 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks for posting this. I wondered over the years how the actors found out (I guessed that they wouldn't have been told until the taping was wrapped up for the day) and how they reacted. Normally I wouldn't think too kindly of an actor ad-libbing in a script but it was kind of strange that there would be absolutely no acknowledgement of an event so big, especially on a show that had such a strong air of realism. I understand that you don't want to make the assassination the whole script but a tacit acknowledgement would've been acceptable, IMO.

I think posterity looks kindly on what Rosemary Prinz said.