As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

Personally, my bet is that the first Jason had been written too harsh for anyone to believe Iva would have any interest in him. I forget exactly what case he was involved in, but I remember him being a huge dick. I doubt Jason would have been retooled if they hadn't decided to give Iva a somewhat happy ending and ship her off. But JasonTheSecond was such a dull wuss, I felt sorry for Iva being stuck with that boring, homely loser.

[DramatistDreamer]

Was the case the James Stenbeck murder case for which Paul went on trial?  The one where Jason goes on incessantly about Paul committing a crime of Passion?  Jason was a dick but then again so was Kirk when Iva met him and he even was still a bit of one when she began to fall for him.  In fact, Iva has a bit of a history of falling for dicks as she was also involved with Tad Channing.  

I do agree that Iva was thrown with Jason for a happy ending but I could never figure out why?  Were they just done with Iva and wanted a safe, doughy middle aged man to put her 'out to pasture' with?  Maybe after all that time passed they couldn't get the original guy so just decided to go with a totally different actor and used it as an opportunity to completely change the character?  I still think the original Jason was more interesting (jerk and all) and a helluva lot better looking than the 2nd one.

 

Also, I always wonder why ATWT didn't bring back more marginal characters from the past instead of inventing brand new ones?  I guess the writers were just not as interested in the show's history by then.

Watching now, I can't help but think, instead of characters like Liberty and Janet and Eldridge (or whatever that annoying kid's name was).  I'd have much preferred if they brought Brock's widow and two children to Oakdale.  Maybe Brock's son or daughter blames Emily for taking them away from the family and their father's death and seeks revenge.  Maybe that may have only truly worked had Melanie Smith been in the role but I would've risked it, if only to spare us from the hell that was the Ciccones.

[P.J.]

I had to look it up---it seems Jason was brought on to prosecute Paul for James' death. The bible only listed Jonathan Hogan in the role ('89-'94), which I guess means the first guy wasn't on for very many appearances. (which I still find curious; lots of bit players are listed, both actors who played Ray Tenney are included, and that certainly wasn't a big or significant role)

Kirk was a dick---but he certainly wasn't boring. Hogan recurred for years, but it's not like he had a significant story of his own---all I remember is him being Tom's pipeline to the Crime Commission. It had to be that once they decided to fire Brown, Iva needed a "happy ending", and a reasonable excuse to allow her to take MJ with her.

Don't get me started on the Ciccones. I'm convinced Julie Pinson had photos of someone doin' something.

[DramatistDreamer]

John Hutton was the 1st actor to play Jason Benedict and he was on during the investigation/pre-trial and the trial and the immediate aftermath.  I'd say at least a dozen or more episodes that he appeared in.  Hutton is on the list of closing credits for the show during Paul's trial.

It seems that he may have taken some time away from the screen (seems as if he did quite a bit of theater) but as of late seems to be currently doing more screen work (he was in Lincoln)  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0404632/

Perhaps the actor only intended to stay for the length of the Stenbeck trial and couldn't stay for an extended run.  Even as a ruthless dick, I still found Benedict to be more interesting as played by Hutton than he was as played by Hogan.

 

What year was Lisa Brown fired?  Just seems like that was a poor decision.  The character had life left and with good strong writing, could've been made interesting but even Marland had started to rely too much on making Iva remain 'put upon' and unlucky in love.  I found it kind of insulting that she ended up with the doughy faced version of Benedict.

 

I wonder if the actor who played Phillip Lombard, David Cryer (the real life father of actor Jon Cryer) is still acting?  I looked at his Wikipedia page and I thought he'd be much older than he actually is.  Actually, looking at his imdb page, it looks like he has been retired from acting for quite some time.

 

And the actor who played Joe Barlow is still alive also.  He had good chemistry with Eileen Fulton.  Had he been still acting, they could have had a brief story arc where Barlow finally retires from overseeing the crime commission and kindles a relationship with Lisa.  I don't know, it still rubs me the wrong way how they had Lisa ending up alone and just wandering around.

Edited January 23, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

Lisa Brown was let go in fall 1993, along with Anne Sward. I do think the character was tired, but getting rid of her altogether was a big mistake. I will always resent that she had to give Aaron up to Holden, who did not give a damn about that child, even preferring to spend time with his girlfriend's son over Aaron, until finally Emma had to put her foot down and tell him to start caring about his son and not just using her as a babysitter.

[P.J.]

It was a mistake to let Brown go---but I kind of see where she was written into a corner, even by Marland before he died. Iva was the eternal loser, someone who was practically always forced to do the "right thing" and sacrificed any self-interest she had to promote family peace. It's hard looking back and realizing she never fought for anything for herself. It seems her entire family walked all over her, and she had to smile and put everyone else's happiness ahead of hers. Lily--criminy, that selfish brat eternally played her and Lucinda against each other; Ellie walked off with her man; Holden took the child she'd spent years raising; and Meg married her rapist and got Iva's blessing.

It would have been fun to give Iva a "Barbara" moment, where she says "I don't GAF and I'm not going to take it anymore!" and unleashes her fury on all of Oakdale.

 

[slick jones]

Brown would have killed a scene like that. Iva of all characters dealt with enough b.s.

[DRW50]

Someone uploaded a July 1980 ATWT. Great treat. 

 

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1972!

 

[DRW50]

Watch the 1972...

 

I guess there must have been bits of different episodes, as I'm not sure the Paul hospital material fits the timeline?

 

I wish we could see that dream sequence in color. It looks trippy as hell, like something from a late '60s film. 

 

This may be the closest I'll ever get to seeing Jane House as Liz (that was Jane's Liz, right?), even though we barely actually see her. I had never seen Peggy, so it's nice to know more about her. Lisa Cameron had been on AW for years, right? It's an odd setup, albeit very ATWT of the golden years, that Dan was married, in love with another woman, and had a third woman living with him (as nanny), clearly feeling something for him.

 

I was thrown by the conversation with Peggy and Ellen about childrearing techniques, complete with talking about leaving Emily alone for an hour a day because kids need to learn to be alone (true enough, but I wonder if that helps foment Emily's many...issues). I wonder if this was part of the attempt at new and modern points of view Irna was trying to inject into ATWT, along with stuff like Tom and Carol being green and having an organic farm, or whatever. 

 

I was almost as shocked as poor Ellen when, amidst the usual "working mother" argument (at least they didn't act like Susan was a bad mother, which was a pleasant surprise) Dan all but said he and Susan had an open marriage and he didn't care what she did. And then Ellen connects it to her own past and reminds him of the pain she suffered as a child. He then throws his own childhood pain in her face. The whole thing was a bit more raw than I was expecting, especially for ATWT. I wonder if this type of attitude helped alienate some of the more conservative fans. 

 

And Susan - I never thought I'd see Marie Masters in this era. She really isn't that different from later Susan. I thought she was going to be nastier, for some reason. But I thought that guy was impotent? He didn't seem to have any problem in that area in this episode...

 

Susan is such a fascinating, modern character, even just here. I'm so glad that she kept magically being saved from the soap scrap heap by various regimes. 

 

Does that Baxter guy end up leaving with Peggy?

[vetsoapfan]

That 1972 material is an awesome find; a rare treat we are all lucky to enjoy. Thank you for letting us know about it.

[DRW50]

I'm so glad you'll get to see it. Most of the fans who posted here and watched back then have left the board. I hope I didn't spoil anything for you by blathering on.

[SoapDope]

OMG !!!!! Thanks DRW50 for posting this rare 1972 material. I never thought we would see much more from this era. I wish we could have got a glimpse of early Kim with long hair and her lusting after Bob.

Edited January 24, 2016 by SoapDope

[DRW50]

Finally managed to stay awake through that 1980...

 

That had to be Margo's first episode, right? Great to get to see that. And between Veleka Gray Lyla (never thought I'd get to see her) and an overdose of Cricket, I can't wait to see Mitch's thoughts. I'll always prefer Anne Sward of course, but I do see how jarring the recast must have been. Veleka is grittier, and also quite beautiful in an older, hard-road-of-life way. Cricket...just cliche after cliche. She's a very sensual woman, but she comes across older than she should be, and her acting is straight out of porn. And that "sexy dance" - one of the very few moments of hilarity in a dull 40 minutes. I love Kim's not-so-subtle bitching about Cricket. And this episode just underscores my point about the dull younger ladies on the show compared to the vets - Kathryn Hays is so gorgeous here. Eileen Fulton probably would have been too - I guess this was when she had the hepatitis (I think it was hepatitis). Was that Betsy von Furstenburg temping for Eileen? 

 

Was this before or after Melinda died?

 

I didn't know Sheila was still around by this point. 

 

I had to laugh at Dee being shocked as John very very mildly flirts with nurses. Does anyone know who was playing the other two nurses?

 

The bit with Ellen and David talking about buying John off is so stilted (it's almost like a parody of a spy movie), as is Nick's big speech about trusting love, or whatever. And pervy weird Brad - just ugh. 

 

What a wonderful ONE scene with Nancy.

 

I guess this was the first of 500 random thugs and baddies to pop into Oakdale to go after James. Well at least the ending had a bit of juice to it.

[vetsoapfan]

Don't worry about spoilers where I am concerned. I had been watching the P&G soaps for many, many years before this stuff even aired. I loved Jane House as Liz, BTW, and was crushed when they replaced her.

[SoapDope]

Did Jane House play the scenes when Liz fell up the stairs and died ?