As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

LOL..of course, our bitch goddess/diva ended up happy with a gay man to love her! Katie, I just got the BFF vibe and Vienna, I mean come on show! The real chemistry was between him and Mike...you could see Henry turn into mush when Mike walked in..not that I blame him.

I hated Gunnar as Babs needed to save herself and not have a man do it for her. Gunnar was more of a plot point in the whole "When is a Stenbeck not a Stenbeck..." plus, international photographer/ballooner...get a real job Gunnar!

 

[All My Shadows]

I distinctly remember CZ saying at the time of the 50th anniversary that she liked the triangle with Gunnar and James the best.

[SoapDope]

I went back an watched some of the 1986 episodes with Rick Ryan's return and Con Roche looks so familiar for some reason. Did he play in anything else on TV or film ? His resume on IMDb only has him as playing the role of Rick and just lists his 80's return and not his 70's run. Someone posted on his message board that he was an awesome teacher.

[Soapsuds]

Mitch…are you CZ?…..LOL….I believe those were her thoughts exactly..teehee

Yeah, Gunnar was the real Stenbeck and James wasn't….and Dusty was his son. Funny how Dusty looked nothing like Gunnar or his mother.

I think Mike knew it too. Wasn't there a scene where Mike was taking off his shirt and Henry walked in and got all flustered?? Considering the bad luck Mike had with the women they should've had him flirting with Henry. It could have easily been told that Mike was bi and had relationships with guys in the past. 

[Scrapple]

Actually, Henry was close pals with all of Katie's boyfriends.

[DRW50]

I got more asexual than gay vibes from Henry. Then again I also thought he worked well with Vienna and Barbara...I actually felt he had more chemistry with women than some men who were supposed to be studs, like Mushmouth Dusty.

[P.J.]

I seem to remember Nicole was dark-haired at least.

 

Poor Henry---I think at some time or another, all of Oakdale's women got to threaten him with bodily harm. Not with a knife, gun, just all the force their tiny little bodies could generate, being probably a foot shorter than him.

[Paul Raven]

Rick Ryan was such a wasted character. I was surprised it took the writers so long to bring Barbara back and then when recast Rick did hit town,he had no impact and was dropped.

[DramatistDreamer]

ITA.  Hunt Block would have made a terrific Rick Ryan.  He had that naturally smarmy, untrustworthy persona and had the character and storyline been well written, Rick Ryan could've have caused more conflict and still ended up with Roseanna at the end of ATWT's run.  If only ATWT had had competent writers in its last decade.  Sigh.

 

I also thought of Henry as being somewhat asexual except for his pairing with Vienna-- she had enough sex for the both of them!  Had the writers been competent, they could have played off the fact that most people in Oakdale assumed Henry was gay until Vienna happens.  Has anyone ever seen the documentary Do I Sound Gay?  It talks about the misperceptions people have about sexuality just based on certain traits that are assumed to reflect either a homosexual or a a heteronormative character.  Then again, ATWT preferred to put Henry in drag for laughs, so not much nuance there.

[Mitch]

I read an interview with the actor, during the time he was fighting/stooging for Katie (when she was fun and a bad girl) and he asked Gautman..."Henry's gay..right???" and Gautman was all "Oh NOOOO..not our Henry..." (this was back in the day it would have been big controversy...) So the actor even thought he was gay...I remember that weird scene where he and Mike and whatsherface Carly's cousin and some other woman...(Who the hell knew or cared, Mke was there...) and Henry were playing strip poker...it was just really..odd..something happened and Mike (shirtless of course) and Henry ran out of the room together giggling...it was just weird. I always thought the Mike actor played it off that he knew Henry had the hots for him and he was okay with it and thought it was funny (not in a mean way.)

Henry just would have worked so much better as the town busybody pain in the ass gay guy...(hell, he could have been one of Lisa's kids she forgot about...)

 

 

 

[P.J.]

it was Mike, Henry, Jennifer and Nikki (the recast that looked like Molly and was only on a couple of months) who played strip poker if I recall correctly.

 

Henry didn't start off giving off a gay vibe. He only gay-ed up to become Katie's sidekick.

Edited April 1, 2016 by P.J.

[Soapsuds]

Who is Gautman? I believe it was Molly who was playing poker with them…I remember those scenes. Henry got really flustered once Mike's shirt came off. Who could blame him. He made some excuse about how he couldn't play anymore. And we see Mike chuckling knowing he had flustered Henry. I thought it was cute too. They should have made Henry and Luke sidekicks….in search of men…..teehee…instead they had him wasting his time with Katie and Babs. 

Ah thats right….!!

Edited April 1, 2016 by Soapsuds

[NothinButAttitude]

I got asexual vibes from Henry most of the time, but there were those moments that made my eyebrow raise....

 

I might be in the minority but I hated that Barbara got strapped to him in the end. Henry was too weak to handle Barbara. Babs needed a strong man like a James or Hal type character to put her in check. She was too strong of a personality to be saddled with Henry in the end. 

 

I always wanted them to bring back Randy Mantooth in a new role or cast Jack Scalia to play a new love interest for her. She needed a rugged man opposite of her. 

 

 

Yes! I didn't mind Hunt as Craig but seeing Scott Bryce's Craig in old episodes, it makes me sick how they made Craig into a pariah and megalomaniac when he was once beloved and had ties to everyone. You never saw them explore his complex connection to many of the people on the canvas during HB's run. Instead, he most stayed in Carly's orbit, which grew old after the first year or two. I hated how him and Margo rarely interacted unless she was scolding him. Or his complex relationship with Lucinda, which they just tossed out the window. Or his close friendship with Lily, which they eventually destroyed toward the end of the show. You never even saw him opposite Kim, Bob, Lisa, Emma, etc. who all had close or professional ties with him either. 

[DRW50]

I never really saw Barbara as that type of woman. A lot of the men in her life were forgiving and, if not passive, then had to be very laid-back. I do think they could have done this with Barbara and Real Andrews. 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I always saw Babs as a strong woman. Especially, towards the end of the 90s till the end of the show. I also found Hal, James, and John to be rugged and strong men. Yeah, the bended to Barbara at times but they also knew how to put her in her place if need be. 

 

I liked Babs and Real Andrew's character but I knew P&G would never invest b/c they are too conservative to invest in an interracial relationship between black and white characters. I think Jess and Duncan got by with the skin of their teeth. But look at the other pairings that got nixed quickly--Marshall/Felicia (AW) and even them teasing Gilly and Alan Michael (GL).