As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

I really don't remember anything much of Batten other than that horrendous accent and the controversy over the recast. I wasn't AR-T's biggest fan either, and I kind of understand that FMB didn't find Connor "warm". That was kind of the point----Connor wouldn't be warm, being raised by Edwina, living with this resentment that Lucinda had "stolen" the company from her father and caused his suicide (or early death, I'm fuzzy on deets). It was the fact that this IIC didn't get how Connor fit as a character in the fabric of Oakdale, and replaced her with a hammy, corn-pone actress that pissed me off. It's ridiculous to think that the entire direction of an established character could or should be changed on a whim, because IIC 'X' needs all women to be "warm" and motherly and that somehow that mean she also had to lose every functioning brain cell.

 

[Soapsuds]

IMO ART Connor was vibrant, independent strong woman who came to Oakdale to get what was stolen from her by Lucinda. She did it marvelously completely making Lucinda looking like the biggest fool in Oakdale. As much as I loved what Connor did I felt bad for Lucinda. Thats more to do with the writing and the actors involved. After ART was replaced/Marland passed…..Connor became a weak, whining needy non business female pining for a man she really didn't need. She was fine on her own as a strong independent business woman.

[victoria foxton]

Connor's triangle with Cal and Mark did a lot of damage to the character. I liked Susan Batten as Luna on OLTL. Firing AR-T and recasting Connor with SB was so stupid. AR-T brought something special to the role. SB looked lost while making awkward faces. Plus her thick southern accent often came out.

[Soapsuds]

I would have preferred her with Mark but she was already with Cal and they were a popular couple. I know why they would do a story with the three but Connor would have been better single and not attached to either Mark or Cal.  

[DramatistDreamer]

I have been watching a group of episodes from the 1990s are realize that both Allison Janney (West Wing) and Kristin Johnson (Third Rock from the Sun) both had small roles on the show around '93-94.  So fun to see them in bit parts before they had bigger success.

[DRW50]

Allison also had a fairly big recurring role on GL in 1994. It's where I first saw her. 

[danfling]

Today is May 1 - the birthday of Penny Hughes.    If her brother, Dr. Bob Hughes has not already sent her a bouquet of flowers, he will prior to midnight.    After the death of Chris Hughes, Bob continued the tradition of sending flowers to Penny on her birthday.

[P.J.]

didn't remember either of those. I do remember Janney as one of Alex's maids on GL. One was Ginger, and I forget the other one's name. But they were funny as hell.

[NothinButAttitude]

Today is also the day that the great Helen Wagner passed. Cannot believe it has been six years. Still too raw for me.

[DeliaIrisFan]

I'm not totally sure where to post this, but those early 1997 episodes on YouTube and the subsequent discussion about Felicia Minei Behr in this thread were what got me thinking about it. At the time, I was so intrigued by the new golden era that not only ATWT - but the P&G lineup as a whole - was supposedly ushering in that I saved this transcript of an interview that Michael Logan conducted with newly hired executive in charge of production, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, for TV Guide. (I think this was when the traditional media was even more baffled about how to deal with the internet than they are today, and a lot of the soap press was actually publishing longer, unedited transcripts of interviews online - for free - than would fit in the print publications that you actually had to buy.)

 

Of course, MADD's (and Behr's) fall from grace in the eyes of those of us who knew any of these people's names was already in process by the time this interview went live. The momentum of the stories hyped in this interview quickly petered out, the aforementioned Connor recast was in the works and, of course, within a few months GL's Michael Zaslow was fired and MADD used the phrase "wizened old man" in a quote in the press release. Despite the many mistakes she made - and as furious as that statement still makes me, even more so having lost a family member to ALS since then - as a soap fan, I can't help but wonder what might have been if MADD had been able to deliver one tenth of the things that this interview foretold for these shows. This was only just past the point in time when a new head writer and/or executive producer with a strong vision could turn a soap around. Those of us who were following these behind-the-scenes developments on the early internet hadn't yet been disappointed enough times to realize that had necessarily changed, and MADD had assembled a very interesting team...

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by DeliaIrisFan
Fixed line spacing issues after pasting from file nearly 20 years old

[Soapsuds]

I only read half of the interview …didnt want to vomit reading the rest…..calling ART uninteresting and saying that Susan Batten was some great actress is absurd…what an idiot…any wonder the soaps practically vanished. I guess he was wrong about fans not caring about Connor disappearing or being recast….again what a moron Michael Logan is..

[DeliaIrisFan]

 

In hindsight, 1996 is often talked about as a markedly bad year for daytime, but it wasn't until 1997 when it (should have) become apparent that the solutions that had worked in the past were failing across the board to improve soaps that were struggling creatively. I remember at the time Logan and the handful of other serious soap commentators would run these messiah-narrative pieces about newly hired figureheads periodically, and then within weeks or months they would be harshly critiquing those same folks' work (often fairly). This MADD interview is actually not too far off from the (also very fascinating) interview that Logan ran with Jill Farren Phelps just a few years back, when she took over Y&R.

 

But, to my knowledge, nobody ever analyzed collectively/longitudinally how it could be that hiring new writers and/or producers failed repeatedly to fix the fundamental problems plaguing most/all of these shows over the long haul. In retrospect, the problems had to be higher up, and I don't know if the soap press had gotten to the bottom of it and called it out, some of these shows might have at least gone out with some dignity, instead of a race to the bottom.

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by DeliaIrisFan

[Soapsuds]

After Marland passed …no one knew or had any clue what ATWT was all about. The remaining year and a half after his passing ATWT was still using Marland's outlines but the stories had no emotion or connection. The show became so stale. ATWT grew in the ratings in 97 because the awful story of Diego ended and Holden returned. After that FMB and Lorraine wrote one boring story after another. And if I remember correctly they made Kirk the killer of Diego?? Which I found absurd and just ridiculous. Behr and Lorraine tried with Andy and Denise but that story fell flat….and so did Kim's heart condition….I didn't care for that story either….and I believe they also had the whole Reid story with Julia which I thought was ok but I don't even recall how it ended…so I must have lost interest along the way. ATWT had literally lost its heart and soul without Marland in charge. 

 

And as for ART and Connor…you don't get rid of a character and actor who fans of the show have come to love and recast her with someone new who doesn't even have the mannerisms or looks or warmth of the previous actress. I still remember the day walking into my local store and picking up that SOW issue and reading ART had been fired. As a fan of ATWT and ART it totally ruined my day….Batten didn't last long though with the "Can Her" campaign.. soon she was gone. If FMB cared what the fans wanted she should have brought ART back in the role...

Edited May 4, 2016 by Soapsuds

[DramatistDreamer]

I wasn't watching regularly between '93-'01.  Some years, I could only watch during the summer, others, I really only caught an episode here and there during the holidays, so a year like '94, which I'm trying to watch some episodes, is mostly unfamiliar to me.  

 

I have to say, though, '94 is pretty boring.  There are pockets of interest, here and there but so many poorly written storylines.  A real chore to watch.  It's painfully obvious to me when the drop-off in quality began. '93 was depressing but at least the storylines had more interest than some of the pointless drivel I'm enduring watching '94.  Nicolas Coster's horrible accent is grating, how did he get away with playing a Maltese?!

 

One positive:  Judy Reyes (Scrubs) appeared on an episode!

Edited May 4, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

Thank you for the transcript. I actually remember this interview - I remember being annoyed because she had no idea who Julie was, as I loved Julie. Julie wasn't a major character, but she had been a part of stories up to fall 1995, so the complete lack of awareness of who she was baffled me. And then I realized why they'd allowed writing that had Holden just casually dump Aaron off on Caleb and Julie, when Julie was...not a good mother, and had never had any strong interest in being Aaron's mother. 

 

I guess at least they brought her back briefly later that year, which no future producers ever bothered to do. 

 

Those repeated jabs at Victoria Wyndham help explain why she absolutely tore into him in an interview later that year - one of my favorite soap interviews of all time.