As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Watching some episodes from 1995, many of which I'd never seen before.

 

Dramatically, I have to say 1995 is slightly better than '94 in some key storylines.  While not as good as the umbrella stories of the mid-late '80s, the malpractice storyline and court case and fallout over Eduardo's death plays very well in how it gave many of the most veteran characters/actors screen time and it was interesting both in how it caused personal rifts, some that were quick to repair (Tom and Margo) and others that took much longer to heal.  Although between Mac's Alzheimers storyline and Lisa's dead husband, the older vets had some very depressing stories but they played their roles to their heights.

 

The Lily vs. Orlena storyline is interesting too, especially when Lily became confined, her mental health and psychological stability being questioned and scrutinized while she basically had to try to devise a way out.

 

This will probably be an unpopular opinion but I don't think Roseanna and Mike are that bad (ducks).  I could understand being tired of them if I had to watch them 5 days a week, especially since Shawn Christian is not exactly a bottle of energy but when he doesn't talk and he and Yvonne Perry are involved in love scenes, it's actually not dull.  Again, in modest doses here and there, they could have good chemistry but I could see where they'd run out of possibilities for the characters especially since again...Shawn Christian.

 

What the heck happened to the guy who used to play Evan Walsh?!  The new guy was just too bedraggled, what a stark change in the character, as well as contrast between the two characters!  I guess ATWT was phasing out Evan Walsh so they no longer cared about how consistent the characterization was-- too bad.  The previous actor had great chemistry with Colleen Zenk though.

 

The 'War of the Munsons' storyline was pretty interesting to me, mainly because of the actors and how they played it for all it's worth.  It just goes to show how much chemistry Colleen Zenk and Benjamin Hendrickson had.  They could go from being anatgonists to each other, (with divorce and custody issues looming) to a team (co-parenting their kids and Hal's newfound daughter Nikki), and you believed it all could happen within a short space of time.  I also think they were each other's best pairing.

 

Funny how regardless of which actor played Scott Eldridge (Whoa, what an apparent age difference between actors!), they both bore more of a resemblance to Gregg Marx than Scott Holmes, IMO.

 

Interesting to see how Carly's character was when she was relatively new in town.  Seems like TPTB weren't completely clear on her characterization except she was meant to be something of a bad girl about town- in the early stages, she seemed like a composite of previous characters- maybe it's the chin-length blonde hair but I was getting a little of Linc Lafferty's wife in those early scenes.  I'm surprised the network allowed her to smoke onscreen during a daytime show.  Those scenes between Andy and Carly didn't exactly set the world on fire- I can see why they didn't put the two characters together.  You know what they say though... no sparks onscreen, plenty of sparks in real life, offscreen.

 

One thing that I'm picking up on is that this seems to be the beginning of characters being more isolated and relegated within their set of groups,which is a bit dismaying.  Maybe the budget dictates that so many actors not be on set on certain days, but this seems to be the start of the Snyders being relegated to the farm, the business set mainly congregating at the Yacht club and office, with some character floating between one or two sets.  Some characters interacting less and less.

 

The teens are meh, they're okay but bland, kind of a step down from the days of Lily, Dusty, Meg and Holden or even Andy, Paul, Lien, etc.  I would've thought that having had characters like Kiera and Bianca, the younger set would've been a bit more diverse in '95.

 

And finally, this seems to be a time of experimentation.  Some visual techniques and styling taken from Melrose Place, some shaky camera techniques from ER and NYPD Blue, etc.  That jazzy music in some scenes with tenor sax (a holdover from previous years in the early '91-92 episodes) is very 90s but I like it.  I sometimes forget how much of its own aesthetic the 90s truly had, it's almost as strong as the 1980s.

Edited June 9, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[All My Shadows]

Nope, and I always always always wanted her to pop up. My dream storyline for the Hughes family was for Chris and Christina to be rivals at Oakdale Memorial and the dynamics of Christina clashing with the rest of the family. I'm one of the few people who liked Katie Peretti and saw a purpose for her and had no problem with her being a focus of the show (the mistakes were in the execution, IMO), but they could have just as easily had Nancy serving as Greek chorus for her own granddaughter, and it would have been a much better use of the character.

Christina Hughes not showing up and none of the Ward quads showing up will always be one of the biggest errors of the last 10 years, in my opinion. They had the tools to keep the Hughes and Stewart families alive and vital, but for whatever reason, they refused to go there. A part of me wonders if TPTB even knew such characters existed.

[DramatistDreamer]

By the show's last decade, I had very little faith in the writers ability to write multi-dimensional characters.  I had even less trust that they had any grasp of the show's history.

 

There were so many characters that could've been brought back.  In addition to the Quads and Christina Nancy, there was John and Iva's son.  Instead of wasting time with characters like Jade, why could they not have brought Andy's daughter Hope to Oakdale.  She's Kim and John's granddaughter- that could've been interesting to see who'd she be most like.  So many connections wasted with random characters brought onto the show like Liberty and Janet.  Denise could've easily been brought back and gotten involved with Dusty and had Dusty been written true to character, there could even have been some tension due to the fact that Andy and Dusty had once been like brothers.  Andy wouldn't have had to return but there could've been tension with John and Margo.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I still never got why they gave Emily an egg baby (Hunter) when he could've easily been Lowell or Gregory. Then I would've cared for him. 

[DRW50]

Greg Watkins nearly died in a boating accident in summer 1995. He was fired not long after, as part of the large cast cull. When he returned that likely was a reason for some of the differences. 

[DramatistDreamer]

@DRW50, Sounds like he went through a rough time and the management of ATWT didn't help matters.  From what I'm seeing of 1995, TPTB definitely seemed to be in an experimental phase, I guess that included the cast.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Since we are talking about characters that could been brought back, Didn't Barbara have a brother? 

[NothinButAttitude]

Yup, Rick. Always felt that Jeffrey Meeks, Hunt Block, and Jon Lindstorm would've fit that role rather than recasts of Craig.

[P.J.]

Yep. Rick Ryan. The last time he was brought back ('85-86ish) they laid Kim's non-miscarriage at his feet. I really don't remember him, (even from the '80's stint) but it would have been fascinating to see Barbara interact with him.

Re: Mike & Rosanna---(or even Rosanna and Hutch)....y'know, at the time it was happening, I didn't think they were that bad. It's when you look back and think about it that I realize how unoriginal and blah they were. Sure, it's revisionist, and I think it was Maura West really igniting that triangle that showed me how bland SC and YP were, but that's how it goes.

Y'know who would have made a good Rick? Terry Lester.

[NothinButAttitude]

@P.J. @DramatistDreamer @DRW50 @Khan @All My Shadows Seeing as you all have a longer history with ATWT than me, given the crimes that they had Craig do in later years when Hunt Block (and those who followed) played him, would you have believed it if the character was Rick Ryan instead doing those heinous acts? Would it have been more believable? 

[DRW50]

Probably, yes, as Rick was a non-character anyway.

[Soapsuds]

Its believable and not believable that Craig did those crimes. Remember Craig put a bomb in Steve's truck only to be the one who got caught in it. During his time in prison he begged for forgiveness from his mom….he later got out of prison and changed…don't recall if it was Marland or SBH who redeemed him. He didnt have any signs of going back to the dark side until Goutman and Sheffer took over. I mean it is believable he would turn evil again by his past but for the longest time he was prince charming and Steve became the villain by Marland. I never understood why they didnt keep Rick Ryan on longer with ATWT considering he had a sister in the canvas.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

True. I just believe that if Craig turning evil again was shown on the shown instead of him coming back to Oakdale with a plot and scheme would've probably made older fans buy it more. 

 

I do believe that Rick would've been more reasonable over Craig to be the show's pariah. I feel like when Scott Bryce came back that they should've restored Craig to the leading man he was under Marland. They could've made someone else the pariah. 

[Soapsuds]

Nah, Goutman wanted Craig hated but the audience wasn't buy it. I forgot what the story was at the time. I tend to forget stories that insult my intelligence. Since fans/viewers were on Craig's side he blamed it on Bryce's acting. So he fired him. Fans that were left watching, which I assume were the long term viewers, knew Bryce's Craig very well and thus his reasons for doing things. They had come to love his version of Craig so putting him in inept story that made him the villain was going to fly with long term fans.

[Khan]

 

With Rick Ryan instead of with Craig?  I guess so.  IMO, Douglas Marland had done such a masterful job redeeming Craig, it hurt to see all that undone years later by bad casting and writing.  But, as Carl says upthread, Rick was a non-character, and thus, a blank slate.  (Seriously, the only thing I remember about Rick is that he hated Bob with a passion.)

 

But, you know, I'm not so sure making Rick the villain in those storylines (instead of Craig) would have made the stories any less intolerable.  I mean, it was clear to me how plot-driven and devoid of depth much of that material was.  I'd probably would have wished Rick dead just as I had wished Craig were dead by the end.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Khan