As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I definitely was rooting for Craig when he was wreaking havoc against resident saints, Paul and Meg. 

 

Didn't Rick have ties with Mr. Big and his drug ring? That's why I feel that some of the things they had Craig do would've been more suitable for Rick. 

 

I agree that there was no depth to the stories though regardless if it were Rick or Craig. I didn't want Craig to die though.  I did want him to go away until he returned as SB's Craig.

[P.J.]

Like I said, I don't really have enough memory to really have an opinion on Rick, but from what I've read in the bible, it seems to me Rick was more of an irritant to Bob than a fully fleshed out character.

 

About Craig---it wasn't his return to the darkside that gave me fits. (Honestly, there were a couple of years where Craig really did nothing but hold the hand of every woman he knew. That was a waste of SB's talent, IMO) It was Sheffer's relentless refusal to give Craig any hint of motivation and Block's overbearing "style" of acting that literally couldn't ring out anything close to a human emotion. It's no accident the man couldn't even buy a nomination the year his son died.

 

Soapsuds---it was Meg's miscarriage that Pissy wanted to hang on Craig, and SB made Craig sympathetic anyway. Paul and Meg were so obnoxious in their tortured romance (with both of them lying to Craig and Rosanna) that a lot of people (other than the loyal RH fans...) took Craig and Rosanna's side (Rosanna had just come out of her first coma, and Paul really used her feelings for him that just made him look like an unfeeling ass). It was one of the few times that Pissy spelled out some understandable motivation, although unintentionally, it was for the "villains" of the story, not the star-crossed lovers.

Edited June 11, 2016 by P.J.

[All My Shadows]

I've never seen anything with Rick, but I think Carl has the best answer.

Honestly, I hated every bit of Craig's contributions to ATWT over the years I watched, and I think the show would have been better served by not having such a character on the canvas at all. He was a waste of time, and even after they spent so much time trying to make Hunt Block the show's big antihero leading man, they ended up doing a merry-go-round of actors in the role. SB's return was good because you could tell he saw more to the character than what they wanted him to be, but that didn't last.

[Soapsuds]

Here is a scene with Rick Ryan. Dee Stewart is also in the scene. I always liked the actress who played Dee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDGM4dB2XU

Here is a scene with Rick and Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGFuwPSYVgY

Edited June 11, 2016 by Soapsuds

[Paul Raven]

Whether Rick took Craig's place or not,there was still room for that character. He could have gone in any direction and had ties to Barbara, Kim, Bob and John 

[NothinButAttitude]

True. I haven't gotten to the Sabrina story yet, but at the climax, did Kim and Rick have any scenes? Did she ever express disdain for him? Do you think after all that went down if he was brought back that Kim would have a soft spot for him?

[All My Shadows]

Room for the character of Rick, yes. But room for a snide, smirky, depressing loser who brought with him a shroud of negativity into every scene? I'll pass. Relating him to other characters doesn't make him more entertaining.

[DramatistDreamer]

I re-watched a batch of episodes from 1986 and was struck by how much Hunt Block probably should've have been Rick Ryan, Jon Lindstrom would've been even better because he might have added a bit more complexity to the character. 

 

I agree though that poor writing would have wrecked any potential Rick would've had and with proper writing, and knowing what I know about Goutman, it would've been just as much as disaster as his version of Craig was.

 

Yes, Craig was once wicked but he was never a clown or a cartoon character, the way Block played it.  Craig was the 'heavy' who in his warped mind, had a reason for the things he did, even the heinous bombing.  

 

In terms of which writing regime started to rehabilitate the Craig character, I think this happened before Marland.  When you look at the storyline in '84 to early '85 before Craig even met Sierra, Craig, while still in jail, uncovered a plot to kill Frank Andropoulous, Steve's cousin.  

Correct me if I'm wrong, longtime viewers, but I believe that Craig also saved Steve's life as well, or helped Betsy uncover who was poisoning Steve (it may have been wrapped up in the same storyline).  I think all this valor came on the heels of his jailhouse scene with Lyla (Ann Sward's performance in that scene alone, is why I will always respect her acting ability) where she tells him that she has tired of his destructive ways and won't be coming to see him anymore.  I believe that scene was on the eve of Steve and Betsy's Big Fat Greek Wedding.  So around that time, I think the seeds were planted for Craig's redemption, they took root when he saved Frank's life.

 

What Marland did was make Craig more of a romantic lead, some might say pathetic, but pathos was a very real part of the romance between Craig and Sierra.  It was realistic that Steve didn't want to forgive or forget what Craig had done, despite Craig's redemption.  Steve eventually realized (top late) that it wasn't his perceived enemy but his friend Tonio who helped bring Steve to ruin, in a honest to goodness soap opera Greek tragedy.  I wish that episode of Steve discovering Tonio's part in his ruin was on YouTube but unfortunately, it's not.

All that work on Craig through two writing regimes totally wrecked by Goutman's foolishness.

Goutman and his band of cronies did absolutely nothing special that was unique to the Craig character or his history, they could've substituted any concocted character in for Craig and it would've made absolutely no difference whatsoever.  For example, Rick Ryan wouldn't have married his sister but still could have hustled his way into Barbara's bank account and accessed her money (in '86, one of the first things Rick did was sweet talk Barbara into writing him a check).  Rick Ryan could've had a conflict with Dusty (who used to have a close relationship with Barbara, though you'd never have known it when Grayson McCouch was in the role), Rick could have had a conflict with Paul and if written by a competent writer, would've been juicy, leaving Barbara in the middle between her brother and her son.  He could've even had an affair with Jennifer Munson and fathered her child.  He could've ended up with Roseanna in the end without missing a beat.  Goutman had no reason to bring Craig back from Montega to destroy all that history.  Like people said, Rick was character with a ready connection to Oakdale but had a blank slate that good writers could've worked very well with.

 

Oh well.

Edited June 11, 2016 by DramatistDreamer

[P.J.]

I don't think ATWT would have ventured into a Rick/Jen affair/ons. That was GL territory.

 

IA that TIIC didn't really use any of Craig's history. But given who they had in town, I understood why bringing Craig back made sense. I do wonder who might have been cast in the role if they hadn't had to push back his arrival for Maura's pregnancy in the fall of '99. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I just realized that Rick was Jennifer's uncle, ewwww....OMG, you're right!  I thougt Craig and Jennifer was almost as gross!  Everything else about Rick would apply though.

 

Why bring back a character back when you have no interest in recognizing his/her history?  It were better to bring back one of the Quads or someone they could write from scratch for though.  For me, very few of the creative decisions TIIC at ATWT made in their final decade made much sense.  

[antmunoz]

Jake Weary (ex-Luke) co-stars in ANIMAL KINGDOM, premiering June 14 on TNT. 

[P.J.]

I think they used Craig's position in the show, if not his "history". On the surface, the split between Craig and Bryant could have fueled years of story, if written correctly. That the casting was piss-poor (for both roles, Todd Rotundi was awful too) just compounded the problems, and then someone unleashed Pissy on the situation, and Bryant was killed off.

 

I watched the sneak preview of Animal Kingdom. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I thought Weary (who thankfully got rid of the dorky haircut he had on ATWT) was good in it.

Edited June 12, 2016 by P.J.

[All My Shadows]

I thought killing Bryant off was a Hogan decision.

[cassadine1991]

[NothinButAttitude]

Good to see Alex and Zach still be close like Jennifer and Jesse. That's what I loved about ATWT. It seemed like they truly were extremely close offscreen as a cast.