As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

Samantha #1 had a good exit..and it was a shame she was let go.  She found out Kirk was conning her and she conned him...stating 'never con a con' before she left.

 

 

Samantha #2 wasn't accepted...and if I recall..she and Wiggins were the 90s versions of colleen ask and Mark pinter.

[P.J.]

Yeah, I FLOVED Kirk and Iva. It did have that old-Hollywood-ish movie feel to their relationship. I don't know why Marland broke them up. It was a damn shame. I remember replaying their first kiss endlessly on my VCR.

Edited May 30, 2017 by P.J.
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[GH_Girl]

 

Sketchy quality doesn't bother me. Reminds me of when I started watching soaps lol! Thanks for the link, I can't wait to watch!

[YRBB]

Lucinda calls Holden "Prince Barnyard"

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Although I'm still in 86 (so don't really know what happens down the line), I really enjoy Iva. She feels like someone I would know in real life. I think she's a great character.

 

The Hughes family/friends in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner makes me feel so cozy. And Tom holding Christopher once again makes me emotional.

 

Sierra/Craig are electric even when talking on the phone.

 

 

Who doesn't?!! 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

A lot of people don't get them, but you really get them, you do!

 

 

 

Yes, I loved how the dialogue was written for them. I thought, from the very beginning, it was witty and flirty and sharp.  If Kirk and Iva broke up, it should've been temporary. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

ATWT used to have such sharp dialogue back then and every character had a distinctive "voice".  

 

• How every holiday, Bob Hughes would muse on Oakdale's constants in a world of change with that Garrison Keillor type quality.
• Lucinda waxing poetic in over the top Shakesperean soliliquies that occasionally turned edgy.
• Lisa doling out nicknames and diminuitives to people she couldn't abide by (Lucy, Johnny, Susie Q).
• Emma with her homespun musings of the charms and trials of life on the farm.
• John with his wry manner of expression.
• Tom and Margo's incisive manner of trading barbs, even when masking inner turmoil.

 

No one character of Oakdale sounded alike!

Edited May 29, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[slick jones]

I really loved the chemistry between Bryce and Carter.  Wiggin and Brown were a great match, too.

 

I loved Kirk/Lucinda's relationship. Actually, anyone in La Hubbard's orbit (Ambrose, Jane, Thelma, Bianca #1, Lily, Iva, John, Duke...the list goes on) whether business or personal always kept me watching. Her relationship with Craig burned with chemistry and banter. Oh how I miss those days. Marland really knew his s*it with these characters. I loved characters like Adelaide Fitzgibbons (Susan Brown, Beverly Penberthy), Monica Lawrence Eldredge (Judith Anne Lowry), Olivia Wycroft (Cynthia Dozier) that would pop in and out but always moved story when they were there.

 

[victoria foxton]

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Edited May 29, 2017 by victoria foxton

[cassadine1991]

I forgot Sierra and Lily weren't Lucinda's only daughters. Why wasn't Bianca brought back?

[slick jones]

Bianca, her adopted Montegan daughter, was never a major character. I'm sure they just forgot about her. I liked her because she would ask Lucinda questions that would make Lucinda think about the deeds she had done.

 

[P.J.]

 

I sometimes get annoyed with bad quality vids. I shouldn't, but I do. But to be honest, I also get distracted by some of the big hair and loud clothing of the '80's too. LOL. If you wander in to some of the "Silas kidnaps Nola" stuff---spoiler alert, Ben Hendrickson's the bad guy. *mind blown*

[DRW50]

 

They did forget. Liz Hubbard I think once said that she had a script where they had Lucinda mention "two daughters" and she ad-libbed "three." 

 

Looking back I'm always amazed at how much ad-libbing they seemed to let her get away with. 

[GH_Girl]

 

Well I'm getting pretty far down that rabbit hole! I am really enjoying it, so thanks! I was laughing that Ben is the bad guy and Ellen Dolan is Maureen at this time! I knew she had been on GL but I didn't realize they were both on it at the same time. I hear you about the fashion though. I was watching some 1992 Guiding Light a while back and Blake was wearing these earrings that were so enormous it honestly distracted me from the scene. 

[Mitch]

He split them apart for the same reason I feel he split John and Lucinda up..they were too sarcastic, bantering and fun to be in his wheelhouse. Everyone had to be morose, dour and earnest.  I mean, he split up John and Lucinda for John and Emma????? Kirk became Marland' typical bland "hero" who was ever so sorry he was good in business and placed that above...."honesty."

 

I HATED Ellie just because the writers had to work overtime to tell us how "funny" she was, but they failed to ever show us she actually was??

 

Poor Iva, marrying that Jason guy, leave it to Iva to finally find a guy to marry her and he was a flaming queen!

[Soaplovers]

Marland did seem to water down his creations.  I almost felt maybe he should habe left after 2 or 3 years.

 

Keg and iba are prime examples of his creations that started out with spirit/personality but got bogged down over time.

 

I could understand Iva changing since her rapist married into the family and never truly got punished.  It's realistic and happens in more families then one would think.

 

At least she kind of got a happy ending.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thinking about how often Marland kept couples apart and made audiences wait, I think he subscribed to that same adage as Agnes Nixon, who used to say "Make them laugh, make them cry and make them wait".  

Often times this storytelling strategy worked (as in the gradual revelation of Lily's paternity) and sometimes his stories made people wait too long (Tom and Margo, Craig and Sierra, John and Lucinda, Iva and Kirk).

 

In some cases, I think that unexpected circumstances contributed to some of these storylines stalling a bit (actors leaving in the cases of Gregg Marx, Scott Bryce and Finn Carter etc) and Marland perhaps getting distracted from reuniting popular, smart couples by shiny new characters (e.g. Renée Props) but in soapland, you are supposed to have characters and couples who are star-crossed or laden with obstacles and have to find their way back to each other.  

Without that, where would the drama be?

 

I don't know about the rest of you but I've written scripts and it can be a draining process ! I can only imagine what it takes to keep successive storylines going (sometimes overlapping) over consecutive months, sometimes lasting over a year!  I've tried my hand at writing a sitcom script and even making sure that you write a good A,B,C story can be a juggling act.  

 

I've often wondered if that pace eventually took a toll on Marland's health. The thing about the heart is, that it could be deteriorating without the person even realizing it and the effects can be sudden. Back then people may not have been as vigilant about watching the signs as they are now. Think about the basketball player who appears healthy, only to collapse on court and die and it is later discovered that he had arrythmia and other cardiac issues.

 

I often wonder whether it might have made a difference if someone could have relieved Marland of his duties for awhile, let Marland go on a sabbatical to refresh himself, eliminate the obvious signs of burnout he was experiencing a year or two before his death.  

Not to sound too dramatic but it might have saved his life.

Edited May 31, 2017 by DramatistDreamer