As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Was Doug Marland the one who wrote the shrunken head story? If not, who?

[victoria foxton]

Yes it was Douglas that wrote that. If i remember correctly Lilith sent Duncan ''Shannon's'' shrunken head. 

[NothinButAttitude]

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[amybrickwallace]

 

Thanks! It just doesn't sound like the kind of story he usually did.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks for posting that June 1985 episode @Nothin'ButAttitude.

 

Despite the video and audio "noise", it was an interesting episode. 

 

I can appreciate how cute Dusty and Lily are in this episode. Nowadays, soap writers cannot seem to write teenagers in any age appropriate manner. I think these scenes are decently done, it's not so much the dialogue but Brian Bloom and Martha Byrne are just professionals at pulling it off.

 

That part about Shannon telling Dusty how she believes Lily is crazy about him, which segues into Madonna's Crazy For You was a bit 'on the nose' but there was a nice transition to Marcy listening on her headphones (presumably to the same song).

 

Those scenes with Tom and Stuart seemed to drag. Perhaps those scenes were meant to be viewed in tandem with earlier episodes showing the entire storyline. It may have been the age of the video and the accompanying noise that took me out of things.

 

Bob and John have such great combative chemistry, it makes me sad that we missed out on them butting heads over Dr. Hope Dixon who has chosen Bob as her mentor while she completes her residency at Memorial.

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One thing I can say about the years that Finn and Scott played their roles, I appreciate how their characters, Sierra and Craig were treated as equals. In fact, in some instances, Sierra was shown to be the more stoic of the two. 

I know some guys thought that this made Craig look like a wimp but I think that the mostly female audience probably watched and appreciated this type of balance of power in a relationship. 

 

It's always weird to me to still see Lyla sort of pining for John in a way that she was portrayed as jealous of Shannon, especially seeing that Lyla and John were a long way from being in an actual romantic relationship.

I'm glad that the writers would eventually dispense with that side-story. 

[NothinButAttitude]

@DramatistDreamer, aww. Don't thank me. Thank the lovely person uploading all these treasures on YT. Did you see the '91 and '92 episodes I put on here the other day? 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I haven't seen those yet. Probably because I have clearer memories of those years than I have of '85. 

[NothinButAttitude]

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[Mitch]

Lilith was apt to send people decapitated heads....(God how I loved her..) however, in this case the scene was even more  OTT then that. Duncan goes on a rescue mission (cause, you know, why involve the cops???) and finds Lilith in her tent..deep in the jungle (of course) he demands to know where Shannon was and she pulls out the shrunken head.. Duncan, never the best actor..screams in fury and runs out of the tent..only to have to dodge the natives blowing poison darts at him...(they worship Lilith as their queen dontcha know...) My sister and I still laugh about the scene..(especially since we HATED Shannon.)

 

Now Lilith and her shenanigans were a nice relief from Marland's usual dull overly talky material featuring drab depressed people talking to each other...if only she came back as often as James to perk up the dullards in Oakdale.

[DRW50]

 

Marland would tend to put his weird/kooky stories into one character group - he did the same on GL with Nola and Quint. 

 

Around 1990 his writing style changed and that was phased out...which helped make the show feel much heavier/darker in tone for his last few years.

[BetterForgotten]

I saw Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway this past week - nice to see that Michael Park continues to be a strong presence on Broadway. This must be the 3rd or 4th Broadway show I've seen him in over the last 5 or so years. 

[DRW50]

 

I'm glad he's kept getting work since the show ended - he always had a lot of presence and life early on and I felt like it was snuffed out over time. 

[Soaplovers]

Yeah, Marland wasn't great with consistently writing quirky humor... even his character Nola and Quint on GL had a gothic undertone.. and they became more comical/slapstick when Pam Long wrote them.

 

On ATWT, I do think he did the talky talk and gossip moreso here then on his previous shows.  It just fit better on ATWT then it did on other shows that he wrote, and I'm sure he recognized that.. hence why his GL was more light and not as dark as his ATWT was (thought the first year or two wasn't so dark.. but probably due more to the tone set forth by SBH... who if you've ever seen in interviews reminds me so much of early Shannon O'hara in terms of quirkiness.).

[DramatistDreamer]

Michael Park was doing theater, even Broadway before he landed on As The World Turns. (see: Smokey Joe's Cafe).

[DRW50]

 

That's why FMB used to have him do singing and dancing, which was dropped after she left.