13 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

To tell you the truth, the last decade of ATWT with how the Marshall Travers and Doc Reese characters were portrayed, it was some of the worst portrayals of Black male characters the show has ever had. 

 

Very true.

 

I also thought the end for Bonnie was just kind of sad and degrading.

 

To see a show that Marland had made so progressive (in a way that worked for a socially conservative audience) become so retrograde was heartbreaking. I think that's one of the reasons I skipped so much of the last decade.

11 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

To tell you the truth, the last decade of ATWT with how the Marshall Travers and Doc Reese characters were portrayed, it was some of the worst portrayals of Black male characters the show has ever had. 

 

Yes those were Hogan Sheffer creations, and not very good ones. I thought the whole relationship Margo had with Doc Reese was strange. It didn't make much sense.

 

Some of the black females fared better. I enjoyed Bonnie McKechnie. She was originally a Doug Marland creation, now grown up and brought back to the show by Sheffer. Napiera Groves did a good job as teenaged Bonnie who created a lot of drama for everyone in her orbit.

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

Tucker was Steve's construction business partner, and he was dating Heather Dalton. I don't know if Marland wrote him out or not (although Iva eventually bought into Steve's business, or became manager there). Russ was a doctor who was obsessed with Betsy and was taking care of her or something, I think. Cal Randolph was opening a club (didn't Lisa take it over after Diana left Oakdale?) and also tied to the mob, and carried a torch for Maggie. I think they may have been involved in the past (I can't remember). Kent Bradford - wasn't he in a story with Kim and the psychologist she dated who was a psycho (played by Adam Drake from EON)? I can't remember. Many, many pages ago I posted an interview with Ernie where he talked about what a bad state ATWT was in behind the scenes when he was there. I think he also said one of the actors was a huge prima donna and this affected his material.

Kent was involved in the Juliette Hanovan (Steve's half sister played by Tracy Kolis). Raymond Speer (Donald May) was a spy, from my recollection of the story.

 

I found this online.... 

 

INTERNATIONAL SPIES

 

Raymond Speer
-------------
Raymond, the uncle and guardian of Juliette Hanovan, was a counterspy 
for the U.S. government and a former U.S. Ambassador.  He also briefly 
dated Kim Andropolous(now Hughes).  He kept Juliette and half-brother 
Steve from learning the truth of their father until he rescued Michael 
Christopher by trading himself to the Russians in Amsterdam.  

 

 

Simon Westerly
--------------
Simon was really a British intelligence agent who posed as a butler to 
Raymond Speer.

 

Michael Christopher
-------------------
Michael was the father of Steve by the late Marina Andropolous and 
Juliette by the late concert pianist Sophia Hanovan.  He actually was 
a counterspy for the U.S. government and was held prisoner in the 
Soviet Union until his rescue by Raymond Speer in Amsterdam.  He was 
last seen in Montega during the first revolution.

 

 

From Julie Poll's As the World Turns book...

 

-Kent was engaged to Juliette Hanovan when she came to town.

-Juliette ended the engagement when she fell for Brian McCall.

 

 

Tucker Foster had three love interests that I recall,  Officer Samantha Jones (Juanita Mahone), Heather Dalton and Beverly Taylor (Wendy Edmead). Beverly was Lucinda's assistant. She brought Otis Sutton (record producer played by Charles Brown) to woo Heather away with a recording contract.

Edited June 26, 20187 yr by slick jones

That entire espionage story was just a clear example of how off-track ATWT had become by that point.  ATWT needed to get back to basics BADLY.

 

 

14 hours ago, JarrodMFiresofLove said:

I found some photos taken at a party to celebrate Eileen Fulton's return to ATWT in 1984. It was held at Chippendale's of all places. In this one photo there are four young actors from the show, but I think the guy on the left is misidentified. The other three are Kim Johnston Ulrich (Diana), Tracy Kolis (Juliette), Christan LeBlanc (Kirk). But I don't think the guy on the far left is Eddie Earl Hatch (Tucker) who is African American and does not look like this. Any guesses who he might really be?

 

https://www.gettyimages.com.au/license/456522986

 

 

That's definitely not Eddie Earl Hatch, but he doesn't look at all familiar. Perhaps he was Kim's date?

 

14 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

How did the nickname of Fluffy come about? I'm not as familiar with ATWT as I am other shows, but am well acquainted with Peck's work on DAYS.

 

It was over at the MediaDomain board. They gave lots of characters nicknames. Holdumb/Holden, St (or Officer)JackAss/Jack, Snarly/Carly, etc.  

 

Katie was often referred to as Barbie (because of her looks). Then because her stories always seemed lightweight or filler type plots, (and at one point I believe she actually did have a rabbit named Fluffy) we started calling her Fluffy (or FlufferNutter if she was chasing her man) .  Also Bubbles, because that was Henry's nickname for her. 

 

Just read an interview with Tamara Tunie where she likens Sheffer to Marland. Mind boggling to say the least. Its a new interview where she talks a little about her role on Dietland.

Edited June 26, 20187 yr by P.J.

That actor looks familiar to me but I can't figure out who he is. He looks like a West Coast soap actor of that era - not a big one.

 

I think it may be Kim's husband, Robert J. Urich. She married him in 1981. Here's what he looks like:

 

Edited June 26, 20187 yr by DRW50

Sheffer seemed like such a breath of fresh air initially. I remember Laiman had written Andy as faking paralysis, and it was such a silly, inane plot. Then Hogan’s stuff started, and he included a scene of Andy in a support group with people actually dealing with disabilities, and I thought, “That’s a character moment Laiman would have never done.” And the Rose D’Angelo doppelgänger story became so much more than a dumb lookalike plot, and he seemed to value Colleen Zenk. 

 

Of course, we all saw the misogynistic mess the show devolved into (Hogan giving the guys their “dicks” back).

Edited June 26, 20187 yr by Faulkner

2 hours ago, P.J. said:

Just read an interview with Tamara Tunie where she likens Sheffer to Marland. Mind boggling to say the least. Its a new interview where she talks a little about her role on Dietland.

 

 

Maybe both gave her more time off to do theater, movies and with Sheffer, Law & Order.  

 

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

That actor looks familiar to me but I can't figure out who he is. He looks like a West Coast soap actor of that era - not a big one.

 

I think it may be Kim's husband, Robert J. Urich. She married him in 1981. Here's what he looks like:

 

 

Yes, it must have been Kim's husband in the 1984 photo. Or else it was someone who worked behind the scenes, since it was not an actor on the show at that time. I'm going with the "it's her husband" answer.

I think Katie’s rabbit was named Snickers.

AFAIC, they could have named it Roadkill.

 

2 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Sheffer seemed like such a breath of fresh air initially. I remember Laiman had written Andy as faking paralysis, and it was such a silly, inane plot. Then Hogan’s stuff started, and he included a scene of Andy in a support group with people actually dealing with disabilities, and I thought, “That’s a character moment Laiman would have never done.” And the Rose D’Angelo doppelgänger story become so much more than a dumb lookalike plot, and he seemed to value Colleen Zenk. 

 

Of course, we all saw the misogynistic mess the show devolved into (Hogan giving the guys their “dicks” back).

 

Not that I'm defending Sheffer, but I think part of that was due to P&G "schooling" him on what they thought made for good soap opera.  Then, of course, I think a certain amount of cynicism, borne out of constant network and sponsor interference, began to creep into his work.

Edited June 26, 20187 yr by Khan

24 minutes ago, Khan said:

AFAIC, they could have named it Roadkill.

 

 

Not that I'm defending Sheffer, but I think part of that was due to P&G "schooling" him on what they thought made for good soap opera.  Then, of course, I think a certain amount of cynicism, borne out of constant network and sponsor interference, began to creep into his work.

 

Also a lot of the actors like Tunie were glad that Sheffer was building on things Marland had established. From Backus' exit in '94 to Sheffer's arrival in 2000, the show had gone off track again. They were glad to see Marland's work picked up again by this new guy.

53 minutes ago, Khan said:

Not that I'm defending Sheffer, but I think part of that was due to P&G "schooling" him on what they thought made for good soap opera.  Then, of course, I think a certain amount of cynicism, borne out of constant network and sponsor interference, began to creep into his work.

 

I think that some elements were from their involvement (I know he said he toned down the sexual content for that reason) but the "men with balls" stuff and the hatred of women were there from pretty early on.

3 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

I think Katie’s rabbit was named Snickers.

 

Now that you say that, that sounds right.