As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

I understand Marland's move. There wasn't any place to go with Barbara keeping her the Perils of Pauline victim heroine. I think it was more about attitude than being "a schemer". What did Babs ever scheme under Marland, other than fake bedding Tom? She had affairs, she hated Margo and Emily.... otherwise I'm drawing a blank.

[DRW50]

 

She tried to keep Hal from finding out that he was Adam's father. There was also keeping Jennifer's paternity a secret, although that was more defensive scheming.

Marland never made her too wicked (at one point during the Gavin story I think CZ even said she found Barbara to be too passive and weak), as I think maybe he realized that year where Barbara was a real bitch was just too much, and not hugely fun to watch. 

 

I think it may have been strike writers who broke up the Lucinda/Barbara friendship, I could swear Marland said he wasn't thrilled (I may just be making all this up via hallucination...), but I'm glad he stuck to it because I think they were much better at odds than as bitching partners. 

[P.J.]

I'm probably forgetting things---Im sure Babs must have schemed something. Didn't she bring Duncan to town to bust up Brian/Shannon?

[DRW50]

 

Yes. With Lucinda.

[victoria foxton]

I liked Marland's vixen Barbara.  Sheffer's Dark Barbara grated on my nerves.

[Khan]

The problem with Sheffer's Barbara was that Barbara became not JUST a bitch, but a CRAZY bitch, one who's unhinged, and that can get old REAL fast.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

Sheffer's Barbara was very one-note.  Very little you can do with that and still maintain a viable character.

 

I have a very random question but perhaps someone here knows the answer:

 

Does anyone know the name of the accompanist who used to play piano at the Mona Lisa in the '80s?  I've always wondered who he was but I couldn't seem to locate him in the credits, which is odd because he appeared quite often back then,

Edited July 2, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[j swift]

Barbara had a weird character arc.  She was a heroine for James and Gunner but that didn't turn out well.  Apparently she craved the attention of men fighting over her so when Brian McCall refused to engage in a triangle with her and Shannon she turned into a vixen.

 

But, it's a long way from being a vixen to seduce the local rich nerd to jumping out of a courtroom window during a competency hearing. 

[P.J.]

Maybe it was more of a shift in character than most---but you also have to remember it was over a 30 year period with Zenk in the role. (the character was a presence on and off since the early seventies...)

[Vee]

Watching some early Marland ATWT in downtime from work (January '86). His era always fascinates and soothes me, but the elegant construction of so many stories and new characters and ideas - specifically, the very slowly unfolding Iva/Lily/Holden/etc. thing which I've seen a fair amount of before, but never the big stuff - always fascinates me. Did we know at this point that Iva was her mother? And how long had Lily been around again, two, three years? Did Marland have a hand in Martha being the recast or no?

[DRW50]

 

I don't think viewers knew for sure that Iva was Lily's mother until a late winter or early spring episode from 1986 where Lucinda was contacted by Lily's mother and asked to meet at a bar - then she went and saw that it was Iva. Iva warned her to stop neglecting and hurting Lily (as Lucinda was obsessing 24/7 over business, Craig's dick, Sierra, etc. while Lily sobbed and whined in the background) or else.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUQr3Wdw-Hs

 

Lily and Lucinda arrived in mid-1984, I think. Martha Byrne took over in summer 1985. I think that was pre-Marland but I'm not sure. 

 

[Vee]

That's a pretty decent span of time if Iva showed up in August of '85, right? And Holden in October? Sometimes Marland moved quite fast, sometimes he moved slower, it seems. Holden is all but trying to fúck Lily as early as January - well, not early by today's standards.

 

I hadn't realized Doug Cummings was dead as soon as February sweeps. I thought the story ran a bit longer. I've always found it so creepy when watching pieces of it, now I think I'll watch more. Was it obvious it was Doug, and when did we find out?

 

Wikipedia suggests Marland didn't start til November '85 but that... can't be right, surely. I was under the impression all the '80s Snyders (to say nothing of Cummings) were his.

[DRW50]

 

Was it August for Iva? I thought it was later than that but someone else will know better than I do.

 

Viewers first found out when they saw Doug in his trophy room, I believe. I think that was a month or a few weeks before Frannie and then Kim found the room and he kidnapped them. Soap Opera Weekly said that eagle-eyed viewers were spoiled by a promo that aired earlier in the day, as they showed a man in a suit.

[Vee]

I was under the impression Doug was unmasked around NYE '85 but this episode in January sure isn't letting on. It plays full on romantic cues as Doug and Frannie cuddle. Maybe it was later in January?

 

I was going by SOC and Wikipedia for Iva and Holden but I know they can be inaccurate, so I thought I'd ask. I did just watch Meg's debut. I didn't realize she showed up so soon.

 

I'll asked Carl this but I'll ask in here as well: In my binge I'm also looking at the Bob and Kim wedding - I've always been curious how long it took from them rekindling their long-ago love from the '70s to the actual marriage in April '85. I know (or think I know, anyway) it wasn't Marland who did it but Susan Bedsow Horgan. I was under the impression Marland debuted shortly thereafter, as wasn't Doug Cummings (played by Marland stalwart John Wesley Shipp) on Bob and Kim's honeymoon cruise?

Edited July 3, 2018 by Vee

[Soaplovers]

If I recall.. there was a question of who Lily's real mother was.. in fact, Marland briefly had it look like it was Shannon for a bit as well since Lily was also close to Shannon.. who was about the same age as Iva was.

 

I think Martha started playing Lily in May/June 1985.. and Marland didn't show up till September.  When Martha started playing Lily.. the character changed from how the previous actress played the character (who was more of a town boy and more of an introvert).  I do wonder how Marland would have planned to write Lily if it had been the first actress playing her instead of Martha.