As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Khan]

 

Which was appropriate, since their budget had been slashed to the price of a Big Gulp.

 

If CBS (or, more accurately, Les Moonves) had not cancelled ATWT, I think there would have been a mass exodus of actors on the level of "The LOVING Murders," with many veteran characters being bumped off by a serial killer (or natural disaster -- but, more likely, a serial killer, since murdering them would be cheaper than staging a tornado) in order to cut costs and maybe generate some buzz for the show.

 

I also think there would have a combination of relocating production to Stamford, CT and increasing the taping schedule to somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 episodes per week -- again, in order to cut costs.

Edited September 8, 2019 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

Please don't remind me anything about that horrible serial slasher story they tried to do on ATWT in its final years. Just the notion of it...yikes and, in a bad way! 

[NothinButAttitude]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[victoria foxton]

 

 

[slick jones]

How long was David Harbour on as Officer Ron Shanks? I know it was a while....

[Contessa Donatella]

I did not like Heather in the distant past. And, I did not like Noelle in the recent past. I just liked Martha & I was mad that whole time!

[P.J.]

 

Maybe two or three years? I know he was there in 2001 for Julia I's going crazy---not sure he was there in 2002 when Julia kidnapped and raped Jack.

[Khan]

Craig's romance with Sierra did the impossible: it redeemed him from the horrid and horrible things he did to keep Steve and Betsy apart.  It's tragic how all that was thrown away in ATWT's final years.

 

 

Barbara and Margo's animosity, stemming from the fact that Margo was once James' mistress, was one of the best aspects of ATWT during that golden era.  Love it.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Khan

[Paul Raven]

Broadcasting Magazine  Aug 75

Soaper puts Georgia In a lather.

In 1939 it was Orson Welles's War of the Worlds that caused mass panic when a fictional radio story was interpreted as a real newscast. In 1975 it's As the World Turns, a CBS -TV daytime soap opera, that had some Centerville, Ga., residents in an uproar. When viewers heard the program warning of a tornado "moving northeast Seven miles from Centerville" they took it seriously and began flooding the weather service's Macon office with calls. In true soap opera style it took the fictional tornado three days to reach "Centerville" and it was only after it struck and destroyed the fictitions town that life in the real Centerville and the weather bureau returned to normal.

[Contessa Donatella]

 

About PGP toward the end: I am in the minority many places but I enjoyed the last 2-4 years of GL including Peapack, all of the new music (I had Kati Mac albums long before GL used them.) the two good examples of story (Jammy & Otalia), outdoor work, digi-cams, product placement, etc. I read an interview with Vicky Wyndham where she talked about pitching the idea of product placement to PGP/NBC long before June 1999. Her perspective was that PGP was a natural for product placement instead of "fixed" commercials & ad space. At that time PGP "sold" more than anyone else except for cars & the burst of mobile phone companies.

 

This is why I remain a fan of Ellen Wheeler, Jill Lorie Hurst and other writers. I am steadfast in my belief that CBS pushed the "new production model" on GL & that they pushed a slowed-down narrative form on ATWT. Back then, there had been a LA Times article where CBS had asked the Bell Empire to create a new soap (or two) to replace "the Chantilly" soaps of ATWT & GL. Well, PGP rose up on their haunches, their back legs & fought CBS tooth & nail to prevent that. PGP prevailed to a certain degree *but* CBS indicated changes would have to be made at ATW & at GL. Since PGP no longer had their traditional position of Executive in Charge of Production (since MADD's retirement) it left Goutman & Wheeler to fight CBS on their own, not a good position.

 

At the end of AW, Goutman was in fine form fighting for that show, but something happened around 2004-ish where Goutman stopped being as proactive for his show. He gave a Q&A to Digest's Jen Lenhart where he indicated that he knew what was best for his show & he didn't need any fan mail, etc. Startling.

[Brolden]

 

This whole twitter account is very interesting to follow!

 

 

 

I feel like it was longer than that. I can't be sure though. He was one of those characters that was just always around in the background. I'd say he was on as early as 2000, when I started watching (could have been earlier), and I'd say he lasted into 2003 at least.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Brolden

[John]

[Contessa Donatella]

 

I think it is entirely possible that CBS was behind the "Fruit basket turnover": AW's EP John Valente went to ATWT; GL's EP JFP went to AW; Michael Laibson took over at GL, leaving Larry Caso he with so much tenure) out in the blamed cold and then, one more thing to slip in, Les Moonves selected Stern & Black for ATWT. How terrible is this?!!! Among other writers, Jean Passanante said that this had a seriuos affect on the Writing Teams!

Edited September 18, 2019 by Donna B
spelling serious, citing source: Lynn Liccardo's ebook

[Contessa Donatella]

 

I have had it in my head for simply ages that one day, in one image, we had some  young man, maybe on a motorcycle, at a crossroads with several different city names being pointed at. Does anyone else remember this? And, if so, what were the city names? And, again, if so, was it GL's Alan-Michael? Was it AW's Jake McKinnon? Was it ATWT's Luke Snyder?

[P.J.]

I thought maybe it was Holden's '97 return, which was on a motorcycle, but a quick scan of the 1-16-97 episode only has an "Entering Oakdale" sign. 

 

Maybe the first or last Alan-Michael? It sounds like something Carl T Evans might have done, or something Ellen Wheeler would have done in Peapack.