As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Brolden]

An AMC reunion has been announced for Friday. I wonder if that means there's no ATWT reunion this week?

[DRW50]

 

http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/parker_posey.shtml

 

https://tv.avclub.com/parker-posey-1798227090

 

She goes into more detail in the second one (and also gives us another Colleen Zenk story...).

 

As The World Turns (1991-1992)—“Tess Shelby”
AVC: A soap opera must be the opposite experience, because you’re pushing through every shooting, right?

 

PP: [Laughs.] They bring the kids in at the crack of dawn. We’ll be in a rehearsal hall at 6, and then around 7:30 you’re in the works. You’re in hair and makeup. I had a great time on that. That was great training. I remember sitting on a rock, or banging my foot against a rock on set, like on the lake, and it making a hollow sound. Like, “Oh, it’s not real.” Even the grass is plastic. Some of the directors were easy, kind of, “Camp it up and have fun with it,” and some of them took it really seriously. I remember when I first showed up on set, my first day, I took a nap in my dressing room and my [character’s] Aunt Barbara knocked on the door and she came in, and she was like, “Be careful what you say around here, because the walls have ears.” I thought that was so fabulously funny, especially since I was probably 21 years old. I just ran into her four or five years ago. Her name is Colleen Zenk. And she hadn’t aged a bit. She looked amazing. It was so good to see her. I remember learning lines and sitting on them. Unless [the actor] started screaming or cursing, that was what ended up on television. It was like, “That was great! Moving on.” You get two takes and you would move on, and you’re like, “What?” [Laughs.]  It was just bad, like, “Wow, I’m doing really bad acting.” I was straight from drama school, so I was projecting. But I had fun.

 

I did Dazed And Confused during that time. They wanted to give me a three-year contract, but I just got out of drama school and I told As The World Turns that I didn’t want to be anywhere for three years after being in school, so they gave me a year and a half. After a year, when they saw that I was getting a lot of independent work, the producer, Laurence Caso, came up to me—and I’ll never forget, it was so cold in the studio. It was like a meat locker. You’d put on your wardrobe and your pantyhose and everything else, and then I’d wear two robes and just walk around shivering, and go to the green room and talk on the phone. And he came up to me and he says, “Parker, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to get Holden in a coma before Labor Day. And that would have your contract be cut short. Is that all right?” I was like, “That’s amazing Laurence. Thank you so much.” He goes, “You’ll always have a place here if you ever want to come back. Just keep in touch.” And I cried. I thought he was so sweet. [Laughs.] “Holden needs to be in a coma by Labor Day.” So funny. I got my first couch and TV, and my first apartment that I lived in for 13 years, during my soap days. Then I did all those independent movies through the ’90s.

[DramatistDreamer]

Someone should try to get Laurence Caso on a podcast or livestream interview. I'm curious as to what he'd say about his time producing the soap.

[antmunoz]

Holden always seemed to be in a coma around Labor Day. Even when he was conscious. Himbo!

[DramatistDreamer]

 

A sweet and entertaining interview.  I just finished the segment where she talks about her time at ATWT. Sounds like she got along famously with the cast and her onscreen family.  I'm still trying to process the fact that the show turned down a chance to cast Bryan Cranston but I guess like HBS said, things worked out quite fine for Cranston.

Also, tittering about Ellen Parker (who replaced Ellen Dolan on GL) replacing HBS in The Heidi Chronicles.  Around that same time, PBS aired another Wendy Wasserstein play Uncommon Women with Meryl Streep, Swoosie Kurtz, which Ellen Parker also co-starred in, and since the film onstage production was shot in the 70s, I guess Ellen Parker must've been a favorite of Wasserstein. Amazing.

After listening to this podcast, now I really want to see a livestream reunion of Gregg Marx and HBS.  Perhaps they could get Scott Bryce too.

[Forever8]

I would love to a virtual reunion with those three too.

[BetterForgotten]

Isn't HBS the only Margo that worked with all the Toms? It would be fun to do one with HBS and all the different Toms. 

[Paul Raven]

Had Bryan Cranston been cast as Tom. he would have likely left after his contract expired and Tom would be recast yet again.

[DramatistDreamer]

HBS also confirmed something about that era that I'd long suspected-- storyline projections were pitched and written way in advance, rather than the make-it-up-as-you-go-along style of today. The difference in how the dramatic narrative plays out is really noticeable, particularly in the structure and the pacing.

[P.J.]

 

Well, Colleen Zenk would've worked with four Toms. I guess HBS was "married" to Deas, Marx and Holmes's Tom...but I don't really recall HBS/Deas sharing scenes.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I think there are one or two episodes posted on YouTube, sometime in early to mid '84 with HBS and Deas. They were okay together but the chemistry really didn't "fire" until she was paired with Gregg Marx. Like she said in the interview, Deas was definitely not happy that Colin had left, for reasons that would become obvious, lol. HBS kind of mentioned that part with a chuckle.

Edited May 19, 2020 by DramatistDreamer

[Soapsuds]

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They go back as early as 1983...This episode was released on dvd.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Ah, yes, a uniformed Margo Hughes, how could I forget that episode?! You'd think I'd remember the crystal clear episodes on YouTube, especially since they're not all that plentiful.

[Soapsuds]

If I were Marland I would've fired Ellen and hired HBS. Ellen never cut it for me as Margo.

[Khan]

Well, remember: HBS was This. Close. to coming back.  However, when OLTL offered her Nora, she changed her mind.