As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[P.J.]

That ad is gorgeous. I have a secret---in watching the dvd....I roll my eyes through Frank Runyeon's scenes. He's channeling William Shatner. And not in a good way.

[DRW50]

He doesn't do a lot for me either, just a lot of ham and weakness masked as strength. I think I like it more when this is addressed in the writing, as it was in his last year.

Speaking of not doing a lot for me, here's some of January 1994, which has Shannon's return (which I missed a lot of the early part of, and which apparently was terrible from the start - those "comedy" scenes with the pinup guard...at least the scenes where she doesn't realize he's remarried are OK, but the aftermath lets them down), Lily/Holden dullness, and the depressing Connor pregnancy story I did not get at the time and still don't.

The plus is John's cancer story, with what is, I'm pretty sure, Duke's last appearance, and some nice family scenes and John/Lucinda scenes. I think Glynnis O'Connor works well in these types of everyday scenes, she just wasn't charismatic enough to be a lead.

Apparently facial hair was mandatory in the family at this point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTmAFPA7Tew

[soapfan770]

Duke looks weird with that mustache. I remember liking John's mustache I thought it looked pretty good on Bryggman.

Ah yes, the infamous meeting when Molly insults Rosanna! I'm happy this is finally up as well:

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[Mitch]

I don't know about Block in a speedo, its gotta be a suit and tie. I know what people think about his Craig and I agree....but individual scenes of him are sexy in that he comes off as smart and funny and sarcastic (all things that I like.)

Never understood the Carly Lisa animosity..but I never really watched that show that much at time and never got into Carly and Jack and their tedious recycled stories. Lisa should have mentored Carly as she did all the other young uns run amuck.

Funny comment on Runyeon...HATED his Steve and his acting. Always flaired nostrils and took himself oh so seriously. Funny, he got knocked down a peg after Marland made ATWT back into an ensemble show and left in a huff, after a short stint on what SB, never to be heard from again.

[P.J.]

The Lisa/Carly hostility was over the fact Carly married John when they all thought he was Parker's father. Which really didn't make any sense since Lisa had pretty much known all about Carly's $50 million dollar scheme and if not supported her going after it, understood why she chose Hal over Jack at the time. Lisa's role in general dropped off mightily around '00 anyway, and the only "bad" girl she took under her wing was her goddaughter Bonnie.

I have a feeling most of Lisa's bitchiness toward Carly (ocassionally Emily and the odd newbie run in) was simply TIIC trying to keep the myth of "Lisa, Queen of the Bitches" alive. KWIM? Unfortunately, most of the time, it simply made her look like a doddering idiot, as when Lisa treated Jack's "wife" not-that-JuliaII as if they were long lost besties---which stopped the minute not-that-JuliaII decided to [!@#$%^&*] Holden.

I'd like to see some of Runyeon's work before the "Steve and Betsy" thing happened. I wonder if his ego kind of got the best of him, or if that's simply the way he always was. I gotta say---watching early Justin Dees is a revelation when all you really remember are his GL Buzz-ed years.

Edited January 11, 2012 by P.J.

[juppiter]

I loved the 50 million dollar baby storyline. I loved Carly in general back then, they really did a number on her character as the years went on.

[DRW50]

I thought the million dollar baby story got too unfocused - marrying three men in a year, and then they seemed to be pushing for a Brad/Carly pairing, even though they kept recasting the actor.

I liked her initial reunion with Jack and the lie bet story. After Craig came in I lost a lot of interest, and I think the character lost some of her spark, although I think generally her strongest period was her 95-96 run.

[juniorz1]

Exactly, though I actually enjoyed his pairing with Katie because of that presence he has. That, and I truly loved the sweet, initial Matie stuff, especially Montana with Jack & Carly.

Yeah, 2004 was also the Carly/Jack/Julia II story, which sucked. The Julia II murder and Carly/Lily stuff in spring 2005 was MUCH better..

And I LOVED JPiss's 2005 ATWT. LOVED the Baby Switch, Gwen's introduction, Iris Dumbrowski, Matie Reunion, Zach Roerig's Casey (the bratty little bitch that he was that year lol!), Paul/Emily, Lucinda's Breast Cancer, Luke's Drinking, Keith/Lily/Holden, I freakin LOVED ATWT that year and for me, that was the last time it was truly great, though I reallly enjoyed the 2nd half of 2009 all the way to the end. I thought Passanante made some real strides that year and I even kinda liked the Krietzman stuff (including the INSANE Mick/"James" (Tom Pelphrey) storyline) when he came on board. But it helped that I fell in love with Barbara/Henry and thought Colleen Zenk rocked 2010!

^^^THIS!!

[Mitch]

That is weird that they wanted to keep her as Queen Bitch, when she moved away from that a long time ago. The Dobson's moved her into more a mentoring phase, (Lisa and Ariel) and then after Fulton came back again they really moved her into the quirky mother hen who wasnt above butting in and subterfuge to make things "right," for her kid step kids and other strays she picked up along the way. I remember Marland saying that he had younger new cast members have their first scenes with Fulton as she always was good with them and calmed them down and guided them through their scenes. I thought that was appropriate for that phase in her life, instead of backtracking and making her a all out bitch again. I actually liked her best preMarland when she had a family of her own to meddle with instead of being an add on to Bob and Kim's family.

Never really like Runyeon since his debut...I think he was supposed to be ATWT's answer to Luke. But he always overacted the angst and the anger and never really showed a side which would make people like him. Yes, it is amazing to look at Deas and then look at what he did at GL. I know people LURVED him on SB, but I think that experience allowed him to go "over the top," way too much. Tom, who was a more subdued character, kind of brought him down. And then Phelps brought him on GL as the new "star," and encouraged his scenery chewing, etc. I do think he was sexy as Tom..thought he was an annoying troll as Buzz.

And yes, love the guy who played Mike. Not the greatest actor, but he never tried to act like he was, and he was a totally different "hunk," for soaps, a really masculine good looking guy who didnt pout or preen and his Mike always seemed like one of those handsome guys who doesnt really know how good looking he is...(contrast that with a day I watched OLTL and those brothers all seemed to be preening for the cameras and that werid looking blond dude was basically pouting and acting like a 50s starlet when he wasnt yelling. )

Edited January 12, 2012 by Mitch

[DRW50]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yG2yn6Pji4

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdn5Y9XUY0

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluSq-9bsMw

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-I6YMRymYc

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What a stupid storyline with Barbara holding Emily and Chris hostage.

Edited January 14, 2012 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mPKMPCfzK0

[Quent]

I saw the recent comments about Frank Runyeon. Boy, I hadn't thought about him in years, until I got the recently released DVD. I have mixed feelings on FR. On the one hand, I can see what a ham he was in his prime. "Angry Steve" and "Romantic Steve" chewed scenery like nobody's business. But maybe that's what the show needed at the time. I know the Steve/Betsy/Craig triangle was what first lured me into watching the show. It was a solid two years of an adventure ride , and I loved it at the time.

The Marland Era had many casualties among ATWT vets who were there before Doug arrived, and FR was chief among them. I don't know if this was deliberate planning on the part of Marland, or if he saw that Runyeon and Betsy-replacement Lindsay Frost had no spark, and just decided to cut his losses.

On a side-note, thanks for posting the "Return Of Shannon" clips. Although the follow-up storyline was poor, the initial appearance of Shannon was one of the last times ATWT COMPLETELY surprised me. I was floored when she appeared at that police station . Margaret Reed was the only soap star I ever sent a fa letter to (to which she graciously replied), so I was thrilled to see her back.