As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I tend to be confused about the Brad/Dee timeline, if they ever even had a relationship. I know he came on before the Peter Simon character (Ian) died, and was initially conning Lisa - I can't remember, from the old clips, if John was already chasing after Dee when she was with Ian, or if all this started when Ian died. It's a bit odd now, looking back, to go directly into a love quad after Dee was supposed to be traumatized from Ian dying on top of her. And I don't understand why they needed the involvement with Annie - wasn't she meant to be in love with Jeff at this time? I was surprised he wasn't mentioned or shown anywhere in these episodes. Poor Annie seems so matronly. 

Then after she and John marry, he goes on trial for rape as she thinks she's sleeping with Brad, or whatever that was...I just don't remember if she ever actually ends up with Brad. Was he gone by the time the Dobsons returned? Or did the Dobsons write him out when they came back?

Sometimes I wonder why ATWT let Peter Reckell go, but I can kind of see it here - he's very pretty, but also stumbly and a bit generic. He had the same problem at Knots. I wonder if Bo was just the perfect fit for him. 

I agree that Suzanne Davidson is very likeable, and easy to watch. I can see why Meg Ryan said she initially got a bad response from fans in taking over (I know there was a Betsy between them).

My favorite part of that Nancy scene is when Joyce says, "Am I so terrible?" and Nancy....just.....pauses, before not even answering the question. Bone-chilling. That's what people watch soaps for, not "Stewart Mining." (I got a good laugh out of that little name card)

Edited November 8, 2021 by DRW50

[Mitch]

People were complaining that the Dobson's were just doing Ed/Holly/Roger/Rita here but it was not as sexy and fun.  No ONE not even John has energy in this quad. Apparently after Ian died in the "act" on top of poor Dee, she became as Marland would write on GL..."frigid" and afraid of sexual relations, so John Svengalied her and that part makes sense. The Brad part does not. he just appears out of nowhere, and stalks Dee while Annie moons over him, as he rips Nancy and Chris out of their land? How do Brad and Dee even have any kind of relationship and again, why marry poor dowdy Annie? Now if they had made Brad an ex of Dee's that she was in love with from before...and maybe he and Annie screw (after Dee rejects him) and she is preggers, so they marry, but both of regrets on the decision.

And DO NOT f*ck with Nancy Hughes here...bitch would take a few seconds from mixing the cake batter to freeze you to death with that cold stare! I love it and Wagner must have had fun playing it as she always was colder then Charita...

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. 

I wonder if Brad was intended to be Roger here - or maybe that was John, I don't know. It's like they split Roger in half, as John is the dark villain whose women issues define him (as shown in that drinking scene above) while Brad is supposed to be an all-powerful sexual figure, I guess....?????

Maybe they should have waited until Michael Zaslow's time at GL wound down and cast him as Brad, rather than a guy who is basically Brad Dourif without the charisma. Hell, Brad Dourif and Powers Boothe had more sexual chemistry in the Jonestown film around this point than this guy has with anybody. 

Sorry to beat a dead horse, I'm sure the guy was nice in real life, I just get PTSD any time I go back and watch his character. 

[SoapDope]

The actor (Peter Brouwer) playing odd ball Brad before joining ATWT was in the original Friday The 13th with Kevin Bacon (before he was on GL). F13 was released in 1980, but was filmed in 1979. His character in that film was an odd ball too. 

 

 

 

[Franko]

What a treat this is. What an absolute treat. Thanks to that teaser for "Brothers" (a failed pilot co-starring Charles Levin), we can pinpoint the first portion as Wednesday, July 30, 1980, followed by the July 31 episode.

The only other thing I have to add is that I think Peter Billingsley is in the first Duncan Hines ad and I think I spotted Deborah Harmon in the split second of the Charmin ad at the very start. (Sorry, that's all I've got, confirming the date and naming commercial folks.)

ETA: And Charles Kimbrough in the Joy ad. Ha ... the fictional and real-life husbands of Beth Howland.

EETA: Jason Hervey in the Velveeta ad. (The mom at the start looks familiar, too.) And Sela Ward for Night of Olay.

... And I'm 90 percent certain that's Carlin Glynn, "Miss Mona" to Henderson Forsythe's "Sheriff Ed Earl" in the OBC of Best Little Whorehouse, in the Sure ad.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Franko

[DRW50]

@Franko thanks, great detective work! I'm sure the original uploader will appreciate the date. 

[Mitch]

Ha..everytime I see that on TV I have to say..in disgust..."Ugh, Brad Hollister!" I think the writers before the Dobsons return wrote him out (Tom King?) but it was getting really gross as Lisa, who Brad conned before...was throwing herself at him! Uggggh!

[DramatistDreamer]

Even though she's being identified by her work on Passions here, Christian LeBlanc said "Hi Sis" in the comments, which I thought was cute.

 

[will81]

I put the dates up on the previous page (855) Jul 30 & 31 1980.

ETA: Oh @Franko has also put them, haha. I guess my post got lost in the mix of things

Edited November 8, 2021 by will81

[Bill Bauer]

I'll have to respectfully disagree there. Charita could play cold better than anybody and she played Bert as very cold for most of the character's run. Way colder than Nancy ever was. 

[Soaplovers]

Nancy had reasons to be stone cold to Joyce..and it seems like the Dobson's got Joyce..and to a lesser extent Nancy.

I think Nancy and Joyce were pushed out after the Dobson's left the first time.

Another character they wrote well was Carol...the nice girl.  In other 1980 episodes, she's written well.

[Broderick]

Eric Hollister (Bo Reckell) seemed to be impersonating Peter Brady's famous "pork chops and applesauce" line on the Brady Bunch.  Brad Hollister was downright pervy-looking, and Dee seemed about ready to swoon.  None of that worked exactly right, lol.    

[Mitch]

Yea, before my time...ever since I watched she was the good grandma, friend to all who could, when needed, give someone a kick in the ass.  I still can't believe that Charita was in her early 60s when she died...I guess I am also used to Marland's Nancy...who, like all his characters, thought it was bad form and impolite to loose their temper...where more blue collar Bert had not problem showing a bit of fire.

 

Such an odd time...for the first half of their first run, the Dobson's were including Nancy and Chris, and then that winter, they practically disappeared when they should have been involved..John's rape trial, with Lyla's testimony on the stand that Margo was John's kid...the return of Natalie...Joyce up to no good (which led to Wagner quitting, a week before the 25th anniversary.)  I remember that summer an influx of..nobodies...and a middle aged asian couple (no problem with them being asian, it just was weird that they were going for youth and these...middle aged nobodies appeared...) but when Bunim came in and fired the deadweight it would have been easy to bring Wagner back and recenter the show but she didnt.  Agreed, Carol was nice but not a push over...(and forgotten to make way for Steve/Betsy) I still would have liked to know where they were going with some stuff...what was going to happen with Joyce's fake brain tumor...what did they envision the dreaded John/Dee/Brad/Annie quad was going, what was Natalie going to do...(the new writers had her trading barbs with Lisa and trying to babysit her bio kid...) where was Babs/James/Margo going...(what was his Egyptian artifacts thing all about...)

I would really like to know backstage why the Dobson's left the first time and oddly enough, they were brought back within a year which seems to never happen to head writers.

 

I wondered what he was reminding me in that!! What was that line reading all about????

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Mitch

[DramatistDreamer]

Some things just age really badly.

Like porn-staches.

 

[amybrickwallace]

Yes!

Please register in order to view this content