As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Vee]

It is wonderfully insane seeing Duncan move into the foggy McColl castle(!!) as has been hinted at for a month. They appear to be playing slightly off-brand Dark Shadows musical cues. I know Hensley, his manservant(?) or whatever, has a big role going forward of sorts - hopefully I can make sense of it though there's quite a few gaps coming up.

Speaking of gaps, the gaps in what's available had me jumping from what was apparently the end of May to early June, and in that time they've shockingly already resolved the Marsha Talbot/Kim murder trial in a matter of only a week or two, so it seems - Marsha has been apprehended after abducting Frannie, and Tom and Margo appear to already, finally be back together or close to it, shortly after Margo discovered she was pregnant as the trial began. Not sure what happened with the latter. Anyway this binge is still glorious, despite the holes I am trying to fill. Miss a day, miss a lot!

Edited November 9, 2021 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

25 minutes ago, Vee said:

It is wonderfully insane seeing Duncan move into the foggy McColl castle(!!) as has been hinted at for a month. They appear to be playing slightly off-brand Dark Shadows musical cues. I know Hensley, his manservant(?) or whatever, has a big role going forward of sorts - hopefully I can make sense of it though there's quite a few gaps coming up.

Speaking of gaps, the gaps in what's available had me jumping from what was apparently the end of May to early June, and in that time they've shockingly already resolved the Marsha Talbot/Kim murder trial in a matter of only a week or two, so it seems - Marsha has been apprehended after abducting Frannie, and Tom and Margo appear to already, finally be back together or close to it, shortly after Margo discovered she was pregnant as the trial began. Not sure what happened with the latter. Anyway this binge is still glorious, despite the holes I am trying to fill. Miss a day, miss a lot!

Hensley is Duncan's "solicitor" a.k.a. lawyer. And yes, he's creepy, which will play out later.

It is annoying to have so many story gaps, particularly as it pertains to details that surround tying up storyline threads. It's something that makes me appreciate the Bold and Beautiful episodes (analog, though they be) being streamed right now, you actually get to see a storyline play out from the beginning to the end. That is something that can be achieved via streaming, not so much DVD collection sales.

[Broderick]

5 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

Peter Reckell? How long after leaving ATWT did he book DAYS?

Seems like old Bo was on World Turns from sometime in 1980 till maybe early 1982.  He disappeared into nighttime guest star roles for a few months, and then reappeared on Days in 1983, I believe.   He definitely improved during his move from New York to Los Angeles.  His acting on World Turns was a little bit strange, lol.  

[Soapsuds]

3 minutes ago, Broderick said:

Seems like old Bo was on World Turns from sometime in 1980 till maybe early 1982.  He disappeared into nighttime guest star roles for a few months, and then reappeared on Days in 1983, I believe.   He definitely improved during his move from New York to Los Angeles.  His acting on World Turns was a little bit strange, lol.  

Peter was terrible on ATWT. I hated his character too.

[DramatistDreamer]

The writing for Reckell seemed to be as much to blame as his acting, from the little that I've seen of him on ATWT. Jon Hensley was pretty darn green when he first appeared on WT but had the benefit of being surrounded by highly capable actresses that brought him up. With time and benefit of focused writing, Reckell may very well have improved while still on, then again, with the size of that cast, his character really wasn't needed anyway.

Good for Peter for improving and trying another soap. Looks like it worked out for him.

Edited November 10, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[MarlandFan]

The late-May 1986 classic episode where Frannie remembers Marsha killing Doug Cummings is the Holy Grail of YouTube. That episode and Chris's Labor Day birth are the two that have never been posted. Hopefully, one day someone will discover an old video tape in their attic...

[Vee]

2 hours ago, MarlandFan said:

The late-May 1986 classic episode where Frannie remembers Marsha killing Doug Cummings is the Holy Grail of YouTube. That episode and Chris's Labor Day birth are the two that have never been posted. Hopefully, one day someone will discover an old video tape in their attic...

I had no idea. That's wild. It seems like so much story snapped into place and climaxed very suddenly in the matter of a couple weeks - maybe a week and change - after what felt like a very, very slow build for months up to that point re:  the Cummings trial and Tom/Margo de-thawing, even throughout most of May. It's ironic that both those climaxes seem lost to time and are not viewable, for now at least.

Did Barbara finally get found out by Tom in that brief interval between late May and early June as well? I've been waiting for that but I would assume not. The blackmail of Barbara by Tad #3(?) is also quite sudden, and I still don't know he got involved with Emily.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Vee

[SoapDope]

18 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

Peter Reckell? How long after leaving ATWT did he book DAYS?

He did some primetime TV appearances after he left ATWT prior to Days. I remember him in a 1982 Facts Of Life episode and he had a beard by then. 

[Mitch]

19 hours ago, Vee said:

he binge continues! Consecutive viewing is getting spotty but now it's June '86 and suddenly we're up to at least three Tad Channings as the latest is a considerably older Larry Pine with what appears to be severe laryngitis, scheming somehow with the first adult Emily (Colleen McDermott). How did she get involved with him?

I never understood why they got rid of the first Tad..who if I remember...was sexy and you can see Iva and others getting involved with him. Larrry Pine's Tad was just..gross.  Anyway, I think this storyline really is the quality climax to the whole Lucinda/Lilly/Iva storyline and the end result should have been her finding out the truth...was it..I can't remember. It just seemed to drag on after this and get more and more Snyder incesty weird..with Rod Landry intro...(can it just be a horny Iva got it on with a hot farm boy and leave it at that without this weird incest sex is bad and rape thing???)

[amybrickwallace]

1 hour ago, SoapDope said:

He did some primetime TV appearances after he left ATWT prior to Days. I remember him in a 1982 Facts Of Life episode and he had a beard by then. 

Thanks. I remember that FOL episode...maybe that's how he caught the attention of NBC?

[SoapDope]

6 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Thanks. I remember that FOL episode...maybe that's how he caught the attention of NBC?

It could be. He showed up on Days shortly after. 

[amybrickwallace]

1 hour ago, SoapDope said:

It could be. He showed up on Days shortly after. 

Yeah, I knew it was right around that time.

[victoria foxton]

23 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

Peter Reckell? How long after leaving ATWT did he book DAYS?

I'm not sure how accurate the info is.  But i read somewhere that Eric and Haley were married in late 1981. The newlyweds left Oakdale. Eric comes back for the birth of Cricket's son Billy. Sometime in early 82. Cricket had lied and told everyone Eric was the father.

Edited November 10, 2021 by victoria foxton

[DramatistDreamer]

9 hours ago, Vee said:

Did Barbara finally get found out by Tom in that brief interval between late May and early June as well? I've been waiting for that but I would assume not. The blackmail of Barbara by Tad #3(?) is also quite sudden, and I still don't know he got involved with Emily.

No, Barbara's deception wasn't uncovered until August. There is an episode where Tom finally meets up with Jerry Halperin (a character I wished they had brought back in later years, perhaps develop a romantic relationship with Lisa, as the actors appeared to have a lovely onscreen chemistry, imo), they go out for drinks and Jerry offhandedly divulges how he put a drunken Tom to bed that infamous night, as Tom was out cold. Tom runs out of the restaurant, pretty much crashing into everybody on his way out. Later Tom is show running into a family barbeque, where he grabs Margo by the hand to confront Barbara. That episode is on YouTube. What is missing is how Lisa found out, as well Bob and Kim, although we hear on another episode that apparently, Barbara confessed what she had done to both Kim and Bob later in the year. Craig also found out (presumably via Margo), which had implications as Barbara became a major investor in Craig's company. We are pretty much robbed of seeing everyone's reaction, except for Tom and Margo's immediate reaction, and even there we didn't get to see them process all the months wasted in anger and guilt for no good reason.

[DramatistDreamer]

9 hours ago, Mitch said:

I never understood why they got rid of the first Tad..who if I remember...was sexy and you can see Iva and others getting involved with him. Larrry Pine's Tad was just..gross.  Anyway, I think this storyline really is the quality climax to the whole Lucinda/Lilly/Iva storyline and the end result should have been her finding out the truth...was it..I can't remember. It just seemed to drag on after this and get more and more Snyder incesty weird..with Rod Landry intro...(can it just be a horny Iva got it on with a hot farm boy and leave it at that without this weird incest sex is bad and rape thing???)

Did they fire the first actor, or did he leave? If Colleen McDermott could hang on for several months, despite being truly lackluster, I don't see tptb willingly getting rid of the actor so soon, unless he wanted to go.

I think Pine was likely available and had shown he could play a bad guy. His Tad Channing was gross and hopelessly ruthless, with no redeeming qualities. I'm guessing that with Pine, the writing had decisively leaned fully into D#nald T*ump by then. Amoral, disgusting real estate developer who was on the verge of wrecking the business that his father built, while being incapable of keeping his rape-y hands to himself.