As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[Forever8]

YouTube and Soapcentral can be your friends Alan. 

[amybrickwallace]

[wonderwoman1951]

and not just the intersection of race and class, but the intersection of race, class, ethnicity, and gender, as well.

listening to those conversations between jessica and her father, it was my father’s voice i heard. it was as though doug marland had bugged my italian-american family’s home. 

[amybrickwallace]

He could be uncanny when writing about families, for sure.

[DramatistDreamer]

Tamara Tunie briefly mentioned Count Stovall and I wish someone would interview him about his time doing soaps. The Franklin family really were the predecessors to the Griffin family and they were based in Oakdale. I've said this before but there are not nearly enough episodes with the Franklin family. The topic of police shootings and death of young Black men were issues that were part of their story, and I wish I had more backstory on the tussle there must have been to put some of that on air in the mid-1980s on one of the most conservative daytime television channels.

I mentioned class and race because for some reason, class is not often discussed or highlighted in Black families, at least not on television.

The memorable thing about Jessica being from the BX, yet being solidly upper middle class, while her family was working class caused a rift in the family.

I would love to hear your ideas on how gender figured on the Griffin family dynamic as I wasn't keyed in to how gender figured into how the Griffin family related to one another.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

It's a bit of irony that the best way to write characters that will be universal is to write them with specificity.

Marland wrote the Franklins as well as the Griffins with specificity (the way he wrote the Snyders or Hughes with specificity) bit he wrote themes that were common to many people. He wasn't trying to make either the model Black family, they had flaws and dysfunction, just like the White families on the canvas, but some aspects were specific to a Black family, especially in regards to Roy's family, the way some elements were specific to the Snyders being a farming family.

This is what's missing from the writing today in many soaps. So many characters today seem interchangeable, or easy to forget.

Something Tunie mentioned about Marland has been a recurring theme with him, he often gave actors the space to leave and do other projects and return. He trusted the actors and gave them the freedom to explore various aspects of their craft 

Compare that to what we've read about Irna Phillips, who appeared to want to keep her actors tethered to the show and micromanage their every move. Was this because P&G micromanaged her, and she didn't feel as though they trusted her vision and in turn she didn't really trust most of her actors?

Edited December 19, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[Khan]

Nah, she was just nuts.

(I'm kidding.)

[Chris B]

I thought the Tamara Tunie interview was my favorite along with the Rosemary Prinz one. I don’t know if her heard our complaints or simply was more focused because of who she was, but I found Alan listened more, let her talk and seemed overall more engaged. 
 

I agree that the biggest missed opportunity was not mentioned the Kasi Lemmons was on ATWT. Overall though, I LOVED listening to Tunie speak. What a smart and talented woman with such a legacy!

[DramatistDreamer]

I love TT and am always glad to hear from her but Alan got certain show details terribly wrong and it's annoying to long time fans of the show. I don't expect her to remember because it's been ages but Alan failed to prepare and to me, it shows a lack of respect.

I genuinely believe that, had P&G showed that they had more confidence in her ideas, she might have been a different person. Had P&G listened to her, The Guiding Light would have been on TV before it actually did but they sabotaged efforts because they thought television wouldn't last. Once they finally did allow it, she urged them to get rid of the organ music, as she believed it would become a source of mockery of the daytime drama and, no longer being on radio, they didn't need the organ cues to signal the end and start of scenes and P&G didn't listen. Whenever any comedy sketch show wants to lampoon soaps, what's the first thing they do? Of course, that organ music plays.

Yes, she was a b*tch but I am interested in the reasons how and why she became that way. I doubt her neuroses sprang up in a vacuum. And there is documented evidence that P&G consistently undermined and she became more combative as the years passed.

[amybrickwallace]

BINGO!!! That's what chaps me about his shows.

[Soapsuds]

Because it's Christmastime

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[amybrickwallace]

Definitely a bygone era. Thanks for posting those.

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[amybrickwallace]

Currently watching ATWT alum Ashley Williams in the Hallmark movie, Sister Swap: Christmas in the City.