As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

Can we just get Hillary Bailey Smith to host these reunions from now on?

[Khan]

P&G should have never retired that theme.  If anything, I would have brought it back at some point, accompanied by new visuals (perhaps, the spinning globe, then a montage of clips of various people "in action" to emphasize the drama, the passion, the adventure, etc., then back to the globe, as we zoom out to show the title).

[DramatistDreamer]

This and even the one before it were such grande theme songs. I would have thought that, at least for the last big anniversary they would have pulled out a classic theme to commemorate.

[Khan]

Apropos of nothing, but I always thought ATWT should have concluded with a montage of some sort set to this song:

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[DramatistDreamer]

That's way too cool a theme for what ATWT had descended into in its final years.

Maybe a fan can put something together on Vimeo. Sadly, that's all the hope we have for something half way befitting the legacy of this show. A very belated tribute video montage.

[TVFAN1144]

Hated this Star Wars type theme. I always wondered why the theme song opening with video images on the globe didn’t last long

[j swift]

It seems like one of the problems of using cast photos in the openings was that characters broke up, women cut their hair, actors were recast, and production had problems keeping the opening current (remember how Erica Kane had that unfortunate spikey hairdo for years on AMC?)

Also, with the huge number of floating head openings in various soaps, there were always those awkward actors who couldn't quite pull off the turn to the camera and look sexy at the same time pose (aka Holden).

Edited December 31, 2021 by j swift

[Soapsuds]

It was too expensive !  They went cheap after that...very cheap. The last opening was heartbreaking and sad.

I'm all for that!!

[Khan]

Agree.  I understand that they were restricted by budget and the need for more commercial spots, but that final opening just felt so slapdash.  Even the opening for "Lost" was more evocative, and that thing lasted all of five seconds!

[Soapsuds]

Anyone could've come up with that miserable opening if you can call it an opening..... No music accompanying it...nada!!

[DramatistDreamer]

This was before my time, but I always thought this was a beautiful theme. Grande and sweeping. Someone with half an imagination should've been able to make a contemporary variation on this theme, even for the final big anniversary.

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Technically, I was alive when this was still on air, but not quite old enough to get into soaps.

[TVFAN1144]

That would have been good if they could have recreated this.  It could have been iconic 

DOOL and Y&R have been extremely successful at this using the same theme song in various recreations and have been used in different movies (Mr Mom and 9 to 5 come to mind). Although I don’t think DOOL uses those familiar 4 note opening chords anymore which I find strange 

[Khan]

Sony, which produces DAYS and Y&R, knows enough not to tamper TOO much with the shows' respective, iconic themes and openings.  If only P&G had held the same reverence for their product during the Great Opening Revamp of 1981-82.

[DramatistDreamer]

I think even the theme song that they had in the mid 80s could have been stripped down and made into a really good theme, like the ones they did with saxophone and sometimes strings within the actual scenes. They could have alternated between theme song, and just played with tempo and meter, use of instrumentation, phrasing of notes. They didn't have to reinvent the wheel, just mold different shapes on it, see how elastic the original mold truly was.

[Vee]

GH has followed suit over the last decade with its PowerPoint opening. I've binged a lot of Marland these last two years and I agree, they should never have dumped that theme - I've thought it again and again.