As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[adrnyc]

All I can tell you is what Colleen told me. She knew Roger very well and was in the room with him as he digitized many of the episodes. He told her when they took back the rights that they intended on wiping everything as they wanted absolutely nothing to do with the soap opera genre anymore. So much so, they didn't even want it to exist. P&G Entertainment was a spin-off company of P&G. We've all known that they wanted out of the soap business. I was just shocked to hear that they wanted out so badly that everything was wiped. Whether it's true or not, Colleen definitely believes it to be true. I was gobsmacked. She said she was too when she found out. We commiserated a while and moved on to happier topics.

[DRW50]

Oh I'm not doubting you, it's just these things go through so many channels and layers, I hope we will hear more someday.

It was nice of you to donate to Trent's theater  company and I'm glad you enjoyed the call.

Edited August 6, 2022 by DRW50

[Franko]

Alas, it's too late to matter -- and I'm sure this has been discussed before, but did CBS ever attempt to outright purchase ATWT and GL from P&G?

[bboy875]

So sad if true

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[adrnyc]

 

Well, his theater company is only 25 min from where I moved in upstate NY so I've done what I can. Their first production was Oleanna by David Mamet and it was fantastic. They have staged readings and a film festival - doing everything they can to get a theater company going that was supposed to open its first production months into the pandemic. 

I don't know if anyone is aware but there was a larger Zoom reunion beforehand - mostly with people this board hates, I imagine, cuz they're from the last decade. Trent, Colleen, Van Hansis, Ellen Dolan, Jennifer Ferrin, Mark Collier, Michael Park and Maura West. It was wonderful seeing how much they all still loved each other and they shared some pretty great memories for those of us who loved watching them perform together.

[Jdee43]

I would not be surprised to hear that P&G junked all their tapes. The size of their archive and the radio silence since 2013 has been disturbing. Yet junking them didn't necessarily have to be destroying them. That seems so vindictive. Why not donate them to a museum? Or just give them away or something. It's so sad. The loss to television history is immeasurable. 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Jdee43

[I Am A Swede]

What an extremely petty thing to do by P&G.  

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[antmunoz]

Dear God!  I’m sitting on a GOLDMINE!!! I have them ALL. 

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[Soapsuds]

I have them all too. Some duplicates too. I might sale the duplicates on eBay one day. 

I also have all of the BB and Guiding light releases.

[antmunoz]

I’ve got all the GL plus the German set from 1979. Not a B&B fan. 
 

i oughta sell and take a nice vacation to Illinois. See Oakdale and Springfield. 

[adrnyc]

 

You'd be sitting on a goldmine if you had good quality episodes of every episode of ATWT, AW, SFT, GL and whatever else was P&G. Literally, all of that was destroyed. As @I Am A Swede said earlier, it was a petty thing for P&G to do. But whoever is in charge of P&G, clearly hated soap operas and although I'm still shocked from hearing the news, I shouldn't be surprised. But I am. It's just such a lost of television history.

Even some episodes do get found - for example, other countries could have tapes in their basement. The BBC wiped out all of the 1960s television but they way they got a lot of it back was because they had sold their programming to so many countries, they were able to retrieve a lot of them. But P&G would just destroy whatever is found. The company P&G Entertainment, which produced all the shows, no longer exists, and P&G itself (whoever runs it) obviously wants all records of their time producing soaps to be erased from history.

[j swift]

But, you'd better act quickly, unlike the books which sell for hundreds of dollars, DVD players are being quickly obsolete

DVD sales have fallen more than 70% between 2011 and 2021, CNBC reported, and now make up less than 10% of the total movie market. DVD/Blu-ray Disc player use remains in decline, with household penetration dropping to 57% in the first quarter of 2020 from 73% at the end of 2017, according to data from Nielsen.

Edited August 7, 2022 by j swift

[antmunoz]

I’m sure some soap lover with a DVD or BR player will gladly pay me thousands to take them off my hands!  LOL

[j swift]

Will you use the proceeds to start your own classic soap streaming service, or just retire to that deserted island where Henry and Vienna hung out?

Trust me don't go to Montega, I've heard the food is terrible, and half the population claims to be the illegitimate heirs of Lucinda Walsh.

Edited August 7, 2022 by j swift

[NothinButAttitude]

 

If this is true, this is the most heinous thing a company could ever do.

 

Why would you deliberately wipe out the remainder of American history of all those great shows? Why not just sell the rights to someone, so they can take the catalogue of all those shows and determine their future?

 

This is just saddening.