As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[danfling]

I remember that Farley Granger was replaced by the show (One Life to Live).    The new Dr. Will Vernon was Bernie McInnerny.   He was only one for a short time, so he may have been a temporary substitute. 

I did not know at that time that Mr. Granger was propositioning a younger actor, but the pornagraphic actor Jerry Butler told in his autobiography that an actor on One Life to Live had promised him a role on the show in exchange for affection (I am thinking that it would have been Brad Vernon #2 when Jameson Parker left the show's cast).   I do not know if this offer was from Mr. Granger or Anthony George (although I suspect Mr. Granger).

Mr. McInnerny had completed his role on The Edge of Night as Mark Ferriday.

The actor who replaced Bernie McInnerny was Anthony George.    He had begun his daytime career as Burke Devlin #2 and Jeremiah Collins.  He later joined the cast of Search for Tomorrow.  He left that show and was later hired to play Dr. Vernon on One Life to Live.   He remained on the show as a contract player for a number of years, and, at the time that he was dropped, the show said that he may be seen occasionally.    However, he only returned (shortly after) during the death storyline of his daughter Samantha Vernon Buchanan Garrettson.

 

Dr. Vernon lost his wife Naomi (played by Teri Keane, who had earlier been on As the World Turns) in a botched suicide attempt.  He later had romances with several other romantic partners on One Life to Live.

[lilyredd]

The writing for Craig was so awful. Recasts happen but the writers just spit on his history for the reason of what?  Showing Craig as a supposed “strong” man? I loved his relationship with Lucinda - love, hate, attraction, etc. They bring him back and he has people poison her to get Worldwide. WTH was that? She wanted him in her company - a more nuanced approach could have been his getting her to crown him king and keep the Walsh/Montgomery clan intact.

[wonderwoman1951]

ita with everything you said. wanted to add: can only imagine what the budget must have been for this episode. 5 sets, which is not a lot, but i counted 25 characters, at least 20 on contract. 

those were the days…

[vetsoapfan]

Thanks for the link @DRW50

[P.J.]

While I agree the writing for Craig was atrocious, I think the bigger problem was casting Hunt Block in the role. Block was a one-trick pony, really incapable of conveying anything other than an all-consuming self-interest. Block was given plenty of material to use as emmy bait, and only netted one nomination at a period in time when ATWT was awash in them. He was good at portraying a smug belief in his innate superiority, but not the ability to care about anyone else. And it's not like Craig wasn't given those moments, Block either couldn't, or didn't chose to play them. 

Meanwhile, Scott Bryce was able to give Craig a conscience in spite of even more atrocious writing.

[wonderwoman1951]

agreed that the writing for craig was atrocious in the final years. funny thing, though,  about hunt block is that i really like him as ben warren on gl, when he did play the emotional layers. so i wonder if something else was going on. maybe what he was playing was closer to the vision chris goutman had for the character.

after scott bryce was fired in 2008, he gave an interview to michael logan and described his relationship with goutman as “odd, and disconnected,” then talked about how dark the show had become and suggested that maybe he “didn’t fit into that vision.” 

 

[danfling]

In a post above, I mentioned incorrectly that Farley Granger had begun his daytime career on One Life to Live.    That is incorrect; he had played Trent Archer on The Edge of Night previously.    I had forgotten since our local affiliate had dropped The Edge of Night for almost two years during the time that he was playing that role.

[robbwolff]

You were correct originally. Farley played the role of Will Vernon on One Life to Live from 1976 to 1977. He appeared as Trent Archer on The Edge of Night in September and October 1979. He was part of the Mansion of the Damned storyline with Kim Hunter. That storyline definitely aired in 1979-1980

[DramatistDreamer]

When I used to post my criticisms of the show’s last 12-13 years and wrote about how horrible many of the characterizations were, a few people misunderstood and believed that I was belittling the actors themselves. This was never the case. When I talked about what an affront I found Craig to be in that final decade, I meant the characterization, not the actor. In fact, I mentioned more than once that I thought Hunt Block would have made a good Rick Ryan, a character that that had enough history for viewers to care but was enough of a blank slate to give a writer, director (were they still using them in those final years?) and actor a free hand.

 

Ah Scott Bryce, the diplomat. He was honest yet tactful in his interviews about that time. 

[Khan]

I tried to come up with an instance where I saw Hunt Block play any role with anything other than smarminess, and...I couldn't.

[DramatistDreamer]

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 which is why he would have been well cast for Rick Ryan, a character who was shady as hell.

[wonderwoman1951]

i didn’t find portrayal of ben warren on gl at all swarmy,

[Khan]

I did.  At no time did I ever believe that Ben had anything but his own, personal, self-serving interests at heart.  Even when Paul Rauch/B&E tried to sell us on a Blake/Ross/Ben triangle, I didn't believe for one second that Ben had any romantic feelings for his sister-in-law (which annoyed me, because there was a time when Blake wouldn't have been so gullible).

To this day, I wish that either James DePaiva or Philip Brown had played the role instead.

Except, I wouldn't have wanted for Rick to be so two-dimensional.  I would've wanted an actor who could put SOME emotional layers into that character so that he wouldn't come across simply as this out-and-out bastard who was beyond redemption or empathy.

[P.J.]

Me either. I hated Ben Warren. 

Having loved Scott Bryce, I'm not sure I could've accepted anyone else in the role. I understand that at the time they needed a [!@#$%^&*]-stirrer to shake Oakdale up. And it's hard to come up with a character who'd have as many ties on the canvas (although they rarely, if ever truly used Craig's). Maybe a better solution would have been to import a shady AW character to screw with everyone's lives. Although honestly, I was hella annoyed by Tom Eplin smothering the canvas at the time too. 

[Khan]

I do, too, @P.J..  However, I would have brought back Scott Eldridge for that function.  He, like Rick Ryan, was a virtual blank slate with a sketchy past and multiple ties on the canvas.  Plus, imagine playing "bad" Scott against his "good" half-brother, D.A. Tom, with their mother, Lisa, who was once Oakdale's most notorious "bad girl," caught in the middle.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Khan