Things look quite interesting for ATWT's 50th...there will be a book tie-in. Check this out, it was posted at the official message board under "Springfield Journal/Oakdale Oracle" (you have to be a member to view that section).

As the World Turns will celebrate their 50th anniversary with two special shows, one on March 31 and the other on April 3. They’re stand-alone shows, one which will be a very light-hearted, hopefully irreverent, send-up of our show, and the other show is "7 divas on a bus". A bus breaks down and it will be a clip show.

The show will also be honored at an event at the museum of TV and Radio.

Oakdale Confidential, a novel base on the soap, will be worked into the show and releases on April 4. This is the novel that everyone in Oakdale is talking about. This is the scandal they can't ignore. (possible spoilers ahead!!!) It's a major event in Oakdale -- a black-tie gala honoring the Marron family's fifty years of support for Oakdale's Memorial Hospital. But high spirits are cut short when patron of honor Gregory Marron Jr. is delivered in his limo dead on arrival, from an apparent heart attack. Three women in the crowd have reasons of their own to suspect murder. . . .

Event organizer Katie Peretti never understood her boyfriend Mike Kasnoff's reasons for not attending the party -- until now. Wrongly implicated in a crime against the Marrons, Mike served a stiff sentence, and has nursed a simmering rage ever since. Maddie Coleman, the teenaged sister of the limo's driver, Henry, knows that her brother owed Marron thirty-thousand dollars. She also knows he couldn't pay him back, and had only one recourse for permanently erasing the debt. Carly Snyder's suspicions are more personal. The wife of police detective Jack Snyder, Carly was one of Marron's mistresses. In a heated moment she wanted her shameful past dead and buried -- a wish her husband possibly honored.

Now Katie, Maddie, and Carly, each of them desperate to protect the man they love, are crossing paths in an investigation that's uncovering more poisonous secrets in Oakdale than they ever imagined. The means, motives, and suspects are shifting with each new twist -- and one of these determined women may not live to see the killer revealed. You may purchase the novel through several online and standard stores.

And check out the book cover art:

OMG!!! I am soooo watching. ATWT, I love you!

Nice avatar Actor...HENRY ROCKS!

WTF? So they are centering a huge black-tie, anniversary gala on someone we never met before?!?

Bull [!@#$%^&*]!

This all sounds very very good. I look forward to the shows.

Wow. I'm definitely taping both of the special episodes!

But now the mystery begins. Seven divas on a bus? Who can they be? My guesses...

Lisa (The original diva of Oakdale, besides Aunt Edie)

Lily (The modern diva of Oakdale)

Barbara (the !@#$%^&*]y diva of Oakdale)

Emily (the wacked out diva of Oakdale)

Carly (the violent diva of Oakdale)

And then my mind draws a blank. Hmm...Lisa Brown's attending the 50th anniversary fan luncheon, so maybe she'll do some appearances as Iva? And maybe there are some other guest spots in the works? Rosemary Prinz as Penny? PLEASE!? Or better yet, Patricia Bruder as Ellen. Now THAT would bring back some memories!

WTF? So they are centering a huge black-tie, anniversary gala on someone we never met before?!?

Bull [!@#$%^&*]!

I'm thinking that the black-tie thing is not THE anniversary stuff. The March 31 and April 3 stuff will be what we're really waiting for.

WTF? So they are centering a huge black-tie, anniversary gala on someone we never met before?!?

Bull [!@#$%^&*]!

It sounds like that's just the book. At least I'm hoping.

The two anniversary episodes sound good, especially the "seven divas" eppy.

All My Shadows Posted Today, 04:52 PM

Wow. I'm definitely taping both of the special episodes!

But now the mystery begins. Seven divas on a bus? Who can they be? My guesses...

Lisa (The original diva of Oakdale, besides Aunt Edie)

Lily (The modern diva of Oakdale)

Barbara (the !@#$%^&*]y diva of Oakdale)

Emily (the wacked out diva of Oakdale)

Carly (the violent diva of Oakdale)

I'd add Kim or Nancy (gotta have a Hughes) and maybe Susan.

"It sounds like that's just the book. At least I'm hoping."

I got the impression that the book was just a tie-in account of this on screen murder, not something to the effect of Lorelai's Diary on GL, where the book became the story itself.

Sigh.

At least there will be a clip show.

A book about Maddie who has been on the show 6 months?

This whole anniversary should center on Nancy, Lisa and Bob along with Kim, Susan and a returned John.

The divas had better include Nancy, Kim, Lisa, Susan, Barbara and Lucinda. I would think Lily would be the 7th. No newbies!!!! I don't want to see clips from last week. I want to see classics celebrating the 50 years including the 20 that ATWT was #1 (which was a LONG time ago).

Irreverant episode doesn't sound good to me. ATWT perfected anniversaries with the 30th celebration. That was ATWT at it's finest.

Okay, I do not like this at all. Granted, I'll probably buy the book to support the show, but I'm definitely not going to read it. I like Maddie, but she's been on the show for less than a year. And I don't consider Katie or Carly to be veterans either, especially since there are characters like Kim, Lisa, Nancy, etc still around! So what the hell does this book have to do with the 50 Anniversay??

Honestly, I pray to God that ATWT does something a lot better than this on the show for the anniversary; otherwise, I will be extremely disappointed.

Also, I don't often judge books by their covers, but that one just screams "crappy mystery novel."

Ahh, I'll give it a shot. I just wish these two special shows would open with a montage of ATWT openings through the years...

Okay, I do not like this at all. Granted, I'll probably buy the book to support the show, but I'm definitely not going to read it. I like Maddie, but she's been on the show for less than a year. And I don't consider Katie or Carly to be veterans either, especially since there are characters like Kim, Lisa, Nancy, etc still around! So what the hell does this book have to do with the 50 Anniversay??

Honestly, I pray to God that ATWT does something a lot better than this on the show for the anniversary; otherwise, I will be extremely disappointed.

Also, I don't often judge books by their covers, but that one just screams "crappy mystery novel."

I really don't think that the 50th anniversary shows and the book have anything to do with one another. And plus, it's a book. Who friggin' cares?! Just watch the show and reminisce about what a great show ATWT is and what astounding progress it's made over the years, plus a few ups and downs along the way. The book may[/] tie into the show a little bit, but I'm sure they're not gonna make a whole storyline out of it.

They'll probably talk on-air about how some author that grew up in Oakdale and knows all of them has went on to publish many books and has now written one including some Oakdale citizens...or something.

I very highly doubt they totally say "Hey. This is a book. This book is what we're basing our whole 50th anniversary on."

Ahh, I'll give it a shot. I just wish these two special shows would open with a montage of ATWT openings through the years...

That would be really cool. REALLY cool. Or maybe a totally re-vamped opening.....possibly with faded images of past ATWT stars/characters/storylines/copules/etc. inside the globe.

A book about Maddie who has been on the show 6 months?

This whole anniversary should center on Nancy, Lisa and Bob along with Kim, Susan and a returned John.

The divas had better include Nancy, Kim, Lisa, Susan, Barbara and Lucinda. I would think Lily would be the 7th. No newbies!!!! I don't want to see clips from last week. I want to see classics celebrating the 50 years including the 20 that ATWT was #1 (which was a LONG time ago).

Irreverant episode doesn't sound good to me. ATWT perfected anniversaries with the 30th celebration. That was ATWT at it's finest.

ITA.

I do want it to cover the whole 50 years but many times these shows become too heavy with recent stuff and the past is totally forgotten.

"Also, I don't often judge books by their covers, but that one just screams "crappy mystery novel."

Like COUGH COUGH The Killing Club COUGH COUGH

I really wonder what Julie Poll is doing these days. Perhaps she can update her book for this anniversary?