Very Cool!!!

Really Surprised!

Boring

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Having just seen an Off Broadway play with Larry Brygmann, I reflected on the 50 plus years of a soap that I watched on and off from 1984 until the end. It was the addition of Elizabeth Hubbard as powerful Lucinda Walsh that enticed me, and through the story lines of Douglas Marland, was a loyal viewer for the remainder of the 80's, admittedly torn between its competition, "Another World" and "One Life to Live". The return of matriarch Nancy Hughes in 1985, along with the focus on long running characters Bob, Kim and Lisa were more interesting to me than characters my own age, Steve and Betsy, and I found Barbara Ryan's change from heroine to mega bitch totally unbelievable. Following two of my favorite "Guiding Light" actors Lisa Brown and Ellen Dolan over, it was interesting to see them not playing sisters. A major stage and film character actress, Kathleen Widdoes, turned a traditional matriarch into something special. I was absolutely furious that they did not utilize Patricia Bruder more as one of the show's core original characters or try to get her back for occasional visits. Coming a year after "Guiding Light's' cancellation, the show only brought back Brygmann's John Dixon, but didn't bring anybody back for Nancy's funeral, including its original leading lady, Rosemary Prinz. Wasting Eileen Fulton as Lisa was also unforgivable. Many vintage episodes of ATWT are popping up, including one unforgettable 1962 episode where " Days of Our Lives" matriarch Frances Reid plays the nasty mother-in-law of Penny, a far cry from Alice Horton. While "Another World" crossed over with the characters of Jake, Marley, Donna and Vicky, killing off Jake was a slap in the face to AW fans. I would love to see more episodes than what is available featuring Ruth Warrick as the Auntie Mame like Edith Hughes, Barbara Berjer as Ellen's long suffering mom Claire, and my favorite neurotic anti-heroine, Susan Stewart. Anthony Herrera's James Stenbeck was the rising phoenix of the show, dying in so many ways on screen (short of being liquefied), while the fascinating John Dixon made several Oakdale women get their groove back. The storyline that got me watching on a daily basis was the Douglas Cummings story, featuring another GL vet, John Wesley Shipp in a very worthy Emmy performance and stage vet Giulia Pagano as the unforgettable Marsha Talbot, showing how soap acting should be done. Between all the New York soaps of the 80's and 90's, ATWT had so much of the best. The networks destroyed much of their credibility when they started canceling the soaps for cheap and pathetic talk shows. Their view was a preview of the death of quality entertainment.

I'm a long time viewer and enjoy the show. However, at this time I am very disappointed with the writers. The story line with Carly and Jack has always kept my attention. They have wonderful chemistry and should be together, and never been parted. Problems with their marriage and getting back together has always kept me watching them. Carly and Jack should have remarried, and absolutely not married to other people. They still love each other and belong together. Carly does not have to marry Craig for security, because she should be reminding him that he owes her a million dollars for paying the ransom to the kidnappers to get his son (now deceased) back years ago. The writers seem to have forgotten this. Carly's horse died and the insurance money was the million dollars that she loaned Craig. This needs to be brought to the attention of the show's writers. I think they need to review the show over the years before they write their TV show segments. To a long time viewer it is distressing to watch mistakes that are so obvious. Thank you for the opportunity to give my views about one of my favorite shows. Kay Newsome Baier, Duncan, SC

As the World Turns is a piece of Americana culture. Cast members like Helen Wagner, Bob Hastings, Eileen Fulton, Kathryn Hays, Colleen Zenk Pinter, Marie Masters, Elizabeth Hubbard, Larry Bryggman etc. have really helped make my days sometimes. The show was created Irna Phillips, the creator of daytime television. From her ideas, she created the world of Oakdale, Illinois. Helen Wagner should be given many honors besides a Lifetime Emmy Award. Next year, she will be celebrating 50 years of playing the same character on daytime television. Where are the accolades that go with such an achievement? She deserves a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and even to be an honoree at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Center Honors. Don't stop there! She should be inducted into the television hall of fame for her contributions to television. I think CBS is the best, most supportive network of the three. While Guiding Light needs ever viewer, this year will determine both Guiding Light and As The World Turns future. If you want to know where Desperate Housewives' ideas came from, this is the place and it has been there for most of our lives. I just wish more people would appreciate the fine quality of work that these cast of brilliant actors do for daytime. I would like to see prime time players do the hectic schedules of any daytime player. It goes unappreciated. The story lines have not been the same since Douglas Marland's death but his legacy is his creative contributions to the show like the Snyder family. I will never forget the Angel incest storyline as the most shocking entertaining informing and brilliant portrayal ever anywhere else. Marland weaved stories like his predecessors Irna Phillips, Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, etc. He is sorely missed even now. I hope As the World Turns and Guiding Light live on television forever so please give daytime a try. You might like it better than prime time, I usually do and I have watched it for 20 years.

This show, the first half-hour soap opera, had the classic soap opera setting - a suburb with two families who were good friends. Three and later four or five generations of these families were featured. The two families were the Hughes (middle-class) and the wealthier Lowell family. Chris and Nancy Hughes had a more secure marriage than did Jim and Claire Lowell. In fact, Chris's sister had an affair with Jim, who later divorced and was killed. The show was the first to offer the teen romance of Penny and Jeff. Penny's friend Ellen, after being rejected by Don Hughes, had an affair with a married, older doctor and bore an illegitimate son The Hughes family's storylines were more conventional and less plot driven, but those of the Lowell family were daring for their time. Penny and Jeff eloped, but the marriage was annulled. Later, they had a grand wedding to which the viewers were actually invited to attend at the end of the program. The show moved very slowly in the early days. The ratings were not the greatest, but eventually this show became the number one rated soap opera. 1960 proved to be a good year for the show. Don Hastings, Henderson Forsythe, Patricia Bruder, and Eileen Fulton all joined the show that year. Ms. Fulton, as Lisa, was the first great bad lady who was hated by the public. The role was originally intended to be a minor, short role, but the performances of Ms. Fulton insured that the audience would immediately notice the character. In 1965, the production company and network spun-off Lisa to a twice-a-week primetime soap opera called Our Private World. Irna Phillips, the show's creator and headwriter, left the show in the late 1960s. The show struggled creatively. Eventually Ms. Phillips returned, but the ratings had suffered. Ms. Phillips killed off a lot of the Lowell relatives during a short period of time. She was eventually fired from the show herself. Two other headwriting teams (Robert Sonderberg and Edith Sommer, Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt) were able to keep the show interesting. (Others had failed.) But, later, a former actor from the show, Douglas Marland, became the headwriter on two occasions. By the time of his second term, the show had lost so many of the previous characters and had failed to add any new, interesting ones that the show seemed lost. Mr. Marland allowed the unthinkable to happen when the sister-in-law of the show's leading physician (Kim) who had once had an affair with the doctor, was allowed to marry him after the death of her sister. The show continued its downward slide while Mr. Marland and his successors wrote the show. Helen Wagner (Nancy), Don Hastings (Bob), and Eileen Fulton (Lisa) continue on the program today. And the show lights up whenever these performers are given occasionally good storylines or even scenes. But the show has continued to stray away from the core families - always a bad sign for a soap opera.