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This article is about the history of As the World Turns (ATWT), the second longest-running American television soap opera.
2000 - present
The new head writer of As the World Turns, Hogan Sheffer, quickly became a critical darling, credited by some with reviving the strong sense of character development and emotional complexity long associated with the program. Sheffer was accused by others (most vocally by five-decade veteran actress Eileen Fulton) of neglecting the show's veteran characters and writing a series of unrealistic plots that have nothing to do with the core of As the World Turns. Under Sheffer, for example, there have been two storylines about mind control. In addition, legal terms and due process are largely ignored in crime & justice storylines. In a 2004 storyline, an eight year old became psychic. A major complaint from fans was lack of payoff and ignorance of history. In 2001, Bryant, the son of Craig and Sierra Montgomery, two core characters, was killed. After a week or so of tears, his death was rarely mentioned. In 2003, Lily Walsh's former lover Dusty, who had been a major character in the 80's as played by Brian Bloom, returned as a stubbled mafioso-type played by Grayson McCouch. He rarely interacted with his former guardian, John Dixon, and claimed to have known Holden Snyder since they were young boys, when they had not met until they were in their early 20s. In 2004 Lily's twin sister Rose was murdered on her wedding day by Barbara's young son, Will. Will went to a mental institution for a few months and suffered no real consequences for the crime. Sheffer promised a juicy storyline involving Lily, Holden, Dusty, and Holden's former lover Molly (Lesli Kay). Due to network interference, the story never materialized, and Kay left the series after years on the backburner, moving to ABC's General Hospital.
As pressure to court the audience of younger-skewing ABC daytime increased, various high-priced ex-ABC stars were hired by As the World Turns. These characters clearly became Sheffer's favorites, at the expense of others (Sheffer stated early in his ATWT stint that he loved the Lucinda character, but has failed to ever write a story for her.) In 2004, he started to include longtime actors such as Kathryn Hays, Don Hastings, and Helen Wagner back into the story (though two other veterans, Benjamin Hendrickson and Larry Bryggman, who had a combined 54 years on As the World Turns, left the show in highly publicized contract disputes.) Under Sheffer, As the World Turns secured Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Drama Series in 2001 and 2003, and for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team in 2001, 2002, and 2004.
During the noughties, ATWT attempted place a renewed emphasis on romance. Although the show was accused by many fans during this period of having too many "insta-couples" (which in soap linguo means couples who are put together quickly, regardless of the chemistry between the actors,) many popular couples developed during this period nonetheless. Unfortunately, many of them were broken up or diminished due to poor writing, firings, recastings, and actor defections. At the 2000 Halloween party (the theme was Roaring Twenties,) Katie (Terri Colombino) and Simon (Paul Leyden), having been scorned by the objects of their affections (married duo Holden and Lily, respectively,) had a one night stand in the back of a car. Katie became enamored with former gigolo Simon, and began persuing him. When the INS came after Simon (who was from Australia, Katie married him to keep him in the country. Fans rooted for Katie as she schemed to make Simon love her, and the duo renewed their vows in Fall 2001. Unfortunately, the show seemed unable to figure out where to go with the couple, giving them abbreviated or confusing stories such as Simon's evil doppleganger Donovan menacing Katie, or Katie's career making aerobic "Butt Buster" videos or when psychotic Dahlia (Colleen Dion) befriended Katie and inexplicably convinced her Simon killed one of his previous wives. In 2003, Simon left town due to Donovan's repeated threats on Katie's life. Katie was devastated and even as she attempted to move on with Mike Kasnoff (Mark Collier) could not get Simon out of her mind. Simon returned to convince her to move on with her life, and then inexplicably, Katie learned several months later that Simon was behind the return of Mike's old girlfriend Pilar, who had gone from a simp to a bunny-killing psychotic. ATWT never gave any reasonable explanation for Simon's sudden turn to the dark side and the moment was panned by many fans and critics. Although Mike and Katie were a popular couple, that too was thrown to the wolves in favor of a romance between Mike and Jennifer Munson, whose own romance with the latest Stenbeck son, Jordan (Chris Beteem) was also deep-sixed for a Mike/Jen pairing. The storyline was emblematic of the romantic musical chairs which plagued ATWT for much of the 00's. The Mike/Jen romance has paved the way for a possible romance between Katie and fan-favorite Henry Coleman. Henry, who has loved Katie from afar for years, suggests to her that they marry in an attempt to make Mike jealous and come back to her. Katie agrees, her goal to be reunited with Mike. Henry, however, was sincere in his proposal and seemingly hopes against hope that Katie will fall just as much in love with him as he is with her.
Another popular couple that began during this period was Aaron Snyder and Alison Stewart. Alison had a crush on Aaron immediately after he showed up in Oakdale in 2002, and pulled many schemes to try to steal him from Craig Montgomery's saccharine daughter Lucy. Aaron stayed with Lucy, and Alison developed a relationship with Chris Hughes (now a doctor, after only 2 years of pre-med and medical school!) However, Aaron and Alison remained close friends and upon her break-up with Chris, the two realized that their feelings went beyond friendship. Unfortunately, Aaron's entire right side became paralyzed in a boxing accident shortly after this. Former nurse Alison's first instinct was to help him, but Aaron insisted that he should do everything for himself. On a show with many insane and evil characters, the innocent young love story was seen as refreshing by many fans. Lucy, meanwhile, began dating the much older man Dusty (who had been lovers with her aunt Lily 15 years earlier), a romance that was popular with a subset of viewers who dubbed them "Lusty".
Perhaps the signature couple of the "Noughties" was Carly Tenney and Jack Snyder. Sheffer professed little interest in the couple for a number of years, attempting to pair Carly up with Craig Montgomery, and saddling Jack with Julia (Annie Parisse), who had debuted as a heroine but under Sheffer's tenure spiralled into madness. Julia killed a horse and kidnapped Carly before being sent to the mental institution. The absolute nadir arrived during 2002, when Barbara Ryan had James Stenbeck kidnap Carly, Emily Stewart and Rose to get them out of the lives of the men she loved. Jack planned to go search for Carly but Julia broke out of the institution and held Jack prisoner. In the course of the storyline Julia, desperate for a child, gave Jack Viagra so that he would be forced to have sex with her. Many fans expected a serious discussion of male rape, but instead the whole thing was played for laughs, and immediately forgotten. Carly then had a brief fling with old flame Mike and had to figure out if Jack or Mike was the father of her baby. Julia returned with a baby (JJ) she claimed was Jack's, but paternity tests proved otherwise. In 2003, Jack and Carly remarried, only to have Jack presumed dead and suffering from amnesia. He recovered with the help of a nurse named Julia and her son JJ. Julia tried to hang on to Jack post-amnesia and then seduced his cousin Holden. No explanation was ever given for the similarity in names. The nurse Julia was played by former ABC star Sarah Brown, who received death threats from Carly/Jack fans.
Tamara Tunie was a popular figure as DA Jessica in the 80's and early 90's. She returned to the show in 1999 but only began to receive leading material again in 2001. Unfortunately, much of that material served to, in the eyes of many fans, destroy the very self-assured, independent character. Jessica lost her job as district attorney to a sleazy lawyer named Marshall. In spite of this, she jeapordized her relationship with moral doctor Ben Harris in order to begin a hot and heavy affair with Marshall. The message of the story seemed to be that Jessica just could not help herself and that his treating her shabbily turned her on. When Jessica and Ben broke up, Marshall briefly moved into her home and many thought ATWT was going to begin a formal romance between the two. Instead, Marshall forced himself on Jessica while she was asleep and a he said/she said rape trial commenced. Jessica's daughter Bonnie accidentally pushed Marshall out a window and Jessica reunited with Ben. In 2004, Jessica and best friend Margo Hughes fought over a sleazy football player-turned-sportcaster named Doc, in spite of both ladies' traumatic experiences with adultery and with shady men. Jessica slept with Doc and had to figure out who the father of her child was. Doc was intended to be a roguish type of character but was so loathed by viewers that he did not even last 6 months. The storyline itself made "worst of the year" in the soap magazines.
In 2005, fans were mystified when former head writer Leah Laiman rejoined the writing staff of "As the World Turns," although she was now serving in a lower capacity. Things became more clear when it was revealed that head writer Hogan Sheffer was taking a 4-month leave of absense from all writing duties, and Laiman along with former "One Life to Live" writer Josh Griffith had been brought in to fill the gap.
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