Perhaps someone passed along my Open Letter to Christopher Goutman. Perhaps Barbara Bloom took a good look at the plummeting ratings and decided that everyone should not lighten up after all. Perhaps head writer Jean Passanante took an extended vacation to Buenos Aires. Whatever has been happening over the last few weeks, let me step out on a limb and utter the words that many fans thought might not ever be said again or even believe: As the World Turns is, at long last, improving.

I fully expect the comments section to be full of invective and angry fist shaking about how ATWT is still "the worst soap on the air," how the vets are misused, and how the "Vortex of Suck" continues to, well, suck. In addition, the now well-documented list of the show's biggest defects remain stubbornly in place: warp-speed storytelling and the soul sucking semi-episodic structure continue to test the rapidly waning patience of the show's dwindling audience.

Having said that, it bears repeating that fans are a stubborn breed. We will praise shows, actors and performances we like, but we are quick to make our displeasure known when we feel things are not up to speed and falling apart. Once the latter narrative has been established it is very hard to turn the tide of opinion, even when a show starts to address its critics and make changes. Therefore, though the longstanding criticisms of ATWT are still valid, I think it is time to once again give credit where credit is due. READ MORE

Things heat up between Lily (Noelle Beck) and Damian (Paolo Seganti), next week on As the World Turns.

Watch next week's promo of As the World Turns for a quick first look at Lynn Herring as Audrey, Henry's (Trent Dawson) mother.

As the World Turns was able to surprise the viewers today when the Hughes clan gathered at Tom (Scott Holmes) and Margo's (Ellen Dolan) for a surprise party for Casey (Billy Magnussen) who had just been reinstated at Oakdale University. In a scene Bob (Don Hastings) asked Alison (Marnie Schulenburg) out of the blue to bring in the next patient. When asked about it, Bob's excuse was that he was making a joke, but then later he called his wife Kim (Kathryn Hays) "Lisa".

Is this the beginning of an Alzheimer's disease storyline for Bob? Will it give vets like Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays and Eileen Fulton some much deserved airtime? I have to say, I'm intrigued and want to know where this is going. I just hope we won't find out that a microchip is causing Bob's strange behavior...

Billy Magnussen

Marcy Rylan

As the World Turns gets little critical love these days, at least from me. Executive producer Chris Goutman and head writer Jean Passanante are roundly criticized for revolving door castings that last between three to six weeks per actor while a number of popular veterans remain stranded on the sidelines, nine month story lines compressed into 45 minutes of screen time, and obviously declining production values due to draconian budget cuts not of their making or within their control. Watching ATWT lately has been as often a test of endurance as much as one of patience. Unfortunately, many viewers have been able to pass neither challenge as the show's declining Nielsen ratings attest.

Nonetheless, I am careful to try to give credit where credit is due and today's episode did something very smart for the first time in a long time: human emotions took center stage. The writers shoved janky plot mechanics aside and instead focused on characters trying to relate to each other through adverse circumstances. Yes, ATWT's usual maddening problem of compressing events that should have played out over days and weeks into a single show managed to compromise a bit of my enjoyment, but I have to say I thought as a whole they hit it out of the park today. READ MORE

This week's promo for As the World Turns.

As The World Turns star Billy Magnussen (Casey) makes a guest spot on the now defunct Amber Tamblyn (ex- Emily 1.0 GH) show, The Unusuals tonight at 10pm on ABC. Magnussen will play  Bo Keebler, a man that attempted to rob a Chinese restaurant, that is now being released into the custody of a U.S. Marshall.

As the World Turns is something of a mystery to me these days. I haven't been blogging regularly about the show because, honestly, I am kind of flummoxed about what to actually write about from day to day.

I love ATWT. The show is blessed with some of daytime's strongest actors. In this age of massive cost cutting, ATWT found an arguably better production alternative than Procter & Gamble sister show Guiding Light. Speaking for myself, I find most days, most characters, most stories and most events to be sufficiently captivating to keep me coming back.

Nonetheless, something is badly amiss in Oakdale. The usual criticisms of ATWT are all-too-familiar: far too many recasts, underused vets, storylines that turn on a dime, compressed storytelling and ever shrinking production values to name a few. While those issues are real and important, they are only symptons of several larger problems that encapsulate the issues that I, other Daytime Confidential bloggers and commentators all over the internet have found themselves dismayed about over the last several months. After trying to put a finger on these issues while attempting to "figure out" what's going on at ATWT from a larger perspective, several things have jumped out as serious structural flaws, like a cracked foundation in a beloved old home. READ MORE

The other day you guys wanted to know how I felt about actors having say so over storylines re: Grant Aleksander asking that changes be made in Guiding Light's writers room before he would return. Yesterday I said I was all for it in cases like Aleksander's where Phillip, his once iconic character, had been all-but destroyed by an overzealous head writer.
 
Then there are cases like the one TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco is reporting today in The Suds Report, about Kelley Menighan Hensley READ MORE