Ian, Dee, Kim, Betsy, David, Ellen, Annie, Don, Mary, Ralph, Valerie, Bennett

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Kathryn Hays should have won a Daytime Emmy for this performance! It's powerful and sensitive and runs the gamut of emotions... absolutely marvelous performance!

[@larkpraise]

This was the golden era of soaps. I was 19 in 1979. I remember Kim laying down the law on Betsy. ATWT was so good then. Then, the youth wave came in and ATWT got lost in the shuffle and didn't regain ground until Doug Marland took over the writing in the mid 80s. Then when he died, ATWT died with it. I watched the show faithfully until it got canceled, but by the time it ended it was just a shadow of its former self. This is a prime example of true soap opera...getting to know the character, no loud storylines....just great writing and acting. Such a shame. I don't even watch soaps anymore. I love these memories. Thank you for posting these.

[@TimsDale4ever]

+justess martin OMG, it's like I'm reading my on thoughts. We are the exact same age, and I started watching in fall 1978 when I started college. I followed religiously for the next 20 to 21 years, and when we could start recording it in the mid 80's with the new VCR'S, I thought I had literally died and gone to heaven not to ever miss a single episode again. I loved the late 70's (which I would pay to see again), the Marland years, and even thought the 90's were very good too because someone in charge made it a point to keep the long term characters up front and just blend in the new characters. In other words, you still knew you were watching ATWT. For me the show fell apart just prior to the turn of the century and never found it's way back. I quit recording and made it a point to just watch when I was on vacation or around some of the holidays. The show was always beyond horrible and I came off those random episodes so depressed, longing for the true ATWT. I remember taking 9-17-10 off from work to watch their final episode. It was a terrible send off for this truly amazing soap. I will never forgot all those wonderful 20 plus years that I was literally glued to the show. There will never be anything like it....

[@larkpraise]

+TimsDale4ever wow, I couldn't agree more! You are spot on when you say the show lost its way around 2000 and never found its way back. Now and then there were some bright spots but, sadly, they were too few. And they always involved the vets. I thought the ending of the show was very lame. The way they treated Eileen Fulton (Lisa) was disgraceful.

[@islezeus]

These can get boring after a while every day. Sometimes you need excitement and fresh blood

[@tonyatmidnight]

I am wondering if these episodes are from Doug Marland's first run as ATWT's head writer, which he did for thirteen weeks in 79 after leaving General Hospital and before joining Guiding Light. He is the one who was behind the Willows story with Lisa, and he was planning to bring Penny back ... everyone was talking about Penny during this time, and there was a little mystery about Bob's visit with his sister in London. After Marland jumped ship to GL, the Penny story was dropped.

[@ozzielee9058]

Interesting info about Doug Marland. I had read he wrote briefly for ATWT before going to General Hospital. The whole vibe of these episodes has Marland's style. The Willows story definitely seems as if it was written by him.

[@lavb5474]

Why can't we have a soap opera cable channel showing these shows?

[@bobbettedavis9168]

Brian Lavalle Agreed

[@MattJr4793]

Because of money & the different groups who own the soaps

[@2snowgirl520]

There was for a short time. It didn’t last long.

[@ALLGIRL62]

Kim and Betsy... Love to see these strong parenting skills, especially from a single mom.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Kathryn Hays should have won a Daytime Emmy for this performance! It's powerful and sensitive and runs the gamut of emotions... absolutely marvelous performance!

[@nancyrichardson4125]

so happy to see these episodes again....enjoying every minute.

[@sanoedelacruz7252]

Growing up, whenever I came home from school, there was ATWT on TV when I got home. It is so familiar to me, I still watch reruns because I miss them all....

[@rickram1961]

I absolutely love it when Kim uses the word "Kiddo"!

[@bldali]

Yeah, me too! It was a little shocking how she used it in this scene! Kim actually looked like she wanted to slap Betsy, but slapped her own leg instead! :)

[@larkpraise]

Oh what I would give to hear Kim say one of her "kiddos" or "toots" once again!

[@METerrell]

You always knew the person had really screwed up when Kim started talking to them and said "kiddo."

[@danajackson36]

awesome story between kim and betsy

[@SusanB-sg4zq]

I loved watching As The World Turns.

[@SeeingEyeMultimedia]

Teddy Ellison would return in the late 90's all grown up and named Ryder Hughes.

[@debrabanks3592]

I loved when Kim put her foot down with Betsy she should have done with Susan earlier

[@lavb5474]

In watching this, one can see the change in society's views on the parent child relationship. There was no effort here to make Kim Betsy's best friend. Kim was the adult, Betsy was the child. We were better off with that viewpoint.

[@chrismulwee4911]

If Suzanne Davidson's (Betsy) voice sounds familiar, there's a reason. She was the voice of Karen in Frosty The Snowman!

[@castlist3384]

Andrew and Rick, I agree with your comments about Kim. I would love to see other episodes focusing on the Hughes Lowell/Stewart family during this time period (if only they were available to viewers). For example, I would love to see Judge Lowell advising his loved ones (as was his custom, along with reading mystery novels and drinking sherry as part of his character idiosyncracy.

[@cxc410]

Dialogue and such strong relationships.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Watching Don Hastings kiss someone other than Eileen Fulton is very odd to me. They were my all-time favorite couple when I was a kid back in the 60s and I still think that way in 2020!

[@WeLoveSoapsVideo]

For those asking, I do not have any episodes of Doug Marland's name in the credits from 1979. During the last three months of 1979 the writers are listed only a couple of times, never Marland, with the last being the November 6, 1979 episode. The writers that day were Ralph Ellis, Eugenie Hunt, Theodore Apstein, Nancy Ford & Deborah Sherwood. I think we all assumed Marland's work had been airing for a while at that point but he wasn't credited on Nov. 6 in any way. The next writing credits I have are from January (the Dobsons). There are missing episodes but it's odd to not see his name as I have the majority of the episodes from this time.

[@kengeorgejones6855]

Which episodes were missing?

[@zackgoraj6163]

N THE DAY'S WHEN A TRUE ACTRESS TRUELY CRIED DURING FILMING AND NOT SOME SPRAY ON SET TEARS.....

[@vistatiger7493]

Is that Ed Bauer from Guiding Light at 26:44?

[@MattJr4793]

Yes it sure is

[@barbarazunker9000]

I wish I could get a complete cast list from this episode1 I'm dying to know who played Mrs. flannegan in the dress shop scene!

[@devonnepowell9631]

Kim so pretty

[@TheloniousJackson]

For Ellen to be Penny’s best friend she sure looks matronly

[@jamessullivan1714]

These episodes are good but the Bennett Hadley storyline imo was a disaster and allegedly not a favorite of Eileen Fulton. The other stories and characters are really good.

[@lisawilliams2013]

Agreed!

[@pamelaingold5601]

Dee is so manipulative.