After a "sabbatical" of several years, I started watching AS THE WORLD TURNS again (mostly due to the gay storyline) and I have been shocked by the program's deterioration in every department from the production values to the quality of the writing. The series has became plot driven rather than character driven, so you watch actors, some of whom have played their roles for decades, struggle with their performances as their characters do and say things that are, well, out of character. You are lucky if you see some of the seasoned veteran performers more than once a month while inexperienced newcomers, probably hired because of their pecs or tushes, are seen practically in every other episode. There are fewer sets - half the characters on the show live in the same farmhouse which must be bigger than Collinwood at this point! - and many scenes are obviously shot in the stairwell of the studio. As for the gay storyline - don't get me started. The straight characters are always tearing each others clothes off and tumbling into bed while the two gay young men have only been allowed one passionate kiss in six months - when they leaned into each other for a kiss during a holiday episode, the camera "discreetly" panned over to some mistletoe. Now the boys keep discussing their "first time" - no one can convince me that two young gay men, filled with hormones and horniness, haven't progressed from hugs and kisses! I am convinced that poor writing and skinflint producers will continue to drive viewers away and ratings will keep dropping. There needs to be some "thinking outside the box" in the soap genre today!
