2000 - present

ATWT in the New Millenium

As the World Turns rang in the New Millenium with a "Carly Tenney Originals" fashion show and the end to the Alec Wallace murder mystery. Young heroine Georgia (Jaime Dudney ), Lucinda's niece, had been the culprit. She was cleared of charges, and married her boyfriend Eddie (Nathaniel Marston) in a dual ceremony with Tom and Margo, who renewed their vows after a year of separation. At their wedding, Margo threw the wedding cake in the face of resident bitch Emily, whose machinations had broken up Tom and Margo to begin with. This emphasis on over-the-top humor highlighted the campy nature of soaps at the turn of the millenium. The success of soap spoof Passions would cause As the World Turns and other soaps to move toward satire as the decade progressed.

Much airtime was devoted to star-crossed lovers Chris and Abigail, to the chagrin of viewers, who found scenes where Chris read F. Scott Fitzgerald to the much younger Abigail to be overly sappy. The pair were destined for break-up, however, due to the fact that Chris had briefly had a fling with Abigail's mother Molly before meeting her. When Abigail discovered this, she was so distraught that Molly chased her, falling down a flight of stairs and spending months in a coma. This was to cover actress Lesli Kay's real life pregnancy. Kay was pregnant at the same time as her co-stars Maura West and Ellen Dolan. The show used this "pregnancy epidemic" as an excuse for what fans felt was a dip in quality.

ATWT still honored its veteran actors as the new millenium commenced, arguably more than it did as the decade progressed. On June 2, 2000; the show did a special episode commemorating Don Hastings (Bob) and Eileen Fulton (Lisa) for their 40 years of work on the show. In the episode, town-witch Emily published an article in her tabloid rag blasting the oft-married Lisa. A spontaneous party was thrown to support Lisa, and at the end of the episode, she and Bob shared a dance as they remembered old times.

With three leading ladies on maternity leave, the slack was picked up by Martha Byrne, who had played Lily Snyder on and off since 1985 and now tackled a dual role. While walking at the Snyder pond one day, Lily found some old love letters made out to "Beloved." Lily found a picture of "Beloved" and was startled to find she looked exactly like Lily. When Lily posted the picture of "Beloved" on the internet, she found out that somebody in Atlantic City had the exact same picture. Meanwhile, Lily was remodeling her home with the help of a mysterious Australian named Simon Frasier. Simon was after the "Rose of Sharon," a priceless diamond that his family member had given to Beloved. When Lily went to Atlantic City (where she met her doppelganger, Rose) ,Simon followed. Lily found the diamond that she had read about in the letters Simon's grandfather had written to Beloved, and accidentally came to possess it. Though fighting for her life while being chased by Simon and his insane sister Celia (Fiona Hutchison ), Lily had become friends with Rose and didn’t want to lose the priceless heirloom. The psychotic Celia didn’t want Simon to find the diamond, and so she proceded to leave them on a deserted island, while Rose, convinced by a cryptic phone message that Lily was not coming home, settled in to the rich Lily’s life. Rose gradually fell in love with Holden, and Lily (in a case of Stockholm Syndrome with Simon. Rose was discovered to have been Lily’s identical twin, for their mother (Iva) had been drugged during birth. The two hated each other, but gradually formed a bond at Lucinda’s insistence.

Maura West returned to As the World Turns after a long maternity leave during the summer of 2000, in a storyline penned by Hogan Sheffer . Sheffer had been brought in to clean up Leah Laiman’s storylines, which grated fans (for Lily and Simon spent months on the deserted island, among other stagnant plots.) When West’s re-introduction (which also brought in Hunt Block as Craig Montgomery, a popular character from the 80s and early 90s) proved popular with fans, Sheffer was promoted to head writer.

The Sheffer Years

The new head writer of As the World Turns, Hogan Sheffer, quickly became a critical darling, although by the end of his five-year run as Head Writer he would be a controversial figure among As the World Turns fans, credited by some with reviving the strong sense of character development and emotional complexity long associated with the program, and 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 had nothing to do with the core of As the World Turns. A major complaint from the latter group 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 previous backstory had dictated that they had not met until they were in their early 20s.

Although much of the ATWT audience became jaded with Sheffer during his tenure as Head Writer, he was initially almost universally beloved. ATWT's unprecedented success at the 2001 Daytime Emmy Awards Show, after having been neglected for the better part of the 1990s, was credited to Sheffer, who had never held a position in daytime soap writing before "As the World Turns." Sheffer himself professed in one interview that he had never seen a soap opera before January 15, 2000; when Procter & Gamble asked him to tune in to "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light" and decide which one he wanted to write for. Sheffer described ATWT as "boring as hell," but decided it had potential and that he would be the one to make it realize this potential. Such brutal honesty became a trademark of Sheffer's. When so many people in the soap opera industry were unable to give an interview that didn't come off as rehearsed, Sheffer always gave an honest interview. This was touted by his fans as a good thing. His detractors, however, were upset when he admitted to his inability to write a storyline for popular couple Tom and Margo Hughes. 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 during the Sheffer Era. 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 failed during his five-year tenure 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. Popular belief among many fans of "As the World Turns" is that the Sheffer era started off well but degenerated in quality in summer 2001, when Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin dictated changes in the writing staff. Hal Corley , Stephen Demorest , and Richard J. Allen were fired from the writing staff and replaced by female writers, in an attempt to "soften" the program. Sheffer was against this move, stating to the media that he was "surrounded by women" in the ATWT writing room. It is generally believe that Sheffer's hand had been guided in his first year by the male writers, and with their firing he was given more creative control over the show.

Sheffer clearly loved adventure and mystery storylines, and a popular opinion is that ATWT under his tenure began valuing shock value over quality. The first of these mystery storylines culminated in early 2001, when after a long search, popular couple Jake and Molly located his twin daughters, Bridget and Michelle, after they had been believed dead for over a year. Their happiness, however, would not last. Molly's ex-boyfriend, Nick Scudder, responsible for landing her in jail (where she met Lily in 1997) returned to town. He swore up and down that he'd reformed, and took a job at Kim's television station, WOAK. Molly's daughter Abigail befriended him, but one night Nick tried to rape her. Abigail had no memories of the night, and for months the wheels of a murder mystery turned until it was revealed that the nanny of Bridget and Michelle, Mary, had been responsible for killing Nick. Mary went on the run, and as Jake prepared to kill her, the police shot at Mary. Unfortunately, Jake was the one who was fatally hit. Jake's daughters were taken away from Molly (in guest appearances by "Another World" stars Anna Stuart and Ellen Wheeler, who was also a director of "As the World Turns" at the time) and although she was promised visits with them, this angle was never explored, as Molly quickly moved on into a romance with returned character Mike Kasnoff in July 2002, 2 months after Jake's death.

Popular character Brandy (Virginia Williams ) was killed in late 2002, for a murder mystery where the audience already knew that James had done it. The story was seen as a waste of potential, since Brandy was a young character who was very popular (and stars Agim Kaba and Peyton List hadn't yet gained the popularity they would later) and James, as always, was not apprehended or punished for the crime. This malaise of thinking in the short term rather than in the long term haunted ATWT for much of the early portion of this decade.

The most popular of Sheffer's many murder mysteries was a series of murders at the Oakdale Memorial Hospital in early 2003. John James joined the cast as Susan's (Marie Masters) new love interest, Dr. Rick Decker. Soon after, hospital patients began to randomly begin dying. This storyline brought the hospital, neglected for several years, back to the forefront. Young characters Katie, Chris, and Alison all took jobs there, putting them into contact with some of the older characters. Although the older characters were gradually phased out of the storyline, no major characters were killed, and the younger characters' jobs at the hospital didn't last very long, the effort was applauded by fans, and the suspense was enough to keep them coming back for more. John James' performance was also lauded as Rick Decker, who gradually showcased his true colors as a psychotic.

During the noughties, ATWT attempted to 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 Bartleby's threats on Katie's life. Bartleby was a former con man with whom Simon worked back in Australia. Bartleby came to Oakdale looking for Simon to do one more con. Simon didn't want to do the con and he ended up killing Bartleby and leaving town. Before he left Simon took all the money out of their bank accounts. Katie went to work at Memorial as a nurse's aid. Katie was devastated and even as she attempted to move on with Mike Kasnoff (now played by 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 hoped against hope that Katie would fall just as much in love with him as he was with her. The two opened a gym together and, against all odds, made their marriage work (even consumating it.)

Another popular couple during this period was Aaron Snyder (Agim Kaba ) and Alison Stewart (Jessica Dunphy ). 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 in one lambasted storyline in Fall 2002, Aaron and Lucy (along with Alison) went on the run after Aaron was accused of arson, touring college campuses across and having college students urge Hal to "free the Oakdale Three") while 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 when Alison became pregnant it seemed like she and Chris would get married. Alison moved in with Chris' family and befriended his grandmother Nancy Hughes. In summer 2004, the Oakdale characters engaged in a quest to find the "Keys to the Kingdom," a scavenger hunt sponsored by Lucinda's newspaper with a cash reward. Aaron and Alison teamed up and quickly became best friends. Soon, however, they realized their feelings went beyond friendship, and when Chris left town, Aaron and Alison declared their love for one another. 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 (Peyton List ), 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". The romance ended rather abrubtly, with Lucy leaving Oakdale for college in January 2005.

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. In March 2005, Julia hit her head while fighting with Lily. Lily, scared that she would be blamed for the accidental death of Julia, fled the scene of her crime (her son Luke helping her conceal evidence of having been at the scene of the crime.) It was thought that Julia's brother Keith (played by another ABC star, Kin Shriner) killed Julia, but when suspicion shifted to Luke, Lily took the blame for Julia's death.

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 T. Marshall Travers (Lamman Rucker ). 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. During the early noughties, ATWT was praised for bringing African-American characters like Jessica, Marshall, Ben, Bonnie (Napiera Danielle Groves ), and Isaac (Paul Taylor ) to the forefront. However, the newfound racial integration ended when Jessica's daughter Bonnie accidentally pushed Marshall out a window (and by the mid-noughties ATWT was once again racially homogenous for the most part.) Bonnie and Isaac promptly left the show (leading Isaac to sell "Java Underground," the hangout of the early-noughties, to Dusty, Molly, and Craig, who renamed it "Metro" (and who would later sell to Aaron and Alison), adopting Marshall's biological daughter (and chronic trouble maker) Sarah. Jessica reunited with Ben, leaving them the only two African-American leads left (besides Walker Daniels, a doctor who helped treat Barbara when she had a bout with brain cancer in early 2004. When the briefly-reformed Barbara returned to her evil ways, Walker left her (and Oakdale.)) In 2004, Jessica and her 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. Jessica and Ben, as well as Tom and Margo, both eventually reunited (but not before Ben temporarily became addicted to pain killers, causing himself to be accused of causing Aaron's paralysis (since Aaron, injured in a boxing match, needed neurosurgery and only Ben was available.)) Tom and Margo, as well as Jessica and Ben, promptly returned to the backburner.

The exits of Agim Kaba and Peyton List in early 2005 (and uncertainty over whether or not popular teen actress Jessica Dunphy would stay with the show when her contract expired in July 2005) moved the show to begin trying to rebuild its teen scene. Tom and Margo's son Casey was recast for the third time in two years, and Barbara and Hal's son Will was aged to 17 years old. These characters largely gained popularity with viewers. Two other characters, however, were brought on who did not achieve widespread popularity. Rafael Ortega (AJ Lamas , then Michael Cardelle ), Lucy's best friend from Montega, and his sister Celia (Alyssa Diaz ) appeared for the first time. They immediately dominated storylines. Rafael was recast within 3 months of his first appearance, and he began trying to control his sister's life. The actors playing these characters were considered by many fans to be amateurs, and the writing, also decried as amateur, (in one scene, for example, Rafael, Casey, and Will all joined Celia in the girls' bathroom!) caused fans to cringe.

While the hijinks at Oakdale Latin High School went on, business achieved renewed focus on "As the World Turns." Lucinda's daughter Sierra (Mary Beth Evans) became a regular on the show. She began working at Lucinda's company with Dusty Donovan (who'd dated her daughter Lucy before Lucy's exit from the show to attend college.) The two enjoyed a mild flirtation, while Sierra's ex-husband Craig worked with Jennifer (who started a fashion company, Street Jeans.) For reasons that were never adequately explained by the show, Street Jeans fell under the control of Jennifer's evil mother Barbara. Upset that her mother took credit for her first successful fashion show, and feeling abandoned by boyfriend Mike, Jennifer got drunk and slept with Craig (the father of her former lover, Bryant.) Mike discovered this and forgave Jennifer, but she was not yet home free, as she soon discovered she was pregnant.

The show's Emmy streak (which had begun at the 2001 awards show) came to an end in 2005, when only 3 actors (Roger Howarth, Martha Byrne, Jennifer Ferrin ) were nominated for awards, and the show's writing team was (for the first time since Hogan Sheffer's hiring) not nominated for an award. In the early-noughties, the Proctor and Gamble soap operas were very critically acclaimed, but the show's failure in 2005 to be nominated for many awards represented the growing soap opera press movement in the mid-noughties toward acclaiming All My Children and The Young and the Restless.

Although ATWT had first been discussed online in the early 1990s by an eccentric group of posters on rec.arts.tv.soaps who came up with humorous names for the characters in their daily summaries (i.e. Easy for Emily, Juicy for Lucinda, Holdumb for Holden, &c.), it wasn't until the noughties that ATWT began exploiting the internet for the first time. There were a few attempts at crosspromotion through the soapcity.com website. For example, during the 2001 season, viewers could read the Abigail character's e-mails to her mother Molly, boyfriend Adam, and other friends. She discussed the events that took place on the show, offering the viewer another perspective. In 2003, the show began repurposing itself daily through the soapcity website for a small charge. Although this service was discontinued in March 2005, it was, in fact, the first and only time ATWT had ever been repurposed.

In early 2005, it was announced that Hogan Sheffer would be taking a 17-week sabbatical from his writing duties. On April 11, 2005, however, it was announced that Sheffer would not be returning to As the World Turns at all, and was being replaced by co-head writer Jean Passanante . Thus began a new era in the history of the show.

The Mid-Noughties

In mid-2005, soon after the show celebrated its 49th year on television and began its 50th year, came news that actor Benjamin Hendrickson , who quit As the World Turns after being offered a pay cut, was returning to As the World Turns. In addition, the Snyder family which had been so prominent throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, was to be given increase focus, as actress Marie Wilson stepped into the role of Meg Snyder, Holden Snyder's sister. Popular actress Cady McClain, who had signed a contract in 2004 after spending two years on recurring status, declined to resign her contract when it came up for renewal, saying that she liked the freedom of not having a contract. Debate over whether she would leave As the World Turns erupted.