History of As the World Turns (2000–2007)
2000 - present
ATWT in the New Millennium
As the World Turns rang in the New Millennium 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, as she had gone to visit Wallace to talk to him, and accidentally shot him in as she sruggled to get the gun away from him (all the while, Margo lay passed out in his bed). She was cleared of charges, and married her boyfriend Eddie (Nathaniel Marston) in a dual ceremony with Tom and Margo, who also 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. (The writers had reportedly planned to have Emily turn out to be Wallace's murderer, but were forced by producers to change things mid-storyline.) This emphasis on over-the-top humor highlighted the campy nature of soaps at the turn of the millennium. 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 millennium commenced, arguably more than it would do 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 proceeded 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 '80s 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 some 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, admitting to faults and frequently cursing. 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. A portion of the fan base complained that these characters were beginning to take over the show, and in 2004, Sheffer 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. The Sheffer era can probably be split into pre and post-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.
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 (now played by Mark Collier) in July 2002, two 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 '00s, ATWT placed a renewed emphasis on romance. Although the show was accuse dduring 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. 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 pursuing 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 returned to convince her to move on with her life, but several months later, Katie inexplicably learned that Simon was behind the return of Mike's old girlfriend Pilar. 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, they were broken up in favor of a romance between Mike and Jennifer Munson, whose own romance with the theretofore unknown Stenbeck son, Jordan (Chris Beteem) was deep-sixed. The Mike/Jen romance paved the way for a romance between Katie and fan-favorite Henry Coleman. Henry, who has loved Katie from afar for years, suggested to her that they marry in an attempt to make Mike jealous and come back to her. Katie agreed; 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, for a few months, managed to be happy, even consummating their relationship. But by May 2005, Henry had realized once and for all that Katie could only love Mike, and despite Katie's pleas, ended their marriage.
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 Bailey Chase (now a doctor, after only two 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 after cheating on Allison with her sister/mother Emily, 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. But Agim Kaba chose to leave the show, and Aaron moved to Seattle to be with his terminally ill mother, Julie. Alison stayed behind and in July 2005, she moved to Seattle and said farewell to her family to be with Aaron.
Lucy (Peyton List), meanwhile, began dating the much older man Dusty (who had been lovers with her aunt Lily fifteen years earlier), a romance that was popular with a subset of viewers who dubbed them "Lusty". The romance ended rather abruptly, with Lucy leaving Oakdale for college in January 2005. This storyline was responsible for (in the eyes of many viewers) doing irreversible damage to Craig's character. Craig had often been scheming since returning to town in 2000, but he was so opposed to Dusty and Lucy's relationship that he paid a man to stalk her. The story included Craig causing the death of Sierra's fiancee, and Craig killing the paid stalker in cold blood. He paid for none of these crimes, and in spite of a brief kidnapping and stay in a monastery (arranged by Sierra in an attempt to make him change his ways), he seemed to feel no remorse for what he had done.
Perhaps the signature couple of the '00s 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 (J.J.) 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 J.J. 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. 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. Lily became involved with Keith even though she suspected he killed Julia. The killer was actually Julia's ex-husband (Michael Lowry).
Tamara Tunie was a popular figure as DA Jessica in the '80s and early '90s. 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 '00s, 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. Bonnie and Isaac promptly left the show (leading Isaac to sell "Java Underground," the hangout of the early-'00s, 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 Real Andrews, 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. Tom and Margo reunited. 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.) Jessica had a miscarriage. All four characters then returned to the backburner, and Ben and Jessica seemed to vanish altogether for most of 2005.
The exits of Kaba, List and Dunphy moved the show to try 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. Will (Jesse Soffer) was very popular with fans, but Casey was not and was often written in a negative manner. Two other characters, however, were brought on who did not achieve widespread popularity. Rafael Ortega (AJ Lamas, Michael Cardelle), Lucy's best friend from Montega, and his sister Celia (Alyssa Diaz) appeared for the first time, and 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 was also decried as amateur. In one scene, Rafael, Casey, and Will all joined Celia in the girls' bathroom; another scene featured Celia trying out for a singing competition and facing criticism from a "mean", Simon Cowell-like judge; the problem was that many fans agreed with his criticisms! In June 2005, Rafael was written out for good, and more attention was paid to new teen arrival Gwen Norbeck (Jennifer Landon). In August 2005, Celia left Oakdale when her relatives asked her to come back to Montega and she accepted, saying farewell to some of her friends.
While the hijinks at Oakdale Latin High School went on, Lucinda's daughter Sierra became a regular on the show (after making only sporadic appearances for most of the past few decades). She began working at Lucinda's company, Worldwide, 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 a time the show seemed to be pushing Dusty towards Lucy's mother, Sierra (Mary Beth Evans), but then announced plans for a storyline with long-absent Snyder sister Meg (now played by Marie Wilson). 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.
Perhaps the highest-prized hire from ABC was longtime One Life to Live mega-star Roger Howarth. Howarth was brought on as a recast for Paul Ryan, which created two immediate problems - his predecessor (Scott Holroyd) was a fan favorite, and Howarth's Paul was dark and dour, with little adequate explanation beyond alienation at his mother's lies and father's schemes (neither of which were anything new in his life). Paul was engaged to Lily's twin sister Rose, who was torn between him and Dusty. On their wedding day, Paul verbally tore Rose to shreds at the altar. Rose collapsed and later died (Paul's younger brother Will had poisoned her mouth wash). Lily plunged into depression and clung to Dusty, but the long-term story projections (which involved a Lily/Dusty and Holden/Molly pairing) were rejected by P&G. Paul then began a relationship with Rosanna (Cady McClain), who was fresh off a divorce from Craig (Hunt Block) and was involved with Jordan (Chris Beteem), the father of her young adopted son, Cabot. The fast-track romance baffled many viewers, as Paul suddenly began "happy" and with Rosanna spent significant chunks of time talking about how wonderful their lives were and how fantastic everything was. Cabot was presumed dead; but was actually kidnapped by James Stenbeck (back from the dead yet again). After a convoluted story involving a hypnotzied and drugged Emily, Stenbeck told Rosanna he would kill Cabot if she did not dump Paul and join him overseas. Rosanna did so, and vanished for several months. Craig was kidnapped by Barbara and sent to Hong Kong - there he ran into Rosanna, who was being held prisoner because she had refused to marry James. James then planned to push her out of a plane, but Craig snuck onboard and stopped him. He nearly killed James, but Rosanna asked him not to. Rosanna then decided to let Cabot find another home where he would not be under such stress. The Cabot storyline was viewed as a "black hole" by many fans, because so many characters who came into contact with the child (Rosanna, Craig, Jordan) were quickly written out. Paul, meanwhile, began to grow close to his long-ago love Emily (when played by different actors in the late 1980's, Emily had deflowered a teenage Paul). In July 2005, Rosanna was rushed to the hospital after she went into a car accident when Craig spiraled it out of control. She was later sent to a comatose hospital when she went into a coma and Craig was arrested for trying to kill Rosanna. And in August 2005, Craig was sentenced to life in state prison after having some numerous crimes.
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. The show did win Best Writing, but Sheffer did not attend the ceremony.
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, etc.), 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. Although the last script credited to Sheffer aired on May 23, 2005, sources indicated that his work stopped airing at least a month before then. Sheffer returned a few months later, but agreed to do so only if he would work as a breakdown writer, not headwriter.
The Mid-'00s
In mid-2005, soon after the show celebrated its 49th year on television and began its 50th year, came news that As the World Turns and its sister show Guiding Light were renewed by CBS through 2007. Both were required to make budget cuts, asking some of the higher-paid actors to take pay cuts. Celia and Casey, who had originally received much focus, were given less airtime upon the hiring of Jennifer Landon as Gwen, a teenage girl pregnant with Casey's child. Will, not wanting Celia to be disappointed in Casey, claimed Gwen's baby as his own. Meanwhile, Mike waffled back and forth between Jennifer and Katie. Jennifer and Dusty cooked up a scheme whereby Craig was forbidden from contact with his and Jen's child for five years, and Mike's discovery of this scheme landed him in bed with Katie. Former All My Children, Port Charles and The Bold and the Beautiful star Brian Gaskill signed on to join the soap as an old flame of Katie's, leaving Mike and Katie in yet another love triangle. As Craig and Rosanna remarried and planned to adopt Gwen's baby, Jennifer went into labor, and Craig toyed with the idea of switching the babies, which he proceeded to do. "Jennifer's" baby (which was actually Gwen's baby) died, and Jennifer went into hysterics—upon looking at the dead baby's body, she remarked that it was not her child, but her family felt that her objectivity had been obscured and convinced her she was mistaken. Craig attempted to comfort Jennifer, but his wife Rosanna realized that he was not nearly as sad as was characteristic for Craig, considering that the dead baby was supposedly his. Gaskill soon announced his plans to wrap up his short-term role as B.J. Green at the end of the year. It was also announced that Kin Shriner who played Keith Morrissey since February will be leaving the series until January of next year after only a few months with the soap.
Meanwhile, while flipping through a family scrapbook, Carly came upon a picture of her father at Mabel's Red Hots, a popular fast food restaurant in Oakdale. Carly, not aware that her father had ever been to Oakdale, showed the picture to many longtime Oakdale residents, including Lisa, Nancy, Kim, and finally to Susan, who told her that the man in the picture had been involved in "something horrible" at a clinic which closed. Jack, wanting to get to the bottom of it, asked Jessica to open the file on the event. Jack decided it was too horrible for Carly to ever know, but the determined Carly paid Henry to find the woman who was with her father in the picture. The woman (Iris) revealed that Carly had done something to her son, and then began to blackmail Carly.
Rosanna found out Craig switched the babies, but before she could tell Paul, Craig ran her car off the road. Rosanna was rendered comatose and Craig was shipped off to jail (written off the show, his trial presumably happening off-camera, though none of other characters, including his sisters Katie or Margo ever referred to it), which kicked off an umbrella story focused on the struggles of those most affected by the baby switch. Carly and Gwen fought for custody of baby "Rory", neither realizing that child died at birth. The child's natural mother, Jennifer, was devastated by her loss. Paul (and soon Emily) found out about the switch, but kept quiet because he wanted Jennifer to be free of Craig. During the custody hearing, Gwen was forced to reveal the name of her baby's father. She told the truth (Casey Hughes was the father) but because of the baby switch, "Rory"'s DNA results did not match Casey's, and everyone thought Gwen lied. Gwen began to suspect Rory was not her real child. Paul began to work to undermine his brother Will's close friendship with Gwen, doing anything to keep Jennifer from her child. All the while Jennifer slid further and further into a crystal meth addiction, and Carly drugged Gwen to make her look like a bad mother. Gwen then reconnected with her deadbeat mother, Iris, who unbeknownst to her was blackmailing Carly. As Gwen suffered more and more setbacks, she became one of the breakout stars of the show. Paul had Jennifer committed after he realized she was on meth. Dusty, who had a casual sexual relationship with a fixated Meg Snyder, became very protective of Jennifer, or "Jenny" as he called her.
Lucinda had her first real semblance of a storyline in years, as she contracted breast cancer and struggled to deal with showing weakness to the outside world. She discovered that Lily's boyfriend Keith smuggled human organs, and blackmailed him into helping her find experimental treatments for her cancer. The secrecy put a strain on Lily and Keith's relationship, and drew her closer to Holden.
The show remained in a consistent third place in the ratings for most of summer 2005, as other, more established shows such as General Hospital at times went into freefall. In September 2005 Procter & Gamble announced their daytime division head, Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin was leaving and the position was being eliminated, which led to some doubt about whether or not they wanted to continue producing As the World Turns or Guiding Light.
Under Passanante's ongoing tenure, the baby-switch story continued, with Carly finally realizing that she had not in fact killed Iris' baby, after all (Iris had orchestrated it to look that way), and that Iris had not even had a son but rather a daughter, who turned out to be Gwen. (This made Gwen and Carly half-sisters, a plot twist that was criticized by a number of fans, since it contradicted Carly's age and history, in that she had to be rewritten as being eight to ten years younger to make the ages and dates correspond.) As both women struggled to absorb the fact that they were half-sisters, custody of the baby was given to Gwen (under the stipulation that she move back into her estranged, alcoholic mother's house for "stability"), when it came out that Carly had drugged Gwen. Meanwhile, Paul and Emily continued to work to keep Jennifer from learning the truth about the baby, going so far as to draw Meg (who had put the pieces together on her own) into their efforts.
In October 2005, Lily needed to deal with simultaneous health crises of her mother and son. Lucinda's cancer had metastisized to the point where she was forced to undergo an mastectomy, while Luke became consumed by an infection he'd picked up in Mexico (when he stowed away with his grandmother and Keith), which destroyed his kidneys. He needed an emergency kidney transplant, and after exhausting all other possible doners, Lily turned to Keith, who agreed to find Luke an illegal kidney on the condition that she agree to marry him.