History Series / AsTheWorldTurns

* ChainedToARailroadTrack: Played completely straight when Gwen's stalker and doppleganger Cleo ties her and Jade to the railroad tracks in order to Murder the Hypotenuse and romance Gwen's husband Will.

Famous [[LongRunner long-running]] SoapOpera on TV which first began airing in 1956 and finally ended in 2010. It takes place in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois. It mainly focuses on the Snyder and the Hughes families. Groundbreaking in that it featured the first American daytime male same-sex kiss and gay {{supercouple}}.

* LongRunner: It was on the air for 54 years.

** Luke Snyder was a binge drink and never magically got better, although, he did stop drinking eventually, and his alcoholism continued to be mentioned until the end of the show.

** Luke Snyder was also an alcoholic, and also never magically got better, although he did stop drinking eventually, his alcoholism continued to be mentioned until the end of the show.

* MistakenForCheating: Reid, when Luke catches him at The Lakeview by himself. Reid says he's seeing a patient, but Luke doesn't believe him. Because Chris wanted to keep it a secret (and Reid was legally obligated to do so) Reid couldn't explain himself.

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live [[note]]In the Eastern and Central Time Zones[[/note]] broadcast of ''ATWT'' on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by Creator/WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed online; see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0O5WNzrZqIMRSDT19pXjBuGLcXKqS-3r&v=T0qdvCQY22g here]].

* GenreSavvy: Occasionally characters do seem to be aware they're in a bizarre, abnormal soap world, but that doesn't seem to stop the plot from getting the better of them.

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live [[note]]In the Eastern and Central Time Zones[[/note]]broadcast of ''ATWT'' on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by Creator/WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed online; see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0O5WNzrZqIMRSDT19pXjBuGLcXKqS-3r&v=T0qdvCQY22g here]].

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live broadcast of ''ATWT'' on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by Creator/WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed online; see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0O5WNzrZqIMRSDT19pXjBuGLcXKqS-3r&v=T0qdvCQY22g here]].

* AmericanAccents: The media often has explicitly Texan characters speak in an accent that an actual Texan is unlikely to have. Reid doesn't have this accent, but it's never been confirmed that Reid was raised in Texas, only that he lived and worked there. [[{{Fanon}} The fandom]] seems to have decided that Reid is from Boston, where his uncle lives. Reid also went to Harvard, which is in Massachusetts; depending on how long he was there, that could have shaped his current accent.

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live broadcast of ''ATWT'' on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by Creator/WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of President JohnFKennedy. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed online; see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0O5WNzrZqIMRSDT19pXjBuGLcXKqS-3r&v=T0qdvCQY22g here]].

* TheCastShowoff: Eileen Fulton sang in a few episodes. As did Martha Byrne.

* GoodGirlGoneBad: Julia Lindsey Snyder, especially. She was an insecure heroine initially, but once she descended into madness, she became of daytime's most notorious psychopaths.

* TheAlcoholic: Carly (like her father). This was played surprisingly realistically, being developed over time, with viewers noticing that she started to drink more and more as her life started becoming more stressful and it causing problems for her family. She was PutOnABus to rehab for a while and didn't magically get better.

*** In Luke's case, it's debatable. Some believe he fit the markers of a binge drinker but not a full-out alcoholic.
**** Claire Shea, trying to keep up with her husband's love of drinking.
***** Andy Dixon.

* BrutalHonesty: Reid

** He once kept [[ButtMonkey Henry]] under quarantine because he kept annoying him.

* EtTuBrute

* FakingTheDead: James Stenbeck is a master at this. Damian did this at least once.

* HappilyMarried: Tom and Margo. Kim and Bob, too.

* MamaBear: Lucinda, although she seems to handle things better when her grandchildren are involved rather than her children; many argue that Lily being so screwed up is due to Lucinda herself.

* MayDecemberRomance: Henry ends up with Barbara. Casey and Emily were married at one point.

* MrFanservice: Casey got a lot of {{shirtless scene}}s. Luke, Brad, Noah, and Reid also had some.

* RichBitch

* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live broadcast of ATWT on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by Creator/WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of JFK. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed on Website/YouTube.

* WeInterruptThisProgram: The live broadcast of ATWT on November 22, 1963 was interrupted by WalterCronkite reporting the first bulletins regarding the shooting of JFK. The actors were not immediately informed, and continued their efforts as CBS cut back to the show between bulletins before abandoning the broadcast entirely in favor of continuous news coverage. Because CBS was routinely videotaping the show for time zone delay and rebroadcast, the entire sequence survives and can be viewed on Website/YouTube.

* DawsonCasting

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: Chris Hughes(Sr.), Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner died months before the final episodes in 2010), Hal Munson (after Benjamin Hendrickson died from self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head in 2006).
* TheOtherDarrin: Some characters have been played by so many people the mind boggles. Averted by some characters, who have been played by the same character for many years, such as Helen Wagner playing Nancy for over 50 years before dying a few months before the series finale.
** Adam, who was not recognized by his family after coming back as he had MagicPlasticSurgery.

* TypeCasting: Averted in a strange way by former co-star Brian Bloom--he does not list the Daytime Emmy he won for this show to avoid being typecast as a soap star.
** Many of the actors previously acted in other soaps and/or went onto others after leaving ATWT.

* NotSoDifferent: One of the reasons Luke and Reid didn't like each other at first was because they each thought the other was rude and arrogant, but turned out to be nicer than they expected.

Famous [[LongRunner long-running]] SoapOpera on TV which first began airing in 1956 and finally ended in 2010. It takes place in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois. It mainly focuses on the Snyder and the Hughes families. Groundbreaking in that it featured the first American daytime male same-sex kiss and gay supercouple.

*** In Luke's case, it's detabeable. Some believe he fit the markers of a binge drinker but not a full-out alcoholic.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: In his final moments of life, Brad meets his son, Jacob [[DeadGuyJunior Bradley]] Snyder.
* BlackComedyRape / DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale / RapeAsDrama: When a crazed Julia kidnapped her ex-husband Jack, held him prisoner, and eventually forced him to have sex with her (she wanted to get pregnant to replace the baby she's miscarried), the scenes were initially played as dark comedy, something that would never have happened had the genders been reversed. However, the scenes took a much uglier tone when she tried to kill him afterwards, and when he later revealed what had happened to his fiancee, she reacted with horror and sympathy and never once blamed him or insinuated that he was a willing participant.
** When Vienna [[TheBabyTrap does this]] to Henry, it's PlayedForLaughs.
** Averted with Luke (who is gay) when Zoe tried to rape him to have a child.
* ButNotTooGay: Noah and Luke actually had a fan instituted countdown in between their kisses. They went 211 days in between two kisses and it took them 514 days from their first meeting to get their first love scene. This is unusual, particularly in the Soap Opera media where romance and love scenes happen frequently.
** Luke and Reid never even got to have sex. They kept getting conveniently interrupted.

* ComingOutStory: Luke at 16. His love interest, Noah, as well. Amusingly averted with Reid.

** His FanNickname is Dr. Series/{{House}} for a reason.

* FakingTheDead: Jame's Stenbeck is a master at this. Damian did this at least once.

* [[HasTwoMommies Has Two Daddies]]: Johnny, who is biologically Craig's son, but was being raised by his mother Jennifer and Dusty. After she died,and Johnny returned from his kidnapping by Lucy, Dusty and Craig fought over custody of Johnny. Craig won, but allowed Dusty visitation rights ande Johnny still considered him his father.

* HospitalHottie {{Lampshaded}} by Richard when seeing Dr. Oliver:

* LoveMakesYouEvil

* MistakenForGay: Paul and [[CsmpGay Henry]]. Made all the more hilarious by the fact that they were in a lingerie store.

* MoralityPet: Luke is the Morality Pet for Reid in a MAJOR way.

* PairTheSpares: Done when the show ended. With everyone except Luke, [[BuryYourGays whose boyfriend was killed]], Noah, and Vienna. John Dixon, who had been {{Brother Chuck}}ed years ago, was brought back just to be paired off with Lucinda.

* PlotRelevantAgeUp.

* StraightGay

* TheBabyTrap: Vienna does this to [[ButtMonkey Henry]], he gets an annulment ASAP upon finding out. Vienna pretended to be pregnant for months, wearing a pad on her stomach for months, and planned to fake a miscarriage.

* UndercoverAsLovers: Luke and [[FauxYay Casey]], Ameera and Noah. Ameera had been under the protection of Noah's father in Iraq and needed a green. [[RealityEnsues It didn't work.]]

* YouFailYourMedicalBoardsForever:
** Antibiotics are useless against a viral infection.
** Noah's entire surgery and recovery. They didn't even shave his head.
** Dusty had that same problem.
** A gay man donating his heart to Chris.