CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK - 4/10/06

Don't you think that if somebody was going to be honored for fifty years of service to her community, then the ceremony would be held in that same community? It would have been a p.r. disaster for the local Chamber of Commerce to have such a celebration held out of town.

Well, it's a good thing that such a gaffe happened, because otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a Big Crossover for this week!

THE CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK!
'AS THE WORLD TURNS'
&
'GUIDING LIGHT'

As part of the real-world celebration of the fiftieth anniversary for 'As The World Turns', a celebration of Oakdale matriarch Nancy Hughes' years of service to the Women's Service League gave her fellow grande dames a chance to indulge in flashbacks to great moments in the soap opera's past.

This all happened on Monday, April 3rd, the day after the official date of the show's golden anniversary. In the storyline, Lucinda rented a small luxury bus to take Nancy and Lucinda and five of the most famous women of Oakdale to this out-of-town ceremony. The other five passengers were Kim, Lisa, Susan, Emma, and Barbara.

The trip didn't begin well - Susan was late and when she showed up she let it spill that Paul and Emily got married in jail, which didn't sit at all well with Barbara.

"This is going to be a long ride," Nancy sighed. Her prediction was off, though. It turned out that the return trip was the "highlight".

At the tribute dinner, the six other Ladies Who Lunch spoke about Nancy's loyalty and devotion to friends, family and community. This gave Nancy a chance to go into flashback mode, to memories of her family, including Christmases, chats in the kitchen and times with her son Bob.

Because she found out that her son got married in a jail, Barbara wanted to rush home. So she demanded that the driver to take a shortcut through the woods where they promptly got lost. Since she ordered the luxury bus, Lucinda tried to force the driver to turn around, but Barbara grabbed the wheel and the bus crashed.

While the driver scrambled off to find help, the Magnificent Seven had plenty of time to sit around the campfire and swap plenty more flashbacks, mostly about how all of them - except Nancy! - have been in love with John Dixon at one time or another. And along with the flashbacks there was an attack by a bear, another crash with the bus, Lucinda pinned under the wreckage, and finally the bus exploding in a fireball.

Good times.

Emma finally found a truck with the keys in it and they headed home.

So what was the big deal for the Crossover of the Week?

The Women's Service League luncheon honoring Nancy Hughes was held in Springfield, the town where sister soap opera 'Guiding Light' takes place. (I forgot to tape the episode that day, so I don't know if any of the women from that show appeared at the luncheon - like Kim Zimmer's character. But the location is enough; 'twill serve.)

There was a nice tough at the end of the episode, when Don Hastings (who plays Bob) intoned, "Thank you for watching for 50 years; we couldn't do it without you."

And I couldn't have supplied the Crossover of the Week without them.

Thank you, ladies!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"It seems like a lifetime, and like no time at all."
Nancy Hughes
'As The World Turns'