The Demise of CBS Soaps (pre-Van Hansis' Luke's real mom!)

[excuseyou77]

what really bothers me about the demise of ATWT and GL is that both shows didn't need to be canceled. all they needed was better creative teams. I can only imagine how much better ATWT could be if they got a new HW who was capable of telling stories. I find myself getting more and more annoyed with the track ATWT is taking and it all has to do with the disjointed writing, and also the frequent additions of newbie characters like Gabriel sucking up airtime that should belong to other characters.

[NukeOakdale]

A lot of the issues discussed here applies to ATWT too. The final day is also fast approaching for ATWT. Like GL, ATWT also began on the radio. FYI, Kim Zimmer, who played Reva, is the mother of Jake Weary, who played 15 y/o Luke Snyder before Van Hansis took over. Some accused Zimmer of pulling her son off ATWT when she found out that Luke would come out as gay. She denied it, claiming that she simply wanted him too have a normal life outside of acting.

[NukeOakdale]

Regardless, the older Hansis turned out to be the perfect choice. I can't imagine a 15 y/o having the acting abilities demanded by the role. By the time Hansis took over, he had already graduated from college with an acting degree, and had even studied in Russia, the birthplace of modern acting. One of his biggest challenges was to play a teenager when he was about 5-6 years older than Luke (the writers even added about 2 years to Luke's age so that Luke was 17 when he took the role).

[NukeOakdale]

Part of the routine to make Hansis look younger required the poor guy to wax/shave his body so that he'd have no chest hair. The real Hansis has a fuzzy chest as we can now see in Luke.

A friend who goes to the same gym as Hansis says that "his chest isn't the only thing that's fuzzy." :) And as Hansis himself has admitted, he prefers wearing briefs to boxers. Apparently, he has a lot to support and boxers just don't do it!