History Series / AsTheWorldTurns

** His FanNickname is Dr. Series/{{House}} for a reason, though ironically he's more comparable to ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'''s Dr. Cox.
** He once kept [[ButtMonkey Henry]] under quarantine because he kept annoying him.
*** Dr. John Dixon, the original DrJerk.

* 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.

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

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: In his final moments of Brad's life, Katie rushes to get Jacob to Brad so he can meet his son before he dies, but she gets there [[YouAreTooLate too late.]]

* BackForTheFinale: In the shows final weeks, long-departed characters returned, even if their actors had long since gone on to fame in other mediums--Creator/JulianneMoore got her start as twins/half-sisters Frannie/Sabrina.

* BackForTheFinale: In the shows final weeks, long-departed characters returned, even if their actors had long since gone on to fame in other mediums--Creatar/JulianneMoore got her start as twins/half-sisters Frannie/Sabrina.

Has a unique place in political history, as it was the show running on CBS when Creator/WalterCronkite cut in to announce the assasination of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy.

** Janet's son turns out to be [[YourCheatingHeart Dusty's.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Almost everyone.
** Luke once kissed [[DirtyOldMan Brian,]] his grandmother's husband, to get back at Noah for hanging out with Maddie.
** Jealous over Jack spending time with Carly, Janet sleeps with Dusty on Christmas Eve.
** Craig with Rosanna while her sister Carly was in rehab. Carly's family was furious.

Has a unique place in political history, as it was the show running on CBS when Walter Cronkite cut in to announce the assasination of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy.

* AbusiveParents

* AndStarring: Eileen Fulton as Lisa.
* ArmouredClosetGay: Noah, initially.

* BigEater: Reid
* BigScrewedUpFamily: AllOfThem.

* BlackComedyRape: 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.

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Liberty and Faith were this at times.

* 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 (which was ''very'' tame compared to the other couples). This is unusual, particularly in the Soap Opera media where romance and love scenes happen frequently.

* ButtMonkey: Henry, so much.
* CampStraight: Henry.

* CitizenshipMarriage: Katie married Simon so that he could stay in the country to be close to Lily, who he had fallen in love with, but true to form, Katie and Simon eventually fell in love.

* ComingOutStory: Luke at 16. His love interest, Noah, as well. [[YouDidntAsk Amusingly]] averted with Reid, who was much older when he was introduced.

* CoolOldGuy: Bob.
* CoolOldLady: Nancy full stop.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lucinda, Dusty, Craig.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Luke as one for Reid, for example.

* DisguisedInDrag: Henry, multiple times.

* DysfunctionJunction
* EatingTheEyeCandy: Reid when Luke opens his hotel room door with just a towel. Reid continues staring when Luke drops his towel and walks into the bathroom.
* ElevatorFailure: It is a Soap Opera, after all.

* TVGenius: Reid

* UnresolvedSexualTension

* WellIntentionedExtremist

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent
* [[LostHimInACardGame Won it Playing Cards]]: How Henry came into ownership of Al's Diner.

** Luke's story involved his biological father trying to send him to a straight camp and his mother reluctantly going along with it. Holden, however, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments was very supportive.]] Noah's story involved loads of denial and his father trying to murder his love interest.

* DrJerk: Reid does care deeply for his patients, but anyone who watched [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments the scene where he was going on about how awesome a woman having a rare something was]] because he got to show his genius by performing a extremely experimental procedure, only blithely acknowledging that his failure would be worse for her (as in, she would either be a vegetable or dead) than it would be for him can be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

* StraightGay: Most (if not all) of the gay characters introduced are this to some extent.

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

* 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.

* BuryYourGays: Reid is killed off close to the end of the series, never having even had sex with his boyfriend Luke. Luke has a moment with his ex-boyfriend Noah but it's too soon for them to get back together before the series ends. This meant that Luke was the only major character not given a happily ever after when the show ended. A minor gay character, Reg, is also killed off earlier for gratuitious plot reasons.

* NoBisexuals

%%* BuryYourGays: Reid and Reg. ZCE

* YouFailYourMedicalBoardsForever:

** When Ameera was visited in prison, she was shown was professionally done highlights.

* TheBabyTrap: Vienna does this to [[ButtMonkey Henry]], he gets an annulment ASAP upon finding out. Vienna pretended to be pregnant, wearing a pad on her stomach for months, and planned to fake a miscarriage. Katie goes along with this at first, but when Vienna reveal plans to fake a miscarriage, she says it's gone too far.

* 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]].[[note]]The first bulletin appears at about 10:12 into this video.[[/note]]

* TangledFamilyTree: Even by soap opera standards, the Snyder family is something to behold. One example: SuperCouple Holden and Lily also uncle and niece because Lily is the daughter of Holden's adopted sister Iva, who was raped by an adopted Snyder cousin who later married Holden's bio sister Meg. Keep in mind there are six Snyder siblings.

** Luke's story involved his biological father trying to send him to a straight camp and his mother reluctantly going along with it. Holden, however, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming was very supportive.]] Noah's story involved loads of denial and his father trying to murder his love interest.

* DrJerk: Reid does care deeply for his patients, but anyone who watched [[CrowningMomentOfFunny the scene where he was going on about how awesome a woman having a rare something was]] because he got to show his genius by performing a extremely experimental procedure, only blithely acknowledging that his failure would be worse for her (as in, she would either be a vegetable or dead) than it would be for him can be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

* BuryYourGays: Reid and Reg.