THE MOTHER OF ALL TRIANGLES

ATWT's Margo Hughes is really, really, really unhappy that her little boy, Casey, has taken up with Margo's least favorite person, older woman Emily Stewart.



Long time viewers, however, realize that in her meddling, Margo is simply carrying on a venerable Hughes family tradition. She is emulating Oakdale's most beloved citizen, her grandmother-in-law, Nancy.



When As The World Turns' viewers first met the matriarch in 1956, she had two interests in life: finding out what husband Chris wanted for breakfast, and keeping eldest son, Don, away from the woman he insisted he loved. Don was barely eighteen, a recent high school graduate. Janice was older, a waitress, and Nancy suspected she was slinging more than hash in her poor, innocent Don's direction. Nancy's constant nagging eventually drove the young couple apart.

Nancy also disapproved of daughter Penny's relationship with a young man named Jeff. The teen-age Penny, in a fit of rebellion, eloped with Jeff. Nancy promptly had the marriage annulled.



She tried the same trick when her precious little Bobby came home from college with a new bride named Lisa.



But when Lisa announced she was pregnant, Nancy was forced to toss the annulment papers and deal with her new daughter-in-law.



Since Lisa was now the mother of Nancy's beloved grandson, Tom, the elder Mrs. Hughes turned her meddling attentions back to Don who, after years of separation from Janice had finally reunited with his long-lost love. Janice may no longer have been a waitress, but she was now a widow with two teen-age daughters. Which hardly sat well with Nancy. Don and Janice married and Chris insisted that Nancy accept this daughter-in-law, as well. Nancy's attempts were so half-hearted and unconvincing though, that Don packed up his wife and stepdaughters, and left Oakdale.

Are Margo and Casey destined to relive Nancy and Don's history? (As you can see below, Casey is most troubled by the possibility.)



Tune into ATWT this summer to find out!