Warning: The following post contains salty language. Not safe for work. Not safe for kids. Not safe for pets. You have been duly warned!

The key to watching the NASCAR race that is As the World Turns is to latch onto whatever stories are playing, find the good, the bad and the ugly on any given day or week and hang on for dear life. With all the refueling, pit stops, tire changes, sharp curves, unexpected tune ups and occasional pile ups, by the time Head Writer Jean Passanante and Executive Producer Chris Goutman put the pedal to the metal on the storyline racetrack, it sometimes feels like someone is waving a checkered flag at the finish line while simultaneously getting ready to fire the start gun for the next race to begin.

In fact, it would seem that neither Passanante nor Goutman (with an assist from Barbara Bloom) have a firm handle on what's working and what's not working from week to week. The good part is that stories and some characters that aren't working are over and out sooner rather than later. The bad part is that stories and often characters that are working are over sooner rather than later, too. The rain, it seems, falls on the guilty and innocent alike. READ MORE

Check out this preview from Tuesday's episode of As the World Turns. I'm still not sure if Brian (Laurence Lau) is the right guy for Lucinda (Elizabeth Hubbard), but I do love the fact that they gave her a storyline.

Today's episode of As the World Turns was a sterling example of what a good, rock solid soap can be from top to bottom when the stories told are driven by character and relationships, regardless of the plot mechanics involved. READ MORE

In today's episode:

Luke & Noah: They're back on screen and together. Yay! They get to kiss and smooch and make ugly happy faces! Yay! They still have less screen time than 4 year old day player Ethan. Boo! (Not much to say since they didn't have much to do.).

Carly/Jack/Janet: Jack asks Carly if they can try again. For the 8,271st time. Yay! Carly kicks him to the curb! Yay! Carly tells Janet to come take care of him because Janet is good for Jack! Yay?

Lily/Holden/Carly: Just when I thought this triangle was being abandoned, it looks as if it's going to be reconfigured to include Dusty now that Mike has decided to kick rocks. READ MORE

On the heels of reprising his signature role as Greg Nelson for Jesse and Angie's wedding on All My Children, veteran soap actor Laurence Lau (ex-Jamie Frame, Another World; ex-Sam Rappaport, One Life to Live) has booked a role on As The World Turns as a new love interest for Oakdale barracuda Lucinda Walsh (Elizabeth Hubbard). Brian will be the director of the new foundation Luke sets up with his Grimaldi millions (Couldn't he have used just a smidge of the money to, I don't know, buy an townhome so he can boink his boyfriend without fear of Emma or her shotgun?).

ATWT is on fire right now and this news makes me even more secure in my decision to put ATWT back on my DVR's recording schedule. Lucinda is one of my favorite characters, I couldn't get enough of her chemistry with Tom Eplin's Jake and I adored Lau on AW as Jamie so this will be quite the treat for this fan, as Jake and Jamie were bitter enemies on AW.

Who knows, maybe ATWT will cast Lau's former Bay City mom Victoria Wyndham (ex-Rachel, AW) as his disapproving mother? Okay, okay, that last part was just wishful casting! Thanks MarkDutchViewer for the tip!