Lucky 13,000
"I find these things very strange," admitted ATWT Executive Producer Christopher Goutman in his speech to the cast and crew, who had assembled to cut a cake in celebration of the taping of the show's 13,000th episode on March 15. "13,000. I mean, what's a number? I worry about 13,001. What's 13,001 going to think about all the attention being given to 13,000? I'm going to have 13,001 in my office on Monday morning complaining...." At this point, there was some isolated laughter; Goutman paused to mock-sternly search for the source of the giggles before continuing: "I don't feel that longevity is an accomplishment in and of itself, but what this '13,000 Show Club' means is that this show has been an important part of people's lives for a long, long time and that is quite an accomplishment. So I encourage you to continue to be inspired by this legacy and continue to do great work and let it grow." CBS daytime honcho Barbara Bloom and Brian Cahill, V.P./Director, Operations and Strategic Initiatives of Televest, were also on hand for the big day. And the cake, by the way, was banana cream, but many agreed that the white chocolate ATWT logo was the best part. (The champagne? Real, of course.)

Keeping Count
"13,000 blows my mind," said Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda), who couldn't say for sure what her "number" is. "People are going around with calculators; I have no idea," she shrugged. "I'm the baby in the long-term group of people. Martha [Byrne, Lily] and I have been here together."

Rough Estimate
"I'm going to take a guess and say 400. No, maybe 300. We'll call it 350!" laughed Jesse Soffer (Will), who had learned of his Emmy nomination the day before and was planning to bring his mother as his date.

Fine At 29
As the senior veteran cast member at the cake-cutting, Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara) marveled when she guessed that she had done 8,000 episodes because she's just shy of her 30th anniversary with the show. "I know the network's proud of us and I know that they're very happy that we're still here and still on the air. We've just got to keep plugging away, turning out more story, good story and the kind of story the viewers want to see," she smiled.

Awe ... Some More
"I'm kind of with Chris on this: I don't think of it in terms of the number, just the duration of time that people have been putting out quality scenes," noted Elena Goode (Jade). "I think the 50th year hit me more than this because I was just coming in when we were celebrating that, and I was just in awe. I think now there's awe mixed with pride."

The New Guy
INTURN winner and current recurring cast member Alex Charak (Elwood) was at a loss for words about the big event. "It's really weird because there's so much history. I've been trying to think of a good analogy: maybe like a pebble in the Egyptian pyramids. Maybe a pebble in a doorknob because that's the last thing they put on — if they had doorknobs," joked the actor, who estimated that he's done "20-something" episodes. "I'm always glad to miss class [at NYU] here and there. Everybody's cool; I love it here."