It's always a pleasure when Weekly gets to visit Oakdale, but sometimes visits to the AS THE WORLD TURNS studios in Brooklyn turn out to be an even wackier ride than usual....

I dropped by ATWT around lunch hour on a bustling, busy day. The gang had just gotten takeout fried chicken when I walked into the green room. Having skipped lunch to arrive on time, I escaped the temptation at first by chatting with Ellen Dolan (Margo) in the hall. "I am having so much fun working with Soctt Bryce (Craig) again," she raved. "When we get together and do scenes it’s like 'Wow! This is fun!' I find that with Michael Park (Jack), too, but he's fighting with Scott Holmes (Tom) all the time, and I never get to do scenes with him anymore!"

After asking Ellen a couple of questions for some of our future issues, I went in to talk to Terri Colombino (Katie) — and my timing was excellent. I had just missed her having an...incident with a container of hot sauce, splashing not only her cute green blouse but a couple of her lunch buddies. She quickly returned in a pink robe emblazoned with "I Love You" that led to her good pal Park to insist she was declaring her feelings for him. "I'm reading between the lines!" he cracked. But more on Mr. Park later. I pinned Terri down for some round-ups and a style feature that you will see soon enough. Then she revealed that the yummy chicken and mashed potatoes she was eating came from a famous Brooklyn eatery: Not Just Chicken.

To silence my growling stomach, I concentrated on talking to Ewa da Cruz about Vienna's plans for Al's. "She is still a socialite, but the work is good and now she is concentrating on making Americans eat healthy," laughed da Cruz. As for those trademark blue uniforms, be prepared to say sayonara! "She might not be jet-setting right now, but she won't wear something that in her opinion doesn't look that pretty," warned da Cruz.

Clothing was actually a good (read: non-hunger-inducing) topic, since I next ended up in wardrobe to talk to costume designer Tracy Dorman. There, I saw Gwen's infamous "Murgatroyd's Mom" T-shirt, which the show had printed through New York-based Dyenamix (www.dyenamix.com). I even saw my favorite pair of Vienna's sparkly high heels. Sadly, they were a size 7 to my puny size 4.

I had a little bit of an adventure when I took those size 4s of mine to find publicist Johanna Bradford but got completely turned around in the studio. When I emerged in the lobby by mistake, Mick Hazen (Parker) and Daniel Manche (J.J.) enjoyed a hearty laugh at my confusion.

I eventually made it back to Johanna and the green room unscathed, but the real trauma was yet to come: sitting down with the dueling Snyder brothers, Park and Austin Peck, for some roundup questions. If you think Jack and Brad are a riot of constant bickering, you ain't seen nothin' till you've seen their portrayers go toe-to-toe. Suffice it to say, it took three times longer than usual to answer questions, because of random chopstick fights and exchanges like the following:

Peck: The best advice I ever got was, "Learn your lines."
Park: He constantly has to take his shirt off. The best advice I would say he ever got was, "Put your shirt back on." The best advice I ever got from him was, 'You don't want me to give you the look!"
Weekly: What’s "the look"?
Peck: The look means, "I'm about to kick your ass."
Weekly: Oh, come on. Michael, you take your shirt off, too.
Park: I'll take it off right now. I'm not even scared!
Peck: Take it off. Let's see your shaved belly button. Ugh!
Park: This is a real man's body. I want Austin to feel at home. He lives a shirtless existence.
Peck: You know that's not true. I'm shirtless sometimes.
Park: He got a great sense of humor, this one.

They both do. But before I could laugh my way into an asthma attack, I luckily grabbed a few minutes with Grayson McCouch (Dusty) for a decidedly mellower chat about his character's upcoming troubles.

For more with McCouch, check out our Sept. 19 issue. As for the other awesomely crazy folks at ATWT...I can’t wait for another visit — and maybe a bite of that fried chicken!