tune_in_tomorrow

I agree completely, although Sharon Gabet wasn't a recast. She originated the role of Brittany but the character, like that of Peter, went through multiple unexplained transformations so it seemed she played multiple charcters. I barely remember Landry or Lewin. Their runs were short and they didn't make much of an impression. Like Thelma, I also agree that killing Sally was a mistake. But AW had a penchant for killing off characters in the '80s. Perry, Julia, Grant Todd, Quinn & Maisie all died along with Sally in about a 3-year period.

I saw some of the early days of the Cass/Frankie pairing and, like CarlD2, really wasn't all that impressed. I liked both Stephen Schnetzer and Alice Barrett and I liked their characters, but just didn't warm to their relationship. Maybe if I had watched longer or more consistently, I would have felt differently. I definitely think that Cass/Kathleen was the best match with Cecile thrown in as a wild card. Eventually things would have gone stale, but I think there was more story there. I didn't watch comings and goings on all the soaps back then, either behind or in front of the camera, but I was surprised that Julie Osburn didn't surface permanently on AW...or anywhere that I know of. I really liked her and thought Kathleen could have been a core character for a lot longer. I just looked at the AWHP site and she was only on the show for 2 years. Hard to believe. The rather unsuccessful recasts of MJ and Donna have been addressed here recently...what are everyone's thoughts on Taylor Miller as Sally, Anne Howard as Nicole, and Christopher Holder and Marcus Smythe as Peter? As much as I liked Taylor Miller on AMC, she really came aboard with everything going against her IMHO. Mary Page Keller was very successful in the role, married her leading man, and was gone only a few weeks before Taylor Miller replaced her. As I recall, her first storyline was also an entirely new arc with the Le Soleil story. I didn't like the story, and she seemed to be an entirely different character. I thought Anne Howard fared better as Nicole, but she was also the second recast after Kim Morgan Greene originated the role. The character of Peter seemed to change based on whoever was playing him, but I did think Smythe made a good villain. I would have preferred him as a different character since he was originally a nice guy under John Hutton.

I mentioned somewhere that I thought Another World was all over the place in the mid '80s. I didn't even watch very long and it was a different show than when I started. Around '84, the Love and McKinnon families were just getting established, Mac and Rachel were still the tentpole couple, Amanda & Matthew were still children who were rarely seen, the Ewings were still a presence as were the Frames, although in a smaller capacity than in prior years. There were also quite a few non-core family characters like Cecile, Cass, and Felicia. In retrospect, the cast was pretty large but that was common at that time. All of the storylines intrigued me and off the top of my head, I can't think of any characters I out-and-out disliked. But the next 3 years had all kinds of turmoil with characters coming and going, several recasts that didn't work, storylines that came out of left field and died (as Sungrey mentioned, that awful amorphous dust debacle), and some rather bizarre character changes that had no basis of reality. Peter Love went from nice guy to wife-rapist, Brittany Peterson from conniver to victim, Donna Love from strong and snobbish to weak and victim... It was a very different show when I finally gave up after the Sin Stalker story. Many viewers like sungrey mention the stability that Margaret DePriest brought but since I wasn't familiar with the classic Another World from the Lemay era, it seemed mostly a mess to me and elements and characters that drew me in were gone. The Love and McKinnon families bore little resemblance to the 1984 version, the teens (yes, I was a teen then) had all been written out -- mostly by death.

Thanks for the info on the Rachel/Carl relationship (and the links, Carl). It might have been interesting to see how it unfolded over time. I definitely enjoyed AW most of the time in the mid-80s even though it was past its glory years, apparently. But in retrospect, it was very frenetic. Lots of turnover in cast, lots of characters coming and going, and as I mentioned on another thread, lots of death. I am guessing there was quite a bit of turnover behind the scenes as well. It sounds like Donna Swajeski stabilized things for awhile.

Since AW was first soap I really got into, I enjoy reading about everyone's recollections of the show. Maybe someone can fill me in on how and when Carl Hutchins was redeemed? When I watched in the mid-80s, he was a villain. Not an antihero, but an outright villian. I stopped watching in '87 but when I tuned back in during the waning weeks, he was happily married to Rachel. Carl tried to kill Mac but only succeeded in killing his secretary Diane with some poison powder, as I recall. I have to admit that the Rachel-Carl pairing pretty much prevented me from enjoying the end of the show. Just curious if anyone can fill in the blanks of how that occurred. Thanks!

I mentioned in the AMC tribute thread that I watched the ABC soaps during most of the last half of the '80s. I also checked in with "One Life to Live" in the mid-90s and around 2001-02. Although often over-the-top, I don't think you can deny that their events weren't entertaining. Eterna, Heaven, and the Old West are often cited, but Viki's amnesia around '85-'86 is what sucked me in. I guess it really wasn't amnesia, but she thought she was still married to Joe Riley and that Tina was not her sister. Whatever it was, Erika Slezak sold it. The cast almost always sold it, no matter how unrealistic it may have seemed. European adventures, Iguazu Falls, poisoned earrings, jail for Tina and Dorian, religious cults -- OLTL made them fun. I tuned back in during Viki's DID storyline in the mid 90s, when Jean locked Dorian in the secret room and all of her alters came out, then again with the depressing ushering out of the Holden family by killing off Al, sending Max out of town, then murdering Gabrielle. I really thought the Bo-Gabrielle pairing had so much potential so I hated that that was the last time really watching it. I'll tune in for the end though!

I watched "All My Children" regularly from about '85-'87 or '88 when I was in college. Checked back in online during the 40th anniversary and the Adam exit with Brooke. I've enjoyed reading everyone's take on the show in this thread and others, and how things have changed. So many people want Dixie back, for example. I never watched when Dixie was on -Tad's "real love" at that time was Hillary. So everyone was rooting for that pairing! Some other storylines I remember from that era that I rarely see discussed anywhere were Angie being sexually harrassed by a creepy doctor (can't remember his name), Brooke's relationship with Gilles St. Clair which complicated matters with her ex Tom regarding her parenting skills, Hunter Tylo when she was Deborah Morehart playing the oldest high school student since the cast of "Grease" walked through Rydell High, and Phoebe taking up with WAY younger man and con-artist Wade Matthews. Erica was dating Jeremy Hunter at that time, which was complicated by his pregnant stepmother Natalie. The show was a lot of fun, but normal life took me away from daytime television. I watched all of the ABC soaps at that time and each had their own niche that it filled well -- "One Life to Live" was the fantasy with larger-than-life characters, "General Hospital" had action, suspense, and mystery, with a lighter touch than what it apparently has now, and "All My Children" had the heart, community, and strong relationships between family, friends, and rivals. Hopefully all of you still tuning in find a satisfying ending to the ride.

I didn't watch ATWT during this era but after researching a bit, I wondered the same thing. It seemed to be a revolving door of actresses for roles that could have set the foundation for the next generation. I didn't follow the comings and goings of the executives and maybe it was just a matter of who they liked, but surely they could have found stability with somebody. No reason why the Stewarts couldn't have been a viable core family well into the future. I'm sure this has been discussed before in this thread, but the Stewart family never made sense to me during the time I watched the show in the late '80s. Annie and Dee were gone, but Betsy was still there played by Lindsay Frost. I was 20 years old and I figured Betsy would have been close to 30. Ellen appeared to be early 50s. You'd look at them and think "mother and daughter." I was quite surprised when I learned Ellen was supposed to be Betsy's grandmother! Susan wasn't on the show during that time and I didn't know Betsy's history. That was my first introduction to the fast and loose aging on soaps.