denzo30

Wow, words to live by unfortantely there is no such thing as a soap opera anymore and this advice won't probablly hold true to the last 3 on the air. I have no idea if there are 2 or 4. Although, GH and DOOL were the only other shows I followed other than AW and they are still on the air but have no idea what the storylines are about today . I know Marland did write for AW but for the most part he, like any other writer wrote differently for any other actor that replaced a role. Otherwise, all the other rules he believed were a receipe for a sucess make sense At least to bring him back when Connie Ford passed away. Not even a mention about Ada's brother, when she passed. Harding Lemay would have been writing at this point if he stayed and hopefully he would have made the writing to include Sam could not make it. Yeah and as much as I love Harding Lemay and his dedication to characters he had no problem with recasts. The most weirdest one was Wesley Ann Pfenning as Alice Frame #3. So odd and the actress looked nothing like her the previous actresss's. I get it, sometimes the Prodcuers that make these decisions but dont write or subscribe to rules that don't fit a character. Why wouldnt a show like AW ask VW for advise when they are writing about a past character or family. We as fans, see all their mishaps with writing..

I think us, who knew and loved Beverlee's Iris just see Carmen Duncan as just different and not really Iris. I do like Carmen Duncan very much and she did a great job portraying Iris but in a different way. Even when she appeared in 1988 and I thought maybe someone else should have been casted for the role, I still thought she was great. I always say, dont blame the actor, blame the soap. They are responsible for turning someone into a completely different person when they recast. Rachel and Iris would have never gotten even rometely along if it was Bev's Iris. I believe at one time there was talk of Pammy Davis (Rachel's sister) returning. Technically she was on Somerset and not AW (spin off soap). I could be wrong. I don't recall if there was any real interaction between Rachel and her sister Pammy who was not Ada's daughter. Someone wrote that even a soap magazine wrote they were casting for the role but obvisoulsy it never happened.. They should have had Rachel's father return to town. When Connie Ford passed away, I think Jordan Charney should have returned as her brother, Sam Lucas. He was best known as Mr Angelino on Three's Company in the late 70's after he left AW around 1975. At least for the funeral anyway but AW had lost all is real family connections at this point and probably know one even knew about these characters..

Ah! I think AW has numerous problems for years. We all know about the drama during the 70's with actors being fired or recasted. Makes sense that behind the scenes the same crap went on. Not sure if the same stuff went on in other soaps. AW was always considered the drabby soap filmed in Brooklyn. It showed after 1980 but I still tuned in and it had its moments sense as a good show

Who is CJ? The show was terrible at this time. The big down fall that last lasted for about the next 7 years until the robust of characters and Harding Lemay in 1988 for only a few months.

I did not know that Virginia Dywer and George Reinholt were fired on the same day. So that means the Matthews family had two deaths at the same time? Very daring move on Harding Lemay

Why have not seen some of the pics in the bible? Who is the first actress sitting in a diner? Is the J Courtney? When I go to AWHP this creating of AW does not show up Kind of typical of AW recasts. All of a sudden a characater become a completely different person but I would compare this more to recast of Rachel. Robin acted a bit more like Susan and Vicky like Nancy. Still both mean but a different kind of conniviing way . Of course Rachel became a heronie just a few a few years where Cecile got worst

I would say 1976is not even comparable to the 80's. 1976 was at its prime for AW

I agree. I dont know how anyone could think of the early 80's better than the late 80's

I thought it was weird that they never really showed the siblings interact with each other. Courtney was on the show for month I think before she even showed up at the Marshall farm. Dawn and Paiges fued over Dennis was almost like two long lost enemies. I come from a big family and see weird things but they were all young people and just so disconnected.

I always see writers on soaps (back then) No idea how the 3 on air operate today have nothing really do the actual writing. All soaps were set up with a certian theme and I believe the EP is the one who does all the driving. I have watched certain writers on shows and thought it was amazing only to yawn at their next gig show. I believe they dont have control of how they really want to write. Wasn't Susan Sussman ( i think her name) bringing the Y&R to star ratings and then she writes and creates her own show Generations which was just awful and so boring.. They write based on the direction who controls it all. Harding Lemay worked very closely with Paul Rauch on AW in the 70's and the EP knew he was doing a great job and let him have it but that is not typically the case

I remember reading LeMay in the credits during this time as a consultant and thinking this is still not AW. I guess not as a head writer he is not advising the writing team to focus on the familes and history that made the show. Frames were gone and Corys not the same. It would have been awesome if he just came back as the writer Cali Timmins makes a way better Paulina. No offense but I don't care for Judi Evans acting in any soap and of course TImmins was fired to replace her Evans which is not cool. Timmins looked and acted more like her sisters Iris and Amanda

I think what most people seem to forget is recasting roles and dislike of actors who play them is not usually up the writer. That is the producers job. they either hire or fire people. With regard to JC, Harding Lemay made it clear he did not like her and I believe since he was such a success with AW that Rauch fired her just do to his distaste for her. Also, Lemay had nothing to do with George Reinholt firing. Rauch made it clear he wanted him gone and Lemay just wrote him off

There were too many recasts of Sally Frame. I thought Julie Phillips did a remarkable job as coming back as rebellious teen Sally after Cathy Greene. Jennifer Runyon run as Sally was just not real and she was naive and too girly. Just not Sally Frame at all. However, I loved Mary Page Keller playing the role. The blonde who always played Sally now had dark hair and eyes and a completely different person. You gotta love soaps changing an entire person but she worked well with the audience. Taylor Miller was terrible as Sally and she should not have been killed off and I bet had she not been killed, MPK would have probably come back later in the years. I always said that and I think I even wrote it out here that they never had a scene with Steve and Alice. So Stupid that they did a scene with Jamie and Steve . Not stupid storyline but that fact the actor playing the role at the time was not the one when Reinholt was on playing Steve. No chemistry. I think the show did not want to focus on guests during the 25th anniversary and all about the current characters. The anniversary show really was all about Rachel and I think making Alice a focus was not on their agenda nor did they probably want to ruffle feathers with VW. I think I recall hearing the JC and GR had frequent run ins on the set during the 70's and VW was possibly one of them. What goes on behind the scenes no one ever knows. VW was their prime star at the time and they would never jeopardize that..

Well, they are her grandchildren. I think we all know people who change after having children or grandchildren. Yes she was a socialite. However, her grandchildren mean the world to her so that is so such a believable theory. I know many don't like Shelly;s work on AW but I thought she was more convincing as a replacement than Carmen Duncan and as noted she seemed like Macs sister than daughter but the irony was she is younger than Bev Mckinsey . I remember when Shelly was temping for Mckinsey and thought she looks so old. Of course I was also in 4th grade. She tapped into Bev's behavior time to time while playing the role that i give her credit for. She even used a pencil to on the push phone to make calls like Bev did. The only clips of Shelly as Iris do not share that video. I wish they had mentioned Shellys work on AW in her obit

You are indeed correct. I was thinking Mac was around when James Frame was born but he was not. I never liked the idea of introducing Paulina as another sibling it was just overkill after a long lost child (Sandy) and the whole Iris situation. I also found it funny all the actresses to play Iris were also the same age to Mac in real life.. haha

That would also mean that Paulina had to be older than Jamie too if Mack did not have an affair on Rachel but yet the actresses playing the role seemed and looked much younger than Jamie. just stupid writing. Which means Mack actually found out about 3 children as being his. Sandy, Iris and Paulina Ha, I don't ever recall episodes from 1979 where Iris was cordial to Rachel. If anything, I think the Bev portray of Iris is way more evil towards Rachel than Carmens. In the 70's, Rachel and Iris could not even be in the same room together. Unless, you are looking at footage of Iris pretending to like Rachel to manipulate. However, Rachel never jumped on that bandwagon..

I am surprised to hear this about Epsy considering he spent a considerable amount of years on AW. He started in 79 and lasted till the early 80's and returned again in 86 and lasted up until I think 1991. That is kind of long for daytime actors. The typical gig is only two years for most actors and characters. He obviously kept re-newing his contract with AW.

Yes. I meant to mention he started in the first year of the show. He came in later months as Pat's lawyer for murdering Tom Baxter. If you look at the ending credits of 1979, he was still listed as like # 6 or so. Rachel, Mack, Ada, Pat all still credited before him. So much for seniority..

As the other user mentioned, Michael Ryan was on the show from 1964-79 which at that time the longest running actor on the show from the beginning. The show started in 1964 and he was there from the beginning so he would have to have played during both actress's playing the role

I always thought Meryl Streep in her Devil Wears Prada would have been a great replacement for Carmen. Def not a replacement for Bev. Dixie Carter also had mannerism and spoke much like Carmen Duncan. I would love to hear other thoughts. Carol Shelley seemed more like Iris when she temporary replaced Bev but she def has no similarities to Carmen I think the constant recasts of Jamie's were just overkill. I did not watch the show much during the 90's but would have cared less if I ever saw Jamie again. By time you got comfortable with Jamie a new actor was playing the role. However, if they were able to lure Lau back that would have worked

Oddly enough, my favorite Sally is the one who looked most unlike Sally or acted like Sally Frame. MPK. It was odd when they casted her in the role . A dark hair and eye replacing a blonde blue eyed. I think Julie Phillips did a great job of replacing Cathy Greene of a young Sally to late teen

Jason Frame did not exist and I think the writers did want to Robinson to play an existing sibling already. I am guessing Willis since he acted much like the character especially the blackmail to Sharlene about her past. Norman Frame? When was Norman Frame ever mentioned on the show? I recall after Dean Frame arrived he mentioned his fathers name as Henry. Another Frame never mentioned before. They never actually said either if he was the sibling of one of the original Frame siblings or maybe just a cousin. The Love/ Mckinnons were written into the show in the early mid 80's and never were they seen or talked about during the 60's or 70's. They just wrote it in as if they existed for a long time just like Jason Frame who was never mentioned or seen up until 1987

I think her time was special due to her acquiring Harding Lemay's bible but I am not going to discredit her at all. I really enjoyed her years from 88-90 I thought the Evan introduction was obvisious from the beginning. Not so much he being Janice Frame's son but that there was more to him being involved in the takeover emotionally and Harding Lemay is the writer who wrote him in so it was obvious. His real name is Earl Battis. That was last name of Janice's first husband and announced back in the 70's so it was clear, after it was announced what his real name was that he was written into the show to be a Frame I always thought the best writing would have been after Mac died, why not get Rachel and Russ back together. At least it would be original old time characters back and they should have had JC come back as Alice and resurrect Sally alive. It would have put the Matthews family back on the map but it seems like many writers did not care so much about them. I would even suggest Harding Lemay did not even put a major emphasis on that family. It is too bad