Mona Kane Croft

Any news about where the show will be produced?

I definitely wish this show the best, and I plan to watch it. But I understand it will probably be a 60-minute soap, which concerns me a bit. I think 30-minutes would be a better decision. It has always been difficult to get a new soap opera started. And there really have been no soaps that premiered in the 60-minute format that were ultimately successful. It think it would be wise to premiere the show at 30-minutes, then a couple of years later -- if the ratings are high -- expand it to 60-minutes. Or maybe just leave it at 30-minutes.

I hope somewhere in the scripts for these episodes there is at least a mention of the old feud between Marie Horton and Liz Chandler. PLEASE don't portray them as old cherished friends!!!

Hi ya, Contessa. I'm flattered at your request that I put in my two-cents regarding this particular conversation. But I really think I've said it all before, and anything I type will just be a repeat of stuff I've posted over and over. And I do realize I have a tendency to repeat things, so I'll sit this one out. But again, thanks...

If they wanted to do a "throw back" to the show's history -- well, they had Sam Groom in the studio. He should have played Russ Matthews (Rachel's first husband and Josie's father), but NO. Let's get a guy in a gorilla costume as a nod to the past. Brilliant. Brilliant.

It was established during Mac's first few years on AW, that he was born into a wealthy Manhattan family and that Cory Publishing was at least three generations old at that point. At one point, Mac admitted to Iris that he had never really loved her mother (his first wife) and that the marriage had been arranged. This was before Iris's adoption storyline. He also mentioned to Rachel that his own mother was a controlling woman consumed by social status, who was not very kind or loving. This is why the show's 25th anniversary episodes were something of a retcon -- suggesting that the entire company -- Cory Publishing, was only 25 years old in 1989. There was also a period in the 1990s when the writers retconned Mac's personal background, suggesting he had been a self-made man who created Cory Publishing from scratch. Too bad they didn't stick with Mac's original origin story, because that is what gave Mac much of his motivation -- both professional and personal.

Well, instead of creating the idiotic and completely unnecessary Jake, TPTB could have just lived with the decision that Stefan was dead and Brandon Barash was off the show. Not every popular actor needs to be recast as a different character or return from the dead. It's okay for them to just be gone. Fans don't run the show, or at least they shouldn't.

It was very strange to suddenly have (not one, but) TWO of Mac Cory's nephews arrive in town as law enforcement officials, with no mention of that being unusual -- considering the multi-generational wealth of the Cory family. Wouldn't it have been expected that someone (Mac? Rachel? Ada? Jamie? The maid? or someone?) might mention how odd it was to have two brothers coming from a millionaire family and choosing law enforcement as a career? Trying not to stereotype, but it was written as if the Corys were suddenly working-class, with two nephews "movin' on up" into law enforcement. I'm not suggesting it should have been a huge deal in the scripts, but still it was worthy of mention. And the situation itself could have made for some good social-class drama, had it not been ignored. Imagine how Iris would have felt about two of her cousins joining law enforcement? Or how about Neal and Adam's mother? She could have come to Bay City to express her displeasure about her sons' choices. Lots of opportunities for class-conflict that were ignored or lost. Just my opinion, of course.

I understand what you are saying, but sometimes I think there is too much course correcting on modern soaps. Social media has made every soap opera fan an expert and a self-appointed critic. And when TPTB get a whiff that the audience doesn't like something, they change it, rewrite it, or eliminate it. Often too quickly, with too little thought, and with too MUCH attention paid to social media. I remember soaps in the old days, when the writers wrote what they thought was best, and the audience just watched it, or they didn't. And believe me, soaps were better 45 years ago than they are today. Personally, I believe writers are better writers than self-appointed internet critics. So I rather like that DOOL gets to avoid all that. My opinion only.

Since Peacock operates differently than a network, if the time comes to cancel the show, maybe Peacock will handle it differently than a network. Maybe Peacock will give them enough advance notice to wrap things up and have a nice ending. But I understand DOOL is doing very well on Peacock, so maybe there is no need to worry about cancellation. Who knows??

She actually still works quite a lot. Mostly guest shots on primetime dramas and comedies. And in the fairly recent past, she has said on FB that she would be thrilled to return to DOOL.

Maree Cheatham is saying on FB that she recently booked a two-day television appearance, but she hasn't revealed what show. Could Marie Horton be returning??

That is simply untrue. But I certainly have zero interest in arguing about it. So keep on believin'...

I know for a fact that Agnes Nixon was one of the two or three best writers in the history of daytime. And she was likely the very best head-writer Another World ever had. But sadly, her book (My Life to Live) is so full of errors it probably should never have been published. There are things in her book that will go down in history as truth, when there are simply incorrect. Not two or three errors, but likely dozens of errors. Her book will do much more harm than good, as future television historians use it as a source for soap opera history. If only Ms Nixon had written this book ten-years earlier. Things might be very different. Just my opinion, of course.

I don't remember Olive having much interaction with Rachel. Olive was more focused on causing trouble for the Matthews clan -- especially Alice, John, Michael and Marianne, etc. Olive did have some interaction with Iris, because John was Iris's attorney. Several times when John visited Iris at her house (before Iris moved to the penthouse), Olive insisted on going along. She wanted to "get in good" with Iris, but Iris wasn't having it. LOL.

That's great. I wonder if she recounts much about her starring role on Love of Life. I first remember Bonnie Bartlett from St Elsewhere, I believe. Audrey Peters was the only Vanessa I can personally remember from Love of Life.

I'm not sure Brian was completely split-up with Iris when he was seeing Olive, because Iris was still in town. Olive was written off around April 1979, and Iris didn't go to Texas until around June 1980. I don't remember Brian having an on-screen home, other than the penthouse he shared with Iris. And after Iris went to Texas, I don't believe the audience ever really saw Brian's home. Who knows, really?? Since Olive married John Randolph for social status, it seemed she and Evan had more of a passionate connection. So she probably did have feelings for him. To me, Olive seemed like a more grown-up version of early Rachel -- social climbing, manipulative, and overtly sexual. Olive is who Rachel might have become, if she had not met Mac. Olive was one of Lemay's best additions to AW, in my opinion.

Also, after Even was killed and Olive and John spit-up, Olive had short romances with Brian Bancroft and Dan Shearer. So those two were romancing Olive in that house.

Are you listing only head-writers at Another World? Or your favorite soap-opera head-writers in general?

Very good analysis of the likely reason behind this phenomenon. I think you are exactly right.

Nothing against Steven Schnetzer, who I think is a great actor, but -- well, of course he would love the gorilla and the finale. It was reflective of his era in the show's history. Linda Dano probably liked it too. I'd speculate most of the viewers who severely disliked the gorilla and/or AW's finale were long-term viewers who enjoyed the show before the mid-1980s (like myself). Plus, sometimes the things actors find "fun" to play or even "challenging", do not necessarily make for good drama or good television in general. As someone in this group shared a couple of weeks ago, (I'm paraphrasing) actors are often not good judges of great writing or successful storylines. Having said all that, every viewer is free to enjoy what she/he enjoys. Some AW fans liked the show's finale and others did not.

Good question in today's soap opera world. Somehow the writers were able to write plenty of scenes in the house. John had been a central character since 1963, and he was connected to the entire Matthews family, his own two adult children, and he was fairly close to Iris and to Rachel. Not to mention, Olive was constantly inviting various wealthy people to the house, so she could schmooze. And probably MORE importantly, in 1978 AW was number-one in the daytime ratings. So budgets for production values (like sets) were not particularly limited -- especially with Paul Rauch as executive-producer. If I recall correctly, Olive and John's set debuted at about the same time as the Sven storyline, so things were about as good as they had ever been in the Brooklyn Studio.

The house that John built for Olive was likely the largest set ever on Another World up to that time. Although it was never described as a mansion, as Iris's house and Mac and Rachel's house had, the set for Olive and John's house was much larger than either. It was very modern in design and decor. And from left to right, it had essentially four different spaces where scenes could play out. First there was a small porch outside the front door, next was a foyer, then a living room, and finally another room rather like a den. And again, all very modern and completely different from Iris's or the Cory's house. I believe the intent was to demonstrate that Olive was "new money," and eager to show it off. Although John was certainly never a millionaire, he was a very successful attorney, and he went heavily into debt to satisfy his new young wife. Sad that she was cheating on him with the architect. Does anyone else remember this set? This is great news!! Steve Olson should have been on DOOL for years now -- stirring up trouble for the Horton clan. I'm speculating Steve will show-up for Doug's funeral. There are also rumors that a certain former nun (played by the original actress) will return for the service. We can only hope!

Alice lost a baby because of an injury, about 18-months before the scene you described. After the injury, it was not expressed definitively, but was implied that Alice could not carry a baby to birth. So that was probably the motivation behind Rachel's cruel line of dialogue. And likely also contributed to Alice's willingness to adopt Sally. And for God's sake, Jamie was not conceived out of love! Steve could barely stand the sight of Robin Strasser's Rachel. He saw her as a working-class tramp, who he could screw once, and forget. Too bad Rachel was also Steve's sister-in-law, so she did not go away as easily as he had hoped. LOL.

I saw it on Facebook, it had been posted by her ex-husband, Tim Matheson. I have no idea why it was posted on my FB feed, because I am not FB friends with Tim Matheson. But there it was, this morning.