robbwolff

I absolutely love your idea of Blaine being on Texas. That could have been interesting. Blaine and Dennis had a flirtation on Another World as I recollect. What could have been interesting is if Blaine and Dennis hooked up, split for Houston, and then Iris followed to break them up. Previously, Iris had interfered in Dennis' relationships, so it would have been in character for her to meddle in Blaine and Dennis' relationship rather than become a heroine. I recall the original plans were for Russ and Pat to be major characters on Texas (then known as Another World: Houston). It seems like Iris was a last minute addition to the new soap, especially since Beverlee McKinsey returned to Another World just a week before the Texas characters began to be introduced. Jim Poyner had actually been in the role of Dennis for two years before he moved over to Texas. So the audience was invested in him. I absolutely loved the chemistry between Paige and Eliot and was so disappointed when Eliot left in late 1981. I don't recall Eliot having a final mental breakdown. I think he just vanished after Poyner and McKinsey left the show. And I don't recall Alex having an ex-wife. Yes, Grant had his ex Judith who showed up to cause trouble for Grant and Reena. But I have no recollection of an ex-wife for Alex. He had had an affair with the married Victoria Bellman but that relationship was over when we met Alex (I think Vicky was still in love with Alex). The writers seemed to race through the Alex/Iris relationship. They reconnected in August and were married in November. Alex was dead by June 1981.

You’re thinking of another drip: Kurt Corday, who married Mindy in that fairytale wedding. The wedding was in the fall of 85. Kurt left a few months later, around April 86. Johnny arrived a few months after Kurt left so he almost seemed like a replacement for Kurt. Later that year, Kurt was killed off. Kurt was portrayed by Mark Lewis.

I believe Poll's book had a number if inaccuracies. If I recall correctly, didn't she also say that Paul Kincaid was Bill Bauer and Simone Kincaid's biological son?

I have to disagree. I think she was widely accepted as MJ. It was quite a casting coup. I know I adored her in the role — both during the show’s original run and in the reruns. And she played the character as it was written. This was a period when there was constant turnover of head writers — I think there were four sets of head writers in just the first year of Kathy’s run. They were the ones that transformed the character so radically. The changes started when Mel and Ethel Brez were writing the show and MJ was widowed. The changes were even evident when Carla Dragoni briefly played MJ.

Lassiter was a few states away from Bay City. Depending upon where in Pennsylvania Lassiter was supposed to be, it is at least a seven-hour drive from the Chicago area to the Pittsburgh area. I could easily picture the Bay City and Lassiter McKinnons visiting each other in the summer, much like my husband's family did when they were growing up.

Actually, I have recollections of seeing the introduction with Dorothy; I believe it aired directly after the Loving movie.

I don't know. While Iris wasn't Australian, people can pick up other accents. I had a friend who lived in England and when he came back to the states, he was sporting a British accent. Without knowing Lemay's plans, we can only speculate but perhaps Iris moved to Australia at some point and Caroline was her daughter.

In light of the fact that AW cast two Australian actresses (Joy Bell and Carmen Duncan) in such a short period of time, perhaps Caroline was slated to have some kind of connection to Iris.

The Simons weren't certain which child character was slated to be killed off. At first, Courtney said Frederick but then she seemed to second guess that.

No. They were referring to a child actor on the show back in the early 1980s. They didn't seem to recall who the actor was or which character he played. The decision was made to kill off the character but then the producer announced at a meeting that they had changed their minds. At that point, Charita turned to the person sitting next to her and said something like, "Well, he'll be dead in our hearts forever." Peter Simon talked very glowingly of O'Leary.

What a great topic! From around 1977 to 1983 and then from 1986 to 1994, I wrote a continuation of Somerset that combined many of the original characters from the show with my own creations. I was a huge fan of Somerset so it was a lot of fun and rewarding to continue my favorite characters' stories after the show was cancelled. There were stories involving homophobia, male-on-male rape, drunk driving, terminal cancer, AIDS, and euthanasia. I especially loved tying my stories to the original characters and stories from the show.

Does anyone know what the situation was with Linda Elstad? Soap Opera Digest announced in early 1984 that she appointed head writer of Another World. While she wrote for the show that year, I don't think she was ever credited as head writer. Soap Opera Digest featured a brief interview with her where she previewed one storyline involving Donna Love seeking to break down gender lines by joining an all male club.

Yep. That's what she said. I think she was written out in May 1995, so I'm not sure if it was Farren Phelps or Michael Laibson who fired her. Tina Sloan seemed genuinely surprised about how Ellen Parker got news of her firing. It was so wonderful to see all four of them. I got choked up when I saw Ellen.

I listened to the first episode. It was challenging to get through. Uneven audio. Too much narration. Too many characters to keep track of. No real hook to keep me listening.

I appreciate what he's doing but he needs to stop with the interruptions. His interruptions are annoying as hell. At one point, Passanante was talking about the interference she was getting and he interrupted her. I didn't watch the OLTL interview but I loved how Sharon Gabet starting laughing when he referenced her and Mark Arnold as being a major couple on The Edge of Night. That was horribly embarrassing.

I believe it was Anne Howard Bailey and Charles Pratt.

I've shared this before on SON but my husband and I live in Corbett's childhood home in Collingswood, NJ. It's ironic since I always disliked him on RH, SFT, and Y&R. My husband and I have both been in contact with him and he seems to be a nice guy. He was elated when we told him that we found his childhood school ruler and wallet, and discovered his mother's art easel in the rafters of our garage. His mother Margaret Cianfrani was a famous award-winning artist who died in 2017 at the age of 101. You can see some of her portraits of Michael here: http://www.margetheartist.com/gallery1.html

I'm not sure if it ever got off the ground, but Corbett was in the cast of a comedic web series that's similar to what you described. It was titled The Disappointments. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-disappointments-a-web-series-about-your-life#/

He was actually just a few years younger than the actors who played Martin on Peyton Place. John Hoyt was born in 1905, George Macready was born in 1899, and Wilfrid Hyde-White was born in 1903.

If I remember correctly, around April or May 1986, they started showing scenes involving the mystery man who owned Liberty House, the apartment building that because the central focus during the last months of Search. It was implied he knew Jo and may have been a man from her past. The storyline was quickly dropped and then Jack Betts' David Glenn showed up.

The SB characters were the mother Caroline Wilson (Lenore Kasdorf), biracial daughter Alice Jackson (Marie-Alise Recasner), white daughter Jane Wilson (Jane Sibbets), Alice's father Gus (David Wolos-Fonteno), and cop Paul Whitney (Stoney Jackson). I believe Patrick was referring to Stoney Jackson as the miscast romantic lead.

I had no idea that Carolyn Ann Clarke wasn't the first Lesley Ann Monroe. Apparently, Jacquelin Perkel originated the role. Interestingly, I worked with Perkel on a project at Rutgers University back around 2008. She was an executive with the Rutgers Foundation at that point.

Yates opted not to renew his contract. Earlier this year, someone posted an article about him returning to GL for three weeks to wrap up his story around January 1982. So he was gone long before Kobe/Long. Gray continued on until around June 1983. For a time, it seemed like a Katie/Justin/Eve triangle was being considered.

Joyce was also a producer/story editor on The Real World.

Yes. The older man is Dr. Steve Jackson, who was the late Leslie Bauer's father. Thus, he is Rick Bauer's grandfather. Peter Chapman was a doctor and involved with Holly. He was played by the late Curt Dawson who also played DA Zack Colton on Another World.