Efulton
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Everything posted by Efulton
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I have no idea if the information on The Somerset Register was validated but the following sounds logical to me. https://web.archive.org/web/20120821215207/http://awinsomerset.com/index.html From Bay City to Somerset Initially, plans were made to bring four popular characters from Another World to Somerset as the stars: Joe Gallison as Bill Matthews, Carol Roux as Melissa ‘Missy’ Matthews, Jordan Charney as Sam Lucas and Ann Wedgworth as Lahoma Lucas. All four were very popular and it was felt that the Alice/Steve/Rachel storyline was popular enough that Another World could withstand the loss of a few characters without losing ground. However, by July 1969, both Gallison and Roux had left the series — the former to join ABC’s One Life to Live, the latter to try her luck in Hollywood. Despite this, Hill was determined that both actors would, with suitable enducment, be willing to star in the new series. While Hill went about courting Gallison and Roux, Cenedella was charged with writing the show's story "bible" and creating the first six month's worth of plots. Lyle B. Hill, Executive Producer During the mid to late sixties, Lyle B. Hill developed a solid reputation as a thoughtful and considerate producer of daytime dramas, someone not only efficient but who actually liked and sympathized with actors. After spending three years on As the World Turns, Hill accepted an offer from NBC in 1967 and went on to Executive Produce Another World and Somerset for a total of ten years. His entusiasm and ability to cast appropriate actors served both series well and led him to launch a part time career as lecturer on the subject of acting at various universities, and to teaching acting technique at Weist-Barron in New York. Having sold the concept of the new series based on the four leads from Another World as the show's main attraction, Hill worked overtime to persuade both Gallison and Roux to join the series. Gallison was interested but unable to get ABC to release him from his contract. Cenedella compensated by killing his character off, thus giving Roux's character a reason to return to Bay City. However, it was now vital that Roux return. At first, Roux was reluctant to move back to New York City, in part due to a new romantic relationship in her life with a rock musician, but also because she was in the midst of what she referred to as a seven-month "sit and think" period. However, Hill and producer Sid Sirulnic wooed her by offering a clause for her contract that allowed her to leave after six months on the show. Roux relented at the start of 1970 and moved back to Manhattan.
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Dane and Ava should have ended up being the two biggest stars of the show.
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We Love Soaps: So when you were asked to come back to ANOTHER WORLD in 1988, was the plan to be a consultant or the head writer again? Harding Lemay: I don’t know what they had in mind, really. I was the head writer for awhile. And then there was a strike. And during the strike they hired some NBC people to do the writing. Then they fired me and kept the ones they used during the strike, and the show got worse and worse and worse. But even by then, when I went back, it wasn’t going to work. I could see they weren’t interested. They weren’t excited enough by what I wanted to do, whereas before they had been very excited about the ideas I had. Procter & Gamble were very upset by my book [“Eight Years in Another World”]. I was very harsh on them. Nobody thought they would ever hire me again. But they were in deep trouble, so they hired me, and forgot all about it. I was no longer that keen on doing it either. I didn’t need the money. And then I began to be a consultant. And it’s very interesting, the consultant’s fees were very high. You’d make $2,500 a day. I had a contract that said I had to be paid for three days a week whether they used me three days or not. I did that on four shows altogether. What you do is sit in with the other writers, make suggestions, and try to help them work out what they’re doing.
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We Love Soaps: Speaking of that story, how did you decide to have the character of Michael Randolph come out of the closet? Harding Lemay: Well, I wanted to break up his parents. And I didn’t want to go to the usual route. He was a twin. I wanted him to confide to his sister that he had just started college and had fallen in love with a boy. And they all agreed with it. It was all in the script. I had not signed the renewal of my contract yet. And once I signed it they pulled out the rug from under this story. We Love Soaps: Who was “they?” Who exactly made this decision? Harding Lemay: Procter & Gamble, probably. We Love Soaps: How did they communicate that to you? Harding Lemay: I got a call from Bob Short, who always leveled with me, saying, “We’re just not going to do it, because we don’t think the audience would appreciate it. They’d turn over to GENERAL HOSPITAL or something.” When I first took the show over, Irna said, “You can’t have a black person have lunch with a white person, or you’d lose everyone in the South.” And so one of the first things I did was to have a white nurse have lunch with a black nurse, and build up a black character. And nobody turned it off, it was just as popular as it always had been. There were a lot of myths about what people would watch or wouldn’t tolerate. There were all these things that they felt very strongly about. And this was way back in 1970, before you were born probably. People go on clichés about what other people think and what they want to see on television. I think that’s why television is so bad. Nobody takes a chance on anything. It was always a big fight to get anything going that was close to reality. Aggie Nixon did it from time to time later on. She always did topical things on ALL MY CHILDREN. She also did gay stories, but that was quite a bit later on. We Love Soaps: What could you imagine the impact would have been on soaps if you had been allowed to tell that story? Harding Lemay: One of the reasons I think it would have been successful is because we were very careful in the casting. We got a very good young actor, a very normal, straight, young actor. And he was very ingratiating. And also the audience had known the characters since they were toddlers. You weren’t introducing a new character saying, “Here’s a gay guy.” You were saying that this character, who they had known since he was a baby, was gay. Finally what we decided on, because they wouldn’t let me do the gay story, was that the daughter would become pregnant, and have an abortion. And that’s what would split their parents up.
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I agree with you. The biggest failure was not hiring an established head writer. I had hoped Doug Marland would step down from ATWT, take a 6 month to a year break to recharge then become AW'S head writer. Definitely this. I believe if they had kept Gary Tomlin and Richard Culliton as HWs and Allan Potter as EP for a few more years there would have been a rise in the ratings.
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I decided I would watch GH for May sweeps before finally giving up on it. It has not been looking promising but I did not hate today’s episode. Here is hoping we see some big improvements fast. I would be more onboard for Heather’s redemption arc if Robin Mattson was playing her. Alley Mills is talented but it is not having the same impact it would with Robin. I also think it is in character for Laura to be part of this story. If done properly we will get scheming Heather back and hopefully bonkers Heather is gone for good. If Heather is sticking around at least they can write her true to character.
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