Efulton

I remember that last episode like it just aired yesterday. 1982 was a horrible year for my family and my mother and I cried like babies watching that last scene. We loved that little soap. Was Joel Walker (Charles Hill) related to original characters Bart and Samantha Walker and then also Reena and Victoria?

I think Sally and Jamie did actually go on a date when Julie Philips or Jennifer Runyon was playing Sally. I thought it was gross and was glad it did not go any where.

Wasn't Johnny Perkins on Santa Barbara the heir to a kingdom? His mom Amy was impregnated against her knowledge somehow at the dentist office or something? lol. It hope I have it mixed up because that is kinda bonkers.

Ruby Wright (Alexandra Neil) and Mark Wheeler (Michael Woods).

Chris Rich was asked back for the 25th anniversary episodes in 1989 but declined. Not sure if he was asked back again for the Maggie story. The talk at the time was that P&G refused to let her return for the final episode as they were still pissed that she got one over on them at GL.

Thank you!

Who is the lady on the far right in the group photo? She is the only one I don’t recognize.

Me too! I had very high expectations and they were not met.

ugh. I have been mostly enjoying the show and am not looking forward to a new possession story. But I will wait and watch before passing judgment.

Do you guys think someone will be possessed or it is just a reenactment as part of Johnny's movie? I assumed it was part of Johnny's movie until I read this thread.

I would love to know what was planned as well. Especially about Anne/Frankie.

Never mean!? Pat Randolph would like to have a word with you.

I loved this show.

Yes to all of these people!

Donna Swajeski had a storyline that moved Kathleen into Grant’s orbit. However, Julie had already extended her contract once and wanted to get back to her life in the west coast.

I think the Kasnoffs were part of Douglas Marland's long term story bible. Not sure about Carly.

I did not say he said it Eight Years in Another World. I did read somewhere that he did write it and paid to have it put in the New York Times. I am not sure where I read that so it may be incorrect.

I agree. I wish they all could have taken a step back and figured out how to make it work. I did not start watching until 1976 but I have read many fans say 1972-75 was incredible.

I am not sure what the disagreement is. He is on the record saying he did not think Mary Matthews was an accurate portrayal of a real mother. Virginia Dwyer fought the changes he made so he killed off the character. He also stated publicly that he did not like Jaqueline Courtney's acting and was much happier with her replacement. His could not get past his personal opinions/biases and accept that both actors were very popular and had created their characters so they were gone. He liked Connie Ford so he accepted her input. I am sure many head writers have written for actors that they were not thrilled with because the fans loved them. He was unwilling to do so. Should they have accepted the wishes of their head writer? Possibly but both actors had been on the show since the beginning and deserved much more respect from him than they got.

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To me it felt like it was more about certain actors than the Matthews family characters. Although he did like to write characters he knew from his own life - the Frames (similar to his own family) and wealthy New York socialites. He said something like no mother was as perfect as Mary and when he tried to change her Virginia Dwyer refused to play the scenes as he wrote them. He then brought back Liz, defanged her and basically wrote her the way he wanted to write Mary. He also did not like Jaqueline Courtney's "soap opera" acting style. He preferred New York stage actors. In my opinion there was room for both. I will give him credit for keeping the Matthews family on the show. When he left Jim, Liz, Susan, Pat, Marianne and Michael were still part of the canvas. I suspect he would have eventually brought back Russ, Alice and Sally.

I have read Eight Years in Another World multiple times as well as several interviews with Harding Lemay. There is no doubt that he was charming, intelligent and extremely talented. Writing Irma Phillip’s obituary was a classy move. His Another World got me hooked on soaps and was like nothing before or since. However, he was also arrogant and had a huge ego. His disrespect towards Virginia Dwyer and Jacqueline Courtney was gross. Getting them fired was completely unnecessary and I believe it caused long term damage to the show. He expected everyone to fall in line yet was unwilling to find any common ground IF he didn’t like the actor. Connie Ford was a genius for changing his dialogue. Hugh Marlowe was a movie star so it was fine he could not remember his lines. Virginia and Jacqueline fought for consistency with characters they created so they had to be punished.

I thought Nancy got involved with drugs after Perry's death and leading up to her relationship with Dr. Chris Chapin. I also suspect she was written out to make room for Amanda as the young ingenue of the Cory family. Both Sally and Marley were written out in 1986. Nancy was front and centre until her exit in 1987.

Being incompetent but not intentionally incompetent does not make feel differently about JFP. AW never recovered from from her disastrous decisions followed up my the equally disastrous decisions made by Charlotte Savitz.

All I heard from her was excuses. You do not modernize a show by killing off legacy characters, firing veteran actors and destroying familiar sets. You write modern stories that have not been told before and cast unique, diverse actors. Shocking moments (murders explosion, etc) may give a short term increase to the ratings but if they are not part of a character driven story they end up alienating fans. JFP produced some brilliant episodes but left all 6 shows in worse shape than she found them.