Xanthe

Thanks. It took me a bit to figure out that Blair Baker was the woman being pushed. I know this was when they were going for a nightime ER and/or procedural feel (and ads are not necessarily representative of the actual show) but it is still weird to have the impression that Gabe is the main character. Rachel doesn't even speak!

Author Joanna Trollope has died. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/12/joanna-trollope-bestselling-novels-ordinary-life-a-village-affair-dies-aged-82

Madeleine Sophie Wickham who wrote the Shopaholic books as Sophie Kinsella has died at age 55. https://bbc.com/news/articles/ce91d2m1gg7o

Before I watched this I assumed that it was going to somehow be about something sexy and was wondering at what stage in their relationship it would be set. Brittany certainly threw herself at Peter very determinedly when she knew she was pregnant by Catlin and had reconciled herself to the idea that Catlin was not going to leave Sally any time soon. And Peter didn't turn against her until after the baby was born and Reginald had come back from the dead, so I guess they had six months or so where at least for promotional purposes they could have been advertised as a sexy coupling. However it made a lot more sense when I saw it and it was about Brittany finally shooting Peter. Thanks @Maxim for the 1983 episode. I particularly liked the little scene between Mark and Cass. I remember feeling at the time that AW was a little bit dull in that period until the reveal of who had killed Alma.

If it's not limited to people who did both at the same time, Gary Tomlin acted on AW before he was a writer and later director. And Lewis Arlt who appeared first as David Thatcher and later as Ken Jordan also wrote and directed.

Grant came first and Ryan followed, then Spencer, and eventually Kelsey. I really wanted to like Kelsey but Kaitlin Hopkins in the role rubbed me the wrong way. It took some time for it to turn out that Ryan was Carl's biological son. If they had used Perry as Vicky's True Love maybe things would have swung the other way and Perry would have found out that he was Spencer's biological son, thus backing into the rivalry with Grant and ensuing triangle.

I do think that if he had lived something would have had to shake up Nancy and Perry's relationship. I suppose Jake and Vicky could have accomplished that some way or another. This is where I start to play the game is there anything Ryan did that Perry could not have done? I suppose that Perry would have been too much of a known quantity to have swept Vicky off her feet the way Ryan did -- although depending on the writing that could be a minor issue and something could have happened so that they saw each other in a new light, etc etc.

Rhonda Lewin as Vicky. Neither of the recasts for Matthew (Brian Krause and Jeff Philips) lasted long and Matt Crane came back.

One thing I thought was missing was how to collapse and expand the forum levels. Then I discovered that if I tapped the blank space to the right of the name the forum level does collapse and the + would appear. Now that I know of course I can use it but I thought I would mention it since it wasn't completely intuitive.

That was one of the productions that I went to see! My mother and I flew to NY for it. We also saw The Real Thing with Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhall a couple of years afterward. Earlier on I had seen The Invention of Love (another favourite which I first saw in Philadelphia) with Robert Sean Leonard, and Jumpers. I think those are all of the Broadway Stoppard productions I have seen, the rest were here in Ontario. I regret having missed The Coast of Utopia.

I have enjoyed a lot of Tom Stoppard's work. I really started with the movie of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and after that I would go to productions of his plays when I had the chance. The one that really blew me away was Arcadia which I have seen 3 or 4 productions of (and wish that I could have seen Rufus Sewell as Septimus). Before the COVID lockdown I had a ticket to see Leopoldstadt but it was cancelled and I haven't had another opportunity.

Another World-April 1983 Thanks! I have watched the first one. I'm not sure what Cecile's plan was or whether she hoped to gain anything by it but based on the included scenes I don't think that little drama played out for maximum impact. Rachel was positively serene upon discovering that Mac was John Caldwell. The YouTube AI noticed that there was a lot of talk about Zack Hill and helpfully added a link to a musician named Zach Hill.

Ben was the second McKinnon introduced after MJ. He played football on the high school team, was close friends with Carter and was part of Marley and Nancy's friend group when Marley came home from Switzerland and decided to do her senior year in Bay City. Marley and Ben started dating. That made Donna a little bit agitated because it reminded her of her youth and Michael. One of my favourite scenes of Donna's was when although she felt compelled to keep Marley from making the same mistake she had she quietly reminisced to herself about how kind and wonderful Michael had been. (This was well before Victoria or Michael came on the scene and at this point Marley still believed she was Donna's sister.) Ben wasn't around all that long (less than a year) before he was suddenly obviously replaced by his cousin Jake. He had a football opportunity at a school in California and left town. Marley was heartbroken to see him go. After a few weeks he stopped writing to her and I think maybe even told her he was seeing someone else. He never came back to Bay City, although they did talk about him maybe coming back after Mary turned up alive. Ben didn't really make that big of an impression. He was basically nice and genial so the main conflict was Donna's disapproval because he wasn't from a good family.

I was watching during Julie Osburn's first tenure as Kathleen and I liked her with absolutely everyone -- the McKinnons (especially MJ, then played by Kathleen Layman) and with Cass/Felicia/Wallingford. I wasn't able to watch as consistently during her return but I was struck by how comfortable it felt to see her and Steve Schnetzer together even though I also really liked Cass with Frankie. In the episode below Ben is leaving and his friends and family (including the original Vince) are seeing him off. Kathleen interacts with an assortment of people, including a confrontation with Donna.

I have not found the time to listen to the whole thing myself, but I was tinkering with the Youtube AI helpbot thing (which in the app I found by swiping right on the Comments). The high level summary didn't point to it but it let me ask what she had said about Constance Ford and although its paraphrase was inaccurate it did point me to the mention about 52 minutes in. The only thing she said in relation to Ford that could be construed as negative was that when the interviewer asked what she had thought of her she started with "you devil!" and where she had gushed about how lovely she found practically everyone else, she just said that she hadn't really known Connie well and had never sat and talked with her. She also mentioned earlier that originally she had been very friendly with Jacqueline Courtney but they had later fallen out.

Alma dressed up as the doll was very memorable. I thought as well that there was some kind of clown element in Quinn's stalker storyline the following year but I don't seem to find any reference to it -- have I misremembered? I was thinking about Alma recently because Lois Smith who played her friend Ella Fitz was on an episode of Elsbeth a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for pointing out Ilsa. Kyra Sedgwick as Julia! I never realised at the time that she/Julia was so young, I assumed she was over twenty at least. thanks @watson71 for sharing the episode.

For reference I found some very old discussion in the Somerset thread about the interview but the October 1970 did not appear to have been posted -- the second link is to what seems to be a slightly different interview that you posted at the time. https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/40366-somerset-discussion-thread/page/13/#findComment-1097168 https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/40366-somerset-discussion-thread/page/13/#findComment-1097268

Is this recording not the 2005 interview Eddie describes on the Publications page?

Thanks. The interview I was looking for is a magazine interview, probably from October 1970. I probably don't have the time or the patience to listen to this one right now -- do you know, does she mention her scary neighbourhood in this?

Thank you! I haven't found the specific interview but I did see one that mentioned that she lived in a bad neighbourhood and couldn't go out after 11 pm.

Very distressing. According to this post, Kean stabbed DonHowe because he believed she was cheating on him. https://blog.mcny.org/2014/05/20/untimely-deaths-of-stage-performers/ I have only very dim memories of the arrival of Sandy and don't really recall Ilsa. Was there a noticeable difference in the character in her two stints?

I came across this item from April 1985 by Lilana Novakovich, who was the agent for a lot of soap actors in Canada. I was surprised to learn that Tom Eplin was acquainted with Gordon Thomson. "My phone call to Tom Eplin (Jake McKinnon, Another World ) turned out to be a highlight in a long crazy week. Another World producers and casting people certainly knew what they were doing when they signed Tom to a two-year contract. I predict that this handsome and talented actor will attract many new viewers and become a major part of the show. "One of the first things noticeable about the character is the sex appeal. It already jumps out at you -- and the scenes will get hotter! It was a major step for the normally very conservative Another World to air the shower scenes the week of March 18 and I look forward to hearing viewers' response to this new, liberal approach. "Tom is a great guy and our conversation was most enjoyable. Coincidentally he had been out with my client Chris Holder the night before and they discussed Canada, the success of the show here and, of course, the dedication of Canadian fans. "Also, my friend Gordon Thompson [sic] (Adam Carrington, Dynasty) is from Toronto." Tom said, "and has told me so much about your country. I can't wait to get there." "Tom is from northern California and loves the outdoors, waterskiing, and motorcycles. In fact, he was in the midst of purchasing a new bike. He has a movie (Sunset Strip) coming out this year and a heavy storyline on Another World to look forward to. "His enthusiasm is genuine and refreshing, And behind the fun-loving and easygoing personality is the mind of a very bright and wise young man. "He is in the midst of setting up a fan club and will let me know how Canadian viewers can join once it's organized."

I can't think of any, unless possibly one of the tiny bit parts like a hairdresser during Lesoleil or a fellow AIDS patient during Dawn's illness flew under the radar. I tried some searches of the AWHP and turned up nothing relevant, but it led me to the review of The Ultimate Another World Trivia Book which included this comment: "No vintage soap mags, such as Daytime TV or Afternoon TV, were used. This was disappointing. Their very appeal often lies in the anachronistic nature of their interviews, such as the megapopular AW star decrying "the homosexuals!" living in her neighborhood in a 1970s issue of ATV." I am madly curious to know more about the referenced interview and whether "decrying" is an accurate description of what the star said. http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/public3.html

I believe in his somewhat recent interview with Locher, Richard Bekins did talk about being gay. But I don't know whether he would have wanted to play a gay character in 1995 even if the storyline could have been handled well enough to account for the fact that Jamie had never appeared to question his sexuality before. People tend to be so much more open now but 30 years ago there were still a lot more people in the closet.

I did like Rachel and Vicky in this period and I was kind of disappointed that Jamie and Vicky's marriage blew up as quickly as it did. And if there had not been any question about Steven's paternity, could it have been more interesting for Rachel to be more willing to support Victoria in the custody disagreement? Stacy was in the mix when Nicole was in love with Jamie. And my goodness, 1981/1982 seems to have been a busy time for Jamie -- according to the AWHP, he slept with Marianne, Susan, and Christine Wylie (I never recognize her but I think she was in the movie based on his novel?), as well as Stacy, and found time to flirt with Anne Whitelaw (the depressed patient in the December 1981 episodes) and Susan's daughter Julia. Sounds like chaos.