Everything posted by Xanthe
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Another World Discussion Thread
She was described as a secretary so there may have been a lot of typing and letter-writing involved. I don't remember her leaving but she was around in late 1983 and early 1984. I have to admit that the combination of the coincidence of Lorna Devon's name, the fact of Jenna's mother being Felicia's editor, and the mental image of Agnes Gooch created a mixture in my brain where Jenna's mother was essentially a Miss Devon figure.
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Another World Discussion Thread
If there are any scenes with Vic Hastings it will be a minor curiosity to see what he is like and whether he is convincingly more human than Reginald Love. It's kind of a weird experience to see Stephen Yates as Chris when my only memory of him is as Jamie in the 80s. He felt very comfortable, for want of a better word, as Jamie -- a good stalwart friend to many and impatient with nonsense from Sandy or Peter. Here I am not sure whether he is just younger and greener or if I am projecting everything I know about how the storyline is going to turn out onto the character. Certainly we were meant to feel uncomfortable in the scene where Marianne couldn't hold back from telling him she had talked to Willis about hiring him even though she didn't want Chris to know she had influenced the decision.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Mark Singleton was of course the father of Stacey Winthrop's baby and there was a whole storyline in which Jamie was in love with Stacey who had been having a secret affair with Mark, a married senator. I believe there was blackmail and threats on Stacey's life until Mark's wife died, Stacey and Mark married and left town, and then almost immediately they divorced and Mark came back. Certainly the version of Mark who dated Alice was very mild and innocuous. I don't remember whether he was more aggressive and cunning as a politician or if it was his wife who had all the political cunning and he was just a handsome glad-hander. Not that it makes a real difference, but I wonder what might have been if they had reused/recast Mark Singleton instead of creating the character of Grant. Of course I would have also tried to avoid killing off Megan as well -- it didn't really do anything for Stacey, especially the way it was handled.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Lemay seems to have identified very strongly with Willis as portrayed by Fitzpatrick. He blames Fitzpatrick's absence on the failure of the love triangle between Willis, Angie, and Alice. (Because there is no way that it could be the Alice recast.) He also suggests that part of the reason Laurie Heineman was let go was because Sharlene's storyline didn't work as well against Russom's interpretation of Willis. I think perhaps Lemay was trying to rationalize how he came to terms with Heineman leaving since the real bottom line seems to have been that Paul Rauch thought she was difficult on set.
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Another World Discussion Thread
In Lemay's book he stresses how vitally important it was to cast a very masculine athletic actor to play Michael for the planned revelation that he was gay. I don't know how Lionel Johnston compares, but here Brown does come across as quite young and therefore rather boyish. Of course on the other hand even Lemay admits his judgement regarding actors might be occasionally wrong -- he mentions firing Eric Roberts as Ted Bancroft because he wasn't pulling his weight against Paul Stevens and Beverlee McKinsey as well as replacing Ariana Muenker (whom he does not name) as not being up to the dramatic scenes required but then concedes that Roberts had been impressive in his subsequent work and Muenker was quickly hired at another soap. Thanks @TheyStartedOnSoaps for the link!
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Another World Discussion Thread
I don't know whether they clarified/corrected the description, but in the setup to Jason's arrival (in the waning days of DePriest's first HW stint, well before the strike), they mention Emma living there. https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/30343-another-world/?do=findComment&comment=1882614
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Another World Discussion Thread
Michael was in Bay City consistently from early 1986 until he left for Hawaii in 1992; the retcon of his romance with Iris was introduced when she arrived in late 1988. So it was supposed to be before 1986 but I don't know whether there was ever any clear timeline. It makes sense that it would have been post-Texas for Iris and probably post-Nick's as yet unthought of conception for Michael. Iris was out of the picture by the time Nick arrived I believe.
- As The World Turns Discussion Thread
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ALL: Black Widows/Widowers
Ada on AW lost 3 husbands between 1970 and 1980: Ernie, Gil, Charlie. (Already mentioned, for some reason I scrolled right past it.)
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Another World Discussion Thread
I spent a little bit of time looking over Lemay's version of events in Eight Years in Another World as compared to the AWHP synopses to see if that illuminated the timeline, and the odd thing is he always mentions how they swapped out the gay storyline for the abortion storyline, and yet in terms of what played out onscreen, basically on Johnston's first day as Michael, Marianne appears to start at least hinting or possibly even directly confiding that she might be pregnant. This was September (onscreen) and we get weeks and months of Michael trying to either expose her boyfriend Chris as a two-timing snake or to persuade him to do the right thing for Marianne's sake. Around Christmas Marianne has the abortion. If the abortion was substituted for the reveal that Michael was gay, what had they otherwise expected to do with the pregnancy storyline? In the book of course it isn't always clear when events occurred. Lemay describes getting the go-ahead to make the pitch, then draft the outline and audition actors to play Michael. Christopher J. Brown last aired in early June 1975.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Was that the fight with two men in the water, two men on the shore, and a confused woman in the middle not sure whether or which to try to intervene in? Did Pete Shea die? The AWHP character guide says he left town with Diana. And it had all been wrapped up and Mac and Rachel married in a double wedding with Blaine and Sandy well before the 20th anniversary. It makes me wonder what the audience was for the clips and when they showed it. It felt rather generic, as if they were trying to communicate to people who had never watched the show that it had everything so they should give it a try. I would have wanted both/either more fan service to remind viewers of what they enjoy about the show and/or an emphasis on what is interesting right now and what is about to happen. The 20th anniversary episode was the murder of David Thatcher and the return of Jacqueline Courtney as Alice and none of that was even hinted at!
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Another World Discussion Thread
Thanks. I see the incident in the AWHP synopses for May 1983 -- Alma shot Sandy and then she herself was dead by the end of the week. I made the mistake of checking the AWHP Music page to try to figure out who the singers were but I see they are on the Celebrities instead. I have to confess that I know the name Roberta Flack but I did not recognize her face and probably would not have recognized her by voice. And I remember the name of Barbara Mandrell but did not remember the existence of Louise.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Oh, I think it fits together perfectly with the following year's reveal that Marley is Donna's daughter. (But the HW was Dorothy Ann Purser and would be Richard Culliton/Gary Tomlin when the Marley reveal came out.) Donna's goal is not to antagonize Sally, that is collateral damage. She is protecting Peter and the Love family name from an unsuitable match, which is what she learned from Daddy that you have to do at any cost even if you have to give up your soul mate and stay in a secret cellar room and pretend your baby is your sister. It is a tragic irony that she can be so cruel. Thanks! I think part of the problem with the selection and presentation of the clips was that it felt like they prioritized spectacle over character. If they had framed everything around who the people were it could have cohered better.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Thanks so much for this. The 20th anniversary clip selection feels like it could have been so much better (although I'm sure they probably suffered from some material not being available, I didn't need Janice in the bubble bath twice, and showing Cecile's lovelife out of order seemed odd) but I was grateful to see that one little snippet of Donna telling Sally that Kevin was her son in particular. Some questions: Who was the man who got shot right before the scene with Rachel and Steve in a collapsing building? Who was the singer in the blue dress right after the clip of Leo Mars at the Warehouse? Who was the singer after her in the white dress? Roller disco?!!?? (More of a comment than a question.)
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Another World Discussion Thread
Jacker adapted it from a short story. Reading the Wikipedia page the response was not entirely negative when it was originally released either and some of the negativity was focused on the low production values more than the script. i listened to the opening voiceover and immediately thought "Canadian" but I had to look it up to find out that it was Linda Griffiths who was very well known for her one woman show Maggie and Pierre (about current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's parents). I'd be curious to watch the un-MSTK'd version and of course to assess the differences between the script and the original story. On another topic, I was watching TCM and happened to catch a glimpse of Constance Ford in Rome Adenture, looking fantastic and taking a completely different attitude toward Troy Donahue than in A Summer Place.
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Closeted (gay) actors formerly on the soaps
I feel like I love Matt Bomer so much in everything I have seen him in (from time to time I just want to shout "Bryce Larkin!" for no reason) and as far as I am concerned he can play straight or gay. On the other hand I hated every second I saw of Brandon Routh's Superman, so if you ask me Bomer was well out of it. (Ooh, White Collar is on Disney+, need to put that on my list.) Some of this discussion is reminding me of Rupert Everett's career. I loved him in Another Country, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Importance of Being Earnest ... He talked a lot about making a movie in which he would play a gay 007-type character but as far as I know it didn't get made.
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Another World Discussion Thread
Lettie the hooker is in this Hallowe'en episode with a lot of heavy-handed dialogue about how much MJ "understands" about prostitution and foreshadowing Lettie's imminent murder. At the end of the episode there is a location segment outside the Love Mansion. Also Reginald really loves Victoria. More outside the Love Mansion on the day of the skeet shoot. Scott and Cheryl enjoy the autumn leaves. Linda was a different prostitute who worked for Chad and was also murdered by the Sin Stalker after spending some time with Peter.
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RIP: In Memoriam Thread
Janis Paige has died at 101. I knew her best from the OBC recording of The Pajama Game. https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/janis-paige-star-hollywood-broadway-dies-101-110793305
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Closeted (gay) actors formerly on the soaps
Was there likely to be anything contractual at any point such as a "morals clause" that would have prevented actors from being open in the press?
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