Tisy-Lish

You are probably correct. Nixon wrote for Missy and Bill, then created the Alice and Steve love story. Two of AW's greatest romances. Lemay toned-down Liz, so she could essentially replace Mary (huge mistake). Clarice was Lemay's version of Lahoma.

As much as I loved Lemay's AW, it was far from perfect. So I'd suggest that Agnes Nixon's era was probably better. Lemay's AW was wonderful and full of character driven material, but Lemay's plots were infrequent and fairly weak. As I've mentioned before, Lemay's AW was almost plotless -- nearly to the point of being experimental television. Don't misunderstand, I was completely addicted to Lemay's AW. But it was because of his characters, not his plots. Watching AW everyday from 1971 to 1979, I was often frustrated by the lack of the distinct storylines played out on other soaps of that period. But I could not stop watching because Lemay's characters were so believable and compelling. On the other hand, Nixon's work on AW was also character-driven, but did include normal soap opera plots with a beginning, a middle, and an end. So I will suggest Another World's golden age began when Agnes Nixon was hired as head-writer, continued through the Robert Cenadella era, and then the golden age ended in 1979, when Harding Lemay resigned as head-writer.

I believe at least somebody in the Brooklyn studio had plans for a Willis/Rachel connection. Maybe it was Lemay, perhaps it was Rauch, or somebody at P&G, someone at NBC, or maybe just a publicist. But there are enough subtle hints in photos and published ads that definitely suggest someone was a fan of getting Willis and Rachel together. Two things probably derailed the likelihood of a Willis/Rachel romance -- 1.) Wyndham and Watson's unexpected on-screen chemistry, and 2.) the decision to kill-off Steve Frame in 1975. Because with Steve dead, a Willis/Rachel connection would have been of little consequence.

Well, I dislike the term "soapy content". I believe that term is demeaning to the soap opera genre. But if you mean RM,PM was a continuing story focused on romance, drama, and a bit of suspense, then yes. But nearly all mini-series ever produced for American television featured that type of content. So are we going to reclassify all mini-series as soap operas? I really believe the television mini-series was its own genre. The mini-series was different and distinct from episodic primetime dramas, and distinct from primetime soap operas. Mini-series thrived on American TV for around 15 years, and then disappeared. I won't be offended if you disagree with me. I'm just offering my opinion.

How could I have forgotten Joan Bennett? I was/am a huge Dark Shadows fan. I'm not familiar with the other two actors, but appreciate the information. And Paradise Bay would have been another NBC attempt, as you point out. Never Too Young on ABC cast Tony Dow -- not a film actor but a well known primetime TV actor.

I barely remember Strudwick as Jim, mostly because I didn't begin watching AW daily until 1971. But from what I remember, he seemed a little old to be married to Virginia Dwyer, and Marlowe seemed a better fit -- at least age wise. I don't know the DOB of either Strudwick or Marlowe, but Marlowe at least looked younger. And I believe Dwyer was only in her mid-50s when she was fired in 1975, while Marlowe was in his early-70s when he died in 1982-83. I'd love to see more Nixon era episodes with Strudwick, Dwyer, and Groom. It seems to me that NBC put some effort into casting former movie stars as the patriarchs of some of their soap operas in the 1960s and early-70s. And that may have contributed to there being four actors cast as Jim Matthews. All four had at least some experience in motion pictures, but Marlowe had by far the most experience in Hollywood. So NBC was satisfied with Marlowe and they finally had their movie star. Of course DOOL had MacDonald Carey, and Bright Promise had Dana Andrews. I'm not aware of any attempt to cast a movie star on either The Doctors or Somerset, although there may have been some effort that ultimately failed. And aside from the patriarch role, AW also had Ann Sheridan and Connie Ford, both had lots of motion picture experience. I do not recall either CBS or ABC casting movie actors in major roles during that time period, so this seemed to be a special effort on the part of NBC. All just speculation on my part, of course.

They were both mini-series. So I would not consider them primetime soap operas. Unless we were to define all mini-series as soap operas.

Interesting, Shepard Strudwick (Jim Matthews) is featured alone in the photo representing Another World. And Strudwick lived until 1983 -- outliving Hugh Marlowe who assumed the role of Jim, after Strudwick's exit.

Broderick, we are on the same wave-length. Keep posting about this...

In my opinion, if BTG is going to do this impaler/plasma smuggling plot, then they need to hire a top-notch mystery writer (along the lines of dear departed Henry Slesar) to write it -- or at least serve as story consultant. There have been many wonderful soap opera writers who have fallen flat, when they tried to write a mystery plot. And I'm not convinced MVJ (as much as I love her) has what it takes to make this impaler/plasma storyline compelling. The plot has just started, but already showing signs of weak writing -- by "telling" us the details, rather than "showing" the details. Every really good soap opera mystery storyline from the past has "shown" us enough to be believable; "told" us enough to be compelling, included several red-herrings to throw us for a loop, and ended with a shock or surprise. As much as I adore MVJ, I'm beginning to believe she is not the best person to lead this particular plot.

Rita and Paul Connelly were created by Harding Lemay as new characters enlarging the cast for AW's expansion to 90-minutes in 1979. Both were ill-conceived characters, in my opinion -- especially Aunt Rita who was essentially a working-class version of Liz Matthews. Aunt Rita was a shrew to her husband (Paul), and meddled terribly into the lives of her niece and nephew, Eileen and Morgan Simpson, who were late-teens or early-adults at that time. Aunt Rita was simply nasty, with not an ounce of humor, and no redeeming qualities -- unlike Aunt Liz, who had an established background on AW as a lonely widow with plenty of money, but no one to love. By adding Paul and Rita Connelly to the cast, I believe Lemay was attempting to add some sort of serious religious conflict to AW, as he had done so successfully with social-class conflict. But his attempt was an utter failure, because Aunt Rita was nothing more than a stereotyped religious bigot. And because Rita and Paul were Catholic, the entire story arc gave rather anti-Catholic vibes. I'm not Catholic, but even I was uncomfortable seeing a devote Catholic woman being portrayed as such a nasty interfering bitch. Yes, Lemay's least successful character creation was Aunt Rita Connelly.

This is one reason I've always felt -- if BTG is not going to do regular and frequent scenes on location (outside), then they need to create a couple of "outside" or "park" sets on the sound-stage, as all the other soaps do. That would give some of these clandestine meetings a little believability and legitimacy. Having supposed "secret" and possibly "dangerous" meet-ups at Uptown and at the coffee shop is just silly, and the viewers obviously sense that.

Thank you for the post. I had forgotten that Maeve subbed for Eileen Fulton as Lisa on ATWT. I believe that was the last time I saw her on daytime, even though she did have later soap opera roles.

I don't think much was ever said in the scripts about Liz'a background. Although that would have been interesting to explore. But somehow, Will became wealthy in the accounting business, while Jim and Mary maintained their middle-class status (or perhaps upper middle-class at best). I'm not sure Will and Jim's accounting partnership was ever explained in detail, but perhaps Will was the senior partner and Jim the junior partner. Or perhaps Jim was merely employed by Will (and not a partner at all), before taking over the firm upon Will's death. But for the duration of Liz's first run on the show (1964 until 1971), it was very clear that Will and Liz were far wealthier and more socially connected than Jim and Mary. When Liz returned in 1974 (with Irene Dailey in the role), those wealth differences were less focused upon, although Liz did occasionally demonstrate her wealth and social status throughout Dailey's run.

Was Geraldine Whitney's mansion set the same set that was used for Claybank, (Orin Hillyer's mansion)? If so, was it supposed to be the same house, or a completely different house? I don't remember the Whitneys buying Claybank from the Hillyar family. But it did seem Geraldine somehow inherited Orin's servants. Am I correct about that? And if so, how did Orin's servants end up working for the Whitneys?