Tisy-Lish

I believe there is (or was) audio of this scene (or at least part of the scene) on YouTube. I listened to it a couple of times, but the sounds quality is not the best. So it just sounded like two people screaming at one another. Sadly, it was difficult for the listener to make-out the words. When online fans reminisce about Lemay's greatest scenes, this scene is never mentioned. Perhaps because it was so early in Lemay's tenure, and so few of today's fans actually remember it. I remember my mother telling me, it was a whopper!! Is the script for this episode available anywhere online?? That would be an interesting read.

Are you looking for an excuse for Nicole??? Licensed therapists are not random people. They have the same legal patient confidentiality expectations as attorneys have with their clients. So they are legally bound to stay silent regarding their client interactions. Nicole committed an unethical and an illegal act by allowing her son to believe she was his new therapist. There is no way around this fact. The show will likely ignore it. But a judge would not ignore it, and any state mental health licensing board would also not ignore it. No matter what excuse or rationalization Nicole might use -- she would most definitely lose her license to practice as a mental health professional. No excuse would get her out of this.

Agreed. That is probably the issue.

With respect, you are rationalizing. And rationalizing would never work in a court of law, or the state board of mental health in any state (or DC).

Well, if it is "off the books", that makes it even more illegal because Nicole is purposefully trying to hide her unethical and illegal activity. And Martin's statement today -- calling Nicole his therapist -- clearly indicates he believes she is his therapist. When Nicole realized Martin could benefit from therapy, she should have immediately referred him to a professional in whom she has confidence. That is simply how situations like this are handled in the mental health profession. No ifs, ands, or buts... I truly don't believe the writers at BTG are this stupid. Writing mental health therapy situations is very very common on soap operas. Rather than stupid, I think they just don't care.

Did anyone else notice Martin mentioned that his new therapist is his mother?? His MOTHER?? Jeeze Louise! That is both unethical and illegal activity on Nicole's part. A mental health professional is not permitted to treat a relative, friend, colleague, neighbor, or anyone with whom the professional would have a dual-relationship. That is the law in EVERY state. Nicole would lose her license for this. Lazy writing -- or maybe they just don't care.

Yes, I was watching occasionally while Val Dufour played Walter. And I've had mixed feelings about Walter dying. One one hand, Walter had been an important and fairly long-running character, and I believe for the most part he was liked by the viewers. Walter was a versatile character also, in that he was mostly a good-guy, but was easily tempted to explore his negative side. And that allowed him to get into trouble, and be redeemed several times. In fact it was this negative side that allowed Walter to murder Wayne Addison -- something that required the character to pay for his sins one way or the other. On the other hand, Walter had a tendency to be a bit boring. And that got even worse when he was paired with Susan Sullivan who was very dynamic, and of course much younger. Seeing Dufour "married" to Sullivan was distracting, and imagining intimate scenes between the two was down right off-putting. Because of the storyline situation at the time, I'm not sure Dufour and Sullivan had any intimate (or even romantic) scenes, and that was probably just as well. I do think Walter's death freed up Lenore for further and more interesting romantic situations. And I don't think that would have happened had Walter remained alive, because the audience saw Lenore and Walter as end-game. Death was really the only acceptable way to break them up. And when all is said and done, I don't think Walter's death harmed AW in any noticeable way. Although I imagine it was shocking to long-term fans at the time. The deaths of Steve Frame, Mary Matthews, and the firing of Jacquie Courtney harmed the show, in my opinion. But Walter's death simply did not have the same outcome.

Not sure if there is a way to verify, but I feel certain it was Sullivan. That scene was written by Lemay, and Sullivan was already in the role when Lemay arrived.

She was likely talking about the scenes just before Walter Curtain's deadly car accident. Lenore and Walter had a huge fight at their house, and Lenore became so angry she was throwing things and knocking over small furniture.

It is interesting (and probably meaningful) to note that, with the exception of one -- all the characters invited to return for AW's 25th anniversary episodes had either been active characters during Lemay's first era of head-writing, OR created by Lemay during the same period. The only exception was Sandy Cory (Christopher Rich) who was invited to return for the 25th but declined. (Sandy first appeared on AW in late-1980 or 81.) So, let that sink in. What does that say about the permanent influence of Harding Lemay on AW's long-term legacy? And what does it say about earlier and especially later head-writers?? The entire merry-go-round of head-writers between 1979 and 1989, and the dozens and dozens of new characters who came and went during that decade were almost completely ignored when the 25th anniversary episodes were pulled together. I do certainly realize that nearly the entire 1989 "current" cast had been introduced by later writers (all post-1983, I believe). But the focus of my point is on characters and actors invited to return for the 25th. Except for Sandy, Lemay had written for or created all of them. We can discuss specifics, if anyone wants to. But I believe the list of invited returnees is fairly well known among long-term AW fans.

A bio-mother adoption controversy is not an interesting plot for older teenagers. Because there can really be no believable threat or real controversy with kids of this age who would and will obviously choose to remain with their adoptive dads. It would be a far more compelling storyline if the kids were 10 years younger, or even adults (maybe 10 years older). Plus this plot for Smitty and Martin comes too close on the heals of Martin's "secret" reveal, which isn't really even over yet. I love BTG, but this show certainly has run through a lot of different storylines in just over 100 episodes.

I can't answer your question directly. But they did not include Clarice and Larry in the 25th anniversary episodes. Although Clarice and Larry both returned a few months later for Mac Cory's funeral.

Interesting thought. But I don't think Swajeski was wise enough to think that far ahead. My opinion is -- Clarice and Larry were just overlooked for the 25th. Then a few months later, someone suggested their return for Mac's funeral. And Swajeski said okay. By the way, one more invited actor for the 25th who declined -- Maeve Kinkead as Angie Perrini. I'm confident Angie would have been thrown into Willis and Gwen's mess, had Kinkead agreed to return. It is worth noting that at the time, Kinkead was under contract with P&G's Guiding Light, so I've always been a bit surprised she was not "encouraged" by P&G to participate in AW's 25th episodes. But without Willis, I suppose Angie would have had little to do.

Yes. I've always thought the six most glaring omissions from the returning character list were Missy Matthews, Willis Frame, Lenore Delany, Sandy Cory, Clarice and Larry Ewing. But at least TPTB tried to get Willis, Lenore, and Sandy to return.

I agree. And having Iris tell Robert, he had been her favorite former husband was ridiculous. Robert was likely Iris's least favorite husband, considering how their marriage ended. Her favorites were probably Alex and Brian. Having Robert and Iris being cordial at the celebration was okay with me. But they were a little too chummy, in my opinion. I'm sure the original plan was for Robert to have most of his scenes with Lenore, not Iris. But Susan Sullivan chose not to return and play the role, so Lenore was removed from the plan. And without Lenore, who is Robert going to have scenes with? Iris was an obvious choice. It would have been great for Robert to have had a nice scene with Pat in which they both reminisced about Lenore. But that didn't happen.

Well, when you need to twist a character into a pretzel in order to make her fit a plot, that really does not make sense. And actually, that 25th anniversary plot really would not have worked for Willis either. Because Willis left Bay City after Janice was dead. And he did not, at the time, blame Rachel for Janice's death. In fact, Willis and Rachel were on good terms when he moved to Australia. Still, the silly 25th anniversary plot would have made a Helluva' lot more sense for Willis (who was always a bit volatile), than it did for Gwen (typically calm and good natured). And as has been stated -- the entire Gwen debacle in 1989 was caused by Leon Russom's refusal to return as Willis.

Yes, spin-off/cross-overs can be handled strangely. Back in the late 1960s, on a episode of Green Acres -- Oliver and Lisa were watching the opening to Petticoat Junction on TV. But Green Acres had been a spin-off of Petticoat Junction, and the two shows definitely existed in the same universe. Having Oliver and Lisa watching PJ on television was a bazaar decision for sure!!

Understand.

Interesting, it seems you are correct. And we could also include The Brighter Day, Somerset, and Texas on that universe list. But on BTG, characters have already discussed ATWT as being a TV show. So somebody messed up the continuity on us.

Which role on Another World was recast the most times?? I'm assuming it was probably Jamie Frame or Marianne Randolph. But more likely Jamie. Other opinions??

Understood. But If Dani is the bad-girl. That makes Hayley the good-girl, which means she cannot be faking her pregnancy. Be careful what you wish for... LOL

Many soap-opera tropes (the moustache-twirling super villain, multiple returns from the dead, evil doppelgängers, campiness, etc.) have been harmful to the genre. And I support BTG's efforts to avoid those. But other soap tropes (those that are classic and archetypal) actually enhance the drama and contribute positively to the genre. The "social-climbing daughter with the long-suffering working-class mother" is a trope that simply works. Over the decades, it has driven up ratings on multiple soaps, and the viewers always seem to love that dynamic. Plus, that dynamic helps explain and humanize the bad-girl, and helps the audience to understand and empathize with her.

One big mistake BTG has made is not giving Hayley a talk-to character. They should have cast her mother, or sister, or someone with whom Hayley can express her wants and needs -- which would have allowed the viewers to know her motivation. Hayley could be BTG's version of Erica Kane, Lisa Miller, or Rachel Davis -- but those three wonderful bad-girls all had mothers to talk to, and who would set them straight occasionally. BTG has two "big-bad" villains (Joey and Leslie). But the show also needs a couple of low-key trouble-makers, who are less over-the-top and can be a presence for years and years on the show. Perhaps a Rachel/Lisa type, and a John Dixon/Roger Thorpe type.

Sadly, you are correct on every point.

I've also heard Gwen's scenes were originally written for Willis. And the lines themselves certainly didn't fit the Gwen we had known in the 1970s. Gwen was an architect from a wealthy family in NYC. She was good natured and confident. There had been mention of some past emotional issues, but we saw very little of that during Gwen's first run on AW. Too bad Leon Russom did not want to reprise the role of Willis. Even though he declined the invitation to appear on the 25th anniversary episodes, he did attend the anniversary party in NYC. Interestingly, Susan Sullivan made the same choices -- she had been invited to appear as Lenore during the anniversary week, but declined. But did travel to NYC to attend the 25th party. I wonder if TPTB even considered asking Judith Barcroft to return as Lenore (after Sullivan declined). Although most of Lenore's scenes would have likely been with Nick Coster (with whom Barcroft had never worked), Barcroft and Sullivan had very similar acting styles, and I'm confident Barcroft would have had chemistry with Coster. Barcroft did attend the anniversary party. Lenore had been such an important character in the late-1960s until leaving the show in 1975, it's sad that her name was not even mentioned during all the returns. I'm wondering if there is any chance of finding the list of former AW actors who attended the 25th anniversary party. Years ago, there was one grainy group photo from the event floating around online. I thought I saved a copy of it, but can't find it in my files. I understand it was a very well attended party. I've been told even Virginia Dwyer was there. It's difficult to believe only one photo exists from the party, and even that seems to have disappeared from the online ethos.