LoyaltoAMC

Some from AMC:

Dimitri Marick was originally supposed to be named Brice Cannon.

Ceara Connor was originally Allison Connor, but the name was changed after Agnes Nixon's real-life niece, Ceara.

Hayley was also originally Allison. Then they changed it to Hayley Welles, and finally to Hayley Vaughan.

Brian Fitzpatrick, who played Mitch Beck, was hired to play a character named Trip Marshall, but they changed the name after they decided to make him Donna's brother.

Cindy was credited as Cindy Anderson in the credits for a few weeks before they decided to change her surname to Parker for some reason. 

A few years before Opal showed up, she was referred to as Bertha. 

6 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

I remember scenes of Hillary having some kind of fantasy sequences involving the cop who ended up running over Laura later in the year. Was that strike material?

I don't recall that. The only thing I recall about Hillary during the strike was she and Mitch leaving town together without any goodbye scenes with their families. I don't remember Stan Albers who played Josh being on the show until after the strike, but I could be wrong about that. The Laura death story was their first big post-strike story, and I don't recall him appearing much before that kicked into gear. 

I think Erica the waitress storyline was Broderick. That started after the writers' strike ended. The active storylines during the strike I remember were Travis's fake kidnapping, Tom/Barbara/Skye, with Skye faking her coma, Palmer emotionally blackmailing Natalie over her murder of Silver, introduction of Will and Dixie, Julie/Nico/Charlie triangle, and Cecily having a crush on Cliff. They sent Adam/Stuart/Cindy/Brooke to Paris the full summer, either to facilitate David Canary's vacation or because they wanted to put the brakes on the AIDS storyline till after the strike, or both. 

From what I recall, Agnes wrote the incest story with Genie in mind. She even named the character, Ceara, after her own niece. I think she was originally supposed to be named Allison. 

I'm glad Sharon mentioned their 3 co-stars who were confirmed to have died of AIDS-related illnesses, Joel Crothers, Dennis Parker, and Irving Allen Lee. I think Edge lost more actors to AIDS than any other soap. It was a really good interview, though I wished they had shared memories of Ann Flood and Forrest Compton, who IMO were the heart of the show.

Not seeing this posted elsewhere, but wanted to report that two AMC alumni passed away over the past two weeks, Dena Dietrich (Wilma Marlowe #3) and Peg Murray (Olga Svenson). Both were in their 90s. Murray was also on Love of Life and and briefly subbed for Connie Ford as Ada on Another World.

Stage and Screen Actor Dena Dietrich Dies at 91 (broadwayworld.com)

Tony Winner Peg Murray Passes Away at 96 Years Old (broadwayworld.com)

In his We Love Soaps interview a few years back, Wisner Washam mentioned that he was working with Fox to develop a prime time soap centering on the residents of an apartment building on the Upper West Side of New York City. He said that it was a precursor to "Friends," so it sounds like it was probably in development sometime after he left AMC for good in 1991/1992, but before "Friends" premiered in 1994.

By early 1973, the show is still compelling and there are still some nice character touches in the individual scenes, but I miss the character-based storytelling of Lakin and Edelstein. It seems as though the Pollacks can't tell one story without the villain being a mustache twirling psychopath (Dan Allison, Cathy Ryker, John Morrison), and it's getting a bit over the top and repetitive. I've also noticed a very subtle marginalization of Althea. I know Allen Potter will be gone by the summer of '73, and I'm wondering how that will impact the series. 

I'm currently up to the January 1973 episodes on youtube, and I'm finding the Pollocks' writing incredibly uneven, and at times just downright bizarre. It's still miles better than any of the current soaps, but the plotting and storytelling are all over the map, with so many missed beats. The whole Toni/Vito/Barbara thing was just a total clusterf***. I noticed that James Lipton just started appearing in the writing credits. I wonder if he was part of the problem, or brought in as a solution to tidy up some of the writing issues. Also, does anyone know why Nancy Barrett left the role of Cathy Ryker? Was she fired, or did she leave of her own accord? I thought she and Gerald Gordon had great chemistry. Holly Peters, her replacement, is good, but Nancy was able to transcend the writing and made her feel like a flesh-and-blood character. Peters' Cathy just comes off as a transparent plot device. Please, no spoilers.

One other AW/Somerset-Three's Company connection, albeit minor. Georgeann Johnson, who played Ellen Grant on Somerset, played Jack's mother in an episode or two of Three's Company.

This was pretty common back in the 1980s too, I think. AMC and GH both used background music from Terms of Endearment. AMC also used heavily from St. Elmo's Fire and the Untouchables film.

If they were smart, they wouldn't tried to snag Robin Mattson back as Hope after she became a superstar on GH and SB.

Frons or someone apparently told Susan Lucci separately about the cancellation, in an office a few minutes before everyone else found out. BTW, there's a picture of Richard Shoberg upthread a few pages back in Lucci's twitter post. Susan has said that when she first met him, she thought he was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. Looking at that great pic of him, I'd kind of have to agree. He was gorgeous!

I think the show had a lot of problems in its later years, even before Slesar departed, with the shifting emphasis on the dull young characters and more bizarre/adventure-type stories in order to make it more compatible with GH.

Bringing on Lisa Sloan as Nicole's double sounds very interesting. Considering that Joel Crothers passed away the year after Edge's cancellation, you have to wonder if the story would've been quickly aborted had the show gone on. Out of respect to Crothers' memory, I highly doubt they would've recast Miles.

In Doug Watson's early scenes with Carmen Duncan, I almost felt as though I were watching a dumbed down version of the Mac/Iris relationship. The writing was so superior when McKinsey played the role, and I'm not sure Duncan could've skillfully played the subtleties and nuances that Harding Lemay's writing called for. Yeah, Duncan's Iris was definitely loosely molded on Joan Collins (as was Domini Blythe's Estelle Kendall on SFT), though the Dynasty hoopla had already subsided by the time Duncan was cast, so you have to wonder why they would cast in the Alexis direction.

That's a great shot of David O'Brien. Almost didn't recognize him. Extremely handsome man. Had no idea that he or Briscoe had done Boys in the Band.

Yes, yes, agreed that they Opal-fied Gwen when she returned. The character bore little resemblance to when Dorothy played her years earlier. It was an obvious ratings ploy. In the scheme of things, Gwen wasn't all that important to the AW narrative and would never have been brought back had Dorothy not gone on to bigger and better things. And apparently, she would've returned to AMC when they resurrected Opal in 1989, but she claims that she was never asked to reprise the role.

I've been watching some of the 1980/81 stuff on YT, and I was surprised that Dorothy Lyman lasted as long as she had,. For some reason, I thought Gwen was gone before the 90-minute expansion, but she's still there, at least through late 1980/early 1981. She must've landed AMC shortly after leaving AW. They were definitely inching toward an involvement with Ron Harper's Taylor Halloway, but she and Ron Harper had absolutely no chemistry and his character was such a dud from the get-go. Of course they would be reunited a decade later on Generations. They also had her serving as Joey's confidante. Does anyone know how that came about? Weren't Gwen and Joey's sister Angie competing for Willis at one point?

Watching these earlier shows for the first time, I have mixed feelings about Bethel Leslie vs. Lydia Bruce. Lydia and Jim Pritchett had tons more romantic chemistry that Bethel and Jim, but I find Bethel a much more charismatic, fun performer than Lydia and I liked her take on Maggie better than Lydia's.

What was Ellen's last big storyline? The triangle with David and Linda Dano's character? The Dobsons wrote that, right?

The constant break-ups and reconciliations with Mac became tedious and eventually ran their course and did nothing to advance their characters. It just became the same old, same old plot driven crap. And like with most super couples, the writers weren't able to see them beyond two parts of a whole. They were a package deal. I don't recall them having much in the way of story by the late 80s, except for Paulina's arrival and Iris's return.

I agree. I think they deliberately went with less charismatic, though arguably better, actresses after Courtney, so that the show could be a centerpiece for Wyndham. I think Harney, etc, were more supporting-type actresses who couldn't have carried the show the way Courtney had. Watching some early 80s eps on YT lately, I have new respect for Vana Tribbey. I like her in the role a lot, and I'm probably one of the few who liked Linda Borgeson, but again, neither of these ladies had that certain star quality that could compel you to watch.

With Wyndham firmly entrenched as the centerpiece by the late '70s, I wonder how she felt about the ascension of Laura Malone, who clearly was being groomed by Rauch and Lemay to eventually be the new leading lady. Did Wyndham have a big ego. I've heard mixed things.

It's funny that Lemay liked Hugh Marlowe, because I recall reading some interviews with his fellow AW actors, with the consensus pretty much being that, although he was a very nice man, he only did the show for the money and essentially just phoned it in. Evidently he had a late in life child, and he needed the steady paycheck. I also believe Lemay simply tolerated the Matthews family and was more interested in exploring conflict from different social strata which could be better mined from the Corys and the Frames, as well as the Perrinis. I think L. Virginia Browne liked the Matthews family, even though they seemed isolated in separate storylines and not so much as a family unit. Even Jim had a storyline, with his blossoming friendship with Margo Grove, Blaine's mother-in-law at the time. Liz was angry over the attention Margo was paying to Jim. I have to wonder if they had planned on using Margo as a plot device to build a Jim/Liz romance, which would've been weird and out of character. I know that they tried something similar on SFT with Jo and Stu, and Mary Stuart wisely played it against the romantic angle the writers were trying to insinuate.

This was such a great show in its prime. I wonder if it would've been more successful during the latter half of the '70s if it had expanded to an hour. Although I suppose even if it had survived, it would inevitably have gotten caught in the NBC daytime downward spiral by the late '70s/early '80s.