watson71

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

I cannot to the life of me fathom why Julia was killed off on AW especially when both actresses who played the adult Julia’s have had hugely

accomplished acting careers. Such a lack of foresight on both the writing and producer at the time. 

 

It’s Christine on Y&R was someone who had gained some family but after her mother & brother died we have never seen her family since nor has her dad ever been mentioned or even come to her weddings lol.

 

I agree that Julia should not have been killed off.  Both actresses that played her Kyra Sedgwick and Faith Ford had successful careers in Hollywood.  Keeping Julia alive, her parents- Dan and Susan- could have always returned to Bay City as well.

On 10/29/2020 at 7:13 PM, Neil Johnson said:

 

I think Sharon Gabet should have been cast as Rachel's sister, Pamela Davis.  She was the right age, had the right look, and the character would have leaned toward Gabet's acting strengths.   

 

Yes- she would made a good Pamela Davis.  She could have come to Bay City to stir up trouble for both Rachel and Ada.  Also, their father Gerald Davis was last seen in jail for perjury.  At the time Sharon Gabet arrived as Brittany, the character of Rachel had amnesia.  Pamela and Gerald could have plotted against the Corys and used Rachel to get their hands on the Cory fortune.

Liz Matthews on Another World- her niece Alice would leave Bay City in 1985 and her other niece Sally was killed off in 1986.  TPTB also foolishly killed Liz's granddaughter Julia in 1984.   Liz would disappear for about 18 months to return on Thanksgiving 1987.  It would take until 1989 for her nephew Russ and his daughter Olivia to show up.  She would disappear in 1993 again, only to show up for two more guest appearances at Ada's funeral and the show's 30th anniversary in 1994.  AW could have benefited by keeping Sally and Julia on the show, as well as using Aunt Liz more since she was an original character when the show debuted in 1964.

2 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

That awkward moment when B&B really did become Passions

I could not believe that Hope mannequin had glowing red eyes at the end of the show.  Maybe Thomas is having a Halloween dream, and he will wake up next week?!? Lol

Terri Guarnieri was the EP of Another World in 1993-94.  She had no previous daytime experience, but she was a producer of Gimme a Break and The Cosby Show.  During her time at AW, she brought Sharlene back from the dead and paired Carl and Rachel.  She was the EP during the anniversary episode in 1994.

4 hours ago, robbwolff said:

I think Lemay was head writer when the expansion happened. He was replaced by King in May 1979. According to the AW home page, King joined the writing staff in 1973.

King returned as headwriter in August 1995 and held various positions on the writing team until AW went off the air in 1999.  Lemay was a story consultant in 1995-96, however I'm not sure how much input he had on the storylines givenwhat we saw on screen was mediocre at best.  King's best writing during his return was probably Ryan's death, but even that was tied to the Justine storyline.  King's worst writing as headwriter in 95-96 was the entire Cass is really Maggie's father storyline.   That storyline really rewrote the history of the show and was an insult to long time viewers of AW.

On 9/14/2020 at 3:28 PM, Neil Johnson said:

 

It's interesting that some folks find it surprising that Donna, Michael, and Rachel are around the same age.  I always assumed Donna and Michael's age lined up with that of Rachel, Russ Matthews, and Alice Frame. I'd put Sharlene in the same age-bracket, because she and Rachel had both been married to Russ Matthews.  I suppose, if you want to be literal, then Jamie Frame's SORASing does throw-off Rachel and Russ's age a bit. But that sort of thing happens on every soap, and it's usually best to ignore it.  The really hard-to-swallow age retcon for me was that of making Jamie and Dennis contemporaries with Marley and Vicki Hudson -- and by extension, Nancy McGowen.  If I'm not mistaken, when Nancy was born, Jamie was being played by Bobbie Doran, who was around 10 years old.  And Jamie continued to seem about a decade older than Nancy.  So when Vicki Hudson hooked her claws into Jamie, I thought it was a little creepy.  Especially, since the age difference was never mentioned in any of the dialogue.  They just started pretending they were the same age.   

I never thought about this til Halloween 1989 when Cecile returned to the show.  They had scenes with Cecile, Vicky, and Donna.  Both Cecile and Vicky were married to Jamie, but Cecile was always a contemporary of Donna in the same age bracket. Cecile was clearly a decade older than Vicky, as was Jamie.

18 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

Because DS is always the trendsetter, I’ve just discovered that it is the first (and probably only, ever) soap to have a 24-hr channel on Pluto TV. Not sure how convenient/practical it is, but I can definitely see myself tuning in for hours at a time, regardless of where the story is.

Yes it is Channel 535 24/7 Dark Shadows- I found myself watching here and there over the weekend.

2 hours ago, chrisml said:

I thought Sandra Ferguson was a fine Amanda. I also liked RKK as Sam (the best one as it turns out). I think the problem was in the writing. I don't think Swajeski knew where she was going with the Evan/Olivia/Amanda/Sam storyline, and it showed. There was an odd rhythm to their stories. They would be the Friday cliffhanger, and then you wouldn't have cliffhanger resolved or talked about until Tues/Wed. of the next week. It was bizarre. I found that with most of Swajeski's stories. She could write a killer episode, and the stories always had potential, but they inevitably fizzled out because she hadn't focused on the long term. I liked the Amanda/Sam romance more so than the Lisa/Jamie one. I'm probably the only one who likes AW post-serial killer (still think killing off Quinn was a huge mistake) and pre-Swajeski period. IT wasn't always great, but it was immensely watchable. 

Evan Frame and Caroline Stafford both appeared when Harding Lemay returned to the show in September 1988.  He even made the two of them a lovers when they arrived.  I wonder what his plans for the two characters were, because neither reached their full potential under Donna Swajeski.  I could see Lemay making Evan more sinister and dangerous to the Cory family once it was revealed that he was Janice Frame's son then what played out on screen.

Another World did copy Misery when Walter Trask kidnapped Felicia and held her hostage until she wrote a novel to his liking.

3 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Didn’t Potter retire due to ill health? I know by the time he passed away, one of the press clippings said he had fought a long battle with cancer.

 

It did seem strange after being EP of GL for years, P&G sent him back to AW and he only stayed for like a year.

Potter stayed at AW a little over a year and a half.  You have to give him his due that he did clean up the mess that Paul Rauch and Corrine Jacker made of the show rather quickly and got the show on the right track.  The only fault I can find with Potter's tenure was that they brought back Jacqueline Courtney's Alice with a lot of fanfare for the 20th Anniversary, but gave her little to do but be a supporting character in Sally's storyline.

4 hours ago, Efulton said:

You perfectly summarized 1985!!  I loved November 1982 to February 1985.  It is one of my favourite eras of AW's history.  I will say that with all the garbage storylines in 1985 at least the core of the show was intact.  The dismantling Margaret DePriest did from 1986-87 changed the show forever.

From the Alma Rudder murder mystery in 1983 to the end of 1984, AW was great and must see TV.  While the ratings the show got improved, AW was never able to raise their ratings from #8 or #9.   I suspect had the ratings risen higher, Allen Potter would have stayed on as EP.  Originally, P&G was going to transfer Mary Ellis Bunim from ATWT to AW, but she went to Santa Barbara instead.  Not sure where P&G found Stephen Schenkel, but he was not a good EP and did AW no favors.  

1985 was a bad year for AW.  Executive Producer Allen Potter retired at end of 1984, and Stephen Schenkel took over at the beginning of 1985.  A writer's strike happened in the Spring of 1985, and the show did not officially have headwriters until August 1985- with Sam Hall and Gillian Spencer who were terrible for the show.   About the only thing that worked well in 1985 was the introduction of Victoria Love, Jake McKinnon, and Bridget Connell.

Early in 1985, Carl Hutchins would kidnap Rachel Cory and her sister Nancy McGowan.  This would result in Rachel getting shot and having amnesia.  Rachel had some great scenes with her doctor, Alice Matthews, discussing their past history.  For a brief minute, it looked like the show was going to set up a Rachel/Mac/Alice triangle, then the show fired Jacqueline Courtney in April and Alice left Bay City.

Hall and Spencer would introduce a Le Soleil spa storyline with three forgettable characters- Michaud Christophe, Edward Gerard, and Daphne Grimaldi.  Carl Hutchins would kill Daphne, and he framed Cass for her murder.  Edward was the person who transformed Fanny Grady into Felicia Gallant.  This spa storyline was tied to an Egyptian treasure that Carl Hutchins wanted to get his hands on.  Somehow, the treasure wound up in Arizona, and Carl Hutchins would disappear after a fight with Nancy's boyfriend, Dr. Chris Chapin.  Chris would be involved in possibly one of AW's worst storylines- Nancy was going to give Mac and Rachel an Egyptian urn that Carl poisoned with deadly dust from an Egyptian tomb.  The urn got lost and was passed from person to person in Bay City killing Grant Todd, and later hospitalizing Mac and Rachel after they inhaled the dust.  Chris had to come up with anecdote to save MAC and Rachel.

Peter Love located Catlin's long dead wife, Brittany Peterson, and she came to Bay City with fisherman Zane Lindquist to stop Catlin's wedding to Sally Frame.  Brittany was miraculously cured of being a deaf mute, and she tried to break up Sally and Catlin's marriage.   The problem with this storyline was that the popular Mary Page Keller left the role of Sally shortly after her wedding to Catlin.   The role was recast with Taylor Miller who was not popular with the viewers.  Then, the Peter Love (Christopher Holder) who originally brought Brittany and Zane to Bay City was recast with Marcus Smythe.   The role of Peter Love was played by three different actors within the course of one year.  With Smythe in the role, Brittany would be involved in the abusive marriage storyline.

Several other long term characters were written out of the show- Brian Bancroft disappeared from the canvas.  Perry Hutchins would die when he discovered who Victoria Love was and fell from a hay loft.  Ben McKinnon would leave Bay City never to be seen again.  The most glaring characters written out of the show were Sandy and Blaine Cory and Jamie Frame.  For a majority of 1985, Mac and Rachel had no adult children in Bay City to interact with, as Amanda and Matthew were still small children at this time.

21 minutes ago, chrisml said:

IT was interesting to hear Alice Barrett say that she was killed off to pay for Robert Kelker Kelly. Yet again a woman is killed off to make way for a man. Most of us knew this but to have it confirmed...just ugh. I also wonder who the actor is that Barrett, Coppola and Tucci didn't like. I think even Browne cosigned.

The actor I immediately thought of that Barrett, Coppola, and Tucci did not care for was Jensen Buchanan.  They pretty much had favorable things to say about everyone else.  Also, I wonder what 18 month storyline had to be scrapped because of Douglass Watson's death?   I'm sure it was a story that Donna Swajeski took from Harding Lemay's story projection.

3 hours ago, chrisml said:

MY mother was talking about AW, and she brought up the character of Caroline Stafford. She couldn't remember any storylines she was a part of. She thought she owned an art gallery (the AW homepage confirms this) but that was all she remembered. Did Caroline play any part in storylines? The info on the AW homepage indicates she didn't really have that much to do.

Caroline was introduced shortly after Harding Lemay returned as headwriter in 1988.  She was involved with Evan Frame and was involved with Sam Fowler's art career.  I suspect that Lemay probably had plans for her, but they were probably scrapped when Donna Swajeski took over as headwriter.

On 6/2/2020 at 12:34 PM, teplin said:

The justly maligned Corinne Jacker run on AW had one plus, IMO -- the introduction of very strong black roles played by some pretty awesome actors (Morgan Freeman! Howard Rollins Jr.! Joe Morton! Robert Christian! Jackee Harry! Petronia Paley!). IIRC, they were pretty well integrated into the larger cast while maintaining their own agency and motivations as characters. Unfortunately, their storylines were not exactly gripping, and many of them were gone within a couple years. I have no idea what black viewers thought of them -- the soap press didn't seem eager to explore that angle. And I don't think AW ever had a big black audience.

About the only good thing Corrine Jacker did was integrate Another World's Bay City.  The actors were certainly talented, but they were given typical soap storylines.  AW also gave several recurring  dayplayer parts to African American actors when Bob and Henrietta's son, RJ, got involved with gang members.  I believe if AW's ratings had increased with the integrated cast, then more shows would have integrated their casts at the time.   It would take until 1989 for NBC to attempt this integration again with Generations.  

37 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Yes, I was going to ask about this. Frame rate change?

Oof. This “film” effect makes this sumptuous show look like a cheap foreign ‘70s drama on PBS. Make it stop. 

The audio is off too- the dialogue doesn't match their mouths moving- looks like a foreign movie that was dubbed into English.  I wonder why they did this.

3 hours ago, John said:

I like Judi Evans but why was Cali Timmins replaced. Its too bad she never graced Daytime since especially since she auditioned for OLTL's twice in 1994 (Krista Tesreau got it) & 2003 along with Cynthia Preston & Sarah Buxton (OLTL decided not to bring Tina back after all)

They should have left Cali Timmins in the role of Paulina and if they needed to bring Judi Evans on the show they should have recast her as Rachel's sister Nancy McGowan.  

Here is the 25th Anniversay promo with Josie

1 hour ago, Neil Johnson said:

 

Thanks.  I remember one more of the promos, but in less detail.  That one featured Matt Cory, but I don't remember which returning character he discussed.  Maybe Russ Matthews??   So there were likely a total of five of these promos.  One ran each day for the week prior to the 25th episodes.   

Here is the promo with Vicky.  I remember one with Evan Frame talking about Gwen returning to town to get revenge on Rachel for all the trouble she caused the Frame family.  These promos were probably only broadcast on NBC- I doubt that Soapnet aired the promos when these episodes aired.

6 minutes ago, Neil Johnson said:

 

 

Do you know if they are on Youtube?  Or anywhere else online?

 

I looked and did not find just the specific promos- they could be included on clips, as many of the May 1989 episodes are not specific episodes- they are portions of episodes based on specific storylines.

23 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

Does anyone have the promos for the show's 25th anniversary episodes?  There were four or five of them, each with a character addressing the camera, and talking about a character who'd be returning for the celebration.  I remember one featured Vicky talking about Alice Frame, and another featured John Hudson talking about Pat Randolph.  I haven't seen any of those promos since they originally aired.   

These promos aired for a few weeks before the actual anniversary episodes.  They actually aired after each episode before the closing credits.  Each promo used the Another World 25th Anniversary Celebration logo below...

JFP's three strikes on AW, I believe, were the following damaging moves, more so than killing Frankie:

1. Killing Paul Michael Valley's Ryan- while it was great drama onscreen- Ryan should have been shot and fell off the train trestle with his body gone missing in case he wanted to return to the show- which he did the next year in a ghost story.

2. Rewriting history by trying to pass off Maggie as Cass' daughter, when for months in 1982-83, the storyline of who was Maggie's father with Cecile claiming that both Sandy Cory and Jamie Frame were her dad.

3. Her shabby treatment of Nancy Frangione (Cecile).  For years, AW managed to get Cecile back for short stints.  In 1995, Frangione returned looking like she wanted she wanted to return fulltime.  Frangione was never placed on contract, appeared in the credits with the extras/under 5s, saddled with mediocre nonsensical material that was below a schemer like Cecile, was never placed in the updated credits due to her non-contract role, then sent out of town as a loser with no money.  AW really could have benefited from a villain like Cecile at this time.  This would be the last time Cecile would ever appear on AW.

18 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

I think Bev mentioned she stopped putting herself up for consideration after her losses at AW. She definitely should have been nominated and won for her work in the early 90's.

 

Maureen Garrett also not having one is a great travesty. 

I've always believed that McKinsey and Victoria Wyndham's nominations cancelled each other out on AW.  During that time McKinsey lost to two other AW actresses Laurie Heineman (Sharlene) and Irene Dailey (Liz).  Her never receiving a nomination for GL is ridiculous.  McKinsey should have won an Emmy for both AW and GL.

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I liked that when Lemay briefly returned, he revived the tension between Liz and Rachel that had been mostly written off by this point. 

Absolutely- when Liz ran her mouth to Matthew about how Rachel slept with Mitch to save Mac and Rachel killing Janice.  Good use of history.