watson71

We need to include Charlotte Savitz on this list.  In two years as executive producer of Another World there were 8 different headwriters or headwriting teams.  They include: Margaret DePriest; Elizabeth Page, Tom King, and Craig Carlson; Tom King and Craig Carlson; Michael Malone; Richard Culliton; Richard Culliton and Jean Passanante; Jean Passanante; and Leah Laiman and Jean Passanante.

Savitz was the producer who truly destroyed AW and  ensured its future cancellation .  Here is a list of her incompetent decisions:

-Brought John Aprea back to the show as Lucas lookalike Alexander Nikos and quickly turned him into a cartoonish villain.

-Turned race car driver Bobby Reno into Dr. Shane Roberts with a secret wife, Lila

-Unsuccessfully recasted Amanda and Matthew Cory until Sandra Ferguson and Matt Crane returned to the show.

-Let the following characters leave Bay City never to be heard from again- Lorna Devon, Sharlene Hudson, John Hudson, Tomas Rivera, Sofia Carlino, 

-Killed Gabe McNamara

-Had the ghosts of Ryan Harrison and Bridget Connell visit Vicky since JFP had killed off both of these characters

-Recasted popular characters Gary and Josie in mid-story, then introduced a brother for Gary named Cameron who did nothing to help the mid-story recasts

-Introduced time traveler Jordan Stark and his Lumina Foundation

-Had the character of Marley Hudson return to Bay City, disfigured her face in a fire so that Marley and Vicky were no longer identical twins, and had Ellen Wheeler return to the role of Marley.  Let's not forget that Wheeler was about a foot taller than Jensen Buchanan's Vicky. Not only did Marley get disfigured, she grew about a foot.

-Killed both Michael Hudson and Shane Roberts in a car crash in a snowstorm

-Fired Emmy winner Charles Keating and had Carl disappear with a brain tumor.  Carl would turn up alive in the last few episodes of AW.

40 years ago today- March 5, 1979- Another World aired its first 90 minute episode.  AW killed one of its longest running characters- John Randolph- in a fire trying to save his sister-in-law Alice.  Below are scenes from the second  90 minute episode.  Does anyone know if the cabin scenes were filmed in the studio or on location?  Special effects were quite elaborate for a 70s soap.

7 hours ago, VanessaReardon said:

Interesting to see these ratings- this was at the height of the Watergate Scandal when many soaps were pre-empted.  The Supreme Court ordered President Nixon to release the tapes to the special prosecutor during this week. On July 30, 1974, Nixon complied with the order and released the subpoenaed tapes to the public.

RIP Carmen Duncan

2 hours ago, tune_in_tomorrow said:

I agree with everyone else here that killing Sally off was a mistake. It was certainly a shocker as she had driven story for several years prior to that. There were so many unnecessary deaths in the 80s but most of them weren't leading characters, at least not for long. The other character besides Alice that should have been around for the last decade was Nancy. Jane Cameron made a couple of brief returns at Mac's and Ada's funerals but if she didn't want to return full-time, they could have easily replaced her. I liked her a lot on the show, but she was far from Irreplaceable. I think she would have made a lot more sense in some of the shenanigans than Paulina did.

The character of Paulina- another forgotten illegitimate child of Mac Cory's was not even necessary on the show. Cali Timmins/ Judi Evans could have been a recast for Nancy McGowan, and their storylines could have played out as Nancy.  Nancy always had a crush on Jake so it would make sense that she could have been in Jake's storylines the way Paulina was.  Also, when Joe Carlino was introduced on the show, they made a point of saying that Joe went to high school with Nancy.  And I'm sure Nancy would not have been pleased that Rachel married Carl- the man that tried to kill both Rachel and Nancy.

On 1/10/2019 at 1:43 AM, pdm1974 said:

I think the show really shot itself in the foot by killing off Sally. She had the potential to be a leading heroine for a very long time. The recast didn't work, but another actress could have worked well.

I totally agree.  There was so much potential with Sally.   The character could have left Bay City for awhile and return to town with a SORASED Kevin who was a teenager like Amanda Cory's age.  Also, Mary Page Keller's prime time roles only lasted a few years.  I think they could have lured her back to the show at some point in the 90s.   Had she lived, Sally could have been given many of those "Vicky-centered" storylines to carry out rather than just have the character of Vicky dominate the show.  Plus having Sally on the show would have been a good way to have Aunt Liz and Alice be viable characters who stayed in Bay City well into the 90s.  And since Rachel was her step-mother and Jamie her step-brother, Sally could have stayed involved with the Corys as well.

The March 6, 1979, episode is the second 90 minute episode that aired on Tuesday of that week.  

The changes that NBC Chief Fred Silverman would make from 1979-1982 to the daytime lineup would impact the lineup for years to come.  In 1979, the expansion of AW to 90 minutes moves AW out of the 3-4 PM time slot for the first time since the showed debuted in 1964.  This moves The Doctors out of its 2:30 time slot to 2 PM and pushed Days of our Lives to 1-2 PM.  In 1980, AW would introduce characters from its upcoming spinoff Texas on AW confusing viewers with many new characters.  After 18 months, AW is now moved out of the 3-4 PM time slot altogether and moved to 2-3 PM.  The Doctors is now moved to 12:30 PM and Texas starring Beverlee McKinsey debuts at 3-4 PM against GH and GL. In another 18 months, in March 1982, Seach for Tomorrow would take The Doctors 12:30 PM time slot moving tThe Doctors to 12:00 PM.  Then in April, Texas would be moved to 11 AM for 8 months before being cancelled , along with The Doctors, on the same day.

In hindsight, it probably would have been better to leave AW at 3:00 PM and placed Texas at 2:00 PM in between Days of our Lives and AW.  With the move to 2 PM and the loss of Beverlee McKinsey, AW never recovered in the ratings.  From 1980-1999, the show would never rise above 7th/8th place in the ratings.  Texas was cancelled after a quick two year run, and The Doctors ended its almost 20 year run because of constant changes to the show.

36 years ago- January 6, 1983- Linda Dano made her debut as Felicia Gallant on Another World.  Pretty much loved every storyline she was involved in except when she was the "other woman" and started seeing John Hudson while he was married to Sharlene.

5 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

It's baffling how the show mishandled JC's return in 1984. Although she was still a gorgeous woman and very popular actress, the writers did almost nothing with her for the entire year she was back, and then wrote her out again, with nary a whimper. Writer Gary Tomlin later took the blame, admitting that he had not really studied the history of Alice and Rachel, and failed to use Courtney properly. But this one scene from March 25, 1985 proved that someone, either Tomlin or that day's scriptwriter, had done some much-needed research into history. This was the single best scene Courtney was given during her year-long return. The dialogue was good, the characters were in character; everything worked. After months of Courtney having dreadfully short, cropped-off hair (which did not suit her at all), Alice was looking chic again. To fire the actress at that point, when there was so much viable, intriguing story potential for a Rachel/.Mac/Alice triangle...was sheer incompetence and stupidity.

I agree with you 100% about the show's misuse of Courtney in 1984-85.  The ironic thing about the March 25, 1985, episode is that we may never know who was responsible for writing that great Rachel/Alice scene.  The WGA was on strike from March 5th to March 19th of that year over writer royalties that would be received from videocassette recordings.  Whoever was responsible for the scene should have been made headwriter of AW because both actresses were great and the history was accurate and succinct.  When the writers returned from the strike, Tomlin was no longer the headwriter and was replaced by Sam Hall and Gillian Spencer who were terrible.  They had Larry involved in the Miami Vice storyline about a disco, the whole Le Soleil storyline with a lot of new characters no one cared about, Carl's quest to find that Egyptian treasure, the deadly dust in the urn that was passed from character to character in Bay City, and the very miscast Taylor Miller replacing Mary Page Keller as Sally.  The only storyline that Hall and Spencer did well was the introduction of Victoria as Marley's twin.

7 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I guess we can all say that we are blessed to have her year return in the mid 80s to show that she was a good actress and was playing a stronger/confident Alice again.  I even thought she had good acting instincts with how under-stated she was during the Rachel Amnesia story where she was trying to remain professional.

The Rachel amnesia story was right before Courtney left in 1985.  The show really missed a big opportunity at this point.  Rachel moved back into the Cory mansion, but she wanted a separate bedroom, eventually even moving out of the mansion for awhile.  The writers should have had Mac start seeing Alice again since Rachel wanted nothing to do with him while she had amnesia.  Mac and Alice were once engaged, and Alice would have had the upper hand for once over Rachel.  There were kinds of storyline possibilities using the history of the show, yet the writers wrote Alice off the show.

The scene starting at 19:00 was a goldmine of storyline possibilities 

Was the March 30, 1977 episode a special one hour episode of The Doctors?

It's that time of year again- Thanksgiving in Bay City- 30 years ago this week...

Another World, Somerset, Lovers & Friends/For Richer For Poorer, and Texas were filmed at the NBC Studios in Brooklyn, NY.

http://eyesofageneration.com/a-rare-and-detailed-look-at-nbcs-brooklyn-studios-part-1-of-2-for-me-these/

http://eyesofageneration.com/a-rare-and-detailed-look-at-nbcs-brooklyn-studios-part-2-of-2-today-we-wil/

As the World Turns would film there after Another World was canceled.

Alicia Coppola (Lorna, AW) is joining Fox’s Empire in a recurring role. Coppola will play an attorney investigating Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) and international money launderer Damon Cross (Wood Harris). She’ll do almost anything for big target convictions because she believes they’ll take her to the Governor’s mansion and then the White House. 

It it will be great to see her on TV again.

Carole Shelley, who temporarily played Iris on Another World in 1980, has recently passed away.  RIP....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/obituaries/carole-shelley-dead.html

2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I had no idea that Ann Flood played a villainess in the final weeks of the show, quite a nice departure from Nancy on EON.  And I liked that Stu was heavily focused on finding his best friend Jo during that period.

Flood played Ella Hobbs on SFT.  I believe this is how the story played out. Suzy was killed by Ella.  Ella wanted revenge against the McCleary family after a payroll robbery that Ella orchestrated with her lover, Judge Jeremiah Henderson (William Prince), years earlier with Suzi's husband's father-in-law Malcolm McCleary (Patrick Tovatt).  Malcolm turned up alive and fled to Ireland.  Malcolm's twin brother was the one that was killed in the payroll robbery, not him. Ella held Jo hostage in the elevator shaft at Liberty House and she fell to her death as she attempted to kill Jo. 

18 hours ago, j swift said:

Does anyone recall the reason given why Mac didn't attend Iris's wedding(s) in Texas?

Her wedding to Alex Wheeler took place in November 1980 when Rachel was on trial for "killing" Mitch Blake. As a matter of fact, Iris' wedding to Alex may have taken place during the same week Mac learned that Rachel was carrying Mitch's baby while he was on the witness stand.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks for finding that.

 

I keep hoping something beyond opening and closing credits will appear.

It boggles my mind that P & G did not bother to save their shows to save money reusing videotapes, but Colgate Palmolive saved all of their episodes of The Doctors as evidenced by the episodes now airing on Retro TV.  Someone at P&G was not thinking down the line.  

It also boggles my mind that the P & G shows are currently not being streamed on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime or being broadcast on a channel like MeTV, Antenna TV, or Retro TV.  There has to be a reason these programs are not available somewhere?!? 🤔

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

I really enjoyed Carmen Duncan's Iris and hated that her and the character were so undervalued and underplayed right up until that mind-boggling terrible exit. 

Sending her off to jail for shooting Carl at his wedding to Rachel was a bad move.  Iris was many things, but a murderer was not one of them.  Before she would shoot someone, Iris would hire a hitman to do it for her lol 😂  Iris left the show to go to jail and was never heard from or seen again.

2 hours ago, SFK said:

 

Was there much soap press about Carmen assuming the role of Iris? We didn't have the Internet back then and I don't know how many folks read soap magazines. I wonder how many viewers were truly unspoiled and surprised, and if there were commercials teasing Iris's return. I have zero idea, I wasn't an NBC fan at the time, but I did post the videos of Iris's return from Soapnet reruns 

on my YouTube page.

Once Vivian returned in September to be the Cory maid, along with the Bennett Publishing attempted takeover of Cory Publishing, viewers could put two and two together to figure out that Iris imminent return would happen you just didn't know when.  Rachel opened the door to the Cory mansion and said "Iris," however you did not see Iris until the next episode being played by Carmen Duncan.   Duncan's Iris was immediately front and center on the show, and Harding Lemay took great lengths to not only make her "The Chief," he had her romantically involved with Evan Bates (Earl Battis- Janice Frame's son) who was already working at Cory Publishing with his eye on Amanda.  Michael Hudson was also involved with Iris in the past, as well.  

The return of Iris story was clearly Lemay's idea and penned by Donna Swajeski as well.  It took 6 months for Mac to discover that Iris was "The Chief"  as Iris confessed on the witness stand in the Jason Frame murder trial.    Mac's confrontation with Iris was one of Douglass Watson's last episodes as Mac, and everyone blamed Iris for Mac's passing from a broken heart.

Carmen Duncan should have received an Emmy in 1990 just on the scenes where she confesses to Mac that she was "The Chief" and when Rachel tells her that Mac has died.  

5 hours ago, j swift said:

No, (although nobody ever did the math), she was supposedly conceived before Mac became involved with Rachel and was therefore older than Matthew and Amanda.  Her parentage was confirmed in the red swan box mystery that was Rachel's first story after Mac passed.

I'll give AW a pass on that red swan mystery since the storylines for the entire show had to be rewritten following Douglass Watson's death.  I wonder if Paulina and Ken Jordan even figured into the storylines at all.  I'm sure that in the original storyline that either Mac and/or Rachel were in some kind of danger and would be saved by Iris, so that Mac would forgive Iris for being "The Chief."

40 years ago today, August 11, 1978, Rachel Cory went into premature labor and gave birth to Amanda 4 weeks early.   Any long time viewers remember the scenes when Mac lets it slip to Iris that Amanda is his first born daughter and that Iris was adopted?  Was anyone surprised by this revelation?   Obviously, they later made Iris Mac's biological child as well, but this must have caused quite the stir in pre-Internet days.

Here is a rare 1982 SFT opening and closing when the show transferred to NBC with announcer Alison Steele...

1 hour ago, j swift said:

2 highlights of the episode - (1) We get bitchy Felicia, it's easy to forget that Felicia had an ax to grind when she arrived in Bay City, and (2) Stephen Yates in short shorts

This episode followed the aftermath of Alma Rudder's murder when Felicia discovered that Cass was seeing Cecile on the side, so Felicia was a woman scorned.   Felicia was also having Julia Shearer "ghostwrite" some parts of her books.  She confronts Julia at the wedding reception, and Julia pushes Felicia into the Cory swimming pool.  😂

35 years ago today- August 3,  1983, Another World aired the double wedding of Mac and Rachel and Sandy and Blaine.