48 minutes ago, cassadine1991 said:

Was it a bad idea for Chris Goutman to bring on AW characters like Jake and Vicky to ATWT only to kill them off?

In hindsight, it was a bad idea.  P & G probably thought that since AW and ATWT both aired in the same time slot, it would be a good idea to bring some AW characters to ATWT so that AW viewers would tune into ATWT.  The influx of AW characters did not move ATWT's ratings that much.  I think many AW viewers were done with daytime after AW was canceled.   No one showed garnered their long time viewership.  And one by one each of the New York soaps floundered and then were canceled.  Jake and Vicky should have stayed happy and alive in Bay City.

4 hours ago, GH_Girl said:

 

I feel like that would have been super painful to have Anne back for just two weeks, then lose her again! I liked Jensen's Vicky enough, but she wasn't even in the same stratosphere as Anne's portrayal. Love when actors aren't ashamed of their soapy past, fine to joke about having evil twins and all the silly soap tropes, but I love when actors make it to the big time and look back fondly on their soapy starts.

I agree completely.  Jensen was good, but Anne was fantastic.   In 1998, if Jensen did not want to play the twins anymore, I would have given Ellen Wheeler the chance to play both Vicky and Marley again.  That whole hospital fire and Marley's disfigured face that required plastic surgery was ridiculous to accommodate Vicky and Marley not being identical twins anymore.   Did anyone at the show realize that Ellen Wheeler was about a foot taller than Jensen Buchanan- haha!?!  I guess that fire made Marley magically grow....

My only problem with Ladykiller was that the writers made Dean into this rock star, but he sings  for about 30 seconds of the song lol 😂 

I do think that Sawjeski borrowed from Lemay's story bible that contained several years worth of story.   Some things she did were great: the annual Snowflake Ball; the murder of Jason Frame and the sensational murder trial where Iris was revealed as The Chief, Sharlene's past as a prostitute, and Felicia's backstory and that Derek Dane murdered her father in self-defense, the 25th Anniversary episodes; the death of Mac Cory; Cecile's 1989 Halloween return; the introduction of Lucas; the introduction of Paulina; the introduction of Ryan; the Who Shot Jake? story; the return of Kathleen and Carl Hutchins to Bay City; the Valentine to Singles episodes; the Kathleen/ Cass/ Frankie storyline; the reveal that Carl's girl Friday- Lorna- was Felicia's daughter; the battle for CEO of Cory Publishing after Mac died; beginning Felicia's alcoholism storyline

The not so great: the ruining of Nicole Love; having the original Alice and Steve appear in the 25th Anniversary episodes, yet not having them appear in any scenes together; the Red Swan (I'll cut her some slack with this because I'm sure they had to rewrite months of story since Mac passed away); Ken Jordan; Dean and Jenna's Ladykiller video; Sharlene's multiple personalities and Dr. Taylor Benson; writing out Mitch with little fanfare; making Josie and Olivia sisters then having Russ quickly leave town right after the revelation; giving Rachel little to nothing to do in the early 90s; the mysterious Asian girl who showed up on John's doorstep and disappeared quickly ; Paulina's ward Hannah Moore

55 minutes ago, juniorz1 said:

 

 

The above montage clip, when Carmen Duncan's Iris takes the seat next to Mac with baby Alli- it's clear as day there too IMO, which makes me think this came from a Lemay outline too.  VW plays it in that scene as well, the look on her face when Iris does it just shows that her instinct is to go sit between them, but instead crosses to the window.   Or am I reading too much into a scene with no words and only blocking?

 

Absolutely, you are correct.  The actors didn't need words to convey what they were thinking.  Their actions spoke volumes with Mac and Iris playing with Alli in the background, while Rachel is looking out the terrace doors at the end of the episode.  At this point, Rachel is doubting Iris' intentions in her return to Bay City.  It will take months for Rachel to be proven correct when Iris is exposed as the chief of Bennett Publishing that tried to take over Cory Publishing.  The confrontation between Mac and Iris is one of Douglass Watson's last episodes on the show.

The entire Thanksgiving 1988 episode was outstanding from start to finish.  Ironically, this episode aired right after Harding Lemay quit as headwriter, and right before Donna Swajeski started as headwriter.  I wonder if the writers were working off of one of Lemay's outlines.  The episode ends with a montage to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."  You would never see an episode like this on daytime today.  When AW was on fire- there was nothing better on daytime-  which made it all the worse in its last few years because of poor decisions made by TPTB.

2 hours ago, Melroser said:

Josie is Russ' daughter, yes. Russ was supposed to be a thorn in the side of the John/Sharlene pairing but I never really bought it.

Russ should have been re-paired with Rachel in 1989 after Mac passed away since he was her first husband.  Russ was engaged at one point to Iris in the 1970s.  Throw Lucas/ Felicia/ Mitch into the mix and AW could have had a sophisticated adult set of characters.  I would have much rather seen this than the Ken Jordan pairing with Rachel.

It was 28 years ago today- June 16, 1989, that Another World aired the funeral of Mac Cory, who was played by Douglass Watson.  Victoria Wyndham, Constance Ford, and the rest of the cast did an outstanding job not only during this episode, but in subsequent episodes following Mac's death.  Is still baffles me that Wyndham and Ford never won an Emmy for their performances- and that Ford wasn't even nominated for her portrayal of Ada.

33 minutes ago, YRBB said:

They're moving it to Thursdays at 9. What do you think? A good risk or a disaster waiting to happen? I would HATE for them to get f*cked because they moved a hit show to a different day/timeslot.

It is a risky move because it will be pre-empted for 6 weeks for Thursday Night Football in November / December and then again for two weeks in February for the Winter Olympics.  NBC is giving it the spot airing after the Super Bowl.   I hope all the pre-emptions don't scare the viewers away.

9 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Jacquie Courtney was only 19 when that commercial aired, but already she had great poise and charisma. I'll bet her daughter will love seeing it, if she has not done so already.

 

You know, many years ago, Courtney said in a magazine interview that she had had personal kinescopes made of many of her favorite scenes or episodes of AW. I'd be curious if they still exist somewhere. I'd hope the family would keep them. If you get a chance and do not think it is a pushy question, perhaps you could ask Jennifer about the existence of these kinescopes. No one else in the world would have them!

Wouldn't it be awesome if a copy of Alice's confrontation with Rachel at the engagement party existed? That would be really cool to see that scene...

53 years ago today Another World premiered on NBC...

"We do not live in this world alone,
but in a thousand other worlds.
The events of our lives represent only the surface,
and in our minds and feelings,
we live in many other hidden worlds"

And now the continuing story of Another World...

The 3 PM time slot was competitive and popular- 96% of all TV sets were watching Another World (29%), General Hospital (28%), or Match Game (39%) during this time slot.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973–74_United_States_network_television_schedule_(weekday)

13 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

i dont disagree with you for a second and wish that is the way it worked out.  I did not see all those awesome scenes from 1974 till years later.  They should have played them.  I am wondering if they were actually available.  The show did not save any scenes since 1979 and I think all of the great past footage is from loyal fans???  Again though, the EP in 1989 (I think Michael Liabson) prob wanted to keep the focus on Rachel.  Again, as I stated otherwise that I wish it was about the whole cast and returns and not about mac and rachel and that was their goal about the anniversary in my eyes.  Who knows what goes on behind the scenes either.  Actors making sure they are the focus.  Cant see any reason why VW would be opposed to the 74 clip but I really think they did not have their hands on any of this stuff we are seeing now from the past..

 

I think Vicky Wyndham would have been fine playing the 74 clips- in her 25th Anniversary episode from 1997- there were plenty of 70s clips of Mac and Rachel, Rachel and Ada, and Rachel and Steve- in 1989 the show probably used clips they had easy access to, I'm sure they didn't go out of their way searching for specific clips.  

Makes you wonder what still exists in some video library somewhere, and why P&G still sits on laurels about airing what does exist from all their soaps. MeTV, AntennaTV, Hulu, Nextflix- could be airing episodes of all the P&G soaps...

2 hours ago, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

 

True. Plus a lot of Nancy & Paulina's history intertwined. 

 

Both ladies dated Jake.

Both ladies dated Joe. 

Both women had tense relations with Vicky. 

 

Judi Evans had stellar chemistry with Vicky Wyndham and Constance Ford. 

 

It could've worked. The stories they gave Paulina in the 90s could've easily went to Nancy with Judi Evans playing her.

Could not agree with you more... 👍🏼😀👍🏼

5 hours ago, tune_in_tomorrow said:

In addition to Sally, keeping Nancy around would have also helped the balance. I'm surprised she didn't resurface on a regular basis, either with Jane Cameron or a recast. AW certainly wasn't shy about recasting in the '80s/early '90s even if most were unsuccessful. 

Judi Evans (Paulina) could have been a perfect recast of Nancy in the 90s.

On 4/18/2017 at 11:39 PM, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

Who decided to even kill Sally? 

 

Seeing as the actor that played Catlin didn't last much longer after Sally was killed off, they should've just given Sally and Catlin their happy ending and written them off. From seeing everyone's commentary in the past on the Brittany story, it was obvious a flop by then. They should've scrapped it, sent Brittany off into the sunset, and allowed Sally a happy ending. 

 

Boggles my mind how this show spend the better part of the early to mid 80s offing Frames and Matthews left and right. 

 

Wasn't one of Liz's daughters killed in the early 80s? Or was it her granddaughter?

The character of Sally should have never been killed.  She should have left town for awhile and then returned to the canvas.  Mary Page Keller had some modest success in prime time and then nothing.  I imagine if Keller was offered a good deal she would have returned to AW.  She was Jamie's stepsister and Rachel's stepdaughter, she had a son Kevin who could have easily been written on the show, and she would have kept Irene Dailey's Aunt Liz on the canvas.  The presence of Sally would have compensated for all those Amanda recasts in the 90s and probably could have kept the show from being so "Vicky-centric" with all the storylines revolving around Jensen Buchanan's Vicky.

On 4/19/2017 at 0:18 PM, vetsoapfan said:

 

Yes, the inexplicable way they wrote Gwen during the 25th anniversary celebration was definitely a weak point, but with so many former cast members returning, I knew there would be some missteps.

 

The Matthews family took its first major blows back in 1975, when Rauch and Lemay axed Jacqueline Courtney, Virginia Dwyer, and George Reinholt. With weak actors in both the roles of Russ and Alice, it was difficult for me to care much about those characters after that, and then of course, writing out Pat and killing off Jim really crippled the show.

 

Executives come and go over the years, and tend not to understand the importance of long-running characters, but viewers are firecely attached to them.

I'll cut TPTB some slack with those 25th Anniversary episodes for some "missteps" since the scripts had to be heavily rewritten to compensate the untimely death of Douglass Watson (Mac).  Wasn't he on vacation when he passed away, and then was to return to film the party scenes for the 25th Anniversary.   There was a scene in the episodes where Rachel and Alice speak about missing Steve.  This was the perfect time to do some Alice, Steve, and Rachel flashbacks or have Steve appear to both Alice and Rachel.

On 4/18/2017 at 0:05 AM, vetsoapfan said:

In 1989, the final scene on the yacht between Rachel and Alice was great, and brought a much-welcomed closure to the long-running rivalry between the two characters. Both actresses were superb.

 

With its endless on-screen changes throughout the years, AW could have benefited so much by having Courtney, an original cast member, at the hub of its wheel. With Courtney and Wyndham at its core, the show could have had a strong foundation upon which to build a rich tapestry on interwoven characters and storylines, rich is history. Alas, TPTB screwed it all up, over and over again.

AW needed some real stability in 1989 after the passing of Douglass Watson.   If George Reihholt had himself together to be a team player, I would have rewritten the Edward Black/Steve Frame story to have David Canary's character be an imposter who assumed Steve's identity and held the real Steve hostage after his plane crash in 1975.   Mac could have discovered the real Steve was alive and sent the clue to Rachel in the red swan.  The real Steve turns up alive, and you could have had the real Rachel/Steve/Alice triangle in 1989 to compensate for the absence of Mac.  This would have made more sense than the entire Ken Jordan/Paulina story that aired on the show.

2 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

If the plan was to boost the ratings with Courtney's return, then everyone in charge was an idiot. The show did nothing of substance with her, did not pair her with any viable leading man, and then let her character peter out before finally axing her again. They also had her hair cut in the most unattractive way possible, and gave her some hideous clothes as well. Courtney was a beloved and magnetic actress, but through no fault of her own, Alice's return was an unqualified failure. It still annoys me that writer Gary Tomlin admitted he did not use Courtney effectively during her return, because he really did not know much about the character's history. Well, as HEAD WRITER, isn't it your job to...you know, LEARN?

AW's executive producer at the time of Courtney's return was Allen Potter, who was also the EP of AW when the show started in 1964, so he certainly knew her importance as did P&G executive Ed Trach.  I wonder if TPTB lost interest quickly when Courtney's return did not give the show a significant ratings boost.  It would have been interesting to pair her with Carl Hutchins - Mac's enemy-or repaired her with Mac once Rachel got amnesia.  Courtney did her best work in those scenes with Rachel when she was her doctor.  Several weeks later she was dropped from the show.  Also agree about her hair and clothes- I guess they were trying to make her look believable as Sally's mother by making her matronly.   Had she stayed with the show, I wonder what Harding Lemay would have done with Alice when he returned in 1988?

2 hours ago, teplin said:

 

Did this ever play out on screen? I don't recall it -- though I think there was some spy-type nonsense with Michael Hudson at one point. 

Since this was May 1984, I think the author of the article would have used the words action/adventure rather than James Bond to refer to the death of David Thatcher and the subsequent murders that would result in several characters going to   Majorca, Spain in November 1984 in an action/adventure story.

I'm not sure how much TV coverage the 20th Anniversary and the return of Jacqueline Courtney received; however, the show received a spread in People magazine- below is the text from the article from the people.com website.  The pictures from the article are not included with the article.  The 20th Anniversary party was held at Windows on the World on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center that would be destroyed during the 9/11 tragedy.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

The promo for AW was just about the most underwhelming one I've seen yet.  How was THAT supposed to entice viewers into watching the show?

And that promo aired during the week of April 30- May 4, 1984.  There is no mention of the show' s 20th Anniversary or the return of Jacqueline Courtney as Alice.   These should have been AW's promos for that week.

18 years ago today, NBC announced that it had cancelled Another World. 😡👎🏻😡

1 minute ago, amybrickwallace said:

Those of you who were watching back then - what did you think of Sharon Gabet as Brittany?

Gabet did the best with the material she was given.  The writers clearly did not know what to do with the character of Brittany and the storyline changed course many times.  She went from a deaf mute to a troublemaking vixen in a matter of months.  Also, it did not help that several weeks into Gabet's run, the popular Mary Page Keller (Sally) left AW and was replaced with Taylor Miller, who I thought was a terrible Sally.   So, Gabet was stuck in a triangle with Brittany / Catlin / Sally with an unpopular recast.   I did enjoy when Brittany shot Peter and went on trial for attempted murder.   This was her last storyline before Gabet left AW.

Born March 16, 1922, today is the 95th birthday of Harding Lemay.  Whether you loved or  hated his work on AW, he is probably one of the last, if not the last, of the behind the scenes staff members that is still living from the Golden Age of Soaps.  Happy Birthday, Mr. Lemay! 🎈🎉🎈

4 hours ago, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

I know @DRW50 will wanna kick me for this, but today marks the 21st anniversary of the debut of AW's final (and infamous) credits--the ER credits! 

 

I think I am in the minority that I was one of the few that loved the theme and the opening. Especially, the shots of the spinning gyroscope. 

By 1996, the You Take Me Away to Another World credits were beginning to look dated.  This opening did not bother me, even though the opening was clearly an ER copycat right down to the er / aw.  The spinning gyroscope was a modern take on AW's interlocking rings from openings past.  The thing I did not like about this opening was as the cast was dismantled, the shots used to replace the departed actors never matched the look of the original 96 opening.  By the time AW went off the air, this opening was reduced to approximately 15 seconds. 😔

7 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Wyndham, McKinsey, Beverly Penberthy, Jacquie Courtney...so many fine performances, so little Emmy recognition.

I'd  also add Constance Ford (Ada) and Nancy Frangione (Cecile) to the list of overlooked AW performers.  These two should have won a supporting actress Emmy, but they were never nominated.

Another World closing credits from July 8, 1982- including Alma and Cecile plotting against Blaine and Alice/Steve/Rachel drama