watson71

Thanksgiving 1988 was also a great episode. This was Mac's last Thanksgiving with his famous "I am grateful for the sheer munificence of life..." speech. This episode ends with a montage set to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." Almost the entire cast was shown in this episode as well. I agree that the absence of Mac left a void that was sorely missing in the last decade of the show. This was especially evident during those Christmas episodes when Douglass Watson would break the 4th wall and offer a toast to the audience each Christmas. No one on the show could do that the way that he did. I've often wondered how the writers planned to eventually reunite Mac and Iris had Mac lived. Clearly, the characters of Paulina and Ken Jordan probably would not have been introduced during the Red Swan story. Also, I wonder if the character of Carl would have returned to the show and been redeemed.

http://deadline.com/2017/11/nbc-buys-family-dance-school-drama-produced-sean-hayes-hazy-mills-thomas-ian-griffith-mary-page-keller-1202200524/ Mary Page Keller and Thomas Ian Griffith (Sally and Caitlin, AW) are going to produce a new family drama on NBC. A recent picture of them is in the article. They still look good 33 years later!

The Decades Channel is airing a two day Dark Shadows marathon this weekend to celebrate Halloween.

Was this Sandra Ferguson- that played Amanda on AW? This must have been right before she returned to AW if she was playing Brooke.

The timing of Carol Shelly replacing Beverlee McKinsey as Iris was not the best. In mid-February,, Beverlee fell while fixing a curtain rod in her NYC apartment and badly injured her left shoulder. So the build-up and aftermath of the Janice trying to kill Mac story was played by Shelly, who I thought was a bit over the top. These scenes would have been so much better with McKinsey in them.

Of all the P & G shows I would venture a guess that Guiding Light's theme was the biggest change going from the romantic light through the leaves opening to the fast paced disco opening theme.

In 1980-81, Procter and Gamble replaced / remixed the theme music for 6 of its soaps that were currently on the air- AW, TEXAS, SFT, ATWT, GL, and EON. This included new new title sequences and graphics as well. I believe that P&G thought that the change in themes would "modernize" their soaps to compete with the ABC soaps. Anyone have any background information regarding the change in the themes? Was a big deal made about it in the soap press?

On Friday, September 4, 1981, Another World would air the interlocking ring opening/closing theme for the last time. The closing credits would feature the entire theme song: On Monday, September 7, 1981, Another World would debut a new theme and opening/closing

Anyone know if the live episode saw a bump in the ratings? The week of August 1-5, 1983 was a busy week for NBC Daytime- SFT had the live episode, DAYS featured the beginning of Bo/Hope and the build-up to the murder of Renee DiMera, and AW featured the double weeding of Mac/Rachel and Sandy/Blaine. It would be curious to see if these events bumped the ratings...

On August 11, 1986, the character of Zane Lindquist, died in the hospital after being shot in the crossfire between the Bay City PD and hired hitman Herman Ludwig who has holding Cass, Kathleen, and Cecile hostage. Ludwig was working for Reginald Love who makes his first appearance at the end of this episode. After marrying Felicia Gallant, in February, 1986, Zane would be shot twice that year. Once in March, while trying to track down the thugs who had stolen an Egyptian treasure that was on display from a local art gallery and again in August. At the 12:00 minute mark, begins a great scene where Mac Cory leads a community prayer in the hospital waiting room. This type of scene would never appear on a soap today. On a side note, shooting Zane twice in one year, is a prime example of the problem AW had with constant switches in headwriters. Zane being shot by the thugs who had stolen the Egyptian treasure was fallout from probably one of AW's worst storylines ever- Carl Hutchins tricking Nancy McGowan into giving Mac and Rachel an amphora as a gift that contained poisonous dust from an Egyptian pyramid. Anyone who opened the amphora and breathed the dust would die. The amphora was passed around Bay City- only killing Grant Todd- but left both Mac and Rachel near death and in the hospital in early 1986, only to be saved by Dr. Chris Chaplin.

41 years ago today- August 11, 1978- the character of Amanda Cory was born. This episode of AW included the revelation that Iris was Mac's adopted daughter. Future writers- including Harding Lemay in 1988- would switch this by explaining that Iris, now played by Carmen Duncan, was Mac's daughter by Sylvie Kosloff, a knock-off clothes designer. Iris returned to Bay City in 1988 right after Sylvie had died off-screen. Mac: "It doesn't matter, as long as I got home for the birth of my first baby. [IRIS STARES AT HIM, BLANKLY, BUT MAC DOESN'T NOTICE] All these years I've dreamed of having a child and now here she is."Iris: "[WHISPERING] What are you saying?"Mac: "Oh, Iris, I'm sorry... I'm just rambling on... [HE TURNS AWAY]" Iris: "Oh, no, you're not. [SHE TURNS HIM AROUND] I want to know what you're telling me."Mac: "Darling, I don't know what I'm saying."Iris: "You said that this is your first child."Mac: "Did I say that?"Iris: "Daddy, tell me what you meant!"Mac: "I promised your mother-- [HE STOPS]"Iris: "Go on, please."Mac: "Oh, Iris, I'm so exhausted from that flight from Paris and then from New York, I wasn't thinking. Your mother couldn't have children... I mean my wife couldn't have children, so we adopted you. [IRIS SHAKES HER HEAD IN MUTE DENIAL. MAC GOES TO HER] You were three weeks old, so it was like having our own baby."Iris: "I'm not your child."Mac: "But then, your mother died."Iris: "[SHOUTING] I'm not your child?"Mac: "Iris, listen to me."Iris: "No, no... never again. [SHE TURNS AND GOES OUT QUICKLY]"

Kathleen Layman was a good actress, and she was believable as a sister to Julie Osburn's (Kathleen) sister on the show. Layman was certainly a stronger actress than Sally Spencer as MJ. The writers always toyed with the idea of pairing her with Larry but never did. It also would have been interesting to see how Layman would have done with the return of her mother, Mary McKinnon, in 1986. On a sad note, I had no idea that Layman had passed away in 2014 until I searched her name on Google: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?pid=173152925

Soderberg and Purser introduced or recast many important AW characters on AW in 1983-84: They introduced the following characters: - Jeanne Ewing (mother of Larry, Blaine, and Caitlin and Alma Rudder's killer) - Felicia Gallant - Carl Hutchins - Perry Hutchins - Donna Love - Nicole Love, - Abel/Leo Marsh - Lily Mason - Mark Singleton - David, Jennifer, and Kevin Thatcher - Vivien Gorrow returned from Texas to Bay City to work for the Corys, and Brian Bancroft's son Ted returned to Bay City. - Jamie Frame was recast with Stephen Yates from GL - Sally Frame was recast with the popular Mary Page Keller - Julia Shearer was recast with future star Faith Ford - They killed off David Canary's Steve Frame in a car crash and removed Nancy McGowan and Thomasina Harding from the canvas for several months so that they could be SORASed in the Spring of 1984 by Culliton and Tomlin.

34 years ago today, August 3, 1983, the double wedding of Mac and Rachel and Sandy and Blaine began on Another World

I thought the show became watchable and enjoyable again in the Summer of 1983, the transition period from Paul Rauch's AW to Allen Potter's AW. This was the fallout of Alma Rudder's murder where Jeanne Ewing was revealed as the killer. On her deathbed, Jeanne confessed that Larry and Blaine had a brother that they knew nothing about. This was also the time of the double wedding of Mac/Rachel and Sandy/Blaine. AW was pretty solid from the fall of 83 til the end of 1984 when Allen Potter retired. Potter did manage to raise AWs ratings, however he never brought AW back to the top of the ratings. I suspect had the ratings rose to the point where AW was a top 5 show, Potter might have stuck around longer into 1985.

With all the talk of the various Alices, how many think that if TPTB had waited until 1984 when Jacqueline Courtney returned, if the Steve Frame/Edward Black story would have been more successful with Courtney's Alice? Do you think it would have been OK with a Steve recast or would only work with George Reinholt playing Steve? In hindsight, AW could have used the character of Steve to help steady the show with a male character with history after Douglass Watson's sudden death in 1989.

Here are some scenes on the Cafe Paradise set...

Ada's new restaurant was called Cafe Paradise and was featured on AW from 1989 to 1993. This restaurant was phased out around the time that Constance Ford's Ada died. Ada hired her old high school boyfriend from World War II, Sidney Sugarman, to work at her restaurant as a chef. Sidney was played by Larry Haines who had previously played Stu Bergman on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years. Sidney was featured on the show until the Summer of 1989.

In 1983, when exactly did Paul Rauch leave and Allen Potter return as executive producer? Was Jonna Lee a hire by Rauch or Potter?

20 years ago this week, Another World aired the 25th Anniversay episode of Victoria Wyndham in the role of Rachel Cory Hutchins- an outstanding tribute to the actress- and one last nod to the show's history before things begin to fall apart in 1998 with the dismissal of Charles Keating (Carl)...

Great to see that VWs art career is thriving- but I sure would like to see her do some guest spots on TV shows... 😍 Hope she knows that her AW work is still greatly appreciated on this message board.

This quote surprises me a little bit because I feel that Swajeski wrote one of Donna's better stories when Michael left her and she had an affair with Jake and the "Who Shot Jake?" storyline and all the fallout with Vicky and Marley. So, Swajeski did feature her prominently.

Another great Another World holiday episode from 1988- Happy Fourth of July 💥🇺🇸💥

Yes they did have chemistry. Even though the videos above are a black and white copy of a color episode, it looks like AW had some high production standards compared to other 1968 soaps from YouTube. This was before my time, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on AW from this time period.

49 years ago today on July 2, 1968- the character of Steve Frame first appeared on Another World at Lenore and Walter's wedding reception...