watson71

NBC knew all along that they were going to cancel both Another World and Sunset Beach. They just neglected to tell the public this, and this pitted fans of both shows against one another. NBC waited til the last possible minute to cancel AW in April 1999. This was done on purpose so that the show would have to wrap up quickly, and so the show could not be shopped to another network- remember the rumors of ABC wanting AW either as a replacement for Port Charles or as a possible series for the just launched Soapnet. On the day it cancelled AW, NBC gave Sunset Beach a cryptic 6 month renewal knowing all along it would cancel the series as well. AW had to be cancelled first. AW had higher overall ratings than SB and a "core" audience that would watch no matter what time slot NBC placed the series. NBC knew that if they kept AW on the air, AWs ratings would be higher than those of Passions for July-December 1999. It would be harder to cancel the higher rated AW than Passions in December 1999. By keeping SB on the air for six more months, Passions ratings were slightly higher and benefited from airing in AWs time slot after Days. They could cancel SB based on the fact that it was NBCs lowest rated series in December. NBC did Days no favor with this type of "game playing." Today, it is essentially the only series on NBC daytime, besides 4 hours of the Today Show. Days was never able to garner high ratings, like it did in the 90s, after AW was cancelled. At the height of its popularity, NBC Daytime programmed series from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM - 6 and a half hours of programming. Today, CBS still airs 4 and a half hours of programming- a mix of soaps, games shows, and talk shows. NBC could also be airing the same amount of daytime programming had it not alienated its audience throughout the years. NBC always had a history of canceling daytime shows, then giving the hour back to local affiliates for syndicated programming.

Still hard to believe that 18 years ago on June 25, 1999- AW aired its final episode...

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. 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

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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

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.

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. 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.

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?

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. After Two Decades, the Cast of NBC's Another World Feels Like It's on Top of This One BY PEOPLE STAFF POSTED ON MAY 21, 1984 AT 12:00PM EDT Manhattan’s Windows on the World ballroom became a window on Another World as a glittering crowd of stars and friends celebrated the NBC soap opera’s 20th anniversary. Some 350 filled the top-of-the-town eatery on the World Trade Center’s 106th floor to wine, dine, dance and hear a mayoral proclamation declaring May 4 “Another World Day.” The show’s once high ratings have slipped over the years, perhaps because Another World has retained its naturalistic Bay City setting while other soaps have delved into fantasy and science fiction. Sources say AW plans to experiment soon with a James Bond kind of story line. As a further lure to wayward audiences, the producers rehired Jacquie Courtney, who made her reappearance on the show’s birthday broadcast. Her mission: revive the role of Alice Frame, whose interminable love triangle with Rachel Cory and Steven Frame was TV’s hottest, years before Luke met Laura. “Someone just told me, ‘We want a 25 [share], and you’ll do it!’ ” said Courtney, 37. “But there is no one person who can do it. It’s the company and, most important, the story line.” Will Alice find love and boost the ratings? Will Bay City be invaded by Martian doctors and be saved by James Bond? Tune in tomorrow for the show’s third decade.

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. 😡👎🏻😡

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! 🎈🎉🎈

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. 😔