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It's the End of the 'World' As They Know It on NBC Television. Fans and cast members are fuming over the cancellation of a soap that featured mature actors. June 21, 1999|WILLIAM KECK | SPECIAL TO THE LA TIMES Back stabbing. Harsh words. Broken promises. Misplaced loyalty. The essential components of a successful soap opera? Absolutely. But the same words also characterize the resentment much of "Another World's" cast, crew and fans harbor toward NBC, which broadcasts the final episode of the 35-year-old serial this Friday to clear airtime for a new daytime drama. Much of the confusion and anger surrounds NBC's decision to cancel the Procter & Gamble-produced "Another World," while renewing "Sunset Beach," a struggling 2 1/2-year-old NBC-owned soap. This despite the fact that "Sunset Beach" attracts nearly 1 million fewer viewers daily than "Another World," and is the lowest-rated soap of the 11 currently on the air. Although "Another World" consistently attracts more female viewers aged 18-49 (the most sought-after daytime demographic for advertisers) than "Sunset Beach," NBC felt the Aaron Spelling-produced soap opera would have greater long-term youth appeal. Still, NBC's "aging" serial generated much buzz in recent years with the steamy sexual coupling of mature lovers Rachel and Carl. Today, their portrayers, Victoria Wyndham, a 28-year vet, and Charles Keating, a familiar face since 1983, are relieved to be free of NBC and hope never to return to daytime again. "In this medium, if they're going to insist on only writing for children who don't know how to act yet, and they don't want to write for those who are beyond 45, then fine. Goodbye!" fumes Wyndham, who attempted to quit the soap a number of times following Keating's dismissal in early 1998. "Word came down from the brass at NBC that they wanted our show to be more like 'Days of Our Lives,' " adds Keating, "They wanted a teeny-bopper emphasis." Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, executive in charge of production of P&G Productions, a company that in 1959 had 13 different daytime serials on the air, confirms NBC's insistence on taking the "Another World" cast younger. "NBC decided they wanted to target the 12- to 18-year-old audience," says the executive. "I'm not sure that I agree with that as a strategy. Because 'Another World' was not a show that had operated in that realm over the years. It was a struggle to try to deliver to NBC what they wanted. But we truly had pruned the cast, and youthened the cast as they had asked us to do." "We wanted to bring in the next generation," says Susan Lee, senior vice president of daytime programming at NBC. "The show was skewing old and if you don't continue to build your young audience you will have no audience. When you are 25, you don't relate to a 50-year-old's love story. There's a lot of stuff that went down in our research that I wouldn't tell the people on 'Another World' because it would be too painful for them." As a result of NBC's decision, Keating became the last in a long line of senior "Another World" performers released from the serial during its waning years. He did accept an invitation from the show's producers and P&G to return for the final week of episodes. "I was delighted that the bastards hired me back," quips Keating. "But I didn't return to please either Mr. P&G or NBC, but rather it was appropriate to be there. Even if it is not going to be terribly satisfying storywise, the fans need to see this wrapped up." Keating says his wife has flatly refused to purchase any P&G products since his release last year. "My dear Mary told me, 'There are three or four products of theirs I really love--but I'm not buying them.' " For a while there was hope the show might land at another network. Dwyer-Dobbin confirms that ABC had initiated talks to license the show, but a deal could not be reached. As "Another World's" fate seemed sealed, many devastated viewers began waging their own war. On April 23, more than 150 fans protested the show's cancellation outside "The Today Show's" window on the world, though according to protesters, NBC cameramen struggled to keep the disgruntled fans out of camera range. As part of a "Joy to the World" campaign, fans mailed in bottles of Joy dishwashing liquid, a P&G product, to the company, encouraging it to find a new home for the defunct show. Other embittered viewers have pledged to boycott NBC's replacement soap, "Passions." However Kathy Morley, 38, of Port Chester, N.Y., is among a group of more radical fans who have chosen to take their loyalty one step further. Morley vows: "NBC will be effectively wiped out of my life, just as they have wiped out the existence of 'Another World.' " "Another World" fan club president Mindi Schulman said that reaction is typical. "I've received hundreds of letters--after three or four hundred I stopped counting--from viewers who told me they would definitely not watch the new show and were dropping (NBC's) 'Days of Our Lives' and 'Sunset Beach' as well," says the 37-year-old Long Island resident. "I personally want no part of NBC. I was loyal to NBC, but on April 12 when 'Another World' got the cancellation I never watched anything on NBC again."

The viewers who made the P&G soaps popular in the 60s and 70s are now of retirement age, so there would be a built in interest to see the P&G soaps again on one of the TV channels. AOL streamed AW, Texas, SFT, and EON. I would imagine that the saved episodes start with the late 70s, no later than 1980. AW started with the last 90 minute episode and the first 60 minute episode- in August 1980- when Texas debuted. Most of Texas episodes were in tact on AOL. EON episodes were from late 70s/1980. SFT episodes were from 1984. Hulu streamed episodes of AW, GL, and ATWT from the 90s for a brief time. USA Network reran EON from the 80s and SFT from its NBC run. TBS reran Texas cut into half hour episodes, along with the short lived P&G cable soap The Catlins. Whether all this material still exists is the question, and how organized it was kept?!?

I'm shocked that P&G has not made a deal to air their soaps on a retro channel like Antenna TV, MeTV, or Retro TV. One of these channels could air a P&G block of soaps and air P&G commercials during the shows. I would hope that P&G would archive their shows, but it makes you wonder... The Doctors has been airing for a few years on Retro TV and most of the episodes have been well preserved for a show that hasn't been broadcast in 35 years.

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. 😡👎🏻😡