AW: Happy Anniversary!

[Matt]

43 years ago today, the late, great 'Another World' premiered as a 30 minute soap opera, created by Irna Phillips & Bill Bell, at 3pm in the afternoon on NBC. It had originally been intended as a spin-off of the #1 rated soap opera 'As the World Turns'. The series focused on two branches of the Matthews family, one wealthy and one middle class, and launched with the family mourning the death of wealthy branch patriarch William Matthews. Key original storylines included the budding romance of William's son Bill Matthews and waif Missy Palmer (much to the chagrin of Bill's snotty mother Liz Matthews) as well as Will's sister Janet Matthews affair with married Ken Baxter. Ken's college-aged son Tom Baxter (quite a cad) was involved with Pat Matthews, eldest daughter of middle class patriarch & matriarch Jim & Mary Matthews. When the show ended in 1999 after a run of over 35 years, there was not a Matthews in sight (save for Josie Watts Sinclair, daughter of Jim's son Russ Matthews, but that's a long story) and the primary focus of the show had shifted to the wealthy Cory and Hudson families along with best-friends Cass Winthrop & Felicia Gallant. After it's cancellation, AW lived on via transplants to ATWT as well as re-runs on SoapNet (which, unfortunately, ended recently).

'Another World', you are sorely missed.

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[cody_1990]

Happy 43rd Anniversary Another World, One of the greatest soaps ever!!

[ClassicsSoapFan]

AW is a show that I never really watched but I wish I had.

A couple of weeks ago I got Soapnet and they take it off the air!

What I have seen of it seems like it was agood show. I found a good website devoted to it that I visit from time to time. I enjoy reading about past storylines,etc.The webmaster has done a great job.

Click here to visit.

Wish it was still on the air.

[billyjill]

Happy anniversary AW ... I had *just* found you and now you're gone

[sungrey]

One of the best ever.

[applcin]

My first soap memory was as a toddler...my mother would watch AW and, even though I would not watch it myself until many years later, the very distinctive voice of Douglass Watson's Mac talking to and saying Rachel's name was imprinted in my brain. LOL...if he had said my name at the time I probably would have said "Dada."

We need a classics channel somewhere so badly. I know we have the PGP one online but that is updated so infrequently and doesn't seem to be getting much attention, plus it's hard for some people to get.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Happy Birthday AW! Thanks for becoming NBC's first real dramatic daytime hit, which makes your cancellation even more bothersome!

Truly a classic soap opera that was ahead of its time in many regards.

[vetsoapfan]

For many years in the 1960s and 70s (particularly 1966-76), ANOTHER WORLD was one of the very best dramas on television.

Younger viewers who are only familiar with the low-brow, campy soaps of today (complete with mad scientists freezing the world, divas walking into paintings, and clones gone wrong) possibly cannot even imagine a time when daytime TV presented its audience with adult, well-written drama centering on complex, multi-dimensional characters in relatively realistic situations. We did not need juvenile gimmicks or hype to get our attention; the soaps' portrayal of strong family bonds, their sense of community, and their fascinating character delineation were enough to provide us with absorbing drama that we couldn't help but be entranced by. We were simply hooked by...the great drama!

Even now, I can vividly remember moments from AW that played out on-screen decades ago.

--At Steve's and Alice's engagement party, a nasty, vindictive Rachel cornerning Alice and telling her that she had had an affair with Steven

--Mary Matthews, upon hearing the news of how Rachel had destroyed both her son's and daughter's lives, losing her composure and screaming about how much she hated her daughter-in-law

--Aunt Liz being...well, Aunt Liz, and interfering in everyone else's lives

--Iris Carrington discovering she was NOT her precious daddy's little girl, after all

--Lenore Curtin discovering her husband Walter's ultimate betrayal, and destroying her living room in a fit of rage

--Steven being sent to prison, precipitating Alice's nervous breakdown and Rachel's attempts to gain possession of Alice's country house

--Ada McGowen's surprising late-in-life pregnancy

--The Randolph's marital disintegration, John's affair, and Pat's descent into alcoholism

--Mary Matthews' sudden, unexpected death (before spoilers, it was a total shock, and quite devastating)

And so many more!

It's sad to see that soaps today do not even attempt to provide us with the type of emotionally-rewarding and engrossing material that AW gave us in spades, and which had kept the entire soap opera genre strong and healthy for decades.

Still, we have our memories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXveV969nRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGXUnVIOXMM...ted&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNxqoYB7CPQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkaQof20SHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uppOT18jDxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FtT_6SRM2E

[MichaelGL]

I echo the same sentiments as others; AW was a show I never really was interested in when it was around, but now that it's gone I wish I could have watched more of it, esp. during it's golden years.

[Scotty]

Well I never watched Another World, but I think it's always sad when a soap gets cancelled.

So, happy anniversary!