There were quite a few recasts and dismissals in the first few years.

Which do you think were warranted?

Were any of the recasts improvements?

Making so many changes at the start immediately gives the impression that there is a sense of failure and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

20 hours ago, Khan said:

If you want to "break new ground" and depict the turbulent goings-on at an Ivy League-ish university (which isn't really breaking new ground, amirite, BRIGHT PROMISE?), then write that. If you want to explore the socioeconomic and other differences among several families in a small East Coast town, then write that. But you can't write 'em both, especially on a brand-new show that's only 30 minutes (or so) and is filled with characters whom the audience doesn't know or care about.

I don't think the show was ever really intended to be a college soap. I know we've discussed this before, but there was not a strong emphasis on the college in those early episodes. There were stories set in the college, but not necessarily about the college. Roger's appointment to president was about political ambitions and pitting Jack's father vs. Lily's father as a layer of the Slater story and Garth positioned to be possibly a threat to Merrill / Roger's romance. All the college football stuff seemed to be background for Rita Mae and Billy's marital turmoil having Billy not fulfilling Rita Mae sexually while her husband surrounds himself with young studs.

The opening story about the prostitution does hint at the kind of drama that could have been examined. Even the aborted AIDS storyline could have dovetailed into the issues of college funding with a conservative college board and backers. I do think Nixon had intended the Lorna / Doug storyline to be much bigger than it was even though it was only hinted at in the bible. Lorna accusing Doug of sexual misconduct. Additional, the drug ring story was also aborted.

In addition, when FOX launched Tribes in 1990, Agnes Nixon was solicited for a quote on her thoguhts about a high school soap opera. Nixon bluntly stated that she personally didn´t know how to make that work because the characters would always age out of the high school. This would be the same with a college soap.

Having attended a small state university in upper New England in the early 2000s, I can say the idea of the town vs. the college should have been a bigger deal. The idea of the monied students (and some of the poorer scholarship counterparts) against the everyday citizens of the town who may have been aggravated by the students privilege but dependent on them frequenting their business is a level of tension that could easily fuel drama.

20 hours ago, Khan said:

I think Douglas Marland stayed as long as he did at ATWT, because he finally had an EP (well, two) who supported him and his writing fully. AFAIK, he didn't have the kinds of fights with Robert Calhoun or Laurence Caso that he had had with the producers at all his other gigs. They just left him and his work alone and concentrated on producing the show.

I hadn´t considered the EP element. That would make complete sense.

16 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

There were quite a few recasts and dismissals in the first few years.

Which do you think were warranted?

Were any of the recasts improvements?

Making so many changes at the start immediately gives the impression that there is a sense of failure and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I think it´s hard for me to judge whether or not the dismissals were warranted when there were so many iconic characters who came after the show's opening months who were incredibly signifcant to the story in the long run (Shana, Dane, Ava, Kate, Harry, Gwyn, Trisha, Steve).

I think cutting Rita Mae and Billy was smart. I don't think they brought anything unique. I did like what I've seen of Rita Mae's affair with much younger man Tony Perrilli from the end of her run. Tom Lignon looks great jogging in place in his short shorts in some of the Italian clips, but that's not enough to build a storyline around unless your James E. Reilly.

Also, I think how they handled Roger Forbes was smart. They recasted and tried to enhance the story by pairing Merrill with Warren Hodges, the DA who prosecuted Jack Forbes and was considering vying for the same open political seat that Roger was. I think John Shearin has that boyish charm that people associate with JFK, but Peter Brown had more an air of authority. I could see Peter Brown holding his own against Anthony Herrera's Dane, but Shearin less so. Leaving Roger presumed dead left the story thread closed enough to move forward, but open enough to revisit when it suited the story.

On that note, shifting from Merrill Vochek to Shana Sloane was smart. I think Agnes Nixon's vision for Merrill Vochek was very provocative; she had no intention of settling down with Rgoer or any man. Her fears were rooted in her mother's death (in childbirth when delivering Merrill). In what is showing up in the Italian episodes, Merrill is more determined to land Roger for herself, which is not as interesting as I think Roger wanting Merrill and Merrill not wanting to setttle down and play house. This would have destroyed Roger's political career, whcih would have shifted him back to Anne. While Anne and Merrill were intiially friends, Shana and Anne were more acrimonious from fairly early on (at least when Callan White assumes the role). Pivoting the emergence of a stronger, business minded Anne in the wake of the arrival of her secret half-sister Shana after Anne's own issue of marital infidelity works well. Positioning PTSD sufferer Mike Donovan, Anne own's brief extramarital fling and Jim Vocek's best friend, as the centerpiece of their romantic tension was just smart. In addition, you have Dane Hammond, biological father of Anne's adopted son Jack by her college bestie Linda Henderson, Cabot's rival, and Shana's confidant, weaving his way in and out of their story with his own sense of law and justice against Dane's questionable gray morality. It feels a little bit tighter than the original storyline and fixed some of the issues in the bible (Anne's lack of prominence when her family is so prominent, for one).

I don't think there was much use to keeping June Slater in a prominent role as a lot of her story would have paralleled Anne's (the alcoholism, starting over her husband's death). I do think it would have been neat to have her as a boarder at Kate's in 1984 as Ava sets out to snag Jack Forbes with June's story as a tale of caution for her. Maybe June could have been involved with Harry Sowalsky (June had a taste for the wrong men) and acted as a defacto mother to Steve with her own child still locked away in a hospital. I think I also would have given her a smaller position, maybe a secretary at AE and a talk to for someone like Curtis.

I'd argue that Lily Slater should have come back in mid-1986 when Stacey and Jack are married with Stacey's pregnant with her first child and Ava and Curtis are on the verge of a divorce. Lily and Curtis reconnecting (instead of Curtis and Lotty) would have made more sense. I think Lily wouldn't be Gwyn's ideal choice for a bride so you could play the Gwyn / Curtis / Lily triangle. I also wonder if you could have done Steve / Lily as a distraction from Steve / Trisha instead of Steve / Cece.

I think weaving the Donovans in and out was smart, but I don't think they should have been abandoned in the mid-1980s. I think Mike could have returned in early 1987 for the Nick Dinatos murder which could have pitted him against Shana while you could play Mike / Anne during the Harry / Anne / Gwyn triangle.