ANOTHER LIFE

[DRW50]

I'm finally trying to get through more of the early episodes again. I've watched 70-79 so far. I am still annoyed at not having any material from the first 69 episodes to help understand the atmosphere of where 70 starts out. The most we get is a few flashbacks - the car crash, and then a few episodes later, a brief glimpse at Lori and Russ in the waves. Looking at my old comments I see that we eventually get some flashbacks of Becky and Lori as well.

The acting still isn't the best, but I appreciate that some of the bad actors are at least more over the top in entertaining ways, and the lack of mousy women who were cast in most of the younger female roles later on. Lori #1 has a very golly gosh delivery but that's balanced out by a certain screen presence. 

Susan Scannell is such a standout - very believable as an anti-heroine, especially those '40s-style glances of regret and sorrow. And she and Russ have such a natural connection. 

Episode 76 has a number of scenes that were likely filmed in an actual hospital, including an operating room. The realism made me more invested in the material than I would have been otherwise. 

It makes story sense to have Terry face a crisis of faith few could imagine, losing her mother and husband, but Scott isn't bad at all - he's a believable enough stalwart face for goodness and righteousness. I wonder if they decided he and Terry served the same purpose. 

Terry's mother remains bewildering to me. Nora often seems like a sitcom character or what you get in the old Archie comics where Ms. Grundy or Mr. Weatherbee would try to be hip to annoy the kids. She has lines like (about Peter): "A bit fresh, maybe - full of beans. I'd rather have that than a greasy grind." Her relationship with Peter is interesting in that I've rarely if ever seen a grandparent/grandchild relationship like it on a soap - she tries to be his pal yet also seems to struggle with empathy for him, laying into him over his daring to be upset and angry that his sister may die.

I notice the dialogue in general is snappier and self-aware than later on - characters cracking jokes to each other or making references to the real world. I was surprised when Becky and Russ joked about her paying for his meal was a part of the ERA. Nora saying that Vince Cardello sounds like "a name mystery writers used to give racketeers." 

There are other kinds of dialogue I never would have expected. Some of the talk between Nick Trench and his "secretary" Mandy was surprisingly blunt, between his pretty much saying he'd passed her around to other men and then her assuming that the money Russ had needed to help Lori was to pay for an abortion (and they even used the word). In another early episode, Miriam casually uses a racial slur as part of the story with her lover Norm, who apparently has the psycho Vietnam vet story that was so de rigeur. In order to show his decayed mental state, we get a lot of stock footage from Vietnam. I have read about the show over the years (mainly on here) and remembered a lot of stuff I'd completely forgotten, but I'm not sure I had ever heard of this story. I wonder how much was told in the first 69 episodes. Nothing against the taste of Bob Aaron, but I find this type of material more offensive than someone being cured of cancer via laser beam.

Lois Robbins is such a striking figure as Mandy. Awful to learn why she did not last long.

The story with Russ being blackmailed over Lori's treatment costs and the Davidsons finding out is moving much faster than I'd expected. I wonder if that was a response to the complaints of the earlier stories dragging out too much.

I did not fully realize there were so many flawed or outright wicked characters in these early episodes. The Davidsons, the Redlons, and the town doctor, and Jeff's wife Liz. In contrast, you have layers upon layers of characters who range from troubled but somewhat good (like Russ and Becky) and get darker and darker and darker, to the point where the whole town seems to be teeming with sickness. This tone is typical of some Christian media, but I suppose some elements are also hallmark of Roy Winsor. It gets very thick at some points. I would love to know what his plans would have been if he hadn't been fired.

The article @Paul Raven posted earlier where Winsor (or Aaron - I can't remember) did not want to have introductory scenes where Scott and Terry spoke about when they were saved is very interesting to me because I think that would have been a much better fit for the show than the efforts at weaving in religion that we got in some of the earliest available episodes (like Terry and Scott refusing to let Lori be operated on as soon as possible because of "waiting for a miracle"). 

I know Jeff and Liz don't stay on very long after Jeff is born again, but I do hope we get some of those beats, because Jeff here is AWFUL, a deeply repulsive figure. They really lay it on thick, especially when he says he doesn't even care about Lori moments after learning that she had nearly died in a car accident. I wonder if he was always planned to be saved and that's why they were laying it on so thick, or if anything changed along the way. 

I see that years ago I mentioned in here that there may have been plans to give Jeff, Liz and their daughter a spinoff. I have no idea where I heard that (it may have been on the very nice, long defunct Youtube channel where I first saw many of these episodes), and if it was ever true. That could have been interesting, I guess - maybe traveling the road like that Touched by an Angel spinoff no one remembers. 

This was never posted in here, I don't think. Susan Scannell Locher Room interview. She talks here and there about Another Life, all positive memories. I'm glad to see a few AL fans in the comments, which I wouldn't have expected in 2022. Around 32 minutes in she shares her answer to where she thinks Becky would be today.

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Edited February 15 by DRW50

[Maxim]

I wouldn't have the time to check this show out sadly... but I'm enjoying reading your take on it. Fascinating.   

[DRW50]

@dc11786 is the best at giving fleshed out review/story speculation but I'm glad my thoughts were at least somewhat coherent. If I have time to go through more, I might keep adding my opinions.

[Khan]

Whenever I have the time to sit down and watch clips on YT, I'm always impressed at how professional the production appeared to be, even though the show was taped in VA and likely didn't have a large budget.

[Soaplovers]

I haven't watched it in awhile, but i was surprised at how many topics and out of the box stories were covered in this soap.

I loved one conversation Lori had with Terry about pre marital sex and how things were changing and how conflicted she was.  It was more realistic then what the other soaps were doing.

Lastly, if I recall, Miriam became such a naunced character...and some think her leaving in 1984 was a blow to the show.

One of the final stories that got cut short due to the show being canceled was role playing army games at the campus, and one of the students started taking it too seriously.  I was intrigued to see where the story would have gone.