Another World Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Yes, I forgot about Jeanne! She is another one that people need to study under how to play an alcoholic on TV. I'd add Jordan Clarke (of GL) to the list too as I felt he didn't overplay being a drunk either. 

[watson71]

 

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.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Right. Considering how enormously popular Courtney was on that show, they should have heralded her return. Imagine Susan Lucci coming back to the revamped AMC on Prospect Park, and the commercials that week only exclaiming, "The newbie teens go shopping at a mall...this week, on AMC!"

 

The yawns from the audience would have been heard in jJapan.

[amybrickwallace]

Even though she only played drunk in one episode, Kerry Sherman (Amy Perkins on fellow NBC soap SB) played it perfectly. Amy was drowning her sorrows after having been dumped by her boyfriend.

 

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Getting back to AW, it's sad but so not surprising that the young crop of actors would have no idea who Linda Dano is. Not only that, she and Stephen Schnetzer as Felicia and Cass proved that a man and woman can be just friends.

[watson71]

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.

[teplin]

 

Did this ever play out on screen? I don't recall it -- though I think there was some spy-type nonsense with Michael Hudson at one point. 

[watson71]

 

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.

[teplin]

 

This has always been a mystery to me -- arguably the biggest star in the show's history returns to virtually no promotion and barely any storyline. I really wonder what was going on behind the scenes.

[amybrickwallace]

 

I'm surprised they never actually did this storyline.

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[vetsoapfan]

 

It just shows, once again, how clueless the mainstream media was about daytime dramas, and what made them tick. Claiming that AW's ratings were slipping because it was not pandering to sci-fi-loving viewers is absurd. For the vast majority of the soaps, including AW, the ratings were at their peak when the stories were naturalistic.

 

If the plan was to boost the ratings with Courtney's return, then everyone in charge was an idiot. The show did nothing of substance with her, did not pair her with any viable leading man, and then let her character peter out before finally axing her again. They also had her hair cut in the most unattractive way possible, and gave her some hideous clothes as well. Courtney was a beloved and magnetic actress, but through no fault of her own, Alice's return was an unqualified failure. It still annoys me that writer Gary Tomlin admitted he did not use Courtney effectively during her return, because he really did not know much about the character's history. Well, as HEAD WRITER, isn't it your job to...you know, LEARN?

[watson71]

 

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?

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes, that's what I mean. Ed Trach and Allen Potter should have been smart enough to insist on Courtney's being used better. The fact they were involved with the show during this time does not say much for their competence or decision-making ability.

 

Probably the show's best option would have been to pair Alice with Mac during Rachel's amnesia, particularly if losing her memory caused Rachel to revert back to the old, antagonistic Rachel of yore. A triangle with Courtney, Watson, and Wyndham would have been captivating, if written well.

 

I imagine if Lemay were to be rehired during a period when Courtney was back on the show, the actress would have gotten the heave-ho.

[Soaplovers]

Even though Alice wasn't used well during her year long return, you have to admit she gave it her all.

 

It was like the show was trying to find a place for her during her first months...even testing a Donna/Alice rivalry as well as being a mentor of sorts to thomasina.  I liked that the show didn't resort to Alice/Rachel fighting over a man....but as a doctor...you'd think she'd be in the thick of things.

 

I think maybe 1984 was the wrong time to bring her back...I think the late 80s would have been better... the show had some stablity...and Donna S wrote her quite well during her 2 brief visits in 1989.

[DRW50]

 

She seemed to be Donna Swajeski's type of actress - if you take away the forced kookiness, Frankie was very much a role a young Jacquie Courtney could have played. 

 

(maybe she even would have had chemistry with Stephen Schnetzer...)

[vetsoapfan]

 

For the most part, writer DS did pretty well using the past in her 25th-anniversary episodes. At least she made an obvious effort. I was sorry we did not see any interaction between Courtney and George Reinholt; this was my biggest disappointment, but Courtney's appearances with Wyndham were good.

 

Knowing that so many great scenes from the early 1970s (featuring Courtney, Reinholt, and Wyndham) still existed, I was also sorry that the only flashback given to Alice was one from 1984, when Rachel was in the hospital. It would have been much better to see scenes from 1974, when Rachel tried to kick Alice out of the country house, and Alice went berserk.

 

But yes, it would have been better to bring Alice back permanently in 1989. DS obviously knew more about the history of the character than Gary Tomlin ever did.

 

You know, Courtney had great chemistry with Tom Fuccello, who played her husband Paul Kendall on OLTL, and there was great, easygoing charm between them. Thinking about it now, Schnetzer would very well have brought out the actress' sense of humor on-screen, too, and I'll bet they would have had good chemistry!