Another World Discussion Thread

[robbwolff]

Jake was still around when the story with Mary started. She arrived in August 1986. Jake and Marley married and left Bay City in late September/early October. More importantly, Mary's family were still on the canvas: Vince, Cheryl, Kathleen, and MJ were all in town and featured prominently. When Margaret DePriest took over as head writer in 1986, she discussed her intention to focus the series around the Cory, Love, and McKinnon families.

[GH_Girl]

 

Eek, when Anne Heche turns out to have been the sane Vicky portrayer... but seriously, I hope she gets the help she needs. I doubt jail or probation is going to do the trick though.

[amybrickwallace]

I still can't get over how much Jensen has aged. Her two sons are now grown; I wonder how they are coping. I think her younger son is still in college.

[DRW50]

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[adrnyc]

I'm almost there on my re-watch. Am at June '89.  I'm glad to see episodes keep popping up!

[amybrickwallace]

 

Was Anna Stuart back as Donna at that point?

[watson71]

 

Anna Stuart returned in February 1989- the exact episode was the episode where Jason Frame is murdered.

[adrnyc]

What Watson71 said!  And she was brilliant from the get go. When I was a kid, I started with AW in 1987, just after Philece Sampler took over the role. I enjoyed her as a kid and I was soooooo disappointed when I read in SOD that she had left the show and the original actress was coming back. I clearly remember thinking, after Stuart's first scene back, "Well, I see why everyone loved the old Donna so much!"  I was a fan from that point forward.

[Chadster]

I was just reading on the Another World Home Page that Joseph Barbara played Jordan Stark for a month when they first introduced the character.  I vaguely remember watching and thinking it was him playing the part.  My question is whether he was supposed to do that role the entire time or just until that got David Andrew MacDonald for the part.

[amybrickwallace]

 

It's also been fun watching Anna play the good girl at the beginning of her career thanks to Retro TV. Toni Ferra Powers Stewart of The Doctors couldn't be more different than Donna.

[adrnyc]

 

I so wish I had RetroTV!! I don't, in general, love shows that spend most of their time in a hospital, but it's such an old show, I wouldn't mind checking it out.

[Xanthe]

Jake wasn't the first member of the McKinnon family introduced anyway, and he also wasn't the first one to interact with the Love family. M.J. came first, and she was still in Bay City with an active storyline when Reginald and Mary appeared. Before Jake, M.J.'s teenage brother Ben dated Marley and Donna disapproved, in a mostly general class snobbery way. But since neither family was meant to be new to Bay City there was nothing in the storyline about being surprised the people existed.

 

Reading the AWHP synopses I see that when Ben met Marley at first he let her think he was wealthy. Since they hadn't grown up together and Marley must have been too young to be aware of Mary and Reginald, there is no reason why she should have known anything about the McKinnons. The fact that Jake and Victoria grew up together in Pennsylvania is more peculiar.

[slick jones]

Welcome Chadster and Xanthe! Look forward to reading more posts!

[amybrickwallace]

 

Thanks!!

[j swift]

OK, but wouldn't Peter, Donna and Michael have known Mary and therefore mentioned her to MJ or Ben? 

 

The lack of Michael and Mary/Marissa connection is what really bothered me.  I get that Donna and Peter might not have paid much attention to household staff or recognize a maid sixteen years after she left the house.  However, Reg knew Michael had impregnated Donna so, why wouldn't Mary have known him as well?  Mary's complicity in Reg's plans for Donna's twins seems like a large plot hole in that tale.  Which is why I wondered about a writer's strike or some other change in production that seems to have derailed that story.

 

In my own take on the story I wish Mary had been a GL-Diane-Ballard-type who was always loyal to Reg, even at the expense of her family, and then by reuniting Donna and Michael she found repentance and returned to Vince.  However, running off with a guy for 18 years to South America and living in a villa never seemed to impact Mary's decision to live about a bar with a husband that changed faces three times.

Edited January 26, 2018 by j swift