Anna Stuart said if the show hadn't been canceled, she wasn't going to renew her contract anyway.

That sucks.

I wish Donna could have kept the snotty edge she had in the beginning where she acted better than everyone else because of her status. I think they made her too weak once Reginald came on. I always hated how Donna was so frightened of her father when she was a grown woman! They could have shown her intimidated by Reginald without making her seem like such a weak little girl and then her breakdown.

From watching clips of that era, I didn't get it either. I know he did heinous things to her but there was no need for her to run around and cower to him. If anything, she should've burst into laughter when Reginald made threats. He came off as mustache twirling IMO.

I never understood why they didn't put Donna and Matt back together at show's end. Both characters were unattached and neither had much of a story up to that point, so what a wasted opportunity not to have them ride off into the sunset together.

I'm one of the few who does not like everyone getting a happy ending at the end of the show. In my mind, the show still carries on much like life and everyone does not get a happy ending at that point. Maybe that is just the pessimist in me.

I was rewatching some of the 25th Anniversary episodes on Youtube. It was fun to see all the history, flashbacks, and also seeds being planted for future story. I always wondered how much of the 4 year stint Donna Swarjeski was her vision vs. Harding Lemay's?

The one thing I noticed was Olivia Matthews being introduced and her eyeing Sam right off the bat while her aunt Pat warned her about making trouble.. and Olivia stating what had happened in the past wasn't her fault.. then Pat saying 'it never is your fault'. To me, it looked like the set-up for Olivia/Sam/Amanda triangle that played out into 1992. It was just like Rachel/Steve/Alice except that the roles were reversed... Rachel's daughter Amanda was the nice one.. while Alice's niece Olivia was the trouble maker. An interesting triangle that was marred by Sam being recast a couple of times.

I also thought it a shame Olivia was never mentioned again after she left in 1992.. she had a couple of important ties still left on the show up through 1999 including her half-sister Josie.. and also the Cory's due to her daughter being Mac's great-grand daughter. Another example of the show not mining its history for story. Though I liked that Olivia wasn't all bad, she had a great friendship with Jenna.. plus close working ties with Dean and Jake as well.

Nowadays, the 'bad' character never seems to have friends or an active life outside of snagging a man/woman.

Agreed. Friendships and family relationships just aren't explored that way anymore. AW, even the last couple of years in its run, still did friendships and family dynamics beautifully. I remember when Matt told Rachel that he had gotten Lila pregnant. Mom wasn't happy but still told her son that she loved him and would stand by him. The one thing I can't remember is who was playing Matt then - if it was Brian Krause or Jeff Phillips. Matt Crane returned after baby Jasmine was born.

I thought Jeff Phillips seemed out of place as Matthew. I was a fan of his on GL but he just didn't seem to fit for me on AW. Brian Krause was okay.

I think the recasts for Amanda and Matthew hurt the show. Was never a big fan of Russell Todd as Jamie either but maybe because I thought the show kind of made Jamie seem like a wimp at that time involved with Marley.

I initially liked the Amanda/Sam/Olivia triangle. It could have worked better though. I was always liked Sam and Amanda in the beginning but thought that Amanda's pregnancy came way too quickly. I thought saddling them with a baby hurt them as a couple. They could have played out the tension of Mitch's brother with Rachel's daughter for a longer time without a child.

I thought Christine Tucci's Amanda was great. I liked Laura Moss' Amanda too. Yeah, they didn't have history like Sandy Ferguson's did but they were decent recasts.

Another World was a show for me that always seemed to recast better than other soaps, so I don't have ill will towards many of their recasts. This show's issue was always story and f*cking up the canon, which didn't occur until about '96 onward.

But to this day, I can still say that the last four years of AW still trumps anything that had been on soaps in the last 7-8 years.

Does anyone know why Jamie was never brought back in the show's final years?

They probably thought he was too old, and Jake, ironically, took his place as Stephen's father.

AW ad around 22 minutes (there are also a few SB ads in this, along with Ian Ziering having the same hairstyle as his mother).

That makes sense. Also, thanks for sharing the clip - I also loved the NBC primetime promos of Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street Blues.

two incredibly well written and acted scenes between Rachel and Mac. WOW. The first clip: this either Harding Lemay's last episodes or Tom King's first episodes without Lemay. The second clip was during DePriest/Racina stint I believe.

Edited February 5, 201510 yr by RavenWhitney

I love seeing the fights between Rachel and Mac. Douglass and Victoria gave everything they had - it felt so real, especially the mocking and cruelty of their jabs in the Lemay material.

They were dynamite. Daytime TV just hasn't been the same without great actors like them.

i agree about Mac and Rachel. Those two were superb. It's too bad that shows don't stick with couples long-term anymore. It's like characters are married for a year or two, divorce, marry someone else and then never remember the others they were married too. It was great watching Mac and Rachel go through their problems and even other relationships but still find their ways back to each other. Mac and Rachel were always the end game and that's why it worked with the audience.

It's too bad that they never found the proper pairing for Linda Dano that they could have had an end game with! Felicia always had decent relationships: Zane, Mitch, Lucas, but there was never anyone that was long-term enough to make him "it" for Felicia. Her long-term "relationship" was Cass.

In a weird way, Cass was Felicia's long-term relationship. I'm just glad that writers never tried to make them more than what they were in later years. By today's soap standard, Cass and Felicia would've fallen in love by now after years of being friends.

But out the men you listed, Lucas (IMO) was Felicia's true endgame. I just hate that they killed him, but his death did go on to serve as a catalyst for AW's last great story--Felicia's alcoholism.

Felicia was very much like the radio soap heroines in that everyone (aside from Cass) came and went from her life while she stayed still. Dano's old school soap acting played into that. I think it helped make the character stand out.

Of all her relationships, I liked Mitch the best.

But I never got the impression that Mitch really loved her. I always felt he was settling with her b/c he couldn't have Rachel. At least with Zane and Lucas, Felicia was 'it' for them.