Another World Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

Chuckling at that clip...

 

I'm pretty sure they weren't expecting it to look like an ad for Bay City's hottest gay club.

[cassadine1991]

He still looks good

 

 

Contemplating buying Eight Years in Another World, is it a good buy?

[Khan]

 

Actually, no.

 

http://www.insideoutcompany.com/inside-out-company-team/

[vetsoapfan]

 

I know people who did NOT watch the show during Lemay's reign, and even they enjoyed the book to a degree, but if you WERE a regular viewer during the 1970s, I think you will find Lemay's autobiography quite fascinating.

 

He projects his own negative motivations onto actors he dislikes (and then castigates the performers for them), and his opinions of/reactions to the cast are clearly biased and hypocritical, but his prickly personality is part of what makes the book engrossing.

 

Go for it.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

The book? Yes. It is very insightful. It is a book I find myself reading yearly.

[cassadine1991]

@vetsoapfan Actually Lemay wrote for AW 20 years before I was born. and @Nothin'ButAttitude I keep hearing about this book for so long, are there others?

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Other books by Lemay? No. Other soap books you should read? Yes.

[cassadine1991]

I meant other soap books. I do have the Llanview book Jeff Giles did

[vetsoapfan]

 

There are many soap-related books that a die-hard fan would enjoy, I believe, even if they did not watch daytime TV way back when.

 

Some examples:

 

Reference books like The Wonderful World of TV Soap Operas by Robert LaGuardia, From Ma Perkins to Mary Hartman by Robert LGuardia, The Love of Their Lives by Lynne Rogers, The Complete Soap Opera Book by Madeleine Edmondson and David Rounds, The  Soap Opera Encyclopedia by Christopher Schemering, The Encyclopedia of Daytime TV by Wesley Hyatt, The Guiding Light: A 50th Anniversary Celebration by Christopher Schemering, etc.

 

Novelizations like The Guiding Light by Dr. John Ruthledge (published in 1937, but still findable on eBay and amazon), the Dark Shadows book by Marilyn Ross, etc.

 

Autobiographies like One Life by Ellen Holly (Carla on One Life to Live), Both of Me by Mary Stuart (Jo on Search for Tomorrow and Aunt Meta on The Guiding Light), Portrait of a Soap Star; The Emily McLaughlin Story (written by the late General Hospital actress' daughter, Mary Ann Anderson), etc.

 

These books focus on soaps and stars from the golden era of daytime TV, and favorites are bold-faced.

 

There are many more, but...this is a good start.

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Read Bill Bell's biography that came out a few years ago. It was good. 

 

If you're interested in writing (for soaps), I have Writing For Soap Operas by Jean Rouveral (she wrote for GL, ATWT, & SFT). Writing For Soaps by Chris Curry (of UK soap, Brookside) is good too. 

 

All the books that @vetsoapfan mentioned are great too. 

 

If you like reading the show's history/storylines, look into getting many of the shows' scrapbooks. I got one of UK radio soap, The Archers, and I am enjoying it. I also read up on synopsis of shows from classicsod tumblr page. 

[cassadine1991]

 

thank you both

[adrnyc]

 

It was actually Eplin's request that Jake be killed.  I watched both AW ('87-'95) and ATWT (2000-2010) and remember reading articles at the time that when Eplin decided to leave the show, he was finished with Jake and didn't want anyone else playing him and asked that the character be killed off.  So don't blame Scheffer for Eplin's decision!

 

 

She only bedded Mike because she was wasted.  It was a classic soap trope - a character gets drunk and beds someone that they will regret.  I thought it actually worked and I LOVED how it worked out.  The Jack/Carly wedding in Montana was one of the greatest storyline wrap-ups in soap opera history!!

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I hated it. Yeah, it led to fabulous their reunion in Montana, but the story sucked. 

[adrnyc]

 

Well, I also get the sense that Hogan Sheffer is hated on this board.  I watched ATWT about 7 months before he came on and, although I LOVED the actors, I thought the writing was atrocious.  Then Hogan came on board and everything just worked.  I remember everyone talking at the time how he was one of the greatest writers in soap opera history and how he had taken a floundering ATWT and made it work.  The actors were all nominated left, right and center (one year there were basically only AMC and ATWT actors nominated) for the stellar work they were doing during his tenure.  I'm so out of place here - LOL - I'm also posting about ATWT on the AW thread.  

 

I'm actually currently re-watching the '87-'88 years of AW on YouTube and loving it all over again.  Jason Frame just showed up - can't wait to see Josie and Sharlene!!  (And to return to the Anna Stuart Donna years - Sampler was okay - actually the first Donna I saw as a child - but she doesn't hold up once you've seen Stuart's Donna.)

[victoria foxton]

I liked Hogan's writing until he was paired with Jean. Never knew that it was TE who requested Jake be killed off. Poor Molly was stripped of her husband, beloved twin step daughters and daughter. Molly should've never been paired off with one Carly's former beau's.