11 hours ago, Efulton said:

Why weren’t you the head writer!?? 😀

 

Seriously!! 😉😊

On 1/8/2018 at 8:02 AM, adrnyc said:

 

Speak for yourself. I was one of the many people I knew who watched AW during Swajeski's time and LOVED the show. 

 

 

Exactly! I had no idea people didn't like Swajeski's tenure on AW until I came on this board. Everyone I know speaks of that time with glee, appreciation, and so much love. 

I think her time was special due to her acquiring Harding Lemay's bible but I am not going to discredit her at all.  I really enjoyed her years from 88-90

On 1/7/2018 at 11:44 PM, j swift said:

I think Iris as the Chief is a great reveal without a great motivation.  I get that Texas is non-canonical to the AW universe but Iris's return negates her time in Houston.  She didn't need the cash, Dennis's inheritance was intact, and she had evolved from Mac's baby girl.  Texas-Iris lacked the passion and the confidence for business to pull off that scheme.  That's why she was never a threat to takeover World Oil; or Marshall Oil or whatever it was called.

 

The other obvious flaw in the story was Evan.  His connection to Janice was told so dubiously it seemed like the writers were trying to decide his actual origin after the character was introduced.  Replacing the actor did not help the character.  It was a classic soap problem, the exposition about the character is that he is a charming lout but then on screen he is depicted as a weasel.

I thought the Evan introduction was obvisious from the beginning.  Not so much he being Janice Frame's son but that there was more to him being involved in the takeover emotionally and Harding Lemay is the writer who wrote him in so it was obvious.  His real name is Earl Battis.  That was last name of Janice's first husband and announced back in the 70's so it was clear, after it was announced what his real name was that he was written into the show to be a Frame

On 1/9/2018 at 8:19 PM, Efulton said:

While I enjoyed Donna Swajeski’s four year run as head writer it was not amazing.  It was a relief to have one vision long enough for storylines to actually play out. 1989 and 1991 were two of my favourite years in the 23 years I watched Another World. I loved that she kept Rachel and her children / stepchildren front and centre.  She built a new generation of Frames.  Donna, Felicia, Jake and Cass had storylines.  She created some great characters - Frankie, Lucas, Lorna, Paulina, Ryan, Grant - and couples - Felicia & Lucas, Jenna & Dean, Ryan and Vicky, John & Sharlene. I thought she wrote incredible returns for Kathleen, Carl and Cecile.  I’ve watched the episodes from the 25th anniversary and Mac’s death multiple times and they hold up

well.  On the flip side the show could be quite boring under her pen.  She botched the opportunity to rebuild the Matthews family with the return of Russ,  the introduction of Olivia and the revelation that Josie was his daughter. Why were the Matthews doomed!!?? Sigh.  

I always thought the best writing would have been after Mac died, why not get Rachel and Russ back together.  At least it would be original old time characters back and they should have had JC come back as Alice and resurrect Sally alive.  It would have put the Matthews family back on the map but it seems like many writers did not care so much about them.  I would even suggest Harding Lemay did not even put a major emphasis on that family.  It is too bad

It's interesting to read everyone's reactions to Swajeski's time on the show. As I said, I grew up watching Another World 1987-1994(ish)  My entire family watched the show, and then pretty much the entire theater department in college watched it once I got there and introduced them to it. We all LOVED it and were obsessed with it. It has clearly been a LONG time since the show aired and I'm only going off of my memories right now.

 

As I'm only about 6 months into her time on my re-watch (June 1989), I've only really seen the re-introduction of Iris, the Jason Frame murder mystery, and now I'm slowly making my way through Mac's death. (It's difficult for me to get through as it is hitting me as much as when I was in high school. I can only cry so much before I take a few weeks off.)  I'll be interested to see if my feelings for Swajeski's time remain as positive now.

 

Many thanks to everyone who taped the Soapnet run and took the time to upload the episodes to the internet. It's wonderful to enjoy daily soap operas again!

On 1/12/2018 at 6:09 PM, denzo30 said:

I always thought the best writing would have been after Mac died, why not get Rachel and Russ back together. 

 

Only if there had been a recast -- David Bailey's Russ was stultifyingly dull. 

 

1 hour ago, adrnyc said:

My entire family watched the show, and then pretty much the entire theater department in college watched it once I got there and introduced them to it.

 

Your theater department would have really gone nuts over Harding Lemay's 70s-era AW.

Can we discuss the Jason Frame murder for a second?  In my opinion, it was another great idea that was poorly executed.

 

This is all from memory so please feel free to fill in the gaps.  However, the murder in the hall of mirrors feels like a GL ripoff.  The introduction of a Michael/Iris backstory is an unnecessary red herring.  Finally, the Nicole reveal comes out of nowhere.  As an audience, I recall that we knew that Nicole was guilty a few days before the reveal but there was no prior groundwork that would have marked Nicole as the culprit.  I love a surprise reveal but I think it has to be earned and in this case it felt random.

 

Nicole Love is a missed opportunity of a character.  In her first iteration as a drug addicted model she could have been an excellent counterpart for Vicky Hudson; old money promiscuity vs new money hussy.  I would have liked to see the Reginald/Mary reveal through Nicole's eyes as she was the youngest Love sibling.  Philece Sampler may have also been a better Nicole than a Donna recast.   

44 minutes ago, j swift said:

Can we discuss the Jason Frame murder for a second?  In my opinion, it was another great idea that was poorly executed.

 

This is all from memory so please feel free to fill in the gaps.  However, the murder in the hall of mirrors feels like a GL ripoff.  The introduction of a Michael/Iris backstory is an unnecessary red herring.  Finally, the Nicole reveal comes out of nowhere.  As an audience, I recall that we knew that Nicole was guilty a few days before the reveal but there was no prior groundwork that would have marked Nicole as the culprit.  I love a surprise reveal but I think it has to be earned and in this case it felt random.

 

Nicole Love is a missed opportunity of a character.  In her first iteration as a drug addicted model she could have been an excellent counterpart for Vicky Hudson; old money promiscuity vs new money hussy.  I would have liked to see the Reginald/Mary reveal through Nicole's eyes as she was the youngest Love sibling.  Philece Sampler may have also been a better Nicole than a Donna recast.   

 

I just watched the entire storyline last fall and I have to say that the Nicole reveal does not come out of nowhere. First of all, she is all over Jason in the weeks leading up to the murder. He terrorizes her over the fact that he killed their mother. Also, he had been attacking Cass, and Nicole had been begging Jason to leave Cass alone. I had watched the murder storyline as a kid and, during this re-watch, I thought to myself "How on earth did I, and other people, not see that Nicole killed him. It's clear as day!!"

 

After the murder, she is always crying, and begging Cass to help Felicia so she doesn't go to jail. Her guilty feelings are just so obvious, it's ridiculous. It's like that movie The Sixth Sense - when you know the twist, it seems so obvious during a re-watch that you assume other people are going to figure it out immediately. The only thing was...the writers were holding out so many other attractive carrots - Iris, Vicky, Jake, John, Sharlene - that the audience was too busy being distracted to notice the way Nicole was behaving. 

 

It really holds up as one of the best murder mysteries ever done on a soap opera. The reveal is so brutal and the actors provide gut-wrenching work in the scenes where Cass confronts Nicole. 

48 minutes ago, j swift said:

Can we discuss the Jason Frame murder for a second?  In my opinion, it was another great idea that was poorly executed.

 

This is all from memory so please feel free to fill in the gaps.  However, the murder in the hall of mirrors feels like a GL ripoff.  The introduction of a Michael/Iris backstory is an unnecessary red herring.  Finally, the Nicole reveal comes out of nowhere.  As an audience, I recall that we knew that Nicole was guilty a few days before the reveal but there was no prior groundwork that would have marked Nicole as the culprit.  I love a surprise reveal but I think it has to be earned and in this case it felt random.

 

Nicole Love is a missed opportunity of a character.  In her first iteration as a drug addicted model she could have been an excellent counterpart for Vicky Hudson; old money promiscuity vs new money hussy.  I would have liked to see the Reginald/Mary reveal through Nicole's eyes as she was the youngest Love sibling.  Philece Sampler may have also been a better Nicole than a Donna recast.   

 

I liked the Jason Frame murder because it was a big umbrella story that built up for months before it happened and involved the entire cast. Jason knew Iris was The Chief.  Jason knew that Evan was Janice's son.  Jason knew that Steven could be Jake's baby.  Jason knew Sharlene's prostitute past. Jason was remodeling Felicia's apartment and gave Felicia a gun to protect herself from Derrick who was stalking her.  Viewers already knew that Jason would be killed and Felicia would be blamed because she had his gun.    

 

All these secrets that Jason had on everyone were exposed during Felicia's murder trial.  We found out that Iris was The Chief- this created great scenes between Mac and Iris shortly before Mac's death.  Derrick was revealed to be a foster child that grew up in the Grady household, and he accidentally murdered Fanny/Felicia's abusive father, etc.  This served as a springboard for introducing Lucas and Felicia finding her daughter, etc.

 

At first, we did not know if Nicole was the killer because she was wearing Vicky's earrings the night of the murder.  The character of Nicole was sacrificed so that Cass could be paired with Frankie.   Nicole was never heard from again.  She was forgotten by the show, just like Donna's brother Peter was.

 

How was the fact that Jason Frame never existed in the original Frame story of the 70s ever explained?

3 hours ago, adrnyc said:

I just watched the entire storyline last fall and I have to say that the Nicole reveal does not come out of nowhere. First of all, she is all over Jason in the weeks leading up to the murder. He terrorizes her over the fact that he killed their mother. Also, he had been attacking Cass, and Nicole had been begging Jason to leave Cass alone. I had watched the murder storyline as a kid and, during this re-watch, I thought to myself "How on earth did I, and other people, not see that Nicole killed him. It's clear as day!!"

Point taken, the whole story may deserve a re-watch

 

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

How was the fact that Jason Frame never existed in the original Frame story of the 70s ever explained?

I don't know what you mean?  Originally Steve had no siblings but once Lemay provided the new backstory Jason was one of the sibs introduced while Steve was still alive.  I know he was around during the Janice storyline.

 

I do precisely recall that Linda Dano was hosting her lifetime talk show Attitudes at the time of the Jason Frame murder trial.  As I recall on the talk show there was much discussion about Linda's bob hairdo that was actually a weave.  I also have a vague recollection that there was an episode where Linda went upside down and parts of her weave fell out.  I do not recall if the weave made it through the trial but I am eager to see it on my re-watch.

 

But for me, AW will always be about Willis Frame and Robert Delaney; two intense guys who could design and build you a house, they were devoted to their women, and they were too smart for damsels in distress.  Soaps don't build 'em like that anymore.

13 minutes ago, j swift said:

Point taken, the whole story may deserve a re-watch

 

I don't know what you mean?  Originally Steve had no siblings but once Lemay provided the new backstory Jason was one of the sibs introduced while Steve was still alive.  I know he was around during the Janice storyline.

 

I do precisely recall that Linda Dano was hosting her lifetime talk show Attitudes at the time of the Jason Frame murder trial.  As I recall on the talk show there was much discussion about Linda's bob hairdo that was actually a weave.  I also have a vague recollection that there was an episode where Linda went upside down and parts of her weave fell out.  I do not recall if the weave made it through the trial but I am eager to see it on my re-watch.

 

But for me, AW will always be about Willis Frame and Robert Delaney; two intense guys who could design and build you a house, they were devoted to their women, and they were too smart for damsels in distress.  Soaps don't build 'em like that anymore.

Was Jason mentioned before his arrival in 1987?  I thought that the show wanted Chris Robinson to play one of the Frame brothers who had already appeared by Chris wanted to play a new character so they created Jason.  

I confuse Jason and Vince Frame, and according to the AW HomePage Jason first arrives in '87, so I defer to others on this one,

 

Is this timeline correct? Reginald and Elizabeth Love had three kids.  In 1969 Elizabeth and Jason had an affair and she was murdered.  Then, Reginald hired Mary McKinnon, in the early 70's, while Jake and his side of the family stayed in Lassiter. Mary and Vince McKinnon had three kids and lived in Bay City near Ada.  Later Reg and Mary have an affair and they leave town for South America. All of that was back story later added to the Love cannon.

 

My question is: does the timeline fit into the story of how the Love's were introduced?  I know Donna, Marley, and Peter lived in the house, then Carl stole their money but somehow they got it back.  However, wasn't Reg around before Mary?  Did he just never mention that he has a wife in South America? I know Jake never mentioned having family in Bay City before his cousins were introduced and although they were close I guess Jake never visited his cousins in his youth.

Edited January 16, 20187 yr by j swift

4 hours ago, j swift said:

I confuse Jason and Vince Frame, and according to the AW HomePage Jason first arrives in '87, so I defer to others on this one.

 

Right. As created by Agnes Nixon, Steven Frame was an only child, but when Harding Lemay took over the reigns in 1971, he had the character admit to Alice that he had several siblings. One of his brothers was named Otis, who showed up in Bay City in 1978 and announced that he wanted to be called Vince from then on because he disliked his original name. We also saw Willis, who had arrived in Bay City in 1975.

 

The original siblings were: brothers Steven, Otis/Vince, Willis and Norman Frame, and sisters Emma, Janice, and Sharlene Frame.

 

Jason Frame never existed way back then. He was a re-write by later writers.

 

 

Edited January 16, 20187 yr by vetsoapfan

13 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Right. As created by Agnes Nixon, Steven Frame was an only child, but when Harding Lemay took over the reigns in 1971, he had the character admit to Alice that he had several siblings. One of his brothers was named Otis, who showed up in Bay City in 1978 and announced that he wanted to be called Vince from then on because he disliked his original name. We also saw Willis, who had arrived in Bay City in 1975.

 

The original siblings were: brothers Steven, Otis/Vince, Willis and Norman Frame, and sisters Emma, Janice, and Sharlene Frame.

 

Jason Frame never existed way back then. He was a re-write by later writers.

 

 

Jason Frame did not exist and I think the writers did want to Robinson to play an existing sibling already.  I am guessing Willis since he acted much like the character especially the blackmail to Sharlene about her past.  Norman Frame?  When was Norman Frame ever mentioned on the show?  I recall after Dean Frame arrived he mentioned his fathers name as Henry.  Another Frame never mentioned before.  They never actually said either if he was the sibling of one of the original Frame siblings or maybe just a cousin.  

18 hours ago, j swift said:

I confuse Jason and Vince Frame, and according to the AW HomePage Jason first arrives in '87, so I defer to others on this one,

 

Is this timeline correct? Reginald and Elizabeth Love had three kids.  In 1969 Elizabeth and Jason had an affair and she was murdered.  Then, Reginald hired Mary McKinnon, in the early 70's, while Jake and his side of the family stayed in Lassiter. Mary and Vince McKinnon had three kids and lived in Bay City near Ada.  Later Reg and Mary have an affair and they leave town for South America. All of that was back story later added to the Love cannon.

 

My question is: does the timeline fit into the story of how the Love's were introduced?  I know Donna, Marley, and Peter lived in the house, then Carl stole their money but somehow they got it back.  However, wasn't Reg around before Mary?  Did he just never mention that he has a wife in South America? I know Jake never mentioned having family in Bay City before his cousins were introduced and although they were close I guess Jake never visited his cousins in his youth.

The Love/ Mckinnons were written into the show in the early mid 80's and never were they seen or talked about during the 60's or 70's.  They just wrote it in as if they existed for a long time just like Jason Frame who was never mentioned or seen up until 1987

On 1/7/2018 at 5:12 AM, SFK said:

Linda has said that she didn't want Felicia to be a bitch, she admits to her own issues with wanting to be "liked".  I think TPTB took this to heart and went in a more sympathetic direction with the character.  Felicia was inspired by Jacqueline Susann, and the role was first offered to Jane Elliot.

Rae and Tracy's scenes on GH were so delicious, made even moreso by this shared history.

 

As talented an actress Jane Elliot is, I can never imagine her as Felicia. I can't see her playing "Chopsticks" with Liberace, hanging out with Wallingford or dressing up as a nun along with Cecile. No offense, but she doesn't have the warmth of Linda Dano.

Edited June 14, 20205 yr by amybrickwallace

Here is a brief background on Jason Frame:  

 

In the late 1960s, Jason Frame was a horse trainer for the Love family.  He was in love with Elizabeth Love.  When Reginald found out about the affair, Reginald murdered Elizabeth, then Reginald faked his death in Egypt with the assistance of Andrew Hutchins, Carl's father.  Jason left Bay City and joined the Navy. Jason claimed to be in the Navy for over 20 years; however, it was revealed that he was dishonorably discharged on suspicion of treason for selling arms to the Viet Cong.