Another World Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

 

Aside from one instance in which Paul Rauch said Courtney objected to a proposed Alice/Willis storyline,  Jacquie Courtney was not publicly accused of being a troublemaker or causing run-ins on the set. George Reinholt, on the other hand, was said to have been a pain in the neck by several people on both AW and OLTL. Courtney and Wyndham both praised each other at the time they initially worked together and years later, so I doubt there was friction between them. For the 25th anniversary, I think that including vintage flashbacks of their work together from earlier years would have shown both actresses in a positive light (their performances in the early-mid 1970s had been sensational), and made longtime fans very happy. I would have preferred to see a Steve-Alice reunion or even just those classic Alice-Steven-Rachel clips on the anniversary than scenes between Lau and Reinholt, who shared neither history nor chemistry.

Edited January 20, 2019 by vetsoapfan

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I'm sure I am rehashing something we've talked about at length previously, but AW did a lot of recasting in the 80s. I only watched '84-'87 or '88 regularly during that era but there were 3 Marley/Victorias, 3 Peters, 3 Nicoles, 2 Sallys, 2 Donnas, 2 MJs, 2 Jamies, 2 Vinces, 2 Blaines... Not to mention that Cecile and Iris who I saw were replacements. The replacement MJ and Jamie and the last 2 Peters seemed to be efforts to completely change the characters. There was little or no resemblance to the previous characters. I know, mostly through this site, that this was a turbulent era for the show and so much was just thrown against the wall to see what would stick.

[DRW50]

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[SFK]

 

Years ago on the WoST website, a fan of '70s AW said that there was an IATSE issue related to door building. I can't speak to the veracity of this as I'm not on that side of the business. But apparently there was some sort of union snag that necessitated some sets never showing a front door, characters being heard or announced offstage before entering.

[j swift]

 

I remember a large entry hall with the stairs to the upstairs rooms before the living room that often interfered with the actual view of the door.  However, for years the opening included images of the Cory's greeting guests as Amanda's debutante ball showed the outside of the front door.  An obviously, as one visual sign of the decline, the front door was visible during the final montage of the Cory living room.

[pdm1974]

I always thought Jake and Vicky were a mistake. They worked better as longtime friends.

[chrisml]

I have always heard how good Beverlee McKinsey was as Iris, but I've never seen her work. I'm only familiar with Carmen Duncan's Iris, and I found her to be exceptional during the whole "the chief" storyline. Was Iris's story changed to explain Duncan's accent or did Iris already know she was adopted? Sorry if this is a basic question, but I'm new and couldn't find the info.

[pdm1974]

I believe Iris was led to believe she adopted at one point, but then it was retconned and she was once again Mac's bio dad. I'm not sure if they ever explained that accent. Although, I do agree that Carmen Duncan was great at the beginning. The writing didn't serve her well later. Rachel and she should have remained strong rivals (such as OLTL's Viki and Dorian) throughout the show's run.

[BuckyB12]

The reveal of Iris's adoption was a huge story in the late 70s. When Amanda was born, Iris overheard Mac saying that Amanda was his firstborn child, which sent Iris into a tailspin. She sought out her birth mother, Sylvie Kosloff, who was a famous fashion designer, but she had grown up "lower class," which horrified Iris.

 

It wasn't until the recast in the late 80s that Lemay's original story was rewritten and now Sylvie and Mac had had a previously-unrevealed affair which resulted in Iris, whose adoption was arranged by Mac's first wife who never told him that Iris was his bio daughter.  I could be wrong, but I don't think Mac and Sylvie ever acknowledged previously knowing each other in the 70s.

 

Of course, by then we had already met Sandy, another unknown son, and soon after, Paulina, after Mac's death. Not only that, but when the Love family was first introduced, there were hints that Mac had been very close to their mother and that one of the four Love siblings might have been fathered by Mac. I think a change in writers caused that idea to be dropped (and of course, we didn't know then that Marley was Donna's daughter, or that there was a twin). 

 

In some ways, Donna was a replacement character for Iris since the first attempt, Miranda Bishop (Judith McConnell), didn't work out a few years earlier.

Edited January 23, 2019 by BuckyB12

[pdm1974]

Does anyone remember how the Love family was first introduced? Did it start with Donna?

[BuckyB12]

I think Peter was first, coming in to work with Cass, and being set up with either Sally or Julia. Not sure how long after that until we met the rest of them - there may have been another writing change (there were a lot of them in the early to mid-80s).

[pdm1974]

AW went through tons of changes during the early 80s. It feels like many characters (and actors) came and went at lightning speed as they were trying to slow the ratings decline.

 

I can't remember what was said to happen to Donna, Nicole, and Peter's mother. Does anyone recall?

 

I feel like AW was trying to recreate Stefano on DAYS with Reginald.

[BuckyB12]

I wasn't watching 5 days a week at that time, so I don't recall much of what was said about the Love's mother (was she Elizabeth? I can't recall). I'm pretty sure that Mac must have talked about her at some point, as part of the storyline that never happened. And whatever was said at the time, it was very possibly contradicted a few years later when Reginald returned from the dead with his grand passion, Mary McKinnon.

 

And yes, Reginald does have a bit if Stefano in him, though I'd say Carl Hutchins turned out to be the more capable villain (who never should have been reformed).

Edited January 23, 2019 by BuckyB12

[Efulton]

 

Jason Frame told Nicole that he and her mother Elizabeth were friends when he worked for the Love's as a horse trainer. The Love children thought their mother had committed suicide.  However,  in 1988 they found out that Reginald killed her as Jason was blackmailing Reginald about it. I just watched these episodes on YouTube. 

 

 

Peter was the first to show up as an employee at Cory Publishing.  In the beginning he and Cass had a bit of rivalry over Sally Frame.  Then Donna, Perry, Nicole, Marley, Victoria and finally Reginald arrived in this order.

 

Here is Anna Stuart's first episode. She shows up at 32 mins.

 

So many of my favourite characters are in this episode.  It also the first episode where Peg Murray (Olga AMC) was filling in for Connie Ford as Ada.

 

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1983 and d1984 were such good years for the show.  I rewatched what is available of these years on YouTube last year and they hold up very well.  It is so frustrating that it all went to Hell in 1985.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by Efulton

[pdm1974]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

It's great to see Anna Stuart's first episode.

 

Outside of Jake and Kathleen, the McKinnon's didn't seem to really pan out. It felt like they didn't know what to do with Mary once she reunited with Vince.