On 6/23/2019 at 9:34 AM, NothinButAttitude said:

 

I will say this until I am blue in the face, but I always felt that the cancellation of Another World was the beginning of the end of this genre. 

 

Another World was the head, Guiding Light was the heart, and As the World Turns was the soul. Once all 3 of them went back to back to back, this genre became a hollow shell of itself. 

 

So, so true. I also can't believe it's been 20 years. Wow.

Below is a cover of AW's 1981-87 theme:

 

 

I’m sure this has been posted before, but Linda and Alicia together were just special. I find myself mesmerized by the scenes I rediscover (or many cases, see for the first time) on YouTube.

 

 

6 hours ago, Faulkner said:

I’m sure this has been posted before, but Linda and Alicia together were just special. I find myself mesmerized by the scenes I rediscover (or many cases, see for the first time) on YouTube.

 

 

Yes they definitely had mother/ daughter chemistry together.   Below are more scenes from the alcoholism storyline.  Alicia Coppola should have earned a younger actress Emmy nomination for the death of Lucas and the fallout in the alcoholism storyline.  Linda Dano justifiably thanked Stephen Schnetzer, Vicky Wyndham, Alicia Coppola, and Alla Korot in her Emmy speech for helping her win the Emmy.   All of them brought their best to the alcoholism storyline.  Makes me wonder if Vicky Wyndham could have received a supporting actress Emmy nomination and/or win for her work in the alcoholism storyline if they would have placed her in that category?  Her work as Rachel was worthy of recognition during the storyline as well.   The alcoholism storyline was occurring right at the time when Constance Ford became to ill to appear on the show anymore shortly before she passed away.  I imagine TPTB would have included Ada in scenes with Felicia as well confronting her about her drinking.  

 

 

 

Linda said they placed her on the backburner for a year or so after she won the Emmy. At the time, she credited JFP for "bringing Felicia back to life."

 

Though the story was HATED by fans, Linda, John, and Anna loved the Felicia/John/Sharlene story (which obviously won Anna the Supporting actress Emmy). 

Edited July 1, 20196 yr by BetterForgotten

25 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Linda said they placed her on the backburner for a year or so after she won the Emmy. At the time, she credited JFP for "brining Felicia back to life."

 

Though the story was HATED by fans, Linda, John, and Anna loved the Felicia/John/Sharlene story (which obviously won Anna the Supporting actress Emmy). 

 

The storylines TPTB gave Felicia were definitely mediocre compared to the alcoholism storyline.   First, Felicia shot and killed Lorna's rapist, Kyle Barkley, in self-defense.  It also didn't help that Alicia Coppola left the show during this time and was replaced by Robin Christopher who looked nothing like Coppola.  Coppola looked enough like Linda Dano that they could have been real-life mother and daughter.  Christopher was a good actress, but not suited for the role of Lorna.

 

Next, TPTB hired Randy Brooks to be Felicia's editor, Marshall Kramer, at Cory Publishing.  I'm not sure who got cold feet on pairing Felicia with Marshall.  Was it P&G, NBC, or both?  Was America not ready to see an African-American man paired with a white woman on TV in 1994?    Dano and Brooks were both likeable and charismatic enough to make storyline work. Once TPTB got cold feet on a romantic pairing, they saddled Felicia and Marshall with the Misery copycat storyline involving Walter Trask.   I would have much rather seen the Felicia/ Marshall storyline play out then watch the Felicia/ John/ Sharlene play out the next year.  I think fans disliked the storyline because Felicia was portrayed as a desperate "other woman" trying to steal John away from Sharlene.  That was so out of character for Felicia.

On 6/30/2019 at 4:31 PM, watson71 said:

It also didn't help that Alicia Coppola left the show during this time and was replaced by Robin Christopher who looked nothing like Coppola.  Coppola looked enough like Linda Dano that they could have been real-life mother and daughter.  Christopher was a good actress, but not suited for the role of Lorna.

 

I have to admit that's one of the most head-scratching recasts I've ever seen, for the reasons you listed.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:31 PM, watson71 said:

  I think fans disliked the storyline because Felicia was portrayed as a desperate "other woman" trying to steal John away from Sharlene.  That was so out of character for Felicia.

While I think all the actors brought their A game to the story, I agree that I didn't like seeing Felicia in "the other woman" role. She was too big of a personality for that. And, then they put John and Felicia together for a millisecond before breaking them up. 

On 6/25/2019 at 9:05 AM, watson71 said:

 

I agree with you that when Another World left the air, it was the beginning of the end of the soap genre, because AW was truly an innovator in the genre.  When it began, AW was not like the other P&G soaps.  The first major story on the show penned by Irna Phillips and Bill Bell was Pat's abortion and her murdering Tom Baxter.  This was truly a controversial subject for a 1964 soap opera.  While Agnes Nixon was writing the show, she created the first cross-network crossover, with the character of Mike Bauer coming from Springfield to Bay City.  Producer Paul Rauch and writer Harding Lemay turned AW into a critical and commercial success winning Emmys and high ratings.  These high ratings were no easy feat considering that CBS aired reruns of prime time's number 1 show, All in the Family, and moved The Price is Right from the morning to compete with AW when it was the first soap to expand to one hour in 1975.  AW was the first soap to launch two spin-offs Somerset in 1970 and Texas in 1980, as well as an indirect one, Lovers and Friends in 1977, which would be renamed For Richer, For Poorer. Another World was also the second soap opera, besides The Young and the Restless, with a theme song to chart on the Billboard record charts.  All true innovations that no other soap can ever say they did while they were on the air.

 

AW's  trouble would begin when NBC expanded the show to ninety minutes in 1979, and then back to an hour in 1980.  The expansion of the series to 90 minutes moved AW out of its 3 PM timeslot for the first time in its 15 year history with a 2:30 PM start time.  Adding an additional 30 minutes of time to the series required AW to add more characters to an already crowded  show,  then when the decision was made to spin the character of Iris off on her own soap Texas required an additional influx of characters who would appear on Texas.  NBC should have placed Texas in the 2 PM timeslot following Days of our Lives and moved AW back to its 3 PM timeslot.  AW was in far better shape to compete with General Hospital and Guiding Light.  After Texas was cancelled, AW waited 7 years to bring Iris back to AW played by a different actress.  From 1980-99, AW would never regain its footing at the top of the daytime ratings, despite the work of many producers and writers.   The show had many flashes of brilliance during this time- reuniting Mac and Rachel, introducing  characters like Cass, Felicia,  Carl, and Wallingford, the love stories of Sally and Catlin and Kathleen and Cass, the Marley/ Jake/ Vicky triangle, the introduction of Grant and Ryan Harrison, and Felicia's alcoholism- and when the show was firing on all cylinders during this time, it was the best on daytime and did not warrant the low ratings it was receiving.  But one can safely say that for 35 years, Another World was an innovative program and its last episode 20 years ago today was truly the start of the end of the daytime soap genre.

 

One thing I sort of disagree on was the expansion to  90mins  In the late Winter early Spring 79,  AW fell far behind in the packs and I am wondering if that is why Harding LeMay decided to bail.  Even during his writing at this time, AW was declining.  I am wondering why?   They went from like #2 to # 8 over night.  The producer at that time I am sure thought a good idea was to create a new soap or expand to 90 mins.  Does anyone know if Harding Lemay was supposed to write for Texas?  I dont believe he was.  

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, denzo30 said:

According to Lemay's book,  (I know that you have to take everything he said with a grain of salt) it appeared there were multiple factors as to why AW declined so much around that time. He, personally, was getting tired of it, his pet project (Lovers and Friends/For Richer or Poorer) was a flop, NBC/P&G kept making more demands for plot and younger characters, which wasn't Lemay's style, and that was also when GH just exploded. On top of all that, his daughter got sick at the same time too.

 

Some idiot at NBC or P&G thought expanding the show to 90 minutes was a good idea. But even if all of these elements weren't in play, that still would've been a bad idea. And the ratings for AW clearly showed that.

 

I'm pretty sure that he wasn't supposed to write for Texas though.

 

 

Yes, I will never understand why anyone, anywhere, thought 90-minute episodes were a good idea or would ever work.

5 minutes ago, YRBB said:

Yes, I will never understand why anyone, anywhere, thought 90-minute episodes were a good idea or would ever work.

Me neither. As great as AW was, that March 6, 1979 episode speaks for itself. Seriously, how long did it take Marianne to break that $10 lol?

 

Nbc management was pretty clueless in the late 70's and early 80's.

At ninety minutes per episode, that's SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS of drama that you'd have to write, produce and direct every week.  No team could keep up that kind of schedule and survive.

Interestingly, the week AW went to 90 minutes seems to be a very iconic week for P&G soaps - Roger's rape of Holly on GL and the Wade Meecham murder on EON both aired that same week. Likely to stifle AW's 90 minute expansion.