1 hour ago, watson71 said:

 

There were so many missed opportunities on AW:

 

in 1986, Sally and Kevin should have left town with Aunt Liz to visit Alice after finding out that Catlin slept with Brittany and was the father of Brittany's baby.  Sally should have never been killed off.  Sally, a SORASED Kevin, and Alice could have returned with Liz in late 1987.

 

Adam was unnecessary.  Larry should have remained as Bay City's police officer who later could have played off of Ryan Harrison.  If a character had to die in the car crash that killed Sally, Clarice could have been sacrificed, or she could have been a victim of the Sin Stalker.  Making Larry a widower with two children, Cory and Jeanne, had plenty of storyline possibilities.  Larry could have then been paired with MJ.  Cory and Jeanne could have been SORASED, and technically Ada was their step-grandmother.  Two teenagers to deal with could have given Ada plenty to do, especially after Nancy left town in 1987.  A Cory/ Josie/ Matthew triangle would have caused turmoil between Ada and Rachel.

 

Reginald should have been a long term character.  At least the character of Carl Hutchins should have been brought back to see them interact together.

 

Killing Quinn was a mistake and  while she was paired with Zack it was too brief. Thomasina and Carter still had story left . Thomasina was going to med school.   As a med intern, she could have spent too much time at Bay City General, causing Carter to get involved with Zack's sister Julie Ann.

 

Rhonda Lewin and Lauri Landry as Vicky and Nicole were gone before they really got a storyline.  You have to wonder why they even cast them in the first place.

 

i also think that the Peggy Lazarus character that was introduced in late 1986 should have turned out to be Pammy Davis, Rachel's half-sister.   The show went so far as to say that Peggy Lazarus was an assumed name, but they dropped the character in 1987.  This could have brought Gerald Davis back to the show, as well.

If it was me, I never would've gotten rid of Alice, Sally, Catlin or Aunt Liz. I would've made Sally fight Brittany for Catlin and would never have turned Brittany into the victim that she became after she married Peter.

 

I would've pushed a Larry/Clarice/MJ/Jamie quadrangle. And I would've aged Cory at the same time that they aged Nancy, and given him the storylines that they gave Ben McKinnon, who was ultimately an unnecessary character that was gone in less than a year. I wonder why they never aged Cory.

 

And I would never have gotten rid of the Harding/Mason/Todd family, who were much stronger characters than the Edwards family (with the exception of Zack) and the Lawrence family.

4 hours ago, watson71 said:

This could have brought Gerald Davis back to the show, as well.

 

Wasn't Gerald killed off on SOMERSET?

19 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Wasn't Gerald killed off on SOMERSET?

 

No. Originally introduced on Somerset in 1970, he eventually left that town and returned to Bay City/AW, where he caused all sorts of trouble, and ended up being sent to prison for perjury. That's where we saw him last, in 1974: behind bars.

1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

No. Originally introduced on Somerset in 1970, he eventually left that town and returned to Bay City/AW, where he caused all sorts of trouble, and ended up being sent to prison for perjury. That's where we saw him last, in 1974: behind bars.

 

Ah.  Okay.

 

Thanks, @vetsoapfan!

Quick question- Rachel's half sister, Pammy Davis, was played by Pamela Toll on Somerset.  Was her mother, Marsha Davis, ever seen on Another World or Somerset?  If she was seen onscreen, who played the part of Marsha?

4 minutes ago, watson71 said:

Quick question- Rachel's half sister, Pammy Davis, was played by Pamela Toll on Somerset.  Was her mother, Marsha Davis, ever seen on Another World or Somerset?  If she was seen onscreen, who played the part of Marsha?

 Alice Hirson played Marsha on Somerset.

Alice Hirson played Marsha.

 

Thanks for the info!

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

Alice Hirson played Marsha.

 

 

Yes, Alice Hirson played Marsha Davis on Somerset. This photograph is of the actress from OLTL, where she played Eileen Riley Siegal, Joe Riley's sister.

 

I've always though Hirson's best role was that of psycho Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night.

1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

 

Yes, Alice Hirson played Marsha Davis on Somerset. This photograph is of the actress from OLTL, where she played Eileen Riley Siegal, Joe Riley's sister.

 

I've always though Hirson's best role was that of psycho Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night.

 

And she was Miss Ellie's best friend, Mavis Anderson, on Dallas.  Episodes of Dallas are available to stream on the IMDB Freedrive app.  Wish episodes of AW and the other P&G soaps would show up on a streaming service!

As much as the MJ as prostitute story was ridiculous, I actually enjoyed the story. I just saw Spencer's MJ as another character rather than MJ. I think this period of the show had so much potential, but they never followed through with anything. 

On 7/24/2019 at 2:38 AM, Paul Raven said:

Of the characters introduced I felt Adam was unnecessary - another Cory nobody had heard of.

I loved Ed Fry so much in the role that I find it hard to agree that he was unnecessary. At the time there was a void in the place where Jamie had been. Both he and Sandy had been gone for a year or so. I don't think they could have rebooted MJ and Jamie's relationship with the prostitution storyline. The new MJ paired with a new Cory with no baggage made sense. 

Soap opera history buffs who wish to read the complete histories of their favorite series may want to check out "Vetsoapfan's Treasure Trove," here in SON's Cancelled Soaps section.

 

So far, I have shared extensive articles on:

 

All My Children

 

Another World

 

As the World Turns

 

Days of Our Lives

 

The Edge of Night

 

General Hospital

 

The Guiding Light

 

How to Survive a Marriage

 

Love of Life

 

One Live to Live

 

Ryan's Hope

 

Search for Tomorrow

 

The Young and the Restless

 

 

I'd totally blanked that Anna Kathryn Holbrook briefly popped up on AMC after her AW firing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ5DgXM8pFE

Regarding the shoulda/woulda/coulda of 1985-1987, I think it is important to add that the plot ascendance of The Loves also the end of an era at the Cory Mansion.  Sandy left with mis-recast Blaine while he investigating Carl during his post-escort stint as a journalist.  Jamey had left town with his tail between his knees after his drug addiction.  In retrospect, some would say these moves were to set up Nancy was the sole ingenue in the Cory family.  However, I think Neil and Adam Cory were clumsily introduced, and then discarded, due to shifts in the writing of the Cory storyline which diminished Sandy and Jamey, who rightly should have helped Nancy fight Carl.  

 

In addition, Sharon Gabet as Brittney is the real loser of this period.  While being a deaf-mute with a dead baby and a passion for horses was a hyperbolic contrast to Sally, the character was never built to sustain.  It was a soap so the audience was immediately waiting for Britney's cure.  Then, once she could speak, fans were assured in the soap press that she would be different from Raven.  There were many options.  Raven was a contrast of self-assurance with very low self-worth, as a result, she made many poor decisions based on her survival instinct without regarding the welfare of those around her.  Britney could have been self-assured in another way either due to her prowess with animals or working with men on the ranch for so long.  In contrast to Sally who was always needing to be rescued, Britney could have been a good rival.  Instead, once Britney could speak, she became all of the worst parts of Raven and never had her own routing value.  Much like Blaine or Rachel, Britney needed a "talk-to" to make her more sympathetic to the audience.  Her motives for marrying Peter were so ill-explained that I recall being unable to tell if she was conning him or being conned.  It seemed like a classic example of a soap hiring an actress expecting them to be the character rather than writing for them.