Another World Discussion Thread

[Efulton]

Thank you vetsoapfan! My god Beverly was negative in that interview.  I am surprised Harding Lemay did not have a plane fall out of the sky on Pat's head after it was published.  

[BuckyB12]

Not sure exactly when that interview took place, but Penberthy was coming off a several-year dearth of story in late 1975. When Lemay started "in training" at AW, under Irna Phillips, Pat was being poisoned by crazy housekeeper Caroline, who wanted John for herself -- the kind of storyline Lemay absolutely hated. I think he avoided writing much for the Randolphs for quite some time after that, though of course John had more to do as the all-purpose town lawyer. When Penberthy says "the ratings go down, you write in an abortion," she's probably referring to Marianne's abortion which was in December 1975. But that storyline would eventually lead to Pat and John becoming more central as their marriage fell apart later in 1976. Over the next few years, the broader arc Lemay was writing for Pat was the story of an abandoned wife who had to learn to stand on her own, and she eventually ends up as editor-in-chief at Cory Publishing. It's not surprising that she would then be talking favorably about the show's 1970s writing when she's dumped in 1982.

 

Now, she would have had something ground-breaking to play earlier in 1975 if Lemay had been allowed to proceed with the revelation that Michael Randolph was gay, but that angle was replaced with Marianne's ill-fated relationship with Chris Pierson.  Poor Lionel Johnston, who was hired specifically for that story, had to wait nearly a year for Michael's relationship with bad girl Molly Ordway, which turned out to be his only important story in the four years he was on the show.

Edited November 26, 2019 by BuckyB12

[DRW50]

I think Lemay was more unhappy with people who were vocal at work. If Penberthy just did what she was told on the script and went home he probably didn't care. If memory serves he praised her work in the drunk storyline. 

[Xanthe]

 

I remember the info that HWs had this incentive to create new characters coming up in the mid-80s. It seems rather perverse since on the one hand viewers seem to crave familiar characters but also it is so easy for a show to completely change almost everything about a character -- usually with a recast -- other than the name. I'd be curious to know whether this really means for example that when Maggie Cory was played by Robyn Griggs, Jodi O'Keefe, and then Lisa Brenner in the early-mid 90s, did Corinne Jacker receive a residual just because she was the head writer when Maggie was born?

[DRW50]

Didn't some writers say that you really don't make much money from creating new characters?

[AbcNbc247]

I've seen them and I really enjoyed them too. Soderberg, Purser, Culliton, etc. really did clean up the mess that Jacker made. I hope more old episodes get rediscovered and posted to YT, including 1982 episodes. As lousy as that year was, I'd love to see more of it. 

 

She was one of the pets. Like with Connie Ford, he probably blamed himself if Beverly Penberthy had a problem with the story. Unlike with George Reinholt, Jacquie Courtney and Virginia Dwyer lol

One of P&G's biggest mistakes. I would've loved to have seen that story play out. 

On the bright side, it seems like Bev got the last laugh. She's still remembered and loved as Pat to this day, whereas Corinne Jacker is pretty much only remembered for being the worst head writer AW ever had. As for Rauch, he was probably freaking out about the show and how much it was declining that he probably said yes immediately when Jacker said she wanted Pat gone.

Edited November 26, 2019 by AbcNbc247

[ScottyBman]

I am also rewatching, although I am still at the end of 1981.  It is mid November.  I think even here I see a wind of change coming.  Probably easier to see as watching in the future rather than in the present.  Jerry just raped Clarice.  Jamie is James and now being the "bad boy"  Steven Frame is back and everything seems to be BlackHawk.  Although I see that there presence will be big for a while, but not long term.  I see many of the cast floating and many of them are surely posed to head off the canvas.

[watson71]

AW's Best Thanksgiving Episode- 1988

 

This episode featured the famous Mac Cory speech:

 

Well, everybody... It's been a hard year to get through for many of us. Yet, here we all are, for Thanksgiving. And together. I'm very happy Iris is with us after all those years. And as I look at Jamie, Matthew, Amanda, Sam, and then Alexandra, I am grateful for the awareness of the sheer munificence of life as it keeps on rolling on despite our little problems. Sharing our lives with our friends and our family is far stronger than anything that world out there can do to us. Today especially, though indeed every day, Rachel and I our truly blessed. Our riches are at this table with us today. [Looking to the viewer] As indeed you are in our hearts every day. And so I give you, all of us, I give you life!"

 

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[Mona Kane Croft]

 

This era was probably the final time AW really had a chance of surviving long-term,  The focus of show had returned to family drama and class conflict.  And even a couple of Matthews were on their way back to Bay City.  If only a writer like Doug Marland or Agnes Nixon had taken-over the show after Lemay left in '88.  Sadly that didn't happen, the show started to decline again, and it limped along for 11 more uninspired years.  

[pdm1974]

I remember Mac giving that holiday toast when it aired! The show lost a lot of its moral center after he passed, and I think they struggled a bit trying to decide how to proceed. I do wonder how things would have gone if Harding Lemay had been able to stay.

[chrisml]

I don't know why it is that I always miss Another World the most around the holidays. I liked AW-post Mac/DW but as I've written before, I think Swajeski never knew how to follow through with that stories. She was fantastic at creating individual episodes. I always liked the Sharlene/Grant/John storyline but wasn't that cut short because of  Rambo's illness?

[Soaplovers]

Another world had too much energy and flash (a good thing)..Marland would have deluted it.  

 

Like @chrismlmentioned Swajeski had good ideas..but had trouble with pacing...but her individual episodes were top notch..  Marland could pace his shows with flair..but his individual episodes sucked (unrealistic dialogue..no one I knew ever talked that way).  Shame Marland was a micro manager..cause he and Swajeski could have been a good pairing.

 

Also, pat left too soon.  Her visit in 1989 showed she had a lot to offer especially her exchange with her niece Olivia when she noted her interest in the much married Sam.

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

Are you suggesting Another World in the late '80s was better than As the World Turns in the late '80s?  Oh my,  you and I definitely have different taste in soaps.  LOL.  Although those things are often just a matter of taste, I think the ratings do say something about the quality of the two shows during that period. 

[RavenWhitney]

Was the Thanksgiving 1988 episode a Swajeski or Lemay episode?

[watson71]

 

Lemay's last episode was in mid-November, however I don't think Swajeski's episodes started airing until late-November or early-December.   Maybe the writers worked from an outline that had already been written by Lemay.  It has always been stated, but never proven, that Swajeski borrowed heavily from a long term bible that Lemay had written for the show.  If  this is the case, it would be interesting to read it to see how much Swajeski borrowed from it.  The Red Swan mystery was clearly a Swajeski storyline since no one could have predicted the sudden passing of Douglass Watson.