My hazy memory of the 90 minute episodes was that they were not structured like the 30 or 60 minute episodes of today.  The increasing cast meant that episodes would often start with one set of characters, then a second set of characters would interact for the next 30 minutes, and then the show would return to the first set of characters for that day's finale.  As a result, it felt more like watching a set of shows in the NBC lineup, as opposed to one long drama.  I cannot recall a single episode in which characters would have more scenes than would be usual in a regular 60 minute episode.  In other words, the scenes weren't longer, there were just more of them in a single episode.  Thus, it felt similar to the days of AW Bay City and AW Somerset, without the break between the two shows.  But, this was a stark contrast to the quick scene changes that were revolutionizing shows like GH on ABC.

 

Unfortunately, very few of the increased characters were as intriguing as the core cast from before the 90 minute extension.  Similar to this year's Vanderpump cast infusion, long term fans did not care for the new faces or the stories that they introduced.  Rather than expanding upon historic AW families, the newer cast members had very little to do with AW stalwarts like the Cory's and the Matthews'.  And unlike when new families like the Love's were introduced in the 80's, viewers were forced to watch these new character for protracted stories that did not overlap with pre-existing characters. 

 

Y&R (for my money) was always the best at balancing a large cast because there would be Newman days, Abbott days, and days in which other Genoa City denizens were the focus of the story, usually indicated by that day's introductory opening sequence.  For example, in 1986 I was a big Brad Carlton fan, and you knew that if the opening ended on Katherine putting on her necklace, Brad was not going to show up in his cutoffs on that day's episode.  Unlike EON, where any character could suddenly have a scene in the middle of the half hour episode.   However, AW's 90 minute episodes did not allow for cross-story interaction, like Y&R's costume ball.  As a result, one never experienced the excitement of special events when the entire town got together.  Instead everyone existed on their own separate story island and the show lost the concept of what it felt like to live in Bay City because the events in one part of town rarely impacts citizens in the other parts of the town.

Edited April 24, 20205 yr by j swift

Thanks for that insight.

Yes you're right - had AW had a solid core going into the 90 min and used the expansion to build up the Matthews and Frames and have them as a springboard into new characters it might have had more success. Instead they seemed to write off a bunch of people and replace them with unrelated newbies.

Also as you said the logistics played a part - I think I read they had 2 shifts operating. So it was unlikely that an actor would be asked to work both as it would be an extremely long day. Therefore the show operated in 2 halves with little crossover.

Plus, the actor's contracts may have played a role in that too. Both Victoria Wyndham and Beverlee McKinsey had it written in their contracts that they could only appear in three episodes a week due to the amount of work. As a result, they chose to usually feature the Mac, Rachel and Iris storylines only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, whereas all the B stories (Angie/Willis/Gwen, Clarice/Larry, etc.) where featured on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On 4/22/2020 at 9:16 PM, Xanthe said:

 

My understanding was that Robyn Griggs was generally difficult and it wasn't just one innocent interaction with Bobbitt that got her fired. She was there for nearly 2 years. I liked her in the role though.

 

Jodi Lyn O'Keefe was on until November 1995. The first episode of Nash Bridges aired March 29, 1996. It seems more likely that O'Keefe quit AW to work on Nash Bridges than she was fired from AW and subsequently hired immediately on Nash Bridges which would have needed some time to film, edit etc. before airing.

 

 

Was Brenner dropped because AW wanted a Maggie Break? Wonder why they never brought Maggie back

 

As for the Nick's

Justin Chambers was fired because JFP wanted her pal, Kevin McClatchy but did he quit or did they fire him after JFP left & replaced him with Mark Mortimer

Edited April 27, 20205 yr by John

Alan Locher has finally scheduled an ANOTHER WORLD reunion! Linda Dano, Stephen Schnetzer, Amy Carlson and Joe Barbara are participating. 

 

I'm happy about the first three.

 

Thursday, April 30th @ 2pm 

 

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/another-world-online-reunion/

I always liked Joe Barbara, if not really most of the stories he had. Amy is about the same. It's great that she is involved as she has had primetime success so could have thumbed her nose. 

 

So happy to hear about Linda and Stephen. I'm glad Linda is up to doing this. 

 

@SFK @DaytimeFan

Linda's always been down to participate in these types of chart. I'm not surprised she was probably the first one to sign on for something like this. 

Yay!! I don't think I've ever watched any episode with Carlson or Barbera, but who cares.

12 minutes ago, Aback said:

Yay!! I don't think I've ever watched any episode with Carlson or Barbera, but who cares.

 

I hated Joe Carlino. LOL. I shouldn't let that reflect on the actor but I sometimes do.

 

Carlson was such a different Josie but I know she was popular. She was also on Blue Bloods until they dumped her and killed her character I believe (off-screen in a plane crash, of course). It's interesting how often women are sacrificed and replaced but not the men (a trend on soaps I'm starting to pick up on ...)

 

Looking back it's like they wanted Josie to be the Harley of AW, the female cop with the tough guy cop (Gary/Mallet). Just an observation.

Edited April 27, 20205 yr by KMan101

3 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

Looking back it's like they wanted Josie to be the Harley of AW, the female cop with the tough guy cop (Gary/Mallet). Just an observation.

 

JFP did that, reusing her same tired old storyline. She tried a third time too, on OLTL. The whole thing was contrived and I don't bother with any of that. Eddie Drueding's tirades against that time period are enough for me.

Just now, DRW50 said:

 

JFP did that, reusing her same tired old storyline. She tried a third time too, on OLTL. The whole thing was contrived and I don't bother with any of that. Eddie Drueding's tirades against that time period are enough for me.

 

YEP! It was SO contrived.

 

I love Eddie Drueding's tirades against Jill. Entirely spot on and perfectly stated. 

4 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

I love Eddie Drueding's tirades against Jill. Entirely spot on and perfectly stated. 

 

Where can I find them?

6 minutes ago, Aback said:

 

Where can I find them?

 

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/

 

That's his website. I'm trying to find his "Eddietorials" link, they're a good read.

 

EDIT: http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/eddietor.html

Edited April 27, 20205 yr by KMan101

6 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/

 

That's his website. I'm trying to find his "Eddietorials" link, they're a good read.

 

EDIT: http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/eddietor.html

 

That "despise" one still cracks me up. The early days of the soap Interwebs were wild. You'd never say that today (probably for good reason).

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

 

That "despise" one still cracks me up. The early days of the soap Interwebs were wild. You'd never say that today (probably for good reason).

 

Agreed lol. 

 

And I just love his website, he did a really great job.