Another World Discussion Thread

[tune_in_tomorrow]

Since AW was first soap I really got into, I enjoy reading about everyone's recollections of the show. Maybe someone can fill me in on how and when Carl Hutchins was redeemed? When I watched in the mid-80s, he was a villain. Not an antihero, but an outright villian. I stopped watching in '87 but when I tuned back in during the waning weeks, he was happily married to Rachel. Carl tried to kill Mac but only succeeded in killing his secretary Diane with some poison powder, as I recall. I have to admit that the Rachel-Carl pairing pretty much prevented me from enjoying the end of the show. Just curious if anyone can fill in the blanks of how that occurred. Thanks!

[DRW50]

Quite a bit of Carl's redemption, which began around 1992 or 1993, was in his learning that he had a son, Ryan Harrison. Ryan was true-blue, a good guy no matter what, and Carl, perhaps haunted by the horrible way he'd treated Perry, his other son who had died very young, began to care about Ryan (before this they had just been enemies - a lot of 1991 was spent on Ryan trying to bust Carl). This made Carl want to reform.

I don't know if the scenes where Carl finds out is online.

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This has a bit of when Ryan finds out.

Edited May 30, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

This is where Carl tells Ryan.

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There is a very lengthy video series called "Carl's Redemption", that heavily features the steps of Carl and Ryan and Carl/Rachel, although it also features a ton of other characters.

[Soaplovers]

Oddly.. Rachel/Carl being a couple did come out of left field but it happened over several months.. plus everyone was against it especially her kids and Iris. It was done slowly and over a period of year or so. Nowadays, they would have been thrown together without playing the beats of the story and everyone on the show would have accepted it due to being plot dictated as opposed to character driven.

Watching episodes from 1988-1992 reminds me about how truly good the show was! Sure there were some weak parts of the show, but for the most part, it was fairly character driven.. even after Swajeski left in late 1992, her associate headwriter took over till late 1994 so that the consistency was still there. I think Phelps coming in did signal the start of the end sadly.

What surprises me is how decent Swajeski was as headwriter. Yes, she might have started writing out Lemay's outlines but no way did his outlines last for four years. How she could have done well at AW and fumbled so badly at AMC confuses me to this day.

[DRW50]

Swajeski's run is certainly not perfect (stuff like the Derek Dane story, not enough utilizing of certain characters, a bit too much fondness for her own creations, the hackwork done on Donna) but the pacing was decent and most of the stories were good, sometimes great. I guess it helps that at this time AW had a good EP and P&G was still run by people who cared.

I know Eddie Drueding felt the show was fine until JFP. I haven't seen enough to say that myself and I know the show was close to cancelation before then but it's a shame they had to so drastically change the show. After that time AW just seems so generic and only some of the stronger actors carry the last years.

Edited May 30, 2011 by CarlD2

[RomeAt50]

She did have Kreizman as a writing partner on AMC and he is not very good.

Edited May 30, 2011 by RomeAt50

[tune_in_tomorrow]

Thanks for the info on the Rachel/Carl relationship (and the links, Carl). It might have been interesting to see how it unfolded over time. I definitely enjoyed AW most of the time in the mid-80s even though it was past its glory years, apparently. But in retrospect, it was very frenetic. Lots of turnover in cast, lots of characters coming and going, and as I mentioned on another thread, lots of death. I am guessing there was quite a bit of turnover behind the scenes as well. It sounds like Donna Swajeski stabilized things for awhile.

[All My Shadows]

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[DRW50]

April 1972 TV Dawn to Dusk. I'm going to type up the rest.

[SFK]

this is great! You find such wonderful stuff that frankly I never would have thought existed let alone assumed I would never see. Her indecisiveness is something I share which is probably why I find it a little annoying in her. She seems like a sweet lady, I'm sorry things didn't work out.

[DRW50]

Edited June 4, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

I never thought this existed either - I thought she was on AW for too short a time to get an interview. As soon as I saw it I thought you'd probably enjoy seeing it.

She seems nice, and she has the type of look that would have shone in an Altman film from the 70's. She also reminds me of someone. I'm not sure who.

I'm glad to see these images of her from her time on AW because for years and years the image burned into my brain was the Highway to Heaven shot at AWHP, where she looked like Little House meets Small Wonder.

Edited June 4, 2011 by CarlD2

[SFK]

Oh God, I know, that pic really does not do her justice. She reminds me of someone too, and in those pics above she almost reminds me of Maya on AMC. She kind of has an unique Robin Strasser meets Joan van Ark look about her. I really wish we could see her Rachel. All I got are the fumes of her odd Santa Barbara appearance.

[DRW50]

She sort of reminds me of the fascinating and bizarre Nicole from Big Brother 2. That and Diane Ladd.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother2/houseguests/bios/nicole.shtml

Oh, now I know. Rose Alaio:

http://ryansbaronline.tripod.com/Wanda/Unknown1980/jackrose1.jpg

Edited June 4, 2011 by CarlD2

[Paul Raven]

Great find Carl.

Before AW she played Maggie Wexler on GL..I don't know anything about that character.Off topic there was also Peter Wexler on at that time and then about 10 years later Lucille and Amanda Wexler came on,but I don't think there was any connection.

I wonder if the Dobsons did this intentionally as a reference to Jackie and Emmett Scott and the flak they took for not knowing that Peggy's maiden name was Scott and her family was big in the 60's.

She is obviously referring to Ed Bryce and Bill Bauer on GL.Is this story true? The writers didn't have to kill off Bill as he could have been easily written off for a few months until they recast. Maybe the chance presented itself and they decided killing off Bill was the way to go.