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!

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.

This has a bit of when Ryan finds out.

Edited May 30, 201114 yr by CarlD2

This is where Carl tells Ryan.

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.

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.

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, 201114 yr by CarlD2

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

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

Edited May 30, 201114 yr by RomeAt50

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.

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

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.

dish. Here's what she does:

Wash and clean the shrimp.

Place the shrimp in a greased baking dish and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.

While the shrimp is baking, prepare a mixture of Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and sherry. Fresh lemon juice can also be added for flavor.

Pour the mixture over the shrimp and bake for another 25 minutes.

Margaret and Neil are always satisfied with the results. But the best part is that it only takes 35 minutes and you have a hearty, hot meal.

For Margaret, winning the part of Rachel was a great ego booster. She is a very unaffected young actress, the kind who is truly amazed and overwhelmed when good fortune smiles about her. And fortune really smiled when she was picked for this plum part.

As she said, "Every brunette actress in New York City wanted this part." Only brunettes qualified because Robin Strasser is also a brunette, and, while the producers weren't looking for Robin's twin or exact double, there had to be some physical resemblance or the switch would be too big a jolt for the show's loyal viewers.

"There must have been at least twenty other girls looking almost exactly like me when I showed up for the audition. I thought it looked like a 'cattle call' (which is what actors call open auditions where anyone can walk in off the street and try out for a part), and I was a little distressed," Margaret recalled. "I still can't believe I've got the part."

When we spoke to Margaret, it was still too early to learn if the Another World audience had written in to ask about the change in actresses. At the beginning of her first day, a voice announced quietly that the role of Rachel would be played by Margaret Impert. But, as a rule, the shows rarely call attention to the fact that a new actress is replacing an old one. Margaret, however, is very aware that soap opera fans do react to changes.

She learned this while appearing on another daytime drama. Said she, "People who watch soap operas accept what they see. I was once on another show where one of the male leads who'd been on for many years finally decided he had had it and wanted out. So he bought out his contract. The trouble was that the man was leaving in a couple of weeks which didn't give the writers enough time to change the plot around to make him ill or in some way to be able to write him out of a few shows until a replacement could be slipped in. So they had him die in a plane crash. Well, his widow on the show received hundreds of letters of condolence.

"So I expect the fans will react in some way to my replacing Robin Strasser. I hope it's favorable. Although we both have dark hair, I'm taller, more angular, and people will surely quickly realize I'm a new Rachel."

Margaret is different enough from Robin to require a completely new wardrobe. "There are certain things I can't wear," she confessed. "They're having a bit of trouble dressing me; I'm very long-legged and I don't look good in certain styles."

At home she solves the problem by slopping around in blue jeans or dungarees. Margaret is very natural and avoids the phony glamour route a lot of other actresses follow.

"I have very few dresses," she candidly stated. Her reasoning is that "I am too lazy. When I first came to New York I did some modeling. But modeling turned me off because I don't like to wear makeup or spend a lot of time getting dressed." Here the male half of the family piped up with, "Honey, you look marvelous!" but Margaret noted that there was a strong note of sarcasm in her beloved husband's pronouncement.

Anyway, she continued, "I shop two or three times a year and I love buying very good things. I don't know, maybe if I had lots and lots of time and money...but I'm really too lazy to bother," she finished.

Such changeability or mobility of thought (note we didn't say indecisiveness) puts a sparkle in Margaret's life. She and Neil are young, with few responsibilities, few ties. They plan their future carefully but never tie down the loose, free-swinging ends.

Children? Margaret allows that "I have a great mother instinct. In fact, I tend to baby people, I'm very protective toward my close friends. But I don't know. Not now. I'm not ready for it. Having a baby totally changes your life - 100 percent. But I think that I will want my own child one day, and not just one but lots of children. Of course, to raise a child in the city takes lots of money."

You can tell that she's given the matter a great deal of thought. And if you doubt what the final outcome will be, Margaret may subconsciously be giving us the answer as she admits that she comes from "a very close knit family." The family includes an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister.

Right now it is apparent that Margaret is searching for some definite goals, and she is heading in the right direction. When her two-year contract for Another World ends, she may be another person. She is eager and open for change. As long as she keeps her warm sense of humor, we don't care how resolute and decisive she becomes. She's one of the nicest actresses around on the daytime scene.

by Ellen Graham

Edited June 4, 201114 yr by CarlD2

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.

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, 201114 yr by CarlD2

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.

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, 201114 yr by CarlD2

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.