Another World Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

They sure did! Charles Keating went on the record as incredulous that AW let Morgan Freeman get away.

[Nicholas Blair]

That totally makes sense, doesn't it? Thank you!

[vetsoapfan]

Alice, Pat, and Aunt Liz all had valid reasons to hold a grudge against Rachel for the heinous actions she had committed against their family, although by the late-1970s, fences were generally mended among them. In a (frankly idiotic) scene, Alice even went over to Ada's house and had lunch with Rachel (who offered her soup) when Susan Harney was playing Alice. Once Pat started to work for Mac, she and Rachel were cordial. Aunt Liz and Rachel even become friends and would spend holidays together (I never accepted that as believable, either.) Lenore left the show in 1975 and really had minimal contact with Rachel after Rachel got together with Mac.

[amybrickwallace]

Sure!

[Xanthe]

Thanks for this. I had no idea. 

Thinking about Perry, I wonder how old he was when Donna married Carl and whether she had Marley with her the whole time. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Xanthe

[j swift]

Then, of course, there's the whole question of how old Ryan was in relation to Perry, given that he and Vicky were contemporaries?

As for Marley, she arrived from boarding school (which was located in Soap-opera-boarding-school-land, with students like Nick Newman and Johnny Dimera , who never learned a foreign language or seemed very cultured), where she lived while Donna was with Carl, and she begged Donna to allow her to attend public school in Bay City, which is where she met Ben and that whole gang of teens.

Edited October 11, 2021 by j swift

[Xanthe]

The party was the 10th anniversary party and you have caught them all except Beverlee McKinsey. 

Right after this Lemay mentions the difficulty they had casting leading men. He liked John Considine (Vic at that time) but found he had no chemistry with any available leading lady. He then mentions an actor who had left over salary issues and then been hired at another soap where the sponsor had approved the salary demand they had denied on AW. Any idea which actor that might have been? Maybe James Douglas, who left the role of Eliot Carrington to play Grant Colman on ATWT? 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Xanthe
Guess

[Mona Kane Croft]

Totally agree.  This was absolutely one of the most memorable scenes in AW's entire history.    One of a handful I was lucky enough to view during the original airing.    And yes, it was time for Alice to finally, finally, FINALLY kick Rachel's home-wrecking a$$. . .   And Jacquie Courtney handled it with aplomb.   

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Neil Johnson

[Nicholas Blair]

James Douglas would make sense. I can't think of who else left around that time.

Ah yes, Lemay and his vaunted "chemistry." I remember when David Ackroyd as Dr. Dave Gilchrist had deadly dull dinner dates with, basically, every unmarried female on the show, to see if Dr. Lemay detected signs of chemistry. I'm not sure if poor Dr. Gilchrist ever got laid the entire time he was in Bay City. I thought Ackroyd had chemistry with Beverly Penberthy, but what do I know? On TSS Ackroyd had plenty of chemistry with actresses as different as Lynne Adams and Jada Rowland. Perhaps if Lemay had actually written storylines for the new characters introduced at this time, chemistry would have been detected in auditions or could have been developed as the story unfolded.

John Considine had so much sex appeal as the "bearded bear" Dr. Brian Walsh on Bright Promise that it's agonizing how he was completely wasted on AW. Here's a thought: audition for an actress who has chemistry with John Considine and eliminate one or more of the minor characters who don't.

And here's another thought: according to Lemay, Considine and Ackroyd didn't have enough chemistry with any of the women, yet Lemay created the couple with the least chemistry I have ever seen in my entire history of soap opera viewing: Jim Poyner as Dennis Carrington and Christina Pickles as Countess Elena de Poulignac. This warmed-over version of TEA AND SYMPATHY was what Lemay considered European sophistication, and defended by Mac in more or less those very terms. Iris was livid about this, and for one of the few times in her life, Iris was absolutely right.

Christina Pickles, though an enjoyable character actress, was barely credible as an older woman Russ Matthews would date. Guys who look like David Bailey rarely date women who look like Christina Pickles. Even a desperately horny teenager boy like Dennis might reconsider if his only option were Countess Elena.

So I am not overly impressed by Lemay's views of who did or did not have chemistry. He struck gold with Mac and Rachel, and the success went to his head.

[vetsoapfan]

James Douglas was reported to have left AW over stalled contract/salary negotiations at that time, so I'm pretty sure it was him.

 

[Chris 2]

When Jacqueline Courtney returned as Alice in the 1980s, didn’t they have a story where Alice was now Rachel’s doctor? RIDICULOUS. The writers clearly didn’t care about history. Given what those two characters went through, there is no way that would happen. Rachel extends a Christmas invitation to Alice in another scene from the 80s. Also crazy. They should have been stiffly cordial at best, which is how they played it during the 25 anniversary episodes.

[DRW50]

Lemay seemed to want to reset some of this when he returned to the show, as there was a scorching scene of Rachel berating Liz and casting her out  (with Liz sobbing in Mac's arms, I believe) after Liz's hatred for the Frames led her to  accidentally tell Matthew about his conception. 

[amybrickwallace]

They did that brilliantly in the 25th anniversary scenes. I wish Alice had stuck around afterwards.

[TVFAN1144]

I forget.  Was there any special event or storyline done on the first hour long episode in 1975?

[BetterForgotten]

Did anyone ever hold Rachel accountable for her past indiscretions after her transformation post-Mac? Was there actually anyone cheering Iris on? lol