Another World Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Alma drove poor Louise off, never to be mentioned again, didn't she?

I've wondered why they regressed some of the changes in Jamie after Bekins left; later on he was suddenly a doctor and of course back to Jamie. I wish they'd had him come back for the finale.

Judith Barcroft interview from last month. In the first part she talks about her work at AW. I didn't know she went back as a dayplayer. I can see why that must have felt degrading.

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/02/catching-up-with-judith-barcroft-part-1.html

[teplin]

I remember those two Russian characters, but I don't remember their story at all. That was such a horrible period for AW. Things did pick up a bit with the introduction of Alma Rudder, though.

[LegalGirl82]

I'm not sure that she was never mentioned again; but Louise definitely left Bay City because she was frightened by Alma.

I was a Blaine fan; but I remember enjoying the hell out of Alma's torture of her. And Cecile totally underestimated Alma, lol. Franz made one entertaining villainess. Of course, I was glad she eventually met her end.

They younged down Jamie in increments after Bekins left; to the character's detriment, I've always thought. As you say, he regressed. And one of the things that eventually drove me from AW was having Vicky's baby be his. Jamie was long overdue for some real happiness by that time and I so wanted that for him, even if it meant he'd be off the canvas for awhile. I wanted him to go to Europe with Lisa.

[DRW50]

I wish I could see some of the Alma stuff. I've heard people talk about how terrifying that story was, Blaine being tormented by the man in the doll outfit, and such. From what I've seen of the first woman who played Blaine she was very charismatic and able to be both strong and weak. With that and Cecile and with Chris Rich, I'm surprised their ratings didn't go up more.

Did you ever see the last Jamie, Russell Todd? He was a more serious Jamie, but he always pursed his lips and seemed kind of out of place.

Edited March 20, 2010 by CarlD2

[LegalGirl82]

^^^It was actually Alma in the rag doll costume. She and Cecile set up an outbuilding on the Cory Estate to look like Blaine's childhood home. They locked her in the closet and at one point, Alma had her reach into a bowl of what she told Blaine was spaghetti, but it was actually worms. She really terrorized Blaine. I wish I could see some of it again, too. And it was great watching Cecile realize just how far off her nut Alma was, and then trying in vain to pull the plug. Mac had always championed Cecile; but when he found out that Cecile had been in cahoots with Alma to terrorize Blaine, he went off on her in epic fashion. I can still see Doug Watson's hair flying, lol.

Laura Malone played Blaine through most of the character's run; and you describe her very well. She could hold her own with all of the heavyweights on AW; and I suspect part of that came from having been the only daughter of a family of...I think it was eight brothers. Last I heard, she's a lawyer now. Judy Dewey was her replacement; but by then Blaine was pretty bland.

As to the ratings, I can only tell you that none of my friends watched AW back then. They were all about GH.

Though I had long since stopped daily watching, I did check in every now and then and I do remember seeing Russell Todd's Jamie. LOL at the pursed lips. Did Michael Easton learn that from him?

[DRW50]

Oh that's right; for some reason I thought Buzz was the one in the ragdoll outfit.

I wonder if AW being seen as a "hip" soap in the 70s meant a lot of people refused to tune back in when the hipness wore off. It's a shame because that soap had so many good actors and some standout moments.

Remember how Cecile clung to Mac and tried to start up a relationship with him? That was Susan Keith, wasn't it? What did you think of her Cecile?

I kick myself for not watching the AOL Video stuff from the early 80s; it jumped and froze and I was run off. I assumed it would be around forever and then it was gone.

What did you think of Larry and Cecile? Whenever I see Larry I always end up remembering that quote in a soap book from the early 80s where he talked about being an exotic dancer. He's not a bad actor though.

[Paul Raven]

Out of all the changes that happened post Lemay.Blaine emerged as one of the strongest characters.

she had so many things thrown at her by different regimes but Malone made it work.

She made the fatal mistake of not losing her pregnancy weight and Dewey,her temp replacement took over.

Blaine/Malone should have been brought back.Maybe Sandy needed to be killed off,as he was never used again and Chris rich had moved on.

Either that or a strong recast.

[DRW50]

That's awful that they fired her over a weight issue. I have never known any soap viewers who tuned out because someone was a little overweight.

I wonder if the Ewings might have stayed around if she hadn't been fired. Probably not, but you wonder.

[LegalGirl82]

Now that would have been even more frightening, lol!

You may be right about viewers tuning out after the hipness wore off. My mother was a stalwart NBC viewer, so I started watching AW very young, in the late '60s (I was born the same year as the show) and watched through the '70s and into the mid '80s.

Susan Keith played Cecile when she was still an ingenue and was, IMO, a good fit for Cecile at that stage of her life. Of course, when Nancy Frangione took over, she just popped as Cecile, and the rest is history. But Cecile was never just a cardboard villainess. Her motivations could be understood, even as they couldn't be condoned.

Argh...I had the same problem with the AOL videos from the early '80s. I was trying to get through Blaine's murder trial.

Lol, I didn't know Rick Porter was an exotic dancer! Larry was a salt of the earth character. He and Laura Malone had very good brother/sister chemistry. Larry and Blaine didn't coddle each other, though; and when Blaine was at her worst, Larry would let her have it.

Nice to see some Blaine/Malone appreciation. It's true about the pregnancy weight. Though I had stopped watching by the time Judi Evans was playing Paulina, I liked that the show worked with her and didn't repeat what had happened with Laura.

I think it was felt that they had gone as far as they could with Blaine and Sandy. I would have liked to see them come back eventually, even as recasts. But their departure was during the time of the influx of Loves/Hudsons, which kind of ate the show for long time. Plus they'd already SORAS'd Nancy McGowan; and then Amanda and eventually Matthew for the next generation of Corys.

But, yeah, the writing was on the wall for the Ewings once Blaine left. Larry and Clarice kind of stagnated; and they saddled Catlin and Sally with David Thatcher, that ridiculous Brittany Peterson story and, finally, Sally's death. A shame, too, because Thomas Ian Griffith and Mary Page Keller were a good match.

Edited March 20, 2010 by LegalGirl82

[DRW50]

I wonder if they ever regretted aging Nancy. She was only on the show as an adult for two or three years, then she was written off and aside from funerals and the 25th anniversary, never returned.

I've heard so many bad things about Brittany Peterson, over and over. What do you think made her so awful? Was it the story? I also never understood why they recast Sally with a woman who was nothing like Mary Page Keller. I guess they just wanted a name from AMC.

At the time you were watching AW in the 70s do you remember having any feelings one way or another on the Frames being brought in and the Matthews family being phased out? I know some viewers from then told me later on that the show was not the same for them after this.

I wish more of that era was available but sometimes I feel like I can see it thanks to that Harding Lemay book, although I know that I shouldn't let his opinion hold all the sway.

[LegalGirl82]

Re: Nancy~To me it seemed they never figured out what to do with Nancy once they aged her. Also, during those approximately three years in the mid ‘80s, the show was chock-a-block with other young women of varying ages. In that span, we had, at various times:

Marley

Victoria

Cecile

Sally

Nicole Love

Cheryl McKinnon

MJ McKinnon

Kathleen McKinnon

Thomasina Mason/Harding/Todd

Julia Shearer

Stacey Winthrop

Dee Evans

And, ultimately, of course, the SORASd Amanda.

They didn’t seem to want to write much in the romance department for Nancy. Her love interests never really went anywhere. Perry Hutchins died and I think Chris Chapin just left town.

I can’t remember if Jane Cameron left on her own or if she was let go. If she left on her own, I would imagine part of her decision would have had to do with the fact that all these other gals around her were getting stories while she was inevitably left standing on the sidelines. I wonder if they ever considered recasting Nancy.

It’s funny, I’d forgotten that Taylor Miller from AMC took over from Mary Page Keller for the last year of Sally’s life; and you’ve reminded me that in those mid ‘80s AW was trying to grab names from other soaps; i.e., Sharon Gabet, Taylor Miller and Denise Alexander.

For me, Brittany Peterson’s story was a dud right from the start. Nothing against SG; but she just wasn’t convincing as a country girl, even a “tough” one. Plus, she definitely skewed older than Mary Page Keller and Thomas Ian Griffith. Lastly, SG and TIG had no chemistry at all, IMO.

I think the show would have been better served to have SG play a businesswoman. They were going in the right direction pitting her against Frangione’s Cecile in a war for Peter Love, but the character, Brittany, was just wrong.

Lol, you mentioned that Taylor Miller looked nothing like Mary Page Keller; but believe it or not, MPK, with her dark hair, was the anomaly. Sally was always a blonde until MPK. Honestly, though, MPK was my favorite adult Sally; and I didn’t really care for Miller’s Sally.

Back to Sally and Catlin, on the other side, Lewis Arlt (David Thatcher) also skewed older than MPK and TIG, and I couldn’t stand the whole Thatcher arc they saddled Sally with. Again, MPK and LA had zero chemistry; David was a bit of a slug; and, no offense to the child actor who played Kevin, but he (Kevin) was one whiny child.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen a Nancy/Catlin/Sally (MPK version) triangle. Rachel’s little sister v. Alice’s daughter, for the love of a Ewing, could have been good.

Re: The Frames v. The Matthews~Back in the day, I was blissfully unaware of the backstage goings on; and I don’t think it occurred to me at the time the Matthews were being phased out. It’s likely I thought the Matthews were just going through a lull; an ebb and flow kind of thing; and that they would be back. Plus, with Steve having been around, I didn’t necessarily consider the Frames to be newbies. To be perfectly honest, I was tired of Steve, and I always thought Willis was a far more interesting character than his brother.

Having said all that, I understand, for some, the show was never the same, and I respect their opinion. Years later, I felt the same way with the influx of Loves/Hudsons.

I finally read the Lemay book about two years ago. It jogged a lot of fond memories from that era of AW for me.

Edited March 23, 2010 by LegalGirl82

[Paul Raven]

Nancy was very much a wasted character with a lot of potential.

The show never was on solid ground character wise.They should have looked to who was available rather than constantly bringing on new characters.

With the Loves,they got rid of Nicole and Peter.

The McKinnons were established as the working class family and then everyone of them-Vince,Mary,Ben,Cheryl,MJ and Kathleen were goners.

The Corys lost Jamie,Nancy,Sandy/Blaine etc

Rachel's sister Pam and father were never brought back.She also had a cousin(Sam's daughter)who could have been utilised.

Way too many mistakes were made.

[SnCCorinthos4ever]

I have a question.

I seem to recall that AW actually had a real life trial.

From memory there was a trail for attempted murder where I think the charater's name was Brittany and she was accused of attempting to kill her husband at the time Peter Love. The show decided to treat the case as real and had real juror's instead of actor's.

Did this actually happen?

[DRW50]

Yes, this happened. Here's a little more info:

http://www.igs.net/~awhp/trials3.html

[Paul Raven]

Just found out an interesting bit of AW trivia.

I knew that John Beal was let go as Jim Matthews after the first week of shows,and was replaced by Leon Janney.

What I didn't know was that Janney was appearing on ATWT as a character named 'Major Page'.The Thursday before he became the new Jim, Janney was still appearing on ATWT.

Irna Phillips wrote him out so the actor could switch to AW.

Seems they were in such a hurry,they looked around for an available actor already working on a soap.