5 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

The ratings were anemic before the attempt to renew the Alice/Steve/Rachel triangle, and did not improve at all during its run.

It was reported at the time that the idea was to rebuild Steve and Alice as a pair, but Linda Borgenson had no chemistry with anyone, and David Canary was a better actor with potential, so TPTB switched courses and veered Steve towards Rachel. That idea was a failure too, because "old-time" Steve and Alice fans did not buy it, and Rachel fans only wanted her with Mac, so the show finally cut its losses and killed Steve off yet again.

I wonder how things might have been if DC had worked with Jacquie Courtney. Sure, she was on OLTL then.

How long was his gap between leaving AW and joining AMC?

21 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

I wonder how things might have been if DC had worked with Jacquie Courtney. Sure, she was on OLTL then.

How long was his gap between leaving AW and joining AMC?

Steven died on Feb 3, 1983. Adam debut in the fall of 1983.

2 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

Another World never improved in the ratings after 1979.  Never once got above number 9, whatever shenanigans they tried: Bringing back Steve and Alice; devoting a third of the cast to crime/mob stories; firing Beverly Penberthy; the comedy of Felicia and Wallingford; the return of Iris; beautiful huge sets courtesy of Jill Ferrin Phelps; Vicky Wydham as Justine, the Lumina plot; a gorilla in the final episode.  Nothing raised the ratings. 

I wonder if anyone ever considered returning to class-conflict with a middle-class family as the core?  Obviously not.   

I thought I read somewhere that the ratings did improve in 1986, which helped stave off cancelation, but I guess that was from a low base.

6 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

The ratings were anemic before the attempt to renew the Alice/Steve/Rachel triangle, and did not improve at all during its run.

It was reported at the time that the idea was to rebuild Steve and Alice as a pair, but Linda Borgenson had no chemistry with anyone, and David Canary was a better actor with potential, so TPTB switched courses and veered Steve towards Rachel. That idea was a failure too, because "old-time" Steve and Alice fans did not buy it, and Rachel fans only wanted her with Mac, so the show finally cut its losses and killed Steve off yet again.

Did Rachel and Mitch have any fans at the time?

I know it never would have happened, but I wonder if they would have had any success pairing Steve and Quinn. Was she ever meant to have feelings for him? 

2 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

I wonder how things might have been if DC had worked with Jacquie Courtney. Sure, she was on OLTL then.

How long was his gap between leaving AW and joining AMC?

There's no denying that David Canary was a powerful actor, but pairing him with Linda Borgenson was like pairing Laurence Olivier with a Swiffer Duster. That, combined with the atrocious writing and lack of attention to history, doomed the story to fail.

With a gifted scribe who knew the characters' pasts, and performers like Jacqueline Courtney, Victoria Wyndham and Canary, the idea might have been feasible, but I guess we will never know.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I thought I read somewhere that the ratings did improve in 1986, which helped stave off cancelation, but I guess that was from a low base.

The show had been under 5.0 in the early 1980s, but rose to 5.1 in the mid-1980s. Santa Barbara and SFT's ratings were even worse, however, so that probably did help stave off cancellation for a bit.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Did Rachel and Mitch have any fans at the time?

Yes, although the bulk of the audience was on team Mac (even if many viewers wanted to have sex with Mitch more, LOL!)

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I know it never would have happened, but I wonder if they would have had any success pairing Steve and Quinn. Was she ever meant to have feelings for him? 

They certainly had more appeal than Canary's Steve and pod-Alice!

Thanks @vetsoapfan. I can definitely imagine viewers being drawn to Mitch but  not really wanting him to be with Rachel. I think Mitch was too dynamic a presence for the show at that time (or Espy was, anyway). It's  a shame Beverlee had left as an Iris/Mitch pairing might have been compelling.

I watched some of the 80s Steve/Alice story recently. Linda Borgeson is easily one of the worst soap actresses I've ever seen - period. Shockingly bad, especially in the reveal scenes with Canary. It was never going to work, nor do I think they should've tried to recast a singular presence like Reinholt's Steve with IMO a very different actor in Canary.

8 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

Steven died on Feb 3, 1983. Adam debut in the fall of 1983.

Thanks!

8 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @vetsoapfan. I can definitely imagine viewers being drawn to Mitch but  not really wanting him to be with Rachel. I think Mitch was too dynamic a presence for the show at that time (or Espy was, anyway). It's  a shame Beverlee had left as an Iris/Mitch pairing might have been compelling.

The thought had never occured to me, but now that you have brought it up: the electric McKinsey and the charismatic Espy might have been quite an interesting pair.

6 hours ago, Vee said:

I watched some of the 80s Steve/Alice story recently. Linda Borgeson is easily one of the worst soap actresses I've ever seen - period. Shockingly bad, especially in the reveal scenes with Canary. It was never going to work, nor do I think they should've tried to recast a singular presence like Reinholt's Steve with IMO a very different actor in Canary.

I agree that attempting to replace Reinholt was a major blunder, but AT LEAST David Canary was a good actor in his own right. How Linda Borgenson ever got an acting job is beyond me. You are right: those reveal scenes were horrendous.

4 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

How Linda Borgenson ever got an acting job is beyond me. You are right: those reveal scenes were horrendous.

As far as I can tell, she never did another soap or any other TV work.

2 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

As far as I can tell, she never did another soap or any other TV work.

After AW, she did do one episode of the police show TJ Hooker, but that's about it as far as I can see.

7 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

she did do one episode of the police show TJ Hooker

I probably saw that episode, because I watched the entire TJ Hooker rerun cycle about 5 times on FETV!! 😂

Linda Borgeson appeared as Sylvia Whitby on GH.  She was a married woman blackmailed by Leo Russell and Beatrice LaSeur after an affair.  Sylvia was friendly with Amanda Barrington.  She appeared circa 84/85.

45 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

After AW, she did do one episode of the police show TJ Hooker, but that's about it as far as I can see.

 

4 minutes ago, slick jones said:

Linda Borgeson appeared as Sylvia Whitby on GH.  She was a married woman blackmailed by Leo Russell and Beatrice LaSeur after an affair.  Sylvia was friendly with Amanda Barrington.  She appeared circa 84/85.

 

I'm not sorry to have missed that completely, LOL.

She wasn't a very important character, and thankfully shared most scenes with the elegant Anne Jeffreys, Emma Samms and John Callahan. They all carried her scenes.

7 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

I'm not sorry to have missed that completely, LOL.

 

This is NOT an unpopular opinion: Linda Borgeson is one of the worst actresses ever cast in a major soap role. What did TPTB see in her auditions that she couldn't project in her actual scenes?

Replacing George Reinholt was more difficult than might have been expected. There aren't that many actors who have the dark, brooding, romantic quality that Reinholt had.

I would have been happy with Rachel and Mitch as a couple. Espy had good chemistry with actresses as different as Trish Stewart and Victoria Wyndham, or would Trish Stewart and Linda Dano be an even greater contrast?