Another World Discussion Thread

[Xanthe]

It may be an interesting piece of trivia that Brad Pitt was on AW for a couple of days once, but he doesn't deserve a photo in a story about the show's cancellation when there is not a larger one of Victoria Wyndham. 

[FrenchBug82]

That was my thought too.
Another testimony of the little regard soaps are treated in the press that they thought people would only care about the cancellation of a decade-old show if there was a cameo by someone who later became famous.
 

[Soaplovers]

If they wanted to put someone famous on the announcement that came from AW...Anne Heche would have been the logical choice since she was doing fairly well in the mainstream at that point.

[AbcNbc247]

Ray Liotta would have been a really good choice as well

[DRW50]

Brad Pitt was a mega-star at this time. They were going to put his photo, rather than caring about accuracy.

[victoria foxton]

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Another World and Texas from 11/19/82. In good picture and sound quality.

Edited April 17, 2022 by victoria foxton

[Contessa Donatella]

about the 1990s. "In this era, P&G explored new business models, including partnerships with Hollywood production studios Paramount & Columbia Tri-Star, the latter specifically designed to develop the sponsor's soap production business, given Columbia's position as owner of Days of our Lives and The Young & the Restless." (Her Stories, Levine. 212.)

Recently in another space for soap fans, a friend and poster, found a YouTube audio only interview between a member of WOST (World of Soap Themes, once a wondrous resource for soap fans & aficionados, now defunct.) and Harding "Pete" Lemay, once HW of AW, during a golden era for it. They talked about the move to a 90 minute show at AW. (Donna adds: The 90 minute show was a dismal failure & is said by many to be the first nail in the show's coffin, as the affiliates detested the 90 minute show & began to transfer that hatred to the show, and, as well, the show lost Lemay to it as he was that dead-set against going to 90 minutes after what they had had to conquer to succeed with 60 minutes.) In the interview Pete revealed who had been the man behind the expansion to 90 minutes: Freddy Silverman. (Donna adds: I don't know when what happened but eventually Silverman was the overall Head of Daytime Programming for NBC, AW's network.)

pg. 212 NBC balked when P&G wanted to hire the Dobsons (to HW AW) who were then just free of SB. Bridget & Jerome suggested that NBC wanted AW to fail because they wanted out of the sponsor-owned soap biz & wished to replace AW with GEN. (Donna adds: To people who guessed that P&G wanted out of the business for years, I suggest this is a more likely thing that was actually going on.)

 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Tonksadora
Add in another AW item from the same book Her Stories.

[Contessa Donatella]

In January or February 2022 in a soap opera fan space that shall remain nameless I participated in discussion of the last years of AW, of P&G & how they could never seem to bring themselves to make a deal for AW or even for a partnership of AW, and of the interested parties at that time. I posted about FOX TV wanting a daytime line-up with soaps & their needing to start someplace to that end. I posted about Angela Shapiro, head then of ABC Daytime & her making an offer first for the character of "Felicia Gallant" & when that was not accepted, making an offer for the whole soap, AW. (I posted about what she did do with her good friend Linda Dano & a resurrected OLTL character "Gretel Rae Cummings" & ABC's 4 soaps, after P&G refused her second offer.) I posted about companies that later became parts of Paramount & Viacom who made offers of an unknown nature to P&G but who were also refused. I posted about the company that had been Screen Gems, who was then Columbia Tri-Star and is now Sony & who was then owner of the Internet business SoapCity & of Y&R & of part of DOOL.

[Khan]

Oh.  It's you again.

[Contessa Donatella]

The Networks & Expansion from 30-60 min. Episodes for US Daytime Soap Operas

 

Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera & US Television History by Elana Levine. Duke University Press. Durham and London. ©2020. pgs. 94-95.

 

In the mid-'70s there was a move to take soaps from a half hour format to an hour long format. The first show to do so was my #1 all-time favorite, Another World, a P&G soap, created by Irna Phillips, broadcast on NBC, produced in Brooklyn, NY, beginning in 1964. The impetus to make this change came out of the network and an NBC executive, Lin Bolen lead the charge. This was part & parcel of the participation in 'up close and personal' action in the creation of daytime drama. So, it seems strange, doesn't it? P&G owned AW but the network was out front in this action. This "was also a development made feasible by technological changes, especially in video editing." (94) Bolen also took on the same expansion of time length afterward for another NBC soap, Days of our Lives. As of 1971 Harding "Pete" Lemay was HW of AW & Paul Rauch joined as EP in 1972. From the technology standpoint, they could abandon live-on-tape practices because of advancements that had been made in video editing. AW was a big hit at the time for NBC Daytime. And, daytime was a bit hit overall. Lemay thought that they should do an hour show because it would enable them to tell stories better. They could have longer scenes. I like to say that NBC used the carrot with the show. They offered them more space and more behind-the-scenes labor. Make no mistake, going to an hour show was going to cost more money to produce. The budget would have to reflect that. Bolen put it in easy to understand terms, by doubling the time length, they would be doubling the budget required. So, you might ask, why were they doing it? Ad rates would increase and that would be enough to make it more than worthwhile. As they did AW they found that the profit was enough to encourage them to go forward with the same expansion for DOOL. Their success & the competitive nature of the soap business led other networks to involve themselves in converting most soaps to the new hour long format. Agnes Nixon said she would never take All My Children to an hour and she suggested to Pete that he must be crazy. ABC used the carrot of studio space with her. William J. Bell was even more dug in against this move. And, CBS was ready for that, they told him they were taking The Young and the Restless to an hour with him, or without him. They used the stick.

 

Not from the book "Her Stories"

Moved to an Hour Timetable:
AW Jan. 6, 1975*
DOOL Apr 21, 1975*
AMC 1980
Y&R 1980

*Both AW & DOOL had single episode stand-alone "one-offs" a few months before they began the permanent change on the dates listed above.

Y&R began 1973.

AW went to the disastrous EPIC FAIL 90 min. show Mar. 5, 1979.
AW went back to an hour Aug. 1980.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Here's the URL for the WOST interview with Pete Lemay where he talked about expanding from 60 minutes to 90 minutes.

WOST interview with Pete Lemay

[teplin]

Such an impressive array of acting talent on AW back them, all saddled to horribly boring stories. 

[AbcNbc247]

AW was starting to get back on its feet around that time though, after seemingly hitting bottom around the summer of 82. Corinne Jacker was finally axed and Paul Rauch was also on his way out. I still wonder if Rauch left on his own or if he was fired too. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Boy, you can say that again. Soaps have lots of Famous Grads & it is a kick to read about them, once. If they wanted a Famous Grad, they couldn't do better than Anne Heche, but if it were me, I'd leave the Famous Grads out altogether & concentrate on the show superstars or some 6th generation fans even!

Hello, it's me. I've thought about it for a long, long time ... with thnx to Todd Rundgren

[watson71]

1982-83 was another of those infamous P&G producer swaps:

Mary Ellis Bunim and Fred Bartholemew switched EP positions at Seach for Tomorrow and As the World Turns in late 1981.  Bartholemew was EP in March 1982 when Search switched from CBS to NBC.

Early in 1983, Gail Kobe, the EP of cancelled Texas, becomes EP of Guiding Light.  Allen Potter, then Guiding Light's EP and AW's first EP, returns to AW when Paul Rauch left and/or was fired from Another World.

None of the P&G soaps had a good year in 1982.  Creatively, they were all over the place in terms of quality and writing.  This was also around the time that the P&G Executive in Charge of Production would switch from Robert Short to Ed Trach.  It makes you wonder why they swapped EPs the way they did in 1982-83, and they would do the same thing again in 1995 with the same results. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by watson71