Another World Discussion Thread

[Toups]

Too many complaints from this thread. Will be closed for a bit. I’ll reopen it sometime later. 

[AbcNbc247]

Thank you @Toups!

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, thank you! @Toups!

 

I happened upon the names of the last Writing Team for the show the other day. It filled me with nostalgia. I don't know if you're interested, and it's not news by any means, but then what is news for AW, huh? 

Leah Laiman co-HW, Jean Passanante co-HW, Stephen Demorest, Melissa Salmons, Laura Maria Censabella, Judy Tate, Tom Wiggin, Tom King, Maura Penders, Richard Culliton, Shelly Altman, Carolyn Culliton, Richard J. Allen, Sofia Landon Geier, Lynn Martin, Gillian Spencer, Mary Sue Price, Edwin Klein, Gordon Rayfield, Courtney Simon, Eleanor Labine.

Jean Passanante has since retired. Shelly Altman has since retired. The Cullitons are Script Writers for DOOL. And Carolyn Culliton tweets on #SoapTwitter. 

For Valentine's Day I re-watched the AW 1992 Valentine's Day show, the B&W film noir "Case of the Stolen Heart" and it has really stood the test of time. Still really enjoyed it! The show won an Emmy with it. 

I was organizing photo files the other day & found this gem of Doug Watson in the 1950s & one with him & the director Ira Cirker. 

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[Melroser]

Thanks for unlocking, @Toups

This thread is the primary reason I come here (though I check out many more).

Just watched the Nov 20, 1987 ep. I remember liking the show a lot then even if many others didn't. I enjoyed the Rex/Cass story. Yes, it was campy. That's why I liked it. I also really liked Dominique and was upset when they let Tracey Kolis go. She should have stayed. Maybe be paired with Peter? It might have been fun to have her around town a while with Cass and Nicole after what she pulled with Rex. 

I, unlike most people on this thread, liked Philece Sampler as Donna because I was a fan of hers. The writing wasn't the best for her, but I still enjoyed watching her on AW. 

Of course, Anne Heche. Denise Alexander. Wally! "Villain" Reginald (yes, cartoonish at times) looming around. I'm glad they never "redeemed" Reg like they later did with Carl to make him a romantic pairing with Rachel, but that's a whole other story. 

I was also a big fan of early Sam and Amanda/Mandy. I thought the two were great and could have really become the show's "supercouple". At least, as much as AW did supercouples. They had the Romeo and Juliet feel as Rachel's daughter and Mitch's brother. I was behind them until Amanda became pregnant with Ali and the air fell out. 

I think I'll have to go back and watch some more of '87. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I liked it because I love Stephen Schnetzer! 

I run into people all the time who liked Philece's Donna. Now me I adore Philece as Renee & adore Anna Stuart as Donna but I recognize that Philece has quite the following on AW, too.

Anne Heche was so new then & it was so great from the get-go. 

I really liked Sam & Mandy. Besides RKK, the only other person I liked Sandy with was Evan Frame. 

[Franko]

What's everybody's feelings on mid-'90s Amanda, the Christine Tucci and Laura Moss years?

[Contessa Donatella]

I can honestly say that I liked every recast. They all had pretty good writing. They all were good daughters, mothers & sisters. The Alli's that were also recast went along with them, appropriately, obviously with great casting intent. I get a kick out of the fact that Christine Tucci and Alicia Coppolla are RL buds where they are each other's children's godmothers & talk on the phone every day. And, that has nothing to do with the show! I kinda think the success of 3 very different Amandas proves the pudding about soaps & recasts. I have this crazy picture of Laura foo

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ling around one day. 

[Melroser]

Not a fan of Tucci. Amanda was too "mature" then. It didn't help that they paired her with Grant and had recast Evan also. She never clicked with me.

I enjoyed Laura Moss after Tucci. She was written with more spunk. Tho she was completely different from Sandra, I thought the character was back. Amanda was written more immaturely trying to break up Carl and Rachel (which I was for.) Maybe that helped. lol. Didn't she flirt with Jake at the time? I kind of remember liking that possible pairing. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, she did. 

[chrisml]

I also enjoyed AW during the 1987 year. The Rex/Cass stuff, the Mary/Reginald story, (although it fizzled out), Cheryl/Scott, etc. I also liked Tracy Kolis and I still remember her departure scene. I wish that the show had been able to follow through with the 1987 stories rather than wrapping a lot of them up and starting again with new characters and stories. 

[Xanthe]

As a fan of Scott and Cheryl, what did you think of the introduction of Dawn? 

[j swift]

To me, Dawn's story does not age well. 

There's a lot of Dawn blaming her mother for exposing her to HIV.  She actually cries, "why me?"  It screams of a daytime show trying to do a socially relevant story and then going out of their way to find an "innocent" victim, rather than telling the story of a person who was more likely to be living with HIV in 1988.  Finally, to add insult to injury, she hooks up with a rich boyfriend who rather than using his wealth to fund treatment research, takes her to Europe to die in Venice, while her only on screen symptoms were that she was exhausted all the time.

Furthermore, it could be argued that the story did more harm than good.  By portraying a character who serio-converted due to a blood transfusion in 1997, they artificially raised concern about the process.  In fact, according to the CDC: risk for HIV infection from transfusion of blood products declined from one in 450,000--600,000 donations in 1995 to one in 2,135,000 donations from 1995 to 2001.  So, they weren't really educating their audience, but they were demonizing those who contracted the virus through drug use.

In the process they made Cheryl into an unsympathetic character, and they wrote off Scott who had a lot of story potential as a male Love heir.

Edited February 20, 2023 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

As someone who saw it contemporaneously & who was aware that no other soap had done anything on it at all, yet, I am not surprised that we see it about 180 apart. To sum up I thought it was a great storyline & I was proud of it. When there was a body of soap HIV/AIDS storylines & Jamey Giddens wrote up all of them he gave it good marks.

Given the circumstances I didn't see her as someone who was doing a lot of whining or blaming. She continued to love her mother. If anything Chad was harder on their mother than Dawn was. And, going back to that time, yes, people did ask, "Why me?" And, they asked it in spades! 

Yes, it's true that they told the story of an innocent & that's not surprising at all for the first venture. As well there were plenty of stories abounding at the time of "innocents" being so afflicted. 

I thought they played out very relatable beats. And, they had her innocent & had her death offscreen. Fit perfectly at the time. It's not a story you would tell today. OF COURSE NOT. But, it was a good story in its time. I even liked Scott's speech about going to DC to work for the issue. 

[Xanthe]

Did they make Cheryl unsympathetic? I thought she nobly and virtuously did not stand in Scott's way and then when Dawn had died quietly took Scott back. 

[Franko]

Yes and no. It appears that the Dawn storyline was airing at approximately the same time as All My Children's. Based on the recaps, it appears that AMC did begin its storyline with the drugs factor (through Mark). I find it interesting that AMC apparently didn't introduce the sexual aspect/Cindy (and, appropiately for this thread, with an ex-AW actress) until after Mark tested negatively.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Franko