The only actress I think could have played Donna and put her spin on it was the actress that had played Diane Ballard on GL.  She had the more controlled/upper class vibe that AS had.. but I think she could have put her own spin on Donna.

I've always thought Pilece should have played Nicole, but I thought Ms Howard did as well she could with an underwritten character like Nicole.

It would have been interesting had Nicole stayed on the show for the remaining year of her contract.. and co-existed with Cass/Frankie.  The awkward interactions at big events, but als in a separate orbit dealing with her family dramas.  In fact.. I could have seen Michael turning to her vs Stacy after the Mikey custody situation.   The show had hinted at something between Nicole/Michael when that brief recast played her.

 

23 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

The only actress I think could have played Donna and put her spin on it was the actress that had played Diane Ballard on GL. 

Was that Sofia Landon Geier, who actually filled in for Anna Stuart a few times?

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/misc5.html

My wish would've been to not re-cast Donna and just make Nicole the focus of the Reginald story.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the twins weren't on canvas when Reg first re-appeared and Anna Stuart left.  So, it could've been about a child that Nicole lost, and they could've used her history of addiction as part of the plot.  She might have shared a history with John, and there could've been a John/Nicole/Cass triangle. 

I just feel overall that the character of Nicole became redundant with Victoria (both glamorous, but troubled women), and that whole plot with Reg made Donna into an uncharacteristic victim.  So, I blame the writing more than Philece, who had proven that she could play a rich, snooty bi-atch on DAYS.

Edited September 30, 20232 yr by j swift

On 9/29/2023 at 12:45 AM, Soaplovers said:

So I've watching some early 1989 and I've come to Frankie's early episodes.  What a bitch..so unlikable.  I'm glad the writing and actress softened the character over time.

It did make me wonder why the show just didn't have her play Molly Ordway instead instead of creating a new character?  She had the same type of relationship with Emma that Molly did..and was kind of a troublemaker as well.  

100% agree.  They did that with the Frame Family multiple times.  Creating Jason Frame who was never mentioned prior to his appearance.  Although, I did hear that they wanted him to play Willis but Chris Robinson would only agree to playing Jason unless it was a new character.  Why not have Dean Frame play the son of an existing Frame brother instead of creating another sibling Henry who never existed till his name was mentioned?  Possibly Vince or even one of the Ordway brothers we heard about but never saw.    It took me some time when Frankie first showed up to figure which Frame brother was her father because of course her name was Frame and not Ordway (stupid really).  I also think they did a spin on this.  Most people with the name Molly, there real name is Mary.  Frankie's name was Mary Frances.  I agree she should have just been casted as Molly Ordway and true they used the same premise of mother/daughter feuding that Emma had with Molly in the 70's

2 hours ago, Xanthe said:

2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

The only actress I think could have played Donna and put her spin on it was the actress that had played Diane Ballard on GL. 

Was that Sofia Landon Geier, who actually filled in for Anna Stuart a few times?

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/misc5.html

Yeah, I went & looked up who played that GL part & it was so neat!

On 9/29/2023 at 7:38 AM, Neil Johnson said:

Frankie's early time on AW is a good example of Donna Swajeski's inability to create engaging new characters.  Swajeski did a fairly good job of writing for existing characters, but the new characters she brought to the show were often burdened with cliched (at times cartoonish) characteristics.  For example, Frankie had the ESP nonsense; and Derek Dane had the "beauty and the beast" vibe.  Swajeski often added some characteristic to her creations that she believed, made her characters interesting and quirky.  But to me, those characteristics just made Swajeski's characters unbelievable and irritating. Later, as you mention, Alice Barrett softened Frankie and made her believable and likable.

And why didn't Swajeski just have Barrett play Molly Ordway?  Because she probably didn't even know Molly existed.  Obviously she knew almost nothing of the extended-Frame family history.  

 

True but if she knew that Molly never existed, then how would she know about Emma?  They do have records, not that many writers abide to the bible and they reinvent stuff but Swajeski wanted to create her own characters.  I think she did a decent job as kind of keeping the Frame name on the show for a few years with bringing Frankie on and Dean but she used the offspring from non legacy existing family members which made no sense. Seeing how close Dean and Frankie were, he really should have been an Ordway brother.  Wade, Sterling and I believe another.  We heard about them but never saw them.

32 minutes ago, j swift said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but the twins weren't on canvas when Reg first re-appeared and Anna Stuart left.  So, it could've been about a child that Nicole lost, and they could've used her history of addiction as part of the plot.  She might have shared a history with John, and there could've been a John/Nicole/Cass triangle. 

Reginald came back from the dead right before Ellen Wheeler left. He was the one who brought Rhonda Lewin to Jake and Marley's wedding. And he was still there when Anne Heche started to play Victoria and he had Peter spending all his time trying to manipulate Vicky into telling Michael that Donna and John were having an affair that they weren't really having. (I remember in his memoir John Considine boasted of how Anne Heche as Marley had slapped him on his first day but he was mistaken, it was Ellen Wheeler.)

With Marley and Victoria well-established I think it would have been better to avoid a Nicole love child plot, but it would have been heaven if they had never had the John and Donna not-rape and instead gone with a story for John and Nicole with either Cass or Michael as the third.  

1 hour ago, Xanthe said:

but it would have been heaven if they had never had the John and Donna not-rape a

Almost anything that would've done away with that story would have suited!!

13 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

True but if she knew that Molly never existed, then how would she know about Emma?  They do have records, not that many writers abide to the bible and they reinvent stuff but Swajeski wanted to create her own characters.  I think she did a decent job as kind of keeping the Frame name on the show for a few years with bringing Frankie on and Dean but she used the offspring from non legacy existing family members which made no sense. Seeing how close Dean and Frankie were, he really should have been an Ordway brother.  Wade, Sterling and I believe another.  We heard about them but never saw them.

I think Swajeski may have known about Emma because Emma was mentioned during the strike of 1988, when Swakeski was a scab writer.  I think they scabs were, to some degree, following Lemay's story projections during the strike. Lemay's notes may have included character names, but still must have been rather vague, because the scabs got many of the historical and character details wrong.  

1 hour ago, Neil Johnson said:

because the scabs got many of the historical and character details wrong.  

That's for sure

Who knew that Emma owned a farm in Bay City, a city that she never lived in 😂😂

21 hours ago, Neil Johnson said:

Does anyone know the age difference between Jacquie Courtney and Bibi Besch?  I've sometimes wondered if Bibi Besch would have been a good replacement for Courtney as Alice on AW.   She had a look similar to Courtney, and often wore her long hair in a similar style.  Besch wasn't just a "blonde actress", but she had demonstrated acting skill in daytime, and had played emotional material well. I can't imagine Besch would have been any worse than any of the other Courtney-replacements -- and she likely would have been better than most.   

Bibi was 4 years older than Jacquie. It could have worked. Was she off Somerset by then?

On 9/29/2023 at 1:06 PM, chrisml said:

Soaps seemed to like the new age/psychic thing. The character of Sandra Mills on Santa Barbara appeared a few months before Frankie Frame. Sandra could be the original for all of this. Someone at NBC obviously liked psychics because yrs later Celeste would show up on DAYS. 

AW had psychics almost all the way through the last 12 years of the show, from Lisa to Remy. 

Anyway, here is Alice talking about the creation of Frankie:

ANOTHER WORLD: AUDITIONS (anotherworldhomepage.com)

"Another World Today" asked, "Do you remember your initial audition as Frankie?" Alice said, "I remember the screen-test. I really didn't know much about Frankie from the sides except that she was originally named Francesca. What I was told about the character was that she was going to be brought in to shake up Nicole and Cass, and give Nicole a run for her money."

"The scene for my screen-test was a pretty generic scene where Cass and Frankie were doing that quibbling thing they do and at one point I got the idea to inject something a little silly that might bring something else to the table. So I did a silly dance and allowed for a goofy moment. Then I had to wait because it took them forever to decide! Once I was tested, I signed a contract and was on hold for three weeks until finally I got the call. I found out that in those weeks while I was waiting they were tinkering with the character and made her a Frame so she would be related to someone on the canvas (Sharlene) and also made her intro storyline to the show that she comes to Bay City to avenge her uncle's death. Initially Frankie is convinced Felicia is involved and even got her arrested, which is how Frankie and Cass come together initially, at very extreme odds."

"Another World Today" then asked, "How much did you contribute to the character's evolution and direction?" Alice recalls, "Well, first my name was changed from Francesca to Mary Frances. Then I shortened it to Frankie because I liked her having a spunky nickname which I also had when I was on another [P&G] soap, "The Catlins," where I played a character named Jackie."

"Frankie took another unexpected turn when, in the scene where Frankie and Cass have their first kiss and recognize their attraction, they were at a hot dog stand, hiding from someone [Lucas] they were following and the scene called for me to eat a hot dog with sauerkraut and I told the director I don't eat meat but would make it work with a bun with sauerkraut and everyone felt that worked for Frankie so she becomes a vegetarian. The crystal Frankie wore around her neck was initially my crystal as it was something I wore and the producers took that and the non-meat and decided to take Frankie on a New Age bend. It was very flexible and creative that way. When Frankie went New Age she really took off."

8 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Yeah, I went & looked up who played that GL part & it was so neat!

And I had forgotten, she [Sofia Landon Geier] also played Jennifer Thatcher, David Thatcher's wife who believed that Kevin was her own child and did not realize that he was Sally's (I believe Jennifer's baby was supposed to have died, which kind of seems unnecessarily complicated. I mean it makes sense that David would not want his wife to know that he had fathered Sally's baby, but how fortuitous that when Jennifer's baby died he was able to obtain Sally's baby and substitute it). I wish the videos from fall 1983 were available.

Edited October 1, 20232 yr by Xanthe
Name

Christmas 1983.  Carl Hutchins arrives as Felicia Gallant's guest much to the chagrin of Donna Love and Perry Hutchins.  The rest of Bay City is delighted to meet him.  For a while....  I never liked him with Rachel.  And that pony tail...

 

4 minutes ago, ScottyBman said:

Christmas 1983.  Carl Hutchins arrives as Felicia Gallant's guest much to the chagrin of Donna Love and Perry Hutchins.  The rest of Bay City is delighted to meet him.  For a while....  I never liked him with Rachel.  And that pony tail...

And the head writer whom I am guessing executed the backstory and the addition of characters around Donna Love was this lady, although I never heard her mentioned before...

 

 

17 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Bibi was 4 years older than Jacquie. It could have worked. Was she off Somerset by then?

AW had psychics almost all the way through the last 12 years of the show, from Lisa to Remy. 

Anyway, here is Alice talking about the creation of Frankie:

ANOTHER WORLD: AUDITIONS (anotherworldhomepage.com)

"Another World Today" asked, "Do you remember your initial audition as Frankie?" Alice said, "I remember the screen-test. I really didn't know much about Frankie from the sides except that she was originally named Francesca. What I was told about the character was that she was going to be brought in to shake up Nicole and Cass, and give Nicole a run for her money."

"The scene for my screen-test was a pretty generic scene where Cass and Frankie were doing that quibbling thing they do and at one point I got the idea to inject something a little silly that might bring something else to the table. So I did a silly dance and allowed for a goofy moment. Then I had to wait because it took them forever to decide! Once I was tested, I signed a contract and was on hold for three weeks until finally I got the call. I found out that in those weeks while I was waiting they were tinkering with the character and made her a Frame so she would be related to someone on the canvas (Sharlene) and also made her intro storyline to the show that she comes to Bay City to avenge her uncle's death. Initially Frankie is convinced Felicia is involved and even got her arrested, which is how Frankie and Cass come together initially, at very extreme odds."

"Another World Today" then asked, "How much did you contribute to the character's evolution and direction?" Alice recalls, "Well, first my name was changed from Francesca to Mary Frances. Then I shortened it to Frankie because I liked her having a spunky nickname which I also had when I was on another [P&G] soap, "The Catlins," where I played a character named Jackie."

"Frankie took another unexpected turn when, in the scene where Frankie and Cass have their first kiss and recognize their attraction, they were at a hot dog stand, hiding from someone [Lucas] they were following and the scene called for me to eat a hot dog with sauerkraut and I told the director I don't eat meat but would make it work with a bun with sauerkraut and everyone felt that worked for Frankie so she becomes a vegetarian. The crystal Frankie wore around her neck was initially my crystal as it was something I wore and the producers took that and the non-meat and decided to take Frankie on a New Age bend. It was very flexible and creative that way. When Frankie went New Age she really took off."

Ah..no wonder her early weeks were so choppy...the writers hadn't fully formed her character yet.

I think the mistake later writers did with Cass/Frankie was make them too serious without the quirky/comedic elements that made them appealing.

You had baby Charlie with her health ailments, Cass' mental health issues, Cass' becoming gullible to believe Maggie was his daughter, Frankie feeling less than because she couldn't have a 2nd baby, etc.  It was no wonder focus groups in 1996 were not so keen on Frankie.

I read that Joe/Frankie were also written to be co detectives like Ryan/Frankie were...but I have a feeling that buddy pairing wasn't as successful...and instead of viewing Joe as the problem...Frankie got the blame.

 

19 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Bibi was 4 years older than Jacquie. It could have worked. Was she off Somerset by then?

AW had psychics almost all the way through the last 12 years of the show, from Lisa to Remy. 

Anyway, here is Alice talking about the creation of Frankie:

ANOTHER WORLD: AUDITIONS (anotherworldhomepage.com)

"Another World Today" asked, "Do you remember your initial audition as Frankie?" Alice said, "I remember the screen-test. I really didn't know much about Frankie from the sides except that she was originally named Francesca. What I was told about the character was that she was going to be brought in to shake up Nicole and Cass, and give Nicole a run for her money."

"The scene for my screen-test was a pretty generic scene where Cass and Frankie were doing that quibbling thing they do and at one point I got the idea to inject something a little silly that might bring something else to the table. So I did a silly dance and allowed for a goofy moment. Then I had to wait because it took them forever to decide! Once I was tested, I signed a contract and was on hold for three weeks until finally I got the call. I found out that in those weeks while I was waiting they were tinkering with the character and made her a Frame so she would be related to someone on the canvas (Sharlene) and also made her intro storyline to the show that she comes to Bay City to avenge her uncle's death. Initially Frankie is convinced Felicia is involved and even got her arrested, which is how Frankie and Cass come together initially, at very extreme odds."

"Another World Today" then asked, "How much did you contribute to the character's evolution and direction?" Alice recalls, "Well, first my name was changed from Francesca to Mary Frances. Then I shortened it to Frankie because I liked her having a spunky nickname which I also had when I was on another [P&G] soap, "The Catlins," where I played a character named Jackie."

"Frankie took another unexpected turn when, in the scene where Frankie and Cass have their first kiss and recognize their attraction, they were at a hot dog stand, hiding from someone [Lucas] they were following and the scene called for me to eat a hot dog with sauerkraut and I told the director I don't eat meat but would make it work with a bun with sauerkraut and everyone felt that worked for Frankie so she becomes a vegetarian. The crystal Frankie wore around her neck was initially my crystal as it was something I wore and the producers took that and the non-meat and decided to take Frankie on a New Age bend. It was very flexible and creative that way. When Frankie went New Age she really took off."

Thanks for posting that.