On 1/9/2024 at 1:21 PM, Jdee43 said:

I just watched an episode of the TV series Cannon from 1975 called "The Iceman." Having 4 scenes in it was Margie Impert. Impert was on Another World as Rachel from December 27, 1971 to February 15, 1972, according to the AW Home Page.

Reading online, apparently she was intended to be the new permanent recast for Robin Strasser, but it didn't work out. The producers then brought back the original Rachel for four and a half months, from February 17 to June 29. Victoria Wyndham permanently took the role on July 21, 1972. 1972 was the year of 3 Rachels.

Was Impert really intended to be permanent and not temporary? If so, I wonder what went wrong. Whatever it was, it happened quickly; she wasn't even there two months. Watching her on Cannon, I could definitely see her as a 1972 Rachel, a mix of being innocent, manipulative, and nasty. From a first impression, it seems like Impert would have been a nice recast. 

Robin Strasser touched upon Margie Impert's casting in at least one interview I read. It was Strasser's opinion that Impert was cast based upon a physical resemblance to her, but ultimately, such superficial casting never works. (This reminds me of anecdotes about Joanne Dorian for Gillian Spencer as Viki on OLTL.) Recasting the characters with actors based upon their own merits is what worked and Victoria Wyndham (and Erika Slezak) became most strongly identified with the characters in question regardless of their resemblance to the originators. 

Doing research, probably one of the reasons Impert was gone so quickly was the change in executive producers. Paul Rauch stared as ep in December 1971. Apparently he came on just after Impert was hired by his predecessor. Raunch no doubt wanted to put his own stamp on the character.

Interesting how, from Strasser to Impert to Wyndham, Rachel got less working class and ethnic looking.

Edited January 24, 20241 yr by Jdee43

On 1/21/2024 at 8:55 PM, watson71 said:

If you look at the cast lists in those credits, only about 10 characters played by the same actor remain  into mid-1983 (Rachel, Mac, Ada, Liz, Clarice, Larry, Brian, Blaine, Sandy, Cecile, Quinn).  

Characters like Jamie, Julia, Sally were recast with new actors.

Everyone else was gone.

I’m still wondering what finally happened that made Paul Rauch and everybody realize that the show was in a bad place at the time.

Pete, Diana and so many others were all sent packing at the end of September. 

25 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I’m still wondering what finally happened that made Paul Rauch and everybody realize that the show was in a bad place at the time.

Pete, Diana and so many others were all sent packing at the end of September. 

I suspect that was the time Rauch realized that his days at AW were over after almost 12 years as EP. Probably the last “big thing” that Rauch did at AW was to introduce the character of Felicia Gallant.  P&G would move Gail Kobe to GL after TEXAS was canceled, and move Allan Potter to AW from GL in early 1983.  Potter did clean up AW quickly given the mess Rauch left him with, and AW was again watchable for most of 1983 through the end of 1984 when Potter retired. 
 

The only real fault during Potter’s time at AW was not using Jacqueline Courtney’s Alice more effectively, given the fact that he was AW’s first producer in 1964.  He was aware of Alice’s history on the show. Rather than give her a big storyline, he made her a supporting character in Sally’s story.  If the show had waited to do the Steve Frame back from the dead story once Courtney came back, it probably would have worked.

11 hours ago, watson71 said:

This was from an interview he did in 1999 before the show was cancelled:

Is "Frankie" the real Frankie or is she just someone Jordan Stark created, and what is she going to do to Cass and Lila's relationship? (don't do too much damage!!!)

A.M.
Pittsburgh, PA


Chris Goutman: 

Let me answer this and hopefully we'll dramatize it because I think it's something we need to answer. Stark did not create her. This is a character who is her own person. Anne is her own person. Stark found out about her and that's about it. She came of her own free will and she has a history which hopefully the audience will find intriguing with what happened to Frankie. 
 

Thank you!  A big wasted opportunity to fix one of the show's biggest blunders.

On 1/21/2024 at 6:34 PM, Sapounopera said:

Replacing the previous music theme with... this 😪

Aw, I have a soft spot for this theme. I'm not crazy about the arrangement which is maybe verging on the bombastic, but I enjoy the melody. I like the earlier theme as well and prefer the logo with the rainbow of rings to the opeming blocks that become profiles. 

13 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

Aw, I have a soft spot for this theme. I'm not crazy about the arrangement which is maybe verging on the bombastic, but I enjoy the melody. I like the earlier theme as well and prefer the logo with the rainbow of rings to the opeming blocks that become profiles. 

Always liked this theme and the one before it. Always liked that they kept the interlocking rings at the beginning of the opening credits as a nod and wink to the past.  Also, for 1981, the credits were technologically advanced- I wonder if the company that created the credits for the Superman movie in 1978 worked on these credits?  They are very similar. 
 

 

10 hours ago, watson71 said:

Always liked this theme and the one before it. Always liked that they kept the interlocking rings at the beginning of the opening credits as a nod and wink to the past.  Also, for 1981, the credits were technologically advanced- I wonder if the company that created the credits for the Superman movie in 1978 worked on these credits?  They are very similar. 
 

 

The most amazing thing to me is, the original expanding "circle of rings" opening (the one used throughout most of the 1960s and 70s) was created without the assistance of computer technology.  To me, it it almost impossible to imagine how that opening was put together.  Would that be called "analog" animation?  

7 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

The most amazing thing to me is, the original expanding "circle of rings" opening (the one used throughout most of the 1960s and 70s) was created without the assistance of computer technology.  To me, it it almost impossible to imagine how that opening was put together.  Would that be called "analog" animation?  

I almost wonder if they designed the 60 and 70s opening with a kaleidoscope toy and somehow filmed it to capture the interlocking rings and the title.

28 minutes ago, watson71 said:

I almost wonder if they designed the 60 and 70s opening with a kaleidoscope toy and somehow filmed it to capture the interlocking rings and the title.

How dynamic was the original opening that ran until January 1966? Based on the description on the AWHP it sounds like it was at least partially animated, and perhaps a bit similar to the rings since there is a circle that expands into a sort of latticework background.  

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

http://www.anotherworldhomepage.com/open5.html

8 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

The most amazing thing to me is, the original expanding "circle of rings" opening (the one used throughout most of the 1960s and 70s) was created without the assistance of computer technology.  To me, it it almost impossible to imagine how that opening was put together.  Would that be called "analog" animation?  

I am not an expert, but do we know that the opening didn't use computer technology? The pattern is very regular and 2 dimensional so I don't think it would have been impossible for the time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_animation

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Spamming the board doesn't help Beverlee McKinsey get an Emmy. That's not how NATAS works. They don't give awards out because someone should have received one 30 years ago. This is a futile agenda. Beverlee McKinsey deserved to win over 30 years ago but she didn't. End of story. 

Edited January 28, 20241 yr by TEdgeofNight

 

 

Posting topical information does not even come close to spamming. 

Edited January 28, 20241 yr by Donna L. Bridges

23 hours ago, Xanthe said:

I am not an expert, but do we know that the opening didn't use computer technology? The pattern is very regular and 2 dimensional so I don't think it would have been impossible for the time.

I guess we don't know that for sure. But I read somewhere, a few years ago, that it was done without computer assistance.  It don't remember where I read it, but the author briefly explained how it was done.  I didn't understand his explanation, so I can't recount it here.  But I believe it was some kind of stop-camera animation.  I doubt there is any way now to find the article (or interview, or whatever it was) that I read.  Sorry about that.   

Just to be clear -- I'm talking about the color version of the "circle of rings" that expanded in front of a black background, with the title Another World within the circle.  I believe this was the show's second opening graphic and lasted until around 1980-81, I believe.   

2 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

I guess we don't know that for sure. But I read somewhere, a few years ago, that it was done without computer assistance.  It don't remember where I read it, but the author briefly explained how it was done.  I didn't understand his explanation, so I can't recount it here.  But I believe it was some kind of stop-camera animation.  I doubt there is any way now to find the article (or interview, or whatever it was) that I read.  Sorry about that.   

Just to be clear -- I'm talking about the color version of the "circle of rings" that expanded in front of a black background, with the title Another World within the circle.  I believe this was the show's second opening graphic and lasted until around 1980-81, I believe.   

Thank you, that is helpful. I did understand you meant the coloured rings, but when I started hunting to see if I could find any info I was struck by how similarly kaleidoscopic the effect of the original opening was and started to speculate about whether they used the same technique for both and whether the change was prompted simply because they knew they would be switching to colour or because they had new technology at their disposal.

The AWHP gives the starting date for the circle of rings opening as January 19, 1966 and the transition to colour on June 20 the same year. September 7, 1981 was the debut of the "block letter" opening.

Did any other shows (or movies) have similar openings that would provide insight into how it was done, I wonder?