Another World Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

There was a letter in SOD after Quinn was murdered, from a very upset fan. The response was, basically, that AW had no idea the character had any fans. This is something that popped up again and again with P&G soaps.

[Xanthe]

Thanks. I see Denise Alexander has her special credit at the end of the roll by this time.

It seems so strange that Mac would have invited Reginald to this event, especially with Vince and Mary. Maybe it was explained in the story that they had invited Peggy and Peter but Peggy brought Reginald instead? I seem to recall Peter was also a suspect, so it would be important not to give him an alibi by having him in the room.

[Xanthe]

I'm not sure whether Edge of Night aired in my area. I was completely unfamiliar with Forrest Compton and Ann Flood as well as Sharon Gabet.

Alfred and Vivian just dropped in and out so it didn't seem like there was any long-term plan for them. They didn't even come to Adam and MJ's aborted wedding. Rose seemed like she might have more to do -- she turned out to be Sara Montaigne's mother -- but nothing materialized. 

Edited February 8, 2024 by Xanthe

[chrisml]

Exactly. Until my grandmother died two years ago, she always brought up Quinn's death when talking about AW. It bothered her that much. Execs always think that viewers want to see the next new things, but that's not usually the case. It's why Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell stole the Grammys because of the connection and history viewers have to those women. 

[DRW50]

That's so true, and such a poignant story.

Quinn, and Petronia, also fit AW so well - that's how the character survived as long as she did through so many regimes. Much as I enjoyed her time at GL, I would have traded that for her getting to be on AW longer with some writers who might have tried to use her. 

[Paul Raven]

Quinn was an attractive intelligent woman of color (played by a fine actress)who, through sheer luck I think,became one of the longer term characters at that point.

She had yet to wed so there was a lot of story possibilities open to her. She had an adopted daughter and grandchild so that story avenue was there along with business and romance potential. And she was a good friend to several characters. So the writers decided to drop her. Makes sense.

That continual revolving door of characters was one of the fundamental mistakes AW made.

[adrnyc]

That's exactly what makes killing off Quinn such a great move in a serial killer storyline. It was shocking. It got people talking. It made people think that if they can kill off Quinn, they can kill off anyone, which gave the rest of the storyline harrowing stakes! Like killing Mark during the Sunset Beach serial killer. I'll say it again: there's nothing more boring than a serial killer storyline where only non-essential peripheral characters are the victims. See Santa Barbara's carnation killer. Snooze fest.

[chrisml]

I think it's good to get people talking, but it shouldn't be at the expense at creating shock moments that don't support longterm engagement. When you kill off the main AA female character, you're killing off years of potential story. I don't necessarily think we need serial killer storylines. They inevitably devolve into foolishness as AW and SBeach did. The serial killer storyline wasting time with chasing around Crystal Gayle? I saw this storyline years after it happened, so I don't know what people felt like at the time, but I think it would have been more interesting if the reveal of the AW killer was someone important, and that the big part of the story was the fear. Nancy's role in the storyline was intriguing, but that also fizzled out since Cameron left the show. In hindsight, it would have more interesting to kill off Nancy or put MJ in the story and perhaps she could have died and that would have given storyline. Maybe others who watched at the time felt/feel differently, but I think killing off Maisie and Quinn was silly, and the longterm storyline possibilities out of the storylines were largely ignored. 

Edited February 8, 2024 by chrisml

[Contessa Donatella]

And, the whole time David O'Brien is such an incredibly talented nuanced actor! 

[Xanthe]

I disliked them killing off Maisie and Quinn but the Depriest era had already killed off Sally and Zane and written off a bunch of other characters with or without fanfare. Maisie had always been a supporting character and Quinn had been marginalized over time so it wasn't surprising that they were on the chopping block.

The only reason they had boyfriends at the time was for the storyline purpose of bringing them to the attention of the Sin Stalker. And the Sin Stalker apparently escalated from killing prostitutes to killing respectable single and not especially promiscuous middle-aged women. I don't think Quinn was even sleeping with Zack, was she?

The Sin Stalker was also terrorizing respectable young women who even thought about dating -- or in Lisa's case obsessing over her as a perfect virgin and rejecting her as spoiled when she told him she had been raped.  The Sin Stalker's pathology was really all over the place.

I would rather have seen Nancy on the canvas as a foil to Amanda in the future so I would not have wanted to kill her off. I wish they had brought her back -- she could have been recast.

[j swift]

Obviously, the argument of having a soap serial killer murder being a more exciting story when they kill a significant character versus lamenting the loss of a popular actor is an age-old argument that cannot be settled.  I usually fall on the side of the thrill of the unexpected exit trumps the sorrow over the potential of the character.  As a viewer, I would rather watch a surprise cliffhanger, because it causes the visceral reaction that keeps me hooked on a story.  And the issues of long term potential, are only valued in hindsight, which was unknown at the time the plot was devised. 

In this case, Ms Paley was excellent in the role, and the character was a rare case of a well-rounded professional Black woman on soaps.  But, I don't feel like it is the duty of a production to continue a character that does not inspire a writer, when the actor could move on to other jobs that would be more satisfying. 

[DRW50]

I don't think it's as much about duty as what can be for the health of the show. AW had so much writing turnover that what inspires one of many writers doesn't really stand out, especially since in many cases those who were brought in were often brought in more for name value than inspiring the writer (Larry Lau, Denise Alexander, Sharon Gabet, Chris Robinson). The Sin Stalker era is so plot-driven and the characters are so flat it's hard to know what characters inspired the writers anyway. 

In theory, killing off a regarded character could be a jolt to a story (like the Loving murders), but AW had already killed off and written out so many only the year before, I'm not sure if it got that type of response here.

Edited February 9, 2024 by DRW50

[j swift]

To me, the arguments about the health of the show, or the hiring of actors with name values, assume facts that are unknown and undocumented.  They infer a causal relationship between the correlation of events that might have had nothing to do with each other.  It would be equally unfair to say that Beverly McKenzie's leaving GL in 1992 was the cause for hiring Petronia Paley.  Two issues that co-occur does not indicate that one caused the other.

I can only comment on my experience as a viewer, and I was shocked when Quinn was killed off.  It caught my attention to watch the rest of the story.  And, yes, I was disappointed in the explanation of the killer's motives.  But, that didn't diminish the experience of the reveal of Quinn as a victim at the time when spoilers were unavailable to me.

[TEdgeofNight]

John Whitesell was not good for the show. He was gimmicky. Young at the time, he tried to shake up the show. It didn’t work. 

[DRW50]

Given that Paley was a recurring presence in those years and also began appearing before Beverlee left the show, I don't think anyone would say that Beverlee's exit led them to hire her.

I do think that there's a correlation with the health of the show and getting rid of longtime or compelling characters for the sake of flash in the pan hires. That's just me, and I don't really want to get into it in great detail, as the thread was already shut down once lately as it is.