1 hour ago, vetsoapfan said:

Although I was no longer watching and recording AW every single day in 1978-79 (I had become disenchanted with the show after the cast purge of 1975), I did tune in from time to time.

I remember the speculation about Bill Matthews potentially being alive, that nothing ever came of it, and that the entire business just faded into oblivion.

One curious scene I recall vividly had Susan Matthews out at Alice's house in the country.

Alice cheerfully suggested that as an outing, they could go boating on the lake.

Susan visibly flinched and looked away, distressed.

When asked what was wrong, she quietly reminded Alice that her brother Bill had died in a boating accident, which resulted in her being resistant to engaging in that sort of activity ever since. She spoke about how much Bill's death had affected her, because loved him very deeply. Then, almost in a reverie, she murmured, "Sometimes I think I loved him...too much."

Um...what the heck was THAT supposed to mean?

The show never elaborated on what Susan was implying, and she never said anything like that again (as far as I saw/heard), but I wondered what kind of can of worms Harding Lemay might have been toying with there.

 

Oh yes -- There were many scenes, during that period, with Susan expressing vaguely similar sentiments regarding her brother.   And all that, along with the Iris/Giorgio stuff, fueled the fire that Bill was coming back.  Soaps seldom dwell on a character who has been dead for 9-years, unless that character is returning. So unless Lemay was plotting Bill's return from the dead, what the Hell was up with all the scripted chatter about Bill?  Certainly not some sort of incest thing between Susan and Bill???  Dear God in Heaven!!

52 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Oh yes -- There were many scenes, during that period, with Susan expressing vaguely similar sentiments regarding her brother.   And all that, along with the Iris/Giorgio stuff, fueled the fire that Bill was coming back.  Soaps seldom dwell on a character who has been dead for 9-years, unless that character is returning. So unless Lemay was plotting Bill's return from the dead, what the Hell was up with all the scripted chatter about Bill?  Certainly not some sort of incest thing between Susan and Bill???  Dear God in Heaven!!

I know that Harding Lemay had flirted covertly with Iris having repressed incestuous feelings for her "daddy," and because they were his own creations, I couldn't quibble. That being said, even covert feelings of incest being hinted at within the Matthews family would have made longtime viewers' heads explode!

Like, ewww.🤢

 

I wonder if they may have planned to do the old Marie/Tommy Horton story where Susan ended up getting involved with him and neither knew they were siblings?

What did fans think of Lynn Milgrim as Susan? I know she was panned during her time on ATWT (in a very different part...).

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by DRW50

1 hour ago, Efulton said:

I have no idea if the information on The Somerset Register was validated but the following sounds logical to me.

Having sold the concept of the new series based on the four leads from Another World as the show's main attraction, Hill worked overtime to persuade both Gallison and Roux to join the series. Gallison was interested but unable to get ABC to release him from his contract.  Cenedella compensated by killing his character off, thus giving Roux's character a reason to return to Bay City.  However, it was now vital that Roux return.

IIRC, The Somerset Register was a fan site launched and written by the same gentleman who gave us The Edge of Night Home Page. (If I'm misremembering, someone please let me know.)

Back in the day, I kept extensive scrapbooks on Another World, Somerset, Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, The Guiding Light, Dark Shadows, and How to Survive a Marriage, with newspaper and magazine articles and interviews, storyline synopses, photos, critiques, etc. 

Everything on TEON and SOM websites correlated with the published information which I had collected in my scrapbooks. The sites were well-researched and highly informative.

If the info about Bill Matthews and SOM was posted on the Somerset Register webpage, I'd bet it was accurate.

Speaking of soap sites, Jason's DAYS page and The Another World Homepage are extraordinary achievements with mountains of historical data.

15 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I wonder if they may have planned to do the old Marie/Tommy Horton story where Susan ended up getting involved with him and neither knew they were siblings?

What did fans think of Lynn Milgrim as Susan? I know she was panned during her time on ATWT (in a very different part...).

Marie Horton, Lorie Brooks and Heather Lawrence (Somerset) had no idea they were falling in love with their brothers, so there was less of a toxic component to those relationships, particularly since they ended as soon as the truth was revealed. If Susan Matthews had loved Bill "too much" when she knew very well they were siblings, the ick factor would have been significant.

In the 1970s, I found David Bailey to be bland after enjoying Sam Groom as Russ. I found Susan Harney to be shrill and unable to carry heavy emotional scenes effectively; a big comedown after JC. IMHO, Brian Murray was pompous as the new Dan Shearer, and Lynn Milgram was just...a little creepy as Susan. Aside from Irene Dailey as Aunt Liz and Beverly Penberthy as Pat, the Matthewses were not flourishing in my eyes.

16 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

Marie Horton, Lorie Brooks and Heather Lawrence (Somerset) had no idea they were falling in love with their brothers, so there was less of a toxic component to those relationships, particularly since they ended as soon as the truth was revealed. If Susan Matthews had loved Bill "too much" when she knew very well they were siblings, the ick factor would have been significant.

In the 1970s, I found David Bailey to be bland after enjoying Sam Groom as Russ. I found Susan Harney to be shrill and unable to carry heavy emotional scenes effectively; a big comedown after JC. IMHO, Brian Murray was pompous as the new Dan Shearer, and Lynn Milgram was just...a little creepy as Susan. Aside from Irene Dailey as Aunt Liz and Beverly Penberthy as Pat, the Matthewses were not flourishing in my eyes.

That's true. I wonder if Lemay may have added those lines to have more of a psychological element to justify himself the lurid melodrama he claimed to hate.

I have not seen much of those actors but from what I have seen I share your views. Bailey in particular, while competent, feels very workmanlike, very leading man on a short lived '60s/'70s action show.

The various comments from you and @Mona Kane Croft yesterday (and thank you both for such detailed replies) reminded me of how much the subtle and layered writing Lemay prided himself on was undercut by the casting decisions he and Rauch made. It's so clear from what was being set up with Willis, and just the future of the show in general, that they made a big mistake with Alice. It's as if some of the early casting successes like Victoria Wyndham or Douglass and Beverlee made them get too confident.

I will be curious to ever possibly get to see Carole Lamonte in some Munker clips, as Lemay seemed to think of her extremely highly.

Some of the actors who might have best worked with the writer Lemay saw himself as being, like Richard Bekins, only came along near the very end of his tenure. 

I never will understand the decision to kill off Lee. I'm glad she was at least remembered a few times. 

 

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by DRW50

20 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I remember he said in the book that the role of Willis was catered to John Fitzpatrick’s acting talents and that with the recast, the character seemed to completely change in a lot of ways 

Thanks. You can definitely tell the difference with the available 79/80 material of Willis.

8 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That's true. I wonder if Lemay may have added those lines to have more of a psychological element to justify himself the lurid melodrama he claimed to hate.

I have not seen much of those actors but from what I have seen I share your views. Bailey in particular, while competent, feels very workmanlike, very leading man on a short lived '60s/'70s action show.

The various comments from you and @Mona Kane Croft yesterday (and thank you both for such detailed replies) reminded me of how much the subtle and layered writing Lemay prided himself on was undercut by the casting decisions he and Rauch made. It's so clear from what was being set up with Willis, and just the future of the show in general, that they made a big mistake with Alice. It's as if some of the early casting successes like Victoria Wyndham made them get too confident.

I will be curious to ever possibly get to see Carole Lamonte in some Munker clips, as Lemay seemed to think of her extremely highly.

Some of the actors who might have best worked with the writer Lemay saw himself as being, like Richard Bekins, only came along near the very end of his tenure. 

I never will understand the decision to kill off Lee. I'm glad she was at least remembered a few times. 

 

While Bailey was perfectly adequate, he never managed to bring any range to Russ, as opposed to Sam Groom whose performances were varied and nuanced. Bailey felt to me like he should have been cast as a generic, stolid lawyer on a Quinn Martin production. (Yikes, I'm aging myself there!)

Firing cornerstone actress Jacqueline Courtney was a massive blunder. While some of her replacements were less bad than others, Alice just wasn't a draw anymore.

While Victoria Wyndham eventually became accepted as Rachel, Robin Strasser's original replacement, Margaret Impert, was a flop. Major actors should not be replaced unless there is no other choice. With JC, the show had had a choice and made the wrong one.

Richard Bekins is a good example of a replacement who worked out very well. Judith Light on OLTL took over the role of Karen and brought it to new heights. But IMHO, more often than not, viewers tend to prefer the original actors whom they know.

I called Peter Simon "the fake Ed" for a solid 27 years, LOL!

Soaps have always made the inexplicable decision to kill off beloved characters by choice. I don't like it, but at least Lee Randolph never had to endure being turned into a clone, a ghost, a time traveller or a San Cristocrapian queen. She can rest in peace!

 

Anyone know the name of the actor who played Giorgio in 1978?

2 hours ago, watson71 said:

Anyone know the name of the actor who played Giorgio in 1978?

The AWHP has the character name spelled as Georgio in the daily synopses for 1978 and the actor name on the Day Players list as Jonathon Bolt.

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

8 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

IIRC, The Somerset Register was a fan site launched and written by the same gentleman who gave us The Edge of Night Home Page. (If I'm misremembering, someone please let me know.)

Back in the day, I kept extensive scrapbooks on Another World, Somerset, Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, The Guiding Light, Dark Shadows, and How to Survive a Marriage, with newspaper and magazine articles and interviews, storyline synopses, photos, critiques, etc. 

Everything on TEON and SOM websites correlated with the published information which I had collected in my scrapbooks. The sites were well-researched and highly informative.

If the info about Bill Matthews and SOM was posted on the Somerset Register webpage, I'd bet it was accurate.

Speaking of soap sites, Jason's DAYS page and The Another World Homepage are extraordinary achievements with mountains of historical data.

Thank you!

On 6/24/2024 at 8:45 PM, Mona Kane Croft said:

Willis didn't take over the company, and he wasn't really running it.  Alice owned the company at this point, and Vic Hastings was actually running it for her.

If there are any scenes with Vic Hastings it will be a minor curiosity to see what he is like and whether he is convincingly more human than Reginald Love.

It's kind of a weird experience to see Stephen Yates as Chris when my only memory of him is as Jamie in the 80s. He felt very comfortable, for want of a better word, as Jamie -- a good stalwart friend to many and impatient with nonsense from Sandy or Peter. Here I am not sure whether he is just younger and greener or if I am projecting everything I know about how the storyline is going to turn out onto the character. Certainly we were meant to feel uncomfortable in the scene where Marianne couldn't hold back from telling him she had talked to Willis about hiring him even though she didn't want Chris to know she had influenced the decision.

 

There are some great comments on Ariana's videos on YT. The show definitely went recast crazy in the mid to late 70s, with so many characters getting recast, and the recasts often inferior to the original actors. One of the many reasons AW declined so badly into the 1980s. Ariana implied it was ultimately cost saving measures. Perhaps it was also egotism from the producers getting out of hand; anyone is replaceable? 

Just now, Jdee43 said:

There are some great comments on Ariana's videos on YT. The show definitely went recast crazy in the mid to late 70s, with so many characters getting recast, and the recasts often inferior to the original actors. One of the many reasons AW declined so badly into the 1980s. Ariana implied it was ultimately cost saving measures. Perhaps it was also egotism from the producers getting out of hand; anyone is replaceable? 

It's nice to see her responding to fans and to see memories of people who were watching back then. I can imagine cost saving was a factor, especially given the quality of some of the recasts (Alice, for one).

This second one has a moment with Bill Roerick, which was a lovely surprise.

6 hours ago, Xanthe said:

If there are any scenes with Vic Hastings it will be a minor curiosity to see what he is like and whether he is convincingly more human than Reginald Love.

I was watching one of the Paley recordings Eddie Drueding has up, which near the end has Vic and Carole. Hopefully more will show up.

 

"It's nice to see her responding to fans and to see memories of people who were watching back then. I can imagine cost saving was a factor, especially given the quality of some of the recasts (Alice, for one)."--@DRW50

God, yes.

I think Wesley Pfenning was the most bizarrely-miscast Alice, and Vanna Tribbey was the blandest, but Susan Harney's version of the character just didn't have the depth, vulnerability or warmth that Alice needed.

She also couldn't cry convincingly to save her life (but I guess I am quibbling now, LOL).

George Reinholt once acknowledged that he was earning 70 thousand dollars a year on the new, hour-long AW in 1975. I imagine Jacquie Courtney had a similar salary. I wonder what P&G offered Susan Harney as JC's replacement.🤔