Another World Discussion Thread

[AbcNbc247]

When I read the synopses, I kind of got the impression that Bill and Missy were backburnered a little after the Gregorys became more prevalent. Maybe it played it out differently onscreen and Bill and Missy were still frontburner. But I was glad to read that Pat/John and Lee was still the A story at that time. 

Edited July 27, 2024 by AbcNbc247

[mikeaw1978]

It's been said that Irna went for melodrama instead of the more slow-moving, character-driven story from ATWT. Irna worried that NBC would be too quick to cancel Another World if it wasn't an immediate hit. Irna had a habit of hiring and firing actors on a whim as well. During Eddie's interview with Carol Roux she mentioned that Sarah Cunningham was fired after the first episode due to cutting her long hair. So, that's another legend. It was said that John Beal wasn't the right fit for Jim Matthews so he was quickly replaced by Leon Janney, whom Carol mentioned had been fired for making fun of the scripts. I've never come across an explanation for Joey Trent (Russ), Fran Sharon (Susan), and Vera Allen (Granny), but Carol sadly mentioned that Joey never acted again after that. My guess for Granny is that perhaps Irna felt the matriarch role was crowded with both Granny and Mary present, so she chose to keep Mary and sent Granny to help her niece give birth to her first child ( Granny is briefly mentioned in '65, but ultimately Jim asked Granny not to return to Bay City while Pat's trial was taken place. Granny would soon never be mentioned again). But, based on the stories that took place during the first year, there didn't seem to be room for Granny, Russ, and Susan. Until Susan left in October 1964, she found her own place, kept Liz at a safe distance, and along with Janet had "inside information" about Tom and Pat, her abortion, and hospitalization. Irna seemed to throw things at the wall to see what would stick, making plot points that were never mentioned again, like the legend of the campus bridge where a girl committed suicide to a failed love affair and something that happened five years prior to the show that cause a rift between Mary and Liz (though Lipton tried to establish that it had to do with Will and Jim's partnership in the family's accounting firm). Pat seemed to go back and forth between being hopelessly in love with Tom to being ambivalent, which I found kind or irritating.

There are a few of the handwritten critiques included in the notes section if you're interested. I've enjoyed filling in the gaps within the synopses that were left after the original sets were done. I just wish Bowling Greene's collection wasn't so sketchy for 1973, but at least their wasn't a cast overhaul that year. I'm hoping the actual scripts after 12/31/79 are somewhere as, despite the newer sources for information, the years 1980 until June/July 1984 are still sketchy. I wish a rebroadcast of AW would take place again like currently with The Doctors. It's sad to think that all of those tapes are in a warehouse collecting dust.

[Paul Raven]

Lafayette Journal and Courier July 16 1966

THE move to color by the NBC Television Network live dramatic serial "Another World"' meant work for both the staff and cast of the Monday-through Friday show. To the characters in "Another World," it has meant the fun of late spring cleaning, and new wardrobes for all - or most all. Costume designer Hazel Roy was the first to explain, "Costuming becomes doubly hard. You not only have to think in terms of which color is flattering to an individual character, but you have to keep in mind who is going to play which scene with whom -making sure that people don't wear clashing colors and that their clothes are complemented by the colors of the sets."

The women of "Another World" can't quite decide  if they are more delighted with the spring cleaning the living room furniture, new wallpaper, house painted inside and out-or the elegance of a new wardrobe. Audra Lindley (Liz Matthews) of "Another World" said, "It's quite something to get new clothes, particularly when someone else selects them for you.I've had a reluctance to go in for certain shades of green, but I've got a new green silk suit and a flowered hostess gown that are both knockouts."

Even the men are affected by the color changeover. Joe Gallison, who plays Liz's son Bill said, "Now I have to start wearing ties that actually match the rest of my clothes." The makeup man put it this way: "My biggest task," he said, "is to restrain the actors. In black and white, television actresses who wanted to wear bright blue eyeshadow could be accommodated. It didn't show up on the air.

But now, well nice females from refined homes just don't walk around with bright blue eyeshadow during the middle of the day.".

[Mona Kane Croft]

Does anyone know where Missy Matthews lived after she returned to Bay City in 1970 (before the premiere of Somerset)??  She and Bill had previously lived in a house which was bought by Walter and Lenore Curtain when Bill and Missy left town.  So in 1970, did Missy live with Liz? With Mary and Jim?  Or did she live in an apartment?   She was only in Bay City for a few months before spinning-off to Somerset, so I doubt she would have purchased another house in Bay City.  

Edited July 30, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[adrnyc]

If it makes you feel any better, they aren't sitting in a warehouse collecting dust. P&G destroyed all of their soap content about a decade ago. It no longer exists other than what fans have kept on VHS and shared to YouTube.

[Contessa Donatella]

I agree with Eddie Drueding and Roger Newcomb that this is in fact not true. It went around awhile ago. It was predicated on Colleen Zenk's having said that P&G wiped all of their content. I believe Colleen learned about the ancient practice of wiping & misunderstood it to be a current event. Today, for example, no one would say "wiping". They'd just say the tapes were wholesale destroyed. 

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Hello Mike. Do you happen to have an exact episode date for when Granny was mentioned in 1965? 

[Melroser]

If the episodes do still exist, it would be great if P&G's involvement with The Gates becomes successful. Then maybe consider streaming rights of their catalog to companies as a way to generate money for more projects. One can hope. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

Not trying to start an argument, but this is untrue.  P&G still maintains ownership of their tapes -- which include most of the soap opera episodes they produced post-1979.  Most pre-1979 episodes were erased to reuse the video tapes.  The P&G collection of tapes is very unorganized and not particularly well cared for, but they do still exist and in the custody of P&G.  The idea that they were all destroyed about a decade ago is a myth.  

[j swift]

I read the recaps recently, and yes, Missy stayed with Liz.  But, Liz being Liz, she started to complain about Missy hanging out with Susan and Sam rather than attending to her as she was grieving.  This was part of what motivated Missy to move out on her own, and played into the rift between Susan and Liz that Wayne took advantage of when planning his con. 

The whole thing was part of what I've always enjoyed about Bay City, is that the whole town was interwoven, and the motivations seems so natural.  For example, using Liz's foibles to isolate her from her family made her an easy target for a guy like Wayne.  Even the sale of Missy's house effected not only the lives of Lenore and Walter, but it also meant that Sam needed to find another law firm. Because, Walter left the DA's office to work with John in order to afford the house.  So, there's a ripple from every decision that people made and how it affected the lives of those around them. 

Edited July 30, 2024 by j swift

[Mona Kane Croft]

Interesting.  Thanks for the information.  It's fun to know the writers were savvy enough to use Missy's move to Somerset to propel a plot in Bay City.   

[adrnyc]

The P&G situation is an interesting one. I was at a dinner party here in NYC and a gentleman who worked for P&G is a mutual friend and was also in attendance. I, of course, had many questions for him and he told me all the soap opera material was gone. His exact words, burned into my brain, were "P&G isn't paying for a warehouse to store the tapes of all of those old soaps." Going on to paraphrase him, he said the soap division has been disbanded for about 15 years, everything got destroyed, they had zero interest in preserving anything associated with the "old soaps" as he put it. 

Y'all can believe what you want but as year after year, decade after decade continues to go by and you're all still writing posts like, "I don't understand why P&G doesn't do anything with all of their soap opera material," maybe one day, it'll sink in.

I hope so. I'd hate to thank so many people will be discussing this and holding onto hope for decades. Let it go. What's on YouTube or what actors from the show might add to YouTube from their personal collections is what is left.

[Jdee43]

I have no certain knowledge one way or the other, but I think that the evidence and the arguments lean more to the side that all of the P&G soap tapes have been destroyed.. 

Wish there could be a more definitive answer, but it seems as if P&G has never and may never respond to any inquiries about it..

Edited July 31, 2024 by Jdee43

[DRW50]

There's nothing to let go. There's nothing to sink in. This isn't some type of mass delusion. We already know that even if any footage survives most of that footage starts from 1979 on. They know, we all know, that we will all likely be long gone before anything that ever is available from P&G, if anything is, comes around again. They are just saying they do not believe the archive is gone and have not seen enough evidence yet to change their mind. 

Edited July 31, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

No one is doubting this dude went to a dinner party and heard what he heard. But it's still anecdotal and thirdhand evidence - there's no verification. It clearly still gets under adr's skin that people don't take his word as gospel or platform his own opinions about the last years of the show. But it's not up to him.

I do think it's possible P&G could someday let some of that stuff back out if they have it, since they're getting back into the soap business with The Gates. More obscure shows have turned up on Prime, Pluto or Tubi. But I'm not holding my breath.