Another World Discussion Thread

[YRBB]

I am currently reading Lemay's Eight Years in Another World and it is immensely intriguing and satisfying. It has only made me want to see his material even more desperately than before.

[juppiter]

Details please.

I haven't seen those 8 years, but I watched all of his one month in 1988 on SoapNet and it was fantastic. He not only salvaged unsalvageable storylines, but actually made them good. It was seriously impressive.

[thelma]

Here's a great YouTube find. Another World, Christmas 1984. The episode has the orignal MJ and Vince Mckinnon, Ben McKinnon, Donna and Marly (pre-Vicky), the Corys, terrible Blaine recast, the Ewings, the Matthews (including Alice), Cass, Wally and Felicia. It's a pretty good episode.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/53RQ0S28ZqI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[AMCHistory]

Ever since finishing Harding Lemay's book, I have really wanted to get into Another World. It is hard to find a starting point. I was wondering, did Jamie Frame and Dennis Carrington keep their close friendship over the years. I hate it when Soaps loose out on building on childhood relationships as young characters are SORASD at different rates.

[DRW50]

When Dennis returned to the show briefly in 1989, he and Jamie had a warm greeting, I think. Then in 1991, when Dennis returned for a few years, he had a happy meeting with Jamie, but I'm not sure if that lasted, since Jamie's fiance Marley broke up with him in part to be with Dennis.

[YRBB]

The timing of seeing this is funny because I was just reading the part of the book that says: "We dismissed the two winning adolescent actors who played Rachel and Iris's sons, and hired other five years older, without aging the actresses who played their mothers. The humorous comradership which had endeared Jamie and Dennis to older audiences was no longer appropriate to the earnest young men who would attract older viewers." Not definitive but it seems their close bond was somewhat dissolved.

It is truly a fascinating read; part of it is his total, clearly stated hatred for soap opera and his disdain for anything melodramatic. He repeatedly says how much he hated writing for a soap but acknowledges his determination to do something good with the format and his eventual absolute immersion in the process of the writing. He describes a lot of his stories and characters and, even the more melodramatic ones he wrote towards year six or so, sound better than anything today.

I would kill to be able to see his runs on the show.

[DRW50]

After they were aged, more of their stories were about fighting over a woman (Cecile), but I think they were still close.

I lost interest towards the end of the book, but the best parts for me were when he talked about his relationship with Irna Phillips, and then when he talked about how he got hooked on writing for the characters.

[AMCHistory]

The book was so fascinating, and I agree, the end was the hardest part to get through. He is very unapologetic in his portrayal of some of the stars. Like the actress that played Mary Mathews! My gosh, you would have thought her to be the devil incarnate based on how he eviscerates her character.

[DRW50]

He is not too subtle in how he dismisses the actors he felt weren't strong enough, or unselfish enough. Unfortunately I think that he and Rauch and their choices for those who were unworthy ultimately destroyed the fabric of the show.

[AMCHistory]

Which character's dismissals do you think were the most damaging?

[DRW50]

Jacquie Courtney and Virginia Dwyer.

[Khan]

I think what destroyed ANOTHER WORLD was a lack of permanence. Harding Lemay's assessment of character over melodrama was spot-on; however, what he and Paul Rauch failed to grasp was that there are certain things about any soap (characters, families,and so forth) that viewers consider sacrosanct. As Nancy Curlee once said, whenever things get too tough for either character or audience member to bear, you hope that you could run up the back porch steps and find someone like Nancy Hughes or Bert Bauer waiting in the kitchen with a fresh batch of cookies. You don't want to think they're actually breathing their last on someone's patio on Good Friday.

[AMCHistory]

He is very critical of Courtney in novel for her acting abilities and inability to memorize lines. This was obviously something that she carried with her to OLTL as Bob Woods once mentioned you could never shake her hand because she had the script written between her fingers. I noticed he goes on that Alice was played by a more capable actress who could act what he wrote, but did not go on about her by name. Figuring that Courtney was extremely popular, I could not forsee the recast having been well accepted.

It was to my relief that one of my favorite actresses, Susan Sullivan, is portrayed in a very good light in the novel.

[Khan]

Personally, I never understood Jacquie Courtney's appeal to viewers. She was too milquetoast even for a character that was SUPPOSED to be everybody's beloved virginal heroine. OTOH, though, I think Lemay and Rauch were far too willing to dismiss her, if only because, like it or not, viewers cared about her and wanted her to stay put.

[DRW50]

She had incredible charisma. Her scenes with Rachel in the 25th anniversary just overpower with old school star power and pathos. I don't see it as much on OLTL, but I do in her AW appearances. I also think that there was a certain offbeat casting in such a masculine actress playing the long-suffering heroine.