1 minute ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

I thought Alexandra Wilson was adequate at Josie.  But after she got that nose-job about half way through her run on AW, I completely lost faith in her as an actress.  She was already absolutely beautiful, and a pretty good young actor. Why in the world would she ruin her face with a completely unnecessary nose-job?  Of course, her personal decisions were/are none of my business.  

Jennifer Grey!!!

2 hours ago, watson71 said:

The following characters during this time had potential, but the show really never did anything with them:

Caroline Stafford- she was there, but no real story

Vivien- should have been kept on recurring status as long as possible- not for any big storyline but she provided continuity and familiarity with the audience 

Russ and Olivia Matthews- should have stayed in Bay City not only for their historical significance; Olivia’s baby was a Matthews and Cory.  After they left Bay City they were forgotten 

Emma Frame- Elizabeth Ashley’s Emma should have stayed in Bay City and been used as a busybody like Liz Matthews

I completely agree about all of this, and I would that I wish Liz's return had been longer. I did not see her initial run but I wanted more from her second run. Caroline reminds me off Scott in that there were always beginnings of a storyline, but nothing ever went anywhere. Joy Bell was so charismatic. Allison Hossack was so good as Olivia, but it never went anywhere either. Swajeski's tenure was just as bad for false starts, untapped potential, and wasted characters/actors.

13 hours ago, chrisml said:

Caroline reminds me off Scott in that there were always beginnings of a storyline, but nothing ever went anywhere.

I think of Caroline's situation as being very similar to Sara Montaigne or Peggy Lazarus -- character with no known existing relationship to established characters, attempts to hint at some kind of secret, and then nothing.

Scott was revealed pretty quickly to be Reginald and Mary's adoptive son, but the writing was so thin that he didn't get a lot to do with his relationship with his parents and finding out that Reginald was an international supervillain. Basically it seemed like the only reason he was a Lasalle was to increase the drama of his romance with Cheryl. But if the writing had been stronger it would have dug into his relationship with his parents, with the rest of the McKinnons, with the rest of the Love family. And when he fell in love with Dawn it would have made more of a connection with Chad, for better or for worse. 

I've forgotten, is there a reason that they continued to refer to him as Scott Lasalle once they learned that was a fake name?  Reginald went back to being Reginald Love, so why didn't he become Scott Love?

2 hours ago, j swift said:

I've forgotten, is there a reason that they continued to refer to him as Scott Lasalle once they learned that was a fake name?  Reginald went back to being Reginald Love, so why didn't he become Scott Love?

Because the entire storyline was ludicrous and unbelievable.  What soap fan in soap opera history ever wanted two returns from the dead in the same storyline?  This crap was campy before Jim Riley invented campy.  Actually I adore(d) Denise Alexander and John Considine, but I hated that plot.   One of AW's worst ever -- right up there with the "Egyptian -- sorry Arizona mystery" and "Lumina."    Just my opinion.   

2 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Because the entire storyline was ludicrous and unbelievable.  What soap fan in soap opera history ever wanted two returns from the dead in the same storyline?  This crap was campy before Jim Riley invented campy.  Actually I adore(d) Denise Alexander and John Considine, but I hated that plot.   One of AW's worst ever -- right up there with the "Egyptian -- sorry Arizona mystery" and "Lumina."    Just my opinion.   

I really like Considine and Alexander as well. I wouldn't say I hated the idea of thestoryline; it was more the execution. It had so many long-term possibilities. I disliked The Red Swan more, but this storyline was the pits because it ended with a whimper. For example, why couldn't Mary decide she still loved Reginald so there was a lot of conflict? What if Reginald was not turned into a moustache-twirling villain? What if MJ discovered the secret while going undercover? What if that's the secret and not the whole prostitution thing? They could still do the Scott is Donna's son if they wanted. Instead, they had Mary become so milquetoast and decide to become a therapist. Just what the audience wanted: Denise Alexander as a talk-to character.

7 minutes ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

Because the entire storyline was ludicrous and unbelievable.  What soap fan in soap opera history ever wanted two returns from the dead in the same storyline?  This crap was campy before Jim Riley invented campy.  Actually I adore(d) Denise Alexander and John Considine, but I hated that plot.   One of AW's worst ever -- right up there with the "Egyptian -- sorry Arizona mystery" and "Lumina."    Just my opinion.   

Oh, my. If you ask me, Lumina was far far worse. Egyptian/Arizona content, NO COMMENT. Lumina had only one semi-redeeming factor, costume ball. Also, though, do love Denise Alexander but it was quite hard to watch how pitifully they misused her!!!

1 minute ago, chrisml said:

  They could still do the Scott is Donna's son if they wanted.  

Me, count me 1000% against pillow being a triplet. Ridiculous! 

20 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Oh, my. If you ask me, Lumina was far far worse. Egyptian/Arizona content, NO COMMENT. Lumina had only one semi-redeeming factor, costume ball. Also, though, do love Denise Alexander but it was quite hard to watch how pitifully they misused her!!!

Me, count me 1000% against pillow being a triplet. Ridiculous! 

As I've suggest a 1000 times (and here is 1001), Denise Alexander should have been cast as Missy Matthews, dragging her son Ricky back to Bay City for lots of conflict with Liz and perhaps as a contemporary of Donna, both raised in two very different worlds.   That would have been believable human drama, not camp and not over the top.  And that scenario would have been much more respectful to the talent of Ms. Alexander.   

1 minute ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

As I've suggest a 1000 times (and here is 1001), Denise Alexander should have been cast as Missy Matthews, dragging her son Ricky back to Bay City for lots of conflict with Liz and perhaps as a contemporary of Donna, both raised in two very different worlds.   That would have been believable human drama, not camp and not over the top.  And that scenario would have been much more respectful to the talent of Ms. Alexander.   

I find I am forced totally to agree with you. And, I'm not even bothered that you felt the need to literally ONE UP  my 1000%. Just exaggerating the exaggeration. Sounds like a song title from the 50s. Maybe Doris Day. 🤌🫵👌😉

2 hours ago, Mona Kane Croft said:

What soap fan in soap opera history ever wanted two returns from the dead in the same storyline?

Two returns from the dead were not sufficient for Margaret dePriest -- John Hudson was similarly the return from the dead of a character who had never previously been alive on the show. He was not the same storyline as Mary and Reginald but he was part of the Love/Hudson orbit. (I have more tolerance for cases where a popular actor is brought back with some explanation for how we could have believed the character to be dead -- for example Kathleen.)

5 hours ago, j swift said:

I've forgotten, is there a reason that they continued to refer to him as Scott Lasalle once they learned that was a fake name?

I don't remember whether Scott ever explicitly stated why he didn't start using the name Love, but he did shun Reginald about the same time Mary did. I don't know if it's just because I'm not used to it but Scott Love sounds terrible -- maybe if he had a two-syllable first name (like Donna, Peter, Nicole, and Marley) I could adapt more easily.

 

 

In a way Scott got the short end of the stick, not just one stick, all of the sticks. 

Totally agree that Denise Alexander as Missy would have been so much better!  How much better this show would have been in its last two decades if it had used its history and tried to bring back characters we actually saw on screen!

Agreed.

The disregard for history, over multiple producing/writing regimes, ultimately hurt AW in the long run. 

Edited September 16, 20241 yr by AbcNbc247

30 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Agreed.

The disregard for history, over multiple producing/writing regimes, ultimately hurt AW in the long run. 

In the modern era the sheer numbers of changed & changing execs at AW & ATWT & GL damaged P&G/NYC immeasurably!!!! P&G's stewardship of those soaps & their managerial decision-making literally KILLED those soaps. 

As I wrote in the Santa Barbara thread, I recently bought the special 50 Greatest Couples SOD print issue.

Nice photos/write ups and all, but while Days, GH, Y&R, B&B, and even canceled soaps Santa Barbara, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, and All My Children had multiple couples listed, Another World only had one...

 

Mac and Rachel.

But then, some soaps like Generations, Loving, Capitol, and Search For Tomorrow had zip, so...maybe one was still better.

Edited September 17, 20241 yr by Wendy