Does every soap need that, though, and to what end? As a completely disinterested bystander, the latest debacle behind the scenes at DOOL really makes me question whether the so-called stabilizing core family on some of these shows that have otherwise been adrift for decades is a positive thing or just a legitimizing token. The latest "new era" of DOOL didn't even last 6 months, but all they had to do was invoke Alice Horton's name in a story that sounds like it was pretty much DOA and all of this spin about how the show was going back to its roots practically wrote itself. A part of me can't help but think that AW may have been mismanaged by and large, but it ended more or less as a show about interesting people who were worth watching in their own right, even if the revolving door of writers couldn't figure out how to integrate them into a canvas that was greater than the sum of its parts. In a way, I wonder if that may have been a blessing.

The problem with the returns on DAYS is that they had very little to do with family. None of Alice's family returned. Some of them, like Julie, got their airtime slashed even further. Carrie and Marlena returned, but the story focused more on the love lives of Carrie and Sami than on family dynamics.

AW was a hugely popular show in the mid 70's and then had a dramatic fall by about five years later. I agree that the show was still good at the end, but I do wonder if some of the moves which were made at the height of AW's success were what sealed it's fate. I think the Matthews had enough complex ties to Bay City that they could have prospered for many years, as the Hughes or Bauers could have. All we have to do is look at what replaced the Matthews - for years, mostly just very short-term characters with no real ties to anyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzZISBZr_zE

I would never discount the worth of a stabilizing famil. It is one of those yin and yang things for me; in order for me to feel like someone's life is truly chaotic, I want to see something that is not. It goes to the idea that their is a balance in the world. The best part of coars is when a stable family is then thrown into chaos. Think about Bert Bauer learning her husband at cheated on her. The moment Ruth Martin ran away with David Thornton and almost consumated their affair. Or the bes example of all, Ed Bauer cheating on Maureen with a woman who purported to be her friend. The high drama, the heart aching emotions all came out of the disruption of balance. Had that balance not existed, neither would those feelings that keep people tuned in everyday.

Did AW ever find their next "Mary Martin." The true to fact "coffee pourer," who was always there? Never to judge or be judged? Whose kindness knew no bounds? Who society diefied and longed to be or wished in envy to one day equal?

NBC canceled 13 years ago.

NBC canceled 13 years ago.

I had a desire to watch the final scene to the song "In this life," but I cannot find it on youtube anymore.

The main matriarchal figure AW had after Mary died was Ada. I think she worked marvellously in that role, but I do wonder sometimes if the average housewife at home just did not connect emotionally to her. Just as I think a lot of fans may have never truly accepted Rachel, which left something of a void when she became the central heroine.

Virginia Dwyer seemed to have her most success in radio soaps. She was on the cover of TV Radio Mirror in the early 50's, in that era when radio soap actors often had the cover (Charita Bauer, Jan Miner, etc.). The only TV soap star I remember having a cover of their own was Eileen Fulton.

I had a desire to watch the final scene to the song "In this life," but I cannot find it on youtube anymore.

I posted the final episode on youtube but I had to cut that part out because of copyright issues and the song being blocked in several countries.

Edited April 12, 201213 yr by AdelaideCate007

I posted the final episode on youtube but I had to cut that part out because of copyright issues and the song being blocked in several countries.

That's too bad. I do not remember who sang the song. Was it the Bette Midler version? I know a lot of her memorable public appearences have been censored on Youtube.

Yes.

Found it:

<font face="Verdana" size="1" color="#999999"><br/><a href="http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/5853772" style="font: Verdana">another world</a><br/><object width="425px" height="360px" ><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="movie" value="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=5853772,t=1,mt=video"/><embed'>http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=5853772,t=1,mt=video"/><embed src="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=5853772,t=1,mt=video" width="425" height="360" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br/><a href="http://www.myspace.com/56924357" style="font: Verdana">kyeishot™</a> | <a href="http://www.myspace.com/video" style="font: Verdana">Myspace Video</a></font>

Edited April 13, 201213 yr by AMCHistory

I was quite young when Mary Matthews "died," but I can remember her death scene. I was never fond of her (or her husband), so I didn't mind her departure -- though in retrospect it certainly didn't do the viability of the Matthews family any favors. I think it would have been better to have killed off Jim (vetsoapfan is correct that Hugh Marlowe was already faltering) and let Mary's grief manifest itself in her trying to exert more control over her children as a (misguided) way to keep them close to her. Though I suppose Dwyer wouldn't have wanted to play that, either.

And then we might not have gotten Irene Dailey's Aunt Liz, who was a wonderful creation -- though often mishandled through the years.

By the way, when it comes upper middle class mothers of that AW era, I much preferred Helen Moore (Lenore's mom) to Mary Matthews.

We have no way of knowing if Dwyer would have felt uncomfortable playing Mary Matthews as a grasping widow, intent on keeping her grown children close to her, although that scenario would have at least provided realistic character motivation for Mary's sudden, bizarre behavior. The way Lemay wrote it lack foundation. Did he have the right to reinterpret the character any way he wanted? Technically yes, but I would never blame any actor for wanting to provide continuity and sense to their roles. Lemay didn't blame actors for doing so, either, as long as he liked them.

Around the same time, 1975, Lemay decided to transform Rachel from a selfish, often nasty and vindictive person into a more traditional heroine. Unfortunately, she had been so vile to so many other characters for so long, when other Bay City-ites started parading around town with comments like, "Rachel has changed! I can't believe how much she's changed!" it was a little...forced.

Beverlee McKinsey remarked in an interview at the time, that she would not want to play a part that had a sudden personality change overnight, as it would be next to impossible to justify and to play. I agree. So I don't see this situation as "Virginia Dwyer was in the wrong and Harding Lemay was right because he was the more celebrated genius." Personally, I wish he had listened to her during their failed luncheon, and softened his vision of the character so that her behavior was more consistent with what we had watched for the previous eleven seasons.

The main matriarchal figure AW had after Mary died was Ada. I think she worked marvellously in that role, but I do wonder sometimes if the average housewife at home just did not connect emotionally to her. Just as I think a lot of fans may have never truly accepted Rachel, which left something of a void when she became the central heroine.

Virginia Dwyer seemed to have her most success in radio soaps. She was on the cover of TV Radio Mirror in the early 50's, in that era when radio soap actors often had the cover (Charita Bauer, Jan Miner, etc.). The only TV soap star I remember having a cover of their own was Eileen Fulton.

Ada was very different than Mary, personality-wise, and didn't project warm tolerance and maternal instinct on a regular basis. Ada was more in your face, more ballsy, and a lot more...loud, LOL. She was a well-loved and enduring character, but she was different.

I have an episode of AW from 1969 (I think), in which Mary Matthews finds out that her son Russ' "son", Jamie, was actually fathered by Steven Frame. Virginia Dwyer really hit it out of the park; she went berserk, shrieking about Rachel, "I hate her! I...HATE...HER!!!" It was actually scary to witness how mad she went. When folks now question Dwyer's talent, thanks mainly to Lemay's complaining about her changing his scripts, I always think back to the show's earlier days, when she had meaty material to play, and did so quite well. I watched her for 11 years as Mary Matthews, and in my assessment, she was a credible performer.

Edited April 13, 201213 yr by vetsoapfan

That's too bad. I do not remember who sang the song. Was it the Bette Midler version? I know a lot of her memorable public appearences have been censored on Youtube.

I believe they first used this song with Vicky and Ryan before using it again in the finale, but it also would have been great for ATWT's finale as it has the lyric, "Let the world stop turning..."