Another World Discussion Thread

[jmgaw]

 

Edited May 3 by jmgaw

[Contessa Donatella]

Absolutely agree 4000%.

[Xanthe]

Charles Grant first appeared as Evan in September 1988. I was surprised to come across this item from December 1985, almost 3 years earlier:

"Lots of action behind the scenes at Another World . . . I have bad news for fans of Christopher Holder (Peter Love). He will be leaving the show in the new year. I have heard that the producers are recasting the part and are also seeing actors for new roles. One of the main characters this spring will be Marlee [sic] and Victoria's father. The producers have been talking to Charles Flohe (John "Preacher" Emerson, Edge Of Night) about another new character to be featured. I will fill you in on the results as soon as I know."

It seems obviously too early for anyone to have been planning to introduce Evan Frame. Based on the context he's not being considered as a recast of Peter. Maybe they were considering him for the character that turned out to be Neal, who started around the same time as Marcus Smythe as Peter?

[Xanthe]

I know we have discussed the fact that Another World seemed to be planning a location shoot in Finland that got cancelled. I came across this item from the syndicated Soapbox column published June 14, 1982.

"Soap operas have been experimenting extensively with on-location shooting in recent years to enhance storylines and increase their viewing audience. A major drawback is the added production costs involved. Another World, for example, cancelled a special trip for Victoria Wyndham (Rachel Cory on the show), who was scheduled to shoot scenes in Finland. The producers felt that the high price tag, along with resentment of the cast members who also wanted to travel but were to be left behind. was enough to scrap the whole project."

 

Edited May 4 by Xanthe
Accent

[Maxim]

Eddie has begun uploading the 1990 episodes. I'm so happy about that. I was mindfully taking a break till there's plenty of episodes I can binge watch when I feel like it. Now that 1989 is complete... I can't wait to press play on February 1989 and resume where I left off.

[AbcNbc247]

Interesting. 

It seems to allude to that statement that Warren Burton made around that time about some AW actors getting special treatment. 

I wonder who was resentful about not getting to go. 

[DRW50]

 

Thanks for sharing these. I wonder if Charles might have been in the running for Adam. I know Preacher was a bit of a bad boy at times on EON, but Neal seemed to be a step down, and Robert Lupone had played a similar part on AMC.

Given the huge cast turnover at this point I wonder who thought they had been there long enough to go. 

Laura Malone/Chris Rich would get a remote within the next year. 

[AbcNbc247]

I’m trying to think which actors VW were working with at the time, and none of them had been there for a while. Even like Mac and Ada didn’t have that big of a part in Rachel’s storyline. 

And Jamie was involved with all that movie stuff.

Edited May 4 by AbcNbc247

[Tisy-Lish]

My comment has nothing to do with cast resentment, but does relate to the Finland location shoot: It may be a coincidence, but Jim Matthews died in Finland in 1982.  Hugh Marlowe's final episode was in April 1982, but the character probably didn't die untll May or June. (I'm unable to find the character's date of death, only the date of Marlowe's final episode). SInce Jim and Rachel had very little interaction after around 1975, it is unlikely Jim's death in Finland had any connection to Rachel's potential visit, but the choice to have Jim die in that location at that time is a head-scratcher.  I'm sure the writers sent Jim on an extended trip (and off-screen) because of Marlowe's illness.  But Finland seems like a strange choice considering the (then) recently cancelled location shoot.  

Edited May 4 by Tisy-Lish

[Xanthe]

The transition from Neal to Adam was very abrupt, and to be honest my theory is that the character of Neal was designed so that we think he is super shady but then it turns out that he was on the side of good all along so Neal could have seamlessly become a hero of the BCPD with no need for Adam. I don't know whether Robert Lupone was hired on a short contract or if he was fired from a longer-term contract because they decided they wanted someone who was more of a leading man type, but I can imagine a scenario where Charles Grant did both the undercover Egyptian treasure/flirt with Victoria and the straighter-arrow day to day police investigation. But in my imagined scenario the MJ prostitution plotline probably doesn't exist and instead he probably continues a relationship with Victoria.

The story seems very odd to me. I assume that David Canary would have been included only because a plotline where Steve is going to Finland in which only Rachel is seen in actual Finland seems unlikely. The synopses explicitly mention that Alice can't go with Steve but would whoever was playing Alice at that time have had the kind of clout to get the remote cancelled?

It also strikes me as unlikely that production would have approved the expensive location shoot and *then* cancelled it only because of jealousy. It seems more likely that they rejected it because of the expense but then the jealousy part got added to the gossip speculatively, possibly because while it was being worked out they justified not including more castmembers because of the expense. 

[DRW50]

That makes sense.

What a messy time for the show. And any changes they made were mostly for the worse.

[AbcNbc247]

I skimmed some of the 1982 synopses; Steve was planning on an opening an office in Finland, and I think Jim went there as part of the preparation.

That probably was a big issue; AW had already gone to San Diego that year, with Rachel/Steve/Mitch.

And to upstate NY with Pete and Diana. I wonder if upstate was as expensive lol 

AW in 1982 has always fascinated me, because of how messy it was 

[DRW50]

I was talking about 1986, but the glimpses of 1982 are about the same. 

[Paul Raven]

Finland seemed such an odd choice for a location shoot. ATWT went to Greece and later Spain while GL had Tenerife and there were others in that timeframe.

But Finland not being a known tourist destination or offering the tropical/sunny atmosphere usually associated with location shoots seems off brand.

Maybe they were negotiating a deal with a tourist association and it fell through.

[Tisy-Lish]

Yes, I think that is the most likely situation.  TPTB were unhappy with the offer(s) they got from the tourism board in Finland, and decided the trip was going to be too expensive for P&G/NBC to finance alone.   I would also speculate a similar situation likely occurred a few years later with the planned location shoot in Egypt, which was also cancelled after the storyline had already started, and changed to Arizona.  

Edited May 4 by Tisy-Lish