25 minutes ago, watson71 said:

The following characters left the show in 1986: Amanda Cory, Chris Chapin, Neal Cory, Dee Evans, Clarice Ewing, Larry Ewing, Sally Frame, Edward Gerard, Marley Hudson, Vicky Hudson, Zane Lindquist, Donna Love, Lily Mason, Liz Matthews, Jake McKinnon, Kathleen McKinnon, Vince McKinnon, Kevin Thatcher, Carter Todd, Thomasina Todd, Cass Winthrop

Vicky was recast, briefly, but the recast also left before the end of the year. I have never seen another recast like it -- on the Friday we saw only a mystery person's leg as she went with Reginald to Marley and Jake's wedding. Marley threw her bouquet at the end of Friday and she and Jake immediately left. On Monday the face of the recast Victoria was revealed as she caught the bouquet. Ellen Wheeler had stopped playing Victoria in July but they didn't want to show the recast of a non-identical actress in the same episode as Ellen's Marley.

The recast Vince showed up quite early in 1987 but it was late February before Philece Sampler took over the role of Donna. I'm glad Anna Stuart didn't have to put up with the storyline that Philece played out (mainly the Lust for John) even though I imagine she would have somehow improved the execution of it even though it was so intolerable.

Edited August 3Aug 3 by Xanthe
typo

On 7/31/2025 at 9:58 PM, Efulton said:

I was born in 1972 and my earliest memories are from 1977.

- I only saw David Bailey as Russ and did not remember him when he returned in 1989.  I would say the majority of fans prefer Sam Groom.

- I loved Charlie and he is the only one I remember. He should not have been killed off. There is a list of characters who should not have been killed off for another discussion. I wish I could remember Dolph Sweet's Gil because I was a huge fan of Gimme a Break.

- Janice # 2 (Christine Jones) was delicious.  I did not see Victoria Thompson in the role.  Anna Holbrook's Sharlene was a favourite of mine.  I have no memory of Laurie Heineman.  I do wish they would have brought back Heineman in 1988 and created a new role for Anna.  Another World did way too much unnecessary recasting.  That is yet another  separate discussion.

- I have no memory of any of them except for Cass and Brian.  Paul Stevens (Brian) is part of actors who I think of as my Another World so he is at the top for me.  But Bay City would not have been the same with Cass.

Anna Holbrook stated in an interview that Laurie Heinman was auditioning for the role of Sharlene in 88. Heinman is the original actress.  Holbrook pointed out that she did not think she would get the role as the original actress was there for the part but she ended up landing it.  Holbrook was much younger than the actual character Sharlene.  Maybe why the TPTB decided to go with her. But right, AW did not really do a good job at recasting.  It was annoying

On 7/31/2025 at 7:36 AM, vetsoapfan said:

It came across (to me) that Courtney was just the target Lemay rushed to condemn, whether it was justified (and rational) or not. IMHO, JC was top-notch, and her breakdown scenes were quite effective.

After she died, even Paul Rauch (!!!) was quoted in the press saying that Jacquie was great and always gave good performances.

Lemay wanted JC out and Rauch wanted G Reinholdt out.  I bet it was a negotiation.  Lemay was infamous when he came in to recreate a character on what he wanted that to be.  He is lucky that worked for him.  His ego got in the way of many things.  Why I think he left in 79 as the shows ratings were already crashing and he was too proud to admit under his writing.

15 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

Anna Holbrook stated in an interview that Laurie Heinman was auditioning for the role of Sharlene in 88. Heinman is the original actress.  Holbrook pointed out that she did not think she would get the role as the original actress was there for the part but she ended up landing it.  Holbrook was much younger than the actual character Sharlene.  Maybe why the TPTB decided to go with her. But right, AW did not really do a good job at recasting.  It was annoying

Anna Holbrook was FANTASTIC casting. 

This is a pretty lengthy thread, and I am sure it's already been covered, but I have a question. What did viewers think of these Valentine to singles episodes when they aired? I just watched them out of the blue and found them to be very interesting.

 

 

 

14 hours ago, denzo30 said:

Lemay wanted JC out and Rauch wanted G Reinholdt out.  I bet it was a negotiation.  Lemay was infamous when he came in to recreate a character on what he wanted that to be.  He is lucky that worked for him.  His ego got in the way of many things.  Why I think he left in 79 as the shows ratings were already crashing and he was too proud to admit under his writing.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall, listening in, when Lemay had his training period with Irna Phillips, LOL. 

21 hours ago, denzo30 said:

Anna Holbrook stated in an interview that Laurie Heinman was auditioning for the role of Sharlene in 88. Heinman is the original actress.  Holbrook pointed out that she did not think she would get the role as the original actress was there for the part but she ended up landing it.  Holbrook was much younger than the actual character Sharlene.  Maybe why the TPTB decided to go with her. But right, AW did not really do a good job at recasting.  It was annoying

Anna Holbrook was brilliant as Sharlene.  I just don't believe the role needed to be recast since Heineman wanted to return.  A new role should have been created for Holbrook.

42 years ago today…

 

 

1 hour ago, watson71 said:

42 years ago today…

 

 

I vividly remember Stephen Yates showing up as the new Jamie. I wasn't happy about replacing Richard Bekins but I grew to appreciate Yates very much eventually. 

23 hours ago, DemetriKane said:

This is a pretty lengthy thread, and I am sure it's already been covered, but I have a question. What did viewers think of these Valentine to singles episodes when they aired? I just watched them out of the blue and found them to be very interesting.

 

 

 

I can't claim to remember what the general public thought about these episodes at the time -- probably anything I can think of would just have been promotion in the soap press. I remember it as the introduction of Ada's past boyfriend Sharkey. And I liked Lisa being rueful about how much she had subordinated herself as Jamie's girlfriend. I haven't had a chance to rewatch all of it since you posted the link, but watching the beginning I feel a bit dissatisfied with the way Amanda and Sam are used as the framing device. When it started I thought maybe it was supposed to represent just what Amanda imagined they might say, but when Ada revealed things that Amanda had not known that were shown to have been true, I felt that Amanda and Sam's comments were intrusive and should have not been used past the beginning. 

58 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

I remember it as the introduction of Ada's past boyfriend Sharkey.

Sharkey was played by Larry Haines who played Stu Bergman on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years.  Sharkey was even featured in the 25th Anniversary episodes in May, then the character was dropped and never seen again.  Wonder what happened to cause AW to drop the character?  

22 minutes ago, watson71 said:

Sharkey was played by Larry Haines who played Stu Bergman on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years.  Sharkey was even featured in the 25th Anniversary episodes in May, then the character was dropped and never seen again.  Wonder what happened to cause AW to drop the character?  

I'm not sure why they dropped the character but I do know that he showed up for the big 4th of July episode that year. AW did not normally make a big deal of the 4th as far as I recall (they were often preempted in early July for Wimbledon) but that year they definitely did, I think because of John's veteran storyline. Sid ("Sharkey") and John were both vets.

Edited August 5Aug 5 by Xanthe
Wimbledon

14 hours ago, watson71 said:

Sharkey was played by Larry Haines who played Stu Bergman on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years.  Sharkey was even featured in the 25th Anniversary episodes in May, then the character was dropped and never seen again.  Wonder what happened to cause AW to drop the character?  

Allegedly, AW was going to cast Mary Stuart as Ada’s fraternal twin, Sada Lucas, and Larry got the hell outta there. 

15 hours ago, watson71 said:

Sharkey was played by Larry Haines who played Stu Bergman on Search for Tomorrow for 35 years.  Sharkey was even featured in the 25th Anniversary episodes in May, then the character was dropped and never seen again.  Wonder what happened to cause AW to drop the character?  

I wonder if it was only ever a limited run as Larry was on Loving for about the same amount of time. 

15 hours ago, Xanthe said:

I'm not sure why they dropped the character but I do know that he showed up for the big 4th of July episode that year. AW did not normally make a big deal of the 4th as far as I recall (they were often preempted in early July for Wimbledon) but that year they definitely did, I think because of John's veteran storyline. Sid ("Sharkey") and John were both vets.

I think I remember them doing something in 1991 as well but I'm not sure.

I saw this in an old commercial reel today and then I see it's already been up on Youtube a few years. If it was already posted in here a while back my apologies.

They're both great here but Beverly really could have been a lead commercial pitchwoman.

 

Edited August 5Aug 5 by DRW50

Great commercial! I always loved both actresses. However, Judith didn't portray the role of Pat. Susan Trustman was the other actress who played Pat. Judith portrayed Lenore.