Another World

[sungrey]

The thing about early 1986 Another World was... well, it was just there.

The late 1985-early 1986 period was just lackluster. Sam Hall was the headwriter and he didn't have a clue how to write the show. The stories wandered aimlessly and really didn't have a point to them. (Amphora dust? Puuuuuuhhhhhlllleeeeez.) There were a lot of characters whose usefulness was winding down. As much as I liked Larry and Clarice, there was just nothing more you could do with them.

I really loved Margaret DePriest's first run. The story with Donna and Michael was excellent, the Sin Stalker mystery made sense and was integrated well into the show, and the new characters that came on brought some life back into the program. At the time, Victoria Wyndham (who was not afraid to criticize things if they weren't going right) remarked that the current writers appeared to know what they were doing.

AW needed a shot in the you-know-what back then and it happened.

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I mentioned somewhere that I thought Another World was all over the place in the mid '80s. I didn't even watch very long and it was a different show than when I started. Around '84, the Love and McKinnon families were just getting established, Mac and Rachel were still the tentpole couple, Amanda & Matthew were still children who were rarely seen, the Ewings were still a presence as were the Frames, although in a smaller capacity than in prior years. There were also quite a few non-core family characters like Cecile, Cass, and Felicia. In retrospect, the cast was pretty large but that was common at that time. All of the storylines intrigued me and off the top of my head, I can't think of any characters I out-and-out disliked. But the next 3 years had all kinds of turmoil with characters coming and going, several recasts that didn't work, storylines that came out of left field and died (as Sungrey mentioned, that awful amorphous dust debacle), and some rather bizarre character changes that had no basis of reality. Peter Love went from nice guy to wife-rapist, Brittany Peterson from conniver to victim, Donna Love from strong and snobbish to weak and victim... It was a very different show when I finally gave up after the Sin Stalker story. Many viewers like sungrey mention the stability that Margaret DePriest brought but since I wasn't familiar with the classic Another World from the Lemay era, it seemed mostly a mess to me and elements and characters that drew me in were gone. The Love and McKinnon families bore little resemblance to the 1984 version, the teens (yes, I was a teen then) had all been written out -- mostly by death.

[juniorz1]

Actually, according to AWHP, Clarice was at both Mac and Ada's funerals, while Larry was indeed only at Mac's. Speaking of Larry, wasn't there some storyline where he went undercover as a male stripper? Or is that just something else Rick Porter's done that I'm thinking of?

Either way, Larry was FINE and when Kathleen Layman played MJ and they were flirting with a Larry/MJ romance, I was all for it. They had TONS of chemistry. But my mom always told me then and when we've discussed Larry/Clarice well after they were gone that Larry would never have cheated on Clarice, no matter how much chemistry he shared with the "other woman."

That's too bad about Kathleen Layman. Did you ever get to see her in the role Carl? It seems like you haven't or at least not much of her because if you had, I don't think you could have had even the slightest soft spot for Sally Spencer's version. She was just all kinds of miscast as the MJ I knew and loved, but then again, she was no longer written as RealMJ. I never will understand to this day why they recast and why they changed MJ's character so drastically. She was actually one of my favorite characters when Kathleen Layman played her.

Awww, me too as you already know. We seem to have similar tastes in AW characters and actresses. Like, for example, we both really liked Cali Timmins as Paulina and preferred her to Evans.

Agreed. It was a major turnoff in the beginning, though my mom and I still watched. We basically had to FF her and Philiece Sampler's NotDonna. Blech.

I agree about Sharlene- I liked her sometimes, found her annoying at others. I liked her best when Sharlene was a strong, proud woman, and least where she was a weak hot mess.

I LOVED me some Adam Cory (Ed Fry) though. I think he also started with Kathleen Layman's MJ and they had FAR more chemistry than he did with Sally Spencer's version.

[DRW50]

You're right about Clarice at Mac's funeral. AWHP was down at the time I posted and I was going off her line to Amanda (remembering her when she was in braces, or whatever), which was odd to say if she'd seen her at Mac's funeral.

I don't think Larry ever stripped on the show. For some reason I thought he did cheat on Clarice, but I might be wrong.

I suppose the actors may have found it insulting but I think the show should have kept Clarice and Larry on recurring status, as a familiar couple for viewers who were seeing so many characters leave. Dumping so many women in this age range meant that you had awkwardness like that PSDonna/Felicia friendship. Quinn would have been a more believable sounding board to PSDonna. There was no reason to kill that character off.

I saw a bit of Leyman, not much. I did read that they did a number on the character when they recast her, including demoting her on the force because of some paperwork error.

The PSDonna/John/Michael stuff was weak. The only part I enjoyed of it was Donna's conflict with "Mother Hudson." My favorite part was when she yelled at the old woman and this led to a collapse. I don't think it was supposed to be funny but it was.

I also never understood why they treated the character of Peter so shabbily. The way he disappeared just as Reginald's story was winding down made no sense.

[juniorz1]

I remember the exact Mother Hudson sequence you're describing and it was hilarious. And yes, the PSDonna/Felicia friendship was not only awkward but wrong. Anna Stuart's Donna had no friends. I remember a flustered and frustrated Michael going off on Donna when she said she didn't care for Felicia, saying that "everybody likes Felicia!" It was SO funny because it was SO true- Donna was just such a snob and disliked her for no reason, which I thought was HILARIOUS.

In fact, one of my favorite Donna sequences EVER was a couple weeks either in the 80s or shortly after Stuart's return when, in order to win back Michael, he challenged her to make friends with Rachel and Felicia. I remember her showing up to the Cory mansion making nice-nice with Rachel and I think inviting Rachel over to breakfast at the Love mansion. I remember Vicky Wyndham's reactions were PRICELESS, as she couldn't figure out what the hell Donna was doing. Donna did the same thing with Felicia and Dano had the same reaction that Wyndham/Rachel did.

I agree with you on Larry & Clarice- I really liked them, especially Larry, and thought they should have been kept around in a recurring capacity at the very least. I think they could have easily blended in with the late 80s/early 90s cast, including characters like John, Sharlene, Mitch, Frankie, Nicole, etc...

I didn't know that the show killed off Quinn- I liked her and could never figure out what happened to her. Was she murdered by the Sin Stalker?

LOL- I know AWHP was down at the time of your post because I was trying to look up the very same thing!!!! :lol: Great minds....

And finally, the show did a TOTAL number on MJ. She was a completely different character. As I said, under Layman, she was one of my favorite characters on the show during that period. In fact, MJ & Kathleen were my 2 favorite heroines on AW during those years.

[DRW50]

Quinn was murdered by the Sin Stalker. She started a love/hate relationship with Zak Harding and they eventually moved in together. The Sin Stalker deemed her immoral, and murdered her in the BCPD parking lot. Or BCGH. What a lovely message that the only two main female characters who were killed off for their slutty ways were middle-aged.

It made no sense to me to kill off Quinn. Petronia Paley is a charismatic actress with a droll sense of humor that fit in perfectly at AW. Her death also meant the talented James Pickens Jr. spent the next 3 years on the blackburner, along with several other talented actors (Ronnie and Reuben, for instance). She also fit in perfectly with the characters of that timeframe and later on. I can see her sparring with Iris, and if they'd done a triangle with Donna/Michael/Quinn instead of Stacey/Michael/Donna, it might have had more believability and spark, whereas Michael being with the woman who aggressively sought to take away his child was, IMO, disgusting, and helped make me despise Michael, along with Stacey.

The only friendship Donna ever had was with Cecile, which was more like a bitching society. That ended very fast when Cecile got Peter

Did you ever see Louise? She's such a wonderful tonic to the hotter heads at the Cory mansion. I love her scenes with children too. I don't know if the actress wanted to leave or if they fired her but if they fired her it was an awful mistake.

I had mixed feelings about the frequent absence of Mother Hudson. John and Michael never really needed a mother figure, but it still seemed strange to me that she was so rarely seen when she was supposed to be living around Bay City. Did she even appear when Sharlene "died"?

Edited July 6, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Oh, and when Quinn was murdered, SOD got a ton of angry mail from viewers. AW's response was essentially - we didn't know she had fans.

Ugh.

[juniorz1]

It's because Quinn was one of those supporting characters that fans take for granted- we love them but we're not overly enthralled with them and don't realize how much we love them and need them there until they're gone. I really liked her.

If Louise was the Cory maid, then yes, I do believe I remember some of her stuff, although I was very young in those days. Then again, I was only 5 when Kathleen Layman's MJ was around and I distinctly remember her!

[DRW50]

It's those types of characters who made soaps special, and who really were an integral part of AW. AW stopped being about core families in the 70's. After that it was about sophisticated friends and their loved ones, with a mixture of some lower classes and grifters. Quinn should have been part of that fabric.

Edited July 6, 2011 by CarlD2

[jam6242]

Does anyone else remember the character of Sven Peterson, played by Roberts Blossom? He was one of the creepiest villains ever on soaps. Iris had hired him to be Mac & Rachel's butler, to cause further trouble between them. Sven dismembered Mac's chauffeur! I remember the only time my dad ever got interested in a soap was when Sven was on the scene. This must have been late 70s.

[DRW50]

None of this story seems to be available, but I've certainly read about it. It's the last time AW had a huge ratings surge, and moments like Rocky being found buried under the floorboards were much talked about. Sven had a big plan with his wife Helga to make it look like Mac had had sex with their daughter. Then she would say she was pregnant.

It's interesting to me that this didn't break Rachel and Mac up, but her scheming over Jamie's marriage with Blaine did.

Did you like Blaine better as a bad girl or as a heroine?

I have an article somewhere on the Sven story. When I find it I'll post it.

[Max]

I really wish AW did crossovers with other P&G soaps back in the 80's & 90's. (The only pre-cancellation AW crossovers occurred in the 60's.)

And it was beyond stupid for AW and ATWT to have shared the same time slot from 1987-99. Why on earth did executives at CBS, NBC, and P&G agree to this? (This is especially puzzling when you consider that P&G once forbid its soaps on opposite networks to compete against each other.)

[Paul Raven]

I agree that killing off Quinn was a mistake as she was one of the few characters with any longevity.She hadn't even been married once in her 6 or so years on the show so there was plenty of story potential.I was fine with Clarice and Larry going as they were played out.

However,the show was overloaded with females in that age bracket-Rachel,Felicia,Donna,Maisie and Mary

.The show was very damaged from all the changes since Lemay left.In principle,refashioning the show around the Cory,Love and McKinnons was a good move but the execution was poor.At the time Whitesell/DePriest said the show needed a proper revamp but their ideas were poorly executed and after a few months it was back to dropping characters and bringing in newbies.

I would have tied Maisie into the McKinnons by having her involved with Vince and Vince and Maisie become the new core working class couple after Vince and Mary realized their time had passed Maisie could have some secrets in her past..MJ as the strong police officer daughter and Ben as the hot younger son.Explore his history with Marley and attraction to Vicky for a Ben/Marley/Jake/Vicky quadrangle with lots of twists and turns.

Have Nancy get involved with Scott and eliminate Cheryl.No Adam Cory as that branch of the family never rang true to me.

Jamie back (not as adoctor,but working at Cory) and you have Jamie/MJ/Nicole as a ready made triangle as Jamie had previous involvements with both at different times.The MJ prostitution story was way better suited to Nicole considering her past as cocaine addict.Have her ex lover/pimp/whatever return and intimidate her.Maybe he makes a play for Vicky to taunt Nicole who is unable to say much for fear her past will be exposed and she'll lose Jamie.MJ gets involved with her new partner,who is in a troubled marriage.

Oh,and bring back the Matthews with Mike Randolph,a daughter for Russ.Have LIz,Russ,Pat etc as recurring players.

Iris and Dennis should have come back earlier. Maybe Iris and Reg?

[teplin]

Sven was one of the creepiest, scariest characters ever to appear on soaps, thanks to actor Roberts Blossom. I can still remember when Dennis and Jamie discovered the dismembered body of Rocky, the Cory chauffeur, underneath the floorboards of the Cory boathouse. Not only did Sven terrorize the Corys, he was brutal to his cousin Helga (played by the recently deceased, Tony-nominated and Obie Award-winning Helen Stenborg) and his niece Regina (Barbara Eda-Young, who had earlier played the female lead opposite Al Pacino in "Serpico"). Just a great story with great acting all around.

I completely agree with most of the comments here about Kathleen Layman (loved her, didn't like Sally Spencer) and Philece Sampler (loved her as Renee DiMera, couldn't bear her as Donna Love). Larry and Clarice were two supporting characters that I took for granted, as juniorz1 aptly described earlier. I thought they were pretty ho-hum when they were around, but I really missed them when they were gone. I dimly remember something about Larry going undercover as a male stripper, but no details, so I may be wrong.

I thought Laura Malone's Blaine was a terrific villainess, I was so sad that they de-fanged her. And I didn't like the actress that replaced her AT ALL.

And Louise was fantastic, especially in her interactions with Iris.

[DRW50]

How soon into Blaine's run did they make her sympathetic? It seems like it was pretty early to me but I don't know. What did she do right after the breakup with Jamie? Was she given a rape by redemption story? I think she was raped by someone when she was with Sandy, wasn't she? One of those "save my man with sex" things? Hate those.

Did the actress who played Louise want to leave or did they fire her?