Another World

[teplin]

"Espy was so gorgeous."

And such a terrible, terrible actor. It often felt like he was in a completely different scene than his fellow actors -- one in which he was reading his dialogue for the first time from cue cards. I always felt sorry for Vicky Wyndham having to work opposite Espy after the electric chemistry she shared with Doug Watson. In theory, it should have worked - Wyndham's fiery intensity against Espy's passive iciness. It did work in the short St. Croix sequence. But after they returned to Bay City, it fell flat, just as did Espy's later pairing with Linda Dano. But yes, he was gorgeous, and maybe that lessened the strain of the herculean effort both actresses had to exert to make their scenes interesting. Don't get me wrong -- I was riveted by the Rachel-Mac-Mitch story, but it due to the first two actors and the writing. (OK, and a little bit of Espy's cheekbones.)

[DRW50]

I didn't see most of the story with Mitch and Rachel but I can see where they might not have worked well together. I think Dano and Espy worked well together, at least for me, because he was so low-key and she was bouncing off the walls. I also thought they had a quiet humor and a quiet sex appeal.

[jcar03]

Lovin' watching this on hulu!

[DRW50]

About ten minutes or so of a 9/87 episode have been put on Youtube.

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6Y8PkS9ow&feature=channel

[Melroser]

I thought part of Cali Timmins leaving as Paulina was because she constantly complained about how the character was written. I thought i remember reading she wanted the character to not be so cold and when the opportunity came for Judi Evans, the show pounced on an actress that would (and could) play anything.

Are there clips ANYWHERE of Alice/Steve/Rachel???? AW is my fave show of all-time but i wasn't even born til '73 so i never got to see the show when it was at its highest. I would love to see Jacqueline/George/Robin in scenes together!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I've heard that Paulina was created with Evans in mind, but she was on DAYS at the time and couldn't accept.

AW, like most of the PGP soaps, is a soap that I think had a stellar core cast for most of its run. However, the storytelling on the show for the last 20 years or so wasn't all that great or was widely inconsistent. Unlike other soaps, I don't think the show ever really came close to matching its golden era of the 70's, and sort of just lived in the shadows of it for the remainder of its run.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

There's some stuff from the late 60s available. Another World Home Page has a list of some.

I think the storytelling for the show was pretty decent from about 89-91 or so, not great, but consistently good. I haven't seen as much of 91-94 but I've heard that wasn't bad. I would probably say it wasn't any more uneven than the writing for GL in that timeframe. GL and later ATWT benefited from their networks and history enough to survive, for a while, slumps, whereas AW didn't have as much of that luxury.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I never liked the Donna Swajeski era, even now I find it ridiculously cliched and flat. A lot of the acting was good, but some of the storylines either had ridiculous pacing when I watched on SoapNet, or doesn't seem to age all that well in retrospect.

I think what AW did better than most soaps was friendships, and that really seemed to help the show in its final dark years.

[DRW50]

I think her era had some big weak spots and her love for certain characters led to poor writing (like what she did to Nicole Love because she adored Frankie Frame). Then you have stupid stories which ultimately went nowhere, like Derek Dane. But I think in terms of consistency the show was good...there was some stuff I didn't like, other stuff I think had a good flow, like Jake's descent into the darkness, Vicky's slow path to maturity and her moving on from Jamie and eventually finding Ryan, Sharlene's relationship with John and her MPD, Paulina's arrival (although I think the show had Rachel move on from Mac a little too fast), the story with Sam/Amanda/Evan.

I don't think there was as much of a big moment of brilliance as you had with other shows but I think, of what I've seen of other soaps from that timeframe, AW was consistently more solid, with the exception of ATWT. The problem is by that time AW was already in a place where that wasn't good enough and perhaps even sustained brilliance could not have saved it.

I agree about the friendships. That was something which they began seriously building up in the early 80s and it was what saved the show during very lean periods.

[shadow]

I was not a fan of Wyndham, she played Rachel to hard for me, though I did love her as Justine.

I LOVED JB as Vicky/Marley and thought she had mad chemistry with CB and PMV, loved Marley and Dennis.

I also liked Stephen Yates as Jamie, he had good chemistry with Terry Davis as Stacy Winthrop who I laso liked.

[DRW50]

I haven't seen a lot of Yates as Jamie. I wonder if he would have been better received if he hadn't replaced Richard Bekins. He seems better than stiff Lau or Russell Todd, who didn't bother me that much but didn't seem very popular. Yates was pretty good on GL.

I thought Wyndham's toughness kind of kept Rachel alive as a character, although all the mannered, faux-Shakespearean stuff with Carl didn't do much for me.

[DRW50]

From the 9/29/81 SOD.

CRITIC'S CORNER

In his most powerful scene to date, Curt Dawson as Zachary Colton, let flow a whole force of emotions on the "Another World" witness stand.

Over the months, Dawson has portrayed Colton as a power-thirsty district attorney, ruthlessly striving for more political clout. When the evil Jordan Scott tried to halt Colton's aspirations through blackmail, Colton murdered him. Once it was revealed in court that Colton, and not Blaine Ewing (Laura Malone) may have killed Jordan Scott, Zachary took the stand.

Detached, distracted, confused, serene, self-righteous - Dawson was magnificent as he admitted that, yes, he killed Jordan Scott.

No matter the fine writing - only a superbly talented actor could keep the audience mesmerized during that scene. Moreover, Dawson made us feel pangs of sympathy for a very unsympathetic character.

Mr. Dawson will be sorely missed. It is this editor's hope that he turns up on television again; very, very soon.

- Meredith Brown

[shadow]

Not sure when Bekins left but Yates came aboard in 83 and debut at the Cory Double Wedding. He arrived inlooking mighty fine in cut off shorts

at 4:29 he appears.

I thought he was good, and thought the story with him and Stacy was good, add in Nicole Love and uit had potential but they dropped it, and after a couldve been with MJ McKinnon they went nowhere with his Jamie

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Jensen Buchannan was one of the reasons I couldn't stand the show in latter years. Her interpretation of Vicky decimated the character, and before she got fed up with playing Marley, she looked very disinterested and uncomfortable in the role. She didn't have the charisma or stage presence to take center stage as the central heroine, IMO. The writing for both characters sucked too, but Jensen was a very grating presence.

And in the later years when Jensen's figure wasn't very flattering and they attempted to dress her more sexy was just a joke.

Anne Heche will always be the best Vicky/Marley to me.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I wonder why they gave up on Jamie at this time. I have seen some clips of the first Nicole and I thought she was the one who most fit the part of the mixed-up kid sister with some toughness. I was never a big fan of the Love FAMILY - Peter was often wasted and poorly written, as was Nicole, and Reginald was awful - but I think that they had potential early on. Later on I was basically just Donna and Vicky and Marley and that's it.

I guess part of it later on was that Jamie's role had been filled by other men in his age group. I think they had the right idea in the early 80s when they contrasted him with Sandy.

Y&RWT, I think that the thing with Jensen Buchanan is she is not a good actress (she got better over time at AW but as you said that was under very generous treatment) as she had some charisma and she had some chemistry with her co-stars. I think her chemistry with PMV, and then Tom Eplin, carried her as Vicky. She also had some with Anna Stuart and later Ellen Wheeler, although not as much. As at OLTL she mostly got through based on her chemistry with Jessica Tuck and Bob Woods. I think that's one of the many reasons she flopped at GH, she didn't have chemistry with anyone.

I do think Anne Heche was the best Vicky and also a very underrated Marley (I'd say Ellen Wheeler was the best). Marley was, for ages during the time Anne played her, a sappy plot device with a bad wig, a woman who existed only to give Vicky story. When Marley finally got a little story of her own, like the rape, Anne did a great job, and never once did I think I was seeing her try to be Vicky or try to make Vicky into Marley. Her Vicky had such an edge but you never forgot her pain. She was also very funny, and she was an outsider, which I think Vicky should have always been (Culliton tried to do that again when he came back in 1998 and I thought it was a good idea, even if the story fell apart).

Even in those early clips I posted, when they style Anne like Linda Dano Jr, she has such a fire in her eyes, just such potential. I'm so glad she got to stay at AW long enough to really become a powerhouse.