Another World

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

I agree about John Hutton.  Had he remained on the show, AND the character had remained a good-guy, Peter would probably been a long term character.  Nicole was all over the place (both casting and characterization), and was more poorly written than even Peter. So she never really stood a chance of being a long term character.   And Reginald?  He had to be one of the most poorly conceived characters in soap opera history.  What idiot writer thought it would be a good idea to pen two returns from the dead within the same storyline?  One would have been bad enough.  

[j swift]

I recall being a fan of Nicole #1, the model/coke addict who was paired with Jamey.  Her story reflected the times.  She was also very pretty and wore great costumes, including one gold lame cocktail dress with huge shoulder pads that I still envision whenever I think of the character.  However, I would hypothesize that as Vicky aged she made Nicole seem redundant.  You didn't need two women from the same family who were both the "wild child".  I suppose that Nicole's original purpose was to connect the Love's to the Cory's through Jamey, and to create drama for Donna that would interfere with her love life.  However, once Vicky became a 20-something she began to fulfill those roles. 

 

Peter was always a superfluous character.  He never drove story on his own and his motives changed according to the convenience of the plot.  During his romance with Sally, he was the moral center of the family and wagged his finger at Donna for being such a snob.  Later, he was the sniveling son trying to win his father's approval who then just disappeared and was never mentioned again.

 

Donna was popular from day one, but we shouldn't forget Bridget.  AW had an amazing history of household staff characters from Louise and Vivian to Alma and Buzz.  Bridget was initially two-faced.  She was kind to Donna's face and tolerated the loss of salary when Carl embezzled the money and Donna couldn't cover the payroll.  But, she was also working with Jake and Vicky to get Marley's inheritance, so there was an interesting other side to the character.  Later, Bridget was written as a loving and caring maternal figure, but I always remembered her intriguing introduction. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by j swift

[j swift]

Speaking of retconning a soap family's history, can we talk about Kevin Anderson? 

 

On the one hand, it was nice to see James Goodwin get a second chance at soap fame after playing that drip of a character Johnny Bauer (another retcon of a historical soap family) on Guiding Light.  I don't even recall the circumstances, but any male lead who wears a prince charming costume to his wedding, as Johnny did for Mindy, is not worthy of my fandom.

 

However, Kevin Anderson as the long lost cousin, (half-brother?) who hated Jake lacked any logical reason.  First of all, we had already met Jake's family when his Uncle Vince, and Vince's kids, lived in Bay City, so introducing a new branch in that family tree seemed the product of a writer who had not researched the history of the show.  Second, to this day I could not figure out the source of Kevin's vendetta against Jake and his motives for subverting the law.  There were vague hints of jealousy, but we knew that Jake did not grow up under ideal circumstances, and his successes as an adult were tenuous at best.  So, what drove Kevin to not like Jake as an adult whom he had no contact with for over two decades (btw was the whole story repeated on GH between Sonny and Ric)?  Third, Goodwin is a charming actor, so his pairing with Lorna was romantic to watch, but it was such a stark contrast to his other actions within his storyline.   

 

Eventually, Kevin was written out after trying to kill Carl.  However, if anyone can recall or interpret why this character had so driven by a need for justice, I would still be interested in your take.  Was the whole story just to serve as a redemption for Carl and create routing value for his pairing with Rachel?  Also, am I alone in thinking that the Carl/Jake relationship was never as fully explored as it could have been?  Jake benefited from Carl's interference a couple of times, but there were few memorable scenes between the two, and I am at a loss to recall how they felt about each other. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by j swift

[robbwolff]

You’re thinking of another drip: Kurt Corday, who married Mindy in that fairytale wedding. The wedding was in the fall of 85. Kurt left a few months later, around April 86. Johnny arrived a few months after Kurt left so he almost seemed like a replacement for Kurt. Later that year, Kurt was killed off. Kurt was portrayed by Mark Lewis.

[ScottyBman]

Donna resonated as Another World was always good with the Upstairs/Downstairs characters and needed that snotty patrician social snob.  Nicole as the "party girl model" in the beginning was great, as was the pairing with her working lawyer brother, Peter.  However, Peter went from the moral center to a weaker version looking for acceptance from daddy, Nicole changed lives from model to writer/singer/moral center to fashion designer and even Donna went from snob to heroine of a sort.  While characters need to evolve, they seemed like they were always chasing a storyline or looking to fit these characters into plot lines by dictating their change.  The recasts didn't help the situation.  I am huge team Donna in anything and that has been evident in my posts.  I guess the good news that through all of this we usually got a good bit of Donna, which is what kept me, at least watching....

[DRW50]

The main reason Donna hung on, I think, beyond Anna Stuart's many gifts, is because she never really "won." She was always being punished and suffering for anything she did wrong. The nadir was probably when she had sex with Jake after Michael harshly dumped her (for her own good, of course...) and they had the story of Stacey blackmailing her into giving up the son she had adopted, then her affair was exposed on the witness stand at Marley's trial for shooting Jake. We were, presumably, meant to sympathize with Michael and Stacey, but they were both such unbearable and sanctimonious assholes that it was just about impossible. So this meant that Donna could be haughty, or bitchy, but was never untouchable, and viewers could still care.

 

Even to the end of the show, Donna continued suffering and paying, losing every man she loved, and being abused by an unhinged Marley. She was one of the few characters who got no real happy ending.

 

Hutton was unconventionally handsome, charismatic, and also had some good comedy skills we got to see every once in a while. I never remember if it was his choice to leave or not, but he was a find. 

 

I thought Marcus Smythe (RIP) was also good in the role, but the writing was awful. Just as he became more interesting he left the show, never to return...and only rarely to be mentioned. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by DRW50

[Franko]

Donna's misfortune extended into ATWT. She had skin cancer, then Vicky died and her ghost needed to be put to rest, then Jake remarried and ultimately died, too. According to the AWHP, Donna and Marley co-raised twins Michelle and Bridget with Jake's widow, Molly, but I'm willing to bet the ladies Love have spent most of the last 18 years with those girls (which, depending on how you look at it, may be a happy ending).

 

Slightly off topic, but did Cass and Lila eventually breakup, or was she just off-screen whenever he'd make his later appearances on ATWT and GL?

Edited September 23, 2020 by Franko

[Mona Kane Croft]

 

Cass's later appearances on ATWT, and his appearance(s) on GL were just as an attorney when needed.  There didn't seem to be any personal reasons for his visits.  So there would have been no need for Lila to accompany him.  They were not divorced.  

Edited September 23, 2020 by Neil Johnson

[AbcNbc247]

I still can't believe that Vicky was killed off so easily on ATWT.

[KMan101]

 

I agree. I'm guessing it's likely because Jensen as an actress was kinda disposable in the role, it was easy to do. If they had like, Anne Heche or even Ellen Wheeler in that role I bet Vicky wouldn't have died, LOL. I said it before, I always thought Kelley Menighan would have been an interesting Vicky recast. But Jensen, when they styled her right and wrote her as Vicky, she kinda worked in the role (you can see they made an effort early on but then gave up). I can see why they picked her. But she's so bland.

 

Then they killed off Jake. Issues with Eplin aside, I thought Jake fit in fairly well. And I did like him with Molly.

Edited September 23, 2020 by KMan101

[AbcNbc247]

I guess. It's just seemed so surprising that after headlining AW for most of the 90s; even writing an episode of AW that showed what life would have been like in Bay City had Vicky died, she just gets killed off like six months after the show ended.  You would think they would have kept her on ATWT longer in order to help with the ratings.

Edited September 23, 2020 by AbcNbc247

[Forever8]

Wasn't this because Jensen was doing General Hospital at the same time and that became a conflict for ATWT? 

 

I was hoping when Molly came back for the last year of ATWT she would mention Jake or at least how Bridget and Michelle were doing but she didn't sadly. 

[AbcNbc247]

Idk, but I don't think so. Her page on IMDB says she didn't start on GH until 2001

[victoria foxton]

Jensen's last episodes of ATWT overlapped with her first GH episodes.. If i remember correctly P&G was going to sue ABC/Disney over that. Which never ended up happening.  GH got a temp. Until Jensen's last ATWT episodes finished airing

Edited September 23, 2020 by victoria foxton

[Dion]

@AbcNbc247 Even though Vicky was killed off on ATWT in Late 1999, they kept bringing her back as a ghost until early 2001 which as @victoria foxton says overlapped with the beginning of her GH stint.