Another World

[DRW50]

The cast expanded, yes. The show had to burn through more story, yet also had to stall for time. This led to a lot of padding. I don't think the move was well-received. It didn't help that the headwriter Harding Lemay left early in the 90 minute format.

I have not seen any full 90 minute episodes, just some surviving bits - the only full one I've seen is the first, when John Randolph was killed. It was full of padding, mostly with Iris and Vivien.

This is the type of scene you might see in a 90 minute episode.

Louise: I wonder if Mrs. Cory would allow Cook to give Miss Amanda an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Brooks: Mrs. Cory has never been strict about dessert before.

Louise: Yes, but Mrs. Cory is becoming more concerned about Miss Amanda's well-being, since she learned Mr. Cory gave Mrs. Bancroft an extra scoop of ice cream when she was Miss Amanda's age.

<doorbell>

Louise: Mrs. Bancroft.

Iris: <breathily> Hello, Louise. What a lovely early spring day. May I speak with Mrs. Cory?

Louise: Mrs. Cory does not want to see visitors.

Iris: Any visitor or just this particular visitor?

Louise: I did not ask Mrs. Cory for specifics.

Iris: I told Mrs. Cory that I would be dropping in.

Louise: Mrs. Cory did not tell me of these plans.

Iris: Well I suppose it slipped her mind. Mrs. Cory has been...absentminded as of late. All the stress, you know.

Louise: As I said, Mrs. Bancroft...

Iris: I did tell her.

Louise: I can only go by what Mrs. Cory relayed to me, Mrs. Bancroft.

Iris: So I may not see her?

Louise: I...

Iris: Oh, very well. <sighs> Give my best wishes to Mrs Cory. I'm sure she could use them.

[sungrey]

Correct on both counts. When I found out Alice Barrett was leaving I originally was thrilled. I too wanted Cass to go back to his old ways and maybe, just maybe, Julie Osburn could have returned to reprise that old Cass/Kathleen magic.

For me, that was a classic case of "careful what you wish for." Frankie's death was one of the straws pulled out that sent the entire structure toppling to the ground, if you know what I mean. Where GL could stand Maureen's death because of its ratings (not that I agreed with THAT move), AW's ratings were a lot softer and this killed the show.

[thelma]

I assume you mean my mom? She did and she really liked the new actress and her storyline until the multiple personality story. I remember her hating that. I didn't mind it other than the stuff about Jason "pimping" her out to his friends (or something along that line).

[DRW50]

Yes, I meant your mother. I'm glad she liked it. I can imagine that the scenes Sharlene had with Rachel around the time Josie and Matt were first getting together were great viewing for loyal fans like your mother who'd seen all those moments.

I was a bit put off at how quickly they made Jason such a monster, just for the murder mystery. I wasn't a fan of the character but it felt cheap to me.

There was a fair amount of criticism of the DID story...Soap Opera Digest panned it twice. I didn't think it was that bad, but I thought it went on a little too long and I thought it smacked of, "We don't know what to do with this character."

[rcsnj]

If I remember correctly, Daytime TV reported in early 1980 that Russ Matthews was slated to be a major character on "Texas," then known as "Another World: Houston."

[DRW50]

I would have just had her leave town. I guess AW was probably on the way out no matter what, but that did seem to be the last straw for many fans.

I loved Cass/Lila and I liked that Cass got to have more of an edge again (I never really "got" Cass/Frankie or why Cass needed to become so dour) but that was two years after Frankie died. It was a miracle that Cass didn't go around the time when Sharlene, Michael, John, and Carl did.

It would have been nice to have seen Kathleen again. Even if she didn't stay then they could have tied up loose ends, and had some fun times. I also would have liked to have seen her reaction to Lila. Or Cecile. I know some fans hated the writing for Cecile in her last stint. What did you think?

[thelma]

She loved the interactions with Sharlene, Rachel and Matt and Josie. She was funny because she said right from the start, "I bet Aunt Liz will be the one who spills the beans to Matthew about how he was conceived." She was dead on. I wish Liz had told Josie about Sharlene's past. That would have been pretty devastating and caused all kinds of conflict with Sharlene and Liz. "Oh Liz!"

I agree about Jason. They made him a total scum bag too quickly.

I didn't know the DID story was criticized. That's interesting. I agree with you. It was long and definitely felt like, we have to do something to cause conflict with this lady now that the town knows she was hooker and got over it!

[DRW50]

SOD criticized the story for John being so stupid.

I got the idea of the Sharly stuff, I just didn't really think it fit well. It was very hesitant. She was with Grant, yet never had sex with him. She hung around bars but didn't go back to prostitution.

What did you think of the Taylor Benson story? I mostly just got a good laugh out of the bad acting from Taylor.

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I saw some of the early days of the Cass/Frankie pairing and, like CarlD2, really wasn't all that impressed. I liked both Stephen Schnetzer and Alice Barrett and I liked their characters, but just didn't warm to their relationship. Maybe if I had watched longer or more consistently, I would have felt differently. I definitely think that Cass/Kathleen was the best match with Cecile thrown in as a wild card. Eventually things would have gone stale, but I think there was more story there. I didn't watch comings and goings on all the soaps back then, either behind or in front of the camera, but I was surprised that Julie Osburn didn't surface permanently on AW...or anywhere that I know of. I really liked her and thought Kathleen could have been a core character for a lot longer. I just looked at the AWHP site and she was only on the show for 2 years. Hard to believe.

The rather unsuccessful recasts of MJ and Donna have been addressed here recently...what are everyone's thoughts on Taylor Miller as Sally, Anne Howard as Nicole, and Christopher Holder and Marcus Smythe as Peter? As much as I liked Taylor Miller on AMC, she really came aboard with everything going against her IMHO. Mary Page Keller was very successful in the role, married her leading man, and was gone only a few weeks before Taylor Miller replaced her. As I recall, her first storyline was also an entirely new arc with the Le Soleil story. I didn't like the story, and she seemed to be an entirely different character. I thought Anne Howard fared better as Nicole, but she was also the second recast after Kim Morgan Greene originated the role. The character of Peter seemed to change based on whoever was playing him, but I did think Smythe made a good villain. I would have preferred him as a different character since he was originally a nice guy under John Hutton.

[DRW50]

I think Julie usually chose only limited runs, but I'm not sure. I do wish some other show, or AW, had gotten her for longer, as she was such a strong actress, and such a unique type of beauty. She just always seemed so HUMAN, yet without the fake "quirkiness".

I think Alice Barrett is a good actress but there was always too much writer agenda for me with regards to her character, and too much faux-hipness. I mostly enjoyed her with Ryan.

I haven't seen that much of Miller or Holder, but I think the problem with casting Taylor Miller in this role is that she's not a dynamic enough actress to make up for the lack of conflict in Sally. Nina had all kinds of outside conflict based on Palmer, and Daisy. Sally's conflict was random stuff about Catlin's jealousy of her career, and then the Brittany mess. From what Taylor Miller said, the entire story she was supposed to have when she joined was pretty much dropped. She was stranded. The same happened to Brittany, from what Sharon Gabet said.

I never understood why Sally had to be killed off. They must have known Thomas Ian Griffith was leaving. Why not just let him leave early and then have Sally and Catlin leave town happily? Then to not have Alice, and the only way Alice is shown grieving is 3 years later, for one episode, is pretty bad IMO.

I thought Smythe got a bad deal, as Peter was a completely pathetic toady and just as he was becoming more interesting, Smythe was let go. I wanted to see him without the caricature known as Reginald.

Anne Howard...again, she had a non-character. I wish we'd seen more of her with Anna Stuart's Donna, as they could have been a contrast. I think she was ill-suited to a role that didn't have more built-in layers.

Why do you think they so abruptly fired Laurie Landry, the Nicole before her?

Of all the families who came into AW in the late 70's and early 80's and weren't popular, do you think any should have had a fairer chance to succeed, or had potential?

Did Rose Perrini have any stories of her own? I've seen a bit of her, mostly worrying over Angie or getting a seamstress job. Did they just get rid of her once Maeve Kinkead left?

[Paul Raven]

Rose did have a romance with Eileen's uncle Paul,played by Stephen Joyce.He had a nagging wife Rita.This was during the 90 min eps.

Yes,I remember when Texas was first mentioned,it was said that Russ would be a part along with Pat,who would be involved with Kevin(Lee Paterson)

I recall a Daytime Tv review of the 90 min shows and it recounted how we would see for example,Rachel visit Iris,then Mac ,then Ada etc and have long winded conversations-it was very 'draggy'

Looking back there were so many miscast roles over that time period -Laurence Lau was wrong for Jamie,Sally Spencer as MJ,Taylor Miller.Sharon Gabet,Laurie Landry ,Rhonda Lewin,Philece Sampler etc etc

[thelma]

I wasn't a fan of any of the Peter's as characters or actors, but I kind of liked the last Peter as a villain. Same with the Nicole's. I didn't care for any of the actresses or the character although I thought Ann Howard's last few months as desperate, crazy Nicole were kind of good. I had hoped Nicole would have been revealed to have been Jason Frame's daughter. There were hints of that at one point, but it went nowhere. It might have been cool to have her find this out after she killed him.

Replacing Mary Page Keller with a stunt recast like Taylor Miller was a flop for me, but killing off Sally was a HUGE mistake. She was too important of a character to die and basically not be thought of again.

[tune_in_tomorrow]

I agree completely, although Sharon Gabet wasn't a recast. She originated the role of Brittany but the character, like that of Peter, went through multiple unexplained transformations so it seemed she played multiple charcters. I barely remember Landry or Lewin. Their runs were short and they didn't make much of an impression.

Like Thelma, I also agree that killing Sally was a mistake. But AW had a penchant for killing off characters in the '80s. Perry, Julia, Grant Todd, Quinn & Maisie all died along with Sally in about a 3-year period.

[denzo30]

Yes, I especially liked the scene too, well actually two scenes with sharlene and rachel talking about the family history. First when Sharlene came back to town and then in the fall of 08 when Rachel got tough. THey argued about Janice, Steve and Willis. I always found it strange the Vince Frame sort of vanished into thin air. he was mentioned again when evan annouced he was part of the frame family. sharlene said "here is a pic of your uncle vinny"

[soapfan770]

I've always wondered why AW killed so many of its vital characters off in the 1980s. Guess they had nothing better and hoped the deaths generated ratings?

What did you guys think of Cass and Nicole as a couple? From what I saw from the SoapNet reruns I liked it, fairly interesting actually. I liked Anne Howard as the wounded bird Nicole was.

Had these been posted yet?

Edited July 9, 2011 by soapfan770