Another World

[Contessa Donatella]

Just joining in. I always thought Ben McKinnon was a major loss. At the time we fans online thought that it was a choice. We could have Jake or we could have Ben, but not both. I always thought that was incredibly stupid. Of course, I also have NO IDEA if there was any truth to it as a reason. 

[Xanthe]

Oh, thank you for this. A pity it's only partial. 

The AWHP has Laura Malone's last day as July 31, 1984 but this is dated August 3. I would have guessed this could be August 6, only because Catlin sitting up in the back seat of Ada's car was in my memory as a Friday freeze frame/cliffhanger. But I suppose it could have been Thursday.

Laura Malone does not look too fat at all. Those bastards.

I had not remembered Ross spying on Julia in Cecile's house. I guess it was her research into Catlin and Sally that made it so important that he follow her to NYC to murder her.

[DRW50]

Thanks for your notes. Great insights. As I was skimming through I didn't even realize that was Julia - I suppose I didn't recognize Faith Ford with that haircut. I'm not sure what it was with AW in these years having women stalked for days before they were murdered (the same happened with Maisie). The scenes have the potential to be chilling but weren't very well-directed and just seem goofy.

Another character who shouldn't have been killed off. 

Good catch about Laura's exit date. I suppose she would look heavy by Hollywood standards, which is why she's in a black blazer, but she looks beautiful to me, and to anyone who isn't a pig. Blaine was likely coming to an end as a character anyway, so Laura not getting to play out that last year or so is just a sour taste.

Edited August 16, 2024 by DRW50

[Xanthe]

It's so hard to know, really. I have always imagined that if Laura Malone had remained in the role then maybe the character would have persisted. Maybe they would have recast Sandy and kept them on the canvas with Maggie and Alex for longer. 

With regard to Ben, I know they did tell him Mary was alive and they even teased that he might return then but nothing ever came of it.

 

 

[DRW50]

I could have seen her staying in some capacity as long as Caitlin and Larry were around but it seemed like by the end she was just so defined through the men in her life. 

Thanks. I had forgotten Ben was mentioned. They should have brought him back around that point - keep Nancy and pair them off.

[teplin]

I think Laura Malone looked great and it's a pity that she was replaced. I also think she was a strong and charismatic enough actress to have spun off into new stories once Sandy was gone. I liked Ben, as well, and never could figure out why they got rid of him/didn't bring him back. Carter and Thomasina were appealing, too. AW made some really stupid casting decisions.

[Contessa Donatella]

LOVED Carter & Thomasina. And, I still think Petronia Paley is amazing. 

[watson71]

When Jake got a half brother when Kevin Anderson arrived in Bay City in 1991, they could have easily made the Kevin character Ben McKinnon.

[mikeaw1978]

Looks like my date for Laura Malone's exit is wrong on the AWHP. We thought it was some time in late July 1984, but it doesn't look like it. I'm assuming Ross hiding from Julia leads to her getting mugged and killed, which should be at the end of the following week (August 6-10). Was August 3, 1984 it for Laura Malone then?

[mikeaw1978]

On the May 17, 1991 episode where M.J. and Mary have a reunion with a previously presumed dead Kathleen, I think Mary mentions that Ben and Cheryl wanted to come but couldn't or something along those lines. In the last couple years of the show, there was talk about bringing some of Jake's family back, so Ben may have been mentioned occasionally at that time as well.

[Paul Raven]

Well if you couldn't find the time to reunite with your presumed dead mother, why would you bother with your sister?

And speaking of Cheryl, was she ever mentioned before her arrival or created out of the blue by Margaret DePriest?

[Xanthe]

Her name was mentioned as early as the fall of 1984 when Jack Ryland was playing Vince and Richard Culliton and Gary Tomlin were head writers. However she was not made flesh until DePriest. 

[Efulton]

Laura Malone and Blaine were popular.  Blaine could have driven story for years even without Larry, Catlin and Sandy on the canvas.

[DRW50]

I don't doubt she could have, but I'm not sure the show felt the same way, given some of their firing decisions in those years. 

Speaking of the Ewings, did Clarice and Larry even get oncamera exits?

Thanks. Given that Ben and MJ were the first two McKinnons on the canvas it would have been nice if they'd both been there. 

I do wonder why they didn't just have Sean as Ben's son instead of Kevin's. I know Jake and Kevin were brothers, but it wasn't as if they were close. I can't even remember if they mentioned any of Kevin's messy history when Sean arrived. Probably no time given the show was almost over.

[Xanthe]

Jake had not known of Kevin's existence until he came to Bay City and revealed that they shared a father. But then again Ben had not seen Jake since they were children when Jake first came to Bay City as Victoria’s advance man and there was no mention of their being in later contact that I can think of.

The short answer is that for many years Jake had been the only relevant McKinnon and they were not trying to bring back the original family, they were just focused on Jake. If they had presented Sean as Ben's son I would have questioned why he wouldn't have gone to his grandparents in Minnesota unless Ben had also come back to Bay City.

I think that is true but there would have had to be so many things that went differently in 1985 and 1986 for that to pan out. Blaine and Sally had been friendly when they were bad girls so they could have picked up that relationship. Blaine could have had conflict with Donna over more than Donna's interest in Sandy. She should have had an opinion about Brittany one way or another. And probably a thousand Rachel-related things I can't think of.