Another World

[AbcNbc247]

No. On the list, it says 1991

[Contessa Donatella]

All I know is that resembles nothing at all like what I read at the time. For some reason Judi's journey has always been of interest to me and stuck in my head. 

[Xanthe]

This story must be referring to Jake's shooting, right? So before October 1990 and well before the end of Anne Heche's contract. Cali remained in the role of Paulina as well until July 1991. If they wanted Judi it's too early for Vicky and for some reason they didn't replace Cali until around the same time they recast Vicky. It feels like they wanted Judi or she wanted something but it took them a while to figure out where to use her.

I'm not sure I could picture Judi pulling off Vicky and Marley. Even for Vicky -- I'm not sure where the edge would come from. 

[chrisml]

I'm probably wrong, but my impression was that the show wanted to lure Judi Evans to the show so they fired Cali Timmins to give Evans a character to play. I remember reading somewhere that Timmins said she was told she was going to have a new exciting story with the reveal of Jake's shooter, and then shortly after she was fired. 

[Liberty City]

Wonder who she would have been on All My Children.

[j swift]

Cali Timmins on being told she was Jake's shooter.

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I guess time heals all wounds if she went to the recent reunion, but that would leave a bitter taste in my mouth...

Edited September 7, 2024 by j swift

[Xanthe]

I know that version of the story and I'm trying to reconcile it with the fact that at least 6 months earlier one side or the other was planting stories that Judi could be on air by November. (I'd also heard a version that they had always wanted Judi as Paulina and just used Cali until Judi became available.)

Maybe it was the show trying to drum up interest and they couldn't convince Judi until the next year? But I definitely also heard a rumour (that seemed to originate from Cali's side) not long after it happened that Cali wasn't happy and didn't like working with Tom Eplin and wanted to leave.

ETA: In terms of the timeline, they revealed to the audience that it was Paulina who had shot Jake at the end of March 1991. Cali's last airdate was July 16. Judi's first was July 18.

 

Edited September 7, 2024 by Xanthe

[NothinButAttitude]

Even though Judi is my Paulina, couldn't she have easily been recast as Nancy? She would've easily played all the same stories as Nancy and still had Cory family ties. 

[chrisml]

Thank you for posting that. I am glad I remembered correctly. Laibson and the network/P&G treated Timmins horribly. I was outraged even as a child that I never took to Evans's Paulina even though I like Evans as an actress. 1991 was a terrible time for AW because they lost Timmins, Heche, Holbrook, etc. and the replacements for the first two just made their absences even worse.

[j swift]

It is amusing thinking back to when Judi Evans debuted, they still styled her like Cali.  She wore those Hervé Léger bandage dresses in every color.  Yet, it clearly did not fit the actress's personal style, and so she always looked uncomfortable.     

Getting back to my original point, if Paulina was going to last, she had to evolve from a conniving con-woman, to a vixen with a heart of gold.  Which meant that they had to find some way to keep her from being redundant to Vicki. 

I believe they would've run into the same creative issues if Judi was cast as Nancy.  Because, Judi's natural appeal has always been as a folksy every-woman-type.  So, it was really six of one, half dozen of the other.   And I don't see any world in which they could've written for Paulina, Vicki, and Nancy at the same time, while maintaining Amanda and Marley, as well as a random ingénue for either Jamie or Matthew.

Edited September 7, 2024 by j swift

[DRW50]

Paulina had already become a vixen with a heart of gold under Timmins, which was another reason the recast felt unnecessary (beyond trying to help the ratings).

[j swift]

I think Paulina's transformation prior to the recast is arguable, given that she was willing to let Marley be charged for Jake's shooting.  Also, my point about the semiotics of her costuming suggests that they were still trying to portray her as a conniver through her wardrobe. 

I prefer Cali's interpretation, and perhaps she would have inspired a different direction for the character, but I doubt she would've lasted as long. 

Edited September 8, 2024 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

I think the key here is preference. My preference, a strong one, is for Judi as Paulina. To me this has nothing to do with facts. I certainly feel the loss of Anne Heche, at this time. I don't pretend to know why but I never warmed up to Paulina with Timmins playing her. 

[Xanthe]

On the other hand I think that we were supposed to find Paulina's love for Grant sincere,  and once Ken Jordan was dispensed with, her motivation for wanting to be part of the Cory family focused on the emotional impact rather than the financial. She wasn't a saint but things like sacrificing Marley were more self-defense than malice. 

It was interesting to me how rapidly things changed with those 3 critical recasts all in the same year: Cali replaced by Judi, Anne replaced by Jensen, and Dack replaced by Mark Pinter. Paulina dropped Grant and then Vicky moved into his orbit where she remained for years.

ETA: Did Paulina feel any kind of way about it when Grant married Vicky? Or when he married her half-sister Amanda after that?

Edited September 8, 2024 by Xanthe

[VelekaCarruthers]

Interesting short interview with James Goodwin from 2009 in which he discusses his roles on AW (Kevin 91-93) and GL (Johnny 86-90). Interestingly, he mentions that his agent was contacted by a former GL writer to take on the AW Kevin role. He says it was Melissa Salmons but she was not an AW writer in 91 and was still with GL at that time. I wonder if the writer was Victor Miller who was on Sheri Anderson's GL writing team when Johnny was created and was at AW when Kevin was created.  http://pgpclassicsoaps.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-are-they-now-james-goodwin-ex.html