Another World

[Paul Raven]

I always wondered about that. I saw Eugene mentioned in synopses. Was he ever seen?

How did they explain the name change from Garrison to Hudson? What was the point of it all?

 

[AbcNbc247]

I'm not sure, but according to the synopses, we saw his daughter in law, Ellie.

As for the name change, Michael said he changed the family name as a way of distancing themselves from his abusive father. I think it was also mentioned that there was a clerical error in the paperwork from when he went to Vietnam. Hudson was originally his middle name.

But they never explained why Eugene didn't change his name 

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[Soaplovers]

I think Depriest was hired more due to her previous work on Days then because she was a fit for AW.

Days was more plot driven then character driven so her style of writing worked better there then it did on AW. 

She was the writer that paired Sam/Amanda together, plus started the Lisa/Vicky/Jamie stories.  Otherwise, her stories were decent in the moment without any sort of long term payoff (sort of like modern B & B and Y & R)

Her year long stint on AMC was vastly better then  her two headwriting stints on AW...imho.

[Contessa Donatella]

Of course, when push comes to shove, she cannot be forgiven for the ultimate sin. She was the one who decided that under no circumstances would Frankie's murder be changed to some soapier version where she could actually be brought back to life. Out of everything that was bad at AW, this was the absolute worst. Maggie the Beast committed the Unforgivable Sin. MDP & the Murder of Frankie Frame is on a par with McTavish and the UnAbortion. 

[Xanthe]

The Garrison-to-Hudson name change originally applied just to Michael, to explain why Marley couldn't easily find him under his original name. When Marley found the Garrisons in Massachusetts, they said they hadn't heard from Michael in years.

What I think was actually unexplained was the retcon of John and Clara, where Clara was apparently still living on the family farm not far from Bay City under the Hudson name and John who had been missing since Vietnam was also using the Hudson name. Why did Marley have to go to Massachusetts to interview a branch of the family that Michael wasn't in contact with instead of locating Clara? How did John who was even more estranged from the family than Michael manage to pick up the name change and resent Michael for it?

 

[j swift]

Also, Michael's long-lost son was later able to find him, despite the fact that he changed his name.   And Reginald regularly referred to him as Hudson, although as a young man before the war, his last name would've been Garrison when he worked in the stables.

Edited September 23, 2024 by j swift

[MichaelGL]

Margaret DePriest was a better writer at DOCTORS than AW. TD coming off the Pollocks (which was plot driven most of the time), she made a great successor to them. 

However when DePriest is coming onto a show where her predecessors were uninspired just like the AW writers before her, she's not going to make much of an difference. 

You can see she's trying to structure the show like DAYS with DiMera's = Love family, with a Stefano clone in Reginald, but it's just all so horribly executed with even lesser nuance than her DAYS plots. And I guess she saw the McKinnons as the Bradys on DAYS? 

[Xanthe]

The name change had to have happened pretty early if Michael got it from the army and had time to force it on John. I think it's likely that Hudson was the name Nick's mother knew him under. And Iris, for that matter. And who was that spy lady? 

I suspect it is impossible to reconcile the retcon of Reginald with anything before dePriest and the waters sort of closed over him after he died so there wasn't much to worry about afterward either when Carl resumed the villain mantle. 

 

[j swift]

I always thought that they were trying to make the Garrison daughter-in-law into a more substantial character. So, maybe she lied about the last name, after being paid off by Michael, in order to throw Marley off track until Michael felt ready to expose himself. 

Although, I guess it was fortunate later, because you wouldn't want Harrisons and Garrisons on the same show.

Edited September 23, 2024 by j swift

[Xanthe]

Interesting theory, but it played out almost the exact opposite of that. Marley hired Larry and Catlin to locate Michael Garrison. They found the family in Massachusetts and she and Jake went there to meet them. The town was up in arms over an evil corporation, New Resources. Marley talked to Ellie and Aunt Bertha and saw that twins ran in the family. She was upset about New Resources and wrote a strongly-worded letter. When Michael as president and CEO received it, the name Love from Bay City interested him and he went there to check it out. Donna was out of town but Brittany who had just married Peter hired him as the stableboy, so he got to know Marley and Victoria and figured out the paternity situation before Donna returned home. The idea that Michael was an evil capitalist ruining the lives of people in MA was never pursued or resolved -- it was always good that he was very rich. Ellie and Aunt Bertha and Eugene were never mentioned again.

[AbcNbc247]

Which all ties back to my original point that they needed a continuity person on set, so that these retcons and errors didn’t happen

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Margaret DePriest probably didn’t even know that Eugene existed. 

Edited September 23, 2024 by AbcNbc247

[Xanthe]

Michael has a flashback in this episode to Donna's father kicking him out, and indeed the father calls him Garrison (it's early, this was the original continuity). I believe young Michael is Adam Storke but do we know who plays father Love (not yet named Reginald) and young Donna? @slick jones?

 

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[slick jones]

I was here in AW when you posted. I'm going to say that's David  Cryer playing "Mr" Love and Adam Storke.  I'll have to dig out my AW folder to check if the young Donna is there.

 

[Xanthe]

Oh, thanks. I'm going to have to look to see what there is from the fall of 1984 because I believe Donna had a flashback then herself, probably with different younger actors.

[Xanthe]

Found the 1984 scene I was looking for -- it's Anna Stuart as young Donna and the back of some unknown young actor's head as Michael.

 

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