Another World

[Maxim]

Since the topic was closed for so long and... I missed being able to share about a lot of episodes... and I really don't have the time to go back and review which was which... I'm going to let it go... and continue with where we are right now in our viewing experiment.  And hopefully the topic will stay open and not get closed again, so I don't miss being able to share with y'all! Fingers crossed.

Today we watched - December 12th 1988!

What happened?

A LOT.

First... Iris managed to detonate one of her bombs in Rachel's life by exposing her contribution to Sam's gallery opening. Sam of course went into a meltdown. Typical male ego. Amanda didn't succeed in calming him down. Oh, Iris and Evan are trying as haaard as possible to break up Amanda and Sam. Will they succeed? I feel Amanda is slipping slightly, being charmed by Bay City's hot unofficial escort - Evan. And Sam is being eyed by Caroline The Flirt (who btw... learned that her mother just died in this episode. Sad for her). 

Back to the drama - Rachel noticed Iris's strange behavior at the opening, and of course, suspected her of telling Sam... When it moves like Iris, sounds like Iris, smells like Iris - it's Iris!  The two had one very powerful scene in which... Rachel struck Iris to the damn core of her soul. She did it so sharply and unexpectedly that even I felt the pain. Great moment.  A moment that exposed the true genesis of Iris's wickedness - her deep unhappiness in life and the fact that even her son doesn't want anything to do with her. People like Iris deserve what they get.

We also had a parallel storyline of emerging - childhood trauma that is tormenting Felicia Gallant in a beautiful scene, in which she poured her heart out. I teared up a little. Linda Dano gave quite the performance. I adore Felicia Gallant and she reminds me of Joan Crawford... in a way. Not much... but in a way.

And last, but not least... we had the slightly annoying-me lately Vicky continuing into her childish quest for Jamie's heart - probably the storyline that is dragging the most and the reason I'm eliminating 1 point from today's rating. 

The top moment - Iris VS Rachel.

Overall - 9/10 - Simply sublime with a small minus.

 

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[Contessa Donatella]

What fun to read again! 

There were certainly multiple times when Rachel was having trouble with Jamie or Amanda or Matt. More with Jamie & Amanda than with Matt. But it was nothing like the distance between Dennis & Iris. When you think of Iris, you don't automatically see Dennis in your mind. But, when you think of Rachel you think of the whole family. At least by this time, not as much when she was younger.

[adrnyc]

@Maxim You're definitely getting to the good stuff. 1989 is a particularly good year. And, imo, 1990 and 1991 followed up virtually just as strongly. Have fun!

[Maxim]

Couldn't have said it better. Perfect illustration. 

I like that even though Iris is the antagonist, they are still giving us these small moments, where we see that she has a heart - moments where she is raw and emotional. It makes her appear much more real and human. I think this is a problem soaps, and shows as a whole have a problem with - the good are too good to a point they are stupid and the bad are comically bad to a point they are so one-dimensional that it becomes cartoonish. Without these moments in the script, Iris would seem just vile. And nothing more. And she would not be as menacing and troubling as she appears when we see that she has a heart too. That way you feel like anyone can become like her if their life and circumstances breed that wickedness in them.

Wow, this is giving me sooo much excitement. I'm already excited as is, because I love the show... but knowing that this quality will persist for years ahead... is just like a dream come true. Thank you for telling me this. I really am having fun and I hope I don't bore or annoy you guys with my comments at some point. I am prone to become too excited and AW is kinda becoming my favorite show of all time. 

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[Jdee43]

I visited the Paley Center, and they have 10 episodes of AW from the 1970s, all an hour long and in excellent quality! 3 from 1975, 6 from 1976, and 1 from 1978. The 1978 episode was from KCST the NBC affiliate in San Diego, now known as KNSD. For those watching Ariana's clips, one of the 1976 ones, from January, features John leaving Pat after learning of Marianne's abortion.

I wonder where the 1975 and 1976 shows came from. Perhaps P&G? I think these episodes have been at the Paley Center since at least the 90s. The Paley Center has over 75 episodes of AW. Over 30 are from the years 1995-1999

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It's too bad there wasn't a closer relationship between the Paley Center and P&G, with the Paley Center having a copy of everything in the P&G archive. 

The Paley Center itself seemed to be a bit of a ghost town. I got a sense when I visited in NY that not a lot of people go there to sit and watch old shows. Who knows how long they'll keep that aspect of the museum running..

[Contessa Donatella]

When I lived in Brooklyn I went & watched some of those earliest episodes. I was fascinated. Then, it was called the Museum of TV & Radio but it's the same thing. It just got renamed the Paley Center. That would have been sometime between 1998 & 2005. I watched about 8 beginning with the earliest. I wish I'd been prepared to take notes. 

 

Thanks for that. 

The vulnerability is so important to have a gray character rather than all black or all white. Today soaps seem to me to have a tendency to push anything & everything to the edge & then over. Going to extremes. I think they think we'll be disappointed if they don't go just one step further than has been gone before. I don't think we're that immature as viewers, but the audience doesn't seem to be given much credit. 

Inevitably when I post expressing that AW is now, always was & always will be my #1 favorite soap of all time, of all soaps, other people pile on saying it is true for them, too. 

 

Edited December 11, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
typo

[Maxim]

Amen! We aren't... and part of the soap opera community is one of the smartest people I know in my life.  

[j swift]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Texasthesoapopera/permalink/3988112251514823/

Facebook post from Tom Lisanti:

I am now working on a prequel book tentatively titled Daytime Drama: The Story Behind Lovers and Friends; For Richer, For Poorer; and the 90-Minute Another World. Interviewees so far include Richard Backus, Vicky Dawson, David Abbott, Tom Happer, and Bob Purvey.

[DRW50]

This is great news. Very important to interview some of these actors while we can.

Has Happer ever talked about his brief Dark Shadows run?

[Contessa Donatella]

That seems to me to be a much narrower topic than Tom's recent offerings have been.

[Mona Kane Croft]

This will be interesting, but without interviewing Paul Rauch and Harding Lemay (both deceased) I think it will ring a little hollow -- because those two were the creative forces behind this era on all three shows.  Actor interviews will be interesting, of course, but none of the actors will have the inside information that Lemay and Rauch would have provided.   Interesting era to explore though, as the 90-minute AW essentially ruined the show's audience numbers and much of its quality. 

[Daytime Watcher]

What about an attempt to reach Pete LeMay’s son Stephen LeMay? Steven was briefly credited as a writer during Pete’s 1988 return to AW. He obviously wasn’t involved in the late 70s activity but might be able to shed some light on his father during this time?

[Mona Kane Croft]

That might be an idea.  No idea how old Stephen was in 1978-79, or how much detail he'd remember.  

Lemay did a fairly detailed account of the creation and cancellation of Lovers and Friends in his book about AW.  He also discussed how L&F was revamped into FRFP and how he was not offered the head writer's role at that point.  Plus of course, Lemay said plenty about AW's 90-minute fiasco and how he finally resigned just a month or two after the expansion.  I have no idea how much of Lemay's account could legally be used in the new book.  But certainly there would be a way to reference at least some of that material.  It would be terrible to just ignore everything Lemay said about these topics in his book.  

Additionally, I believe Tom King is still living.  He was an assistant writer under Lemay, and then took over head writing at AW during the 90-minute era when Lemay left.  No idea if King worked at L&F or FRFP.  I'd love to hear King's experience working with Lemay, and then hear what King was asked to do at AW by TPTB when he took over for Lemay.  

Edited December 12, 2024 by Mona Kane Croft

[teplin]

Vicky Wyndham would be a great get but she probably wouldn't be interested. 

[j swift]

For me, this is the hook.

We have Lemay's take on that time, now we can get other observations.

In this forum, far too often, people either take Lemay's memoir as the biblical account of history, or they discount him as being too biased.  Now, we'll be able to compare and contrast, which is what I appreciate about Lisanti's multiple input, oral history approach.

I frequently think of the example from the Ryan's Hope book about the firing of Sarah Felder.  The lore was that she was fired because her look didn't fit the traditional daytime image.  But, the oral history suggests that her difficult nature backstage was equally at fault.  Which is the benefit of gathering many opinions.

As far as the limited nature of this book, the author noted that his Texas book had to be edited down, and he didn't want to lose the information from others he contacted.  So, this work is a supplement to his other book.