Another World

[Tisy-Lish]

Agreed.  Things were serious during that period.

Edited 23 hours ago by Tisy-Lish

[Xanthe]

Not to take away from how those stories showed Rachel to advantage, but the boardroom conflicts at Cory were not as interesting to me as the lower-level office atmosphere in the early 80s with Pat and Cecile and Jamie and later Sally and Peter working together. I will never forgive Margaret Depriest for taking Jamie out of publishing to put him in the hospital.  

I don't remember how they handled Rachel's career as a sculptor during the later years other than the odd plot point. She was working on a bust during Lumina -- was it that she sculpted David  Halliday and when the bust was cracked she recognized it as disfigured Jordan Stark? Or did she sculpt Stark and from that recognized the resemblance to Halliday? How similar was that plot to the bust she was working on when she was blind after the accident with Steve? Did that bust play any part in her realizing that "John Caldwell" was really Mac? That was on my mind after watching the AWHP photo montage -- the bust appeared to be clean-shaven so I presume it was of "John Caldwell".

[Jdee43]

1975, with the expansion to an hour, was the year the show was totally transformed. The previous 11 years, with its emphasis on couples fighting to be together against all odds, and on the Matthews clan, were basically thrown out. Now we got an attempt at a high brow theater hour, focusing on Rachel and Mac and whomever Lemay and Raunch wanted to feature. This version of the show was good for 4 years, but by 1979 it had crumbled. Unfortunately, it was this ruin of a show, with its flimsy foundations, forgetful of what happened before 1975, that we got for the next 20 years.

Victoria Wyndham was completely on board with the changes that happened in 1975. Little doubt as to why, as Rauch and Lemay did make her the star of the show. But again, the changes weren't sustainable. They led to 20 years of mediocrity from 1979-1999.

[Contessa Donatella]

Just have to agree to disagree. What you describe is not at all the show I dearly loved. I cannot imagine this view applying for just one example to the 80s which were so much fun & also quite magical. 

I mean Anne Heche arrived July 1987. I would put AW up against any show during those 4 years. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I've been thinking about what you say. I've known other people who were very terribly in love with the early show & that was just it, once it was over, they were done. They literally were fans of the show until that came to a screeching halt, for them. Not so for the rest of us. We loved the 80s & Donna Love & Felicia & Wally & Cass. I only wish I'd known that was what y'all were up to. 

[chrisml]

I think AW still worked up until Carmen Duncan got fired and that to me was really the beginning of the end. It signalled that the network and P&G did not want to save the show. Michael Logan consistently said in his columns that AW was the hidden gem of the soap world through 1993. He even chose AW as the best soap of 1992 despite GL being the P&G show to get all the attention. 1994 was when it started to fall off in quality. From what I've researched, 1994 was a terrible year for all of the P&G soaps.

[Contessa Donatella]

Then, it was the next year, 1995 when they played EP Musical Chairs with Laurie Caso being odd man out. P&G let him go & he went on to have a second career  but the show suffered & we as fans suffered, also. Then, AW with Jill at the helm, spending money & destroying the very fabric of the show, like only she can, OY VEY y'all, what a mess!

[watson71]

1994 was the year Ed Trach retired as the Executive in Charge of Production for P&G.  He joined P&G Productions in 1958.  He was a stable and steady hand for P&G and once he was gone something was off on all three P&G shows.  Trach’s replacement, Kenneth Fitts, was the one behind that executive producer shuffle in 1995.

[Contessa Donatella]

Two quotes, related to two different recent conversations.

"Then I had these wonderful fans who loved the show & it is really amazing, really quite a phenomena, because those fans outwardly they looked like pretty simple folk, typical ladies, but they are amazingly bright & so appreciative when they know you are giving them everything you've got. Audiences are like that. Hollywood, whoever Hollywood is, keeps forgetting audiences aren't stupid!" - Victoria Wyndham about AW

 

"We got a lot of good, basic advice on drama & story from Bob Short & Ed Trach at Procter & Gamble. Besides my parents, they taught us as much as we learned from anyone." - The Dobsons 2000 interview