Another World (1964–1999) User Reviews

The Dom Perignon of Daytime Drama

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 15 July 2003]

When "Another World" was created by Irna Phillips in 1964, daytime TV was considered the lowest of mediums for actors to appear in. This well-written soap started off slowly but eventually grew into one of the biggest trend-setters of the late 60's and 70's. It featured a veteran cast of stage and prime time TV actors, as well as some with film experience as well. Actors who normally turned down roles on soaps were soon courted and cast by the producers based upon the extreme quality in writing and the show became one of the top rated shows of the early 70's. Originally surrounding the saga of the middle-class Matthews family, it was obviously a rehash of the same themes of Irna Phillip's "As the World Turns" and their core Hughes family. The couple of Mary and Jim Matthews were often compared to Nancy and Chris Hughes, and Aunt Liz was definitely a variation of the Claire Lowell character. Even vixen Rachel had routes on "ATWT", compared to the trouble-making Lisa Miller who married that shows young intern Bob Hughes, while Rachel would marry Russ Matthews. By the time the show entered the early 70's, the writers changed directions, and Rachel slowly became the show's leading character, reformed by the love of a good man, Mac Cory. (The change in actresses playing Rachel obviously had a lot to do with this----the original Rachel, Robin Strasser, went on to play another notorious villianess, Dorian Lord, on "One Life to Live", while stage actress Victoria Wyndham took over the part and softened up Rachel's scheming.)

While most of the major characters in the Matthews family would be recast multiple times over the next 18 years, it would be Rachel and Mac Cory who took the show to its greatest fame of the mid 70's. By this time, core supercouple Steve and Alice were separated by his apparent death, and Alice was recast because of apparent backstage squabbles. Mary Matthews met an untimely death, and Rachel's oft-married mother Ada became the show's truth-telling matriarch. As played by Constance Ford, Ada was one of the show's most beloved characters, and until her death in 1992, Ford remained the show's longest running cast member. All you have to do is see her as the evil mama in "A Summer Place" and various other films of the early 60's to see how versatile an actress she was. While Liz Matthews was recast many times, it was Irene Dailey's performance which got this character her most memorable scenes and won Tony Award Winning Dailey an Emmy. Liz was the last of the Matthews on the show, last seen at the show's 30th anniversary in 1994. Another acclaimed performance was Beverlee McKinsey's Iris, who played the spoiled daughter of Rachel's husband, Mac (played by stage vet Douglas Wattson). I never saw McKinsey as Iris, although I did witness her incredible talent as the original Alexandra Spaulding on "Guiding Light".

I did not start watching "Another World" until 1993 when two glamorous actresses, Linda Dano, and Anna Stuart, joined the show as two female characters who were focuses of many story lines for the show's remaining run. As flamboyant Felicia Gallant, Linda Dano was an instant scene stealer; Her on-camera pool fight with a young Faith Ford (Julia Shearer, Liz Matthew's granddaughter) was one memorable sequence, as was her on-screen friendship with Steve Schnetzer (Cass) and the lovable Brent Collins (Wallingford). Collins was the very first little person on a soap with a contract and gave a performance so touching that the memory of his on-screen warmth brings on tears of sentiment. Anna Stuart, as the originally snooty Donna Love, added a complexity to what would have otherwise been a stereotypical snob. By showing her pain from childhood memories, Stuart made Donna one of the most memorable vixen/heroines on the show, as well as daytime. (As of July 15, 2003, both Dano and Stuart are working on ABC soaps and are still the epitome of glamour and beauty).

During her heyday on "Another World", Cecile DePoulignac (Susan Keith, Nancy Frangione) was one of the most memorable vixens on daytime; Sadly, the show's later writers turned her into a caricturature of what she had been, ruining many of the great moments she had earlier. The deaths of Hugh Marlowe (the finale Jim Matthews), Douglas Watson, Brent Collins, and Constance Ford saddened even the newest viewers, but such memorable character performers as Kate Wilkinson (as the wise mother of Donna's true love Michael Hudson), Barbara Berjer (as the delightful Scottish woman who raised Donna's daughter Vicky), and Sloane Shelton (as the woman who helped Rachel over her mother's death) helped viewers deal with the loss. Such nasty villains as Carl Hutchins (the delightful Charles Keating), Reginald Love (John Considine), and Grant Harrison (Mark Pinter) were perfectly used to cause problems for all of the major characters, but Victoria Wyndham's over-the-top Justine Harrison (Rachel's evil look-alike) turned some viewers off even with her Grimm Fairy Tale type storyline.

Now off the air with original episodes since 1999, "AW" has returned on SoapNet as of July 1 2003, starting with 1987 episodes. Viewers will get to see a few years of Douglas Watson and Brent Collins and a few more of Constance Ford, but there are also many memorable performances coming up. Viewers of "General Hospital" will recognize Denise Alexander and Chris Robinson (Lesley and Rick Webber) reunited as Mary McKinnon and Jason Frame; Soon, "GH's" future Stavkros Cassadine (Robert Kelker-Kelly) will be on as the original Sam Fowler, while "Guiding Light's" Ricki Paul Goldin will be on as Dean Frame. Anna Stuart's Donna will return in a year and a half. By this time, the new Iris (Carmen Duncan) will be on, and Irene Dailey's Liz will have returned from a year and a half hiatus. "Another World" via SoapNet is taking old viewers down memory lane, while new viewers will get to see what they missed all along.

Best Days over

[robtday · 8/10 · 22 June 2006]

This show was the best back when Rachel was scheming to get Mac Cory. Boy o boy, when Mac's daughter Iris found out the show was absolutely great. Rachel was so good at scheming though and she could manage to take any girl's man -- even getting Steve Frame away from poor, goody two Alice, I think her name was (nurse). There wasn't anything that good on TV until All My Children and the whole Palmer Courtlandt/Phoebe Wallingford thing. Of course who can forget General Hospital with the whole Greg/Jenny/Tad/Jesse/Angie/Liza thing? Ah for the good ole days. I must be getting old because I remember when some soaps were 15 minutes long!

Fax Newman

[edalley-80315 · 6/10 · 17 February 2019]

You left out this guy and he's not listed in the cast. Who played him

Another World Gone Again from Soap Net this time

[shimanc · 10/10 · 3 May 2007]

Someone could make a great deal of money if they were to transfer the Another World series on DVD. There are very loyal fans out here. I started watching Another World when it fist started and it is the only soap that I have ever followed devotedly. !Please!, !Please!, someone release the whole series. I feel crestfallen yet again with the unannounced, whoops it is no longer being carried by Soap Net, gone again!!! I never understood why this soap that won many awards along the way was cancelled. It is typical of a network to try and fix something that is not broken! AND, did I not recently hear that the soap that replaced ANother World is gone Kaput. Why not bring Another World back, starting with some old story lines to catch new viewers up to speed. If not, the concept of DVDs would have me at the store standing in line to buy the entire series!! A fan to the end...shimanc

no summary. this is a comment only.

[mutterl · 1 January 2005]

I recently found soap-net on my TV and was so excited to see that they are airing old episodes of Another World. I tape each show and watch them over and over, especially the "Snow Flake Ball" episodes. What beauty and glamor they showed! I've been watching Another World since the very beginning as a small girl because it was on when i got home from school and the maid was watching as she ironed shirts. I also learned how to iron as well! I always loved the show because it had an element of mystery about it. Now that I'm older, it's so refreshing to see a show that stays with the real problems and emotions of it's characters rather than the silly, off the wall, fantasy driven plots of the shows now. The shows today seem to be competing to see which is the most surreal, racy, and ridiculous. Take me away to Another World anytime.

Two Years latter, the loss still stings. No more NBC!

[apfortony · 10/10 · 23 August 2001]

I'm not the typical soap opera watcher, if there is such a thing. I'm a male between the ages of 18 and 49 which is precisely the demographic NBC was seeking when they canceled Another World on April 12, 1999. Even though I'm not a woman, I suspect that age was more important to the suits. The network brass stated that the 35-year-old serial no longer fit their profile. Why? because it had too much class? Thanks to my beloved Grandmother, I started watching Another World back in the fall of 1968. The show was 30 minutes long and in black and white. (It may have been in color but our TV was B&W.) I was just a kid. Most of the time I didn't quite know what characters were talking about. However I knew the faces and I knew who everybody was. So I stopped arguing for cartoons and watched Another World every day. Back then it started at 3:00 and I was home from school in time to see it. Whoever thinks the soaps are trash obviously never watched AW. The acting was excellent, something that never changed from 1968 to 1999. I've seen just about all of the other soaps since 1968. I have to say that none of them ever equaled Another World's caliber. The stories were very much like real life except with much more bad luck. The characters from Rachel Davis and Walter Curtin in the 60's and 70's to Lila, Cameron, Cindy and Paulina in the 90's, were always striving to get to their own "another world". A place, in their minds, that they thought they ought to be. Their perception of the world around them was colored by their preconcievd emotions and aspirations. The best example of this, in my opinion, was the Walter/Lenore storyline which played out over four years and included a murder trial, the birth of a baby,and the value of material possessions versus truth and respect between a husband and wife. There was so much history in the show. NBC just threw it away like an old shoe. In an era where hundreds of channels are available, NBC canceled the one show which would have kept me watching NBC no matter how many choices I had. But no more. In September I will be put in charge of a "people-meter" to measure and inform the neilsen ratings people on what I watch. I'm told that I'll represent 250,000 viewers. I don't know how that can be considered accurate, but that's how the ratings people do it. Bad News for NBC and Passions. They have both just lost 250,000 viewers in the "good" demographic.

Daytime Televisions best

[apfortony · 10/10 · 5 May 2002]

Another World was and is without a doubt THE best daytime drama that ever graced the small screen. It seems that even it's detractors (of whom there seem to be few) couldn't even turn it off after 15 years of so-called going downhill. The show improved tremendously when Victoria Wyndham and the Late Douglass Watson took over the spotlight from the wooden Jackie Courtney and George Reinholt. As the World Turns has taken Another World's former executive producer and it's former studio in Brooklyn. But I've seen World Turns and have not been impressed. However I did find it an excellent cure for insomnia. Passions is a joke, plain and simple. It's on the air for one reason, NBC owns it!

BLOG 9 FAMOUS FANS

[shallotpeel-877-14891 · 10/10 · 7 April 2019]

Alice Barrett (Frankie Frame) discovered that movie superstar Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding) is an "Another World" fan. Barrett filled in for Roberts during rehearsals for the series finale of "Murphy Brown," on which Roberts was a special guest star. When Roberts finally arrived on the set, Barrett was surprised to find that Roberts recognized her as Frankie Frame. After giving Barrett a hug, Roberts admitted that she was thrown for a loop the day Frankie was killed off.

Famous Fans/AW Trivia

Tennessee Williams, who wrote such theater classics as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," counted "Another World" as one of his favorite television series.

Famous Fans/AW Trivia

The legendary, singer-actress, Judy Garland, best known for her performance as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz", was so thrown by seeing Constance Ford (Ada Davis) in the audience at one of her concerts that she had to take a break.

"Another World" continues on-line as "Another World Today!"

[anotherworldtoday · 23 November 2009]

On May 4, 2009, in honor of "Another World's" 45th Anniversary, TeleNext Media launched an officially-sanctioned continuation to the beloved soap, "Another World Today" (http://www.AnotherWorldToday.com).

Presented in a multimedia combination of text and video clips, AWT picks up Bay City's story ten years after it went off the air, featuring favorite characters like Rachel, Felicia, Cass, Donna, Grant, Marley, Jamie, Amanda, Matt and more.

New episodes come out once a week on Mondays and, at the end, viewers vote on where they would like the story to go next! Experience it all from the beginning, or jump right into the latest installment at: http://www.anotherworldtoday.com/aw_today.html

Gone Ten Years!

[ossurworld · 9/10 · 1 September 2009]

The best villains on daytime came out of this show. Though I watched it from the beginning, the early years did not grip me as much as when the series took off in the mid-70s with Mac and Iris. The show lost some luster when Beverlee McKinsey left for her own limelight. But, the series really ended with the death of Douglass Watson and limped along for a few years, but even in death he had an influence on story lines, and his photo was always part of the show the next decade. The return every few years of Carl Hutchins proved amusing, as he and Cecile were always hilarious in their nefarious plans to undermine Bay City. I look for the actors to see if they are busy, but see them less and less each year. Cass Wintrop is on commercials for pain relievers, looking much the same. Every once in a while, I suffer a pang and wonder what the characters would be like today... Gone ten years this summer of 2009. What a shame.

I Lov Another World

[Laulesa69 · 10/10 · 14 October 2006]

When another World was originally showing on TV I never watched it because I was so busy with the other soaps. Then when it came on the Soapnet channel I started watching it and haven't' missed an episode. I wish now that I would have been able to see it from the start. I hope the Soap Opera net continues on with the remaining years and doesn't take it off Another World is more down to earth and you really get to know the characters. Some of the Actors and actress's on the show got there start on Another world like Anne Heche and even Brad Pitt. I never liked Ann Heche until I seen her as Vicky/Marley Hudson. She is an excellent Actress. My only disappointment so far is that Robert-Kelker Kelly left.

Another Worled RULED!!

[telvi18 · 10/10 · 22 April 2009]

I TOTALLY AGREE!!! I would also get in a line to purchase the entire series. I remember it was the 1st and only soap that I followed religiously. I would tape a whole weeks worth and then watch all the episodes Saturday morning. That was my time. I was shocked when they decided to cancel it. I even remember my mother and I keeping it a secret from my dad because he didn't want me watching soaps (LOL!). It was the only soap that my mom really followed as well. Man do I ever miss it!!! I even joined the AW club and everything. I still have the photos I ordered from the club. Recently my sister was over and we were going through the pictures and remembering what each of the characters were like and wondering where they ended up. Every so often I find myself trying to locate DVD's of the entire series, but I never seem able to find it. I wonder where everyone is now.

Sorry, Mayor Giuliani, I can't forgive you for this cancellation!

[Sylviastel · 9/10 · 20 June 1999]

This Friday is the last episode of Another World. A show beloved by a significant number of fans of all ages comes to an end after 35 years. Another World will be missed so much. It was a show character and story driven. Sometimes silly, sometimes touching, funny, and poignant. The love affair between Mac Cory and Rachel Hobson was one love story that could have lasted forever was cut short by Douglass Watson's untimely death. Vicky Wyndham has been the courageous matriarch of this show ever sine 1972. She has made Rachel Cory Hutchings, from a plain outcast to the lovable socialite. I'll miss so much about Another World. I think Cass WInthrop, Frankie Frame, and Kathleen McKinnon would have had such a wonderful threesome together. Felicia Gallant was truly another fun character. My favorite moments are with Carl Hutchings and his son, Ryan. Before the truth of Ryan's parentage, their relationship was great. Then the truth, I wished I had saved those episodes of the realization and Ryan's reluctance to accept this criminal as his father. He arrested his own father and that night in prison together. I'll also miss Grant and Cindy' s relationship too. I wished that I had saved those tapes and watched them from the beginning. They were my favorite couple to love and hate one another at the same time. So long Another World, you have a very special place in my heart. Right now, I will never forgive Mayor Rudolph Guiliani who allowed his former wife to make a cameo on the show but never bothered to save the show itself. 35 years of television history in favor of another Law and Order spin off. I don't care that anybody thinks I'm crazy for not forgiving Mayor Giulani for not lifting a hand. Now there are only 4 one hour daytime dramas filmed in New York City out of 9 on American television today. Every time, a show like Another World is cancelled, cast and crew members lose their jobs and face unemployment like the rest of us. Of course, a daytime actor lacks respect and payment compared to the wining babies over at ER. Sorry, Mayor Giulani, I can't forgive you for not saving this show from cancellation. But I guess you really wanted to host Saturday Night Live which is only live 20 times a year. Another World had an average of a 180 episodes per year.

Another World shall return...

[primus21 · 29 June 1999]

Another World. 35 years, 8891 episodes, so many stories yet to be told. That sums up the Another World experience. Another World was and continues to be a story of triumph of the human spirit. The main thing that sets Another World apart from other daytime dramas is the fact that the caliber of actors used were the finest stage actors of our day. Another World became the breeding ground of many of the greatest talents known: Morgan Freeman, Christina Pickles, Ray Liotta, Anne Heche to name a few.

Indeed, Another World set the standard by which all remaining daytime dramas attempted to achieve. We shall miss you, old friends, if for but a short while. All endings are nothing but new beginnings and that will be the same for the story of Bay City, Illinois. Somehow, some way, Bay City will return to daytime!

Stunning soap opera

[felicia-blake-1 · 10/10 · 6 March 2017]

I watched an episode of this in 1989 and was hooked from the off!!! I have recently started re-watching episodes of this on TY and I am so grateful to whoever uploads these as I am so enjoying them.

Brilliant storytelling, well-thought out characters and the acting is second-to-none. I was gutted when this was cancelled in 1999 as I feel it still had legs.

I am very familiar with the years from 1989 till about 1993-94 as that's when I watched it in the UK but am always striving to collect episodes from different periods of the show.

My favourite characters were Jake, Pauline (both versions), Rachel, Frankie and Vicky (Anne Heche incarnation).

I highly recommend this show (above all the other American soaps of that time).

For me, it's definitely the best one going!!! Still

Daytime's Greatest Drama

[igrahamb · 9/10 · 30 July 2006]

Another World was the greatest single daytime drama during its heyday (the 1970s), written by the great Harding LeMay -- like Ryan's Hope, it was one of daytime's few attempts to show real people living real lives. It also hired some of daytime's greatest actors, such as Beverlee McKinsey, Douglass Watson, Constance Ford, Irene Dailey and many others.

Unfortunately during the 1980s it took a downturn as it did what every other soap did -- try to emulate General Hospital. What worked on GH didn't work on AW. However, it still managed to maintain a consistent level of quality that was above and beyond most of the other soaps. Even in the 1990s, when it employed some ridiculous story lines, to be sure, it still managed to hold the viewer's attention with characters like Jake, Paulina, Vicky, Grant, and the superb acting of Charles Keating as Carl and his relationship with Rachel.

Unfortunately NBC cancelled the show in order to pursue more youth-oriented programs such as Sunset Beach and Passions, which is television's worst show. It was a huge mistake (AW could have stayed on the air with Passions at 3:00), but luckily AW still enjoys a significant cult following and thanks to SoapNet, you can still catch reruns (if you're lucky enough to get it).

I Miss This Show

[mmvideoproductions · 10/10 · 7 August 2007]

What a great thing the internet is! I've been watching the classic scenes of Rachel and Mac on YouTube and now I've been catching Another World from 1980 on Aol Video. Remarkable to see these scenes again.

Victoria Wyndham is, by far, the best actress to ever grace daytime TV. Herscenes with Beverlee McKinsee, Doug Watson and Constance Ford were a force to be reckoned with. The story lines and character creation was nothing short of brilliant. It's a shame that it went down hill in the mid 80s and never recaptured its magic. (Unfortnate that SoapNet was only able to start airing episodes from 1987 and not before.) I would love to be able to watch the show from it's creation until the mid 80s, but I'm sure that will never happen as I understand many of the episodes are lost forever. But Rachel, Mac, Ada and others will live in my heart forever.

BLOG 192 AW

[shallotpeel-877-14891 · 10/10 · 7 April 2019]

The Wonderful World of TV Soap Operas by Robert LaGuardia. Ballantine Books: New York. Copyright @ 1974 by Random House, Inc.

The authors of the daytime serials have the largest audiences in the world. Every week an estimated fifty million viewers are exposed to the wares of a select handful of daytime scribes. Nighttime television writers don't have anywhere near the same kind of exposure; their scripts are only aired once a week, and many more nighttime writers are hired to work on a single series. The daytime writer, however, must pay dearly for the prestige of having such an enormous following. "It's sort of a cross between being an F. Scott Fitzgerald and an Olympic athlete," says Agnes Nixon, who has had nearly twenty-five years' experience writing serials and currently heads "All My Children." "It's grueling work. You know you have to finish a certain amount of writing every day, so you must always be in tip-top physical shape. You can't stay up late or let yourself get run-down. I remember during the fifties there was a period when I was only doing one-shot live TV plays, like "Philco", and I could force the creativity by abusing my body -- drinking a lot of black coffee, working till all hours of the night. But when you write a daytime serial you don't dare do that; you wouldn't be in any kind of condition to write tomorrow's show." Since soap writers must produce their shows on a daily basis -- and so much of their time becomes absorbed in the creative process -- it is not uncommon for some of them to use their own lives as models for their stories. George Reinholt said very recently, "You know, I always had the strangest feeling that the story of Steve Frame has something to do with Philadelphia, where I grew up. Maybe it's Frame's misguided sense of class status." What Reinholt didn't realize was that Agnes Nixon, who created his story on "Another World," is a native of Philadelphia herself. Today, Steven Frame is being handled by Harding Lemay with subtle touches and changes that derive from Mr. Lemay's background. "When I was seventeen," says Mr. Lemay, "I ran away from home. I came from a poor family. When I started writing "Another World" two years ago, I discovered that Steven had almost no background at all -- he was sort of a mystery. I started giving him a past very much like my own. I decided he had run away from his home on a farm when he was just a boy and that many of his difficulties today arise from having never been properly understood when he was younger." Interestingly enough, Alice (Jacquie Courtney) now talks a great deal about needing to understand Steven better. Just before her recent death, Irna Phillips gave a rare insight in the the development of a certain character on "As the World Turns." In her characteristically raspy voice, Miss Phillips said, "Everyone asks me how I got the idea for Kim Reynolds on the show, because she certainly is an unusual character. She's really me -- at a much younger age. She's fiercely independent, as I was, and she won't settle for second best. She looks in the mirror and refers to herself as 'The lady in the mirror.' Well, that was her other self, which no one knows about: the true me, the person that I always hid from the world. She's having a child out of wedlock, which will only be hers. I adopted two children -- Kathy and Tommy -- without having a husband. We're both the same. And she's going to have that child to prove that a woman can do it alone." (Unfortunately, Kim never did. During the character's pregnancy, so many viewers wrote in disapproving of what she was doing that the producers decided to have Kim lose the baby. Even so, the character of Kim, played by beautiful Kathryn Hays, is probably the most poignant one Miss Phillips ever created for her daytime audiences.) For genuine impact on their audiences, writers of daytime serials must take seriously the parallels between real life and the fictional stories they are creating. Otherwise, with the mounting pressure of having to create episodes week after week, daytime stories become unbelievable, full of worn-out cliches'. However, one woman who has been writing serials for many years carries her concern for realism on her shows perhaps a bit too far. She calls her friends constantly to find out the intimate details of their lives -- all the ins and outs of how they felt while they were bedridden with an illness, the pain of childbirth, what might have caused the depression they were going through. This woman's characteristic line: "Oh, isn't life so like the serials?" Soap writing is by its very nature highly specialized. A typical head writer not only must invent story situations that should keep the audience enthralled, he must also worry about actors' guarantees and vacation periods. "It often becomes a problem of sheer logistics," says Henry Slesar, who writes "The Edge of Night". For example, in the middle of a heated quarrel between two rivals in a story, one of the actresses might suddenly decide to exercise an "out" option in her contract in order to do stock in Buffalo. Then the poor writer has to lose sleep in figuring out a logical way of sending one of the rivals out of town without interrupting story continuity. "As the World Turns" writers were always thinking of new places to send Penny while Rosemary Prinz was in and out of the show. But a greater difficulty is a purely creative one: maintaining the realism of day-to-day living in a soap town without (1) boring the viewer with realism in a soap that is too slow and uninteresting or (2) attempting to alleviate all the boredom of everyday life by becoming so melodramatic that the realism itself is shattered. The latter often happens, for instance, when writers, responding to their producers' please to geg the ratings up with more story interest, start making all the available females in their stories pregnant, or decide to threaten the female heroine with a murder rap. But these tactics would never be employed by the best soap writers. There are other things that superior soap writers just won't do. They do not brush off the arduous but necessary process of recap work by just inserting excerpts of speeches used in the preceding episode. ("Recap" is when David Stewart on Tuesday must tell Bob Hughes that Ellen got angry with Lisa on Monday, for the benefit of viewers who missed the show.) "You have to get around recap," says Henry Slesar. "It should always be given a new dramatic form so that you're not throwing it in the audience's face that a character is simply saying something to convey information. It has to be logical for a character to be saying such-and-such a thing at such-and-such a time." But even the most talented serial authors sometimes find themselves getting more involved with words than with characters. It just happens because of the continual pressure of voluminous script writing. Cliche's slip through. Actors are given wooden dialogue. Most writers realize this tendency toward occasional lapse ("I sometimes cringe when I watch a show wrote," says Henry Slesar) and don't mind that actors often rewrite their lines to make them easier to say. If the actors didn't do this, some scenes would collapse in cardboard dialogue. On the ninety-minute opening episode of "How to Survive a Marriage," the main characters of Chris and Larry Kirby were throwing some pretty dreadful cliche's back and forth. It marred a good show and seemed strangely out of place with the general tone of dramatic creativity. Finally, the producer Allen Potter, cleared up the mystery when he said that none of the actors on "How to Survive a Marriage" were permitted to rewrite the lines of the author, Anne Howard Bailey. "She's just too fine and bright a writer," he said. How are soap writers organized? Each of the fourteen daytime serials normally has only one headwriter -- although in a few instances there are two co-headwriters -- who is responsible for the whole story on his soap: from the general directions that it takes over a long period, to all the little details of day-to-day plotting. Every three to six months he submits to the producers and sponsors a story projection, some ten to thirty pages of intensive outlines of where a story is going. This is where the fun starts. The producer, assistant producer, sponsor, and advertising-agency representatives begin to pick at the poor devil's ideas like nervous birds attacking seed. Bruce Cox, who is Procter and Gamble's representative for "The Guiding Light" for Compton Advertising, says, "When we get the writer's story projection, we lock ourselves in a hotel room for days at a time and begin to go over every little detail of the writer's story projection with the writer -- what will work, what looks questionable. If someone objects to a story-line, the writer always has a chance to defend himself because he's right there. It's exhausting for him and for us." Irna Phillips used to describe these sessions with the executives as free-for-alls. After a second or possibly third draft, a story projection is finally approved. Then the writer begins to follow the outline, according to his own creative instincts, in his daily scripts. Says Henry Slesar, "The whole process of working with story projection is like looking down a long tunnel. As you drive through the tunnel you begin to see more detail." The head writer may write the scripts himself, or employ his own dialogue writers to convert his script breakdowns (Short synopses of what characters do and say on a particular day) into actual scenes with dialogue. The normal custom is for a head writer to write some of the scripts himself, and for his dialogue writer (or writers) to do the rest. The more subwriters a head writer employs, the less money he makes himself, for he is paid a set wage and then must pay his writers out of his own pocket.

What a Place to Live!

[jjkaul · 11 October 2001]

I watched this wonderful family soap from it's inception, I actually felt these charactors were my extended family, as I'm sure a lot of you faithful"s did.

I was so angry with NBC for cancelling "MY SHOW"

One of my most memorable season's was 1974-1975. Favorite storyline, Mac, Rachel, Janice and Mitch in St. Croix.

I also loved the Heaven storyline with Vicky and Ryan, I cried for hrs.

The Corys, Matthews, Randolphs, McKinnons, Hudsons, Loves, and all the other families gave me so many hours of pleasurable daytime tv, I will remember and think of all the actors and actresses with fond memories. I am so glad I taped some of the shows.

Loved this show!

[sdrake · 10/10 · 20 January 2021]

Watched with my grandmother...still miss this show.

BLOG 139 THE CREATION OF ANOTHER WORLD

[shallotpeel-877-14891 · 10/10 · 7 April 2019]

THE CREATION OF ANOTHER WORLD Written By Eddie Drueding, 2018

Among the most persistent myths surrounding "Another World" is that its creator, Irna Phillips, was heartbroken when CBS had no room in its daytime schedule and the show went to NBC. However, when Lynn Liccardo, author of the Kindle Single, "as the world stopped turning...," posed the question to former Procter & Gamble Productions executive, Ed Trach, he told a very different story.

According to Trach, sometime in 1963, NBC approached PGP about Irna Phillips creating a new serial for them. AW was never offered to CBS, a fact confirmed by Fred Silverman, then head of CBS Daytime. Trach went on to reiterate that PGP had no interest in placing another serial with CBS. Silverman suggested that by expanding their daytime footprint beyond CBS, PGP hoped to improve their bargaining position.

It was the success of "As the World Turns" that made NBC so eager to sign Phillips. According to Trach, ATWT was drawing higher ratings than all but three of the shows in NBC's primetime lineup at the time. But Phillips's concerns about placing a new serial on NBC were well-founded. Prior to AW's debut in May, 1964, there had been 19 serials on NBC (beginning in 1949, with Phillips's "These Are My Children"). Only seven lasted longer than a year, including "The Doctors", which debuted in in 1963 as a daily anthology. When that format proved financially untenable, the show moved to weekly arcs. In March 1964, two months before AW's premiere, "The Doctors" became a daily serial.

Also false is the notion that Phillips created AW as a sister show for "As the World Turns." No mention is made of a connection to Oakdale in the AW bible, or in the very rough first draft of her unfinished memoir, "All My Worlds." However, she did reference the Hughes family in the bible as a way to bring her AW characters into sharper focus. And six months into AW, the character of Mitchell Dru left Oakdale for Bay City.

What Irna Phillips did understand was that ATWT viewers were the natural audience for AW. On the final page of AMW, she shared her clever -- some might say brilliant -- idea to reach them. In the fall of 1963, ATWT celebrated Grandpa Hughes' 70th birthday. The 150,000-200,000 viewers who included a return address on the cards they sent received a note a few weeks before the AW premiere, thanking them and letting them know about a new show on NBC. The gist of the promotion: "if you like the Hughes family, we think you'll also like the Matthews."

Bill Bell began writing for "Guiding Light" in 1956, moving to ATWT in 1958. He described co-creating AW with Phillips as, "a whole new learning experience," later admitting that launching a series with a funeral was too depressing. However, in AMW, Phillips seems to disparage Bell's involvement: "If I were to be asked why I gave Mr. Bell and a few other people who had absolutely nothing to do with the writing of scripts, part ownership of this program, I'm afraid the answer is almost too simple. As I've said before, I'm essentially a teacher and a teacher's function is not only to impart whatever knowledge she can to her students, but to give them whatever she feels will be a help to ensure, if she can, their future."

However, Liccardo notes that Phillips was writing AMW at the end of her life, after a decade filled with professional failure and personal loss, including Bill Bell's departure when he took over as Days of Our Lives headwriter after Ted Corday's death. Liccardo points out while Phillips is careful to note Bell's kindness to her children, just below the surface her sense of betrayal -- and anger -- is palpable.

In her research, Professor Elana Levine, author of the forthcoming "Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History," found the original documents that provided details on the shared ownership of "Another World." The show's official and legal agreement (dated 5/4/64) established that P&G Productions and Young & Rubicam would acquire rights to AW from Phillips, Bill Bell (the show's co-writer), Rose Cooperman (Phillips's private secretary), and Arno Phillips (Phillips' brother).

The agreement was for 268 consecutive weeks, but could be terminated at the end of shorter cycles within. Owners were to be paid $1,000/week royalties for the term of the agreement. A purchase price of $500,000 was set. Broadcast rights were for the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Phillips and her co-owners transferred their rights, title, and interest in "Another World" for $500,000 in a purchase agreement dated 4/10/67, to be paid in 11 annual installments between 1967 and 1977. Distribution: Irna Phillips - 39%. William Bell - 31%. Rose Cooperman 5%. Arno Phillips 25%.

According to Levine, what's significant here is that P&G did not own AW until 1967. Phillips and her partners did and they licensed it to P&G and their ad agency, Young & Rubicam, during that time. This may be the first time a creator owned their own soap, even as it was temporary and in P&G's hands from the beginning.

Towards the end of the AMW manuscript, Phillips discusses how she came to create "Another World." She says that the idea of writing a new and different kind of serial came to her when she found herself wondering about the possibility of using her own life as the basis of a serial, focusing it on an "illegitimate" young woman who'd been raised in an orphanage and who "lived most of her life in a world she created for herself." She'd always claimed to be a lonely child growing up, and would make up long and involved stories for her dolls to live out. She elaborated on the idea of alternate personal worlds to the psychiatrist she had been seeing for depression following a heart attack several years earlier

"This is the first time that I told the doctor that I had come to believe and that I still believe, always will, that to face reality day in and day out without escape, without surcease, would be impossible for any of us. I was sure we couldn't with any degree of sanity, live only in a world of reality. In a way the doctor agreed with me, in another way he didn't. It was difficult to accept that we have to learn to cope with a certain amount of reality. I knew he was right. I asked him if it was advisable that I start on a new serial. "Isn't that what you've been doing?" "I have a title, it's based on what we've been talking about." "Oh, a bit of fantasizing!" "Another World" was my answer. This then became the germ of the next serial I created and presented to Procter & Gamble.

"It would be difficult for me to say how long "Another World" seemed to be lying dormant before I even recognized it as an idea and began to think of it as a potential for a continuing drama. Bill Bell was working with me on "As the World Turns," and I have always had the habit of discussing my ideas with whomever I might be working. All told, Bill and I spent two Saturdays talking about "Another World" after which I proceeded to write the most informal, loosely put together presentation."

Phillips' original title for "As the World Turns" was "As the Earth Turns," but it was changed because there was a novel with the title "As the Earth Turns." The list of alternate titles came from copywriters from the Ivory Snow Group. Phillips went on to embrace the word "world," imparting it to three of her following shows ("Another World," "A Private World," and "A World Apart") as well as the title of her memoirs, "All My Worlds".

One day in the living room of Phillips' home, accompanied by her secretary Rose Cooperman and her writing assistant Bill Bell, she was joined by Bob Short (head of daytime television for P&G), Edward Trach (an ATWT supervisor), and a representative of the Young & Rubicam agency. (In those days, ad agencies often handled the production of the daytime dramas.) Copies of the presentation were on the card table along with sample scripts. Years ago, Phillips had spent $5,000 of her own money to finance the "Guiding Light" pilot and had never been reimbursed. Tonight, she informed her guests that they could see neither presentations nor scripts unless they optioned the program for $5,000.

"It wasn't the best presentation I had ever written or as good as others I would write in the future, but as I was told only matter of months ago, "We bought 'Another World' on your track record, not by what we read in the presentation.""

At first glance, the AW's bible reads like an overtly feminist serial. There are explicit references to "The Feminine Mystique," published in February 1963 by Betty Friedan. It explored the frustration felt by many American women in the late 1950s and early 1960s who felt locked in to the traditional gender roles of wife and mother. This sentiment is mirrored in the bible: "there's a question in the minds of many today whether the woman at home is really a fulfilled woman; or is she, as she's been pictured from time to time, forever seeking in one way or another - seeking to escape the boredom of being only a wife and mother." This is well represented in the character of Janet Matthews, a single career woman in her 30s. From the influences of her own early life, Phillips remained committed to traditional values and gender roles. As her bible goes on to say: "the business world in itself cannot bring a woman happiness and fulfillment."

But that is not the story that played out. And the storyline that did dominate the show's first year -- the relationship between Pat Matthews and Tom Baxter, which led to Pat's abortion and sterility, then ended with her killing Tom -- is nowhere to be found the AW bible. While it's not surprising that in 1963, ten years before Roe-v-Wade legalized abortion, Phillips would have anticipated that NBC would be reluctant to tell such a controversial story, according to Liccardo, "Concealing the true thrust of a story was vintage Irna, who often treated "the suits" like mushrooms: "Keep them in the dark an

BLOG 11 BLOGETTES

[shallotpeel-877-14891 · 10/10 · 7 April 2019]

"On the serial form" I believe with all my heart that this form is the most compelling and the most important form in television: the power of a serial to illuminate and to inspire, to help people in real, fundamental psychological ways, and to provide role models, to provide a sense of family if they don't have a family. All of that is overwhelming, and it's a tremendous responsibility. --Claire Labine, Creator, RYAN'S HOPE, former Head Writer, GENERAL HOSPITAL THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

"On directing" My job as the director is to tell the story. It's true of all of our jobs here--as actor, director, producer, or as writer. But particularly as a director, you really can't lose sight of the fact that you're not here to make pretty pictures unless that shot is telling the story the best possible way. If it's not, it's just so much garbage getting in the way of telling the story. --Gary Tomlin, Director, ONE LIFE TO LIVE. THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

"On plotting" Sometimes, when we are discussing ideas for future episodes, somebody will say something specific about a character, and I'll say, no, because I feel an innate sense of caution--don't do anything that cuts off future story. There's a tendency, when you bring on a new character, to say things like, "He has three daughters" because you want to flesh out the character. But don't have them say anything or do anything that limits the story and doesn't move the plot forward. I learned that from coming on GUIDING LIGHT after Doug Marland, whose characters had lots of family. --Richard Culliton, Head Writer, GENERAL HOSPITAL. THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

"On the power of soaps" There is a great need in human beings for other people's stories. You can follow a story for six weeks on a soap and learn a little something about different kinds of relationships, about life. I think young people tune in, and always have, because they are generally optimistic about life, and looking forward to romance and happy endings, which is just what soaps dwell on. --Harding Lemay, former Head Writer, ANOTHER WORLD. THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

"On comedy" For awhile, ANOTHER WORLD was known for its comedy. We were actually credited at one time for being the first soap to incorporate comedy, and that goes back to Gretchen Oehler. Gretchen was the wonderful actress who played this wacky maid Vivien Gorrow, from 1978-84, to Iris Cory Bancroft, then played by Beverlee McKinsey. She was a theater-trained actress and --I don't think it was intentional--she developed this comedic style on the show. The writers picked up on it, and soon the madcap antics of this very priim and proper Iris and her wacky maid, who was tripping over things and getting phone messages wrong, became hysterical. The audience loved it. --R. Scott Collishaw, Producer. THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO WORLDS WITHOUT END THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA (1997) Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Miss it.

[gkeith_1 · 10/10 · 4 February 2021]

Miss this show. Loved Passions, however, despite other people's opinions. Remembering the days of scheming Rachel trying to get Steve Frame. Remembering Rachel's mother. Especially liked Mac Cory. The original Mac was ok, but the second one was dashing and not surly. Iris was another schemer. Alice was sweet. Aunt Liz was cackling and hilarious. Did like seeing Rachel actress, Robin Strasser, on Days of Our Lives in 2019. That was excellent. Hot episodes were with Rachel (Victoria?) and her younger 'boyfriend' in the water at St. Croix. Now, that was memorable.

Life will still never be the same without "Another World."

[Bash · 29 January 2003]

"Another World" was the very first soap opera I have discovered in my lifetime. I remember when I was turning on the TV and surfing through basic channels one childhood afternoon, and there was the "Another World" opening theme with a beautiful, California-style theme playing, same with the closing theme. Then a few years later, I decided to start watching it, all the way until the airing surprisingly ended in June 1999. Shortly after that, I was so saddened, thinking "Why did this heart-warming soap opera end?" And "Why didn't it continue airing just like the other soap operas?" It used to air every weekday afternoons at 2:00pm right after "Days of Our Lives." Now, this other new lame soap known as "Passions" has taken over. Why? I still don't understand that. Whenever I think of "Another World," I also think of the really good old, addictive days and times of my life, when I had lots and lots of fun. Nowadays, things have unfortunately changed, ever since "Passions" was aired. How sad? Without "Another World," it is still not the same for me or part of my life. I now watch the other soap known as "Days of Our Lives," pretending that "Another World" would still air today. It will always be missed, until it returns someday. Maybe...

Adam Newman

[rglundy · 10/10 · 29 August 2019]

The new Adam Newman actor is amazing! It's really nice to see the old characters brought back. It's good for continuity. I'm glad Ashley , Paul, Kevin and Chloe are back. I miss Cane and Lilly. It is wonderful to see the old characters resurface. I hope that continues, the history is so ripe for continued character development.