Today is the 13th anniversary of the last episode of Another World (June 24, 1999). I just wanted to post some thoughts I had about the program.
Another World as everyone who watched the show knows took place in Bay City. It was the Irna Phillips (co-created with her protege Bill Bell) soap opera that literally got its name based on the concept of wanting another As the World Turns. The odd part of that is when characters crossed over from a CBS soap to NBC's Another World back in the 1960s it wasn't anyone from ATWT, but Guiding Light's Mike Bauer and his daughter Hope.
By the time I started watching AW in the 1980s, the main families were the Corys, and the Hudsons. The SoapNet airing started a short time before I have memories of the program (1987), which made it interesting as I was able to view it again with the eyes of an adult instead of a tween. Rachel and Mac (Victoria Wyndham and Douglass Watson) were a committed couple, raising their family who were now teenagers (Amanda - Sandra Ferguson and Matt - primarily Matt Crane though another actor played the part early in the SoapNet run), and things like their age difference and their social economic backgrounds didn't matter. They were Rachel and Mac, and the episodes involving Mac's death after Doug Watson died, are some of the most tragic episodes I've ever seen seeing everyone mourn the character and the actor. The Hudsons at that point, were Michael (Kale Browne), Donna (Philece Sampler was in the role not Anna Stuart), John (David Forsyth), and Anne Heche (as twins Vicky and Marley). At this point, Felicia (Linda Dano) was involved with Mitch (William Gray Espy) who was Matthew's biological father. Felicia's niece Lisa (Joanna Going) was in love with Rachel's son Jamie Frame (Laurence Lau), but Vicky wanted him. Jake (Tom Eplin) and Marley were apart. One of the main stories was involving Jake's aunt Mary (Denise Alexander) and her relationship with Reginald Love (John Considine) during the years she suffered from amnesia. She had recently reconciled with her husband Vince (Robert Hogan). Also in this story was Jason Frame (Chris Robinson), and Chris and Denise worked together on General Hospital as Rick and Leslie Webber. Cass (Stephen Schnetzer) was mourning the loss of his wife Kathleen (who was Mary and Vince's daughter), and Wallingford (Brent Collins) was there for Cass and Felicia until the actor passed away.
The 1987 time frame that SoapNet picked was right after a major story called the Sin Stalker, in which numerous characters had been killed off and slightly prior to that others had been written off the canvas. It was a good starting point for those who had not watched the show before or in that time frame. They stopped airing episodes around the time Judi Evans began as Paulina. I was a fan of the episodes that aired and disappointed when SoapNet pulled the program though the ratings were not good.
When Another World went off the air, they had very little time to wrap up the show. Just about everyone had a happy ending, though I didn't care for every pairing. The end with the characters saying goodbye reminded me in a way to how Santa Barbara ended with the characters at a wedding.
As the World Turns picked up four of their characters (Lila - Lisa Peluso, Cass - Stephen Schnetzer, Vicky - Jensen Buchanan, and Jake - Tom Eplin). The only character who lasted on the program was Jake, but he was killed off when Tom Eplin left the program. Basically Tom Eplin's contract with P&G stated that if AW was cancelled he would still have a job so Jake ended up in Oakdale. Jake found love with Molly (Lesli Kay) after Vicky was killed off in Oakdale, and then Jake also died tragically. Due to the kind of soap viewer I am, I ignore all of this nonsense and make up whatever I like as a resolution for the characters I care about and still do even all those years later.
Hopefully some day soon, meaning in the next year, we will be lucky enough that SoapClassics that owns the rights to Another World will release some episodes for purchase. It would be wonderful to visit Bay City again.
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