Another World (TV series)

Another World (AW) (sometimes called Another World: Bay City to distinguish it from its spinoffs in the 1970s and 1980s) was a Daytime Emmy-winning American soap opera which ran on the NBC television network (CTV in Canada) from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It was co-created by Irna Phillips and William J. Bell.

A storyline synopsis

See also:A story timeline of Another World

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The '60s

The first episode was a funeral: wealthy William Matthews had died. His widow Liz did not like his working-class brother Jim or his family. The fights between Liz and the poorer Matthewses started the show. As the '60s went on, the lives and loves of Jim's children (Russ, Alice, and Pat) took center-stage. Jim's wife, Mary, usually intervened when there was a crisis, which was most of the time.

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In the first year, the show had a controversial storyline involving teenager Pat Matthews having an illegal abortion after falling pregnant to her boyfriend. This was the first time that a daytime soap opera had covered the subject, which is still considered taboo on American daytime television. In the story, the abortion made her sterile, and the shock from the news caused her to find her ex-boyfriend and shoot him in cold blood. Pat was eventually brought to trial and acquitted. She then fell in love and married her lawyer, John Randolph (Michael M. Ryan).

Related Topics:
Abortion - Pregnant - Michael M. Ryan

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In 1967, the show's ratings became stagnant. Agnes Nixon was hired as head writer, and her first job was to either kill off "dead wood" in the cast, or have new actors replace key characters (most notably, Beverly Penberthy replaced Susan Trustman in the role of Pat Matthews Randolph). Nixon created the roles of Ada Lucas and her daughter Rachel Davis (Robin Strasser), which were immediate successes. Rachel was a schemer who grew up in a lower-class background, and fought for what she wanted, even if it meant she had to resort to underhanded means. Her mother Ada was much more honest and down-to-earth, and provided a good foil for Rachel, as Ada was the only person Rachel really loved, besides herself.

Related Topics:
1967 - Agnes Nixon - Beverly Penberthy - Susan Trustman - Robin Strasser

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The next year, businessman Steve Frame (George Reinholt) was introduced. A shrewd businessman, he grew up in a poor background and earned everything he worked for. He and Rachel immediately bonded over their respective pasts, but he also became involved with Alice Matthews, who was more sophisticated, shy, and demure, something he really looked for in a wife. They courted and were to marry in 1969, but the marriage was called off when Rachel, with whom Steve was sexually involved, crashed the engagement party with the news that she was carrying Steve's child. She gave birth to a son, James (later referred to as Jamie), in November.

Related Topics:
George Reinholt - 1969 - November

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The '70s

Steve, Alice, and Rachel

The show's popularity shot up, thanks to a love triangle revolving around Steve, Alice, and Rachel.

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As 1970 began, Alice had a breakdown and went to live in France. Steve and Rachel bonded yet again, this time over their child, but Alice eventually returned and she married Steve the next year. It was around this time that sponsor Procter & Gamble hired a newcomer, playwright Harding Lemay, to write the program. Lemay used his training in Broadway to recruit Broadway actors to play roles on the series, and his screenplays took the form of tragic plays, as they were carried out in five dramatic acts. It is Lemay's tenure, which lasted the whole of the 1970s, that soap opera publications such as Soap Opera Digest call Another Worlds "golden age." As the show rose higher in the ratings, NBC brass wished to expand the show to an hour; the first regularly scheduled hour-long episode was telecast on January 6, 1975.

Related Topics:
1970 - France - Harding Lemay - 1970s - Soap Opera Digest - January 6 - 1975

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Thoroughly convinced that her child would be instrumental in breaking up the new Frame marriage and snagging her Steve once and for all, she enlisted the help of her drifter father, who tricked Alice into finding Steve and Rachel in a compromising position. She filed for divorce and again left town. Fed up with Alice's wavering ways, and already feeling an attachment to Rachel and a duty to have more of a role in his son's life, Steve married Rachel (now played by Victoria Wyndham, who took over for Strasser). When Alice returned from Europe for a second time, she exposed Rachel and her father's scheme, which accidentally sent Steve to prison as an accomplice to embezzlement. When he was released, Steve reunited with Alice; although she had sent him away, he was too alienated against Rachel to rekindle any feeling.

Related Topics:
Victoria Wyndham - Embezzlement

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As Steve and Alice were finally allowed to be together (they were married for the second time on the tenth-anniversary telecast), Rachel found love with an older, wise magazine editor, Mackenzie "Mac" Cory (Douglass Watson). This was in tune with Wyndham's wish that Rachel be played with more facets to her character — for many years, her character was totally "black" in personality, compared to "white", good Alice. Both Lemay and Wyndham, who were at the time new to the series, wanted to change the character of Rachel as she was so blindly hated by many fans, who wrote to the NBC studios wishing that she be killed off.

Related Topics:
Douglass Watson - NBC

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Mac, Rachel, and Iris

The drama produced by Mac and Rachel's marriage and Mac's daughter's insane jealousy (Mac's daughter, Iris, was portrayed at this time by Beverlee McKinsey) fueled the storylines for most of the late 1970s. Iris, who was sheltered and wanted to be the only woman in her father's life, resented Rachel, who was her same age. Iris's schemes to drive Rachel away from Mac often backfired, and drove a wedge between father and daughter, instead of bringing them together. The presence of the Cory maid, Louise (Anne Meacham), proved for sometimes comedic relief in an otherwise dramatic storyline. Other times, Louise served as a stern confidante and a sometime voice of reason for Mac during fights with either Rachel or Iris.

Related Topics:
Beverlee McKinsey - Anne Meacham

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While Alice became a character with little story (her husband, Steve, was presumed dead after his helicopter crashed in Australia), her siblings' stories expanded. Her sister Pat Randolph experienced marital problems with her husband John. He ended up marrying the maniacal Olive (Jennifer Leak), who ended up burning down a cottage with John inside. John's death, in March 1979, coincided with the move to 90-minute episodes each weekday (an experiment which lasted until August 1980). It was at that time that Lemay, who had written since 1971, felt overworked, and started to hand over reins of Another World to another writer.

Related Topics:
Jennifer Leak - March - 1979 - August - 1980 - 1971

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The '80s

Mac, Rachel, Janice, and Mitch

Mac and Rachel had their own marital troubles, mostly regarding Rachel's decision to work full-time as a sculptress. They divorced and Mac married the crazy Janice Frame (Christine Jones), while Rachel was forced to submit to photographer Mitch Blake's (William Gray Espy) desires. This quadrangle culminated in a fight scene taped on location in St. Croix, in which Janice Frame was killed by Rachel in the swimming pool.

Related Topics:
Christine Jones - William Gray Espy - Location - St. Croix

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Mac and Rachel were married again, but Rachel was saddened to find that she was pregnant — with Mitch's child. She was prepared to keep the secret until Mitch was "murdered." Rachel was forced to admit on the stand that the child (Matthew) in question was Mitch's. She was then sentenced for Mitch's murder, and Mac started divorce proceedings, all the while believing that something wasn't right. Following his intuition, he tracked down Mitch, who was alive and didn't remember any events surrounding his death.

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In the end, Mac freed Rachel from prison and even dropped the divorce, but he was always jealous of Mitch; by this time he had returned to Bay City to be closer to his son. In the end, it could not be worked out and Mac and Rachel divorced a second time. Steve Frame came back from Australia in 1981 (it was revealed that he did not die in 1975; he also received a new look, thanks to David Canary taking over the role) and Steve and Rachel were to be wed, but on their wedding day, an accident claimed Steve's life — for good. Mac told Rachel how much he loved her, and a double wedding was planned in the summer of 1983, with Mac's son Sandy (Christopher Rich) and his fiancée Blaine Ewing (Laura Malone).

Related Topics:
1981 - 1975 - David Canary - Christopher Rich - Laura Malone

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A new "Another World"

Stories of the 1980s revolved around popular characters such as romance novelist Felicia Gallant (Linda Dano); debonair attorney Cass Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer); Cecile DePoulignac (Nancy Frangione), the schemer who just wanted to be loved; the true object of Cass's affections, Kathleen McKinnon (Julie Osburn); and Wallingford (Brent Collins).

Related Topics:
Felicia Gallant - Linda Dano - Stephen Schnetzer - Nancy Frangione - Julie Osburn - Brent Collins

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As the show went through the 1980s, the Love family became more prominent, at the expense of the core Matthews family. In 1982, Beverly Penberthy was written out of the show, effectively severing the few ties to the original family that were left on the program.

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The Love family was headed by tyrannical patriarch Reginald (John Considine), he had either allied with or alienated all of his children. His daughter Donna (Anna Stuart) ended up marrying the love of her life in stable boy-turned-businessman Michael Hudson (Kale Browne). However, the fact that she had a fling years ago with Michael's brother John (David Forsyth) complicated matters for years. Donna had twins, Marley and Victoria (first played by Ellen Wheeler and later by Anne Heche), who ended up reunited after many years apart. Victoria's adoptive mother, Bridget Connell (Barbara Berjer) ended up moving in with the Hudsons and took care of the family until her character died.

Related Topics:
John Considine - Anna Stuart - Kale Browne - David Forsyth - Ellen Wheeler - Anne Heche - Barbara Berjer

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Romance hits and misses

Love stories of the 1980s included Felicia's storybook wedding to Mitch Blake (who came back to town), and the unlikely pairing of John Hudson with Sharlene Frame (at this time, the role was played by Anna Kathryn Holbrook). Also, the triangle of Vicky Hudson trying, and succeeding, to steal Rachel's son Jamie Frame (at this time, the role was played by Laurence Lau) from Felicia's niece Lisa Grady (Joanna Going) interested many viewers.

Related Topics:
Anna Kathryn Holbrook - Laurence Lau - Joanna Going

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One aborted love story was the impending marriage between M.J. McKinnon (Sally Spencer) and Adam Cory (Ed Fry). After a videotaped surfaced, showing M.J. in her prostitute days, having sex with a client, Adam dumped her, and she left town. M.J.'s old flame, and her former pimp, Chad Rollo (Richard Burgi) sent the tape to Adam in the hopes of a renewed romance with M.J.; it did not work.

Related Topics:
Sally Spencer - Ed Fry - Richard Burgi

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Mac's death

In the late 1980s, Mac and Rachel's children came back as young adults (Amanda recast in the form of Sandra Ferguson and Matt Crane in the role of Matthew). Amanda was married to Sam Fowler (Robert Kelker-Kelly), a budding artist, and Matthew started a relationship with Sharlene Frame's daughter Josie Watts (at that time the role was played by Alexandra Wilson). While these characters proved to be fan favorites, the importance of the Cory family on the show was shook when Douglass Watson unexpectedly died while on vacation in Arizona in the spring of 1989. The show was left without a unifying center, and although Victoria Wyndham tried to fill the void, she ended up passing the central role of the show to Jensen Buchanan, who, by the early 1990s, had taken over for Anne Heche as Vicky Hudson.

Related Topics:
Amanda - Sandra Ferguson - Matt Crane - Robert Kelker-Kelly - Alexandra Wilson - 1989 - Jensen Buchanan - Anne Heche

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Mac's daughter Iris was devastated when she heard the news. She had returned to town late in 1988 (Australian Carmen Duncan had taken over the role) and hadn't formally reconciled with her father before his passing. During this shaky time, Rachel found that she needed to rely on her mother, tart-tongued Ada (Constance Ford) more than ever.

Related Topics:
1988 - Carmen Duncan - Constance Ford

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The '90s

The age of AW's supercouples

As the show moved into the 1990s, Felicia and Mitch got a divorce due to both of them straying from their marriage vows. Felicia found the love of her life in the form of Lucas Castigliano (John Aprea), who hunted her down in an attempt to find the daughter she gave up for adoption. He ended up finding his daughter and bringing her to town, but in true soap opera fashion, the reveal didn't come out until a very big gala. Felicia and the woman in question, Lorna Devon (Alicia Coppola) had become enemies fast, but ended up repairing their relationship, especially after Lucas's untimely passing. Felicia's adoptive daughter, Jenna Norris (Alla Korot) found true love with rocker Dean Frame (Ricky Paull Goldin); their happiness, and Dean's success as a rock star, was chronicled in the nighttime special Summer Desire. After Kathleen was pronounced dead in a plane crash, Cass grew close to Reginald Love's daughter Nicole (by now, she was played by Anne Howard). When Nicole Love was institutionalized for the murder of Jason Frame (Chris Robinson), Cass slowly became attracted to Frankie Frame (Alice Barrett), who came to town to investigate her uncle's murder. After many hindrances (including Kathleen arriving in town; she was really whisked off because she was in the Witness Protection Program), Cass and Frankie were finally wed. They honeymooned on the Orient Express, which was the backdrop of a 1920s-themed special episode, in which Cass was trapped on the legendary train with all the women he had ever loved.

Related Topics:
John Aprea - Alicia Coppola - Alla Korot - Ricky Paull Goldin - Summer Desire - Anne Howard - Chris Robinson - Alice Barrett

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Jake McKinnon (Tom Eplin) came back to town for good in 1988, with his wife Marley Hudson. Their marriage broke down and the two were forced to get a divorce. After a reconciliation two years later, Jake asked Marley to marry him again. However, she had found out that he was in the midst of an affair with Paulina Cory (Cali Timmins, but by 1991, the role had gone to Judi Evans Luciano). Marley turned down his proposal, and Jake raped her. Then, Jake was shot and near death, and Marley was forced to go on trial for his attempted murder. In the end, it was proven that Paulina shot him. Jake and Marley were officially over, but it was just beginning for Jake and Paulina. Over the next five years, Jake and Paulina were married and divorced twice. While they still had a good partnership, Paulina was fed up with Jake's cons, swindles, and lies, and tied the knot with Joe Carlino (Joseph Barbara).

Related Topics:
Tom Eplin - 1988 - Cali Timmins - 1991 - Judi Evans Luciano - Joseph Barbara

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Amanda saw two marriages crash and burn. The first, to Sam, didn't work out due to Amanda's affair with Evan Frame; the second, to Grant Harrison (Mark Pinter) due to Grant's infidelity with Lorna Devon (by this time Lorna was played by Robin Christopher and Amanda was played by Christine Tucci). Matthew had developed a May-December romance with Donna Love, who had been very grateful that Matt helped get her savings back. Matt and Donna became a very popular couple and were broken up due to then-executive producer Jill Farren Phelps's insistence that Matt be paired up with someone his own age, and Donna likewise.

Related Topics:
Mark Pinter - Robin Christopher - Christine Tucci - Jill Farren Phelps

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Rachel found love (and a new marriage) with reformed villain Carl Hutchins (Charles Keating). Rachel's mother, Ada, died in the summer of 1993 and she needed support more than ever; she found it in the unlikeliest source. Mac's daughter Iris didn't like this news one bit, and was prepared to startle the wedding crowd by firing blanks at Carl. Evan Frame (who had returned to town after a four-year absence) placed bullets into Iris's gun, causing Iris to gravely wound Carl. She was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison time, and she was never heard from again.

Related Topics:
Charles Keating - 1993

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The final years

The show was renewed in 1993 (Santa Barbara was given the axe instead) but the ratings still weren't good. The odds weren't in the show's favor that it would be renewed again in 1999. Early in 1995, news at the top signaled a change in executive producer. Jill Farren Phelps, who had won Emmy awards for her work on Santa Barbara, was given the job. Veteran cast members were fired; both cast members over the age of 55 (Barbara Berjer and David Hedison) had their contracts terminated, in an attempt to move the show in a more youthful direction. Show matriarch Rachel Cory Hutchins was placed in a storyline involving an evil countess, Justine Duvalier, who was a former lover of Hedison's recently-axed character, Spencer Harrison. The Justin storyline was panned by periodical Soap Opera Digest as being worthy of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 level of ridicule. While in a scuffle, Grant Harrison killed his brother Ryan (played by fan favorite Paul Michael Valley), causing Justine to be shoved in front of a train. Justine did not die, and she caused more terror before finally being finished by Carl Hutchins and his letter opener. Actress Victoria Wyndham was quoted as liking the storyline at first, but after it was played out, she stated that she wished she had never appeared in it.

Related Topics:
1993 - Santa Barbara - 1999 - 1995 - Jill Farren Phelps - Barbara Berjer - David Hedison - Soap Opera Digest - Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Paul Michael Valley

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Budget cuts caused Phelps to institute a serial killer storyline, culminating in the gruesome murder of another fan favorite, Alice Barrett. She had tested low with focus groups, and was the perfect target to be killed. In fact, the story had actually called for Anna Stuart to be offed, but massive fan protest caused Phelps to rewrite the episodes.

Related Topics:
Alice Barrett - Anna Stuart

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Rachel gave birth to twins, even though she was well into her fifties. Although the believability of this story was debated by fans, it was a nod back to when her mother, Ada, gave birth to Rachel's sister Nancy late in life. Robert Kelker-Kelly was lured back to the show in a different role from Sam Fowler, in which Vicky falls for the man who was given Ryan's corneas in a transplant. The storyline became convoluted as the man's mystery identity was rewritten and his former wife came to town to reclaim him. Lila Roberts (Lisa Peluso) ended up bedding Matthew Cory and having his baby before falling in love with Cass. Cass and Lila were engaged, and got married in the final episode of the show; they were the last couple to wed in Bay City.

Related Topics:
Robert Kelker-Kelly - Lisa Peluso

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AW after the final episode

In 1999, NBC decided not to renew Another World but keep young sudser Sunset Beach, only to cancel that one six months later. Its final episode aired the last full week in June. After a series of 35th anniversary episodes, Rachel reminisced with Carl, remarked, "All's well that ends well," and the show ended with a shot of Mac Cory's picture.

Related Topics:
1999 - NBC - Sunset Beach

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The show was commemorated in print twice in 1999. Another World, the 35th Anniversary Celebration, by Julie Poll, was a coffee-table style book chronicling the show's history on- and off-screen. AW was the last of all the long-running soap opera programs of the time to be preserved in this way. The other book was decidedly different; The Ultimate Another World Trivia Book, by Gerard J. Waggett, listed several juicy tidbits about the show's stars and what happened behind-the-scenes. Many fans have treated Poll's book as they would a high school yearbook, getting AW actors to sign their autographs in the book along with messages of appreciation or thanks for the fans' continued support in watching the program.

Related Topics:
1999 - Soap opera

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In July 2003, SOAPnet, an American satellite channel, started rerunning old AW episodes from July 1987. The Another World Reunion aired on the channel on October 24, 2003. Hosted by Linda Dano, the special program reunited fan favorites such as Stephen Schnetzer, Sandra Ferguson, John Aprea, Alicia Coppola, Kale Browne, and Ellen Wheeler. On the special, Dano interviewed the members of the assembled cast, one by one, interspersed with classic AW clips. Before and after commercial breaks, Another World quiz questions were posed to the audience at home, and audience members told the viewers at home their favorite AW moments, supplemented with clips from the actual episodes (for example, one viewer said her favorite AW moment was from 1980, in which Rachel, on the stand for Mitch's murder, was forced to tell Mac that Matthew was not his child. Another viewer cited Ryan marrying Vicky while in Heaven). This special was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Special in 2004.

Related Topics:
SOAPnet - October 24 - 2003 - Linda Dano - Stephen Schnetzer - Sandra Ferguson - John Aprea - Alicia Coppola - Kale Browne - Ellen Wheeler - 1980 - Daytime Emmy

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Currently, Soapnet is airing AW episodes from November 1989.

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