I still miss Bay City!
I just felt the need to vent for a moment. Even though AW has been off the air for 2 1/2 years, I still miss it. Of course, since I watched the show since I was a small child, how could I not? I'm still rather angry and bitter with NBC for what they did to it. (Passions? Yuck! IMO ) I started watching ATWT once AW went off and its comforting to see Jake and, on occaision, Cass, Donna, and Marley, but I still wish they were all back in Bay City and on my TV screen every day. Anyone else feel the same way?
I miss Bay City as well, but my memories are of it in it's heyday of the '70s. I miss Ada trying (once again) to convince a pigheaded Rachel not to make more mistakes in her life. I miss the wistful grace of Beverly Penberthy as Pat Randolph and the sassiness of Dorothy Lyman's Gwen Parrish. I miss the magical Doug Watson in his fiery scenes with Victoria Wyndham. I miss Louise talking to her plants. And I especially miss the stunning Beverlee McKinsey, who, as Iris, could steal an entire scene just by making an entrance. They sure don't make 'em like that any more!
Re: I still miss Bay City!
OH yes I miss Another World. I had watched the show since I was 8 or 9 years old. I miss so many of the performers: Irene Dailey, Jacqueline Courtney, George Reinholt, Constance Ford, Victoria Wyndham, the superb Beverly Penberthy, Michael M. Ryan, Dorothy Lyman, Maeve Kinkead, Ray Liotta, and Leon Russom. Those were my favorites. But I miss so many of the later performers too. I miss them being part of my life everyday. I can't figure out why so many of them haven't been snatched up by other shows.
I can't figure out why if nightime shows can be syndicated out why couldn't Anotehr World. I can't figure out why Fox or WB didn't snatch it up to branch out into daytime TV with it.
Re: I still miss Bay City!
Iris was just the best! I managed to purchase a tape of Another World off ebay several months ago (through eshabooba) that was an entire episode of AW from 1977 and a small collection of scenes from an episode in 1976. The focus of the tape was classic Mac and Rachel (they were fighting in both episodes). However, there was one scene between Mac and Iris. The episode was on the day of the memorial service for Theresa. Mac had just learned that Iris was again trying to take the christening gown back from Clarice. Of course, Mac is chastising her for it. Iris is like "Daddy, why must you torment me so relentlessly on a day like this". Mac calmly responded "Iris, stop being so dramatic." Later, Iris wanted to know why Mac insisted on engaging her in such a distasteful conversation. It was a brief scene, but Beverlee McKinsey just stole the entire episode with just a few lines. I just hate it that she's gone into a semi-retirement.
Re: I still miss Bay City!
What is Beverlee McKinsey doing these days? If she is 'semi-retired" is she only acting occasionally? God, I miss her! She would certainly give any of the younger generation a run for their money, on any show!
Re: I still miss Bay City!
I think she is semi-retired. However, I'm surprised that Paul Rauch hasn't managed to lure her out of retirement for, at least, a guest appearance on Guiding Light as Alexandra. She was one of his favorites, after all.
Re: I still miss Bay City!
Had Beverlee McKinsey not been in the February 12, 1975 episode of AW, I may never have been bitten by the soap bug!
It was a snowy day and I apparently had nothing to do, so turned on the TV and happened upon Another World. I think I had noticed a brief TV GUIDE article a few weeks earlier on the show (marking its expansion to an hour), but I really knew nothing about it. Anyway, Iris was running around town desperately trying to find her "daddy," Mac, and she learned that Rachel was missing at the same time. I don't recall any other specifics of the episode, but I found Beverlee McKinsey completely spellbinding. The following day, I had to tune in to find out what she would do next. Then, on the 14th, Mac and Rachel were married for the first time in his New York townhouse, and it was soon clear that Iris would stop at nothing to cause trouble for the newlyweds. I was hooked!
I followed the show faithfully through the next four years while I was in college (even through the 90-minute episodes), then watched it more infrequently after joining the workaday world (though I was in retail, so I usually had one weekday off to catch up). I drifted away from all the soaps (except for holidays) from 1984-88 when I was working Mon-Fri, then finally got a VCR and began taping AW and GL.
For me, the show never really recovered from the death of Douglass Watson. Carmen Duncan was never Iris to me -- our Iris actually WORKING at Cory Publishing?!? NEVER!! In late 1991, the NBC station where I was living dropped AW, but I almost didn't care at that point. I started watching ATWT, which was clearly a much better show at that point, and soon regretted that I hadn't been watching Douglas Marland's work there much earlier. I watched the last few months of AW after the cancellation was announced (it had been restored to our station after SANTA BARBARA was cancelled) but there was only a shadow of Bay City's original glory left by that time.
) I started watching ATWT once AW went off and its comforting to see Jake and, on occaision, Cass, Donna, and Marley, but I still wish they were all back in Bay City and on my TV screen every day. Anyone else feel the same way?
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