Believing "we do not live in this world alone...but in a thousand other worlds", 'Another World' made its television debut in May 1964. Under headwriter Harding Lemay, 'Another World' became the most popular daytime soap opera in the 1970s. "A soap opera," Victoria Wyndham explained, "is an unfolding saga, it's very much – in an exaggerated way, of course – like what goes on in every single American town. Women and men and children can learn from the soaps. Sooner or later, everything is told about or acted out. So I see it as no light responsibility to do my very best."
Between 1965 and 1980, 'Another World' was NBC's most-watched soap. In 1967, Agnes Nixon joined the writing team. She introduced the character of Rachel Davis to begin the Russ/Rachel/Steve/Alice quadrangle. The storyline turned out to be a hit with the viewers. In January 1975, 'Another World' made history by becoming the first daytime drama to run for one hour. "I was the first writer to take a soap to an hour," Harding remembered. "I wanted to write a scene that you build as you do in the theater." Lin Bolen added, "It is the first major form change since 1956 in daytime. In 1956 they went from 15-minute serials to half-hour serials." For an hour, audiences could expect 'Another World' to "play out some of those scenes which an audience assumes take place off camera. In other words, our scenes will be longer..." Between 1973 and 1978, 'Another World' was the 2nd most popular daytime drama, even tied with 'As The World Turns' for the top spot twice.
Victoria played Rachel recounted, "...When you're taking over for somebody else and I took over an established part, you never know if it will work with the audience and whether you can co-op the audience to start rooting for you, or whether they're always going to pine for the original actress who did the role. So in show business everyone's expendable and nothing's for sure." Lauri Landry made the observation, "It's interesting in New York I'm always cast as the poor, little wife and in California, I'm always cast as a witch. I'm a brunette, so it's funny to see how I'm perceived in both coasts." Stuart Margolin played a con man in the detective series, 'The Rockford Files' which ran from 1974 to 1980. He said he based his character on a golf hustler he once knew, "In my mind Angel is a descendant of him. He's a hustler, a street character." Hollywood, Stuart maintained, "You have to be in there hustling. In this town you have to spend as much time hustling as you do getting the work done." One actor attending acting classes but avoid participating in the "therapy sessions" expressed, "I keep my distance from that sort of thing, from the idea that you had to suffer to feel." Of the part of Rachel, Victoria voiced, "I looked at what (Robin Strasser) was doing to see what they wanted me to change. I was brought on to definitely take this character into a different direction, so that was my mandate. So I certainly had to watch to see what Robbie had done, so that I knew where the character was at the time and where I could go with her, without trying to imitate. You don't watch somebody else and then imitate them...So you go through a period of adjustments that I'd say lasted about a year."
Between 1979 and 1980, 'Another World' was shown 90 minutes each day. Harding told 'Soap Opera Digest', "I came into soaps as a playwright, not as a soap writer or a radio soap writer as Irna Phillips had...Irna saw me on a local talk show where I admitted that I had never watched a soap opera...But she did create a great tradition and she trained not only me but she trained Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell." He pointed out, "Two prime time soaps took names from my characters. The Ewings were on 'Dallas'; the Carringtons were on 'Dynasty.'" He made known, "The best producer I have ever worked with is a lady named Jill Farren Phelps. She can sit in a room with 5 or 6 writers and myself as a consultant and can rip apart a whole week of breakdowns and you sit there and say 'My god, she is absolutely right!'"
When the Gulf War broke out on January 16 1991, the TV networks decided they would pre-empt their regular programming to televise the Middle East Crisis. Their decision however, had infuriated soap opera fans. One fan club president argued, "When the war first broke out, everyone was interested. But now, there's nothing they've cut in to tell us that couldn't have waited until the evening news." Sixteen days before Saddam Hussein told the world, "The great showdown has begun! The mother of all battles is under way", NBC screened an episode of 'Another World' set on New Year's Eve, which featured a catfight between Iris Carrington Wheeler and Paulina Cantrell, played by Carmen Duncan and Cali Timmins. Close-ups, wide shots and 2-shots were standard soap opera scenes. 'Another World' wrapped in June 1999. Its departure triggered "the largest outcry...in the history of the genre".
Between 1965 and 1980, 'Another World' was NBC's most-watched soap. In 1967, Agnes Nixon joined the writing team. She introduced the character of Rachel Davis to begin the Russ/Rachel/Steve/Alice quadrangle. The storyline turned out to be a hit with the viewers. In January 1975, 'Another World' made history by becoming the first daytime drama to run for one hour. "I was the first writer to take a soap to an hour," Harding remembered. "I wanted to write a scene that you build as you do in the theater." Lin Bolen added, "It is the first major form change since 1956 in daytime. In 1956 they went from 15-minute serials to half-hour serials." For an hour, audiences could expect 'Another World' to "play out some of those scenes which an audience assumes take place off camera. In other words, our scenes will be longer..." Between 1973 and 1978, 'Another World' was the 2nd most popular daytime drama, even tied with 'As The World Turns' for the top spot twice.
Victoria played Rachel recounted, "...When you're taking over for somebody else and I took over an established part, you never know if it will work with the audience and whether you can co-op the audience to start rooting for you, or whether they're always going to pine for the original actress who did the role. So in show business everyone's expendable and nothing's for sure." Lauri Landry made the observation, "It's interesting in New York I'm always cast as the poor, little wife and in California, I'm always cast as a witch. I'm a brunette, so it's funny to see how I'm perceived in both coasts." Stuart Margolin played a con man in the detective series, 'The Rockford Files' which ran from 1974 to 1980. He said he based his character on a golf hustler he once knew, "In my mind Angel is a descendant of him. He's a hustler, a street character." Hollywood, Stuart maintained, "You have to be in there hustling. In this town you have to spend as much time hustling as you do getting the work done." One actor attending acting classes but avoid participating in the "therapy sessions" expressed, "I keep my distance from that sort of thing, from the idea that you had to suffer to feel." Of the part of Rachel, Victoria voiced, "I looked at what (Robin Strasser) was doing to see what they wanted me to change. I was brought on to definitely take this character into a different direction, so that was my mandate. So I certainly had to watch to see what Robbie had done, so that I knew where the character was at the time and where I could go with her, without trying to imitate. You don't watch somebody else and then imitate them...So you go through a period of adjustments that I'd say lasted about a year."
Between 1979 and 1980, 'Another World' was shown 90 minutes each day. Harding told 'Soap Opera Digest', "I came into soaps as a playwright, not as a soap writer or a radio soap writer as Irna Phillips had...Irna saw me on a local talk show where I admitted that I had never watched a soap opera...But she did create a great tradition and she trained not only me but she trained Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell." He pointed out, "Two prime time soaps took names from my characters. The Ewings were on 'Dallas'; the Carringtons were on 'Dynasty.'" He made known, "The best producer I have ever worked with is a lady named Jill Farren Phelps. She can sit in a room with 5 or 6 writers and myself as a consultant and can rip apart a whole week of breakdowns and you sit there and say 'My god, she is absolutely right!'"
When the Gulf War broke out on January 16 1991, the TV networks decided they would pre-empt their regular programming to televise the Middle East Crisis. Their decision however, had infuriated soap opera fans. One fan club president argued, "When the war first broke out, everyone was interested. But now, there's nothing they've cut in to tell us that couldn't have waited until the evening news." Sixteen days before Saddam Hussein told the world, "The great showdown has begun! The mother of all battles is under way", NBC screened an episode of 'Another World' set on New Year's Eve, which featured a catfight between Iris Carrington Wheeler and Paulina Cantrell, played by Carmen Duncan and Cali Timmins. Close-ups, wide shots and 2-shots were standard soap opera scenes. 'Another World' wrapped in June 1999. Its departure triggered "the largest outcry...in the history of the genre".
