Christmas in Bay City

It may seem hard to believe now, but in its heyday Another World was the crown jewel of NBC’s daytime lineup.  For decades viewers tuned in to watch the trials and tribulations of the Frames, Matthews, Hudsons, and of course the Corys—generations of viewers followed the story of Rachel Davis Cory, and the many romantic entanglements, marriages, and children that punctuated her life.  The daytime drama ran for thirty-five years and more than 8800 episodes, until NBC, in its infinite lack of wisdom, decided to pull the plug.

Picture it:  Bay City, December 25, 1991.  Frankie Frame is wrapping Christmas presents when her cousin Dean bounds downstairs, off to visit his girlfriend Jenna.  “Merry Christmas, Mary Frances,” she mutters while wrapping presents.  There isn’t much holiday spirit in the house, though—Frankie became estranged from her beau, Cass Winthrop, when his presumed dead wife, Kathleen, returned to town, only to leave again when she realized Cass had found someone better suited for him.  They became further estranged after the death of her Aunt Sharlene left a void in the lives of John Hudson and his young son, Gregory, and thus Frankie and John grew closer when she stepped in as a surrogate mother.  All hope is not lost, though.  Cass is moping at the office when his friend, Felicia, swoops in as only she can and conscripts him to play Santa for a group of orphans.  He tries to protest, but she reminds him that he has a Santa suit in his attic.  A-ha!  If he agrees to stand in as Santa—and of course he does, because Felicia is his best friend and he could never ignore such a noble cause—it means he will have to come face-to-face with his lady love.  It works out for the best, because everything should on Soap Opera Christmas.  They find the suit, she puts some blush on his cheeks to give him a rosier complexion, and he recruits her to be Santa’s helper in handing out children’s gifts.  Afterward they return home and reminisce, leading to some spontaneous decorating (for Dean’s sake, they try to convince themselves) and finally a Christmas kiss, no mistletoe required.

Meanwhile across town, the Cory house is filling up quickly.  Ada and Rachel are there, naturally, as well as Rachel’s children Jamie Frame and Amanda.  Amanda’s husband Sam Fowler and their daughter Alli are there, as well as Hannah, who works as an underling for Iris.  Paulina, recently separated from everyone’s favorite scoundrel Jake McKinnon, isn’t much for celebrating either, and spends much of the episode hiding in either her room or the study.  Rachel’s son, Matt, has gone to visit Lorna, with whom he works at the record label he cofounded with Dean.  He invites his new love to dinner, much to Rachel’s chagrin.  At the same time, Liz Matthews has called and Rachel invites her to dinner, too; this creates discomfort as she is bringing her niece, Olivia, with whom Sam had an affair while he wasn’t with Amanda.  Olivia is now pregnant, and claiming Sam is the daddy, while the truth of the matter is that Olivia is carrying the child of Dennis Wheeler, the son of Iris.  Of course Dennis shows up to spend Christmas with his mother; he and Olivia pretend to be mere acquaintances rather than former lovers.  Iris has brought Spencer Harrison as her date, while Rachel invited the DA Kevin Anderson, who had an indictment pending against Spencer.  Adding to the tension-filled atmosphere, Paulina attempts to contact Spencer’s son Grant, with whom she was briefly involved.  Spencer tells her to move on, because his son already has.  Dinner occurs off-screen, presumably because they would need a table the length of Brooklyn to seat everyone.  At some point, Vicky Hudson shows up and offers to be a surrogate for ex-husband Jamie and barren twin sister Marley (who is too upset to appear at the Cory home); these scenes attempt to play up the tension between Vicky and Paulina, who would both love and lose Jake more than once, but unless you were a regular viewer of the show, the scene falls a bit flat.  The Vicky-Jamie -Marley-Jake-Paulina pentagon is further complicated by the fact that—shh!—Paulina was hiding the fact that she had shot Jake, which left him comatose.  The list of suspects was both long and justified; Jake broke hearts everywhere he went.

Elsewhere Dean has arrived at the home of Lucas and Felicia, who are Jenna’s adopted parents.  Lucas isn’t really a member of the Dean Frame Fan Club, but he does want his daughter to be happy and thus lets Dean play a part in decorating the Christmas tree.  Afterward he takes her on a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the woods, where he has decorated a tree for just the two of them. The snow is falling, and the tree lights up.  It’s very romantic but I have no clue where he found an outlet in the forest.  Back at home, Lucas and Felicia share a candlelight dinner and toast to their love for each other.

At day’s end, various couples celebrate, and while Ada remarks that they might not be the Waltons, they did manage to pull off Christmas.  Rachel says that while her family may be imperfect, she wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Sadly, this marked Ada’s final appearance at Christmastime; Constance Ford was too ill to work after November 1992 and passed away in early 1993.  The character of Ada died that spring.  Throughout the episode, Christmas carols play in the background, including “Blue Christmas” by Elvis.  Obviously this episode is nearly twenty-five years old, but it harkens back to another time and place, when soaps had the budgets to create elaborate holiday celebrations and utilize music to tell a story.  I think we can all agree that, for whatever foibles may have crippled the show in its final years, our friends in Bay City are much-missed.  

Note:  All photos and captures and character background contained herein is the copyright of Proctor & Gamble Productions and the NBC network who originally aired the episode.