DRW50

A few cute moments with Leslie Charleson and other soap stars.

Unsurprisingly, Rick Perry has leap-frogged ahead of everyone else in the GOP field, including media darling Mitt Romney. Romney was only going to have a real chance if no one else palatable was in the field. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/perry-takes-the-lead-for-gop-nomination-in-two-national-polls.php?ref=fpa I can't get into "This is bad for Republicans" because honestly I think Perry has a better chance of beating Obama than Romney does. Perry is channeling so much of the ugliness in this country right now.

saynotoursoap very very kindly uploaded a March 1983 episode of Search for Tomorrow. Stephanie takes in a young girl while there are fireworks between Liza and her nasty father-in-law Rusty. What happened with the story with Stephanie and this girl? And with her older brother Craig Augistine? I like the idea of Stephanie mentoring a troubled girl, especially since Wendy was already grown by this time. I must say I was surprised at how raggedly styled Maree Cheatham was; it's not far off from her GH character. The scenes with Liza and Rusty are a strange mix. They seem to be trying for Dynasty/Dallas style melodrama. Sherry Mathis does a good job with the material, overall, but the guy who plays Rusty is not good at all. I really wish someone like Doug Marland could have written for Liza. I know he wasn't necessarily a miracle worker but he handled the super-glam/everyday fusion of ATWT very well and I wonder what he would have done for her. Sherry Mathis was so beautiful, even in the slightly cheap fur. What a presence she had. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boeIR_qE95Q&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C45if59RFKw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

saynotoursoap was generous enough to upload the first episode of The City. I had mixed feelings on The City at the time - I missed Loving, so I didn't really watch until close to the last months. I do remember some of the premiere. Nothing really seems to happen and some of the shots are too "cute" (like Ally rollerblading around the loft office), but I like some moments, such as Jacob showing us Angie's office. I also like the scenes with Sydney and the homeless man - having her keep his money was kind of a gutsy choice and I like how Morgan Fairchild plays this. I wish they'd done this type of thing more often with her and characters who weren't in her social circle. I still think Nick Rivers was Roscoe Born's best soap role. I'll never understand why they did what they did with Frankie a few months into the show. Ted King really overacts here, which I think one of the soap columnists mentioned at the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np3lTvqKSYk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSMc4HXgmSk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

saynotoursoap was kind enough to upload a February 1986 episode. I have to admit I have mixed feelings on the little of Capitol I've seen, mostly because I probably haven't seen some of the better episodes (I remember one with Zed Diamond brawling on a boat as Cat Hickland screams) and because the style doesn't always mesh for me, but I really enjoyed this episode. It's very earnest, but in a good way - like early B&B or Bell's best Y&R. It's beautiful to look at. There are real moments of tenderness and poignancy throughout. And it's just beautiful to look at, especially the scenes at the estate. The last scenes are, aside from that Judy Landers painting, genuinely Gothic and reel you in. I should also praise the scene early on with Trey/Kelly and later with Trey and Jordy. Just intense, human moments of love and compassion. It's made me revise my opinion of Nick Walker. So how did Jenny/Julie end up, and what was the story with Leanne? Didn't she end up going down the stairs? I know this has been answered before but my memory sucks and I'm lazy so please tell me again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9mKoQfP1hw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxweWGzapKM&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

July 1983 Digest article. By NERISSA RADEL In 1974, while they were still writing for Love of Life, Paul Avila Mayer and Claire Labine began work on another soap opera. Ryan's Hope, as it was called, was different right from the very start. In 1975, when the show premiered on ABC, most soap operas were situated in fictional American cities. Ryan's Hope, however, was one of a kind. The Irish Catholic Ryan family, headed by Maeve and Johnny Ryan (expertly played by Helen Gallagher and Bernard Barrow) ran a neighborhood bar - not in everyone's town - but in New York City! Maeve and Johnny didn't own a house or have a luxurious apartment. They lived right upstairs from their bar with their four children, whom they unabashedly loved. In fact, Ryan's Hope was all about that love and the various forms it took within that close family. Sound simple? Well, it was... From 1975 to 1980, Paul and Claire produced, packaged and wrote their show very successfully for ABC. But in 1980, for financial reasons, Claire and Paul sold Ryan's Hope to the network. During that time, the series had won 11 Daytime Emmys, including two awards for Best Show and four awards for Best Writing. "We were probably the lowest paid writers in daytime when we were winning all those awards" Paul smiles. "In fact, I know we were. We paid ourselves the absolute minimum so all the money could go back into the show. As soon as there was extra money, the actors got it. We were constantly overbudget." Once ABC owned the show, "Ryan's Hope" began to change. "There was a difference in opinion as to which direction the show should take," Paul reflects. "The network wanted a new family on the show," Claire says. "And I have to say this in all justice - philosophically, it was a viable decision. We had worked the veins of the Ryans at that point! ABC had breathed new life into 'One Life to Live' by bringing a new family in. But the problem here was that Paul and I had been doing this show for seven years and we were making up a new family on demand. We didn't feel the need for it." Nevertheless, because they had relinquished creative control by selling the show, Paul and Claire created the Kirklands, a wealthy, power-monger family. Hollis Kirkland was played by veteran star Peter Haskell. Hollis fairly burst onto the Ryan's Hopestage and his plotline, which linked him to the show's other reigning power-monger, Rae Woodard, soon consumed the entire serial. It was the end of "Ryanness," as a new emphasis on glitz, intrigue and heavy plotting took over. Viewers who had known and loved Ryan's Hope for its down-to-earth storylines didn't know what to make of it, and the ratings dropped to an all-time low. "We got a little off the track," says Michael Levin who, as Jack Fenelli, has intrigued fans for eight years with his role as a crusading newspaper columnist. "When we were good, we really did good work and it wasn't about millionaires and gangsters and mystery and adventure." (Once ABC owned the show, the plots began to focus on way-out storylines a l a General Hospital.) "The good work was just about human beings trying to love one another or not to love one another. The whole idea of 'Ryan's Hope' is that it's a hope for love and for trust...and that's not easy," he adds. Yet, despite their commitment to "Ryan's Hope," Paul and Claire left the show fifteen months after they sold it to ABC."We were fired," Claire says matter-of-factly. "I went back to work in February of 1982 without Paul to find that there were various changes in personnel." "We'd gotten into trouble when the scenes the network wanted written weren't the kind of scenes Claire wanted to write or were written for performers who couldn't fill them," adds Paul. "The result was, the scenes didn't work. When we wrote for the Ryans, the scenes worked." So several months later, Claire left the show again. But in January of 1983, ABC approached both Paul and Claire about returning. Needless to say, there was some major overhauling to be done. Some of these "steps" included rather drastic moves, such as the releasing of nine characters from the show (including the entire Kirkland family). Plots were dropped right in the middle of their actionlines. Several primary roles were recast. Says Paul, "It wasn't the performers' fault, but if you look at those other characters, they were all nasty people grubbing for money. We write a very sentimental show, about love and sex, things we're interested in. We wanted to go back and build the stories around the family which meant we had to lose some of the Kirklands." There were other compromises both the writers and the network reached. "We came back to the show with the understanding that we could get our original casting director, Shirley Rich, back," Claire explains. "Shirley had found all our other wonderful original cast members, and we wanted another Frank Ryan for the show. (Daniel Hugh-Kelly, who was the last actor to play the part, left in 1981.) We also wanted to have Malcolm Groome, the original Pat Ryan, come back because he's great and because his presence on the set brings such joy to everyone who works with him. There was a perfectly lovely actor, James Clark, who was playing the role," Claire admits,";but he wasn't Malcolm. In order for us to come back, we wanted Malcolm back, too." Malcolm Groome, who'd left the serial in 1978, is thrilled to be back in New York and on the show. ";'Ryan's Hope' is a great working situation," he exclaims. "The fact that I'm back and that the whole show is going back to its original thrust should make a difference. The Ryans and the Coleridges were getting to be strangers on their own show...Paul and Claire's return will make a big difference, and we're already starting to see that. We're all very excited." For Malcolm, the reclaiming of his role as Pat Ryan was a natural process."As an actor, you bring part of yourself to a part. When I decided to come back, I thought through Pat as I had felt him, how he would have grown since then, etc. Actually, I came right in at the peak of Jimmy Clark's storyline. I literally jumped in and brought my understanding of Pat as I had always known him to that situation." Ilene Kristen, another Ryan's Hope original, had left her role as Delia Reed Ryan Coleridge after three and a half ears of creating a character who alternatively amused and infuriated audiences. As Delia, Ilene stopped at nothing, including a fake bout of blindness, to get what she wanted - usually attention from a man. When Randall Edwards - who'd been playing the role of Delia - decided to leave the show, ABC approached Ilene about coming back. Although Claire and Paul have established their interest in keeping as much of the original cast as possible, Randall Edwards' Delia was someone they could write for. "When Ilene left the show in 1979, it was hard to replace her," Claire sums up. "But what Randall did was astonishing. She managed to continue the line of the character, to be her own Delia, and still be a Delia Paul and I enjoyed writing for." Unlike Groome, Ilene had a harder time resuming her role after another actress had played the part. "It was totally different," Ilene says of Randall's characterization. "As Dee, I suddenly had this restaurant with which I didn't know what to do. I had to dress up in elegant clothes. Dee is a real streetfighter in a way, and the story had become very opulent - so had the show. I kept wondering what happened to those simple souls. I mean, they'd gone Hollywood!" Nancy Addison, another original cast member, had several problems with her character during the Kirkland reign. "I like Jill," Nancy says of her character, Jill Coleridge, one of daytime's first liberated women. "The year and a half while we were waiting to find another Frank Ryan for me was excruciating! The focus went to an entirely different thing and none of the old people were being used. Viewers were used to these good family people who owned a bar and their good friends, the Coleridges, who had money. They were used to the love, the conflict, the children. All of a sudden we were trying to be something we weren't, and we couldn't make it there. I was feeling down about the show for a while," Nancy admits. Now that Paul and Claire have returned to Ryan's Hope, the show seems to be headed right back where it belongs. Needless to say, there will be various problems to overcome - not the least of which is a heavy, rich past to contend with. "One of the problems with re-focusing on the Ryan family is that there have been so many inter-relationships," Claire comments."We have to avoid playing what we've already done." For example, one of the hottest stories in the late 70's was the love triangle between Jill-Frank-Dee. For a while, it seemed as though this same situation was brewing. Comments Paul, "The outlines were ten days ahead of taping, and we really thought that in all honesty Dee, who'd had everything taken away from her, would go after Frank when he came home again. Having written this for eight years, we used up a lot of our fantasies. It's sometimes hard to find things that are fresh." Of particular interest over the years have been the romances between the Coleridge sisters (Jill and Faith), and the Ryan brothers, Frank and Pat. ";I'd like to see Jill and Frank get married," says Claire - no doubt speaking for the hundreds of viewers who agree with her -"and have the most loving, the most trying relationship in the world of soap opera marriages. That's what we've promised the audience." As for the Pat and Faith romance, which seems to be headed for a triangle-type twist not unlike the Dee-Pat-Faith story of the late 70's: "This is where we're in danger of being on worn ground," Claire admits. "But there's a difference between Amanda (the third part of the triangle) and Dee. Pat's response to both of them will be clearly drawn - Amanda is mad, curably mad. What is fun to play is Pat and Faith trying to be responsible to one another and then to this person, Amanda, who's in this emotional mess." Another compelling storyline will be the tempestuous romance between Jack Fenelli and Leigh Kirkland (played by Felicity LaFortune). Viewers who remember the emotional relationship between Jack Fenelli and his first wife, Mary Ryan (originally played by the incomparable Kate Mulgrew), will watch as Jack once again puts aside his fear of being love and once again makes himself vulnerable to a woman. "We're going to do this in a very challenging way," smiles Michael Levin. "I hope the audience is ready for Jack to fall in love again." Yes, Ryan's Hope is back where it belongs. "I hated to see it battered and and bloodied," Claire says. "We have the best dialogue writers in daytime: Nancy Ford, Judith Pinsker and Mary Munisteri. One of the most touching things anyone's ever said about the show is something Mary said once - 'I would rather be a part of a contributing popular myth than Proust," Paul adds. "Contributing is the operative word here. In order to do this, we have to invest a certain passion and caring. We know 'Ryan's Hope' is going to work again."

Who's Who in Daytime TV circa early to mid-1975.

Thanks for telling us more about the Averys. I didn't know any of that. I wonder if that's true about many fans being upset with Jim returning as a villain. Didn't he leave as a villain?

Thank you for filling in the extra details. I think the short hair suited Veleka more than the longer hair she has in the clip itself, although not that strange Jodie Foster circa 1978 style she has in the credits. So was this during Holloway's run? I wish I could see some scenes with Meg and Sarah. That's what I really wish for - the dynamics between the sisters and their mother.

I wonder how long he was on VL. I know she married a governor but that didn't seem to be him. Is it me or does Arthur always seem like a very weak man?

It's hard to see Meg playing a prostitute! I don't even like to think about what she probably went through. I wonder what happened to Weber. It seems like he didn't do that much after the show. I kind of feel for him just being a placeholder for a few years.

I wonder if they may have just written both Mike and Lacey out - Kin Shriner said he was leaving, and Philece didn't exactly seem fond of her role when interviewed a year or two later.

Thanks for the extra detail. I wish we could see Young's run.

Who's Who in Daytime TV for 1977.

Watching some of the St. Croix climax again, and what led up to it (what is available, anyway), I notice that Mitch was an active part of Janice's plan to kill Mitch, and even encouraged it, to a point, when she was initially unsure. Only at the end did he seem to want her to get help and to stop poisoning Mac. Did the show initially plan to write out both Mitch and Janice, but Espy's popularity caused them to redeem Mitch at the last minute? How soon did they plan to turn Janice so crazy? The Janice of the 1979 material is scheming and mercurial but she's not evil. Christine Jones is so luminous and chilling in her performances. Even at the end, when Janice is at her most destroyed, she just looks sensational and you are hooked on her. I really wonder why the show didn't consider keeping her around. I always like the image of Rachel having to save the day, no one else being able. Good luck seeing that on a soap now. That whole scene is so homoerotic, especially when Janice says she doesn't want Mac anymore, as she goes toward Rachel. I know she probably meant Mitch, but still...

That's a shame. I wonder if the experience with Young Marrieds soured him.

Was Young Marrieds his first soap?

He was on the show off and on for about 2-4 years, I think. I always thought the story ended because it was a little too lot to handle, and Gleason seemed like a character.

Those sound like fascinating stories. The one about Ann and her pregnancy is very ahead of its time - that sounds like something GH would have done about 5-6 years later. At least they did give TV Picture Life the outslines of what the stories would have been if they hadn't been canceled, so fans could have something of a happy ending. Was John Hess involved in any other soaps?

January 1979 Afternoon TV.

Early March 1981 Digest.

Early March 1981 Digest.