DRW50

A November 1992 SPW interview with Terry Lester mentions that he chose ATWT over playing Frank's father on GL. Imagine how different GL had been if he'd been Buzz Cooper...

Helen Wagner had quit the show during this time. That might be Andy, whoever was playing him at the time.

Oh that's right. I always just associate her with Roger.

Thanks. I wonder if this was due to the last writing change, when they brought in the writers who came up with the grave-robbing/eternal youth stories. Did they write Greta out because they knew the show was ending?

How did his relationship with Katy end? I think they should have brought her in as a mystery figure and let us think she really was married to Mike. Even have her in some flashbacks of a romance with Mike. Then Mike arrives back in town and is horrified and says he doesn't know her. Viewers could wonder whether he's being honest. Then perhaps they could have said Katy had some sort of mental illness or something and Mike could have fallen for her while helping her.

Lovely stuff. I never understood why they had Veleka in two roles at once. Putting her in a Lambchop wig??

April 21, 1992 Soap Opera Weekly. Gabrielle Winkel interviews Linda Gottlieb. GW: Have you totally adjusted to daytime? LG: I was just thinking that last night was the first night I slept eight hours. I have been totally sleep-deprived. This is the hardest thing I've ever done; it's a killer. GW: How did you come to the show? LG: Almost by accident. Mickey (Dwyer-Dobbin, senior vice president, daytime programs, ABC Entertainment) called me - I hadn't spoken to her in decades. She called me out of the blue, but we knew each other form children's programs when I was doing afterschool specials and she was at NBC. She said, "I am looking for someone to do One Life to Live," and I suggested three other people, and then the next week I called her back and asked if it might be a job I would be interested in. She said, "I'd love it if you were." So she said to watch the show, and I called her that night and said "Is this what it is?" She said no, they were looking for someone to change it. So I got interested and wanted to know how much freedom I would have. GW: And have you been given a lot of freedom? LG: I can't think of a single obstacle that's stood in my way. They had a lot set before I came here, there were certain members of the cast, certain things in place. But I changed a lot of things. GW: Why did you decide to have Megan die? It was risky to not leave a window of return for her. LG: I think what's risky is to do this kind of storyline. I believe that Jessica Tuck has the potential to be a movie star. I saw her in the place Welcome to My Life and she was really good, so I don't think she will be back. I begged her to stay. GW: What is your contract? LG: I have a three-year contract. They told me they thought it would take two years to turn the show around and it's been several months and I am very pleased. [someone] said to me that if this keeps up, it will be the fastest turn around on soaps; I've never done it so I don't know. All that I know is I care about the ratings but I don't face them. I only know how to do what I know how to do - and if it doesn't work, I guess they'll get rid of me. I'm not changing my stripes. I'll leave first. GW: Michael Malone (OLTL head writer) has talked about the women's angle. Do you think that' s what makes One Life to Live different? LG: In the end you write from your heart, and that heart is really Michael's and mine, and if the two of us share a vision - which I truly think we do - then that's what the show will be. And it gets to be that simple. My taste and his are very simple, very highbrow in terms of what ways we go. I think our favorite book is Gone With the Wind. We both like highly emotional stories; we like stories that are character-driven. I am much less interested in plot than in who the characters are. There are two keys to the show, the writing and the casting; everything else is a piece of cake. When everybody said, "Oh, the look of the show is terrible, the lighting is terrible, the costumes," in one week they were gone. In one week we hired a new costume designer and she is brilliant. The lighting was terrible and I said, "Who is the best lighting designer at ABC?" I hired someone who changed it and did a wonderful job with the lighting. It was a cinch. A third key is the music, which no one had thought of. Good music changes the experience of the show - bad music doesn't really kill it, but good music raises the audience. Elizabeth Swados worked for us this summer, but she is not continuing on because she mostly does things with live sound performances. So I hired Suzanne Ciani, who's a new-age composer - which was the last thing I wanted - but I listened to her music and she has such a lyrical and emotional sensibility - emotional and very erotic - and you can completely hook into what she is doing. So I created a musical vitality for each character. It's like a train going 100 mph but while it's running you have to try to change every moving part. That is how I saw this job. I was totally overwhelmed. The first two months I was here, and I was trying to learn what was going on, I never once went to the control room. All I focused on was the writing; I tried to figure out a writing team. Meanwhile, the old writers were in place. That was hell, to replace an entire writing team and not miss a show. GW: And I am sure morale suffered. LG: Totally. I think now the morale is superb. I think this show's done a major turn around. Sure, morale always suffers when someone new comes in, having to let some people go. There were actors and writers who were disgruntled, but it was a long-overdue house cleaning. I think that as the new team settled into place, as the actors began to see material that was so different from what they were used to seeing, they began to enjoy being on the show. I think that there is a real feeling that this show is now a quality show, that it's got the most interesting writing, that we are casting true actors for the characters. I cast some unusual people. The guy who plays Andrew (Wortham Krimmer) is a hunk, I think, but not a traditional [one]. GW: Are you going back to Llanview's roots? LG: We basically wanted to make Llanview a more believable place, an emotionally real place. A place of highs and lows, a place with class - which was Agnes' (Nixon, the show's creator) original idea. The first thing I did when I got this job was ask Agnes what the concept of the show was. She said it was about the rich people on a hill and the poor people across from them. But I couldn't even tell, they all began to dress alike. Viki (Erika Slezak) had gotten dirtier, Wanda (Marilyn Chris) had gotten very upward, they all kind of mushed together. So we made the sets much more elegant, upped their wardrobe with gorgeous clothes. The haves and have-nots. That' s the basic story, the concept. I want to show a more ethnic side. GW: What kind of mail did you get on the domestic violence storyline? (The series did a short-term storyline on wife-beating in November 1991.) LG: Extraordinary mail from women who came out of the closet, and that was something. GW: Are you like any of the characters? LG: I suppose. I think I understand and like them all - even Alex (Tonja Walker). I think the part of me in all of them is that they are fun, they have comedy, always, always. All the actors who are cast in the show have to play comedy because I think if you can do that you have that edge. GW: How are you going to keep the momentum the Schezerazade week created? LG: We are going into a very strong love story, the Bo/Sarah (Robert S. Woods/Grace Phillips) story. We are going to play that Bo/Cassie/Sarah triangle up to the point where he has to make a decison about her. It's three decent people caught in a struggle of a man married to two women, he has made his decision to stay with Cassie (Laura Bonarrigo) and now he finds himself pulled back slowly toward Sarah through the whole issue of helping her deal with her problems. Now we have a mystery (Carol's - Thom Christopher - murder) that is in place and that will pull us into May sweeps. Then we have Blair's (Mia Korf) revenge against Dorian (Elaine Princi). GW: What are you going to be doing with Marty? LG: Marty (Susan Haskell) is going to be involved with various people on the campus, drawn toward Jason (Mark Brettschneider), and as the story develops she might be drawn toward Kevin (Joey Thrower). We jut think that she is a really good character. Viki will obviously get more involved with her, as will Andrew. She is in many ways the way Megan was when she first came, and she has the same disease. We also wanted to show somebody who has lupus and survives. GW: Any other new characters you are hunting around for, any new triangles? LG: There is a big triangle developing between Troy (Terry Alexander), Sheila (Valerie Pettiford) and Hank (Nathan Purdee), which I think is a very good story, having a smart, hip, contemporary black guy (Hank) and an assimilated black man (Troy) fight for the same woman. We had a long story done by a black writer named Dennis Wattlington, who is just wonderful and gave us terrific ideas about that storyline. GW: Was Dennis brought in especially for that? LG: He was brought in to consult with us about that storyline in particular, and he really sparked us all and got us excited about it. GW: Sell me on One Life to Live. LG: The most emotionally involving, original, witty show on daytime, with full, quirky characters. This show moves. If you miss a day you miss a lot.

Yeah, a lot of the stuff in the article I didn't know - that Matt and Althea had been together, or about some of the smaller characters of those years. It would have probably been more palatable for viewers if Matt had gotten together with Nora during his last split from Maggie, instead of with younger MJ. I'm not sure who was in charge during this recap. This would be from, what, early December 1981? Would they still be cleaning up from the strike? What was Lacey's exit? Was Calvin a black character? I don't know that much about him. (Edit - he clearly was, as he was played by Larry Riley, later of Knots) The Katy story just never makes sense to me. It's one of the most bizarre ways of bringing in a new character I can think of, and it's especially strange to me to do this with a character as ill-defined as Mike.

Thanks for finding this. What a treat! I wonder if all the emphasis on nudity in the press drove away some potential viewers, both those who didn't want to see nudity, and those who did, and were let down by the end product.

October 1954 TV Radio Mirror The marriage of Carolyn and Miles Nelson survived an ingenious effort to to part the during his term as governor of the state, and Carolyn has high hopes their deep, strong relationship re-established on its old, satisfying basis. But a new, unexpected strain throws a frightening light on the future. Will Carolyn's determination and faith be enough to carry her through the time ahead?

April 21, 1992 Soap Opera Weekly. Part 1 of John Kelly Genovese's history of The Doctors. The afternoon of April 1, 1963 was a milestone for televised hospital dramas. ABC premiered General Hospital and NBC replaced Young Doctor Malone with The Doctors. The Doctors was a medical anthology series created by veteran soap writer Orin Tovrov, and was set in a fictional New England hospital called Hope Memorial. Ironically, NBC's new entry was soon to evolve into a format similar to its predecessors - a traditional soap that focused on a father and son who were both doctors, with equal emphasis given to family stories and medical drama. When it became clear that most soap viewers were not interested in episodic drama, the show's format was changed to feature one storyline per week. Only Scollay remained from the original cast, and James Pritchett became the show's new protagonist, Dr. Matt Powers, the austere chief of staff. A widower, Matt had always neglected his family for his medical career, causing great distress for his son, Mike (played as a teenager by Rex Thompson). Matt's reserve began to crumble when he met Dr. Maggie Fielding (originally played by the late Ann Williams). Thanks to Matt and Maggie's popularity, The Doctors was transformed into a regular, continuing soap on March 2, 1964. Soon after, another major character was introduced to be romantically linked with both Matt Powers and the Rev. Shafer - the coolly professional but somewhat neurotic Dr. Althea Davis (Elizabeth Hubbard, now the indomitable Lucinda on As the World Turns). Althea's spitfire daughter, Penny Davis, was played by several actresses, including Christopher Norris (now Rebecca on Guiding Light) and Julia Duffy (Designing Women). In its first few years as a bona fide soap, The Doctors' main romantic thrust was provided by Matt and Maggie. She was pursued by a persistent ex-flame, Wyoming rancher Brock Hayden (Adam Kennedy), then she hastily married wealthy philanderer Kurt Van Alen (Byron Sanders, later Talbot Huddleston on One Life to Live), who ended up murdered. Meanwhile, Matt briefly became engaged to Althea, who eventually became a platonic friend, and was vainly pursued by Maggie's flighty younger sister, Nora Hansen (Joan Anderson). Nora married good-natured Dr. Steve Lloyd (Craig Huebing, later Dr. Peter Taylor on GH) after the death of his terminally ill wife, Judy (Joanna Petet). Other featured players in the early years included film star Ellen Burstyn (then known as Ellen McCrae) as Dr. Kate Bartok, Robert Gentry (most recently Jordan Hale on General Hospital) as teenage surf bum Brad Murphy, and Gerald S. O'Loughlin as hospital custodian Pete Banas. By 1966, Matt and Maggie were a happily married couple, predictable and tame. And so were The Doctors' ratings. Around that time there was serious talk that NBC might cancel all of its soaps - The Doctors, Days of Our Lives and AW. Fortunately, all three shows were saved by new writers. Days got William Bell, AW landed Agnes Nixon and The Doctors acquired Rita Lakin. Under Lakin's regime, the halls of Hope Memorial came alive with witty, offbeat banter. Most important, Lakin gave The Doctors a potent shot in the arm with a new kind of character: a stubborn, hot-headed Italian who had risen above the mean streets of Chicago to become a brilliant neurosurgeon. This crude but irresistible anti-hero, Dr. Nick Bellini, was played with Sinatra-esque gusto by Gerald Gordon (who afterwards was Dr. Nick Dante on GH). Lakin paired Bellini with Althea, creating one of daytime's most dramatic studies in romantic contrast. Another upbeat character - though shorter-lived - was happy go lucky Dr. John Rice, played by the appealng Terry Kiser. And for bitchcraft intrigue, Laryssa Lauret was introduced as the Germanic, seductive Dr. Karen Werner, who tried unsuccessfully to win Matt away from Maggie. By this time, Ann Williams had left the show and Maggie was played by Bethel Leslie (Claudia Connor, All My Children) and then Lydia Bruce. Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock (later of Dynasty) took over as head writers from 1980 to '75. In their characteristic manner, the Pollocks embroiled their major couples in fast-moving, melodramatic storylines. Bit plyer Carolee Campbell was elevated to co-star status as quiet, earthy nurse Carolee Simpson, who was matched up twith David O'Brien's reformed heel, Dr. Steve Aldrich. When Steve had a flinger with Karen Werner, Carolee hastily married the insanely jealous Dr. Dan Allison (Richard Higgs), who did himself in and framed Steve for the deed. Meanwhile, Althea married another obsessive psycho, Dr. John Morrison (played deliciously by Patrick Horgan), who was none other than the chief of psychiatry. The show became so farfetched that both Karen and Michael Powers (then a full-fledged doctor, played by Armand Assante) returned from the supposed dead at the same time in separate storylines. Karen fought the happily married Carolee and Steve for custody of Erich (Keith Blanchard), her son by Steve, while Michael was furious to discover his wife, Toni (Anna Stuart, now Donna on AW) in the arms of his cousin, Dr. Alan Stewart (Gil Gerard). Fortunately, amid the show's endless supply of fanciful melodrama, The Doctors could claim two of soapdom's finest actresses in prominent supporting roles. Sally Gracie was absolutely precious as Martha Allen, the salt-of-the-earth lab technician who was Nick's confidant, and Meg Mundy was a commanding presence as Mona Aldrich Croft, Steve's dominating, nouveau riche mother. Then the Pollocks left - and Hope Memorial entered an exciting new era.

LOLFanMe has uploaded some more Another Life episodes, with the Der Salam Bible story and some of the DOMI story with the hypnotic Vanessa.

October 23, 1984 Digest.

This issue also says that Mike and Lacey will be married on October 19 and 20.

January 5, 1982 Digest recap.

I can believe that Lemay liked Pat, and Liz, but he seemed to have little use at all for the rest of the family in his writing.

October 23, 1984 Digest. First recap.

That's a nice photo. Did they ever pair up on the show?

I think the problem I had with just Bert and Bea as ears is that you can't talk to them fully. Bert, because you have too much respect for her and are intimidated by her (I can't see Rita talking to her about sex), and Bea because, well, frankly, every time I see Bea I find her to be so very silly and squeaky that it's hard for me to believe she raised 6 kids on her own. Sara would have been a good contrast to Bert. Lenore Kasdorf was one of the hottest women ever on daytime. My father, who rarely watches any soap, remembers her because of how good looking she was. She was also such an understated actress. She fit in perfectly with the Dobson-era, but I actually think Pam Long would have done a great job with her too. She seems like a Long-style character. It was the Dobsons who had a lot of the sexual frigidity stories - Amanda, Rita. I was going to ask you if you remember Maureen spending any time with Nola in Nola's last year on the show? I was watching some "Quola" clips of that last year, or last 6 months anyway, and Maureen never appears once, even in family scenes with Bea, Jim, Tony, Annabelle, and Nola. I guess she must have been at Hillary's funeral but that was more because of her Bauer ties. When Quint and Nola were leaving, did you feel like their exit was depressing? To me, having them leave based on Nola needing to commit to her husband, no matter what, even if it means giving everything else up, takes away from the mystery and fun of their earlier years. It also unwittingly sets up the broken and bitter Nola we saw later on. Then they brought Floyd in, clearly just to show he was going nuts over killing Andy Ferris. It's so depressing seeing him unable to even say goodbye to his daughter. At the time did you think Floyd was in love with Beth or that it made sense that he killed Andy? I see Katie in some of these. Did she disappear after Floyd left or before?

Thanks so much for all of this. I wonder how long most of the characters mentioned here lasted (aside from the big names).

You're right. I wish they'd tried taking this to TV. I wonder why they didn't. The show as it goes on sounds a lot like Search for Tomorrow.

Irna Phillips liked to dump actors very quickly.

I only remember him playing Ed for a few months in late 1997, although it could have been longer. He had the feud with Jesse and Jesse's father. When I watch the few clips of the old days over again I really wish they'd found a way to keep Milette Alexander on the show. They obviously were pruning "old" characters, but Milette was quite beautiful, and she was a good mentor figure for troubled, younger female characters. I can see her trying to deal with out of control Nola, Reva, etc. TJ also could have had story with the age group Nola/Floyd/etc. and expanded to other groups. Here's one of those "good luck seeing that on a soap today" scenes where Rita talks about faking it.

Oh that's right. I get all of them confused. Was it Kit who had the snooty aunt who wanted her niece to stay away from the Perrinis? January 1979 Digest.

Thanks for that. He looks like Adric from Doctor Who.