DRW50

MichaelGL, I have the synopsis right after this one. Do you want me to type it out or have you already seen it?

Yeah I was shocked to see an interview with a producer in here. That seems pretty rare for this time. I also wonder what happened to him. I didn't see him listed in IMDB. The story about the car crash was interesting, and about the Claibornes. What do we know about their characters? So was Weiss still producer when SS was canceled? I hope Brent is still reading the thread.

I posted this in the Secret Storm thread, but it's a 10/71 TV Dawn to Dusk interview with Chuck Weiss, who produced SS and WTHI at this time. He talks a bit about the sequence where Vicki pushed Mary Hathaway down the stairs.

This is from the October 1971 TV Dawn to Dusk (Ideal Publishing). My scanner is a little iffy right now but I will type up the article. It's an interview with the producer at this time of Secret Storm and Where the Heart Is. Please Don't Refer to Chuck Weiss, Executive Producer, As Scrooge Many's the time you've seen those credits whirl by, and probably wondered to yourself, Executive Producer, hmmmmm, what does he do? Chuck Weiss, whose name appears under that impressive title both for Secret Storm and Where the Heart Is, promptly points out, "I do not do as much in the studio as the producer does. My work is mostly with the writers." Rangy, buoyant, quick-witted, at 32 Chuck easily could pass for a young leading man on one of his shows, but he has absolutely no inclination to be an actor. "I like," he says, "being a producer very much. To me, the producer's function is to get the right people together, the right combination of creative people, to give them the kind of stimuli they need to keep their brains working, and to get the best out of them. I get great joy out of watching it happen." Although he does not personally supervise rehearsals or the actual televising of his two serials, he does ultimately make all the major decisions. These include casting, negotiating contracts, overseeing and approving all new sets, and above all, meeting endlessly with the writers to iron out script and story problems and to plan ahead for future developments in the plot. What with Chuck's attending actors' auditions, each show's daily dress rehearsal, story conferences, business conferences, production meetings, and his reading and analyzing weekly story outlines, daily script breakdowns, plus ten scripts every week, he can justifiably say, "It's an impossible job. I haven't had a vacation in three years. I'm sailing to Europe in a few weeks, and I don't care if this building falls into the river." The building, of course, is the enormous CBS production center on West 57th Street in New York City, from which both shows are televised, and where Chuck has a warmly panelled office. One of the constant concerns of a man in his position - and of any TV program executive - must be with how large an audience his shows attract, as measured by the rating services. When the rating falls, he says, "I spent a lot of time figuring out why. If it rises, I'm very happy. "If the rating drop is chronic, and there doesn't seem to be any way out, you get new writers. I don't like to do that if it can be avoided, because I think it's better to work with people who are familiar with the show. But if the writer doesn't know what to do with the story, or it isn't going well, you have a hard decision to make. "Changing a writer means a period of adjustment, for the show, the actors, everywhere. The heart of the show is really the writer. No matter how you cut it, the writer is the person who keeps it going. "I frankly think that if a writer and a producer have decided on a story and they think it's good, they should have some faith in it, and let it go for a while, not jump the minute it drops two rating points, and say, 'Oh God, we've got to change it.' Usually the stuff that you change hasn't yet been aired. So how do you know it's not going to work? "If we find the audience in previous weeks was, say, more interested in Sean and Amy, then we realize they're less interested in another area of the story. So for the immediate future, we would try to concentrate more on the Sean-Amy story, while we fix the other stuff. Hopefully, we then can have two good things running at the same time." Mr. Weiss' story planning also encompasses things like focusing more heavily on younger people during the summer to attract kids who are home from school, and avoiding peaks in the action during holiday times when audiences generally shrink. For him personally, peaks of excitement come when there's a spectacular episode, as for example when Mary Hathaway got pushed down the stairs by Vicky on Where the Heart Is. "It was," he glows, "really super. We got a stunt girl in, did the actual fall, and shot it with cameras up on cranes, so we could follow her down the whole flight. It was beautifully done. I was very proud. Everybody worked hard to get it. "We also turned it into a dream sequence that Vicki remembered afterward, using a slow motion disc and some strange color stuff. I think it was as good as anything that would be on at night, if not better. And the ratings went up." He then went on to describe how the terrifying car crash was accomplished on Secret Storm. "You put Amy and Mickey in a car. You project chromakey filmed landscape onto a screen behind them. This is the same technique they use on the news, the images you see behind the newscaster. Anyway, we put that behind our actors, with lots of snow coming down, windshield wipers going, traffic noises, sounds of the car speeding, 'Oh my God!,' and screech of brakes. The camera moves in on the persons, their fear and horror, and you go to black. "What we did with this particular crash, was toward the end we ran it into slow motion. Then we stopped on Amy's face, screaming behind the windshield, and went to black. As much as he enjoys unusual scenes like these, Chuck also has reservations about them. He feels, "A good strong emotional scene where something is happening with the actors is really far better than a gimmick to end a show, wrap up a story, or create a high point. Besides, you can't do it too often, or the bloom would be off the rose." Chuck's chief headache as a producer is illness among the actors. He shuddered, remembering when Diana Van der Vlis (Kate Hathaway) came down with chicken pox, shortly after Stephanie Braxton (Laurie Stevens) had contract the disease. He was terrified it might spread all through the studio. Substitute performers have to be brought in to keep the show going, and the viewers complain bitterly about these substitutions. He recalls, "When Terry Kiser (Sean McGonigle) got sick, and we had to replace him for a few days, the phones started ringing from all over the country. Letters came in raging. 'How dare you do that to us!'" Perhaps the most painful feature of Mr. Weiss' job is the necessity occasionally to fire people. "I hate it," he laments. "I just pray people do their work well. The actors, however, understand these things. They feel bad, and I feel bad, but sometimes you have to call one in and say, well listen, it looks like Hugh Claiborne and his wife, Jill, are going to go down in a plane crash, just around Christmas Eve. It was not expected, but we find out we've got to do it for story. "I was at a wedding in Pennsylvania just after the segment featuring the crash occurred. Some women found out that I produced Storm, and I was practically attacked bodily for killing those two people. How could I be so mean? And just before Christmas! They called me 'Scrooge.'" Chuck has also been on the wrong end of some wildly outraged phone calls. When he was with Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, Iris, he relates, "was going to be married. She'd run away from her first wedding, and coming up was her second or third time. A woman viewer called up and said that she was having all of her friends over for a wedding party for Iris and if Iris didn't show up at the altar, she would be so embarrassed, so furious with all of us, she would never watch the show again. "And all I could say way, 'Madame, you'll have to watch the show.' "Iris did not show up, and the phone rang off the hook from all these people. Then this woman from the Bronx called in, and she was furious. She said, 'I had all these people over for her wedding, and I have never been so embarrassed in my life!'" Chuck began the climb to his present position as a production assistant with CBS News and public affairs about ten years ago. In addition to working on such CBS series as Accent And Chronicle, and such dramatic specials as The Life of Charles Dickens, has he co-produced a feature film directed by Mai Zetterling, an off-Broadway revival of Truman Capote's House of Flowers and has been associate producer on the now-defunct ABC soap A Time For Us. He returned to CBS as associate producers of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing three years ago, subsequently was advanced to producer of both that show and Secret Storm. "Then," he relates, "they asked me to take over Where the Heart Is because it's in trouble." To relax, Chuck retreats almost every weekend to a house near Woodstock, New York, about two hours from the city. "I'm a bachelor," he admits. "Doing these shows, I know what marriage is like. I mean, it's fraught with problems. Being a bachelor is much simpler." Chuck's home is on a 56-acre property, with a blue stone quarry in the woods for swimming, and a living room with a wall of glass looking out on the Catskill Mountains. He's recently added a glass and stone hexagonal adjunct containing two bedrooms and a kind of wild bathroom - the tub surrounded by blue stone and Italian tile floors. For the future, Chuck thinks television is going toward cassettes. "There are," he believes, "people who want better programming. And I think they're willing to pay for it. I know I would be. I don't know what the networks are going to do, but I don't think this kind of programming is going to last forever. It can't." By Albert J. Zuckerman

For any fans like me who love the old days, someone put up a Women of Corrie video from 1998, full of a lot of clips of various strong females (remember when Corrie had those?) of the show's first 37 years. They also have the 40th anniversary special, and the first 6 episodes. http://www.youtube.com/user/Coronationstreettube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsZOVhdbgf4

I was also going to ask if you had seen the 1978 episode that Oakdalian uploaded, or the 1981/2 episode genoacityguy uploaded. PatC2000 and ChuckR7 also have some clips of the early 80s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ZOM0vnGTA I always thought it was interesting that the first Liz quit because she knew Irna Phillips couldn't stand her, and wanted to kill Liz, through pneumonia, but fan outcry stopped it. Then with the recast Irna wanted to burn her alive on her honeymoon, but P&G said no because that had been done recently, so Liz fell up the stairs. Do you remember the recast or did you not notice at the time?

I was not fond of Glynnis O'Connor as Margo at the time, but looking back she doesn't seem too bad. I think I just missed Ellen Dolan. Unfortunately most of Ellen's material after her return wasn't great, so now I don't have that same protective nature towards the character. My interest in ATWT started to falter after Lyla and Iva left and then hit bottom when they fired so many of my favorites in mid-95. I tuned in and out after that and sometimes enjoyed myself but generally it was never quite the same. I still think if they'd had a chance they could have gotten themselves together. P&G and CBS did not give them that chance. I wonder why they wanted to change the names to Dee and Annie. Did that annoy you at the time? I'd love to see some of Liz Talbot, I've heard so much about her. When I get a chance I'll post more of the 70s-era ATWT. I also posted a lot in the Tribute Thread, not sure if you read that or not. Thanks for sharing your memories.

What do you think they could have done to keep Valerie around? I wish they had found a way. I also wish they could have brought Judith back when Santa Barbara ended. I didn't know that Ariane had also played Annie. I can see why that was distracting. I think the brother was Beau. I wish I could see some of Reckell and Dana Delaney. It sounds like you got to see a lot of ATWT's best years. What were your first memories? Mine tend to start around the time Casey died, or a little earlier. I remember Lucinda hurting Susan's back. I always wonder if viewers at the time of the late 70s could sense the big changes that ATWT was going through, if it seemed different to them, or if they felt the change was needed.

More updates: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1360286&page=12

I wonder why they didn't just say that Steve left the show through James' dealings instead of saying he was in a Greek prison. Do you have any memories of Valerie, or Sandy, or Kevin, or of Kim's niece Melinda?

TJ's boyfriend Ryder died.

Do you think they could have kept her around? I think ATWT did a good job for a long time with those diverse types of soap heroines. Her husband was on the show even in the early 90s - he performed the vow renewal for Kim and Bob - it's a shame they didn't have her make a brief return. I would have wanted to have seen her interact with Margo, as it seemed like there was a real dividing line with Tom's history pre and post-Deas. The only merging was when they used his Vietnam service to bring in Lien. I didn't know that was how Steve came into the show. Was Jay killed offcamera then? I wonder if the actor left or was let go.

Have you ever seen the live episode (the one from 1984 or 1985)? Did he have anything to do with that?

You know that if Tomlin or Carlivati were writing the show they'd have the Pattis all show up like the Beckys on Roseanne. Oh wait, Tomlin did write the show. Never mind.

Of what is available I most want to see the Marland years, as those seem very special. And then after that I would love to see the early stuff with Alan/Elizabeth and Jackie and Diane. I also wish we could see the early material for the Norrises, and since I was always so fond of Caroline McMorris on Benson and Soap, I'd like to see something of Janet. For whatever reason, aside from the Bert/Bill marital tumults, most of what I've read of the show in the 50s and 60s doesn't jump out at me, although the clips posted of Gillian Spencer's Robin, I devoured.

I think he must have a bitter argument with Kat. They have been building up to that -- she hasn't been all that warm to him on her return.

I wish we could see all the Pattis. It would make a good Youtube clip. I think at one time, everyone from Nancy Pinkerton to Tina Sloan played her. Mary Stuart once said that the Patti who had just been fired was a short redhead and the next was a tall blonde, and the first line Jo had for the new Patti was, "Is that you dear?" or something like that. Mary thought it was ludicrous and tried to get them to change the line, but no go.

Spoilers for Charlie's exit. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1334439/SPOILER-ALERT-Who-EastEnders-Alfie-Moon-chasing-tube-platform.html

Sexy Santas - I was hoping that might be the guys. Remember Garry's Santa calendar? Does the Billy/Julie stuff remind you of Hollyoaks when Jacqui was sent back inside for a few months because she missed her curfew after a night with Tony? It will be good to see more of Dot and Pat together. That caption for Glenda cracks me up. While I don't think the show is as overly sexualized as some are claiming (it's not any worse than last year where Ryan was bedding Janine/Ronnie/Stacey within a week or two of each other and Ronnie was with Ryan and with Owen), it isn't necessarily a bad thing to see characters like Glenda who know how to use sex as a weapon. It's true to life anyway.

You're right - although I do think that bringing Peggy back when Roger and Holly finally got together again would have been more interesting than the Mr. Tashewa crapola. There is so much of GL that I wish we could see... I was going to ask if there are any articles or anything on any particular GL actors or characters you were interested in. If you want me to find anything and post it I'll try.

Apparently

One of the Digests I have from around this time has photos of Janice and Tom as they were filming their pilots. When I find it I'll post that. You've probably already seen it but when I watched some of the Time Tunnel episodes, the last disc had the pilot he was in - Time Travellers.

11/26/91 SPW, The Grapevine, by Dorothy Vine I don't remember any of that about Kim meeting her first husband's brother. Did that story go anywhere?

Jon-Michael Reed listed his solid gold memories of the year. He praised Janice Lynde, "Daytime Ophelia", very impressed with the work in her breakdown, saying that her scenes in the mental hospital were as frighteningly chilling as any he'd ever seen. He also praised one particular scene in January with Jeanne Cooper where Katherine sat at her dressing table, shaking while trying to control her drinking, and she had an extended monologue about her happy younger years and the bitter woman she had become. She then crawled to her bedside phone, gasping with hopeful resolve. He also praised Jaime Lyn Bauer for how much she had grown as an actress over the year, calling it one of the most astonishing transformations of the year, and praising the writers for the material they had given her. Lastly he praised the gentle breeze of love from William Gray Espy and Trish Stewart.