saynotoursoap

I think the reason there is more animosity towards the Lewises is they're flashier, they represent more of an era. The Reardons, aside from Nola, seemed more low-key, and I guess filled some gaps in the canvas (Rita leaving and Maureen becoming Ed's leading lady, Kelly being the only junior leading man on the show until Tony). I have to admit from what I've seen of them I don't love them either - Bea just seems kind of silly and it's tough to believe she was supposed to have worked her fingers to the bone, and at times it's tough to believe Maureen/Nola/Tony are related (or Jim, later on). But GL was losing so many prominent characters around 1980 that Nola did fill a gap.

Carl, your post provided fodder for my response, thought my comments are not actually directed at you personally. Sometimes I see so much love for Marland and the Reardons and maligning of Long and her characters that I feel the need to counterpoint. I certainly did not hate Marland -I watched during his reign and there were many things that I liked- however, I feel that later writers had good traits, as well. As for the flashiness of the Lewises, I suppose this is one reason that I did like them. In many ways, the Reardons were too low-key for my taste. I did not find any of them particularly compelling or dramatic. In my opinion, Bea lacked the maternal warmth that Marland created so well in Emma Snyder, or perhaps Lee Lawson was simply miscast. Whatever the reason, Bea swilling beer in the kitchen and constantly wailing, "I just don't understand Nola" did not capture my imagination. I thought Greg Beecroft was hot, and if he were gay in real life, I would have done him in a second, but to me Tony was typical of Doug Marland's affinity for muscular young men who were either weak-willed, vapid, or stupid. For the most part, I had no interest in Maureen until Ellen Parker assumed the role. Watching old episodes now, Ellen Dolan's giddiness in scenes makes Mo look like she is either drunk or stoned.

Long probably gets credit for the Lewises because Josh was so different under Marland.

In my opinion, he was vastly improved under Long. While Pam's stories often lacked the logic and complexity of Marland's, I do feel that she had a better understanding of male characters. Josh was a spoiled, one-note playboy under Marland, not to mention the fact that Robert Newman was one of the most inexperienced actors I had ever witnessed in daytime. Josh became more complex and ambiguous under Long's pen, and Bob Newman had an opportunity to learn and grow as an actor. I always thought he deserved a special Emmy as the most improved actor in daytime, because his early work truly was horrific, but he eventually developed a very easy, natural style.

I do think a lot of people loved the Lewises - HB was always a popular character, Josh had many fans. Billy was written in and out but certainly I loved Billy and I doubt I was alone in that. I think some people have a lot of animosity towards Reva and blame Reva for taking up too much airtime, being burnt out in terms of story, and being front and center at a time when so much about GL was changing. I think it's also because a lot of the Lewis stories seemed to become a big mess around the mid-80's, like the Infinity saga, Reva being with every Lewis, Vanessa being so demoted, etc.

I will not comment on Reva, because enough has been written on that subject already. However, I do want to make a comment about Vanessa. I have read your posts and the posts of others regarding the "defusing" of Vanessa as Chris Schemering described, and I have to disagree. I feel that Vanessa as originally created was a one-dimensional carbon copy of Another World's Iris. In fact, I so disliked Maeve Kinkead's early performances that I remember wanting Anna Stuart to remain in the part when Kinkead took maternity leave in 1981. I thought Kinkead took the "Daddy's girl" routine too far. Under Long, Vanessa became more vulnerable, more complex. Less stereotypical. Though others hated the transformation, I enjoyed watching her carefully controlled facade crack as the responsibilities of being a wife and mother were at odds with her selfish nature. Like Bob Newman, Kinkead grew immensely as a performer with the new material. It is not surprising that she was awarded with her first Emmy nomination for the drug addiction storyline. Also, I think that softening her, mixing the vulnerable with the scheming and tougher side, ensured a longer run for the character. I'm not sure Marland's version of Vanessa would have lasted until the final telecast.

One thing which bothers me about that era of GL is how they phased out some of the more thoughtful and subtle leading ladies, like Amanda, Hope, Trish. I think GL worked best when there was a balance between this mix of peace and neuroses, and some of the larger-than-life histrionics with Reva or the Spauldings.

We are in complete agreement with this, especially Trish. Rebecca Hollen had tremendous warmth and grace, and she provided a nice counterpoint to the brassy antics of the rest of the Lewis clan. In some ways, I felt that losing her was worse than the loss of the Bauers. If you are going to keep a family around and make them centerstage, you should at least have one sane, soft voice in the bunch. Amanda was interesting because she went through several changes before she left. The original concept of the sheltered, repressed daughter, basically held captive by a domineering mother, was intriguing. I liked the Dobsons' version of her. Marland never seemed to get a good handle on the character. First, he turned her into a spitefull bitch, then she was reduced to a fragile, neurotic mess, though that was precipated in part by Kathleen Cullen's maternity leave. The one thing that Pat Falken Smith and L. Virginia Browne did right was to make Amanda more sympathetic. The scenes on the oil rig, trapped by a storm, were very unsual and gave Cullen some unsual things to play, but it was shortlived due to her sudden axing. Pam Long brought Amanda back in December 1987 during the Spaudling takeover story, and though she appeared only briefly, I liked that version of Amanda. She was strong, confident, and yet also loving and content. It is too bad that Long did not keep her around longer, as I would have been interested to see how she developed. Of course, the character was completey destroyed years later by Megan McTavish -or another idiot writer- in that tawdry Springfield Madam story, not to mention the beyond inane "twist" of Amanda being Brandon's daughter instead of Alan's. Toby Poser was an excellent performer, IMO, but she and the characterization were so wrong for what had been established. Finally, I liked Hillary, too and especially Marsha Clark's goodnatured portrayal, but Hillary was only half Bauer. She was not Bert's daughter, and therefore, maybe they felt that she was the most expendable. I was watching when Bill Bauer was resurrected, and there was an enormous backlash from veteran fans over Bill and Hillary's arrival. Fans were vehemently angry that Bill had faked his death and fathered children with another woman. It is funny how very conservative viewers were even as late as 1977.

When I think back to GL of the early 80's I try to remember that what some of us may see as a golden age was far from it to some viewers. I know in SOD some would write in complaining during Marland's run about all the disco scenes, about older actors being phased out, about being sick of youth, etc.

Those were the things that I disliked. Of course, I loved Marland's mysteries; they always hooked me. The Carrie story was fascinating. I loved Diane's machinations and obsession with Alan, who saw her as nothing more than a valued assistant. But, most of all, I loved the community feeling of the show. Marland, more so than any other writer in daytime, really knew how to make a fictional town feel like a real place, and he populated it with characters who seemed to honestly care about one another. I don't think GL was perfect then, but despite my criticisms -yes, it was a far, far cry better than the last 15 years or so of the series.

When in 1998 did Region stop announcing? I've always thought it was a mistake to get of him.

Dan was fired in July 1998, as part of the cost cutting scheme. I too feel that it was mistake to let him and other announcers go. Some considered announcers a hoary leftover from the early days of soaps, but I felt they added a continuity that is sadly lacking today. Even Michael Logan complained to P&G and was basically told that he needed to get a life.

Wow I never knew this! Thanks for the clarification. Since joining this site a few months ago and reading current posts and archives, I've learned so much backstage info about this show I've treasured since childhood! Thanks!

I didn't either until many, many years later. Their children are now adults, and I believe Pam has admitted to being Jay's partner in name only in several interviews. Still, if you search for general biographies online, I believe they are generally documented as "divorced". To my knowledge, there is no animosity between Pam and Jay, and she no doubt kept Fletcher on GL to ensure that Jay could help support the children.

GL was a hybrid show - other than the Bauers, who were a mainstay until Kobe/Long, nothing ever stayed the same.

When the Dobsons came in to save the show, the mainstays were the Bauers, long-suffering Sara McIntire, good/bad Roger Thorpe, and the show's main young female leads who'd taken up a lot of story over the early 70's/late 60's - Peggy Thorpe, Leslie Jackson Bauer, Holly Norris. They fired Leslie, Peggy gradually faded away, Sara moved into a supporting role, and they brought in sisters Rita and young ingenue Eve, Ross, Jackie and Justin Marler, Ben (the show's first young stud), the Spauldings, Hillary Bauer, Amanda and her "mother" Lucille, and Elvera Roussell as Hope. GL was in many ways a new show by the time they left.

By the time Marland came, Michael Zaslow had quit, Maureen Garrett was quitting, Peggy was gone, Lenore Kasdorf was quitting. Eve was a tired character, Jackie wasn't popular after her recast, so they had less and less of a role. Ben left. Roger's father and Holly's mother were fired by P&G because of their age. Marland brought in Jennifer and daughter Morgan, young stud Kelly, kept writing for Amanda, for Alan/Hope, brought in the Reardons, Vanessa and Henry, Quint and his troupe of crazies. Mart Hulswit was fired and Ed was recast. By the time he left, GL was in many ways a new show.

Long and Kobe brought in their own characters, a brand new teen scene, and dumped Eve, Hope, Amanda, Jennifer, Sara, Kelly and Morgan left, they changed Vanessa, etc. And this worked well for a while. The main problem was they burnt a lot of these new characters out so quickly, and they or P&G thought that it was time to diminish the one constant, the Bauer family. I've read that they were so shocked about Charita dying and they may not have fired so many Bauers if not for this. How shocked can you be when someone who just had a major health crisis dies?

The biggest problem with the changes in GL around 1985 is that most of the stories and new characters sucked. I don't think it was about a loss of tradition as much as viewers just being fed crap and not wanting to hang around, and no longer having a reason to hang around.

P&G wanted to diminish the Bauers and had for some time. Even under Marland, the Bauers were more or less supporting characters. Mike stood around with Bert wringing their hands about Hope. Hope's story had less to do with her family than it did about her insistence that poor Alan was a lovely, misunderstood man. Ed was led astray yet again by seductress Vanessa before finding boring love with much too perky Maureen (as played by Ellen Dolan). P&G dumped Mart Hulswit, whom both the Dobsons and Marland thought too staid and bland. Unlike with the Dobsons, who pulled Hillary into the Roger Thorpe web with Holly and Ed, under Marland you hardly knew that Hillary was a Bauer.

I feel that Pam Long in particular, and to a degree Gail Kobe, are too often unfairly blamed as moving to GL with an agenda to ditch the Bauers and add their favorites. I know Pam, and I can tell you that with her, this was not the case. Don Stewart and Peter Simon both quit. Charita Bauer died. The only two who were written out sans a valid reason were Hope and Hillary, though Hope's departure was left open so that she could return. Through different writers and producers, it simply never happened. No one could reach a concensus about what to do with Hillary, hence her death. I agree that it was a mistake and unfortunate given the other departures As for Charita, if Long and Kobe truly wanted to dismantle the Bauers, they easily could have written Bert out entirely when Charita's diabetes forced her to have a leg amputation and lengthy recuperation. Instead, Pam wrote the illness into the story, unlike the writers and producers who coldly dumped Michael Zaslow a decade later rather than address his illness. Also, Charita hid the seriousness of her illness. Everyone that I have talked to who knew her were shocked by her death. She was very ill for a long time, but kept it secret.

What I find curious is the negative reaction to the Lewis family as displacing the Bauers, as the Reardon family did the same thing. Also, the Lewises were actually created by Doug Marland (even Billy and H.B. were mentioned as early as 1981 and would have eventually appeared without Long/Kobe). Many people wail about Reva and the Lewis clan, but I remember having the same animosity toward Nola and her family when they were front and center seemingly every day beginning in 1980. People forget that it is largely a matter of personal preference. As much as I admire Doug Marland's philosophy regarding history and respecting the audience, I personally enjoyed GL much better under the Dobsons. Long, and Curlee. In fact, GL was probably my least favorite writing stint of his. And despite my own criticisms of Pam Long's writing, some of her stories were very contrived and ill-conceived, at least she wrote strong characters who had a lot of heart, and that's what I like in a soap. Curlee probably was the best combination of the two. It is unfortunate that she was saddled with Jill Farren Phelps, who was more interested in turning the show into a hip, cookie-cutter showcase for her bestest friends.

I don't know what year Long and Hammer divorced, but she did return to the show in 1987 as Pamela K. Long instead of Pamela Long-Hammer, which I think she may have still been credited as when she left in 86. I also vaguely remember a digest pic of Jay and Beverley, in I think 85, and it mentioned that he and Pam were expecting a child, so again, I'm not sure when they divorced.

Pam and Jay were partners but not actually married. She became pregnant by him on Texas, and partly because of P&G and partly because of their child, she was billed as Pamela Long Hammer, but she never married him in a legal service.

I do vaguely remember Mary Frann on this show. Her character was named D.B. and she was a business woman. She was always trying to break up Steven and Betty.

She was D. B. Bentley, president of Mideast Standard Oil. D.B. wanted a merger with Peyton Industries. There was a lengthy story of an attempt to begin offshore drilling near Peyton Place, complicated by the protests of environmentalists (a nod to the 70s ecology movement). D.B. also served to create romantic complications while appearing as one of the first, powerful businesswomen in daytime that subsequently became de rigeuer for soaps in the 80s.

Fantastic post.Thank you Matt.Does anyone know the background to this? How did Liz come to be on the ledge and why did Nick and Althea's relationship have a bearing on this? Why was Liz living with Althea?

Liz came from a very dysfunctional family. Her mother and father argued constantly, because Liz's mother was pathologically repressed. Think Connie Ford's portrayal of Sandra Dee's mother in A Summer Place. She eventually had a nervous breakdown. When they left town, Liz became the ward of Althea. Liz put Althea on a pedestal. She represented the high moral character of her mother and the strength of a modern professional woman. Althea's affair with Nick and subsequent out of wedlock pregnancy severely disillusioned Liz, who rebelled by taking an experimental drug that Mike Powers created. Liz hallucinated and went out on a window ledge at Hope Memorial. Phillip Townsend rescued her, but he became obsessed with her innocence and purity and later kidnapped her. Many of the stories in that era dealt with the ambiguity between the idea of doctors as gods, and their natural fallibility as human beings. The stories were morality plays, and hey were wonderful. In my opinion, soaps took a wrong turn when they moved away from that and started making everyone -even the heroes- commit criminal acts.

Dixie's comments are not quite accurate. Brandy never went crazy. Dixie jumped to that conclusion and was incorrect.

Neither Maeve McGuire nor Don May ever wanted Adam and Nicole to marry. They enjoyed the sparring and the bumpy road to matrimony. In fact, Maeve left the show in 1974 in part because she felt that Nicole's marriage to Adam (August 1973) left the character with nothing but wedded bliss and no place to go.

Brandy was created to effectively replace Nicole, and Don May enjoyed "the chase" of having a new character to pursue.

When Nicole returned in December 1975, Nicole's life was in danger. She was the target of numerous murder attempts, including a near hit and run by a car that matched Brandy's. The assassination attempts were played as a mystery, thus it was made to appear to the audience that Brandy might have gone bonkers and was attempting to eliminate her rival. However, that was later revealed to be a red herring only. Dixie panicked and basically screwed herself out of a job.

As for Don May, yes, the producers knew that Adam was being killed off. I think they let Dixie go because she was no longer necessary as part of the triangle, and Henry Slesar wanted Draper tied to Nicole's new love interest. Also, Tony Craig and Dixie Carter had zero chemistry. That match never would have worked.

Maeve McGuire left Edge of her own accord when her contract expired. Her departure went back to the same issue as before: she was bored with Nicole and felt that there was nothing else she could bring to the character. A 12 month pregnancy had been written for Nicole, a difficult pregnancy in which she was confined to a bed for nearly nine months. McGuire found that to be a very depressing and exhausting experience, and she wanted out.

I sincerely appreciate your explanation on why Erica's abortion was a bigger deal than the illegal abortions that had been previously done. I had never before seen things this way.

I am happy with Eric's explanation, too. Sometimes I feel that soap fans today simply have no concept of what a big deal Erica's abortion was in 1971. This is one reason that I become incensed when journalists get it wrong and write that it occurred in 1973 post Roe v Wade. At the time Erica aborted, the procedure was legal in only a handful of states. It was very unaccepted by the general population. People also forget that Agnes Nixon was quite bold in not giving Erica a sympathetic reason to have an abortion. Erica was not raped, her life was not in danger because of the fetus, and the there was nothing wrong with the pregnancy. Erica aborted for no other reason than selfishness and vanity. She wanted to continue her New York modeling career, and getting fat stood in the way. It is really quite amazing that Erica eventually became a beloved and accepted character because what she did was so considered vile and the worst sin imaginable. Granted, she suffered because of it with a life-threatening infection, but the character really was hated when she did what she did.

I find this so bizarre that the ratings back at this time can plummet so dramatically so suddenly. DAYS in every single one of these is either #1 or #2 in the early-to-mid 70s, and yet this most recent posting, even RTPP is beating them. It's postively jarring, especially on a week where AW is #1.

This is an example of why the networks panicked so quickly during the 70s and tended to kill off major characters or make other shocking changes, which damaged a series in the long run. Also keep in mind that these are only the soap rankings. Game shows were extremely popular in this era, with many of them out-rating soaps. Match Game often had higher ratings than the top-rated soap As the World Turns. A soap like RTPP, ranked as 9th here, may have been as low as 15 or 16 when the other game shows were factored.

AW's ratings woes began before the 90 min expansion.The move to 90 min was a misguided ploy to boost sagging ratings.Against a resurgent GH under Monty/Marland and the expanded GL,AW began to drop in 78.

I am not trying to be argumentative, but I disagree about the depth of problems associated with AW's ninety minute format. Examine the yearly ratings. Yes, AW did drop 1.1 points, but that was minor compared to the loss of two full rating points in 1980-81. Obiviously viewers preferred 90 minutes of Harding Lemay and Tom King over 60 minutes of L. Virginia Browne and Corinne Jacker. And, AW's ratings from 1980 onward never managed to achieve the lowest ratings posted under Lemay. I believe the quality of writing (or lack thereof) was more decisive than the format.

1977-78 AW 8.6 (last year at 60 mins)

1978-79 AW 7.5 (first year at 90 mins)

1979-80 AW 7.1 (last year at 90 mins)

1980-81 AW 5.1 (back at 60 mins)

1981-82 AW 4.7

Paul Raven, the Benjamin family featured prominently during the WGA strike of 1973.

The article has it slightly incorrect. James was Terry's brother, not Jay's. James's last name was Foster. He had returned from Vietnam, and was at Henderson hospital. Another patient had a heart attack, and James flashed back to his experience in Vietnam, where he had been a medic, and he saved the man's life. Impressed with James' skill and decisiveness, Bob Rogers took James under his wing, encouraging him to enter the newly created physician's assistant program. When Carl Devlin murdered Frank Ross, James came under suspicion for the crime. Jay, a police lieutenant, worked with Scott to prove his brother-in-law's innocence.

Elsewhere, Jay and Terry were buying a house, but their loan application was denied. They sought Kathy's legal assistance, because they felt that discrimination played a role in their denial, as their combined incomes should have ensured approval. Kathy and Doug Martin came to blows over the case, as Doug insisted that the bank president was not racist.

These plots played out along with the Linda Bove deaf story. Shortly after the writer's strike ended, within three months I would estimate, the Benjamins vanished from the canvas. Presumably, they continued to live offscreen in Henderson. Linda, of course, married in the storyline, and she and her new husband were shipped out, too.

Lynn Deerfield has passed away. I'm so sorry we never got to see her work as Holly. I remember Maureen Garrett talking about how Lynn would sometimes show up early in her run as Holly, just to watch taping, and Maureen would wonder if she was being replaced. But it sounds like Lynn had a very full life away from GL.

http://www.stltoday....4afacd83bc.html

Lynn was sublime as Holly. I loved her throaty voice and seductiveness. This is purely hearsay, but I had a friend who knew Lynn and her husband Bill, and according to her, Lynn was very keen to continue on GL. Allegedly, she vacated the role at her husband's command. I always thought that she probably regretted leaving, as her interpretation of Holly was so interesting. Lynn's characterization was quite different from Maureen Garrett's. It took the longest time for Maureen to win me over. Ironically, I would have to admit that Maureen is probably my favorite actress from the series, but I never quite forgot Lynn either. How sad that we have lost her at such a young age.

Jarrod Ross was the actor who played Phillip in those scenes. I believe Jarrod was killed in an auto accident in the 1980s. He lived in Milltown, NJ, which is the town next to my hometown East Brunswick.

Jarrod's death was a rumor. His real name is Jarrod Kaplan, and he is a drummer for the band Trillian Green. If you Google Priscilla Hernandez and Jarrod Kaplan, there is a link to a good picture of him from within the last few years.

CarlD2, on 05 November 2011 - 10:56 AM, said:

That's fascinating. I never knew that. I knew about the fire being on some P&G soap but didn't know which one.

Did you see the posts about the story with Wade's death, the death of Tony, etc.? What did you think of that story? Wade's death sounds so grisly to me.

Carl, I realised that I did not respond adequately to your question. My diatribe concerned the loss of John Cunningham rather than storyline of Wade's death.

Regardless of Cunningham's departure, I did not like the kidnapping and murder of Wade. The story was not well-written nor was it well-produced. The casting of Conard Fowkes as villainous Allen Ramsey seemed wrong to me. The audience knew from the beginning that Allen was a bad man, and Fowkes appeared incongruous with what he was performing. Had the story played as a mystery, with the identity of Wade's kidnapper(s) unknown to the audience, it might have worked better. It would have been a trick similar to casting sweet, drippy John Wesley Shipp as demented Doug Cummings on ATWT. With Allen's story, only the miscasting surprised the audience.

I felt the story was not constructed effectively either. Again, had Allen and Fay not been revealed as lovers, and had the story played as a total mystery, it might have been more effective. Also, it moved much too quickly. Allen and Fay kidnapped Wade within a month of their first appearances onscreen, and Wade was dead a couple of weeks after that. I really dislike writers bringing in new characters and playing them up daily, only to use them as marionettes to move the plot along. It was obvious that Allen and Fay served no other purpose, so ultimately, there was no "payoff" in the plotline like there would have been had Allen and Fay's villainy arisen slowly over, say a year.

The way that it was written, it simply came out of left field. Allen was counseling core cast members one week, and the next he was plotting a kidnapping. This sort of thing might work on a soap such Edge of Night, but Search was not a crime/mystery soap. The tone became cold and brutal. Allen and Fay intended to let Wade go, and we thought that he would escape harm. It was a classic Friday cliffhanger when Allen and Fay returned to the shack where they had stashed Wade. He had been seen loosening his bindings throughout the episode. In the last two minutes of the show, he freed himself and ripped his blindfold off, just as Allen and Fay entered. He and Allen scuffled, rolling onto the ground. Suddenly, Fay pulled out a pistol. The two men were entwined, but she screamed and fired anyway. Blackout. I was certain that on Monday it would be revealed that she had accidentally shot Allen, and that would be the end of the story, six weeks, short and sweet. But, it was just the beginning. On Monday, we saw that Wade had indeed taken the bullet. Then a bum entered, and Fay shot him, too. She and Allen fled. By the end of the episode, the wounded men had been discovered, and it was announced that it was too late to save either one. Wade was dead.

The plot twist was unfair, but not unfair in the way that a sudden heart attack or accident or even random killing (like a mugging) would have been. What I mean to say is that it felt like a cheat to the audience. And, then we had to endure another eight weeks of Allen romancing the now wealthy widow Janet. He planned to dump Fay and get his hands on the Collins fortune. Fay discovered his treachery, so she went to Janet's house and slipped her a poisoned Mickey. In the eleventh hour, Janet's stomach was pumped. She was saved and Allen and Fay went to prison. Despite a surfeit of violence, there were no long term ramifications from the plot, which in my opinion, is a cardinal sin of soap opera. Even the flimsiest story should have some dramatic resonance. Concurrent with the story, Janet's daughter Liza and Liza's husband Steve were divorcing because Liza had been disfigured in a plane crash. The writers could have written something of substance by having Liza comfort her grieving mother, and then realizing how short and precious life is, Liza could have decided that divorcing Steve over something as superficial as her physical appearance was a mistake. But, no, we did not get that.

Also, if you are not going to write substance, then at least make it stylish. The show failed on that point, too. Wade was held in a cheap, tiny little set that was harshly lit and had a fake backdrop of trees outside the door. If any story deserved a location shoot, this was one. They could have had Wade in a real location and played up the suspense by having the police figure out where he was being held captive. The authorities could have been shown driving real cars, racing to save him. Maybe Wade could have escaped with Allen and Fay chasing him. They could have gotten away just in the nick of time as police arrived. But, as produced, there was no real suspense.

Frankly, I did not like Robert J. Shaw's writing for Search. It was the type of episodic material he had written back in the 60s on soaps like Love of Life. It seemed sloppy, ill-conceived, and hastily constructed. It was obviously cruelly exploitive, too, with no dramatic resonance.

I trust that answers your question!

That's fascinating. I never knew that. I knew about the fire being on some P&G soap but didn't know which one.

Did you see the posts about the story with Wade's death, the death of Tony, etc.? What did you think of that story? Wade's death sounds so grisly to me.

I am not sure that I can add anything relevant to the discussion. I believe that I commented in this thread a long time ago that I thought Search was wonderful from 1973-76, but the 1977-78 years left much to be desired. The Elmans' writing jumped the track in early 1977, and Robert J. Shaw and Henry Slesar were not able to get it back on track again.

Obviously killing off Wade was a mistake, in my opinion. John Cunningham and Millee Taggart had a fine chemistry together. They were somewhat lighthearted and fun. Perhaps they did not contribute a great deal in terms of continuing plot, but I think a happy couple and levity are important to balance a soap's tone. As much respect as I have for Doug Marland, I always felt that he and writers like Phillips and Bell were too serious. Their soaps were always filled with a surfeit of drama, much of it dark and morose, which is fine if you want that sort of thing everyday, but I do not. Viewers need a chance to catch their breath and breathe. I want a nice balance of tone, stories, and characters.

Wade and Janet did make a contibution to Search whether the producers chose to acknowledge it or not. I realise that Cunningham left of his own accord, but they could have recast with a similar actor. The plot of Janet being lured into a relationship with young schemer Chance Halliday made her seem somewhat dumb to me, and Taggart and Wayne Tippit did not have quite the same chemistry that she and Cunningham did. Losing Wade did not destroy the series, but it was one of many small errors that continued to undermine the series in the long run. It never made sense to axe Janet either, considering her familial ties to Stu and Liza.

Does anyone know if Kathryn Hays was playing the role of Kim at the time she lost her memory in the tornado? Soapcentral has another actress in the role from February 75 to January 1976.

Kathy was playing Kim during the Centerville tornado sequences in the summer of 1975. I realise that I sound like a broken record, but Soap Central's dates are not correct. Kathryn Hays went on medical leave at the end of October 1975. She returned the first week of February 1976, giving her a leave of a little over three months. Actress Patty McCormack subbed as Kim in Kathy's absence, playing the character during Jennifer's death and the expansion of the series to an hour.

Was Kathryn gone that long? I thought it was months but not that many.

I think Sam was Royce's twin sister.

Correct on both counts.

Thanks for that wonderfully detailed summary saynotoursoap! It seems Andrea did stay scheming for longer than I thought. Soaps were so much more creative back then. The thouht of Andrea lying about her overdose being accidental would never happen on a soap today.

You are welcome, and I agree about past soaps being so much more creative.

When I typed the previous post, all of my synapses were not firing. I intended to mention that the conclusion of the Emily/Andrea plot on Search was directly responsible for the infamous fall "up the stairs" taken by Liz Stewart on As the World Turns. If you are a fan of that soap, too, originally Irna Phillips had plotted that Liz and Dan Stewart would marry, but on their honeymoon, a candle would be tipped over and set Liz's nightgown on fire. She would later die from her injuries. When CBS realized that the World Turns fire would be telecast concurrently with the fire on SFT, they made Irna change her story. Hence, Liz fell and ruptured her spleen rather than going out in blazing negligee glory.

According to Joan Copeland's IMDb page, she was on into 1972 but had become more sympathetic towards the end. I think they should have done more things with her.

The 1972 date is incorrect. Joan stayed with Search through March 1973.

As Andrea, she concocted a heinous plot to break up son Len's marriage to Patti by using the disturbed Emily Rogers, daughter of Dr. Bob Rogers. The plan worked beautifully. Patti decided to divorce Len and sue for custody of their son Chris. She petitioned the court to have Andrea subpoenaed for testimony at the trial, and Andrea panicked. Andrea went to their home and confronted Emily that the jig was up. Emily went crazy and decided to snatch Chris.

She and Andrea got into a violent struggle. During their tussle, a candle was knocked over setting the dining room drapes ablaze. Fire raced through the Whiting home. Chris was asleep in his nursery on the second floor of the house. Andrea bravely fought the flames and rescued him. Emily also ran upstairs, but trapped by the fire, she plunged through a second story window, dying in the fall. Patti realized what had happened, but amazingly she forgave Andrea, as Andrea nearly died too from smoke inhalation. For Bob's sake, they agreed to pretend that the fire had been completely accidental, and that Emily had been a heroine, giving up her own life to save Chris.

When Len learned the truth, he packed the family up and moved away from Henderson. A despondent Andrea, having lost her beloved son and grandson, took a fatal overdose of pills, but she was saved in the eleventh hour. She then committed one final, selfless act. When Len showed concern over her near-suicide, Andrea lied that it was an accidental overdose, rather than use it to gain her son's sympathy and continue her hold over him. She left Henderson for good shortly thereafter.

I'm not even sure if they used this version of MGL at any other time. It's very moving, and appropriate for Chris Bernau, who was such a vibrant presence, so vital to GL, and irreplaceable.

The music was a cue used as underscore for sad and tender scenes. I loved the days when soaps had variations of their theme music and used them to score scenes. The music on soaps today is absolute shite.

Poor Chris suffered from ill health for many years. He had contracted hepatitis during the epidemic of the early 70s, and it seemed to have a more serious effect on him than it did other soap stars, who also contracted it. As early as Chris' first year on GL, he required time off for rest and recuperation. I remember him being replaced temporarily by David Bailey. Coincidentally, another actress subbed for Cindy Pickett as Jackie at the same time, which made for odd viewing. Ultimately, Chris negotiated a clause into his contract giving him 8 weeks off with short notice if needed for rest. This is the reason Alan was sent to prison and kidnapped in the spring of 1982.

Had he not developed AIDS in the 80s, Chris' liver problems might have gotten him anyway. It was terribly sad as his performances were brilliant. Pilon and Raines could never hold a candle to him.

Well Suzie Kaye Stone was described by Diana Douglas in her book, as a constant pot smoker who never performed well. Or something to that effect. Angel had the hot story at the time of cancellation. Angel was dying, Peter was destroyed but I don't think anyone else knew except Betsy. It was heartbreaking. I think Suzie Kaye's popularity soared at the end. Angel had made tons of mistakes and felt she was being punished so the audience embraced her. To me, it was like a lot of Love Story inspired storylines -kill off 1/2 half of a loving couple. I mentioned Bill Prentiss, but would add Cindy Clark Matthews, Meredith Lord Wolek etc. We didn't get to see Angel pass away, so maybe they found a cure??

According to the writer, Suzie Kaye Stone was being written out, and Angel would have died had the series continued. This is one reason she was given cancer (very unusual at that time) rather than one of those vague soap illnesses in which she could have recovered at the 11th hour. It was a heartbreaking story and the turning point for Betsy, as Angel's fate convinced Betsy that she and Joe should marry and share their love since they had no promise of a tomorrow. The scenes with Betsy and Angel and Angel and Pete were very well written.

Wasn't Irna fired because she wanted Bob to leave a pregnant Jennifer for an also pregnant Kim?

Apparently, the audience reacted negatively to this as they thought Kim should be punished for sleeping with her sister's husband, thus Kim had a stillbirth, or so they thought...

I know it's generally considered an uneven decade for the show, but I'm most intrigued by 70's ATWT. The show was clearly trying to merge its roots and keep up with the times during this era. It may not always have worked, but on paper at least, a lot of the stories seem compulsively watchable.

Actually, Irna was fired because the show's weekly ratings fell as low as 7th place in the Nielsens. This was an era in which NBC posed a serious threat to CBS' dominance as the #1 daytime network. CBS axed Where the Heart Is, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, and the 20 year-old Secret Storm within a year. The network feared that Irna's erratic writing would also sink the series, which was the crux of its entire schedule.

The character of Kim was based on Irna herself, and what she wanted was for Kim to raise the child alone. Kim was a very different kind of character for ATWT, a woman who was completely independent, who did not require a man nor a family to make her happy. However, World Turns had always been a family show. Kim really went against the grain of what Irna had so carefully created, and it backfired, alienating many of the older audience members. In some regards, she was just too progressive for such a conservative soap, which is why the Soderbergs moved her in exactly the opposite direction of becoming a stereotypical soap heroine.

Melinda's appearance puts Chuckie's death in 1978.

I would pay to see early Kim as Jennifer's "naughty" sister. PAY.

Chuckie died in July 1977. Read the previous posts for details.

I never thought of Kim as "naughty". She was aloof, determined, and mysterious. The things she did, such as sleeping with Bob, happened on impulse. She did not commit her sins maliciously or to cause intentional harm to Jennifer. She was daytime's Greta Garbo, and quite enigmatic. It was an interesting era for ATWT. Truthfully, I prefer it over anything that came before or after.

My understanding is that Tom was driving when the accident (that killed Chuckie) occurred. Michael Shea was already dead by that time. Oddly, Chuckie's death isn't mentioned at all in ATWT's history book, the only time frame I can put on it is early '70's , with the last actor to play the part (probably) was David Perkins.

The last mention of Chuckie is about Don becoming buddies with the boy during his dalliance with Lisa.

Chuckie died in the exciting month of July 1977. Tom and Chuckie's car crashed. Chuckie was killed instantly, and Tom rushed into surgery. This was the same week that Dan Stewart went on trial for the attempted murder of John Dixon. The next week, John's wife Pat stood up in open court and confessed that John had accidentally shot himself. Pat ran from the courtroom, tripped, and fell to her death down the courthouse stairs. As I wrote previously, the world turned slowly, with the conclusion to stories coming swiftly and violently, to catch the audience off guard.

AWHP says winter/spring 1980. I thought she was there when Kirk took Iris hostage, but I guess that was Beverlee, as she was in some of the shots. But some of them also look like Carole. Odd. From the clips I've seen she was there when they found out for the aftermath of Janice poisoning Mac/Rachel killing Janice, and she was there when everyone found out about Iris' plans against Cecile.

Carl, are you talking about when Jeff Stone took Iris and Vivian hostage in December 1979? Jeff was the killer of Kirk Lafferty. Beverlee McKinsey played all of those scenes.

Carole Shelley appeared as Iris in February and March 1980. She taped 18 episodes for Beverlee McKinsey, who had fallen and broken her collarbone. In the story, Iris eventually left Bay City on a trip to Europe, since Carole Shelley had a contract to do a play. When the character returned to set up the Texas series, Iris was played by McKinsey again.