saynotoursoap

This is terrific, Carl. I love seeing the old sets, like Rita and Ed's place before he bought the house we are so familiar with -the one with the arches and columns. All of these behind the scenes looks at days gone by are fascinating. I had a red and white striped jersey just like the one MZ is wearing in the photo. Oh, and to see Fran Myers as Peggy again. This was a wonderful period for GL, when it was beginning to rebound from years of boredom.

Thanks for the super article on Blair Davies. I have several episodes of The Brighter Day and have always been somewhat fascinated by it. It seems to be the red-headed stepchild of Irna Phillips creations, even though it was initially quite popular. One is left to wonder why CBS discarded it so unceremoniously and what might have been had it been treated with more love and respect.

I know about P&G's decision to 'block' their soaps together and the detrimental effect it had on CBS Daytime, but I have a question about its effect on ABC. Would ABC have exploded in the way it did had it not been for the P&G move. Granted, there are only scattered weekly ratings in this thread, but it doesn't seem like AMC / OLTL made major strides until after the CBS reshuffeling in September 1972. Were the ABC soaps make a slow climb to the top or does it appear CBS viewers switched the channel when their story was changed to another timeslot?

I do not believe that CBS' rescheduling affected ABC much. If anyone gained from it, it was NBC. NBC and CBS still reigned supreme after the switch, and actually, GH fell in the ratings. Around 1971, GH had been one of the top three soaps. Keep in mind, too, that All My Children was telecast at 1 ET/Noon CT. At the point that AMC started a huge climb in the ratings, it had no competition at all from NBC or CBS because those timeslots were open for local affiliates to air newscasts.

I did find the episode of 'Young Marrieds' fascinating. ABC Daytime seemed to be trying to differeniate itself from the other soaps of the time, but I have to wonder if they were just not tapping into what the audience wanted. Does anyone think something like 'Young Marrieds' would have done better around 1970? Or was it just not possible for Ann to ever leave her husband and still be considered a rootable heroine by the American audience?

Personally, I do not feel that Ann's affair was detrimental to the soap's success. The Young Marrieds had low ratings for one primary reason: it was suicidally programmed opposite the solid #2 soap on the air -The Edge of Night and NBC's very popular game show You Don't Say. In another time slot, The Young Marrieds may have grown and prospered. TYM's ratings grew slowly but surely during its short run, so I feel the potential was definitely there, but it was too adult for the afterschool audience, especially in the 1960s and on a network that pandered to a youth audience.

I wonder if they should have just written Alice out and had him get involved with Pat. What about a Pat/Mac/Rachel/Steve story?

I also wonder if fans just struggled to accept Steve's return.

On paper I guess I can see why someone at AW felt Pat had nothing left to contribute, but the problem is on paper doesn't translate to onscreen. Beverly Penberthy had a very unique presence which made her fit in perfectly with the group at Cory. She could have gone beyond the Matthews.

Something I notice in the 1983 episodes I've seen, compared to the 1979, is that there's a much different energy, more sarcastic and less serious. It seems like this shift took a further toll on a lot of the characters who weren't going to be able to adapt, or weren't given the chance.

Carl, I had watched AW since its heyday of 1968. I was a huge fan of Reinholt and Courtney, and I have never been overly fond of David Canary, but I accepted Canary totally as Steve Frame. Most of the people I knew who were AW fans thought Canary did a fine job in the role, so I do not think that the plot was rejected for that reason. I remember being quite excited with all of the allusions to Steve's past during the Blackhawk introduction because it was very apparent that Steve was to be resurrected. Also, the set up had a wonderful synchronicity to it, with Rachel and Alice now poised to spar over Mac just as they had a decade earlier over Steve. The weakest link in my estimation was Linda Borgeson, who was miscast as Alice. I have often wondered if the story would have been more successful had it occurred when Jacquie Courtney was available to play Alice.

Corinne Jacker, the headwriter, was a problem, too. She was an Obie award winning playwright and talked a good game. I have an interview with her in which she disses the silliness of daytime drama from that period -she specifically cites the Cassadine freezing Port Charles plot from GH- and talks about how she wants to return to the roots of AW with a focus on history, strong families, characterization and realistic plots. Of course, she did just the opposite, axing Beverly Penberthy, creating lots of uninteresting young characters, and writing a number of over-the-top plots. In her defense, I do not know how much input she had. P&G may have veteoed her best ideas.

Sadly, this was the beginning of the era of "youthification" of daytime, with executives totally deluded about what would bring in longterm younger viewers. As you noted, TPTB thought that teens and young adults only wanted to see other teens and young adults, and that the plots had to be dumbed down with camp humor. Ironically, executives have maintained that same misguided belief even though historically, every soap that has followed this formula has seen its ratings continue to decline.

coolwafferman uploaded this 1975 episode. Apparently it had been on Youtube before, but that was before my time watching these, so it was new to me.

Tudi Wiggins was very theatrical wasn't she? It's entertaining. I can see why some were annoyed by that hammy accent John Aniston used.

My favorite scene in this episode is with Arlene and the mentally disturbed guy she's trying to comfort. It seems so real and so poignant. What was the outcome of that story? Was that David? Can someone remind me of David's story? I know he was the son of the mayor of Rosehill and he ended up killing his corrupt father, didn't he? Why did Meg want him out early? Was it to cause problems for Cal?

Is this the first or second Cal?

Yes, I previously had uploaded this episode to YT. I am glad to see it online again.

The Cal in these scenes, Deborah Courtney, is the first Cal.

Meg married corrupt mayor Jeff Hart after her return to Rosehill in 1973. Van and Bruce attempted to dissuade her, which made her even more determined to protect Jeff. He was involved with another baddie, Phil Waterman, and the two had a number of illegal schemes going, one of which was serving horse meat as roast beef in the school cafeteria (!) and pocketing the savings. Bruce decided to dethrone Hart by running for mayor. Hart and Waterman engaged in several dirty tricks to foil Bruce, but were unsuccessful. Hart treated his son David very badly. David had spent his entire life attempting to win his father's love but could not because David was a kind, honest, sensitive boy, which Jeff despised. David and Cal fell in love and planned to marry Christmas Day 1974. Jeff tried to foil the romance by suggesting to David that Cal was a tease and carrying on with other men. To prove it, Jeff got Cal alone and forced himself on her. David arrived during the attempted rape, grabbed Jeff's gun, and shot him twice. The bullets severed Hart's spine and lodged near his heart. If he survived, he would be a quadrapaleigic . David ran from the scene, and wanted by the police, later sneaked into his father's hospital room. David begged for forgiveness, but his father had an attack and died. David eventually turned himself in at Cal's urging.

There was some discussion of how David would be charged -depsite Jeff's attack on Cal, he was defenseless when David shot him. Jamie Rollins, David's attorney, convinced him to plead temporary insanity, as he would go to a hospital for observation rather than to jail. At the hospital, under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Bryson, David began to reveal his troubled childhood and how horribly his father had treated him. Meanwhile, Meg discovered that David agreed to stay in the hospital because he wanted to be well enough to marry Cal when he was released. Meg decided that she did not want a "psycho" for a son-in-law. She visited David at the hospital and encouraged his fears that Cal would not wait for him. Meg told him that Cal was getting very close to Meg's business partner Rick Latimer. After speaking with Jamie, Meg discovered that David could leave the hospital if he wanted because he had committed himself voluntarily. Meg knew that she had planted seeds of doubt in David's mind, and once released, he would see Cal and Rick together and have another mental breakdown.

However, Meg's plan backfired. Meg had become very close to Rick and wanted him for herself. Rick owned a nightclub The Club Victoria, and he and Meg were partners in a new entertainment/resort called Beaver Ridge. David did see Rick and Cal together, and remembered what his father said about Cal being a tease. Enraged, David set The Club Victoria on fire, unaware that a drunken Arlene had fallen asleep in Rick's office. David ran back inside the burning club and saved Arlene. Arlene had her own checkered past and understood David like no one else. She advised David to never confess to setting the fire, and they gave one another alibis for that night. Rick did not have an alibi, and his insurance company refused to pay for the damages until the police could determine that the blaze was not the result of arson.

By this point, Ben had married Betsy, and no one knew that Ben and Arlene were actually married and committing bigamy. When the soot stained dress that Arlene had worn the night of the fire was found, the police started digging into her past and were very close to discovering the secret that she shared with Ben, a secret that would send Ben to prison. Meg's scheme had backfired in another way, as well. David told Cal that Meg had helped him leave the hospital. She and Meg had a terrible row, and Cal drove off and crashed her car into a ravine. Her back was broken, and during her convalescence, she and Rick began to fall in love, much to Meg's chagrin.

With Arlene about to be arrested, David went to the police to confess that he was the arsonist. He became unhinged once more and climbed out onto the window ledge about five stories above the street. Feeling that he had lost everyone, he prepared to jump, but Arlene arrived and managed to talk him back in. He was sent back to the mental hospital, and when the district attorney decided not to press charges as long as he agreed to receive therapy, David had himself transported to a private hospital far away from Rosehill.

Thanks. I am glad they don't seem TOO bitter. ATWT and GL are the two I always have the most attachment for, probably always will.

Not too bitter for me, as I have few fond memories of anything post Laurie Caso, and I am alternately infuriated and revolted at the damage Sheffer and Goutman did to a series that was once my favorite in all of daytime.

Poor Alec Baldwin. That's just hilarious.

Indeed. One wonders if the costumer truly understood the significance of a red handkerchief. Alec looks as if he were auditioning for William Friedkin's Cruising.

Other than yelling at Casey or Margo having to deal with her sleazy pig of a brother and her brain dead sociopath of a sister...when the show remembered they were related

Your snarkisms are laugh out loud funny and always come when I need a good yuk.

Wasn't there some kind of flirtation between Lisa and Jay?

Yes, but more so from Jay's point of view. Lisa was intrigued by Jay at a time when she did not have other suitors. However, Grant and Tom made her suspicious of Jay, especially following the attempts on her life. By the time it was revealed that Gil had started the fire that killed Jay's mother in Utah and had been responsible for the attacks on Lisa, she had fallen for Grant. This, in turn, sent Jay closer to Carol Hughes.

Thanks! I really appreciate your details. I can see why this got a lot of excitement.

What did you think of Nick Benedict as Phil? Seeing him on Another Life, it's tough to imagine him as a hero, troubled or not.

I probably should not answer as I am prejudiced. You see, One Life to Live and All My Children were my soaps. They debuted when I was 12 and 14, so they were the first real, long-running soaps that I watched from the very beginning. Phil and Tara were the "money couple" on AMC. To me, Richard Hatch and Karen Gorney were the only Phil and Tara.

Nick Benedict was an ok actor. I did not loathe him or anything, but he was not Phil. Richard Hatch, despite his age, had such an innocence and sweetness about him. That part of Phil was eradicated when the character returned. However, I should point out that Phil seemed like a totally different character then, and I believe it had less to do with the actor and more with the writers. I did not like what was done with the character later. Things such as making Phil a cop and getting Erica pregnant did not seem right to me. Perhaps Nixon, et al wanted to emphasize how an experience like war changes soldiers, but the hardness and cynicism of the later Phil turned me off. For me, the magic of the two young star-crossed lovers was definitely gone.

In regards to the flashback, at some point in the story, Mona had arranged for a photographer to drug Nola and put her in a naughty position with another couple. The pictures of Nola's menage a trois were what caused her to lose custody of baby Jessica. Nola eventually tracked down someone involved in the scheme, I believe the photographer, and got him to confess it was Mona's doing. I don't know exactly how Mona lost Jessica to Nola, but I believe this is the scheme being referred to in the flashback. I may be wrong because I feel like the whole menage a trois plot was from 1979.

Nola had an affair with Dr. Colin Wakefield while married to Jason Aldrich and became pregnant. Jason discovered the affair and left Madison for South America. Nola remained in Mona's mansion and schemed to leave town herself in order to cover up the baby's date of birth, since Mona would figure out that Colin was the baby's father instead of Jason. Before she could leave, Nola had an accident and went into premature labor. Mona grew suspicious and secretly had paternity tests performed on little Jessica. Although Nola thought that Colin was the father, it transpired that she had miscalucalted her conception date. Jason was the father after all. Meanwhile, Nola attempted steal Colin away from M.J., but he was killed in the Thanksgiving tornado of 1979.

Somehow Steve and Carolee discovered that Jason was Jessica's father, a fact Mona had kept secret. Carolee phoned Jason and told him about the child. He immediately caught a plane to come home, but the plane crashed, and he was presumed dead.

Mona blamed Carolee and Nola for Jason's death. She wanted to make Nola pay even more by taking Jessica away from her, too. Nola, who had a drinking problem in the past, started to hit the bottle again. Mona hired a private detective named Fisher to tail Nola and get proof that she was an unfit mother. Fisher, imagining the money he could get from Mona for doing a good job, set Nola up by drugging her and getting a photographer to take dirty photos. He also planted drugs in her car and tipped off the police. Nola was arrested, and this caused her to lose custody of Jessica to Mona.

Nola began drinking even more heavily when Mona refused to agree to visitation rights. One night in June 1980, Nola showed up drunk at Mona's house and they got into a terrible quarrel, which Stephanie Aldrich overheard. During the argument, Mona realized that Fisher had taken it upon himself to frame Nola for the drugs and orgy. Nola ran out of the room, vowing to get back at her mother-in-law. Mona, who was going upstairs to bed, was so upset over the revelation about Fisher that she had an angina attack and fell down the staircase. With Mona comatose, everyone thought that Nola had intentionally pushed her. Nola could not remember what had happened as she blacked out, but with Stephanie's account of their argument, Nola was indicted for attempted murder.

Things looked even more bleak when Mona regained consciousness, as she lied that Nola had been responsible for the fall. Released from the hospital, Mona took Jessica and left Madison. At that point, Carolee found canceled checks Mona had given to Fisher. She and Steve realized that Nola had been framed and turned the evidence over to the police. Nola was released, and the judge reversed his decision, awarding custody of Jessica back to Nola.

Yes,Burton played Mel,who worked for Doreen and kidnapped/raped Carolee.He went on to OLTL as Peter but was replaced by Denny Albee.

Burton appeared on The Doctors and One Life to Live concurrently. Before he played Peter in 1980, Burton appeared as Bob Faulkner, assistant to Paul Martin during Viki's trial for the murder of Marco Dane, January - March 1979.

Would Lisa's assailant be Gil Stallings?

Correct. The article refers to the attempts made on Lisa's life in January/February 1974 by Jay's evil father Gil.

Soaps Out of the Kitchen Into the Fire

by Jon-Michael Reed 1977

Daytime serials have a reputation of confining scenes to domestic settings. But in recent years, as the shows have become more sophisticated and have grown out of the confines of the kitchen, there have been an increasing number of spectacularly-staged non-domestic disaster scenes. These are small screen’s daytime versions of the “Towering Inferno” and “Hurricane”.

Whenever CBS-TV incorporates disaster scenes into its soap operas, the network calls upon its special visual effects department. The unit contributes everything from rain and snow showers to cars colliding or veering off cliffs and bursting into flames.

Two weeks ago on “As the World Turns” an apartment building on the show went up in flames. Special effects director Neal Schatz devised and executed the blaze with co-special effects director Mort McConnell.

“In this instance,” says Schatz, “I was informed three weeks in advance what the writers wanted in terms of the story, although the visual effects department sometimes works on an overnight’s notice. We had time to plot the progression of the fire with the show’s production staff, and then prepare all the equipment needed. The scenery flats were covered in a fire-retardant material. Then a specially prepared fire compound was applied. The compound burns itself but not the material. It’s a process akin to pouring lighter fluid on a table –the fluid ignites immediately, but not the table. The flame produced by the compound only lasts a minute or so and can be raised, lowered or extinguished by a propane burner.

“Of course, great care and control must be maintained when working within an enclosed stage set like ATWT.” While taping the fire, eight men were stationed around the set to control the flames and the smoke. The smoke produced by the special-burning compound is not noxious and is propelled by small fans that direct the desired wind currents. But it is a potentially dangerous situation and our prime concern is the effectiveness of the visuals and the safety of the cast and crew. The flames are as hot as the real thing and can burn just as severely.

In the storyline, Dr. John Dixon leaped through the flames, crashing through the door of Mary Ellison’s apartment to save Mary and her son Teddy, whose path was blocked by flaming debris. The leaping figure was a professional stuntman who wore a fire-proof suit under pajamas. One of his shoes briefly caught fire. Although it quickly extinguished itself, there was an asbestos tarp just outside of camera range that he could have rolled onto if the spark had flared. Men with fire extinguishers were standing by as an additional precaution. The total fire sequence, which resulted in about five minutes of airtime, required four hours to stage and tape. But it was a tribute to the wizardry of the CBS-TV special visual effects department.

In the last several years, “ATWT” has required similar assistance on occasion. Two years ago, a villain attempted to kill Lisa Shea by tampering with the brakes on her car, an accident shot on location on Long Island, and tried to burn her alive in a fire at the Wade Bookshop. The villain met a grisly end under a truck after running into the street to escape police. The crew’s other notable soap opera efforts in the last few years include the collapse of a construction-site scaffolding and a raging tornado, complete with flying debris propelled by giant wind machines.

Perhaps the department’s crowning daytime achievements were produced for “The Edge of Night” when that show was aired on CBS (it is now shown on ABC). In addition to a car careening off the road plunging into a ravine and the explosion of a honeymoon yacht, there was the stunning burning of the New Moon Café. An entire set was set aflame, with collapsing beams and walls that turned to apparent ashes. That sequence required a full nine-hour taping and involved several characters running amok the blazing rubble. Despite the intricacies of the effects, no one was injured-a testimonial to the stunningly executed visual effects and painstaking planning.

Some stunning vintage clips in this, along with more familiar scenes. This also seems to have the burning down of the Wade bookstore. I will see that store set someday, I swear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgOHdTir74

I am delighted that it was enjoyable. I believe that I have a 1960s episode with scenes set in the Wade Bookstore. If I can find it, I will upload it. I usually avoid World Turns and GL because so much of those soaps are already online, but 60s ATWT seems relatively rare.

True. I can't see any game show today getting anywhere near that.

I'm trying to remember what AMC was doing at this time. Was this when Phil "died"?

Thanks for sharing these with us!

True. I can't see any game show today getting anywhere near that.

I'm trying to remember what AMC was doing at this time. Was this when Phil "died"?

Thanks for sharing these with us!

Close, Carl. This was the period in which Phil returned from the dead and found true love Tara married to best friend Chuck. Phil was devastated and went to bed with Erica. Around the time of the above ratings, late summer/early fall 1974, Erica discovered that Phil had made her pregnant. He was desperate to reunite with Tara, but would not because she and Chuck had a child together. Of course, the kid was actually Phil's too, fathered the night before he left for Vietnam. Phil agreed to marry Erica, and Ruth, who knew the truth about Tara and Phil's child, admitted this to Tara and begged her to reveal the paternity before Phil married Erica, as he would not marry her with the knowledge that he already had a kid with the woman he really loved. This played out over weeks, with the audience on pins and needles as to whether or not Phil, Tara, and their baby would be reunited.

What was audience's reactions to Kim's marriage to John and all the years of torture she went through? She also fell in love with Dan Stewart, producing a memorable couple there. What were reactions to Bob and Kim being reunited?

John was a heinous villain wasn't he? Didn't he fake paralysis or illness just to keep Kim around? I've read about Kim's amnesia storyline, I think as a viewer at that I would have been very frustrated by that point. Actually given the ratings started falling during that time to other soaps maybe some of them were!

I would not say that it was “frustrating,” rather, it was very suspenseful. We had much healthier attention spans in those days. I am not saying that to be snarky. The conventions of serials were different. After the kitchen sink and coffee chatter of the 50s and 60s, drama shown in the 1970s moved comparatively quickly. I remember my parents feeling that it moved too quickly, in fact, and now, I feel the same way about today’s serials.

Actually, the ratings went up during this period. John raped Kim and had his accident in the summer of 1974, and Kim got amnesia in the summer of 1975. The ratings at this time went from a 9.7 to a 10.8. For that season, 74-75, World Turns was the only soap to average over a ten rating.

World Turns was criticized and satirized for being slow as molasses, but in truth, that was the secret to its success. It was almost hypnotic in its storytelling. The plot progressed very leisurely, sucking you in, and once it had you, the writers would throw in something very sensational to knock you off balance. The audience needed to see Kim suffer for cheating on her sister, but once she had paid for her sins, the writers kept piling on the disasters, which then made the audience feel sorry for her. That was part of the plan to redeem Kim’s character, and it was ingenuous.

Kim came so close to happiness, and every time, another complication arose to thwart it. She decided to leave John, and he fell over the railing in their apartment building. His injuries were real, not faked. Kim, now of good moral character, could not leave him for Dan. When she did finally muster the courage once John was healed, she lost her memory in the Centerville tornado. That was wonderful because she didn’t remember anything from the last five years. Everyone attempted to convince her that John was rotten to the core, but so many maligned him with unkind words, the efforts backfired. Kim felt sympathetic toward John, and he tricked her into believing that they were happily married. She slept with him and became pregnant with Andy. Only then did she get her memory back and realize what a louse he was. She tried desperately to phone Dan, who was ready to leave Oakdale for Bolivia since he could not have Kim. Kim left messages on Dan’s answering machine, but a vengeful Susan overheard the call and erased the tape. When Dan left without responding to Kim’s message, Susan viciously lied to Kim that Dan no longer wanted her and could not face her because he pitied her. Susan suggested that if Kim really loved him, she would write a letter telling him that she was letting him go and to have no further contact with him. This drove the audience crazy with anticipation, wondering when John and Susan’s schemes would finally be exposed.

In my opinion, this is one of the problems with today’s soaps. There is no suspense, no anticipation. The writers want to skip the quiet moments and pacing that builds characters and situations. They want to jump from one plot point to another, hitting only the high points, but that does not allow an audience to feel deeply. You need peaks and valleys in storytelling to create a natural momentum. Keeping constant action going desensitizes the audience. It makes the stories and characters appear shallow, and the audience loses its investment. Also, more often than not, the high points are usually superfluous. For example, the Centerville tornado served a very real purpose in providing a terrifying event that would block Kim’s memory and send her back to the wrong man. It was not like a 2011 soap, staged solely to bombard the viewer with CGI effects and provide a quick boost to ratings, rather than create a legitimate plot device with a real emotional aftermath.

In the case of Dan/Kim/John, getting there was more than half the fun. Once Kim and Dan were together, the Soderbergs did not know what to do with them and resorted to a ridiculous one night stand between Dan and Susan while Dan was married to Kim. So much for his character. Not really knowing what to do, they unwisely had Dan die from the same brain tumor that killed his brother. John also began to languish in story limbo without Kim. After shooting himself and framing Dan for attempted murder, John appeared to be on the road to redemption when he saved Mary and Teddy from the infamous Ellison apartment building fire, but it went nowhere. That, coupled with an influx of too many new short-term characters and diminished screen time for the Hughes family is what finally knocked the show out of the #1 spot for good.

It's interesting about Irna's view of Kim, as Kathryn Hays was very private and this fascinated the soap press.

Do you remember what Irna mentions about Natalie and Tom wanting to move to a farm and Natalie making their own food and all the rest? I wonder how far that story went. It was very of its time - shows like The Good Life made this a phenomenon in the UK.

Carl, I do not recall the story Irna spoke of, but when I started watching World Turns regularly, she was nearing the end of her writing. The farm story may have occurred earlier. It is interesting that rural settings involving the Hughes family had been used by the soap since the very beginning and continued until the end with the Snyders.

My earliest memories of Carol and Tom place them in their own apartment. Carol worked for Lisa at the exciting Wade bookstore, center of riveting drama circa the 1970’s. Tom and Carol had a conservative approach to marriage for that era; however, Tom was more old-fashioned than Carol. Carol wanted traditional matrimony married with modern ideas of equality. She considered herself an equal partner in the relationship and decision-making. Tom was staid, and held fast to the opinion that Carol’s place was in the home, cooking and cleaning and deferring to his every wish. This created tension in the arrangement, particularly when he decided that she should not work.

The other story point, very early in the marriage, was Carol’s diagnosis of being infertile. The writers dragged that idea on for years (literally). Tom was not at all interested in having children (this was well over a decade before he found out that he had fathered Lien in Vietnam). His sole interest lay in his burgeoning law career. Every time he and Carol had a disagreement, Carol fretted that Tom secretly harbored regret at not being able to have a child with her. Quite frankly, this grew very tiresome as scene after scene over months and months and years and years saw Carol asking Tom if he were not upset over being childless, and he would reassure her to no avail.

For this reason, I did not particularly like the union. Carol and Tom were boring, despite Rita Walter being an appealing actress. I never understood why the writers did not use that plot point to generate story. For example, Laura on Love is a Many Splendored Thing was also obsessed with being barren, but the writers on that soap milked it for all it was worth. Laura was prepared to reconcile with her cheating husband Mark Elliott to give dying sister Iris’ baby a home. When Iris was cured, Laura kidnapped the child and nearly killed them both in a car crash. Then Laura and Mark adopted the demonic orphan Maria, who tried to kill Mark and pushed a miraculously pregnant Laura down the stairs causing a miscarriage. You get the picture.

Carol and Tom really did not have an interesting story until the fascinating Judith Chapman arrived as Natalie Bannon, and Carol became intrigued with Jay Stallings, a junior John Dixon in training. This is when Carol and Tom really took off, though in different directions as the young couple divorced, with Tom marrying Natalie and Carol marrying Jay. Finally, after five or so years, the Soderbergs wisely began to exploit Carol’s need to be a mother by having scheming frenemies Jay and Natalie fall into a stormy affair, with Natalie becoming pregnant with his child. Nat dangled the baby in front of Carol and Jay like a tantalizing carrot, while conniving to get every penny she could from them. Carol was also used in the Andy Dixon kidnapping story, the tot cruelly snatched while under maternal Carol’s watch, which absolutely mortified her.

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Wasn't it Irna who wrote the story where Bob impregnated both his wife Jennifer and his sister-in-law Kim around the same time? That doesn't sound like a very moral story to me!

Yes, and it was not moral. Irna failed to see this, and it led to her being disassociated with the series permanently, though you have to understand what she had in mind. Irna found the Dan/Liz/Paul story immoral because Dan and Liz loved one another and had children together, yet Liz married Paul, who loved her, though she did not return his love. Basically, Irna thought that Liz was unnecessarily hurting the two brothers, as well as herself, and the idea that the two brothers coveted the same woman was wrong.

As Irna saw it, the difference with the Kim/Bob/Jennifer plot was that Bob and Kim did not love one another. During a period when Jennifer and Bob were headed for divorce, Bob and Kim had an unexpected one-night stand. There was no love involved or intentional deceit. It was something that happened, and was to have been forgotten. Also, the character of Kim had been based on Irna herself. Kim was a very unusual character for As the World Turns and soap operas in general. Irna envisioned Kim as woman apart from community and family. Kim did not rely upon anyone, and she did not did not require a man to keep her fulfilled and happy. She was very Garboesque. Irna saw Kim as a woman for whom normal moral codes did not apply because Kim was, in a sense, above morality. Had Irna continued as headwriter, Kim would have born the child alone and continued with a solitary existence.

Unfortunately, the viewers saw Kim differently. World Turns had always been a moral soap, perhaps more moral than any other serial. The audience did not see any character as being above the standard formula. Irna had inadvertently violated her own code. This is why she was fired, and the Soderbergs had to work feverishly to undo the damage. The only solution was to morph Kim into the antithesis of Irna's desire. Kim became very much a typical soap heroine. She and Bob had to "pay" for their mistake, first with Bob being run over by a car and nearly killed while saving a pregnant Jennifer. Later, Bob suffered more as Jennifer came down with a terminal illness and saw it go into remission, only to die later in an unexpected car crash on Nancy's birthday. Kim was forced to marry John Dixon, anathema to Irna, and then had to endure being raped and impregnated by John. It literally took years to sort out the damage and restore Bob and Kim to loftier heights.

Frankly, Marland would have been better off not pursuing that aspect of the storyline. I loved the mystery, and for once, I did not mind a slight retconning of plot because Marland made it work very well within established history. However, for all of Doug's strong points, some of his storytelling was a bit ridiculous, Identical cousins is fine for a low brow sitcom like The Patty Duke Show, but it had no place on As the World Turns, particularly at a time when it was attempting to counter program the comic book plotting of One Life to Live on ABC. I know others will disagree, and that is fine, but I have never been fond of twin stories on soaps. I think they are generally formulaic and silly. There was no reason why ATWT could not have gotten another actress resembling Julianne Moore to play Sabrina. Do not even get me started on the whole Seth takes Sabrina's virginity at the Snyder pond thinking she is Frannie debacle.

Thanks, as always, for your knowledge and details. I know Cullen talked about her infant daughter in some early 80's Digest issues but for some reason I thought she was let go. Perhaps by 1987 she'd just transitioned out of acting. It's a shame, because she was something very special as Amanda. Was she around for any scenes with Grant Aleksander before her 1983 exit or did he arrive after she left? I know a summer 1986 Digest told viewers to be on the lookout for Hope, and a very different Hope than what they knew. I guess that never panned out.

I did not intend to imply that Cullen left GL willingly, I believe her contract was not renewed in 1983, but at the point she was brought back by Long for a guest appearance, I believe she was not interested in returning full-time. It was similar to Lenore Kasdorf. Pam Long intended to bring Rita back at the same time as Holly and Roger in 1988/89, but it was incumbent upon Kasdorf returning. GL contacted her, and although she was free, Lenore refused to come back, stating that it was not the right time in her life to reprise Rita. Yes, Cullen and Alexsander acted together in 1982/83, before Cullen left.

Mike Mikler passed away June 23, 2008.

There is an interesting video of him on YouTube and was recorded about a year before he passed. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=i8ebmaJJbyo

Thank you for the update. I am sorry Mike passed away, and I wish I had not watched that video. I met Mike in the 1980's, and he was such a lovely man. He was so sincere about his work, and disillusioned with Hollywood. He was too sensitive and too honest to make it in that snake pit. He also spoke so lovingly of his work on The Young Marrieds. He was proud of the work the ensemble did, and he regretted that more was not done to save a series which was so obviously exceptional. I am disheartened that his life did not turn out differently.

I know the actor that played Johnny talked about how horribly confusing the Valere story was...which seemed to be a theme for this era of GL (Robert Newman said the same about the mammoth Sonni/Solita saga).

I'm not sure if Johnny ever had any stories that were worth watching. What I've seen of the cancer story is overheated, and what was done to Roxie was just tacky. Pam Long said the story should have had more of him doubting his faith, but the strike ended it.

It seems like a lot of GL at this time was so free-floating, which may have worked for strong personalities like Alex, Reva, Alan, HB, etc. but quieter people seemed to sink. I can see why Maeve Kinkead quit - she'd had nothing to do for years and I think even getting the Dinah story was tough.

I do like the stuff with Mindy going out to investigate and getting into danger. It's stupid, but fun. I really missed that side of Mindy when they began beating her down in the early 90's.

The December 22 and 23 episodes of 1987 are on Youtube, if that was Christmas. Reva-centric Christmas 1987 clips are also up.

Amanda never came back around this time, did she? A long time ago I read that she did, but I've never seen it anywhere else.

Yes, Kathleen Cullen returned for two episodes in December 1987. Phillip needed Amanda's shares to execute a takeover of Spaulding Enterprises from Alan, so he brought Amanda to Springfield for Christmas. If I remember correctly, Kathleen Cullen had a young daughter and was not interested at that point in returning to GL fulltime. It is too bad, as maybe it would have spared us the inanity of the later storyline in which Amanda is revealed as a Hollywood madam. It should be noted that Hope Bauer was referenced at this time as well.

Wonderful article, Carl. I had never read that one. I loved Linda Grover's tenure at The Doctors. She was superior to the writers who came before and after her, IMO. I wish she had stayed longer, but NBC never gave its good writers a fighting chance. Her comments about the proposed story of Greta attempting suicide and killing her baby are absolutely appalling and the height of distasteful. Greta never would have done such a thing. Mel and Ethel Brez were clueless. Thank God Grover was hired and corrected it. I enjoyed the teen pregnancy story of Greta and Billy. It was tasteful and well written, one of the best of its type really in all of daytime. Her decision to move The Doctors back to more realistic, medical-based stories was a good one, particularly since the Pollocks had moved away from it near the end of their reign, and when they did a "disease" story, it was something inane such as Ann Larimer's Obonda fever.