saynotoursoap

I remember how much talk that got at the time, even ending in rumors about her and the guy who played Cyrus.

Her and Murray Bartlett? You and I would have been more likely to do Murray than she would.

Also, as was typical w/ the other soap-related book Laura Morton co-authored, Susan Lucci's "All My Life," KZ's book made several factual errors. For instance, Nurse Lillian Raines was NOT the first character on daytime to battle breast cancer (I could be wrong, but I think that distinction goes to Y&R's Jennifer Brooks) and it did NOT happen in 1980. :-(

What I found even more bizarre was Zimmer's comment that Lillian' story was based on producer Kathlyn Chambers, who died from the disease. While that bit is true, according to the book, Kathlyn was on the series before KZ joined, and KZ did not know her. Huh? Chambers worked on GL from approximately 1986-89, and died in 1991. Zimmer should have known her. One would think she would not forget something such as that.

Those kinds of errors are shocking in the age of Google and Wikipedia.

If one is looking for factual information, I do not know that I would make Wikipedia or Google my first stop, as they are notoriously unreliable. Glaring errors appear to be sine qua non for soap publications these days. After all, Zimmer is just an actress. Carolyn Hinsey's book contains glaring errors as well, and she purports to be a soap "journalist", whatever the hell that means these days.

Where did you get that info? The show definitely repeated at 7 or 7:30 pm weeknights during the early 80's. I was high school at the time and I'd watch it every evening after school. It definitely wasn't at 4:00 because The Edge of Night came on that 4 and they was no way I was missing that.

I get it from my memory, but if you insist upon proof, I can dig up an old newspaper or TV Guide. I watched Another Life regularly beginning in January 1983. This is the CBN schedule AL was on at that time, and I'm fairly certain it remained that way through the end. It may have been different in 1981 and 1982. I did not watch the series much at first. Yes, AL did broadcast opposite Edge at one [point. I remember a very smug Pat Robertson talking about it on The 700 Club when he had one of the soap's producers as a guest. Robertson boasted about how Another Life had beaten Edge in one of the local markets. Robertson also predicted the cancelation of Edge within a year, and he was very nearly correct.

The regular CBN schedule for Another Life was: Morning 10:30 CT/ 11:30 ET; Afternoon 3:00 CT/4:00 ET; Evening 10:00 CT/11:00 ET. There was also an early, early morning feed (5 a.m., I believe).

I haven't poured through this thread to see if this topic has already been discussed, but it always suprised me that NBC never chose to expand The Doctors to 60 minutes. (The surprise is even more striking when you consider the fact that DOOL expanded to an hour just three months after AW did.) The Doctors was still doing well in the ratings in 1975, so an expansion was certainly merited. Does anybody know why The Doctors never expanded?

NBC did plan to expand The Doctors to an hour.

In 1974, Another World was the highest rated soap on NBC, and Paul Rauch could sell snowcones to Eskimoes, so AW was given the first trial 1 hour episode for its anniversary in May 1974. It was the highest rated episode of any soap opera that week, so plans were quickly made to expand the series permanently. Days of our Lives was the #2 soap on NBC and was also given a 1 hour trial episode which aired in November 1974. Once again, it scored very well in the ratings, even higher than normal episodes. That led to its planned expansion shortly afterward.

However, by the time Days expanded, The Doctors was beginning to slip in the ratings. The Pollocks were leaving, and the stories had become repetitive and not as fulfilling. NBC held off for a while with its possible expansion and finally, in late 1975, the network decided to produce an expanded trial episode for The Doctors. Margaret DePriest pulled out all the stops for the 90 minute special that aired in March 1976. Fan favorite Althea plunged headfirst through a plate-glass window in a very well performed stunt. Rushed to Hope Memorial with bleeding on her brain, Matt Powers sent for Althea's former husband Nick Bellini. TD fans had been waiting impatiently for a year and a half for actor Gerald Gordon's return. Despite heavy promotion and giving the audience a tense, exciting episode, the ratings failed to budge.

NBC gave the show one more chance the following year. For its 14th anniversary episode, there was a special hour-long episode penned by Doug Marland. Again, the storyline was very dramatic, as Ann Larimer prepared to marry Steve Aldrich just as Carolee escaped from the private sanitarium and made her way back to Madison. The series also debuted re-orchestrated theme music and the Y&R style logo. Unfortunately, the ratings were the usual middle of the pack numbers instead of a significant bump. At that point, NBC abandoned the idea of expansion altogether. It really would not have made sense, because once ATWT expanded to an hour in December 1975, Days suddenly saw its ratings dipping, too. Before that, The Doctors may have stood a chance, but by 1977, NBC was well on its way to losing its once powerhouse schedule.

I'm really in awe at the production values of Edge back then, very few soaps at the time seemingly had such controlled lighting, very cinematic.

When Edge first went to ABC, it looked dreadful. The lighting was very harsh and bright, and the sets, leftover from the CBS days, looked old and tattered. Edge's production values really began to improve when Gail Kobe took over as supervising producer, and the lighting especially was moody and appropriate for the settings. After Gail left to take over as EP on Texas, the lighting and sets began to decline to again. By 1983, I thought the series looked perfectly dreadful. That sort of thing does not ordinarily bother me as long as the writing and acting are good, but Edge was also beginning to decline in the writing, too, as ABC began to interfere more with Henry Slesar's work. Edge would have benefited greatly from acquiring the sets of Texas when it was canceled, as the production values on that series were excellent.

It seems that, in terms of blatant youthification of P&G, the big moment was firing Mandel Kramer and bringing in Dennis Parker as the new police chief.

What I wonder about is the fan reaction when, around 1976, Calvin, Steve, and Deborah all arrived, and ended up on the force (I don't know if Deborah was a cop when viewers first met her). This was a pretty big shift for Edge, wasn't it? I know they had always had young characters in the middle of the action, but hadn't most of the "law and order" characters usually been older?

Steve turned up first in the summer of 1976 as a bodyguard hired by Adam to protect Nicole from Claude Revenant's assassins. There had been hints that Steve had been kicked off the police force for rogue behavior. I believe Henry Slesar deliberately kept Steve somewhat mysterious so that the audience would be uneasy as to whether or not he really wanted to help Nicole. I don't usually like his type, but Denny Albee was cute and ingratiating even though he was not given much to do at first. At that point, Bill Marceau was still the chief of police and Luke Chandler the #1 cop on the series.

Deborah Saxon came next in the fall of 1976. Deborah was not a cop initially. She was the spoiled daughter of businessman/crimelord Anthony Saxon. Deborah was introduced as a drunken character in the Ace of Clubs cocktail lounge, which was run by Saxon's flunky Beau Richardson. Danny Micelli, who worked for Beau, threw Deborah out and was then called on the carpet for being mean to the boss' daughter. At first, Deborah was very similar to the Raven character, who at that point was still played by the original actress Juanin Clay. Deborah was written as more headstrong and volatile, while Raven was manipulative and cunning. Deborah's character slowly began to change in the spring and summer of 1977. It later was revealed that she had been raped by Beau Richardson the night he was murdered at the Ace of Clubs. Steve and Deborah had been seeing one another casually, with Deborah taking some delight in her father's dislike for Steve. Deborah was not aware of her father's criminal activities, but Steve thought Saxon may have been involved in the muder of Adam Drake. Steve had rejoined the police force after Nicole's assassination attempts ended, and Steve had been paired with another rookie, Calvin Stoner. Calvin started some tme around mid-1977 to investigate Drake's death. They reported to Marceau and Lt. Chandler.

Eventually, Beau's rape of Deborah came to light, and Steve understood by she had been so reluctant to become intimate with him. Deborah really began to change into a less-spoiled, stronger, more self-sufficient woman after that, and in early 1978, she decided to join the police force. By that fall, Lt. Chandler had been phased out of the story -without explanation, as I recall. Steve, Deborah, and Calvin had been dubbed the Three Muskateers and were very popular with fans. I think the secret to it was that Henry Slesar had introduced all of the characters separately and over time. The audience got to know them first and saw them with the veteran cast, thus they were accepted. It was not like today where a soap would introduce three new actors on the same day at the same time, stick them in the middle of established stories, and expect the audience to like them instantly.

Thanks for replying.

I misinterpreted what you had said. A few pages back, you described the early days as so-so in comparison to the later runs of Falken-Smith and Avila Mayer / Labine. After reading this, I have a firmer grasp on your meaning.

In the beginning, was Arthur Saxton involved in the plot to get the Hathaway land that had bestowed to the Hathaway siblings after the death of their father? I posted interviews a couple pages back that discuss the story. Allison and Roy Archer were scheming to sell the land so they had split up with the intent of Roy marrying Kate to get his hands on her share of the land. Steve was also interested in her land, but I assume he was more honest about his attempts. Do you know if Roy Archer's death by mugging was related to the criminal storyline?

And after Roy's death, how long was it before Allison married Hugh? I cannot imagine it was very long considering the amount of story Christine had with Hugh and later John. I know 'Where the Heart Is' is said to have played at breakneck speed, but it's just hard to get a sense of timing based on the information that is out there.

Thank you for taking time to share with us your memories of these often forgotten program, and I apologize if the constant string of questions is a nuisance. It's just so rare to find people who have seen the many of the shows first hand and remember them with such detail.

No worries. It is not a nuisance. I enjoy remembering stories from so long ago and am annoyed with myself when my memory fails. Where the Heart Is seems to be one of the more challenging serials to recall as I could not watch it regularly. In my area, the serial was telecast at 11 a.m. During high school years, I always went home for lunch and could see many soaps airing in 12:00-1:30 range, depending upon the year.

Yes, if I recall correctly, Roy's death was planned. He did something to double-cross Saxton. Roy and Alison were in New York, a short train ride away from Northcross, to see a show. Roy was supposed to meet someone in Central Park, maybe either Saxton or Helen Wyatt. A hit had been ordered with instructions to make it look like a mugging gone bad. By the way, the mugger who stabbed Roy was played by William Devane, though he was unknown at the time.

With her plan to get the Hathaway estate failed, Alison turned her attention to Hugh. It did not hurt that Hugh was somewhat taken with Christine Cameron, who happened to be Kate's best friend. Alison and Kate had been in competition with one another, and Kate was none too happy that Alison ran off years before with Roy, who had been Kate's beau. Alison could be on the sadistic side at times and took pleasure in lousing up Chris and Hugh's relationship and consequently causing more fretting for Kate. Alison married Hugh fairly quickly. Roy was killed off in mid- 1970. I think Alison and Hugh were married within six months. Hugh's family encouraged his engagement to Alison, as Chris was a working girl and considered beneath him socially. Alison had style, class, and the social connections that Hugh's mother craved in a daughter-in-law. Their marriage quickly deteriorated, though. Alison was demanding, self-centered, and unwilling to kow-tow to Hugh's ego -unlike Chris, who was very loving and made Hugh feel like he was the most important man in the world.

By early 1971, Hugh and Chris were having an affair, and she got pregnant in the summer. I remember that Delphi Harrington, who played Christine, was pregnant in real life, but not on the show. And when the actress left on her maternity leave, the character of Christine was then said to be pregnant, which was very confusing. Chris had difficult pregnancy because she was being harrassed. Hugh had left Alison when Chris became pregnant. Someone, assumed to be Alison, phoned Chris at all hours of the day and night tormenting her with disturbing prank phone calls. The caller referred to her as being a "wanton woman" and threatened her because of her affair with Hugh and the illegitimate child she was carrying. Everybody in Northcross thought Alison was behind the calls, as she had gone all over town referring to Chris, in a running gag, as "that Hester Prynne of Northcross". Kate, however, thought Alison had gotten exactly what she deserved and withheld all of her sympathy for Christine, which infuriated Alison, making her appear even more guilty. This played out in late 1971/early 1972. By that time, Hugh had grown weary of Chris, who was becoming slowly unhinged physically and mentally from the pressure. Alison seized the opportunity to get Hugh back, and they had an affair.

It turned out that Alison was innocent. The real stalker was Will Watts, a lab technician at the hospital where Hugh worked (Labine and Mayer partially cribbed that story for the Kenneth Castle plot the first year of RH). Will kidnaped Christine. He was deranged because he had murdered his late wife when she had an affair similar to Chris'. Hugh saved Chris from Will, but she discovered that Hugh and Alison were having an affair and refused to go back to him. She was so angry that she wanted to keep him away from their newborn baby daughter Katina. Chris hired John Rainey to ensure that Hugh had no legal rights to the child, butr Alison convinced Hugh that they could win custody if they remarried, thus providing Katina with something Chris couldn't -a stable home with two parents. To Chris and Kate's horror, Hugh and Alison were married in the fall of 1972. Shortly thereafter, the custody trial began.

During the trial, Chris began to get close to John, who was divorced. John urged Chris to see a psychiatrist as her behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. Chris could not bear the idea that Alison had stolen Hugh and was about to take her daughter, too. Also, she had not completely gotten over the trauma of being stalked and kidnaped. She took John's advice and began seeing a psychiatrist named Adrienne Harris, who unknown to Chris, was actually John's ex-wife and the mother of his bitchy daughter Liz, who was attempting to break up Julian and Mary Hathaway's marriage. Adrienne subtly manipulated Chris into becoming more unhinged. During the trial, Chris went insane on the witness and began raving, causing the judge to decide against her and give Hugh and Alison custody of Katina. Chris had to be committed to a mental hospital. This was at the very beginning of 1973.

Over the next two months, John realized that Chris' doctor was Adrienne, and it came out that she had set up Chris to be committed. Hugh, who genuinely thought Chris was sick and a danger to Katina, agreed -with a now more contrite Alison- to share custody of Katina. Thus, all ended well.

I remember seeing a total daytime ratings list from around that time with gameshows included and a few of them bumped soaps down the list.

Here is one with the gameshows added for the week ending October 27, 1974:

1. MATCH GAME '74 (11.3)

2. AS THE WORLD TURNS (11.0)

3. ALL MY CHILDREN (9.5)

4. DAYS OF OUR LIVES (9.5)

5. THE DOCTORS (9.4)

6. THE PRICE IS RIGHT (8.9)

7. THE GUIDING LIGHT (8.8)

8. ANOTHER WORLD (8.7)

9. HOLLYWOOD SQUARES (8.5)

10. SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (8.4)

11. GENERAL HOSPITAL (8.1)

12. LET'S MAKE A DEAL (7.9)

13. YOUNG & RESTLESS (7.8)

14. ONE LIFE TO LIVE (7.6)

15. CELEBRITY SWEEPSTAKES (7.3)

Someone online said Nancy Reardon (Kathleen, RH) subbed for Diana van der Vlis as Kate Hathaway on 'Where the Heart Is.' Maybe saynotoursoap can confirm or deny this?

I definitely be interested in reading that article. Saynotoursoap says the early episodes were boring, which is a shame because it sounds like it had the makings to be very interesting.

I didn't notice the dresses. The weird broach thing on them bothers me a bit, but I like the style. I can see what you mean about the length, but I still think it looks good on van der Vlis. She reminds me of the often seen pic of Christina Crawford in the cast shot for 'The Secret Storm.'

Nell's story is my favorite story from the show's first year.

On youtube, there is a wonderful performance of van der Vlis from her second run on RH where she plays Sherry Rowan. One episode is devoted to the conclusion of the murder mystery involving Sherry's late husband. Van der Vlis is wonderful as she gets a confession out of her husband's former mistress.

Sorry fellows. I do not recall Nancy playing Kate Hathaway, but that does not mean it did not occur. Remember, I was in school during the series' run.

Did I write that WTHI was boring in its early years? I do not recall doing so, and it was not my intention. Perhaps I failed to express myself well, which is often the case with me. Where the Heart Is was never boring; however, I did find the first year to be somewhat incongruous with the theme. I believe that Lou Scofield and Maggie DePriest attempted to create a serial similar to Days of our Lives for CBS. Days had recently exploded in the ratings with strong psychosexual drama. The problem was that Scofield and DePriest came from The Edge of Night, so they mixed in an element of crime with the sexual drama. Steve Prescott was a land developer, and he got mixed up with Arthur Saxton, who had mob ties. They tried to rub out Steve. It seemed out of place in a serial whose opening sequence was a butterfly gliding over a sunny field. When Pat Falken Smith came on board, she dropped the criminal element and focused on the ever changing emotions of the characters and particularly the roundelay of love affairs. "Where the Heart Is" then became an apt title. The show even changed it's opening visuals and theme music. To understand what I mean about PFS' writing, you should watch the Days episode from August 1976 that I uploaded on Youtube. PFS wrote that episode, and its tone is indicative of what she did with WTHI. Coincidentally, she later became a writer for Days. I prefer to remember these writing stints instead of the disastrous work she did for RH and GL, which is not surprising since those were "family" soaps, not psychodrama. I like soaps which have a clear theme and stick to it.

I concur wholeheartedly about Diana van der Vlis on RH, and the scene you cited, dc, was wonderful. What a treat it was to see Diana playing a more manipulative role. She was perfect for Sherry Rowan, and it truly demonstrated her range as an actress. Sherry was a far cry from the saintly Kate Hathaway.

Regarding the clothes, another poster (Brent?) mentioned the wardrobe on The Secret Storm. I loved the late 60s and early 70s era because the women looked so smart. The false eyelashes and hairstyles and designer clothes were so classy and added an interesting element to the visual production. I know that I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but women on contemporary soap operas largely look like whores who just rolled out of bed. I remember a brief period on Another World circa 1988 when I thought the clothes and hair on the ladies had a similar 60s look. I miss those days.

When I saw those Dec ratings and EON at #2,I have to admit I am puzzled that a few weeks earlier it didn't even make the Top 10.

I'm surprised at Edge, too, as the episodes from November 1971 began the Keith Whitney wrapup, which was brilliant. The story climaxed the week of December 5th, hence the huge jump from below #10 to #2.

Thanks. I didn't know anyone wrote Return to the Cul-de-sac, I thought the actors just improvised all that mess.

Thanks, Carl. Your comment is the funniest I have heard all day.

It was interesting in those days because soaps could literally gain a couple of million viewers in a matter of weeks, unlike today where ratings stay more or less the same from week to week. Just a few weeks later ATWT was derailed again, this time by General Hospital:

Week ending December 5, 1971:

1. GENERAL HOSPITAL 10.5

2. THE EDGE OF NIGHT 10.0

3. DAYS OF OUR LIVES 9.7

4. AS THE WORLD TURNS 9.6

5. THE DOCTORS 9.2

6. ANOTHER WORLD 9.0

7. THE GUIDING LIGHT 8.3

8. SEARCH FOR TOMORROW 8.0

9. THE SECRET STORM 7.7

10. LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING 7.4

Amy Ingersoll began in late November - early December 1981 and she was out three months later.

Amy Ingersoll was the first wife of actor Stephen Schnetzer (Cass Winthrop, AW, ATWT, GL).

st?

PS has anyone ever seen the original 1964 opening? I know there's an audio recording on the AWHP and was one on the old WOST site but I don't believe I've seen video of it other than a picture of it.

As of Sunday, it is online at my YT channel, just for you.

Thanks. I wish I could see Lemay's material. I wonder if he was even there long enough for it to show up on-air...

Your wish is granted. I will add a Lemay episode to my YT channel today. Lemay was dropped at the request on NBC, who felt his writing was too character-driven and too leisurely in its pacing. NBC wanted action, action, action, not drama.

Not sure where you found this stuff but what a treat. I'm so fascinated by that story with Patrice and her anarchist boyfriend. Where did that go? Was he her baby's father?

It's so strange seeing Elizabeth Lawrence with that style and this character. Did she want to leave or did they fire her?

Pat's boyfriend Tony was involved with a radical group that was partly based on the real life terrorist faction The Weathermen. Tony was accused of plotting to blow up a government warehouse that was used to produce chemical warfare for Vietnam. He had been exposed to chemicals and was ill with mercury poisoning. Pat found out that she was pregnant with his child. It was rather amusing as this coincided with the change in writers from Phillips to the Hollands. The Hollands decided to increase ratings by acclerating the stories, which moved more leisurely with Phillips. After Pat realized she was pregnant, she went into labor about six weeks later! The child was named Jeremy. By this time, Tony had died, so Pat decided to give the baby up for adoption, just as she had been adopted. This was the storyline in the final episode: Jeremy's christening and Pat kneeling before God trying to make the right decision.

An April 75 press clipping lists Jean Arley as producer and Margaret DePriest as headwriter with associates Nancy Ford and Clarice Blackburn,

The following characters were new to me

Linda Crawford played by Romola Robb Allrud

Prof James Crawford played by Kenneth MacMillan

Dr Paul Bryson played by Earle Hyman

Hyman played Bill Cosby's dad on The Cosby Show.

I guess Linda and James were Betsy's sister and father?

Paul Raven, Linda was Betsy's mother, not her sister. James was indeed Betsy's father. The Crawfords lived in the UK, where James had a teaching post at university. The couple came to Rosehill in April 1975 just prior to Ben and Betsy's wedding. They stayed about six weeks as recurring characters.

Earle Hyman was Bill Cosby's TV dad, but he was better known in soaps as Neil Davenport, Colin Whitney's campaign manager during the Keith Whitney storyline on Edge of Night. Keith conked Neil over the head in March 1971, put him in a car, and pushed it over a cliff on the island of St. Elenora. On LOL, Dr. Bryson was the psychiatrist who attempted to heal David Hart after he shot and killed his own father, Rosehill's corrupt mayor who tried to rape David's girlfriend Cal. Dr. Bryson also treated sexually repressed Felicia Fleming, who was having flashbacks from childhood.

Thanks. I thought there was something very handsome, in an offbeat way, about Ron.

Ron was actually a hottie. If you ever had the rare occasion to see him with his shirt off, he had a great chest and nice body for his age and that era.

I love all the stuff you post. I also sometimes feel like I am mostly posting this to myself and it may be boring or not widely read but it helps knowing another fan of the classic soaps (and sadly, soaps we will probably never see) is here, and has something to say.

I wish we could see this show. It sounds so different.

I love that cover. I barely recognized Diana.

Where the Heart Is was a wonderful soap, ahead of its time really. I remember it as a serial in the Santa Barbara vein only without SB's pretentiousness. WTHI was hip without the winking at the audience.

The production values were very good for a CBS soap, surpassed only by Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. Chuck Weiss produced the series well, and writers such as Pat Falken Smith and Labine & Mayer penned interesting, sometimes outrageous stories. Originally, WTHI was similar to Days of our Lives. It was supposed to be a psychological expose of a very dysfunctional family. The creators, Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, had previously worked on The Edge of Night, so a crime angle was also injected into the early plots. None of that worked, IMO. The soap improved greatly under PFS, who was particularly adept at writing bitchy women and getting to the meat of psychology, behavior, and emotions.

I loved how the plotting began to reflect the theme, with a constant roundelay of love between all the characters -hence "where the heart is". The plots moved especially fast for CBS, which is a partial reason I believe the series never rated more highly. CBS viewers tended to be staid, conservative, and older. Where the Heart Is appealed to a younger, liberal audience. The series probably would have prospered better on NBC or ABC. At that time, I personally favored CBS' house-produced soaps over the P&G serials, which I found highly over-rated despite their outstanding Nielsens.

The Jardins were kinky as hell. Margaret was an overbearing, slightly sadistic nutcase who tormented her sister Loretta. Loretta was a timid alcoholic who kept to herself reading poetry. They had a handsome brother Robert, who was dead and seen only in flashbacks. Robert's young son Peter had been orphaned after his mother Ellie was murdered by the thugs trying to kill Steve Prescott who fell in love with her while he had amnesia. Peter was mute because he had witnessed his father's death a decade earlier. It turned out that Margaret, played by the deliciously demented Rue McClanahan, had incestous yearnings for her brother and ran him down with the family car when he attempted to run off with Ellie. Peter had witnessed this, resulting in his inability to speak. When he finally mustered the courage to name Aunt Maggie as his dad's assailant, shje chased him through the woods to keep her secret, and she died falling through the ice in a frozen pond. Peter went to live with the Prescotts, but it was shortlived. He burned to a crisp in a flash garage fire!

Ed Lucas was Vicky's father and owned the local supperclub. He was secretly involved in organized crime. He hated the Hathaway family, and was constantly making deragtory remarks about that "Hathaway bum" Michael and of course Michael's piss-elegant father Julian, a prissy English professor. Ed did hid best to keep Vicky away from Michael, but she ended up sharing his NY bachelor apartment and became pregnant. Later Ed threatened to spill the beans to the family when Vicky faked paralysis to hang on to Michael, but Vicky counterblackmailed her father by swearing that she would report his illegal activities to the vice squad.

Where the Heart Is should have lasted much longer. Had it come along a decade later, it might still be running today. It was campy, but it had class.

I don't know about Robyn Milan. I just know Diana Walker was there until the end. The Village Voice did some articles on soaps and they loved 'Where the Heart Is.' They recounted the Liz Rainey affair, which occured during Mary and Julian's marriage.

Diana Walker was in the first and last episodes of Where the Heart Is. She never left.

Robyn Millan departed the series in the winter of 1971 after Vicky caused Mary's fall down the stairs. If I recall correctly, she left circa February 1971. Lisa Richards assumed the role the following year, when Vicky was released from the sanitarium. Lisa played Vicky until the series left the air in March 1973.

I'm not sure how but I missed this episode until now. It's really good. Leslie Charleson cuts through what could be a maudlin situation and makes you care about Iris and her self-destructive pain. I have to say I was very impressed by the guy who played Mark. Who was he? IMDB says Sam Wade? Did he leave or did they fire him?

Sam Wade's contract was not renewed. From what I gather, TPTB thought he was too short for leading man material! He was replaced by David Birney, who skyrocketed to fame in the role. Sam Wade left acting and is now a professional photographer. He is a nice fellow.

And who was the rich woman bantering with the policeman? I loved that scene.

Carl, the cop is Iris' brother Tom Donnelly. He is the same character who talks to Laura about the adoption in the last episode I placed on YT. The character was originally played by Robert Burr, the actor in this scene, before Albert Stratton assumed the part and played Tom until the end. The rich lady is Alex Porter, the mother of John Karlen's character John "Jock" Porter. Alex was played by the late actress Jan Farrand. Does she not have the most marvelous voice? I miss those rich, velvety theatrical voices actors once had when they were actually trained for diction and enunciation.

What a treat to see John Karlen. I guess this helps explain why he wasn't on Dark Shadows all that much in 1968. How large was his story on this show?

John portrayed this role after he left Dark Shadows, when Willie was shot while supposedly attacking Maggie Evans. On LIAMST, he was rich, spoiled playboy Jock Porter. Jock had impregnated Terry Andrews, who had an abortion by Dr. Jim Abbott. When Mia Elliott discovered what Jim had done, she fled San Francisco, and Jim was banished to New York until the last couple of months when actor Ron Hale assumed the role. John's role was not huge, although it was significant in that it was utilized to successfully exit Nancy Hseuh and Robert Milli off the series, along with Irna Phillips who quit due to CBS' interference.

Do you have any idea of when Irna's material ended and when the Soderbergs began?

Irna was let go at the end of the writer's strike, which lasted from March - June 1973. However, the Watergate hearings were also airing practically every day that summer, resulting in all of the soaps being taped well in advance. After a short while, the networks agreed collaboratively to rotate coverage of the hearings, so that one week CBS might air the hearings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with NBC coverage on Tuesday and Thursday, and then the next week, they would all shift with NBC taking three days, and ABC two. The point is that material was taped in advance and then delayed because of preemeptions. I am fairly certain that the Soderberg's material began airing July 1973. This was around the time that the Amy Hughes story wrapped up very quickly and she disappeared, the story of Peter Burton also started to wind down suddenly, and also the revelation to Bob and Jen of Kim's pregnancy after her attack of peritonitis. This is the point where old stories were being tied up and new ones that would continue in 1974 started.

Did Kim and Rick have any type of bond or did he mostly just see her as a means to an end?

No, Kim was not particularly friendly with Rick at all. She recognized his manipulation of Jennifer as well as his unwarranted prejudice against Bob. Rick was a real prick, and for me, not an interesting one such as John was. I really did not care for the character or Con Roche's performance, so his departure did not bug me one bit. Admittedly, though, Doug Marland mined that story very well when he retconned Kim's miscarriage into Sabrina. He also cleverly used the established mutual dislike of Bob by Rick and John to create a believable story of how the baby could have survived. This was definitely a strength of Marland and also the Soderbergs who had carefully crafted the original plot and attitudes of the characters.

Young Doctor Malone in Final Month of Existence

by Cynthia Lowry

AP Radio-Television Writer

Young Doctor Malone and all of his friends, relatives and associates have started the last month of the serial’s existence on NBC. Come March 29, after almost 30 years on radio and television, they depart for the Valhalla of canceled programs.

It promises to be a rather busy month as the cast goes about the business of knotting those loose ends. Currently there’s a murder trial in progress –and in soap opera land a murder trial normally stretches out for months. This will be speeded up so that the home audience can know whether Jill Malone Steele and a young intern are found guilty of killing her husband –an unlikely windup. Then there’s going to be a marriage –a doctor and a nurse who have been what is called “romantically inclined” are going to take that leap.

All this is what Doris Quinlan, producer of the series, called a tying off of current storylines.”

The show has been around so long that the character of “young” Dr. Malone –Jerry- has now become older, and there is now a second Dr. Malone, Jerry’s adopted son David.

Neither Jerry Malone nor his wife, Tracy, are involved in anything spectacular at the moment –except their daughter’s murder trial, of course. Dr. David’s wife disappeared a spell back and is believed to have drowned.

The writer, Richard Holland, didn’t make the drowning absolutely positive, because there was some thought that maybe sometime later the missing wife might return to start a new storyline. Now they’ll just leave her among the missing. “We hope that the show will come back some time, so we’re not going to make things too final,” said Mrs. Quinlan. “The Malones have been sort of separated lately. We’re just going to bring them back together.”

Mrs. Quinlan says that the end of the show will mean a “real wrench.”

“After four years working with one group, it gets to be an important part of your life,” she said. “We’ve had a great deal of mail about the program –after all, audiences get to know the characters and some are very involved with the people.”

The venerable serial’s place, another victim of poor ratings, will be taken by a game show “You Don’t Say” on April 1.

This episode was tough to find on Youtube. I found it while looking for Margo's rape. It takes place right after the masterful scenes with Frannie and Darryl in Switzerland.

Do you know who is playing Sean at this time and why they recast? He talks like Tonio. Strange casting choice.

That Sean is actor Mark Lewis, who had previously played Mindy's late husband Kurt Corday on GL. Burke Moses, the previous Sean, had left at the end of his contract in 1991 to do a play, I believe. The character of Sean Baxter was written out and then came back on a recurring basis played by Mark Lewis. In real life, Lewis married Mary Ellen Stuart who was playing Frannie Hughes Crawford. The last I heard they are still married and teach acting in Illnois.