saynotoursoap

I was reading in a Daytime TV Stars about unpopular stories and ending them due to wanting to appease viewers, and they talked about ending the Bob/Kim/Jennifer saga and needing to "punish" Bob and Kim. I knew that they had killed the baby, but apparently they even had Bob hit by a car! I hadn't heard about that (or I had forgotten it). Wow.

Yes! I loved this era of As the World Turns. These things happened following the writer’s strike of 1973 when the Soderbergs came in to undo Irna Phillips’ damage. Previously I had mentioned how the serial would build a story ever so slowly. It would creep along like pouring treacle, then suddenly the narrative accelerated to a shocking finale. The Soderbergs were very adept at that form of storytelling.

Bob and Jennifer’s relationship had deteriorated badly by the spring of 1973. I had recounted in other posts here about Bob’s acrimonious relationship with Rick Ryan. Rick was a sort of younger version of John Dixon. He was brash, cocky, self-assured, and sometimes willing to take risks with patients. His style rubbed the super-conservative Bob the wrong way, and they clashed constantly at Memorial. John Dixon watched from the sidelines. This was the true beginning of John’s reign as World Turns’ villain.

John loathed Bob. John felt that his own skills as a healer were far superior to Bob’s, yet it was Dr. Robert Hughes who had the name, prestige, and respect of the community. John knew that it was because Chris and Nancy were paragons of polite Oakdale society. Bob was an average doctor, but he commanded respect because of his family’s social standing. John decided that if he could find a trophy wife who could give him entrance to society, with his superb skills as a physician he could go much farther than Bob Hughes ever dreamed. And John instantly recognized what he desired in Kim Reynolds.

Kim was beautiful, talented, and had the social breeding and class that gained her instant acceptance into Oakdale. John also noted the family dynamics between the Hughes family and sisters Kim and Jen. Recognizing animosity between Rick and Bob, John quickly aligned himself with Rick and subtly encouraged the younger doctor to rebel against his stepfather, which created additional tension in Bob and Jen’s precarious marriage. The Soderbergs created a situation in which Bob and Jen were torn between their opposing families. Bob was not fond of Jen’s kids, but Jen was not particularly thrilled with the Hughes clan either. Jennifer and Nancy often found themselves at odds over the concept of a modern marriage, with Nancy’s approach decidedly old-fashioned and consequently the “proper” way to run a household. Jen began to resent Nancy’s meddling and “helpful hints” about how to be a good wife. There was an episode in which Jen prepared a home cooked meal for Chris and Nancy, and Nancy complained that the soup was too salty, the roast not tender enough, and the vegetables overcooked. She gave Jen advice about how to cook these dishes properly, and later Jen and Bob had a terrible argument about Nancy’s constant belittling of Jen’s skills as a wife. The writers cleverly managed to punctuate these quarrels with Bob reminding Jen about her children’s shortcomings, which in turn implied that she was a failed mother as well as a wife.

All of this came to a head in the story I referred to earlier about Amy Hughes’ grandmother Mrs. Parsons, who had been treated by Rick. In that story, Bob had Rick suspended from Memorial because of his liberal approach to treating Mrs. Parsons. Jen was infuriated when Rick convinced her that he had tried to become friends with Bob, but Bob sabotaged him out of jealousy and spite because of Jennifer. Jen informed Bob that she would be leaving him while he attended a medical conference in Palm Beach. Meanwhile, Kim had grown quite fond of Bob, despite being pursued by John. Kim went down to Florida and checked into the Palm Colony hotel where Bob was staying, and the rest is history. Bob and Kim had dinner together and returned to his hotel suite to discuss his separation from Jen. With the drinks poured freely and soft lighting, Bob and Kim found themselves talking freely, openly, comfortably. Bob was drawn into the same magic that John saw in Kim, and they kissed as the scene faded to black and the organ music cued up.

By the time Bob returned to Oakdale, Jennifer had discovered that she was pregnant. She decided it would be unfair to keep father and child away from one another, and for the sake of the baby, she should give their marriage another shot. Despite this unstable foundation for reconciliation, Bob agreed to try again too, but he could not get Kim out of his mind. He and Kim talked obliquely about their meeting in Florida, about spending a pleasant evening in one another’s company, but they should allow it to be nothing more than a past memory. This was treated very subtly. The audience really did not know exactly what had occurred when the scene went black. However, Kim suddenly discovered that she was also pregnant, and no doubt was left regarding their encounter.

John had been pursuing Kim with a vengeance, yet she insisted that she was not involved with any man nor did she wish to be. One night she doubled over in excruciating pain. She feared that she was having a miscarriage, and since no one knew about her condition, she went to another hospital in Oakdale where she was diagnosed with appendicitis. In order to save her child, Kim refused to undergo an appendectomy, so the doctor treated her alternatively. Kim was forced to confide her pregnancy in Lisa, who at that time was her only real friend in Oakdale. Kim refused to name the child’s father, but everyone knew that Kim had seen John Dixon casually, and the he was pursuing marriage with her. Lisa promised not to tell anyone, but a short while later, Kim experienced a second attack of appendicitis which led to peritonitis. John rushed her to the same hospital where she had been treated before. When abdominal surgery was suggested, Kim admitted to John that she was pregnant and would not do anything not to harm her baby. Another doctor on staff had been working on an experimental antibiotic which might cure Kim. John arranged to have her given the medication, and it was all under a strict cover of secrecy. Kim convinced John that she had to keep her condition a secret because Jen had been experiencing pregnancy complications too, and Kim did not want to compromise her sister’s condition.

John saw Kim’s pregnancy as a golden opportunity. He proposed marriage to her, suggesting that he would raise her baby as his own, but Kim refused, arguing that she did not need a man to save her. Jennifer was upset that she could not find her sister, who was still hospitalized. Lisa broke down and told Jen to alleviate her fears, but Bob refused to go, which infuriated Jen. Once again she accused Bob of being completely insensitive to her own family. Bob’s “insensitivity” reached a fever pitch when Jen learned that Kim was pregnant and insisted that she accept John’s proposal rather than embarrass the family with an illegitimate child. After Kim held steadfast that she did not love John, Jen begged Bob to talk sense into Kim, and naturally he refused, as he knew that he was the father. This drove a serious wedge between Bob and Jen, whose relationship was already tenuous at best. Nancy noted Bob’s increasingly erratic behavior and blamed Jennifer. Unable to deal with the pressure of knowing that he had fathered babies with his wife and her sister, Bob went to Chris and confessed the situation, withholding only the identity of the other woman. Chris was absolutely mortified by Bob’s confession. For once the elder Hughes could not muster any sensible advice, but he did attempt to intercede when Nancy mistakenly continued to blame Jen for Bob’s depression and ill temper.

The pressure on Bob continued to grow into the autumn of 1973. The faces of Jen and Kim haunted his dreams and every waking moment as he was consumed by guilt and the burden of his humiliating secret. By this time, John and Rick had opened a private medical practice together. Almost daily they discussed the family gossip. Rick had heard from another doctor about an experimental drug being used on a patient who was paranoid about the circumstances of her pregnancy. When John talked about Kim, Rick started putting all of the pieces of the last six months together: the strange behaviors of his mother, his aunt, and his stepfather. He remembered that Bob went away on a medical convention around the same time that Kim took a vacation to the south. Suddenly, all of the pieces to the puzzle began to form in his mind. John had urged Kim to hostess a lavish party he was giving for the medical community. Kim was a huge hit with everyone, and John became even more resolved to make her his wife, as many of the most important contacts were inviting her, not him, to future parties and functions.

Bob had taken Jen to Vermont on a vacation to attempt to save their faltering marriage. One night, Kim thought that someone was trying to break into her apartment. In her panic she wanted to call Bob, but he was gone. She phoned John instead. John reassured her that he would always be there for her and the baby, so she might as well agree to marry to him. Exhausted and alone, Kim began to crack, but she warned him that if she married him, it would be for their mutual benefit, not love. She did not love him and would not be a real wife to him. Also, he must never ever ask her about the identity of her child’s father. John agreed to these demands. In Vermont, Bob and Jen discussed their problems, and Bob agreed to try to patch up his relationship Rick, even though Bob privately knew that Rick had been deceiving Jen all along, and that he (Rick) had always been the one to create tension between them. Back in Oakdale, Bob met with Rick to put aside their differences, but Rick had almost figured out the secret Bob and Kim had been carrying around. Rick rejected Bob’s overtures of friendship, then lied to Jennifer that Bob had confessed his real feelings of disgust for the Ryan family. When Bob arrived home, he and Jennifer had a violent argument. Hurt and angry at Bob’s apparent betrayal, Jennifer screamed that she only reconciled with Bob because of the child she was carrying, and she in fact did not want it and had considered an abortion. She ran from the apartment, leaving Bob stunned.

This was around early October 1973, just as the show was heading into fall sweeps. Jennifer went to Kim’s apartment and told her everything that had happened with Bob. Kim, loving Bob and Jennifer both, advised her sister to return to Bob. Despite all of their problems, there was a child coming soon, an innocent baby deserving of two parents, who could give all their love to their child if not to one another. Jen agreed and wandered away from Kim’s in daze. Kim suddenly realized how selfish she had been with her own problem and her resolve to not to marry any man because of her need to be loved by only Bob. Kim asked John over, and when he arrived, she agreed to marry him if he would drop everything and go with her to Nevada that night.

After their horrific argument, Bob was frantic to find Jen. He drove around the streets of Oakdale, and finally realizing she might have gone to Kim’s, he headed in that direction. Driving toward Kim’s, he spotted Jen in the distance walking alongside the street. He pulled over and ran after her. Catching up with her, they resumed their quarrel from earlier, with Jen becoming even more hysterical. She accused him of not loving her because of the baby. It had always been about the baby. He saw her as fat and ugly because of the life she was carrying inside of her and did not want her. She pulled away from him and ran out into the street directly in front of an oncoming car. This was actually a location sequence done outside the studio. Bob ran after her and shoved her out of the way only be struck by the car himself.

He was rushed to Memorial in critical condition, and David told Jen that they were not sure if Bob would survive. Frantic, Jen phoned Kim, who unbeknownst to her was in Reno marrying John. When Rick arrived at Memorial, Jen tried to explain that Bob had saved her life and the life of their child by pushing her to safety, but Rick coldly says that Jen never would have been on the road in the first place had it not been for Bob’s hatred of their family, and if Bob dies, he’s getting what he deserves. Horrified, Jen suddenly realizes the depth of Rick’s resentment and jealousy for Bob, and that Bob had been telling her the truth all along: Rick hated Bob, not vice versa. Jen goes to Bob’s bedside as he comes out of surgery for serious internal injuries. His life still hanging in the balance, Jen apologizes to him for being so blind about her son and tells Bob that she loves him and wants them to start over afresh once he recovers. Heavily medicated, Bob regains semi-consciousness and professes his love for his beautiful Jen. He rambles on deliriously explaining how hurt he was that Jennifer chose to believe her son’s lies over his truth and how he had turned to Kim in a moment of weakness when he thought Jen had left him forever. Bob confesses that Kim’s unborn baby is his, and that the guilt of that, hurting Jen so much, has been the reason he turned away from his beloved wife and her family. It was guilt and shame, not hatred for the Ryan family. Jen is shocked to the core by what she hears, and quietly leaves.

Crying alone in their home, Jen accepts her part in what has happened. She now realizes that Bob does love her deeply is genuinely repentant for the mistake he made with Kim. Jen is also frightened though as she now fears the feelings Bob and Kim may have for one another and the connection they will always have through the child they created. Jen wants to confide these secrets to someone but knows that she cannot. When Bob’s condition improves and recovery is assured, Jen goes to him and reassures him that things will be better once they are reunited. Bob asks her if he said anything while drugged, and Jen quietly replies that he said enough to prove how much he loves her.

However, John is rabidly suspicious of Kim’s reaction when they return to Oakdale as newlyweds, and Kim learns about Bob’s accident. John finds Kim’s reaction extreme, and talking with Rick once again about the events of the last six months, John begins to absorb Rick’s curiosity about how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. John surprises Kim with a honeymoon vacation to Florida, where they stay at the Palm Colony hotel. John monitors Kim’s face closely for reactions to her to environment and the answers she gives to his questions about her stay there last April. John now knows that Bob and Kim had an affair resulting in Kim’s pregnancy while Bob and Jen were separated. John silently seethes inside that his wife is about to give birth to the child of a man he abhors. Once home, he decides to play his cards close to his vest and not use this information yet, but things take an unexpected turn when Kim, only seven months pregnant, is gripped with a violent contraction and fears that she is going into premature labor.

Sorry to go on and on for so long, but these storylines were super! The acting was subtle and the writing understated. That was the secret to As the World Turns. It was slow and hypnotic and kept the audience guessing about what was really going on. Once all was apparent, the writers would have the stories crash together simultaneously in an exciting crescendo of drama. God I miss those days.

Whatever happened to Jean McBride??

Did her choosing to leave cause the writers to decide to shift the tone of the show,or was that decision made and Jean dismissed?

I remember the writers plans that Carl posted earlier in the thread had Meg returning in the early 60's which,of course,didn't come to pass.

Jean chose not to renew her contract in 1958. According to Roy Winsor, she was so identified with the role, he felt he had no choice but to write Meg out until enough time had passed for viewers to forget about Jean. Jean retired from acting to marry NY Supreme Court judge Saul Streit and raise their child. Many years later she saw Audrey Peters in a Manhattan restaurant and introduced herself to Audrey as "your sister". They had lunch together, and apparently Jean continued to have fond memories of Love of Life, even though she did not regret retiring from show business. Saul Streit died in the late 70's/early 80's. He was much older than Jean. The last I heard, she was still alive and living in Manhattan.

I wonder how viewers at the time felt about Bert's funeral. I remember reading a script of the day, which was about Rick's addiction, as you mentioned. They didn't bring back any relatives - were they even mentioned? - and Richard van Vleet, who barely interacted with Charita Bauer, was playing Ed at the time. It seems like they didn't even really want to have a service.

Infuriated. TPTB chose a really bad time to do it, because Gail Kobe was exiting as EP, Pam Long had already left, and the show was going through a transition of writers. At that time, it appeared that no one behind the scenes knew what to do with GL. No relatives appeared onscreen, even though they were mentioned as being in town for the funeral. If I remember correctly, Ed or Maureen talked about Bert's family meeting at Company or something, which made it even worse. I understood why the show waited a year to address Bert's death, but given that much advance time, they had zero excuses for not arranging to have Don Stewart and Elvera Roussel appear. Jeez, even Paul Rauch (whom I revile) brought Stewart back for the anniversary in 1997.

Did Bolger want to leave or was he fired because GA was coming back? I know he made Parting Glances around that time, which was pretty brave for an actor, then or now.

John was dropped. TPTB were very unhappy when Parting Glances was released. They banked on John being their new, young leading man, and there he was on screen having steamy sex scenes with Richard Ganoung. Remember, the AIDS crisis was at a fever-pitch in 1985-86, with no cures and no long-term treatments. P&G freaked, and when Grant Alexsander was available again, they let Bolger go and brought Grant back post haste. John was miscast as Phillip anyway. He had a quality that was too nice, too All-American. Phillip was supposed to be tormented, ambivalent, and brooding. I do think John could have successfully replaced Michael O'Leary as Rick, but not as Phillip. Bolger was brave to do Parting Glances, which is probably my favourite ever of queer cinema.

I agree with you Carl. ATWT seemed to have a lot of untapped potential. I think GL had healthy veterans and bones, but the format it had turned into, it wasn't working, and GL had wasted away a lot of their vets between the Rauch and Conboy eras, hell, even starting with JFP.

It's a shame so much of the past was ignored on both soaps.

I agree with you two, as well. ATWT and GL had life in them as long as they were well-managed. The problem was that they were woefully mis-managed for years by Procter and Gamble and CBS.

Carl is correct. The downhill slide with ATWT began in 1995 when P&G sacked Laurie Caso. Caso understood the dynamics of World Turns and supported the strong familial foundation. John Valente replaced him and attempted to make the show more like an NBC serial. Then Felcia Minei Behr tried to give it an ABC feel by adding popular actors from other networks and changing the tone of the storylines. However, the true beginning of the end was when Chris Goutman got his hands on the series. He and Hogan Sheffer wanted ATWT to be a reincarnated Edge of Night. Instead of simply adapting the form to contemporary tastes while remaining true to the soap's history, they completely gutted it. Goutman & Sheffer eliminated aspects which endeared the show to longtime fans and substituted it with their juvenile, frat boy mentality of character assassinations, amped up violence, and trivialization of the core characters.

Like Carl, I am alternately sickened and infuriated at what happened to the series. Yes, I realize that at least 2 million viewers continued to find interest in the show, but what about the 6 million of us who were driven away? Another poster mentioned Carly/Mike/Rosanna. To me, this is a sterling example of what went wrong. Who were these characters? They had no ties to the Hughes family. In my opinion, Rosanna was one of the most annoying characters ever, regardless of who played her. She even managed to surpass Lily in getting on my nerves. An irritating ingenue is bad enough, but try one who also has a massive chip on her shoulder. Ok, Mike was cute, but again, he was a typical Marland male: buff, boring, and stupid. I enjoyed Maura West's Carly initially, and the biggest mistake the producers ever made was not keeping her with John Dixon. At least with John she had a purpose and ties to the core vets. When she was paired with Jack, and they gobbled up the show like GL's Josh and Reva, I not only lost interest, I began to actively dislike them for carjacking screen time from the real stars. I never understood why the writers kept bringing in all of these people with no relations or ties when they could have easily mined the Hughes and Stewart families for characters. There were so many missed and/or wasted opportunities, and we were losers.

Supposedly Jackie was killed off due to the recast not being liked.

Ed's birthday is in December, why would they have a birthday party for him in the summer.

For the same reason that Nancy Hughes' birthday was in October, but in later years they celebrated it in August. Poor continuity. GL and ATWT could have used Margo Husin Call.

From what I understand, Jackie was not meant to remain dead. She would have returned later when a suitable actress was found, but after Doug Marland was axed, and Justin was written out, later writers probably did not think much about her. I would have loved to see Jackie return when Phillip was at his lowest ebb. They could have mined so much out of that relationship, especially had Jackie become stronger and gone up against Alan. Cindy Pickett was a delight, but Carrie Mowery, the last Jackie, was too ineffectual.

In my opinion, the problem with the Suzi was not just the actress. Cynthia Gibb was my favorite, but she too could be whiny and shrill at times. It was the manner in which the character was written. Suzi was the long suffering ingenue, and she was so sugary sweet at times, one almost enjoyed seeing her get it. I felt that way during the Suzi/Warren/Wendy triangle. Wendy had more chemistry with Warren and was more fun that Suzi, so that I tended to side with Wendy. Terri Eoff was fine as Suzi so long as she was not required to whine. I thought Eoff had good chemistry with Matt Ashford, and I really cannot see Gibb playing opposite him.

The truly bad Suzi was the one in between Gibb and Eoff. Elizabeth Swackhammer. As I recall, she had the warmth of a rattlesnake and could not act to save her life.

I totally agree about Louann Gideon. Gideon was terribly miscast in that role. Sherry Mathis demonstrated a very natural warmth and grace, which seemed phony on Gideon. Sherry was a true talent and could have gone on for years in that role. I wish that she had remained until the end rather than leaving a year earlier. With all of the changes near the end, it would have been a comfort to have her there along side Mary Stuart and Larry Haines.

I think Anna Stuart left in 76 and they planned to recast.She was written out with Toni visiting her sick mother. Then she was killed off -probably a different writer who wasn't interested in continuing Mike/Toni (Marland?)

That's why I thought killing off Sara was a mistake-having Mike widowed twice within a few years was a silly move.

Also,having Carolee kidnapped and raped a few years after being stashed in the sanitarium was also a bit much.Was the previous ordeal ever referred to? I wonder how Jada Rowland felt about Carolee being such a victim?

And then not long after Maggie is kidnapped during the tornado.Those sort of storylines really damaged the show.

Mind you,these days,the likes of Ms Arena Bell think nothing of wreaking this sort of havoc on a weekly basis.

Yes, it was Doug Marland who killed off Toni, though I do not believe her body was ever found. I remember at the time thinking that Toni might resurface one day, just as Mike had previously.

I agree that soap operas had storylines that were just as crazy and sensational in the 1970's as the ones we see today, but I feel that the early storylines were better executed, and therein lies the difference. Stories in the 1970's did refer to past events and were based in real, emotional drama. Unlike contemporary soaps where characters can be blown up onscreen and survive with a tiny bandaid on their forehead (ATWT, anyone?)on 70's soaps, if a character died onscreen, they remained dead. And viewers never knew who might be killed off. Popular characters and actors were frequently disposed of never to return. I will never forget the kidnapping of Wade Collins on Search for Tomorrow. We were certain Wade would be rescued from that little shack in the park, only to be gobsmacked when Fay Chandler shot him dead.

Carolee's kidnapping was harrowing. Doreen tormented her psychologically, and the attractive Mel, who could be sweet one minute and sadistic the next, abused her physically. It was not the sort of campy, wink at the audience because we tell this same story every six weeks approach used by soaps today. And, Doreen did refer to Carolee's previous kidnapping. Doreen taunted Carolee that she and Steve had already become lovers, and Steve did not care that Carolee was missing. Carolee insisted she was lying, and Doreen reminded her of how easily Steve had been led astray by Ann.

The story had dramatic value in other areas, too. When Carolee went missing, the Powers and Aldrich families were estranged because Billy Aldrich had impregnated young Greta Powers and did not want the responsibility. Matt and Maggie were so angry that they severed their relationship with Carolee and Steve. Carolee's disappearance was used to reunite the two families as Matt struggled to find a way to help bring Carolee back, and Maggie offered Steve sympathy and support. Even after Carolee was rescued, her kidnapping continued to resonate with Carolee being afraid of her own shadow, and finally deciding that in order to not be victimized again, she had to become a stronger, more independent woman.

Sara's dying was a mistake, though Elizabeth Levin did write a very beautiful and touching storyline. My biggest beef was that the story was far too short, lasting only a few weeks. I believe that Sara was written out because the actress playing her did not renew her contract, and the writers did not want to recast a third time. The Doctors seemed to have a difficult time keeping Dancys.

Would this have been Doug Marland? Or DePriest? I guess this was after Mike was widowed?

I do wonder if they considered Ann. In 1978, I think it was 1978, Geraldine Court was one of the actors who said she would never want to go back to the show because of writing which offended her.

It's certainly a very interesting story which has someone believing they are terminally ill and then when they learn they aren't they're still unhinged and plot this ghoulish plan to get what they want.

Douglas Marland created Jessie. At the time Jessie first appeared, Mike was still married to Toni. Jessie started on the soap sometime in the spring because she was the doctor who treated Paul's overdose. Toni died in the plane crash during the summer, probably during July sweeps. Marland may have intended a triangle between Jessie/Mike/Sara because Sara and Mike had instant chemistry. That Mike was John Shearin.

Also, the character of Doreen was introduced under Marland. Doreen kidnapped Carolee while she still believed herself to be terminally ill. She did it because even if she got caught, she thought she would never live long enough to be prosecuted for the crime. Doreen knew that she would never get Jason back. She was needy and afraid of dying alone, so she transferred those feelings for Jason to the brother who was not only a healer, but also compassionate and strong. Doreen saw Carolee as weak and victimized, someone who could be easily eliminated. The O. Henry twist in the story came at the end, after Doreen and Mel had been shot. Doreen had a rare form of mononucleosis and was not dying at all. It was an interesting storyline.

I didn't realize we'd ever seen Anton. So he was in one of Penny's 1988 returns? I've only seen a bit of that (a conversation with Nancy about Mac, and then when she and Amy came back for their wedding). I wish I'd seen him.

I would wager those scenes are somewhere on Youtube. In late 1986, Frannie attended university in England to put the Doug Cummings mess behind her. She saw her own double at the airport in London. The woman later turned out to be Sabrina, but it was the beginning of a mystery. Anyway, Bob and Kim went to the UK to spend Christmas with Frannie, who I believe was staying with Anton and Penny. I remember there were scenes with Anton, Penny, and Amy appearing collectively. Anton was played by Patrick Horgan, and if I remember correctly he appeared several times as a recurring character throughout the Fullerton mystery. I believe 1986-87 was the only time Anton was ever shown onscreen.

Again, my dream writing team would have been Marland and Long...he would have kept her in line and true to history and she would have made the characters more vibrant and alive and warm and yes, sexy.

Ok, you officially have my heart with that statement.

That's fascinating. It's kind of pathetic to sit back and look at how many times over the years soaps chickened out of telling stories about Asian characters.

Were you surprised when they had Amy make a few appearances in the late 80's? Did you think she'd just been forgotten?

In her last appearance, at Nancy and Mac's wedding, there was this strange moment, a way she looked at Paul, or her being nervous, that made me wonder if they were planning story for her that never materialized.

Did it seem true to Penny's character that she would marry some race car driver (did viewers ever see him) and then spend the rest of her life in Europe with him?

Penny was a character I knew little about, as I had not been a fan of the P&G soaps while growing up. My family watched those soaps, but I did not. So, my knowledge of Penny was limited to the memories of my parents and grandparents. I started watching ATWT after Phoebe Dorin's Penny had been written off. Of course I knew Rosemary Prinz very well, as she had been in the premiere cast of All My Children, which I watched from the beginning.

A decade later, circa 1983, I actually met Rosemary Prinz. When I brought up World Turns, she gave a short, political response. She did not deride the series, but she focused on her enjoyment of the cast with whom she worked (she and Mark Rydell were very close friends) and she was happy that her performances had given my family pleasure. She said something to the effect of Penny and ATWT being a part of her past, so I assumed she would never appear on it again. I was very surprised when she agreed to return as Penny a few years later for appearances at Bob and Kim's wedding, and Chris and Nancy's anniversary. Her recurring appearances for the England scenes surprised me far more than the appearances of Anton and Amy. Doug's inclusion of those two was not really a shock since he did have a greater affinity for continuity and family than any other serial writer of that era. I really enjoyed seeing Patrick Horgan, who had been marvelous in the 70's as the heinous Dr. John Morrison.

To answer your question, though, yes. Penny marrying a race car driver in England did seem a little bizarre and out of character, something more like Rosemary Prinz might do in real life. However, Nancy and Penny had been written as an ambivalent mother-daughter relationship, so maybe it is not too hard to accept. My only regret is that she did not return for the end. I would have paid her anything or made any concession to get her back, but sadly, Chris Goutman never demonstrated an ounce of respect for the serial's history or the show's most faithful fans.

Thank you so much for that information regarding Amy Hughes.That is something I have never seen detailed before.

According to old cast lists Irene Yah Lung Sun played Amy. In the late 70's she was on Love of Life as Kim,the lost love of Tony and an obstacle to Bambi and Tony's romance.

I believe that Wiliam Prince and Augusta Dabney played Mr and Mrs Parsons. Christopher Hastings was Peter,Eugenia Rawls was Grace and Laurie Heinemann was Marion Graham Burton.

What was Marion's connection to Peter and Grace?

When the Soderbergs took over what characters were dropped and introduced?

It seems Amy,the Burtons and Rick were dropped and Grant,Joyce,Giland Jay Stallings were introduced. Am I missing any?

Konrad Matthei was the first Grant.How long did he last? It seems odd he was cast as he had played Roy McGuire for a few years in the late 60's and surely viewers would still remember him.

Yes, your cast is correct. Prince & Dabney were the Parsons, Irene Yah Ling Sun was Amy, and Chris Hastings (no relation to Don and Bob) and Laurie Henemann was Marion.

Thank you so much for that information regarding Amy Hughes.That is something I have never seen detailed before.

According to old cast lists Irene Yah Lung Sun played Amy. In the late 70's she was on Love of Life as Kim,the lost love of Tony and an obstacle to Bambi and Tony's romance.

I believe that Wiliam Prince and Augusta Dabney played Mr and Mrs Parsons. Christopher Hastings was Peter,Eugenia Rawls was Grace and Laurie Heinemann was Marion Graham Burton.

What was Marion's connection to Peter and Grace?

When the Soderbergs took over what characters were dropped and introduced?

It seems Amy,the Burtons and Rick were dropped and Grant,Joyce,Giland Jay Stallings were introduced. Am I missing any?

Konrad Matthei was the first Grant.How long did he last? It seems odd he was cast as he had played Roy McGuire for a few years in the late 60's and surely viewers would still remember him.

Marion Graham was Peter's girlfriend. Mrs. Burton approved of Marion wholeheartedly, whereas she did not feel the same for Amy Hughes. However, Marion's family expressed concern about Peter's background. Peter had been adopted by the Burton family and never knew his real parents. There was somewhat of a stigma about adoption in this era. Part of it came from the idea that "criminal" genes could passed down from parents to offspring, and many people worried that children could inherit "bad seed" tendencies. Peter wanted to find out more about his background. Bob suggested that he discuss these feelings with Wally Matthews, a doctor who assumed Dan Stewart's medical practice. Wally was also a minister. However, something about Wally rubbed Peter the wrong way, and in Soapland, we know what that means. Wally was Peter's biological father. Wally had loved his first wife more than life itself, and when she suffered a heart attack and died while giving birth to their child, Wally fell into a horrible depression. He blamed the infant for his wife's death and gave Peter to an orphanage, where he was later adopted by the Burtons. Over the years, Wally had turned his life around through faith and regretted giving up his son.

Peter was very confused and impatient. He felt that Marion's family might be more accepting of him if he could offer her an easy life of wealth and privilege. When he received a cushy job proposal from an advertising agency, he considered changing careers, as he would be a low-paid med student for at least another decade. Marion attempted to convince Peter that such a move would later make him resent her. Wally spoke to Peter about how making rash decisions could have devastating effects in the future. Attempting to reach Peter, Wally told the story of his wife's death and how embittered he became to the point of blaming a son that he now loved. Wally's impassioned argumemnt ended with him confessing that he was in fact Peter's real father. Peter rejected him initially, but after talking things over with Marion, he accepted Wally. Peter married Marion, and they all left Oakdale so that Peter could continue medical school in another state.

I do not remember exactly how long Konrad played Grant, but I would estimate about three months. Grant first appeared in the autumn of 1973 when the Soderbergs began to wrap up Irna's stories and refocus the series. I believe that James Douglas took over as Grant circa February 1974. This is the date in my head, but without checking my references for verification, I may be wrong.

I will think about your other questions about stories/characters dumped and started by the Soderbergs. 1973 is a difficult year to keep straight in my head because there were so many changes in daytime that year: the cancelations of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and Where the Heart Is, a WGA strike, and weekly preemptions of soaps for television coverage of the Watergate hearings. Everything seems to run together.

I didn't realize there were that many Kendalls. I just knew Lloyd, Estelle, and TR.

So was Robert Reed after Peter Haskell, and Joe Lambie was after Reed?

I liked Robert Lupone on GL and of course he was popular on AMC as the infamous Zach Grayson but I wonder how he was in a more sympathetic role.

What I've wondered about on the NBC run is ratings. I thought I read that the ratings had been going up in its last year. Was that not good enough for NBC? What was the ratings trajectory in the 82-86 run? It must have gone up for a while as I don't think NBC would have kept it for almost 5 years.

Sorry if this has already been discussed. I tend to get amnesia on past discussions.

Carl, you have my kudos for your interest, No apologies necessary.

Reed was the final Lloyd Kendall. He did not last long, which is not surprising given his disdain for material he considered beneath his talent and training.

A big thank you to saynotoursoap for providing these first hand memories and clearing up timelines etc.

I have acouple of questions I hope can be answered.

The first concerns Amy Hughes and her visit to Oakdale in 73. How was this storyline handled? Apparently she found her grandparents,played by William Prince and Augusta Dabney. What was the story of her birth and adoption by Penny Hughes. How old was Amy and had she been SORASED for the story?

When was it first established that Penny had married Anton and adopted Amy?

Much appreciated.

Paul Raven, I just saw this. I did not intend to ignore your questions, sorry.

The Amy storyline was not handled well at all. The first mention of Amy came just as the Susan/Dan/Liz story was winding down. Penny contacted Chris and Nancy out of the blue with news that her marriage to Anton was troubled. If I remember correctly, she sent a letter stating that there were problems between Anton and a young girl named Amy. I had only watched ATWT for about six months at this point, but I do not believe Amy had been mentioned previously. From my memory, it was played ambiguously, as if Anton may be having an affair with a younger woman. Chris and Nancy went to Europe to intervene. When they returned, they had a young Asian woman with them, whom they referred to as their granddaughter. Apparently after Phoebe Dorin's Penny left Oakdale in 1971, Penny married Anton offscreen. I am not sure whether she adopted Amy before or after her marriage. I assume it was before since her surname was Hughes, but Anton and Amy did not have a close relationship. Amy felt that Anton was not accepting of her, and she was insecure about living with the couple.

Amy's mother had been an American and her dad Thai. They were killed, and Amy went to an orphanage, where Penny found her. Amy knew that her mother's parents were living in San Francisco. I think their last name was Cummings. Amy wanted to find them. Shortly after she arrived in Oakdale, she began to use her father's surname. She was interested in hunky med student Peter Burton. Peter's mother Grace was a friend of the Hughes family, but she was also somewhat bigoted and a snob. Remember, the U.S. was still involved in Vietnam, which was a very touchy subject, with prejudice against persons of any Asian descent. Grace's reaction hurt Amy terribly.

Irna Phillips introduced Amy shortly before being fired for the last time in 1973. It is my feeling that she was attempting to tell the Mia Elliott story from Love is a Many Splendored Thing, the soap she created in 1967 and left when one of CBS's objections was the romance between Amerasian Mia and an American. Like Love Is, Amy's story was ultimately truncated quickly.

The Hughes family helped Amy track down her grandparents. In an unrelated story, Bob Hughes was having problems with Rick Ryan, who resented Bob's relationship with Jennifer. Rick was a med student, cocky and a loose cannon. He had an older patient named Mrs. Parsons. Rick ignored Bob's conservative approach to Mrs. Parsons' treatment for his own, which endangered her life. Bob had Rick put on probation at the hospital. When Bob went off to Florida and had a one night stand with Kim, back in Oakdale, Rick was laying the charm on Mrs. Parsons to get her to speak up for him with Memorial's administrators. She did, and Bob was furious when he returned and found Rick off probation.

As it turned out, Mrs. Parsons was actually Amy's grandmother. After Amy's mother Elaine had died, Mrs. Cummings had divorced her husband, who had been the one to object to Amy's father being Asian. She remarried a man named Parsons and moved to Oakdale. Mrs. Parsons and her new husband welcomed Amy with open arms, insisting they wanted to be a real family to her. By this point, Irna had been fired and replaced by the Soderburgs. Amy just vanished from the scene during the summer of 1973, and later, Chris and Nancy mentioned that she had returned to live with Anton and Penny overseas.

I wish I could see Susan's parents. So they were around again when Susan returned? When she returned in the late 80's they were never mentioned.

I love hearing your praise for Marie Masters. I'm glad she stayed to the final episode but I agree she never gained enough recognition. I think she is a wonderful actress, in that she can convey vulnerability underneath toughness and she has such a wry sense of humor.

You usually just hear some of the bad of ATWT in the early 70's but it sounds like there was also a lot of good. I wish some of these characters from the early 70's, like Liz or Paul, had stayed a bit longer.

What did you think of Paul? I saw an interview with the last actor from when he was still on ATWT, and he had this awful, awful toupee. I will have to scan it to show how bad it was. After he was fired and killed off, he did another magazine interview (I posted that a while back) and he finally showed his natural hair.

I am in love with Marie Masters! She drew me to ATWT in 1972, and I was beyond thrilled that she returned a year later. The later stories, in 1973 and 1974, truly showcased her abilities. She was so phenomenal, it did not matter that John Colenback was no longer playing Dan. Marie was mesmerizing. I cannot applaud her talents enough.

I really do not have an opinion of Dean Santoro's Paul Stewart. Dean was written out within three or four months of my involvement with the drama. Paul was a rather thankless character. Irna Phillips men were usually milquetoasted wimps. You watched for the incredible women like Marie, Eileen, and Kathy Hays. The only thing that ever really rubbed me wrong about the Stewart boys was that they were far too old, as was Tom Hughes; however, you had to accept that inconsistency in order to enjoy an Irna soap.

You are correct. ATWT was very underrated in the 70's. Personally, I would watch the 1972-77 era before I would watch Marland's era from the 80's. There was much good about ATWT in the 70's, and particularly in the 1974-76 years.

that scene was so creaky and unnatural "Well, hello father, grandmother, and who is this beautiful woman?" plus the Scott actor was too old to be playing this part..(IMO)

For all of Doug Marland's attributes as a writer, he had a remarkably bad sense of dialogue. His dialogue was probably the worst of the most talented soap writers, managing to be even more expository and monotonous than Irna Phillips' which was some feat.

I disagree regarding Scott Eldridge. Joseph Breen, the actor playing Scott, in real life is six years younger than Scott Holmes, who played half-brother Tom. The ages would be almost perfect. I think people assume Scott should be so much younger because Our Private World aired in 1965, but if the writers followed SORASing and character history, Scott should have been much older. Also, I think Joe Breen looked older than his actual age because by this time HIV affected his appearance, which was part of the reason P&G dumped him. This never sat well with me, and was a prelude to injustice that would befall Michael Zaslow a few years later. I loved Scott's reticence at being part of Lisa's life and the problems it created for Tom and Margo, particularly Tom, who could be an annoying, stuffed shirt, tightass. I felt the family needed something to shake it up a bit. When Scott returned with a younger, hunkier actor, to me it did not work. He seemed more of a pest than a real threat to Tom.

Gina (Amy Niles) was Ray's little sister who was involved in a summer teen storyline with Christy (Leah Ayres) and Wes (Woody Brown),Mia's brother. She took some pot at a party and slept with Wes and thought she might be pregnant.Ray played overbearing big brother throughout.

Good heavens I had forgotten about Gina and Wes Osborn. I believe Christy had a pool party, and Gina ate an Alice B. Toklas brownie. She got stoned and gave in to Wes' seduction, losing her virginity to him. She later missed her period and informed him that he had made her pregnant. Before they got horizontal, Wes hastily promised her that if their night together left her preggers, he would do the honorable thing. But confronted with Gina's late menstrual cycle, Wes flipped out and left Rosehill.

Gina went to church and prayed about it. Her "friend" Christy gave Gina an awful herbal tea to induce an abortion. Gina drank it and collapsed with a horrific seizure. She was rushed to the hospital, but it turned out that she had not actually been pregnant! Can you imagine this on a soap today? I do not recall what finally happened to Gina. Woody Brown left the series to do a movie then returned a few months later. By that time Arlene had flown off with Hal Carson, and their plane crashed into a snowy mountain. Ray was convinced Arlene and Hal slept together after the accident. And remember Gina and Ray's brother Guido? I loved those goofy names near the end of the run. Guido Gaspero. There was also Tony Alphonso who loved Bambi Brewster, and all those nutcases in Des Moines, followers of Bambi's Elmer Gantry daddy who had murdered her mommy Barbara and buried her in the backyard. God, poor Ann Marcus had her work cut out for her in that last year.

When Amy's adopted daughter came to live with Chris and Nancy in the 70's, roughly how old was she?

IMDB also lists some actress named Claire Doyle as having played her in the late 70's/early 80's. I know the site's history with having incorrect information, but if Amy did indeed return after her initial stint, what, if anything, did she do?

Amy was a teenager in 1973. She had a flirtation/romance with hottie Peter Burton. I would estimate that she was supposed to be in the 15-17 age range, though she seemed much younger than late 20's in 1986 when she was resurrected during the Frannie/Sabrina story.

It's great to see you posting her again. Thanks for letting us know more about the taping schedules. Wow that must have been a real headache having to tape so much in mid-1973, since the show was going through a lot of upheaval at the time.

Were you watching when this episode initially aired?

I was also going to ask about something I read from Marie Masters. She said that when John Colenback wanted out to do a play, they brought the entire family in and fired them. She said it seemed funny now but at the time she wasn't thrilled. This was, what, 1973 or 1974? Then she said she returned when they recast Dan. Did they also fire Ellen and David at this time or did she just mean they wrote out Dan, Susan, Emily, and Betsy?

Carl, I was watching at this time. In the 60's and 70's it seemed that everyone watched World Turns. My grandparents watched it. My mom and my dad watched it. At that time, I personally did not care for the P&G soaps in general. I loved Days of our Lives and Another World on NBC and OLTL and AMC on ABC. I began to appreciate World Turns in the summer of 1972. I was absolutely fascinated by Marie Masters and the quadrangle with her, Dan, Paul, and Liz. The pace was glacial, and the production somewhat hoary, but it was done in a way that was hypnotic. Marie was incredible. Her performances just blew me away, and I could not wait to see what she did next. Eileen Fulton's Lisa received all of the press and glory, but I thought Susan had so much more depth.

No, Ellen and David were not written out, but basically everyone else was. I believe I must have been on spring break, because I was at home and watching the unforgettable scene where Dan outwitted Susan, and her comeuppance was being left alone in that empty house. If I remember correctly, I believe most of the actors made their final appearances on that day or later that week. By the first week of April, Susan, Dan, Bruce, Emily, Betsy, Peggy Regan, and Ronnie Talbot were all gone. With Susan gone, her parents no longer made appearances either until Susan eventually returned to Oakdale.

Last part. It's tough seeing Dan's mental breakdown. I wonder what his story was right after this. Did he just leave town? I know Colenback was fired and didn't return until Irna was gone.

I wonder who played the doctor.

These episodes are from September and December of 1972. Paul died immediately after Thanksgiving 1972, and Dan was shot by Joe Fernandez about the first week of December. Dan broke his arm in the fall after being shot. At this time, he was divorced from Susan, who married Bruce Baxter. Susan had agreed to give Dan temporary custody of Emily to Dan while she and Bruce settled into married life. Susan wanted to take Emily during Dan's recuperation, but Bruce subtly dissuaded her.

In January 1973, Dan was still recuperating from his broken arm and did not know whether or not he would ever be able to perform surgery again. David and Ellen convinced Liz that Dan loved her, and the best thing for his recovery would be for her to finally admit that she loved him, too. She did, and she and Dan quickly married. Meanwhile, Susan was convinced that Peggy Regan would be Dan's next wife. Peggy was Dan's housekeeper and watched over Emily. Susan decided to get pregnant by Bruce, thinking that once he knew that he would be a father, he would soften toward Emily and take her into their home. However, when Susan learned that Liz and Dan had married, Susan went wild. She went to Dan's house one day when Dan and Peggy were gone. Her pretext was to visit Emily, but she really wanted to have it out with Liz. Susan goaded Liz into an argument. While they were fighting, Emily wandered onto the second story landing. Liz realized that Susan had left the baby gate open at the top of the stairs. Fearing that Emily would fall, Liz ran up the stairs to close the gate. She tripped and fell, with the edge of the stair jammed into her side. She ruptured her spleen and was rushed to Memorial where Dan was to undergo surgery on his broken arm.

Susan's father happened to be the doctor on duty. He delayed Liz's surgery to calm down Susan, who hysterically realized she was to blame for Liz's accident. Dan was able to see Liz before she went into the operating room, and she told him that Susan had left the baby gate open, and that he was also the father of Betsy, not his late brother Paul. Dr. Burke tried to save Liz, but she hemmorhaged and died.

In February, Susan found that despite her attempts to become pregnant, she was not conceiving. She wanted Bruce to see a urologist, but he refused. Suspicious, Susan lied to him that her pregnancy had finally been confirmed. Bruce went into a rage and accused her of adultery. He could not be the child's father because he had a vasectomy years before while married to his first wife. He did not want children at all. Susan was furious and decided to have their marriage annulled immediately. Dan had gone into a severe depression having lost Liz and his surgical career. Then Ronnie Talbot wanted to take Betsy to live with Liz's family in England. Dan knew what others did not -that he was actually Betsy's father. Dan began drinking heavily and one night accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills and alcohol. This was around the end of February.

David found Dan and pumped his stomach. Ronnie had uncovered Liz's diary, which detailed her love for Dan, not Paul, as well as Betsy's parentage. Ronnie convinced Dan to get his life together for the sake of Betsy and Emily. Meanwhile, Susan turned her attention to getting Dan back. She reasoned that it would be easy to start over with him because of his weakened physical and emotional state. But Dan now felt nothing but hatred for her. He blamed Susan for Liz's accident and felt Dr. Burke's delay of Liz's surgery may have cost Liz her life. He did not want to wait around as he knew Susan would want Emily back since the temporary custody agreement was coming to an end. In March, Dan took Emily and Betsy and secretly flew back to England with Ronnie. The same night, Susan had vowed to make her move on Dan. She arrived at his house to reclaim her family, but when she let herself in, everyone was gone. She walked through the deserted home calling for Dan and Emily, but it was quiet as a tomb. The house had been closed and all the furniture covered with sheets. Susan stopped and looked desperately around the room which was now seemingly haunted. She said sadly, regrettably, "But who told them I was coming?" The camera pulled back as she stood there a sad figure, now alone and defeated,and the picture faded very, very slowly to black.

I think that is Ronnie Talbot,Liz's brother= hence the faux British accent. The actor is Peter Stuart.

Yes, he is Liz Talbot's brother, but the actor is Curt Dawson, not Peter Stuart.

Re: pretaping flashbacks. They did. The writers did have a general idea of key scenes that might need to be preserved. Those were indicated in scripts, taped, and archived for future use. If the scene was not preserved, the actors sometimes re-enacted the scenes.

Taping was not as uncommon as you might think on the live shows. Any scenes involving stunts were almost always taped on ATWT and Edge. Children under a certain age (under 3, I believe) were prohibited by law from appearing in live broadcasts, thus scenes with infants had to be taped. When an episode was pre-empted unexpectedly, ATWT (and Edge) had to tape an episode on the day of the preemption and continue taping for the next nine episodes until cast calls were used up. During the Watergate hearings in 1973, ATWT basically taped every single day for the whole summer to accomodate news coverage.

Yes it was Greta who had the rabbit bite.

Regarding Dr Wilson,one synopsis mentions Stacey coming to Wilson's office and instead encountering Dr McIntyre,so it seems that one replaced the other. McIntyre also seemed strictly a supporting character,which seems surprising in that Dino Nazzarino played the role and he had been a part of SFT for many years in a front burner capacity.

Penny was on in the late 60's before being sent to live with her dad,Dave. She returned played by Julia Duffy and I think she had a volatile relationship with her mom.At one point she was studying to be a doctor and was caught cheating.She always wanted Nick and Althea back together,

I'm sure saynotyoursoap will be able to supply more info.

Paul Raven, Dr. Wilson and Dr. McIntyre were on concurrently. Dr. McIntyre was an old friend of Ricco Bellini and had treated Eleanor Conrad exclusively. There could have been some crossover between patients, but initially, the two were appearing in episodes at the same time. I do not know if Depriest was trying them both out with the intention of possibly expanding the roles, or if they were always considered to be minor characters there for the storyline. Both characters first appeared around the same time in fact.

Saynotoursoap I hope you don't mind me asking, but what can you tell us about Penny Davis? I know as a child the character had been bitten by her pet rabbit and was treated for rabies, was involved in a murder mystery later on after she had matured, and gotten involved with Dr. Jerry Dancy. Do you mind filling in the blanks for me? What was her relationship with Althea? What was her occupation? Her romances, such as with Jerry? Thanks, I appreciate the time that you put into clarifying us about TD, you really help to shed some light on the history of TD.

Jam is correct. It was Greta Powers who was bitten by the rabbit.

Penny and Althea had a turbulent relationship. At the time I started watching The Doctors in the late 1960's, Althea had already divorced Dave Davis and was with Nick Bellini. Penny worshipped Nick and was unhappy that he and Althea fought so often. One weekend, Nick and Althea planned to go away together on a trip and spend time alone working on their relationship. Althea's son Buddy had a headache and didn't feel well, which worried Althea, but Nick convinced her it was probably a sinus infection. After they left Madison, it transpired that Buddy had meningitis, and he died suddenly. Althea, wracked with grief and guilt, blamed Nick for Buddy's death and became cold and angry toward him. Penny, however, sided with Nick and felt her mother was being irrational. Nick and Althea slowly moved past Buddy's death, but Althea secretly distrusted Nick's decisions as her husband and as a doctor. She eventually decided to divorce him, which infuriated Penny. Penny wanted nothing to do with Althea and went to California to live with Dave. This was around the time that Liz Hubbard first left The Doctors.

Penny was off The Doctors from 1969 to 1973. In early 1973, Althea received word from Dave that Penny had been in a horse riding accident. Dave was worried because Penny experienced problems with her vision. Penny feared that she was going blind and ran away to San Francisco. Althea knew that Penny trusted Nick, so she and Nick tracked her down and brought her back to Madison. Nick thought that Penny had fractured her skull, but the tests showed that was not the case. At this point, Nick and Althea were divorced, and Althea was married to the evil psychiatrist John Morrison, who feared that Althea would leave him and reconcile with Nick. This is what Penny wanted. Penny hated Morrison and treated Althea with increasing hostility. In her anger, Penny became infatuated with young intern Mike Powers. She convinced Mike to drive her to a desolate spot by the lake to watch a lunar eclipse. Mike's marriage to Toni was in trouble, and he was drinking heavily and popping pills. There was a storm, which stranded Mike and Penny overnight. Mike passed out from too many drugs and a bottle of brandy. He awoke the next morning beside Penny, who told him that he made love to her and took her virginity. She told Althea what happened and delightfully suggested that she might even be pregnant. She was lying about both. As it turned out, Penny's vision problems and nasty behavior were the result of a brain tumor. Nick performed surgery on her, and she was cured.

Afterward, Althea learned the truth about her husband John Morrison. Morrison had caused the death of nurse Kathy Ryker a couple of years earlier. His confession had been captured on Penny's tape recorder. Althea ran out with the tape and Morrison in pursuit. Althea's car crashed. She was in a coma, and when she awoke, she could not remember what had happened. Penny worked with Nick to prove Morrison's guilt. Morrison was murdered. Penny and Nick were suspects, but it turned out that Morrison had been killed by a drug crazed patient. Penny had hoped that after Morrison's death, Althea and Nick would reconcile, but Althea insisted she did not love Nick. Angry, Penny decided to go back to Dave in California.

Penny returned to Madison in early 1975, determined to enroll in med school and be a better doctor than her mother. Despite Althea's attempts at reconciliation, Penny coldly insisted they had no relationship. Penny set her sights on Andy Anderson, and to prove her new aggressive nature, worked to break up his infatuation with Stacey Wells. Stacey did break up with Andy to pursue Ricco Bellini. Suddenly, Ricco looked very good to Penny, as well, and she went after him, too. In the meantime, Penny became a volunteer at Hope Memorial's pilot paramedic program, open to med students. Near Christmas, Penny was called to the apartment of a young girl named Joan Peterson who had taken a drug overdose. Penny sparred with Joan's neighbor Jerry Dancy, a young law student at the university. He found Penny stuck-up and took an instant dislike to her. Penny told him he could eat lead paint off the walls for Christmas dinner for all she cared. However, Penny was deeply moved by the parentless Joan's predicament, and at Christmas, she accepted Althea's holiday dinner invitation.

Penny and Jerry continued to bump into one another as Jerry clerked in Scott Conrad's law practice. Penny complained to Jerry that she had gotten behind in her med school studies and asked him to help her steal an important chemistry final from the university, which she could not pass and would jeopardize her med school status. Jerry was appalled and told her off. Then it transpired that Joan Peterson was actually Jerry Dancy's sister, not just a neighbor. The Dancys were very poor, and Jerry was struggling to get through law school. He lied about Joan's identity because she was a junkie and he wanted to keep her drug use a secret from his mother, a hardworking, proud woman who would be devastated. Penny realized how spoiled and selfish she had appeared to him. After Joan was placed on life support, brain dead, and then was the victim of an apparent mercy killing by Matt Powers, Penny and Jerry moved past their animosity to fall in love. They eventually married and moved to Japan, accompanied by Althea who had now completely reconciled with her daughter.