saynotoursoap

At least Long tried to write for Nola/Quint... and she got Nola better then Mctavish and the other writing team. I noticed that within several months of Long's arrival that Amanda/Morgan/Jennifer/Kelly/Hope/Justin/Helena were all written off the show. It was like if they didn't fit into her idea of a Texas based show then they wouldn't kept on. That's the impression I got from the characters chosen to be written off... granted the argument could have been made that the character's ran their course but I disagree. There was lots of fall out with Amanda/Morgan/Jennifer after that one con artist dude was killed... plus Justin just left somewhat after the paternity secret was revealed.. not understanding why when years of story could have been generated.

I am replying to Soaplovers' post, though my comments are not necessarily directed at this particular poster. Because the 80's era of GL is the topic at hand, I wanted to offer my own opinions and insights into a subject that often does not get an opposing view. I am referring to the Gail Kobe/Pamela Long regime.

In my opinion, these are two are often unfairly judged as intentionally wanting to dismantle a series and morph it into something else. Yes, they made errors, sometimes grievous ones, but they did not move into Guiding Light with the intention of getting rid of the Bauers and other established characters just to promote Reva and the Lewises. The destruction of the Bauers was planned before Long and Kobe ever arrived. I spoke with columnist Jon-Michael Reed in 1982, and he told me about an interview he had with Mart Hulswit after he had been replaced by Peter Simon. Hulswit discussed with him the fact that P&G was gung-ho on doing whatever they could to boost GL's demos. At that time, GL was one of the higher rated soaps, yet it commanded fewer advertising dollars than The Edge of Night, a half hour soap with much lower ratings. P&G felt that GL needed more humor, more youthful characters, and less concentration on elements that it perceived as being regarded as your grandmother's soap. To that end, Hulswit said that the Bauer family would be primarily dismantled within 5 years. At the time, I laughed it off as post termination anger, but Hulswit was proven correct, and it did not take 5 full years.

I have also spoken with Long, and according to her, the decision to terminate many of the characters came down to inability to form a consensus between writers, actors, directors, producers, P&G, and CBS. In other words, she had no grudge against the Bauer family and could have found a way to continue all of them. As far as Reva is considered, Pam Long and Kim Zimmer were not friends. In fact, Long envisioned Reva as different type of character and initially did not think Zimmer was right for the role during the auditions. It was John Whitsell who convinced her to give Zimmer a chance.

Now, Vanessa Chamberlain. It has been written in soap history that Pam Long "defused" Vanessa. I disagree. Vanessa was a rather shallow character as created by Doug Marland. She was snobbish and manipulative, not that there is anything wrong with those qualities in a soap villainess, but in my opinion Marland never balanced Vanessa enough to make me care about her. She was a spoiled bitch without a reason, and it was often one-note. I recently watched a scene many are familiar with, as the episode is widely circulated on the trading circuit. It's the one with Eve hiding from her stalker in Ross' apartment, and Vanessa stops by to beg her to leave Ross alone. Vanessa throws a tantrum, bangs on the door, and pleads "Oh, Eve, why are you doing this to me? You don't even want Ross, and I can't stand it!" It was not Maeve Kinkead's finest moment, and I'm being diplomatic. Under Long, Vanessa still had sass. I loved her banter with Billy. He was so wrong for her, but it worked. It made Vanessa a little softer. For the first time, the character felt real love, and as she grew, she became more sympathetic and three dimensional. Others have mentioned the pill addiction story. Sorry, but I loved it. Kinkead was fantastic in that plot, and it earned her a first time Emmy nomination because she had an opportunity to play emotions she never would have gotten under Doug Marland. Also, when she gave notice that she was leaving in 1987, Sheri Anderson was the writer. Kinkead came back in June 1989 with the show written by Pam Long, so she must not have found Long's writing of her character to be that bad.

Reading a SOD synopsis from early 76 Dr Wilson was mentioned several times as the doctor attending to Eleanor Conrad,providing advice to Steve re his and Carolee's sexual problems and to neurotic Stacey about her relationship with Rico Bellini,so it seems he was quite prominent in a supporting capacity. I wonder if there was a writer change around that time and plans for him and Althea were scuttled.

Althea never dated Dr. Robert Wilson. The blurb is obviously a misprint. The man with the "missing wife" was Scott Conrad. Also, the previous line mentions Erich Aldrich undergoing therapy. Robert Wilson was Erich's psychiatrist following his ordeal of being kidnapped in the fall of 1975. Wilson did treat Stacey Wells and advised Carolee and Steve, but Eleanor Conrad's attending physician was Dr. Kevin McIntyre instead of Dr. Wilson. Yes, there was a change in writers. Dr. Wilson was created in late 1975 during Margaret DePriest's regime and phased out under Doug Marland in 1976. I do not recall any departure for Wilson. No doubt he simply ceased appearances. Peter Lombard, the actor who played Wilson, had previously appeared on Dark Shadows as Oberon during the derided Leviathan story.

This synopsis also states that Rico was Nick's nephew,I thought he was his brother?

No, Ricco was Nick's nephew, the son of his late brother. Nick's brother Ricardo had been involved in organized crime in order to make enough money to put Nick through med school. He was the victim of a gangland hit, and Nick could not save him, which led to enormous guilt and self-destruction. Nick vowed to take care of Ricco, whom he treated like a brother.

Also,Wynn arrives from Boston and tells Mona,she either returns or the marriage is over.I assume she chose Madison over marriage.

Yes. She was successfully driving a wedge between Steve and Carolee by subtly encouraging Carolee to pursue a job in New York, knowing full well that it would infuriate Steve. Mona noticed the growing attraction between Steve and Ann Larimer and decided the time was ripe to get Carolee out of the picture once and for all. Winston was angry at Mona's manipulations and forced her to choose between her home in Boston with him or meddling in her family's lives. She chose the Aldrich family.

What was the temple for?

The Dreaming Death storyline.

Thanks for this, Carl. I had not seen it before. Richard Hankins, the art director, was Kassie Wesley's first husband. I had forgotten about David Dangle, the costume designer. He went over to design for Joan Rivers. I wonder if he and Sam Byrd are still together. What a blast from the past. Do you think he would feel that LaZimmer looks good in anything now?

Good stuff....so Mona was out of the show for some time. Cast lists always have her on from 73 onwards but that doesn't tally with her being married to Winston and hailing from Boston.

Don't recall Mike being involved with Dawn.

Robert Wilson didn't last long-wonder who played him?

Paul Raven, the cast lists are incorrect. Meg Mundy started on The Doctors as Mona late in 1972. She stayed until around November or December 1973, when she and Winston Croft eloped and settled in Boston. Mona returned to Madison two years later in November 1975.

The role of Robert Wilson was played by Peter Lombard.

Wow! This was unbelievable to read. How did they get all those screencaps? Are those episodes available? Or did they take them at the time?

No wonder fans were upset. This makes the cliffhangers to Soap and Capitol seem tame. I can't believe that this was the last episode.

This show sounds good, much better than what I thought based on the basic plot. A lot of this, like Ann torn between the men and her career struggles, seems very ahead of its time.

It's a shame Susan Brown spent the last 25 years of her daytime career in a supporting role. She was the lead actress on so many soaps yet most of those didn't last.

Susan Brown was marvelous on The Young Marrieds! She is one of my all time favorite daytime lead actresses. I have several episodes of the soap in my collection and had them online at one point, but no one seemed interested. It was a good series.

Mike Mikler retired from acting and moved back to his hometown in Ohio. He was a swell fellow. He was alive as late as the end of the 1980's. I am not sure if he is still with us. I must check on that.

The screencaps from this website were the American version of UK Telesnaps, taken with a Polaroid camera directly from the television screen at the time the series aired. However, there are a number of episodes of The Young Marrieds in circulation.

By my estimate, Jennifer Leak had been on the show for some time. I think her arrival pre-dated the arrival of Anne Jeffreys' Sylvia as she was described as a daughter was mentioned in some the press regarding Jeffreys' arrival. The papers interviewed her in June 1971 about hot pants. Apparently, Ms. Leak loved wearing them and had tried to wear them on the show. Jerry Layton, the producer, told her it was a no go. Cast list state Leak was only on the show in 1971, but I wouldn't be surprised if she arrived in late 1970 and stayed through the conclusion. She isn't listed in the cast list from the January 1971 Daytime TV FrenchFan posted, but this doesn't mean she wasn't there. Given the storyline, I don't know how Leak wasn't with show from at least early 1970 until the show's conclusion.

Jennifer Leak started on Bright Promise in March 1971 and was with the soap approximately six months. She left before 1972 and was not in the final cast.

Bright Promise Final Cast

SHERRY ALBERONI (Jody Harper)

WALTER BROOKE (Gibson)

SUSAN BROWN (Martha Ferguson)

PHIL CAREY (Robert Corcoran)

DABNEY COLEMAN (Dr. Tracey Graham)

JOHN CONSIDINE (Dr. Brian Walsh)

TONY GEARY (David Lockhart)

REGINA GLEASON (Sylvia Bancroft)

GAIL KOBE (Ann Boyd Jones)

DAVID LEWIS (Henry Pierce)

CHERYL MILLER (Samantha Pudding)

MARK MILLER (Howard Jones)

PAMELA MURPHY (Sandra Jones Pierce)

ANNETTE O'TOOLE (Gypsy)

PETER RATRAY (Stuart Pierce)

JUNE VINCENT (Dr. Amanda Winninger)

LESLEY WOODS (Isabel Jones)

Do you think CBS should have given the show more time? If they had do you think it might have regained steam?

I did not think it ever really lost steam, but from a financial standpoint, I suppose CBS did the right thing. CBS wanted to remain atop the ratings. Cutting LIAMST and Where the Heart Is helped CBS maintain its ratings. Also, LIAMST was never really a hit comparatively. Yes, it had a healthy rating and share, but it followed ATWT on the schedule and lost huge numbers of households. Throughout most of its run following ATWT, LIAMST was down anywhere from 3 to 4 full rating points, which is more than significant. GL only lost 1 - 2 rating points in the same slot.

In terms of quality, I preferred LIAMST over most of ATWT and the rest of the P&G soaps on CBS. I thought that CBS' house produced soaps, while lower rated, were fresh, interesting, and better productions. LIAMST had good storylines. The actors were attractive AND talented. The sets were much better than P&G's. LIAMST had a more contemporary look, partly because it was set in California and partly because of the youth influence. It was bright and colorful. I recall how dreadful the sets were on P&G. They looked as if they had been left over from the 50's with out of date wallpaper, furniture, and fixtures. Even Eddie Layton's organ music managed to sound more upbeat and pop flavored than the rest of the lot. I really do not know why the series was not better accepted by the audience, but then again, the popularity of some high rated, long running soaps escapes me. It is all down to personal taste.

What did you think of Michael Zaslow and Paul Michael Glaser?

I also wonder if Michael Hawkins was better here than he was on RH.

I liked all of the Pete Chernaks. Paul Michael Glaser was an earthier Pete, more overtly physical, especially with the ladies. He seemed like a working class guy who had fought his way to the top of a successful career. Michael Zaslow's Pete was not as rough around the edges. Perhaps it was the physical differences in the actors. PMG is beefier than Zaslow and just looks like he comes from a modest background. Zaslow had a natural elegance about him, which he used well later as Roger Thorpe. I am not saying that he was effeminate, but he approached Pete with greater sophistication -as if he were already settled and enjoying the finer things in life. I do not know why Zaslow was replaced. He did not play the part long. Vince Baggetta's Pete was more like Paul Michael Glaser's interpretation, and I wonder if that was the reason for the change. Of the three, it is Vince's Pete I remember the most, but of course, he played the part longer.

No, Michael Hawkins was awful on LIAMST, too. Hawkins is like Jonathan Frid, a slow study. But the lost, stricken look in Frid's eyes worked for the character whereas it did not for Mark Elliott and Frank Ryan. Hawkins should not act on soaps or any program in which he has to memorize new lines daily. Also, he looked ancient compared to the other Marks. Seriously, he came off as being 40ish, and Mark was supposed to be in his late 20's. Hawkins is somewhat sleazy, too. In the 70's, while separated from Mary Jo Slater, he intimated to the press that he was having an affair with Veleka Gray, which she, outraged, denied. I did not care for Veleka Gray and Hawkins as Mark and Laura. If Hawkins had to play Mark forever, I would have preferred him being offed in that garage by Maria. I was happy when Gray and Hawkins left. Barbara Stanger and Tom Fuccello did not attain the same viewer popularity as Mills and Birney, but I liked them just fine as a couple.

She really is stunning and it annoys me that she was fired and that Asians still seem to have no place on soaps. The idea of hey let's fire the Asian and then our show will take off played out again on Sunset Beach.

I cannot comment on Sunset Beach. To be honest, I have never seen a complete episode of Sunset Beach. I do have the overseas promo episode for it used by Channel Five for the UK launch. From all of the clips and commentary, it looks intentionally campy and fun.

I agree about Asian characters. Despite the woeful neglect of minorities in general on soaps, Asian characters have been underutilized even more than African American and Latino characters. I still look on in disbelief when I see Kassie Wesley playing Blair on One Life. I will concede that Kassie made Blair the long running character she is. Perhaps Mia Korf never would have succeeded on that level, but it is ridiculous that Blair was established as an American Asian character, and it was later dropped. If Timothy Stickney had not been successful as R.J., would the producers have recasted with a blond haired white guy? I think not. I miss Phillip Moon as Keemo on Y&R, too.

Two more facts:

1) Cissy Houston supposedly named her daughter, Whitney, after Ms. Blake, who co-created ODAAT w/ her husband, and former "Good Times" writer, Allan Manings.

2) The first ODAAT pilot was actually written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create "Designing Women," among other shows. I don't know whether it was her pilot that had Ann mother to only one daughter, but I know at some point, someone decided Ann needed a second. Hence, Valerie Bertinelli.

#1 I knew. #2 I did not. That is interesting, Khan. Designing Women and ODAAT both had "issue" stories, but the approach toward the humor was different. Do know anything about Linda's script? Was the humor different than the Norman Lear style? Why was her script rejected? Fascinating.

I never knew her mother was involved in that, I always just thought it was Norman Lear.

I'm glad you enjoyed the scans. I have a few more (not of Nancy unfortunately) I mean to post sometime.

She really is stunning and it annoys me that she was fired and that Asians still seem to have no place on soaps. The idea of hey let's fire the Asian and then our show will take off played out again on Sunset Beach.

What did you think of Diana Douglas on the show? She's the one I seem to see the most articles about at the time (aside from the young stars), I guess because of her marriage to Kirk.

I liked Diana very much. She was very warm and motherly in the role and made a good matriarch with Judson Laire's Will Donnelly. They had a sweet romance, marrying within a year after Lily's arrival on the series. Judson Laire was very good in his role, too, and everyone rooted for him to be happy. Diana's Lily was the perfect mate for him. It is a shame soaps moved away from those types of characters because they created a solid foundation for the story.

I thought Love Is a Many Splendored Thing had such an intimate family feel to it. All of the characters were friends and family, and there were seldom real villains on the show as part of the regular cast. The marriage of Will and Lily was also a marriage of the Chernak and Donnelly families, so that Pete and Betsy were automatically accepted by the audience. I loved scenes with Will providing counsel to fellow doctors Pete and Betsy, he treated them as if they were his bilogical children, and Iris and Laura sought Lily's sound advice when they had problems. If the soap were rebooted today, the writers would probably make Lily a bitch, and have Pete and Betsy plotting to kidnap and murder Will or something equally repugnant.

Off the top of my head, I can only think of one truly warm matriarch left in soaps, and that's Erika Slezak's Viki. But, Lily was working class and had struggled to provide a good future for her children. This was another good aspect of LIAMST. The writers often paired incongruent characters, so that Betsy, fiercely independent, fell in love with a man who wanted a wife and family. Wealthy Helen Elliot married cop Tom Donnelly, who was uncomfortable with his wife's money. There were natural conflicts within characters to generate story.

Love Is a Many Splendored Thing was a good soap. It would not go over today because it was too optimistic and positive. It is similar to Ryan's Hope in that respect, but LIAMST had more plot and moved at a faster pace than RH.

We may never truly know what happened to Meredith Baxter and David Birney. None of us are privy to what goes on behind closed doors. On one hand, I want to side with David Birney, but his silence, so far, about Meredith's upcoming book speaks volumes. Meredith has always portrayed strong women in all her TV and TV movie roles, so, I find it a little bit hard to believe that she was not as strong in real life.

And Meredith's mother Whitney Blake created the sitcom One Day at a Time, which focused on the resilient Ann Romano, a staunch feminist. Your correlation between Meredith's onscreen and real life personas is interesting, because I dislike David Birney for the same reason. He plays such arsey characters on television, it is easy for me to imagine him being arsey in real life. David was supposed to be the big deal as Mark Elliot, but personally, I preferred Tom Fuccello's Mark

Carl, thanks for the 60's scans. I loved Nancy Hsueh and thought she was so beautiful. At the time, she was the only American-Asian actress on soaps, and one of the few in daytime history. I begged my parents to take me to see the film Targets in 1968 because Nancy was in it. She was a good actress, and her life was sadly cut short before she was even 40 years old. Her husband Danny Carr is a nice looking fellow. They remained married until Nancy's death. Thanks for these memories. Of the short run soaps, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing is one that I miss the most.

From what I remember the ratings for ATWT had gone down before Irna's return and she brought them back up (I might be wrong though) before things got really bad.

Once again, the "history" books have reported it incorrectly. As the World Turns performed far worse under Winifred Wolfe and Warren Swanson than anything Irna did. I believe the soap historians who wrote those books either misremembered events or desired to trash Irna in order to sell more copies.

As the World Turns was the leader of the daytime ratings from 1958 until 1971. During Irna's absence, the series fell as low as sixth place. I am talking about weekly ratings, not yearly averages. Keep in mind that CBS had always dominated the ratings in the 1950's and 1960's. By 1970, NBC and ABC started to give CBS a run for its money, and CBS panicked. A soap whose ratings dropped a tenth of one rating point caused serious concern for CBS.

Examine the following ratings from December 5, 1971.

10.5 General Hospital

10.0 The Edge of Night

9.7 Days of our Lives

9.6 As the World Turns

9.2 The Doctors

This is the reason Irna was reinstalled as headwriter. An ABC soap as #1, and the 13 year leader down at #4 was not acceptable to CBS. Once Irna resumed the writing duties, the ratings rose appreciably as you see below in the Nielsens from December 10, 1972. By the way, these ratings reflect the numbers during the weeks of Paul Stewart's death and Dan Stewart being shot at Memorial.

11.0 As the World Turns

10.2 General Hospital

10.0 Another World

10.0 Days of our Lives

9.4 The Doctors

As the World Turns is back on top under Irna, and it is also the only CBS soap to rate in the top 5. Contrary to the history books, As the World Turns did not "dive bomb" under Irna, though the ratings did slip a little. The following ratings reflect the numbers from March 25, 1973, immediately following Bob and Kim's one-night stand in Florida.

10.5 As the World Turns

9.5 Days of our Lives

9.3 Another World

9.2 General Hospital

8.7 The Doctors

As you can see, As the World Turns is still number one, but it has dropped half a rating point. CBS was afraid that the NBC serials would overtake its only top rating soap, which led to Irna's hasty departure. What I cannot stress enough is how seriously CBS reacted to any dip in the ratings. In the 1960's, the top 5 soaps all belonged to CBS. By 1972, it was lucky to have one in that lineup. This is the real reason that Love is a Many Splendored Thing and Where the Heart Is were canceled. Their ratings were not terrible, but by axing the lowest achievers, CBS brought its overall rating back up.

That sounds like a terrific story. Whatever happened to Julia? I wish they had mentioned her in later years.

ATWT had that wonderful multigenerational aspect for so long.

What did you think of Lisa's mother?

Susan's parents were recurring characters for many years in the late 60's and 70's. Julia was played by Fran Carlon. A couple of different actors played Susan's father Fred. BTW, Fred was also a doctor at Memorial. He delayed Liz Stewart's surgery following her fall on the stairs, and Dan initially blamed him for Liz's death. Fred and Julia ceased appearing in the mid-70's. I was in my 20's then, in college and later working, so I did not watch daily. But, as far as I know, the characters were not written out with an explanation. They faded away. I do not recall Susan ever mentioning her parents during the Marland years, which is surprising in view of his facility for history.

Wow, thanks for such a detailed rundown! There's really no other way to learn about this stuff in such depth aside from generous people who actually saw it sharing what they recall.

When Bruder was gone for that time in 1975, did they write Ellen out? Or did we just not see her? And was David Stewart still seen during that time?

Michael, Ellen was not officially written out. She continued to exist in Oakdale; she simply was not shown on camera. The same thing occurred with Nancy Hughes when Helen Wagner quit in 1982. David continued to appear on camera. I did not write about it, but the conclusion of the custody trial was superb. Susan gained the upper hand by having a closed hearing in which she informed the judge that Dan was Betsy Stewart's father, not her uncle, because he had an affair with Liz Talbot, his brother Paul's wife. Susan's attorney managed to twist Dan's witnesses into testimony that made Dan look bad. Everyone was certain that Susan would win the case. But Susan had secretly asked her mother Julia to raise Emily in her home after the case was settled. Julia realized that Susan did not care about being a mother to Emily. On the last day of the trial, Julia took the witness stand to testify on Dan's behalf. She told the court that Susan had been having an affair with Mark Galloway, and they conspired to take Emily away from Dan because Susan wanted to punish him for not loving her. She also testified that Susan had been a negligent mother who left the baby gate open at the top of the stairs in Dan's house, which resulted in Liz's fatal fall. Julia's testimony swayed the judge into giving Dan full custody.

The loss of Dan and Emily pushed Susan over the edge, and she started having numerous alcoholic binges. She missed work at Memorial and was so drunk at times that she forget to chart patients accurately and tried to pass the mistakes off to other doctors. Despite all the misery she caused his family, David felt sorry for Susan and attempted to cover for her, but when Susan saw Dan kissing Kim, she went on a major bender. David issued Susan an ultimatum to either get professional help for alcoholism or quit Memorial. When she would not agree to either, David fired her. Infuriated, Susan went to John and told him that David terminated her without reason. John, married to Kim, knew through Kim that Susan had become an alcoholic. When John refused to speak to the hospital board on her behalf, Susan viciously told him that Kim did not love him and was seeing Dan behind John's back. The storyline at that point featured the Memorial setting almost daily, and David was there. It was his home life with Ellen and the girls that was backburnered until Patsy Bruder came back.

Was this when Glynis O'Connor played Annie? What did you think of her?

I know you've probably already talked about this before, but did you prefer Colenback or Reilly? What did you think of the last Paul Stewart?

Carl, Glynnis played Dee instead of Annie. I do not recall having an opinion of her. I preferred older characters. I would have preferred Ellen and David over their children if I had been a child myself. Kids on soaps never interested me. I will say Glynnis was better suited for an adolescent Dee Stewart than she was an adult Margo Hughes. I cannot comprehend what the casting director had in mind with that one. Annie had been played by Ariane Munker. She was replaced by an actress (Shelly something or other) who stayed about a year and never went on to do anything else in daytime.

I preferred Colenback. John Colenback is Dan Stewart to me and always will be. However, I did enjoy John Reilly, too. Colenback seemed more like an As the World Turns actor, his physical appearance and his acting style, if that makes sense. Reilly could have been an actor on The Doctors or Another World. Reilly being a recast did help in one respect. Dan returned at a time when the writers were attempting to straighten out the Kim/Bob/Jennifer mess. To keep Kim a viable character, she had to suffer for her betrayal with Bob. The Soderbergs saddled Kim in a loveless marriage to John Dixon, but to make it work effectively, Kim needed a love interest whom she could not have. Bob was out of the question, because that is what caused the initial story problem. The solution was to have Kim fall in love with Dan and be thwarted at every turn by John Dixon and Susan. If John Colenback had returned as Dan in 1974, I think the ghost of his love for Liz Talbot would have been problematic because that was the relationship with which we the audience associated him. By casting a new actor, John Reilly, it was easier for us to accept Dan Stewart falling so deeply and quickly for Kim.

Irna returned to ATWT in early 72. She had Liz and Paul and Dan and Susan divorce and killed of Paul in Nov.72 .In early 73, Liz was killed off, Dan sent to England, Susan and her new husband Bruce were divorced and Susan was written off.These stories caused Irna to be fired in mid 73. Apparently, according to Don Hastings in a WLS interview,the ratings went up within months of Irna's return but obviously dropped again. With Paul dead,Dan offscreen and Dee and Annie not SORASED there was little for Ellen to do. Her mother Claire had already been killed off in 1970.I guess David hung around as he was involved in hospital stories. Maybe Henderson Forsythe was busy with theater projects at that time and wasn't on too much. I don't think Ellen came back until the show went to an hour in 75.

I wish to clarify points made by Paul Raven and questions asked by Carl, because I believe confusion exists over the timeline of events. The deaths of Paul Stewart in November 1972 and Liz Talbot Stewart in February 1973 are correct. In March 1973, Dan did move to England suddenly with Emily and Betsy, and Susan divorced Bruce Baxter before departing Oakdale. Dan obtained temporary custody of Emily; however he did not have the legal right to remove her from Oakdale. Dan felt needed to get Emily and Betsy far away from Susan's influence and ignored the consequences of his actions. This would be an important plot point after the Soderbergs became headwriters.

I should remark that Marie Masters was a super actress. Irna's decision to let her and John Colenbeck go was a strategic error that could have sunk the series because their storyline was phenomenal. There was an unforgettable scene after Dan had fled Oakdale. Susan went to Dan's house to attempt to patch up their relationship. Susan's obsession with Dan and delusions that she could actually win him back were nearly heartbreaking. Susan let herself into the house only to find all of the furniture covered in sheets and a few empty boxes strewn about. She walked through the deserted room, a look of bewilderment across her face. She stopped, realizing that Dan and the children were gone, and there would be no more opportunities for reconciliation. She said quietly, regrettably, sadly, "But who told them I was coming?" The camera pulled back to show her a lone figure in the middle of an empty room, as the picture faded ever so slowly to black with no musical underscore. That one scene spoke volumes about the character.

After Susan left, the Stewart family did not recede into the background. Immediately, a new actress was cast as Carol Anne Stewart, now a teenager. Carol Anne exerted her independence and rebellion in a typical summer soap opera story. She had an older boyfriend named Richie. Richie rode a motorcycle and pressured Carol Anne to "go all the way" with him. This was when the character decided she wished to be called "Annie". Ellen feared that Annie was about to make the same mistake Ellen had made years earlier when she was impregnated by Tim Cole. David was a trifle more permissive and trusting of Annie. Annie used David against Ellen and created enormous tension in the Stewart marriage. Ellen forced Annie and Dee to go with her to visit Dan in England. This was in the summer of 1973. Annie hopped a plane back to Oakdale to run off with Richie, but when he pushed her to become intimate, she freaked out and ran home to David. Ellen was majorly pissed, and she and Annie spent much of the remainder of the year having mother/daughter conflicts.

In February 1974, Susan returned to Oakdale following an 11 month absence. She had been hired to work on a research project at Memorial with David. Unknown to anyone, Susan was having an affair with a man named Mark Galloway. Galloway was first played by Stephen Bolster then Anthony "James Stenbeck" Herrera took over the part. Susan strung Mark along in a secret affair while trying to convince Ellen and David that she had changed. Susan claimed that family was the most important thing to her, and she wanted to be a real mother to Emily. At the same time, Dan (recast with John Reilly) phoned Ellen from England to say that he wanted to come home. This was around May or June of 1974, a little over a year after John Colenbeck's Dan had been written out. Susan told Mark that she planned to have Dan arrested for kidnapping Emily, since his temporary custody order prohibited him from taking her out of Oakdale. Susan also planned to sue Dan for full custody of Emily.

The custody suit, with Grant Coleman acting as Dan's attorney, was the focus of the Stewart family's story for the rest of 1974. Ellen was heavily involved. Susan attempted to ingratiate herself to Ellen and David to get what she really wanted, which was Dan himself. Ellen tried not to alienate Susan, because Ellen knew that she could keep tabs on Susan and report it back to Grant and Dan, consequently helping Dan's case. The custody case wrapped at the beginning of 1975.

In the spring of 1975, P&G instigated a mass termination of veteran actors including George Reinholt and Ginny Dwyer at Another World and Teri Keane and Alberta Grant at The Edge of Night. P&G also dropped Patsy Bruder as Ellen on ATWT. At this point, ATWT was still a 30 minute soap. After the show expanded to an hour in December 1975, P&G decided to bring Ellen Stewart back. So Ellen/Patsy was only off the canvas for about an 8 month period in 1975.

Or the Bauers, Spauldings, etc. I rememeber my mom wrapping presents and watching ATWT and GL.

Does anyone remember how the Scott Eldridge story played out? I remember them bringing back that RH actor as John Eldridge (which looked ridiculous as he was way younger then Fulton)

Michael Levin "that RH actor" is older than Eileen Fulton. Levin was born in 1932 and Fulton in 1933. I see your point, though. Levin's appearance was younger than his age as long as he wore his toup.

That's all fascinating stuff. Sometimes I wonder if at that time there was such a move for new and different that they expected too much of viewers, expected viewers to give up too many relationships or characters who compelled them. How did you feel about Ben's prison rape story? That's when the character was reformed wasn't it?

I wish I knew more about Vivian Carlson. How long was her character around?

What did you think of Ray Wise? Did you think his replacement was as good in the role of Jamie?

I was also going to ask what you thought of the actor who played Rick before Jerry Lacy.

Yes, revamping soaps was all the rage in the 70's. Sometimes it worked spectacularly, such as Doug Marland's revamp of General Hospital and the Dobsons' work on Guiding Light. Other times, it failed miserably. One of the problems with Love of Life was that it was a "small show". By that I mean the cast was not large, the setting was more intimate, and there were many long running characters. Shows such as those are difficult to revamp, and when you do, it has to occur very slowly. Within a year, from 1976 to 1977, Love of Life had written out or recast many of the most popular actors, and they had changed relationships and characterizations too swiftly. It looked like a completely different series almost overnight, and it was too much. Upton should have continued the plots she inherited without making drastic changes for at least a year. The Betsy/Ben/Arlene triangle should have continued along with the Meg/Rick/Cal story. Jamie and Diana should not have been dumped. The Marriotts should not have taken center stage along with Ian Russell and Ray Slater. Ben should have remained more ambiguous in character rather than becoming the hard-luck kid who only wanted to be good.

Yes, Ben really began to reform after the prison story. Men in prison, women in prison are genres I like, so the story itself was sort of fun. There was somewhat of a dilemma though in that Chandler Hill Harben played the prison scenes. It seemed a little unfair to see him getting pinned to the floor by Duke, when you felt it was Chris Reeve who should have been getting some comeuppance. After that, Ben became the perpetually put upon guy. Out of prison, he tried to turn his life around and promptly ran over and killed James Marriott. Fearing he would be sent back to prison, Ben kept his hit-and-run a secret, but when Suzanne swallowed a safety pin and was saved by James' father Andrew Marriott, Ben confessed. Ben's transformation occurred too quickly for my taste. I would have preferred to see Ben persuade Betsy in resuming their marriage, living a lie with the hit-and-run hanging over his head for a year, and having it all explode in his face. It could have been a wonderful pressure cooker story for quite a while; they ended it too soon without a proper fallout.

Vivian Carlson and her hen-pecked husband Henry were around for nearly 20 years. They were Bruce Sterling's former in laws, the parents of Bruce's deceased wife Gaye. The Carlsons were Van's first obstacles in her marriage to Bruce, as Vivian resented the ground she walked on. Vivian considered her own daughter Gaye to be a saint and snobbishly thought Van was not good enough to replace her daughter as Barbara and Alan's new mother. Henry owned the local paper company. They were disgustingly wealthy, powerful, and social leaders in Rosehill. By the late 1960's/early 1970's the Carlsons were not shown as much. They were similar to Winston and Mattie Grimsley on Edge of Night, making occasional appearances as dictated by story. Around 1971-72, Vivian and Henry ceased appearing, but when Labine & Mayer took over Love of Life, they wrote the Carlsons back in on a recurring basis, such as to cause problems for Jamie and Di when they had audacity to make a baby and live together without benefit of wedlock!

I loved Ray Wise as Jamie. I still love Ray Wise in whatever he does. However, he was not replaced as Jamie. When Ray left the series, Jamie was also written out.

I liked Ed Moore, the Rick Latimer before Jerry Lacy. I thought Ed Moore was hot. It is amusing that he mentioned in your article that he looked like a truck driver, because he did have a rough masculine air about him. I liked him as Harry Sowolsky on Loving, too. He did not stay on LOL long, only a couple of years. Lacy is the actor I identify most with the role.

I assume Charles and Diana Lamont had more to do in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Charles was the father of Bill Prentiss, the show’s younger male lead. I’m sure there was conflict between Charles and Bill as I believe Charles had abandoned Bill’s mother. The Lamonts were the Sterlings’ neighbors, which also put them in that comfortable position.

My understanding is Charles developed sexual dysfunction under Labine & Mayer, which led to Diana Lamont’s cougar affair with Jamie Rollins. Jamie was reeling from the loss of his daughter and the breakdown of his ex-wife Sally. Jamie and Diana were to have a child, but Diana miscarried the baby due to the machinations of Ben Harper. In turn, Charles turn to virgin school teacher Felicia Fleming who was being terrorized by a rapist. This all played secondary to the epic Ben Harper bigamy plot.

I think the real problem for Charles Lamont was when Charles’ story was shifted from secondary to a frontburner potboiler. The affair between Felicia and Eduardo wasn’t going to carry the show. As a heroine, Felicia couldn’t have another man’s baby and be someone the audience could root for. And how can one root for Charles when he was a paralyzed cuckold who hadn’t been accepting of her sexual frigidity? I don’t think they could accept that, but the writers tried. When they realized they couldn’t make it work, Felicia was punished for her indiscretion by death. A bit harsh, but soaps were (still are?) morality plays. I don’t think “Love of Life” was the kind of soap where this plot could have played out front burner and worked.

If “Love of Life” had continued past 1980, it would have been nice had Charles stuck around. His grandson Johnny Prentiss was ripe for younger lead male status in the early 1980s with his childhood buddy Hank Latimer prime to be his friend/rival as Dennis & Jamie were on “Another World” and Phillip & Rick were on “Guiding Light.” Charles should have stayed around long enough to be Johnny’s talk-to until the show recasted Tess Kraukeur Prentiss with a soap veteran who could have taken up Meg Hart’s role as Rosehill’s neglectful mother role. I may be wrong, but I just don’t think Charles was leading man material from what I can gather.

I think writing off Jamie Rollins might have been a mistake. Jamie worked as a foil to Ben. He was sort of the fourth leg the show needed to keep around. A recast wouldn’t have killed the character. Jamie was a lawyer, a moral tent pole for a show built on the nature of good and evil. He was the Vanessa to Ben’s Meg. I think Tom Crawford wasn’t suppose to fill this role as he was an upright young man who was involved in the Ben/Betsy/Arlene drama as Betsy’s brother and Arlene’s potential suitor, but even Tom lingered until Marcus came in and made him a bit more morally ambivalent.

Plus, Jamie had history to mine. Imagine the damage Ben Harper could have done by bringing Jamie’s ex-wife Sally into town unaware she was still not with it. They could even had Sally kidnap baby Suzanne thinking she was her own dead daughter. However, when Ben Harper returned to town, Gabrielle Upton decided she wanted to redeem Ben and make him more a romantic lead.

Diana and Jamie were both casualties of Upton, I believe. Both left town in December 1976 around the time Upton arrived. Upton inherited a rather stale canvas, which she desperately tried to breathe life to in the year and half or so she was there. I think she was finding her bearings toward the end, but it had been a long road. If Upton had been given another six months, I think the show might have worked.

dc11786, I appreciate your thoughtful and articulate post. I agree with many of your ideas, particularly the storyline of Sally's return to kidnap Suzanne, which is genius. I always felt that Sally's departure was too low key, and Debbie's offscreen death too convenient. The elimination of Jamie and Diana was an enormous mistake. As you pointed out, Love of Life needed a young man of moral conviction to counterbalance Ben's villainy. Jamie should have been recast.

However, casting proved to be a problem for LOL in the 1976-77 season. The loss of Chris Reeve, Deborah Courtney (Cal), and Elizabeth Kemp (Betsy) seriously derailed the momentum the series had going with its young cast members, much the same way Love is a Many Splendored Thing had been derailed by the constant recasting of Iris, Luara, and Mark. I am not sure how much of the writing problem was Gabrielle Upton and how much was interference by CBS, but I disagree with your assertion that Upton inherited a stale canvas. Love of Life was wonderful up until the point when Upton joined.

Many have written about the remarkable of success of Labine & Mayer, but in truth, the ratings initially plummeted under them (from a 7.2 under Loring Mandel down to a 6.0) and only began to rebound near the end of their run. After L&M left, Love of Life's audience actually increased slightly from a 7.0/30 to 7.2/32 and up to 9th place from 12th. Under Upton, it fell to a 6.3 and back to 12th again. Part of the problem was the aforementioned recasting of major, popular actors; however, Upton must share some responsibility for writing in too many new characters and changing established story dynamics to fit her vision of the show. L&M were longterm writers, meaning they created characters and relationships that were intended to move forward in a natural progression, toward specific outcomes, for many years. Upton came in and just changed all of that.

The Betsy/Ben/Arlene triangle had been enormously popular and somewhat carried the show for two years. Upton decided to reform Ben, which in my opinion ruined the character. She slowly moved Ben away from Betsy to Mia Marriott, whom no one in the audience cared about. Arlene inexplicably got over her obsession with Ben, which had driven her character since she arrived, and she was placed in a triangle with vicious Ian Russell and Ray Slater. The deliciously perverse relationship between mother/daughter Meg and Cal and the morally ambiguous Rick Latimer was dumped in favor of Rick and Cal being happily married one minute and then Cal having a curious on and off flirtation with Vietnam vet Michael Blake who rented an apartment from them. Unlike previous writers, who embellished or carried on the relationships established by Labine & Mayer, Upton simply cast those aside and tried to create a completely new landscape, and it did not work. I do not think it ever would have worked. Viewers enjoyed the continuity of watching long-running love triangles and quadrangles. They were not interested in a gaggle of new characters, none of whom were even half as interesting as the ones they replaced.

Re: Felicia and Charles. I never liked Charles. The only interest I had for the Lamonts was Diane Rousseau's beautiful, talented Diana Lamont. I never understood why she was saddled with a constipated stuffed shirt bore like Charles. I loved Diana's affair with Jamie Rollins and the scandal it caused all over Rosehill. The scion of Rosehill society was Vivian Carlson. I remember her running around Ben and Betsy's wedding devouring all of the town gossip in simmering outrage. Vivian could not believe that Diana and Jamie were living together in sin, and Di was telling everyone at the wedding that she was pregnant with Jamie's love child. Vivian insisted to Bruce that Di should be relieved from her position as the director of family services for the city of Rosehill, and she also sought to block Jamie from becoming legal counsel to the city government. For a short period, LOL had an air of social snobbery ala All My Children about it, and the audience loved it.

The biggest problem with Felicia was the actress. I think everyone must know Pamela Lincoln achieved the role through nepotism, as she was not a particularly dynamic actress. I suppose anyone would have looked good next to Jonathan Moore's lifeless performances in a lifeless character, but L&M initially wrote Felicia as a somewhat intriguing character. I remember it was hinted that Felicia murdered her father. She had told Charles that she had engaged in relationships with many men, and she suffered from nightmares in which she stood by while watching a man drown. She discussed the nightmares in sessions with Dr. Bryson, who was the resident shrink during that era. It was later revealed that the drowning man was Felicia's late father. At this point, L&M left.

Under Margaret DePriest, Felicia became more deceptive. She admitted to Charles that she feared she would lose him too if she allowed herself to fall in love with him and marry. Dr. Bryson urged Felicia to continue therapy, but she quit and lied to Charles that she had resolved all of her problems and was ready to commit to him. Clearly she was not! She confessed on her wedding day that she had lied about sleeping around and was in fact a virgin who was terrified of sex. Under a better actress, Felicia could have emerged into a very complicated and viable character, but regardless of who wrote the scripts, the scribes were seriously impeded by the limited range of the actress. None of it was helped by John Aniston's hammy performances as Eddie Aleata and that horrendous Italian accent he cooked up, "Mama mia, thatsa terrybull!"

The storyline certainly had a lurid, camp sensibility to it that made it at the very least entertaining. I enjoyed the plot in which Felicia was stalked by sex maniac Arnie Logan, and she accidentally shot Charles, whom she thought was Arnie breaking into her art studio to rape her. I also remember Felicia's graphically bloody demise when she hemorrhaged and died in surgery while giving birth to Eddie's baby. It was silly, but perversely fun. You are correct, though. None of these characters were ever leads who could have possibly carried the drama. Their stories were plot-driven filler. Occasionally amusing, but filler nonetheless.

I know Higgs and Ginger Gerlach killed themselves - who were the others?

Peter Burnell, the longest serving Dr. Michael Powers.

I've always been curious about this show. I assume the Labine/Mayer episode is no longer on YT; I can't find it, anyway.

The episode from July 1975 on YT was not written Labine/Mayer. They had left to create Ryan's Hope.

That's awful. How long was he on LOL?

Richard Higgs debuted on Love of Life in January 1977. He committed suicide in October. I am surprised so many were not aware of Higgs' death as it was heavily publicized at the time. He was one of several actors from The Doctors, all appearing at the same time in 1970, to later take their own life.

Actually, Carl, I think Chase was one of the show's better elements (although, I can certainly understand why many did not care for him). Angela needed a strong adversary; and while I enjoyed her feud with Richard a lot, OTOH, you also needed someone who better represented the audience's core values. Richard was much too "gray" a character to be that.

Other points:

~ The Melissa/Lance/Cole triangle should have run a lot longer than it did, with her son's paternity used as a big secret that characters uncover, one by one, over the course of several seasons (which, of course, means that Lance, and not Cole, should have been the baby's bio dad). The fact that it didn't, IMO, proves just how inadequate the writers were at this stuff.

~ Vickie, as played by Jamie Rose, should have been positioned in a Mason-and-Julia (SANTA BARBARA)-esque relationship that would've been heavy on banter. If anything, it would've kept her on the show, thus sparing us the horrid recast w/ Dana Sparks.

~ Maggie should have been killed off before the actual start of the series, providing Chase and his kids with an impetus to move to the Tuscany Valley. Then, maybe in year two or three, they could've introduced a Maggie-like character who eventually becomes Chase's second wife and Cole and Vickie's adoring stepmom.

~ Julia never should have been turned into a murderer, and Emma just plain should never have been.

Khan, I understand what you are going for, but what you fail to realize in your scenarios of what should have been is that Falcon Crest did not work as a naturalistic soap. Knots Landing was CBS' soap with realism, and Dallas demonstrated some semblance of it, at least in the early seasons. CBS did not need another Dallas and Knots Landing with grapes. Falcon Crest fell somewhere between those soaps and the camp fantasy of Dynasty. Falcon Crest worked best with fast-paced crime stories and irreverent wit. That was its unique niche. When it tried to be something else, it failed miserably, and those of us who truly love it, love it because it was not an "organic" soap with long story arcs about adoring stepmoms, white knight protagonists, and multi-season paternity plots. We had all that on other soaps. It is obvious that FC was not your cup of herbal tea, and that is fine. I appreciate your comments about JR's birthright and agree -yes, it was more logical than Richard's obsession with Falcon Crest, but truthfully, Dallas could have easily told that story in five seasons and called it quits. Every single season of Dallas was the same predictable formula: JR does dirty deals for Ewing Oil, the Ewings are in jeopardy of losing the company because of JR's deals, JR cheats Sue Ellen, Sue Ellen gets drunk, has an accident and divorces JR. JR manages to save Ewing Oil and wins back Sue Ellen with the promise of being a better husband. JR cheats again and does more dirty deals...blah, blah, blah. Miss Ellie wrings her hands and says, "Oh, Jock, Oh, Bobby, Oh, JR..." Ray, Lucy, Donna, Afton, and a yearly cast of other extraneous characters stand around as props for JR and practically no story of their own. Pam and Bobby argue about JR and almost break up. Pam and Bobby argue and do break up. Pam and Bobby argue and try to get back together. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

In the Pepsi Challenge, I will take FC any old day of the week. Diversity makes the world go round.

Just read the threads about the fall down the steps. Hadn't read these synopsis before now and don't recall these plotlines in detail. Can't recall one woman pushing another--but my recollection is clearly of the blonde going down the steps in the wheelchair...in any case a wheelchair was involved--even if it managed to stay on the upper landing.

Brent

Vicky definitely pushed Mary down the stairs. Vicky and Mary were both played by fragile blondes, Robyn Millan and Diana Walker. Vicky was in the wheelchair. She had accidentally on purpose gotten pregnant by Michael Hathaway to trap him into marriage. Michael's mother had died in childbirth, causing his father Julian to be cold, distant, and resentful. Michael could not do that to his own child and agreed to marry Vicky. Michael had been in love with Mary, his college classmate who married his father. Vicky overheard Michael declare his love for Mary. Vicky ran out, drove off wildly in her car and crashed. The accident apparently left her paralyzed, but in time it was revealed that she was faking it to hold on to a guilty Michael. Claire Labine recycled this story on Ryan's Hope with Delia and Pat, and interestingly enough, Robyn Millan played Delia temporarily during the period when Ilene Kristen left and before Randall Edwards took over.

Mary also felt guilty and waited on Vicky hand and foot. Vicky had a little dinner bell which she rang constantly, causing Mary to run up and down the stairs to adjust Vicky's pillows, bring her food and drink, and whatever else Vicky could think of to annoy her. One day Mary caught Vicky standing. As I remember it, Vicky had wheeled out of her room on the second floor and stood up. Mary saw her and threatened to reveal Vicky's schemes to Michael and Julian. The two argued with the wheelchair between them. Somehow, Vicky managed to steer the chair around so that Mary was standing with her back to the stairs. Vicky shoved the chair into Mary, sending her tumbling down the staircase. I don't recall the wheelchair falling, but as Brent wrote, the sequence was very well done. It was certainly superior to the laughable stunt on Dark Shadows when Janet Findley fell down the great staircase at Collinwood.