saynotoursoap

Did you ever watch Fernwood 2-Nite? Were they the people who did the later run of MHMH?

No, I did not. I saw it, of course, but was not a viewer. To my knowledge, Alan Thicke was the head writer of Fernwood 2-Nite. He had nothing to do with the writing of MH2. I do not know what happened to Dennis Klein. Tom Eyen was the initial replacement for Ann Marcus. Eyen was the writer for whom Lear had a hard on. Later on, he achieved a great deal of success with Dreamgirls, but I feel his approach to Mary Hartman was wrong. He was more the Ron Carlivati of his day. Just my opinion. Sorry.

The freshness of the show wore off after a while, then the whole Louise being arrested thing happened and she was off he show shortly after.

It was not so much that the freshness wore off, but that Norman Lear made a gravely strategic error in forcing out headwriter Ann Marcus. Although Gail Parent developed the concept, it was Ann Marcus who layered the characterizations and created something so much deeper than just a zany parody of soaps. After Marcus left, the series really lost its focus as subsequent writers Tom Eyen and Dennis Klein wrote MH2 as a one-note joke. They did not understand the series, or if they did, they chose to ignore what made it successful.

Jennifer Harmon was wonderful, as was Fran Brill. Jennifer's character of Chris was certainly a leading lady. It is not my intention to diminish at all her presence or contribution. However, as far as NBC was concerned, Copeland was the one with "star" power. Copeland was the one with name recognition from her electrifying performances as Andrea Whiting on Search for Tomorrow. It is in that sense that Copeland was the star.

Thank you for the articles. I miss Lydia Bruce. She was such an underrated actress. Her performances as Maggie were always so multi-layered. I found her an absolutely fascinating performer.

Ms. Brill was on All My Children as well as The Edge of Night.

On The Edge of Night, she played a widow who blamed Deborah Saxon for the death of her husband. She was trying to get revenge on Deborah. This was a very shortterm role. It was during a period that ABC was trying to get The Edge of Night characters be challenged with more trouble each day. I think that tit was during the time that The Edge of Night was preparing to expand .

Edge NEVER prepared to expand. This is an urban legend of sorts. Fred Silverman considered cancelling General Hospital and expanding Edge in 1977, but Procter & Gamble refused. P&G owned the series and leased it to ABC. ABC could not expand it without the sponsor's cooperation, and it had no intention of cooperating. Also, Fran Brill appeared in September 1978 after the soap General Hospital had begun to rise in the ratings and had a far larger audience than Edge.

Interesting they said Joan Copeland was the star. I thought Jennifer Harmon was.

I liked the little tidbit about the circulation numbers for Daytime TV, most of those being in retirement areas.

Originally Rosemary Prinz was billed as the star of How to Survive a Marriage. After she left, that torch was passed over to Joan Copeland. Harmon also had a nod on occasion in the opening credits, but Joan Copeland was considered the drawing power. It was Copeland who is credited as the star of the show in the final episode,

Someone please explain Val Dufour's outfit!!

Never seen Ruth Hunt,Virginia Martin or Robert Maxwell in cast lists before.

I think Connie was a love interest for Stu.

I believe Val Dufour's get-up was a publicity photo from a play, movie, or guest shot from a primetime series. It was not a scene from SFT.

Connie was a spoiler in the budding romance of Stu and Ellie. Stu met her while on holiday in California. They were both contestants on a cheesy game show. Connie followed him back to Henderson and took over Ellie's job at the Hartford House for a while.

Dr. Clare Newman was Karen Dehner's psychiatrist at the sanitarium where Clay Collins was employed.

Dr. Adam Luria was the oncologist who prepared Steve Kaslo's bone marrow transplant during his first bout with leukemia in 1976.

Richard Council as a temp Hal recast. I'd never seen him. He's OK, not that good. Don't like the Supercuts hair. I wonder what happened with Ben. Looks like he was in at least two episodes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqG4tOZgYac&lc=MGjV2NiqG4PhDW118EiCvTHzKFQPVdOV5OOC0g4TIVc

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183573/

Richard Council, like Sofia Landon Geier, was an interesting recast. Both had appeared on their soaps in previous roles. This aspect of daytime soaps is one thing I find charming. Council had played Ari Triandos, husband to Tom Hughes' ex-wife Natalie. I suppose this was before John Hilner regularly subbed for Hendrickson. Ben Hendrickson was a tough one to replace. On the surface, there was nothing extraordinarily unique about him, but nobody could quite capture Hal as he did. Of all the replacements, I liked Hilner the best, but even he was not exactly right for the role. I am glad ATWT chose to kill Hal off following Hendrickson's death. It was the right move, one I wish other soaps would have followed.

I'm surprised to hear you say that- I thought she mimicked Anna Stuart's Donna nearly flawlessly! I don't see any resemblance to Vicky Wyndham's Rachel whatsoever.

I agree, juniorz1. She copied Stuart's style very well, and did not resemble Wyndham at all, even Wyndham's Justine or her later English affectations. I never saw these scenes, and watching them now, I must say Sofia never looked better. Her hair is a vast improvement over that permed mop she wore as Diane on Guiding Light.

By the way, to the other poster, Sofia's last name is Geier.

I was surprised to read that Pamela Long was a head-writer briefly on OLTL. I understand that it must not have worked out since she was only there for like six to nine months. Just curious over what she created/did during her brief stint on the show.

No, the stint with Pam Long did not work out. For starters, Pam had been trying to move away from daytime to write and produce her on nighttime dramas, but she could not ignore the allure of the cash ABC offered. She and Jill Farren Phelps possessed two completely different visions of what OLTL should be in tone. Pam wanted something earthier, more family and friendship driven, with her patented touch of sentimentality. Jill wanted the status quo of darker, edgier, with the music montages and so forth she had honed on GL and AW. Pam's philosophy was that in order for a series to be successful, it needed a single vision. The vision could be the writer's or the producer's, or they could agree to a collective vision. But, in this case, she and JFP disagreed. In the end, she felt it better to leave and let Jill have her own vision.

Pam also said that ABC Daytime in the late 90s was a very toxic environment. During the story meetings, writers and management were openly hostile to one another, which she did not like. Also, she had a great deal of trouble writing for the actors. She said that Roger Howarth was a particular nightmare, because ABC wanted the main storyline to revolve around Todd, but Howarth had a list of things he absolutely refused to act. Pam felt attempting to write for him was like walking through a minefield. She had to tiptoe around all of his demands, and even then, there was no guarantee that he would play what she wrote.

Eileen had been a schoolmate and best friend to Joe's late wife Helen, who had died in 1968, shortly before AMC premiered. Eileen's kids Timmy and Julie were also friends with Tara Martin, Joe's daughter.

saynotoursoap or anyone else who can answer:

Someone else asked a question to me on this after watching the 1973 episode on the Bauer DVD set, and I was too young then to remember - they were asking about the chemistry between Mike and Leslie. She seemed to recall that Don Stewart (Mike) had more chemistry with Barbara Rodell (Leslie III) versus Lynne Adams (Leslie I). Any thoughts?

It is true. Despite Lynne Adams originating the role of Leslie and playing it for six years before Rodell arrived, Barbara was absolutely beloved the audience. When Adams returned to GL shortly after Barbara's Leslie married Mike, many, many viewers were not happy. Personally, I believe it worked out for the best. Had Barbara remained as Leslie, she would have missed the opportunity to create Joyce on As the World Turns, which was a far juicier part than any of her other soap roles,

BTW, is it definite these episodes are from January 1978? Wiki is claiming Brian died in late April, but it's often wrong.

Yes, it is definite. Brian being run down by Talbot Huddleston and Karen launched the series expansion from 45 minutes to one hour, which was January 1978. I was watching the day it happened.

You wouldn't say that if you had read my comments (made out of frustration and jealousy, I must admit) regarding Agnes Nixon in the AMC reboot thread.

Nonsense. Check your PMs.

That made me smile. Thank you so much.

As much as you might resist it, you are one of my favorite posters, so I am beyond chuffed that I made you smile. I wish I could do it more often.

Bill Bell had started at Days and left ATWT (as coHW? Actual HW?) around then, right?

Yes, Eric. Bell started on Days July 5, 1966. However, I really do not think his departure from World Turns really affected the ratings negatively other than it created more competition in general for CBS. CBS ruled the roost in daytime with no real threats until around 1967. Bell at Days, Aggie Nixon at Another World, and Rita Lakin at The Doctors began to create serious competition for CBS, luring viewers away. With Dark Shadows on ABC, and later One Life to Live, younger audiences were flocking to the Alphabet Network. The world was changing, too. 1967 was the era of the summer of love, everybody and their Aunt Ilene experimenting with mind altering substances, unbridled creativity and an openness to alternative thought. A greater segment of viewers began to turn away from the staid and the conservative. Sure, World Turns remained a solid number one. The institution wasn't falling yet, but there were cracks in the plaster.

Look how well SS was doing before CBS got involved.

It could not miss what with Amy and the flamboyantly bitchy Janet squaring off over Kip Rysdale.

IMDB credits her with Edge too, but I think I always remember GL because I know she played Trudy Bauer and that's a role I always want to see more of. It sounds like she had a much larger role on Edge.

What I meant was: if you search for her name on IMDB, when the list of names appears IMDB has Guiding Light in parentheses next to her name rather than Edge. I believe I have an episode of GL with her playing Trudy. If I can dig it up, I will add it to You Tube.

Wasn't sure where to put this - I put it in the GL thread. It's an article on Lisa Howard.

http://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/32166-guiding-light-discussion-thread/?p=1224321

I always associate her name with Edge, especially considering the nature of her demise, but IMDB credits her with GL, her last soap role, so I suppose GL is the correct spot. How's that for a run-on sentence?

I went to his NYC funeral. I was 17 at the time.

You must have seen a number of his Edge cast mates, as well personnel from other serials. Did you speak with any of them?

Another fascinating article, CarlD, and I learned more about Ruth than I had ever known. I miss her...and Phoebe.

A few years ago the was fan fiction online from an author with the non de plume Charles Delaware Troll. He/she wrote a full year of daily DS episodes beginning April 5, 1971 and running through April 1972. It was a "what if" scenario assuming the series had not been canceled by ABC. The story was quite good actually. Victoria returned in one of three story arcs played out over the twelve months, and The writer gave Alex her wish of playing something meatier. If a fan could have given what she wanted, Russell and Hall certainly could have, too.

I agree with Soaplovers. At least to me, Victoria was integral to DS. The story was seen through her eyes. It was she who opened the series before we ever even saw Collinsport, Maine or its inhabitants. The series was never quite the same after she left, and killing her so cavalierly offscreen in another time band added insult to injury.

I believe Diane began on Love in 1966. It is interesting that a Canadian production was determined to have two American leads. Selling to the U.S. must have been their goal all along. Finding a copy of Moment of Truth is my new mission.

Yes, this is invaluable information. Please keep it coming.

And no mention that Susan had starred in A World Apart just a year earlier.

Variety October 9th 1974

"As The World Turns" and "Match Game ' 74" ranked one-two with ratings of 11.4 and 10.8, respectively, followed in the top five by ABC's "All My Children" (9.4), NBC's "Days of Our Lives" (9.2) and NBC's "The Doctors" (9.1).

Charles Nelson Reilly reigns at number one. "How's that for a topper?"