will81

I hope so too. They are out there As a side note - I was curious as to why Snapper took off to fight Cholera in Ethiopia and was gone for a month. Turns out he was filming the Star Wars rip off Starcrash. From what I have seen, it is truly awful.

That explains it. Makes sense as once SOD started all the other magazines that provided in depth synopsis folded, most going around 1976. DSN was the last hold out and I guess was gone by the end of 1978. I guess the reduction was the only way they could compete. Such a shame.

So grateful for all the work you put into these @FrenchFan In terms of Y&R, I am not overly into it the past couple of months. I feel like stories were simmering, but nothing was really happening at this point. Just a bit of a lull, though things definitely heat up in early 78. I'm also wondering if Bryna missed chunks of Y&R around this time. The synopsis is a little more vague than usual and there are parts that are verbatim from Soap Opera Digest. According to Mike Lyons (in another thread) he stated that the production companies had people write the synopsis from the scripts and provide them to SOD, I wonder if Bryna sometimes used these as well, maybe when she had deadlines to meet or simply missed episodes. From what I understand she wasn't very fond of Y&R, so maybe she missed the show here and there.

I just checked this out. First 15min is from Jul 30, 1980. There is also a minute or two from Guiding Light and the second ep which is in full (I think) is from the next day Jul 31, 1980

Speaking of the Williams clan, I would say Lilibet looked like her onscreen family. Andrea Evans and Tammy Taylor, not so much.

From the stories I heard there are a few potential suspects in that case. He doesn't seem the likely killer. I am more inclined to believe that he raped/assualted Natalie Wood though.

Are you talking about Ashley's cabin? Victor bought that for her. The pair were walking in the woods on a date and came upon it, it was run down. Ashley mentioned liking it and within a week Victor had had it restored and bought for her. I think this was late 1985. Or is there another cabin I don't know about?

I think the soap press probably assumed all EP's and HW's had the same working relationship unless otherwise stated. I also believe Bell wanted a partnership with his EP, so he may not have taken storyline direction, but maybe Kenney told him what he felt was working and what wasn't, rather than actually dictating story. I do think Bell lost his focus when the show went to an hour and regained it when Kenney came on. I don't see Bell as arrogant enough to dismiss good advice that he felt would help the show. He is also there for Ashley and Blade's wedding in 1994 and is credited on the Feb 18, 1994 episode I haven't checked but maybe he married Victor and Hope as well on the June 17, 1994 episode

This article is from March 07, 1982 - We have the two episodes dealing with Cash's death which happened the week of Mar 1 - 5, Kenney is listed as EP on those eps. I wonder if Mar 1 - 5 was his first credited week on the show. Anybody know his actual start date (in terms of credited episodes)

I think it is creative tension, mixed with arrogance and taking things way too seriously. I don't think Peter had much respect for Eric from the beginning, since he used cue cards apparently (something Peter derided in an interview that was posted here a while ago) and I think Peter took his acting seriously, maybe too seriously. He may have been the first actor to stand up to Eric, I would be interested to know how it all went down, because I am sure it would have started almost as soon as Peter turned up.

I had heard Bell was pretty swift and threatened to sack them both if it happened again. Not sure where I heard that though

Probably the most I have read about this infamous behind the scenes moment outside of forums. Pretty detailed too. "learn your lines old man" LOL I kinda hope this is a real quote. Steam must have been shooting out of Eric's ears, haha. This article was from January 04, 1992 - not sure which issue of SOW it came from though

I have 15 pre-emptions for Y&R for 1987 - 9 are for the Iran/Contra hearings. The others are New Years Day, 2 for the US Open, 2 over Thanksgiving and 1 for Christmas. The only date missing from the above list is July 15.

I am pretty sure after Alden had to hire a co-HW and intially chose Trent Jones in 2000, Jack was probably not happy. I believe he left the show briefly and then suddenly returns as a co-HW who goes on the be Co-Exec Producer the next year. Ed Scott was not there at the time and would not return until 04 in a supervising position. I honestly think Sony and probably CBS, wanted Smith there. I don't think it was by mistake. I doubt Alden had much power to veto anything Smith wanted. Honestly I have read up on Bell's illness. Symptoms appear ten years prior to passing. By 02/03, I doubt Bell was very healthy and that he had much to do with the show anymore. I think it was getting harder by 1998, which I feel is the reason he stepped down. In fact I would say by 02 Bell was not in good shape and this is when Smith was brought back, probably by CBS and Sony. Based on what Jill Farren Phelps said, Smith seems exactly what they would want.

Lol I got mixed up we were watching eps from 2000 in 2004, haha, also I was trading tapes back then so the timeline often gets scrambled in my head.

Y&R started in April 1974, but when Days began airing in prime time, the channel began airing two episodes of Y&R a day for a short period until Days returned to daytime. In 1980 Cricket began pre-empting the show each year for a couple weeks but the channel would also have a summer break as well that could last another two or three weeks. Each year we got further behind until by 2000 we were four years behind and they did the leap forward. Days was far more popular in the 70's and went into primetime, I havn't checked it out, but possibly channel nine played a bit of catch up and then fell behind again. Y&R also went an hour around 1980 in Australia, long before it would have actually been an hour show. So again I think the channel did some catch ups previously with both shows. WHAT!!!!! I was literally looking at the 1991 episode the other day and wishing we had anything from January. The only month that was missing completely. Woohoo for those new 1991 eps they have added.

I would agree, it seems Bell had a habit of naming characters after people he knew. You're right, Phyllis was an old fashioned named by 1994. Actually even by the 70's when the character would have been "born". Not sure many girls were being named Phyllis even in the 70's.

I thought it was the call to the FBI. Laura calls the FBI but hangs up and Luke retrieves the recording to prove to Laura the mob knows. She is still weary of him but begins to trust him, she has no choice, suddenly they are talking almost like best friends. This happens the next month Feb 1980 ETA: Check out the Feb 22, 1980 ep. This is where the "I'm trying to protect you" stuff starts and Laura begins to see him as a friend.

The thing is - when I say Bell was hands off, I only mean in terms of scripting the show. In terms of story I think Alden/Sussman/Smith were all important in terms of concepts and ideas, but Bell put the story together and was responsible for the tone and charcaterisations. He may have relied on them more for ideas during certain points but I do not believe they were planning out story. They had a seat at the table and that is it. If any of them did plan any story it was under Bell's guidance and approval - and I would assume may have only happened once or twice and possibly during the creation of B&B. You are right, the show isn't the same when he leaves. In fact once he begins to get sick which mostly likely occured around 94/95, the show isn't the same. Which says to me he was the show. No creator does it alone, but he was the visionary and the master. When Alden takes over the tone is similar and story is good but characterisation is off. When Smith comes back in mid 2002 as a co-HW the show gets trashier (Paul raping Chris/Olivia & Brad's affair while Ashley has cancer/Lorie degrading herself by trying to split up Victor and Nikki/Sharon making the moves on Victor/Jill & Kay being related) All these things happened between late 02 in to mid 03. This was the beginning of the end. I am certain Bell hired Smith to push the envelope and to give him some edgier ideas, but Bell would reign them in. I think this is why Bell never gave Smith too much control and why the show goes off the rails once he pretty much takes over. By 2002 I feel Bell's illness was probably taking over and I think this and Ed Scott leaving allowed Smith to gain more power and IMO ruin the show.

@Paul Raven Here are the articles on Mary. One stating she appears in 3 of the 5 shows per week and another from Sep 67 giving the episode count of the show and her episode count at that time

I recently found an article that I didn't save but will try to find that mentioned Search hit 4,171 episodes and Mary hit around 3200 at the same time. So I guess that at least gives an idea of how much she appeared during the first 15 years (approx)

Lol I also loved Sami during the possession. She hated Marlena because of her affair, but at least briefly Mardevil and Sami became close and Sami began confiding in her and taking her advice, which of course led to disaster, haha.

The way Susan speaks makes It sound like it was something floated about before the show got on the air. Mona was probably supposed to have a drinking problem when Susan auditioned but by the time the show went to air that idea had been dropped.

I have no idea if this is an unpopular opinion but I don't think a single soap that was still on the air in the 90's was consistently good past 1994. Maybe they had a good year here and there, but none had long runs of good quality again.

I wonder if this is why he kept characters isolated, as none of the stories were happening at the same time, haha. I know that isn't the case, but would be pretty awesome if Y&R was full of alternate and parallel timelines during the Bell era.