robbwolff

Yes, Giancarlo Esposito portrayed Clay. Matt Davenport didn't last long. A month or two, I believe. He was portrayed by James Carroll, who later played Leo Burnell on Loving. I never understood why GL didn't do more with Alex and Alan's sister Victoria.

January 1993.

L. Virginia Browne and Gene Palumbo were at Guiding Light from around December 1982 to March 1983. They aged Phillip and Rick, and wrote out Sara, Gracie, Jennifer, Tim, and Ivy. They introduced a number of new characters: Matt Davenport, a doctor who was involved with Maureen in New York; nurse Helen Tynan and her son Clay; and ballerina Susannah who was a romantic interest for Tony. I think Clay was friends with Rick and Phillip. At some point, Rick and Phillip became friends with Morgan. According to an interview with Browne on the Another World Home Page, she said that Scherming said GL went into a slump when she took over as head writer but that she took the show from 8th to 3rd in the ratings while she was there. She claims she was fired after Gail Kobe replaced Allen Potter. She claims that GL continued to use her bible and kept her credited as head writer for another 9 months. Not true at all. As the credits from the March episodes on YouTube show, she was out of the credits by March 1983. She makes similar false claims about Another World crediting her as head writer after she had departed.

How cool. Thanks for sharing that. I actually work for the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy where Beth took classes. I had no idea she had been a student there. Tom Pelphrey is another Rutgers graduate -- he went to the Mason Gross School of the Arts. Bloustein and Mason Gross share the same building.

Cool find! I believe images from the Hillary/Tony scene were later used in the disco opening credits circa 1982-83.

It was actually September not March. That said, Raven’s speech in that episode was riveting.

Yep. I didn't see yesterday's episode so I'm not sure which was their first episode.

Today's episode of The Doctors on Retro, which originally aired in December 1979, listed Ellis and Hunt as the head writers.

I was actually just about to say that. I have a feeling it was someone from Texas and Carla would have been perfect. The character was referenced in the summer of 1983 and was referred to as Joanna, not Reva. It also could have been Caryn Richman, who played Elena on Texas. There was talk in 1983 of Richman joining GL

Are you referring to the guy with Ashley? If so, that wasn't Nicholas Walker. Walker was already on Capitol at that time. The guy portraying Eric Garrison was Brian Matthews. Matthews and Walker did look very much alike. Speaking of Walker, he will be showing up on The Doctors reruns soon.

The article was fascinating. I had no idea that there was interest in Lemay head writing TD as early as 1980.

I don't believe so.

Actually, that's not accurate according to a Jon-Michael Reed article that just surfaced online. It was published in October 1980. Reed said that NBC fired Quinlan in late September/early October 1980 after Colgate-Palmolive sold the show to NBC. She was replaced by Jim Baffico. Rothenberger did join the show but was a line producer, not executive producer. The article also says that Ellis and Hunt were hired as head writers in 1979. That actually matches what the woman who transcribes The Doctors for Retro said. About a month or so ago, she indicated that Ellis' name already showed up in the writing credits. So Ellis/Hunt were onboard by late 1979/early 1980. The article also states that Quinlan and Colgate-Palmolive wanted to fire Ellis and Hunt and replace them with Harding Lemay. But then the show was sold to NBC and NBC opted to keep Ellis/Hunt as head writers.

Yep. But Coming of Age was a possible NBC soap.

Poor baby has to work 5 days a week. Welcome to the club, Antonio.

Margaret DePriest created an unaired soap for NBC set at a newspaper in Chicago, I believe. The title was "Deadline." Variety announced it in the mid-80s.

I swear I had read at one point that Pat was supposed to be part of Texas. It makes sense since they were playing with a Kevin/Pat pairing. A Daytime TV issue in early 1980 stated that Russ Matthews was slated to be part of the new soap, which was then titled Another World: Houston. Also, Texas was originally supposed to premiere on June 30, but then was postponed until August 4. Makes me wonder if the postponement was meant to weave Iris into the story.

I have to disagree with Culliton about living in lofts not belonging in a midwestern setting. When I've been in that area of the country, I've gone house hunting and have looked at lofts a number of times.

Interesting piece about the late Catherine Burns, who was the original Cathy Craig on OLTL: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/catherine-burns-inside-50-year-disappearance-an-oscar-nominee-1275646

A friend shared this with me on Facebook. A post today from Walt Willey:

I think this was after the Old West storyline and right before Viki's 25th-year high school reunion. The reunion kicked off the story about Viki's missing daughter and ultimately led viewers to Eterna.

AL premiered in June 1981. Its original opening credits were very similar to what we saw on SFT's revamped credits: birds flying over the ocean and an image of the sun. At that time, OLTL also had credits with images of birds flying in the sky and the sun. The quick shots AL opening premiered around episode 210, so sometime around March 1982. Eve was definitely around in July 1982 when Jackie died in the plane crash. There are scenes online of her with Maureen, Ross, and Justin in Justin's living room discussing Jackie's death. And Janet Grey's name appears in closing credits for an April 1983 episode where Rebecca and Mark fell off a cliff. Carolyn DeMoney Culliton, Richard Culliton, and Gary Tomlin were credited as head writers in that episode.

Eve was definitely around longer. I started watching in April 1982 and she was still there. She was even around in June 1983 during Nola and Quint’s engagement party. I recall a scene with her and Phillip. The character vanished around that time. The comparison of GL to Another Life doesn’t make sense. AL premiered in 1981 and had opening credits similar to OLTL and what SFT had. Makes me wonder if GL has another opening planned but it was scrapped.

It wasn't just ATWT. I recall a scene from Guiding Light in 1998 that featured Michelle Bauer at a school for the blind. From the way the scene was taped, viewers could clearly see the wood on the opposite side of the set. I was stunned that CBS let that air rather than re-taping the scene.

What a great memory! Yes, someone had posted the plot summaries back in the early 2000s. It was an over-the-top story that ran for about four or five months and that featured a location shoot during the climax. One of the best parts of the story was the friendship between Ruby and Lurlene, especially as they tried to dispose of Beau Baker's mummified corpse.