robbwolff

Nope. I meant June 1977. Althea and Jerry were last seen around May 1977 and the interview with Marland took place after Elizabeth Hubbard left the show. He was vocal in the interview about Julia Duffy quitting without giving much notice since he had a storyline in mind for her. He complained about Hubbard in the interview, too.

It was all intentional. There is an interview with Marland circulating online from around June 1977 where he discusses his vision for the show. It doesn't seem that it was Young who didn't understand what the show was supposed to be about, but Marland. He discussed his plan to refocus the show on the families -- the Powers, Aldriches, and Dancys, and the need for the show to focus on romance. I don't know if he even mentioned Hope Memorial. The interview can be found on page 98 of this thread. As for the "silent ones" looking at clipboards and answering the phones, we're seeing less and less of the extras who have been around since the 60s. That's sad to see as they always enhanced Hope Memorial and its presence. I miss seeing Nurse Dorothy, orderly Joe, Nurse Rios and her blue sweater, and the others. But I always got a kick about how busy they were answering the phone during the closing credits when the phone seldom rings when we see scenes at the hospital.

I want to say the bachelor party and wedding were in January 1993. For some reason, I keep thinking Georgia Engel from The Mary Tyler Moore Show guested during the bachelor party. From what I read online, Billy last appeared around Father's Day in 1993. He then returned for a guest appearance in June 1994 according to some folks.

I thought he appeared the following year for Andrew's bachelor party. Shortly after, he was written out.

He killed himself by crashing his car.

I actually liked the Maggie storyline but it drags on forever...goes on the back burner, then comes back. I don't think it climaxes until over a year later!! The Cathy replacements (Nancy Barrett and Holly Peters) are fine but I much preferred Carol Pfander in the role. I'll be curious to see your reaction to what the Pollocks do with Cathy.

Wow. That is one bizarre commercial.

If I remember correctly, AMC and OLTL used the same sets on occasion, just redressed for the particular show. I remember reading that the coffee shop on OLTL was the same set as Jane's Addiction on AMC.

Having gone to graduate school in the town where Agnes lived (Rosemont, PA), it didn't surprise me to see the mansions pop up on AMC. There are many stately mansions in small towns like Rosemont and neighboring Bryn Mawr. It still pisses me off that my alma mater never reached out to Agnes to see if she'd come to campus to give a talk. I had suggested the idea to the director of the creative writing program. They had no idea she lived just miles away and never pursued the opportunity.

Are you sure that's Scott Stevenson pictured above? It looks more like Michael Longfield, who played Hunt Weston on Texas and Tank Jarvis on The Edge of Night. Longfield had a bushier 'stache than Stevenson and wavier hair than Stevenson. Here's where you can see Longfield in action as Tank: http://edgehomepage.com/tank.html

Marland leaves in 1977 and is replaced by Mel and Ethel Brez. I believe Turner arrives in January 1978. There are many writing changes on the horizon. I don’t recall the timing but Ronnie and Lawrence Konner, Linda Grover, Elizabeth Levin, Harding Lemay, Barbara Morgenroth and Leonard Kantor, the Brezes are yet to come. And there were three Nolas: Kathryn Harrold from 1976 til around January 1978, then Kathleen Turner till mid-1979, and finally Kim Zimmer.

Stuart joined GH in January 1977 as Dr. Gina Dante. She played the role for one year. After she left, she was very ill and didn’t work for three years. The late John Shearin is the next Mike. Very good actor. No idea if the Conrad set continues to be used. And I’m not sure my memories of Eleanor in Paul Summers’ apartment are correct. That’s over 40 years ago. But I seem to recall seeing Eleanor and Wendy in that set. I remember the windows, which are so distinctive. You’re right about the exits. Add to your list Liz and her sudden departure. And Jody Lee who just vanished after being so prominent.

If I remember correctly (and it is a long time ago), Eleanor takes over Paul's apartment after he's written out. For some reason, I have memories of Eleanor in that set. My understanding is that Toni is gone. Mike departs in December 1976 and then returns in April 1977. I read that they had planned to recast Toni but went in a different direction after Armand departed. Toni's departure was so abrupt...and lackluster. She was on the show for nearly six years and just disappears upstairs to pack. No final shots in the closing credits with her and Mike, Maggie, Matt, and Martha. It made me wonder if it was retribution for Anna Stuart being so vocal in the media about her displeasure with the show's writing and direction. Hank departs in December, too, just as Mike leaves. Petronia played Jessie Rawlings I believe. I thought I read that TD planned an inter-racial story for her but it was nixed because of the negative reaction to the Valerie/David romance on Days. Petronia was fired after a year. There were a few other Black actresses on TD in later years. Carolyn Byrd was on around 1980 as Dr. Terri Foster. And her mother appears, too. Then, Chris Calloway was Ivie Gooding, who fell in love with Luke. And Larry Riley played Calvin Barnes.

The Conrads are far from gone. Eleanor gets a new storyline this coming week and I believe is connected to the hospital. Wendy is recast in 1977. Armand seems to have checked out to me. His acting is quite lackluster at times. I won't miss him when he leaves. I never bought him as Mike. Martha'a days are numbered with Toni gone, Mike leaving in a few minutes, and the lab no longer being prominent. I wish Marland had rethought Martha's position at Hope Memorial. I've loved Sally Gracie's performances and will miss her terribly when Martha is eventually written out.

Jada is the Carolee that was there when I watched The Doctors back in the 70s and 80s. So it's great to see her though I do miss Carolee Campbell. My husband told me his mom watched The Doctors and "hated the new Carolee." In the spring of 1977, a new character appears named Jeffie Rowland. Not sure how long he lasts but Jada Rowland's brother was named Jeffrey. You're right about Althea no longer being an essential part of the puzzle. I think that's why Marland writes her out. In one interview, he was not pleased with Hubbard rewriting her dialogue.

Cool insight about the name of the board member Beatrice. Myra Sofronski was the topic of conversation on a Doctors group on Facebook. Sofronski was her married name. She had been married to Bernard Sofronski who was a producer on Search for Tomorrow and Another World. Bernard is now married to actress Susan Dey (The Partridge Family, LA Law). Myra's maiden name was Tamarkin. Myra Tamarkin supposedly was a writer on Search at one point in the 60s or 70s. Nancy Franklin started writing for TD under Margaret DePriest. Her name has been in the credits for a least a month or two. In the Facebook group I mentioned, there has been much speculation that Marland had heavily edited DePriest's scripts in the weeks before his arrival.

I agree. I didn't like her at first but she grew up on me quickly and really impressed me with her performances.

I believe that poster is adding episodes as he has time. His channels have been pulled a few times so it's time consuming restoring all the episodes.

Retro started with the December 1967 episodes. I remember people expressing their disappointment that we missed out on seeing the death of Althea's son Buddy earlier that year and didn't get to meet Mike Powers' first wife Valerie. I'm pretty sure that the company said earlier episodes do exist but they decided to start with the December 1967 episodes, which saw the introductions of Steve Aldrich and Karen Werner.

Thanks. I remember watching when he suffered the heart attack. It was powerful.

Who was head writer when Dave Bachmann died?

As I recollect, the big story during his stint involved Mike Powers who was in love with physical therapist Nancy Bennett, whose blind husband Paul returned from the dead. Also in the mix was Shana Golan who had nursed Paul back to health. Paul was played by James Shannon. Shannon's acting was over the top and painful to watch. The other story involved an amnesiac Althea. By September, Nancy, Paul, and Shana were gone. Edelstein then introduced Julie Forrest who came to live with the Powers. By November, Edelstein was gone, replaced by Ira Avery.

Lakin was amazing, but I wasn't impressed with Edelstein's short stint as head writer in 1969.

I have to admit that I very much liked DePriest's writing. It was nowhere as wonderful as it was during Rita Lakin's stint but it was mostly entertaining and interesting. Her writing for the Dancys was particularly very good. I'll be curious to see how Marland's work is.

Marland's episodes starting airing today on Retro. Richard Niles was incredible as Rico. Unfortunately, when the character returns in 1975, Chandler Hill Harben takes over the role. Harben's version of Rico is nowhere near as interesting. The fast pace gives way pretty quickly as I recall. Some stories go on forever under the Pollocks. Maggie has a story coming up in 1971 that lazily unfolds over the course of 14 months. Ultimately, it's thrilling to watch but it's very slow to build.