amybrickwallace

Toni's mother, Barbara Ferra, and Dan's late first wife, Tammy, were sisters. So he was her (and Billy's) maternal uncle by marriage. Toni's father was the late Paolo Ferra, and Barbara left him to run off with a musician named Webb Sutherland. Billy was the product of that relationship. When Billy was born, Barbara gave him to Tammy (who presumably was unable to have children of her own) and Dan, who legally adopted him. Billy learned that he was adopted and that Barbara was his biological mother after Dan's death. It's my pleasure. 😊

That's when you know you have too much money/time on your hands if you have a room entirely devoted to gift-wrapping. 😨

No, I'm pretty sure there were scenes with Marie and Nick. Alice's funeral, maybe?

The material that we saw when Riche/Labine were at the helm remains some of the best soap ever. GH was firing on all cylinders for most of the 1990s. I wonder if some of the topical stories (AIDS, cancer) and maybe even a couple of comedic ones (Lucy annually ending up onstage in her undies at the Nurses Ball) were stories Claire Labine would have used for RH if that show had still been around. If so, she surely would have won even more writing Emmys for RH.

Thanks, I will have to check it out!!

Agreed. He was the scene stealer, and when put into a lead role it was just too much. Back in the 1970s, did anyone really buy Paul Lynde as someone who had a wife and kids on TV? (Yes, I know he played an exasperated father in Bye Bye Birdie - see "Kids".)

He wasn't there long. Margaret DePriest took over by the spring of 1976. Ironically, she had acted on TD nearly a decade before - a small, short-term role as a social worker.

I can't even imagine writing two soaps at once. Yes, I know there were subwriters to help carry the load, but having to keep track of two different sets of characters and multiple storylines for each seems impossible! 😨

I'm looking forward to that storyline as well. If the few clips of it that exist on Dailymotion are any indication, we're in for a treat.

Chandler Harben has just shown up in the 1975 reruns of The Doctors on Retro TV. I heard that his last soap role was on AL, where he played a mentally-challenged guy who assaulted women. I've looked on YouTube but can't seem to find him. Can anyone help?

I am looking for a picture of the 1980 remote to Paris (which is the first time OLTL did a remote, I believe). The picture is of Bob Woods (with cowboy hat) and Jacqueline Courtney with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Thanks in advance if anyone can help!!

I think he was writing both shows at the same time. Then P&G told him to concentrate on the spinoff and he was replaced at AW by Harding Lemay. He was let go shortly thereafter at Somerset. Wasn't he replaced by Henry Slesar?

A music star who did manage to have a successful sitcom was Reba McEntire. I do think that she deserved a much better vehicle than Reba. Her sense of humor and sharp comedic timing was easily the best part of that show.

I have to agree with you there. They dropped the ball on what could have been a really great story.

Actually, A Martinez left SB in 1992 - about three months before the show went off the air.

You're right about Cathy. I had forgotten that Carol Pfander was playing the role before the Pollocks came on. Thanks.

Things did seem a bit more stable with him at the helm. I am really, REALLY hating the Toni/Mike/Alan story. The sooner it's over, the better. Thankfully, all three actors (Assante, Gerard and Stuart) all went on to bigger and better things.

Patrick's wife Susie said in a podcast interview a few years back that he had another role on ATWT...one of Mr. Big's henchmen in the early 1980s. Then he came back to play Penny Hughes' new husband a couple of years later. He also reprised his EDGE role of Ansel Scott for one episode in 1982.

Wasn't Erica a bit old to get pregnant by that time? Of course, Susan Lucci is a few years older than Erica Kane (who was a high school student at the outset, and SL was 23 or so when AMC began).

I read that in Gerry Waggett's DAYS trivia book. All worked out for the best, as Drake began on DAYS the same year that MacGyver debuted - 1986.

I'm pretty sure she will, too. I love how Sheryl has such a love of soaps, past and present. She was in her element in late 2016 when the casts of ATWT, GL, Y&R and B&B were on for an episode to celebrate CBS Daytime being #1 for 30 years.

It seems that several people who were close to Aaron fell off the rails after he passed - Tori, of course, and Heather Locklear. On the other hand, Randy seems to be having a happy and healthy life out of Hollywood. Last I heard, he was working as a life coach and living in Oregon with his wife and young daughters.

Agreed! When was he in primetime last - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Of course, the choice for the original MacGyver came down to Drake and his Seven Brides co-star, Richard Dean Anderson.

He had the chance to play Archie Bunker...and turned it down!! Then the role was offered to Carroll O'Connor and and the rest is history.

Thanks for clarifying, but if I was Francesca I would completely wash my hands of that plot. One of my teachers in high school was a big AMC fan and she HATED that story - hated it!! I think that was in 1997.