amybrickwallace

Thank you. It was also fun seeing Tim Gibbs in a Teen Family Feud week from the mid-80s. Some of the other teens on that week were Missy Gold, Kim Fields and Glenn Scarpelli.

I've been able to get in touch with Marie, and not only is she now watching the reruns but so are her now-grown children. Her son was a little boy when she was on TD, and her daughter wasn't even born yet. Marie said that her son would see her on TV when she was working and he was with the babysitter. He would toddle over to the TV and tell his mom to come out!! LOL

I think Hank didn't come on until December 1970. Palmer Deane, however, did do a day or two earlier that year as a member of the Board of Health Commission. Obviously, TD liked him so much that they brought him back to play Hank. He's great - and so is Marie Thomas as his love interest, nurse-turned-singer-turned-nurse Lauri James.

Has Tim Gibbs been on daytime at all since leaving OLTL? Last I heard, he had returned to voiceover work. He was good on AW. On the other hand, if he hadn't left - John Littlefield and Nadine Stenovitch (the final Gary and Josie, 1998-99) may have never met! I believe they are still married.

Those were the days!!!

Remember when Dick Clark had those bloopers shows? On one of them, they had a blooper from AW. John Bolger and Tim Gibbs (Gary Sinclair) were in it. It was supposedly a serious scene that quickly descended into hysterics - John Bolger was literally rolling on the floor laughing!!!

Sweet!! Again, a big boo-hiss to P&G for not saving their episodes!!

John Bolger and Hillary B. Smith played a married couple and parents of troubled twins on an episode of SVU years ago. They both did good work there.

Yes, I believe you're right. I knew it was closer to the time that Liz Hubbard came back. It would have been nice to keep Anna around, but at least she got a decent farewell and didn't just vanish without being heard from again (Jody Lee, Liz, etc.)...

When was Melinda Fee on?

Thanks. I wonder whatever happened to him.

No problem!! You'll have Anna around for some time yet - she does get a nice sendoff and doesn't leave until sometime in the summer of 1970. Zaida Coles' departure is sometime between the departure of Virginia Vestoff and the return of Liz Hubbard. Speaking of Virginia Vestoff, she was still on Broadway in 1776 at the same time she started on TD. Maybe it was a combination of nerves and burnout, or maybe she just wasn't comfortable with the horrible changes that the new writing regime had put into Althea's character. Couple the change in writing with the recast of a popular character (and actress) - maybe the viewer backlash made her nervous. We'll never really know, but at least on DS she got to originate a role and she seemed more comfortable in the costumes and the much more theatrical and gothic nature of that soap. VV was originally set to reprise Samantha in one of the DS movies (I can't remember which one), but she had a scheduling conflict and had to back out. I think the movie version of 1776 was filming at the same time and she couldn't do both. William Daniels (who was the John Adams to her Abigail in both the play and the movie) mentions her in his recently published autobiography. When the word reached him that she was terminally ill, he ordered flowers for her and signed the card, "Yours, John" - in reference to their famous duet "Yours, Yours, Yours". Sadly, the flowers and card never reached her because the delivery truck drivers were on strike, as he found out later. Sure, they can put the names of temporary recasts in the credits along with the supporting players, but can't change the last name of a leading character with star billing!!!

What's also interesting about reading that article is that 25 years have passed and the longevity records that DALLAS and KL both held have long since been broken. The record-breakers, of course, are L&O (20 seasons) and L&O: SVU (still running and in its 18th season). Even Michele Lee's record for the most appearances by an actress on TV was broken by L&O's S. Epatha Merkerson. Getting back to Family, it only lasted for 86 episodes. In the original 1976 miniseries, I always thought it would make more sense to air "Thursday's Child" before the pilot. Yes, I know the pilot was made first, but I think "Thursday's Child" really told more about who the Lawrence and Maitland families were all about - and it would have made Jeff's adultery all the more jarring.

No, he never said why he left. He was, however, involved in co-writing a musical with ATWT's Peter Link at the time. Entitled Salvation, one of its stars was Marta Heflin (who played Shana Golan later on in 1969). Yes, the show gets worse - much worse once the last of the Lakin/Edelstein stuff airs. Most of it is due to the impending recast of Althea. Virginia Vestoff is not the problem - the writing was, and she clearly did not look comfortable for the 10 months or so that she was on TD. She first aired in October 1969 and she left in either May or June 1970. Then the character was off-screen until the reappearance of Liz Hubbard in October 1970. Regarding the Mike/Nancy mess, it gets worse before it is finally over. Mike makes the first of many stupid moves in the hospital starting here. He is NOT a doctor you would want checking on you and/or your loved ones!!! On the plus side, once 1970 starts you will be introduced to many memorable characters (most of whom stayed on for awhile) played by performers who just seamlessly blended in. They include the wonderful Katherine Squire as Carolee's mother, Emma Simpson; Richard Higgs as Dr. Dan Allison, who is one of the most terrifying villains I've ever seen on TV; Patrick Horgan as the suave British psychiatrist, Dr. John Morrison; Palmer Deane as Mike's supervising resident and budding young neurosurgeon, Dr. Hank Iverson (one of the few African-Americans on daytime then); Richard Niles as Rico Bellini, Nick's troublemaking but tenderhearted nephew; Felicia Sanders as Stella Bellini, Rico's mother and Nick's sister-in-law; and two of the most endearing child actors and one of the most talented sibling teams you will ever see in daytime (or anytime), Eileen Kearney as Greta Powers and Mark Kearney as Billy Allison. You may have seen their brother, Michael Kearney, as the blond boy who was writing on the hospital walls and caught by Anna Ford!! Of course, through it all are Matt and Maggie - the oasis in the storm. Jim Pritchett and Lydia Bruce must have come across as surrogate parents to the younger generation of TD fans in those days.

Agreed about that scene with Martha. She wasn't that thrilled at the prospect of them reuniting at first, either. Totally out of character. About Carolee, when the phone rings in her office she always answers it "Mrs. Aldrich" - so it seems she is using her married name professionally, just as she did during her nightmare of a marriage to Dan. Besides, she's a nurse and Steve's a doctor. It's not like people are going to confuse them, as sometimes folks do with the Drs. Powers (whose first names even begin with the same letter!).

Wasn't there also another Jill in there somewhere - pre-Jess Walton?

Correct, according to this article: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-04-05/features/9202010494_1_knots-landing-show-david-jacobs

I think Eden was there, because when they re-enacted the events in spring 1985 - she was seen in the "flashbacks" and such. Did you see MW's first scenes with Judith McConnell when Eden realizes that she is talking to her long-lost, presumed-dead mother? While it wasn't explicitly stated, when Eden was confronting Sophia about faking her death for so long and growing up without a mother - she mentioned something that soap women usually never talk about unless it's in regards to a pregnancy. Eden mentioned that when she was 12, she finally went to Rosa (the Capwell housekeeper) and asked her if she was going to die because she was bleeding. It was implied that Eden was going through her first periods and had no idea what was going on, because she didn't have a mother there to explain such things. Even though they never said the exact words, it was clear what Eden was getting at and that the frightened, confused little girl never really grew up. That was a very moving scene - and both MW and JM played it beautifully. If you haven't seen it, look it up. It was from February 1985.

I have no idea, but I have a friend who viewed a 1976 episode at the Paley Center (NYC). He said that even THEN, she was still credited as "Carolee Simpson"!! Apparently, the billing doesn't change to "Carolee Aldrich" until Jada Rowland took over the role.

Here is an article from August 2015 about Michele Seidman (Jill Hanson), who posted on this board a few times: http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20150829/swimming-helped-woman-cope-now-shes-giving-back

Did they create the role of Sunny for her?

John Rubenstein had the biggest white man 'fro this side of Journey's Neal Schon!!!

Whose idea was it to pair Rachel with Carl? Mac Cory/Doug Watson had already been gone for some time by then, right?

Why didn't they originally hire Gillian Spencer? Was she just not available at the time, holding out for more money...?

It's still weird for me to watch the early episodes with Charles Keating before he had the ponytail!!