Franko

7 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

But in the long term, Mr. Littlefield said, the network wants to give the stations what they most want: a talk show that will effectively lead into the syndicated talk shows -- like "Oprah" and "Donahue" -- that mostly fill the afternoon hours before local newscasts. "Talk with an edge is what's working out there," he said.

NBC will use its cable channel, CNBC, and its New York station, WNBC, as a kind of laboratory to develop possible talk shows. Mr. Littlefield said Star Jones, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who is now legal correspondent for NBC News, would host a talk show similar to "Oprah" that would run first on CNBC, then WNBC.

If it succeeds in those places, it will be moved to the network.

Ultimately, NBC opted for John Tesh & Leeza Gibbons in the fall of 1993, and then Leeza by herself from 1994-2000 (the last season was syndicated). Star did host her own show, Jones & Jury, in syndication for 1994-1995.

Two more from LOVING, both boys: Sandy and Christopher.

11 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I thought rainbow? Gay babies....oh well...lol

We'll have to do a separate thread on gay parenting on soaps.

Three more:

Amanda, AW

Tom Jr., GH

Marah, GL

Up until recently, I'd never heard of this term. A rainbow baby is the first healthy child after a miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth or neonatal death. Naturally, I've been trying to think of soap examples.

Sami and Eric Brady -- DOOL

Serena Baldwin -- GH/PC

Patti Burnell (presumably) -- LOV

Thank you for the tag, Carl! It's always great to see new Loving episodes.

37 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Maybe Dolly should have tried a traditional sitcom instead of a variety show? 

CBS tried twice between 1993-95. The first, "Dixie's Fixins," would have had Dolly playing a cooking show hostess. Once that one bit the dust, it was "Heavens to Betsy," which had six episodes filmed but apparently never aired. It appears to have been partially reworked into the 1996 TV movie "Unlikely Angel."

Variety, March 30, 1994:

HOLD THE COOKING SHOW: Dolly Parton’s plan to play a cooking show hostess in the fall CBS sitcom “Dixie’s Fixin’s” has been sent back to the kitchen. Parton is now fixing to star in “Heavens to Betsy,” created by David Babcock (“Herman’s Head”) and inspired by a song Parton wrote.

Stuart Sheslow, the Sandollar TV prexy who has reshaped the series with partner Gail Berman in conjunction with Disney TV’s Dean Valentine, said that Parton will now play a singer whose big chance to open for Siegfried & Roy is spoiled when she gets killed instead. Up in heaven, she’s given a choice: Go to hell, or go back to her old hometown, where she was a troublemaker named Hurricane Betsy, and redeem herself.

“She can go to hell or make amends, and she chooses to run this local choir of misfits,” said Sheslow, who maintained that “Dixie’s Fixins” was unfixable. A script was turned in by “Married … With Children” vet Ellen Fogel, but rejected. “She worked hard, but missed,” he said. “David went to work on this thing and hit a home run. She gets to play an angel with a dirty face, and she gets to sing.”

Ironically, the plot line is similar to a pilot idea that didn’t fly, in which Parton would have played a gospel singer. “This is a concept she’s been trying to develop for four or five years, but that other script was more dramatic, and nothing like this one,” Sheslow said.

8 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

So, the other day was the anniversary of the boink on the plane conference table, right? And, now what's coming up is when they find out that Sami saw them? I am somewhat confused. HA 

Uh ... no. The boink on the plane's anniversary was way back on Feb. 4. And I'm not sure of the exact date when J&M learned they Sami watched them on the conference table (but I'll find that out).

ETA: Sami spilling the beans to Marlena concluded the Friday, Sept. 10, 1993 episode. I guess John found out shortly after.

Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of it being revealed that Sami caught John & Marlena fooling around on that conference table. The 30th anniversary, alas, isn't the conference table anniversary, but the pearls one.

I'm not sure what her exact episode counts were, but it feels like Ruby/Norma Connelly dodged a bullet by no longer working at GH and instead becoming proprietor at Kelly's.

3 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Maybe Lewis Arlt wanted to leave, in which case write David out but keep Renata.

"He Knows You're Alone's going to make me a star! Everything's coming up Arlt!"

No, but seriously, thank you for that extra insight.

43 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

One special and unique character, Renata Sutton (played by Sonia Potrovna), was recently killed off in a most viewer. anguish-provoking manner.

Well, now I'm curious.

ETA: Found it. Renata, pregnant from a rape, considered suicide. She found new happiness with David (Lewis Arlt). It all ended when the "fireproof" Henderson Towers caught fire. Martin, drunk, passed out. His cigarette caused a couch to catch fire, causing a chain reaction (a subsequent summary reveals that the disaster spread due to substandard electrical equipment).

Renata and David attempted to flee the Towers and she, of course, went into labor during this crisis. The baby, Mia, was delivered in a storage room and survived. Renata demanded that David flee with Mia to safety. "With the baby in his arms, David climbs through an air duct to the roof." (!) Renata couldn't manage that. Firefighters warned David that she's doomed, stuck with a bunch of soon-to-explode chemicals.

Renata wasn't directly killed in the explosion, but as a result of it. David found her bloody body buried under rubble. She lived long enough to have a tender farewell.

Wow. Yeah, I can see why this would upset viewers. And if you didn't care about Mia, there's the elements that seem to be ripping off The Towering Inferno.

Apologies if we've seen this one before. It's another non-storyline-related promo. I kinda like that NBC did these sort of vignette ads. Maybe I'll find one not related to a couple, like, say, of Mike in a medical situation or Victor scheming?

@Melroser's earlier comment about Amanda being too mature during Christine Tucci's run reminds me of a question I was going to ask: did it feel like Vicky was the only woman in that group who got to cut loose and consistently be a vixen? (Or am I misinterpreting Vicky's later characterization?)

24 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

As someone who saw it contemporaneously & who was aware that no other soap had done anything on it at all

Yes and no. It appears that the Dawn storyline was airing at approximately the same time as All My Children's. Based on the recaps, it appears that AMC did begin its storyline with the drugs factor (through Mark). I find it interesting that AMC apparently didn't introduce the sexual aspect/Cindy (and, appropiately for this thread, with an ex-AW actress) until after Mark tested negatively.

28 minutes ago, Tonksadora said:

Well, they did not own it. Colgate-Palmolive would just have been renters to them, so it's just what was in the contract & more space would have been more rent. The expansion was not AT ALL without costs. According to Lin Bolen the budget would be MORE than double & that did not count that you'd need more space & more actors. And, the people who would get the gains from ad revenue were the network, not the show. Sort of the fine print. 

Fair enough. For what it's worth, I don't think expansion was the solution for every show. It limited the amount of timeslots networks had available.

2 minutes ago, Joseph said:

I'm pretty sure I read Tony was born in the Mid-1950's.

Interesting. Daphne's biography on the old Who's Who in Salem page also states that Tony wasn't Stefano's oldest -- in fact, she ran away with Tony after being aware of the treatment Stefano gave to his previous baby mamas and/or wives -- but I'm pretty sure that idea is no longer canon.

Surely NBC could have scared up some more space for The Doctors at 30 Rock. It's not like there was THAT much going on there circa 1976 (Today, WNBC, NBC Nightly News, Tomorrow and SNL).

Was there ever a suggestion that Daphne was or could have been Megan's mom? In reality, it could have been plausible (Madlyn Rhue was born in 1935 and Miranda Wilson in 1960), but I suspect Daphne was supposed to have been born in the mid-late '20s (since Thaao Penghlis was born in 1945 and I don't think they were claiming Tony or Andre were younger than they looked).

What's everybody's feelings on mid-'90s Amanda, the Christine Tucci and Laura Moss years?

I didn't feel like bumping my old thread about actors quickly moving onto their next roles, but Michael Sabatino deserves a mention. His last day on DAYS was Monday, Oct. 18, 1993. According to the B&B YouTube channel, Michael began on BOLD on Friday, Oct. 15. Is that the correct date, or are they off and he premiered on Friday the 22nd?

Thanks to The Winds of War, Condo and Amanda's had debuted in the Top 20. Once they had to prove themselves, both faltered.

13 minutes ago, j swift said:

Side note: I'd love to know the number of soap couples with a Valentine's Day anniversary (like Patch & Kayla).  I wonder if it rivals the number of babies born in the soap universe on Christmas?

That would be a fun topic to research. I do have to be pedantic and ask if we'll accept Valentine's Day or Christmas within the show's universe or if the wedding episode had to air on or immediately before/after Feb. 14 or Dec. 25. (I'm sorry, I'm a party poop.)

Donna, I'm going to say this as politely but directly as I can: please stop using Wikipedia, especially pages that I assume we're all familiar with, as a primary source. Thank you.

Anyway, today marks the 30th anniversary of Grant and Vicky's wedding. I have to hand it to Vicky; her weddings in the Jensen Buchanan era were quite spectacular.

Calm down, Josie ...