Franko

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Unfortunately for NBC that shake up didn't flow through the lineup as ABC had done previously.

It makes me wonder what would have happened if Reilly wrote for Days in the late '80s. Would the rising tide effect have happened with Another World and Santa Barbara? Would we have gotten a variant of Aremid or Passions instead of Generations, or as the Santa Barbara replacement?

(There's other implications, which I'll save for the classic Days thread.)

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

Also noticed Santa Barbara clearanced dropped during the Fall. I don't recall any new talk shows that launched Fall 1992. When did NBC announce Santa Barbara end?

"'Santa Barbara' is 1 of 2 daytime casualties at NBC" (Sept. 30, 1992, L.A. Times)

Acknowledging the unprofitable economics of its daytime programs, NBC will turn some time periods over to its affiliates as part of a major overhaul of its schedule.

The move, the second time in a year that NBC has cut its daytime programming, is the strongest evidence yet of the network’s retrenchment efforts in the face of stiffer competition from syndication, cable and other networks.

NBC will drop its struggling afternoon soap opera “Santa Barbara” on Jan. 15. It will also cancel its medical advice show, “Doctor Dean.” Both shows ranked near the bottom in daytime ratings.

In the last several years, NBC has cut back a third of its daytime programming, to four hours from six hours. The decision to drop “Santa Barbara” was prompted last week when John Rohrbeck, president of NBC-TV’s stations division, refused to continue carrying the soap opera after key affiliates in Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis dropped the show, sources said.

Affiliates will be handed back the 11 to 11:30 a.m. time period to fill in with syndicated shows. Network executives are still pondering how to fill the “Santa Barbara” 3 to 4 p.m. slot. Among the replacement shows apparently under consideration are an expanded version of “Classic Concentration,” a youth-oriented game show, and a talk show hosted by Sassy magazine editor Jane Pratt.

The cancellations underscore the rapidly changing economics of daytime television, which only a few years ago could account for up to 70% of a network’s profit.

Traditionally, daytime programs cost much less than prime-time shows to produce and attracted healthy advertising because of their success in reaching a largely female audience.

But in recent years, the daytime marketplace has become increasingly crowded, with syndicated shows pulling viewers away from the weaker network shows.

“NBC has been hurting in the daytime race,” said Bill Croasedale, president of national broadcasting at the Los Angeles-based ad agency Western Media. “They have been running a really poor third against ABC and CBS.”

NBC’s problems have been compounded by the fact that impatient affiliates, facing their own financial pressures, are no longer willing to stick with ratings losers when they can acquire more profitable syndicated shows on their own.

NBC, which had been the prime-time ratings leader for five years before being bumped into second place by CBS this last season, is now retrenching from several ambitious expansion plans launched in recent years.

Network staffers have been buzzing for several weeks about an “October surprise” that could entail further cutbacks and might include the long-anticipated “strategic” transaction hinted at by NBC’s parent, General Electric.

As for syndicated talk shows that debuted in fall 1992, there were Vicki Lawrence and Jane Whitney's shows. Jane Pratt was actually between shows at the time of the above article. She went from FOX stations to Lifetime, then was done by 1993. (If Jane Pratt had stayed, it's interesting to consider what that would have meant for Ricki Lake.)

2 hours ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

And then the ATWT writers gave him a crude joke to tell about Lila that Cass NEVER would have said about any woman EVER. 

I'm going to hate myself for asking, but what was it?

Speaking of Carmen Duncan, I was just thinking about how well she and Victoria Wyndham played this scene.

I just realized that the 30th anniversary of Winter Heat nearly went by unacknowledged. In retrospect, it is kind of a pity that Days didn't get one or two more primetime specials in the '90s. Maybe they shouldn't have aired alongside the Soap Opera Digest Awards?

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I was a big fan of the fallout between Anna and Olivia over Duke and the Jerome’s. Anna losing her baby due to Olivia, and Anna going after her.

I was going to snark about Olivia's storyline borrowing so much from Fatal Attraction, and while there was some obvious cribbing (killing Robin's pet, kidnapping her from school), it wasn't as drawn out as I remembered.

Maybe it's a fool's errand, maybe I'm being a buttinsky, but I'm creating this thread as an all-purpose space to post about anything related to soap operas in general, or related to more than one show, performer, etc. I'm not interested in fighting, I'll just say that it's been frustrating to watch threads that have been cultivated and expanded upon over the years devolve and sometimes lose their purpose.

I'll start by mentioning one of my favorite things, catching a soap clip "in the wild." Like how the common room TV at the start of Cocoon just happened to be tuned to DOOL. Or how Meryl Streep flipped past SFT (specially Michael Corbett as Warren) in Heartburn.

Can we declare Andre's/The Medicine Man on The Doctors as a fern bar? We know that Ryan's Bar wouldn't be.

1 hour ago, Sapounopera said:

The Melrose Place aesthetics. Even NY soaps got a California vibe.

That is, when they weren't trying to emulate ER or NYPD Blue.

Marlena in the pit was the Friday cliffhanger for Oct. 30, 1992. That storyline lasted through Friday, Dec. 11. Well, technically Marlena was rescued on the 9th, but there was an aftermath to deal with.

Now I'm curious about the men who were considered for Garrett before Ken Howard.

What a fun idea for a thread! 

ERICA KANE (AMC)

Highest Point: Leading the "An American Beauty" campaign for Sensuelle.

Lowest Point: The Woman of the Year meltdown.

3 hours ago, Khan said:

Among my "wish list" for Doug's memorial: Kristian Alfonso (of course), Marty Davich, Don Frabotta (ex-Dave), Gloria Loring (ex-Liz) and Patty Weaver (ex-Trish). 

Great choices! It might also be nice to get someone playing Dougie as an adult, paying his respects to the father he never knew. 

5 minutes ago, NothinButAttitude said:

I really hope DAYS goes all out for Bill and brings back all the proper characters to bid him farewell. 

Don Frabotta as Dave, for starters.

One more from the pre-Days days.

Damn. I almost wanted to believe it would never happen. Much love to Susan during this trying time.

11 hours ago, SoapDope said:

If they had moved Lucy & Mitch to Knots after they married, they would have probably had something gross like Diana Fairgate having an affair with Mitch and catfighting with Lucy. ( Claudia and Charlene's piss poor acting would have stunk things up). McCloskey wasn't that great of an actor either. He always sounded like he was reciting Shakespeare. 

Not too long ago, I wondered what would have happened if they moved Mitch to Knots Landing starting in 1982-83, after he had divorced Lucy (and as Gary and Val were divorcing). Ultimately, they didn't need another young man, since they had Chip (and it's not like Kenny was getting a plethora of airtime), but it was still a thought I had.

6 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Maybe Lucy should have been brought in for limited runs or at important story beats.

The message could have been that sometimes there isn't a happy ending and too much damage had been inflicted on Lucy for her to be a regular part of Gary and Val's lives.

A bittersweet moment.

Because for her to be forgotten/ignored was amiss.

There actually was at least one scene which all but acknowledged that anything Lucy had with at least Val was gone. Karen was worrying about being estranged from one of her kids and asked Val about the last time she talked with Lucy. Val admitted it was so long ago, she couldn't remember.

Just seeing the news now. I tell you, it's eerie ... I mean, here we are, having been talking about her (and she's certainly not a talk about once and move on kind of person, that's for sure).

In case anyone was just dying to know, the reruns of Full House and Home Improvement involved D.J. getting her learner's permit and Tim being visited by an old college buddy (Christopher McDonald).

6 hours ago, carolineg said:

 

@FrankoWhat story was the 1990 ad promoting?  I can't remember this at all.

5 hours ago, beebs said:

The 1990 ad is probably just promoting a one-off Halloween episode, as I don't think it fits into any ongoing stories from that period that I can recall.

It was promoting the storyline concerning shenanigans during the making of a horror movie in Salem. Normally, this would be a C plot on its own (it involved Carrie and Sarah), but it also somehow tied into the larger picture of Lawrence's arrival.

Personally, I'll take the "It Will Excite You" ads over the "Trying out some new software" ones.

3 minutes ago, Khan said:

About the only story that Bridget Dobson has told that I believe to be 100% accurate is why her parents initially were reluctant to let her write for GH.  Dobson says the Hursleys wouldn't let her do it, because they thought she was a "party girl" and that her sister, Deborah, was more responsible than she.  That's probably true. 

Of course, when they finally gave her the chance and she (Bridget) proved she had inherited Frank and Doris' storytelling abilities, they probably were beside themselves.  Hence, their (alleged) reluctance to watch any of her and her husband's work.

Awful sad that Frank and Doris may or may not have been able to look past their allegedly longstanding and permanent writeoff of Bridget's worth.

The 1982 cast photo. Forty-seven people. I'll bow down to anyone who can name all the actors or characters.

I'm wondering if the preparation for and aftermath of the hour expansion had something to do with the number of less celebrated Dobsons era characters. Perhaps there was a "introduce them and we'll see if they'll end up mattering" approach. Of course, the problem is when you wind up with bloated ensembles, which happened to quite a few shows by the '80s. I'll never forget seeing that MASSIVE 1982 All My Children cast picture.