Franko

I can agree with that. Not to mention Christopher's dad turning out to not be J.R. That actually did happen with King Galen. Or maybe he was just faking it completely. Again, why couldn't this be happening with people we cared about?

I love the desperation in the tagline ABC used in early '86. "It's not just drama, it's Dynasty." CBS used something similar circa 1989: "When was the last time you visited Dallas?" Not to keep comparing Dynasty and Dallas, but it would be like if it turned out J.R. wasn't actually shot, he just had a perfectly-timed stomach cramp right as that gun went off. (See also, J.R. apparently shooting his mirror, not himself in 1991.)

I wonder, though, if Y&R's momentum could have been hindered if ABC dared to place AMC directly against it one more time? Imagine, if you will ... ABC -- AMC at 12:30, LOV at 1:30, OLTL at 2, GH at 3, EON at 4. CBS -- Y&R at 12:30, ATWT at 1:30, CAP at 2:30, GL at 3 NBC -- SFT at 12:30, DOOL at 1, AW at 2

No, this was several years later. I want to say that both Henry Simmons and the guy who played Sergei were in it.

Speaking of AW promos, I keep hoping the clip (from 1999?) of the male cast getting down will return. It's too much of a hoot not to cherish. Also, I feel like the "NBC Daytime Update" campaign, which was apparently exclusive to AW, didn't do the show any favors. It might have worked for an always-something-going-on kind of show, like that era of GH or DOOL.

Feb. 29-March 4, 1988, on GH -- The fallout from Robert and Duke returning Anna to safety. Will Anna survive? Does Anna want Robert, as Duke comes to believe? Will Duke be able to break free from the mob? Also, is Frisco alive?

Rewatching the lead-up to Luke & Jennifer's non-wedding in 1980, I was struck by how affected TG sounded when Luke's blackmailing Frank. I can't decide if he was parodying George Gaynes or trying to match him.

I mean, where we're standing now, at least 50 ABC stations aren't airing Ryan's Hope. More than 40 aren't airing Loving.

Bumping this thread, which will likely become pretty active in a couple weeks from now. I was also thinking about how fall 1991 should be significant. That was when not one, but four, ultimately long-running syndicated weekday talk shows joined a field that already included Phil, Sally, Oprah, Geraldo, Regis & Kathie Lee and Joan Rivers. The newcomers were Montel, Maury, Jenny and Jerry.

If Dennis had said no, would Esther have continued down the NBC Mystery Movie line and approached Peter Falk?

I imagine that if Bell took Y&R and B&B to NBC, than AW would have been cancelled and Days would have moved to 2, followed by Santa Barbara. (And 12 years ahead of reality, NBC would have had an all West Coast-produced soap lineup.) As long as I'm speculating, suppose that AW became the third soap (not only that, but the third P&G soap) to switch networks. Imagine, if you will ... CBS -- Capitol at 12:30, AW at 1, ATWT at 2 (fulfilling Irna's dream of a World-verse 23 years later) and GL at 3. ABC -- RH at 12, LOV at 12:30, AMC at 1, OLTL at 2 and GH at 3. NBC -- Y&R at 12:30, B&B at 1:30, DOOL at 2 and SB at 3. And, what the hell, as long as I'm fan-fictioning, Capitol eventually gets succeeded by Doug Marland's The Soul Survivors.

One other option, although clearances would likely be a tremendous issue, is having Capitol in the 12 p.m. slot. The problem is that unlike ABC and NBC, CBS traditionally always left a half-hour available to the affiliates. So, really, Capitol's conclusion was a fait accompli.

I can dig it. Agreed. I'm guessing that someone with the show figured that John Ross was the best tool for humanizing J.R., thus most of their interactions were as doting father and son. There's nothing wrong with that, of course (and Bobby and Christopher had a similar dynamic), but it does limit the dramatic possibilities.

I'd love to know if anyone else was considered for Peter. Something that I think may have slightly hurt reaction to the storyline was that it aired around the same time that Atkins' older woman-younger man movie, A Night in Heaven, came out. It's like, why am I seeing the same story twice?

With thanks, as always, to JASON47's site ... Friday, Dec. 12, 1986 -- Marlena "dies" when the house explodes. Friday, Dec. 19, 1986 --Marlena's alive and on a tropical island! Monday, April 20, 1987 -- Bo & Hope sail away. Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24, 1987 -- Marlena "dies" when her plane goes down.

Nothing really spectacular on GH. The initial Duke and the mob/Burt Ramsey is Mr. Big storyline wouldn't conclude for another two months. There was also Alan's feigned death/Edward tries to get the Quartermaines' money back from Sean storyline and the setup for Lucy eventually being framed for murder.

Thank you. My apologies if I'm pulling the thread too far into the talk direction, but the LA Times' pre-airing article had some interesting insight into early Geraldo! "Rivera said that his style will more resemble newsman Ted Koppel’s on Nightline than the cozy studio approach of Winfrey or Phil Donahue. Using news footage and occasional on-location shooting, Rivera wants things hot, controversial, visual. Subjects of the first week of shows: the handicapped and their families; Marla Hanson, the New York model whose face was slashed with a razor; high-tech dating; the medical procedure of using fetal material to treat Parkinson’s disease and its implications for the abortion issue, and 'AIDS Assassins,' about carriers of the HIV virus who do not inform their sex partners. 'It should be considered a felonious assault, or at least attempted murder,' Rivera said." I'm wondering if it was easy to grab several ABC stations as affiliates thanks to Geraldo's many years on 20/20, even if he had already been off that show for about two years by September 1987. Now back to our regularly-scheduled soap operas ...

I've started doing some preliminary research for when Geraldo! debuted on Sept. 7, 1987. First of all, the national debut was considerably low (the Los Angeles Times reported only 60 stations for the premiere, while the New York Times said it was about 90) -- I've yet to confirm if the show initially aired in Philadelphia. Second, most of the stations I've seen so far have been ABC affiliates, which will give us something interesting to watch with Ryan's Hope and Loving.

I'm sure we all know this, but just in case, Oprah's syndicated debut was on Monday, Sept. 8. She premiered on 120 stations. ETA: According to a pre-debut article (Kay Gardella, New York Daily News), at least 25% of those stations aired Oprah opposite Donahue. Also, according to Oprah herself, the show would be airing on 137 stations (maybe she picked up more in January?).

Speaking of characters who've lost their fanbases, Roman's got to be high on that list.

Monday, Feb. 17, 1986, on GH -- Terry's wedding stroll-serenade.

Not sure about lost viewers, but the 1988 writers strike lasted from March 7-August 7, 1988. I'd love to know when the first post-strike material was being written or started airing. Speaking of the '88 strike and GH, it's pretty clear that someone rented Fatal Attraction, because entire plot elements from that movie were repeated for Olivia/Duke/Anna.

This one's more soap-adjacent, but Lonette McKee once came to my family's Christmas. She was friends with my great-aunt and they reconnected during my college years. I think this was the early days (or continuation?) of Lonette's actors workshop, which was apparently going to be Michigan based. At one point, my great-aunt was going to be among the acting coaches. By the following summer, the friendship had ended, apparently for good. What I got out of the experience was my picture with Lonette and later, one bit of secondhand gossip from my bitter great-aunt. It has to do with a male movie star supposedly being gay. Here's a hopefully pretty big hint: my reaction was "Whoa." I'm not going to lie, my conversation with my great-aunt went something like this: "Oh, auntie, that's just awful. I'm so sorry for you. ... Did Lonette spill anymore tea?"

I want to say that Monday, Dec. 26, was the day that Greg stopped Jenny and Tony's wedding. Sometime that week, Liza spilled the beans to Jenny about Tad having slept with her and Marian. Luke & Laura left Port Charles together on Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Jessica's a real class act.