Franko

A real find has turned up on YouTube! When Joan Rivers attempted to prank call Victoria Principal.

Fred Silverman seemed to think that expanded daytime shows would solve everything. Another World ... the proposed expansion to Days ... don't forget, the short-lived David Letterman Show started at 90 minutes. I wonder what he thought when Today expanded.

Well, I guess it's a little better than having all five leave at once ... Vern: Last episode: Thursday, July 23, 1992 Brian: Last episode: Monday, Aug. 17, 1992 Ginger: Last episode: Monday, Aug. 17, 1992 Tanner: Last episode: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1992 Molly: Last episode: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1992 (Assuming I read the Daytime Royalty summaries right.)

Can I just say that I'm delighted that we have not one, but three extensive recaps of the Scofield invasion, with the consensus being that Tanner and Molly were just plain awful? (Luckily for DOOL fans, the next teen scene of Carrie/Austin/Sami/Lucas was much more successful.) Also, am I the only one who sees a little Timothee Chalamet in young Michael Easton?

And within DYNASTY itself ... Dominique Deveraux, Sable Colby and Caress Morell. I also forgot Angelica Nero (DALLAS). In later years, Abby on KNOTS LANDING also had some Alexis-ish characteristics (I'm thinking in particular of becoming a tycoon, associating with dangerous men and remarrying about every other year).

Thanks! I thought it was Lemay, but wasn't 100 percent sure. I had considered NBC on the grounds that they hadn't had much luck with the 3:30 p.m. slot (Bright Promise, Return to Peyton Place, How to Survive a Marriage).

I'm sure we've determined this a million times before, but I forgot -- who wanted the hour expansion? NBC? P&G? Rauch? Lemay? All of the above? Half of the parties?

Something else I love about the 30th anniversary episode ... the ending with Bette Midler's rendition of "In My Life," followed by Steve/John proudly walking through the soundstage. That clearly had to be a classy retort to the then-recent very ending to Santa Barbara, with Paul Rauch putting out his cigar on the soundstage.

The old Who's Who in Salem page had a pretty juicy rundown of the Pine Haven storyline. One again courtesy of @JAS0N47, from the page for Vivian: With Victor's help, Vivian avoided going to prison (for burying Carly alive); she blamed the herbs for her actions. Instead, Vivian was sent to Pine Haven Sanitarium for a psychiatric evaluation. What was to be a simple one-week stay prolonged into four months. Vivian was informed that she would be permanently committed to Pine Haven. While exploring the sanitarium, Vivian witnessed Kate Roberts visit one of the patients. After Kate left, Vivian was curious to see who the patient was. The name on the room's door said "Laura Horton." Vivian was quite amused that a "partridge family clone" could be institutionalized and wanted to know why Kate was so interested in her. Needing help (not to mention sane company), Vivian ordered Ivan to get a job as an orderly at Pine Haven. As time progressed, Vivian learned that the catatonic Laura knew a secret concerning Kate's past, and that she despised Kate. Vivian was determined to figure out the secret. While eavesdropping on conversations between Dr. Anne Goldberg, who ran Pine Haven, and her assistant Nurse Jackson, Vivian learned that they kept their patients over-medicated in order to bilk their families out of thousands of dollars. Knowing this, Vivian had Ivan withhold Laura's medication. Little by little, Laura was able to move and even say a word or two. When Vivian put an issue of Bella on Laura's lap, which featured an article about Kate, Laura tore it to shreds. This certainly confirmed her hatred for Kate. For New Year's Eve, Laura's daughter Jennifer decided to take her mother back to Salem for a party at the Penthouse Grill. Laura had shown signs of improvement, and Jennifer believed that being around her family would help Laura. Jen's plans worried Vivian; Kate would be at the Penthouse Grill, and there was no telling what Laura would do. So, Vivian decided to come along as well. She noticed that Anne Goldberg had quite a crush on Ivan, and encouraged him to seduce her. This way, she would be able to leave the sanitarium unnoticed. Once in Salem, Vivian attended the party at the Penthouse Grill dressed as a man and kept a watchful eye on Laura. Laura, in turn, kept a hateful eye on Kate. Not only Kate, but others noticed Laura's malicious looks toward Kate. Luckily, Laura was still too drugged to be able to move out of her chair. Funnily, while keeping an eye on Laura, Vivian was asked to dance by another woman! Once back in Pine Haven, Vivian's scheme was unmasked. Nurse Jackson caught Vivian and Ivan in Laura's room. Anne promptly had Ivan taken away by some burly guards, pumped large doses of medication into Laura, and had Vivian moved to the high-security Sector H of the sanitarium. Soon after, a lobotomy was ordered for Vivian. Vivian's head was shaved and was centimeters away from having a needle probe into her brain when the lights in the operating room went out. When the lights came back on, Vivian was gone. Ivan and Laura, who was now able to walk, had rescued her in the dark. In the meantime, they had to escape a fire that had broken out in the sanitarium. Ivan escaped; but before Vivian and Laura could, they were encountered by Anne Goldberg and Nurse Jackson. With the words, "You know Jackson, you're beginning to...piss me off!", Vivian smacked Nurse Jackson; Nurse Jackson retaliated. Although Jackson almost had Vivian, Laura knocked the evil nurse out by smashing a glass bottle on her head. She then proceeded to roll a gurney against Anne Goldberg, who also fell unconscious. Through Vivian's ingenuity, she and Laura escaped to safety using a drainage pipe. Vivian and Laura surprised Ivan when they broke into the Alamain mansion; Ivan had become a helpless drunk after the bodies of two women were found in the remains of Pine Haven. Once everything was cleared up, Vivian told Laura that their presence would have to remain a secret until the right time. Finally, the right time came. When Kate was put on the stand at the Curtis Brown murder trial, Laura walked in and halted the proceedings. Everyone was delighted to see her, but couldn't believe Vivian had been responsible for saving Laura's life. Vivian warned Bo that something big was about to happen. Indeed, as the trial resumed, Laura dropped the bombshell: Curtis had been married to Kate.

Sorry to be answering a bunch of posts at once. I was at work. If Wayne had hung around until at least 1995, they could have chem tested Roman and Laura. Here's how I remember it: the Hayes left unhappily in '84. They spent the year doing theater and what not. In '85, Susan joined Y&R. For whatever reason, DAYS brought Doug back in '86. I dunno, maybe for the contrast of Hope's happy relationship with her dad vs. Bo's rocky relationship with Victor? Bill Hayes lasted maybe a year? Anyway, Doug's gone, then Julie returns in '90. She's seeking revenge on Victor (for making Hope unhappy?). This eventually plays out and Julie goes onto being the town hostess before reuniting with Doug as her exit storyline in '93. From there on out, it's pretty much been happily every after for them. My go-to for Tracy as Carrie is that promo that aired after One Stormy Night. "(to John) I came back to tell you how much I hate you." Uh ... why? Talk about needless drama. I'm positive "Shane," a fellow soap actress, is supposed to be Jane Eliot. I'll concede that she could also be a composite character, but once I found out that Deidre and Jane were (are?) friends, it seemed too good to not be true. A few other notes about the television milestone, Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story -- the timeline seems to be off. I remember a scene taking place in 1987 where Deidre and Wayne are shooting a scene as Marlena and Roman. For whatever reason -- maybe to avoid confusing the non-soap-watching audience*? -- Drake isn't in the movie. *Then again, if you're watching a movie about Deidre Hall, I'm going to assume you also watch soaps. I'm now wondering if the secretary had a typo, or refused to describe Dee as "bodacious." Aw, man, what a missed opportunity. Like an age-flipped Exorcist, if Chris resented Regan.

Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story (a title that just gets funnier with repetition) was the ABC Sunday Night Movie on Dec. 10, 1995. It lost to both Journey (airing as the Hallmark Hall of Fame on CBS) and Eddie Murphy's The Distinguished Gentleman, airing on NBC. As an adult, I now realize who Connie Ray's "Shane" was supposed to be. Speaking of Shane (Donovan), it seems like DAYS was working out a lot of kinks from 1990-95. @carolineg mentioned this, but it bears repeating: the actors from the '80s supercouples kept leaving (and if you want to extend it, Matthew Ashford in '93 and Melissa Reeves in '95 -- yes, I know there were extenuating circumstances), plus you had actors hired that didn't work out (I think it was mentioned on this thread that Lynn Herring was supposed to be paired with Shane before Lisanne ended up entrenched in the Lawrence/Carly/Bo/Alamains stuff), actors returning that didn't work out (Wayne, but also Susan Seaforth Hayes, who admitted to not wanting to do other love stories, which made it harder for Julie to be viable) and a significant recast that ultimately didn't go the distance (Robert Kelker-Kelly as Bo). Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story (you have to say the full title for full effect) is on YouTube, BTW. If I didn't already have lots of other things to watch, it could be a fun SON live-watch experience.

That's another factor I hadn't considered ... Sami would have stayed in Salem?

That may explain some of the rationale for bringing back Hope/Kristian Alfonso in 1994, if they assumed they were going to lose not one, but three heroines. In the proposed soaps thread, there was mention of Marlena gaining a brassy actress friend by the name of P.T. Barnum and getting involved with a dysfunctional, Trumpesque (in those days when his public image was flamboyant and "charming") father and son pair. Terry Lester would have just been free from ATWT .... Not sure who could have played the son or P.T.

I remember reading in some book (I want to say it was "Soaps, A Pictorial History") that as early as circa '83, Dee's contract allowed for guaranteed prime time appearances (or at least payoffs if it didn't happen). Can't say I blame Dee for wanting to try her luck ... I mean, look at what was going on with Susan Lucci in particular. This also reminds me that we never did find out if any names were seriously bandied about for MANHATTAN LIVES, the Marlena in NYC spinoff.

Dee might not have had a series anymore (Our House was cancelled in '88), but she did make some memorable guest appearances, like as Tim Curry's wife on Wiseguy, or Ian Buchanan's professional and personal victim on Columbo. @JAS0N47 with the receipts!

Yup, @carolineg, the '84 island story included original recipe Roman's death. And if I'm not mistaken, that island was reused for the 1988 storyline involving Stefano's return and the tease over whether or not Marlena was alive. Did the 1997 jungle story take place in a landlocked country or was it on yet another island?

L.A., September 1974: Nothing unusual with KNXT (CBS) and KNBC's lineups. KABC and KEYT (Santa Barbara), however, deviated significantly. 11:00 The Girl in My Life (where Password would be) 11:30 $10,000 Pyramid (where Split Second would be) 12:00 Password (where AMC would be) 12:30 Split Second (where Let's Make a Deal would be) 1:00 All My Children (where Newlywed Game would be) 1:30 Let's Make a Deal (where Girl in My Life would be) 2:00 Newlywed Game (where GH would be) 2:30 One Life to Live (in its right slot) 3:00 General Hospital (where Pyramid would be)

@Titus Andronicus's link reminds me ... someone at DAYS must have had a fetish for islands. We had everyone stranded following the plane crash right after the Princess Gina storyline, then Tropical Temptation the year after, and of course, Melaswen.

I love that ad, even if (to the casual viewer) it makes Marlena sound vengeful, maybe a little like Alexis Colby.

Okay, found the date (but not yet the clip) for Philip's performance. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001. Two days later, Chloe and Brady sang from The Sound of Music. Oh, and if this wasn't enough earnest singing, the teen characters apparently also sang "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." Lest we forget, they were all in Puerto Rico ostensibly for a class trip on ecosystems.

Agreed. I kinda wish Isabella would have just kept counseling the entire Black/Brady family. Can you imagine the interactions with Sami? Revisiting "Tropical Temptation" ... at the time, I really liked how in addition to Shawn/Belle/Philip/Chloe/Mimi/Jan, there were also side characters like Jason (the class d-bag), Susan (a bigger girl), Kevin (the first sexy nerd I'd ever seen on TV?) and Mr. Woods (who had a hip lecture -- but still a lecture -- about seemingly everything). In hindsight, yeah, they were definitely going for a TNBC thing embedded in their soap opera. Not sure how I'd feel about revisiting it.

While trying to pinpoint a date for Philip's musical number, I also looked up Isabella's appearances. Looks like I blended two together: her ghost counseled Eric in 2000 and Brady in 2002. For Brady, it wasn't about he and Marlena, it was about his grief over losing Isabella and fearing losing Chloe, who had leukemia.

This was the weekend cliffhanger for Friday, Nov. 3-Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 (thanks, as usual, to @JAS0N47's site). I remember seeing it live, so I either was sick or we had a couple days off from school. Brady's pointless hate for Marlena was not at all popular. I was convinced the Gay Zorro cape would be ripped open during the fight. Zenon: The Zequel premiered in January 2001, so it's quite possible that that's where Kirsten was while these episodes were being shot/Belle was in the hospital. One more anecdote from school: we were getting ready to watch a video in class and the TV was turned to NBC. Belle appeared on screen and one boy went, "Zenon?"

I remember it as "I Need You" (by Leann Rimes). I want to say Philip sang and played it (by himself?) while on the "Tropical Temptation" island, so that would be in the summer of '01. Maybe I'll be able to find that clip ...

It was the era I first got into DAYS, so I have rose-colored glasses on the whole, but even I can admit it wasn't great. Found the rampage (it's unlisted):