Franko

I'm guessing 1986. And I remember that anniversary episode, too. That was the first time I'd seen footage of the nursery accident and the waterfront stalking.

Thanks! I should note that by 1990, the crowd at a Quartermaine party was easier to weave through.

Alan makes it to the top of the stairs and there's a whole bunch of happy maids.

Speaking of that, who all can we name? 1. Random socialite. 2. Amy 3. Stella 4. Tommy Hardy 5. Jeremy 6. ? (Diana?) 7. Howard Lansing 8. Luke 9. Ruby (note Mitch and Susan throwing discretion to the wind) 10. Bobbie 11. Jessie and Dan 12. Audrey and Steve 13. Claudia and Bryan 14. Laura and Scotty 15. Tracy and her champagne

They couldn't do that sort of thing two years prior and I'm not sure they can do it now, 38 years later.

Marlena Laird directed that episode, right? I love Alan caught in the throng of well-wishers and drunk Tracy. "And you know what, for the good name of Quartermaine," indeed. My second favorite moment is Bobbie apparently not liking getting brushed off.

One exhibition of deluded thinking deserves another:

I've always thought of Robin as a little bit Bette Davis-ish.

As far as I'm concerned, that was a hallmark of Passions. Glacial-slow storytelling that usually went nowhere in the end. And I never missed an episode. With nearly 20 years hindsight, though, I'm questioning why I was ever supposed to root for Theresa.

Gotcha. For a minute I wondered if there was the danger of a wardrobe malfunction.

What was funny about Frank jogging? Did DHK look weird while doing so? Was he obviously not going far?

That Dru introduction is so charming.

Robin left OLTL in February 2000 and joined Passions in October 2000. I was surprised to see Hecuba was a recurring character for two years. My memories have her petering out fairly quickly. That said -- and this tells you all you need to know about the type of soap viewer I was in those days -- I have a vivid memory of treating Hecuba splitting Luis & Sheridan's "love noodle" as an OMG, I've got the vapors moment. The love noodle, by the way, was from pasta served at a Harmony restaurant. If a couple ate from each end and made it to the middle without the noodle splitting, they were going to be together.

I don't just need Andy to be out (of whatever influence or social cred he had/has), I need him to get the memo already!

Over on the AMC thread, vetsoapfan rightly praised Denise Alexander's ability to do emotional scenes. With that in mind ...

I think it comes down to SB having such a strong identity. At its best, the show wasn't trying to be idiosyncratic, eccentric and a little outrageous. It just was and that's what people respond to.

Believe it or not, The Doctors' cancellation inspired a sketch on Late Night with David Letterman. (Runs until 9:40) And the conclusion:

Still searching for exact air dates for Alice, but I stumbled across two clips I'd never seen. The first is of Tony, Liza, Greg and Jenny hanging out, close to the accident (and just over three months before Marcy started on Santa Barbara): The second is Liza letting Tony know that it's Jenny, not Greg, who got in the accident (mid-August, apparently): Oh, and now I've found Alice's first day (Monday, September 24 -- Marcy started on SB on Friday, September 28)

Oh, you just *know* Adam and Bruno will be doing lots of staged flirting.

Good to know. Has Retro gotten to the 90-minute episode yet?

saynotoursoap, from July 2010: "In March 1976, The Doctors aired a highly publicized 90 minute special in which Gerald Gordon, immensely popular as the mercurial Dr. Nick Bellini, raced back to Madison to save the life of Althea after she tumbled off a ladder and crashed through a plate glass window. The following year, with Marland as writer, the serial expanded to one hour for its anniversary episode, in which Jada Rowland joined the cast as Carolee. The anniversary episode also debuted the new opening title sequence of cast drawings and re-orchestrated theme music. None of it succeeded. The Doctors continued to lose ground to The Guiding Light, making a major ratings comeback on CBS." Later that month: "Ratings for The Doctors held just fine until ATWT expanded to an hour, and the Dobsons took over Guiding Light. The time changes at CBS and NBC caused the ratings for all of NBC's soaps to fall, with Days and The Doctors taking the hardest hit initially. The drop in ratings really wasn't reflective of the writing." From August 2011: NBC did plan to expand The Doctors to an hour. In 1974, Another World was the highest rated soap on NBC, and Paul Rauch could sell snowcones to Eskimoes, so AW was given the first trial 1 hour episode for its anniversary in May 1974. It was the highest rated episode of any soap opera that week, so plans were quickly made to expand the series permanently. Days of our Lives was the #2 soap on NBC and was also given a 1 hour trial episode which aired in November 1974. Once again, it scored very well in the ratings, even higher than normal episodes. That led to its planned expansion shortly afterward. However, by the time Days expanded, The Doctors was beginning to slip in the ratings. The Pollocks were leaving, and the stories had become repetitive and not as fulfilling. NBC held off for a while with its possible expansion and finally, in late 1975, the network decided to produce an expanded trial episode for The Doctors. Margaret DePriest pulled out all the stops for the 90 minute special that aired in March 1976. Fan favorite Althea plunged headfirst through a plate-glass window in a very well performed stunt. Rushed to Hope Memorial with bleeding on her brain, Matt Powers sent for Althea's former husband Nick Bellini. TD fans had been waiting impatiently for a year and a half for actor Gerald Gordon's return. Despite heavy promotion and giving the audience a tense, exciting episode, the ratings failed to budge. NBC gave the show one more chance the following year. For its 14th anniversary episode, there was a special hour-long episode penned by Doug Marland. Again, the storyline was very dramatic, as Ann Larimer prepared to marry Steve Aldrich just as Carolee escaped from the private sanitarium and made her way back to Madison. The series also debuted re-orchestrated theme music and the Y&R style logo. Unfortunately, the ratings were the usual middle of the pack numbers instead of a significant bump. At that point, NBC abandoned the idea of expansion altogether. It really would not have made sense, because once ATWT expanded to an hour in December 1975, Days suddenly saw its ratings dipping, too. Before that, The Doctors may have stood a chance, but by 1977, NBC was well on its way to losing its once powerhouse schedule.

I want to say the anecdote about Steve Fletcher's renaming is in the One Life to Live trivia book. Why was Nina a servant for the Chandlers? Was it some sort of humbling myself to give my life purpose sort of thing, or was she on the outs with Palmer? And while we're at it, did Benny and Phoebe have a falling out?

Was NBC or Colgate-Palmolive responsible for the creative merry-go-round? Six executive producers ... eleven writing teams in seven years!

I never would have guessed she had that singing voice. The Christmas episode from 1974 always made me think she sounded like Carol Kane.

Interesting. I'm sure NBC preferred VW as Rachel and Justine (it matches the "OMG, the leading lady gets to be nuts" factor of Deidre and Marlena's possession), but now I wish Christine Jones had returned.