Broderick

I agree that it's a "soft cancellation", and it was more-or-less announced publicly back in 2021, when the show received a 2-year licensing agreement, rather than the 1-year licensing agreement that had been in effect since 2014. Ken Corday, based on his comments in 2021, knew exactly what was in store. "Network television reaches a certain audience but not necessarily the same audience that streaming platforms reach," said Corday in 2021, "and I think Peacock is doing quite well. It's flourishing at a time when network television may not be flourishing. The show is doing very well on Peacock, and I see the future of Days of our Lives in the decades that will come will be more of a streaming appointment than a network appointment. However, it's important that people watch network television. It's less expensive to subscribe to, and advertisers need network viewers." Reading between the lines, NBC basically told Corday in 2021, "We're going to license the show for two years this time. But here's the deal -- if your ratings are still in the toilet by the summer of 2022, we plan to cut our losses by taking the six months worth of garbage that you've already taped for Season 58 and dump the mess onto Peacock, where not a blooming soul will ever see it. And for your remaining six months beyond that, you better get your Guiding Light/Peapack shaky-cam ready, because we're slicing your budget down to about 30 cents per episode, and after THAT six months, you're finished, buddy. Nice doing business with you." Corday likely said, "Please don't embarrass me publicly", to which NBC responded, "Don't worry, we'll have Mark Lazarus give a meaningless word-salad statement such as 'moving Days to Peacock is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement with viewers'. Which is a nice way of saying that you're cancelled." To which Corday likely responded, "But that statement doesn't MEAN anything", and NBC said, "What it MEANS is that we're dumping the sht you've already taped to Peacock, but we'll dress it up by having Mark Lazarus say, 'this move enables us to build the show's loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers', which means we're planning to replace you with some lame news show, or maybe something stupid like, 'The Chew'."

I like the very beginning of the series, too. It's slow as Christmas, and some of the scenes can drag on forever. But it's also VERY atmospheric, with doors blowing open and dead leaves scattering across the floor, windows suddenly flying open and curtains whipping around in the wind, lots of thunder and lightning, lots of exterior shots of Collinwood, the cliffs, the sea, and the Old House. Once the ghoulies begin to arrive, it's certainly more bizarre, but also it becomes sort of frustrating, as they burn through their stories too quickly and too slipshod sometimes.

I'll agree. I wasn't a big fan of Ashley Bashioum (by any stretch of the imagination), but she had a unique quality about her for sure, as did Tricia Cast and Vicky Rowell, and probably to a lesser extent David Tom. (In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Victoria Rowell's presence on the show helped tremendously to offset the void created by the absence of Eileen Davidson and Terry Lester.)

Say what you want about Brenda Dickson, and we all have our opinions (lol), but she certainly turned in some "unique" performances that made her character unorthodox. Eileen Davidson and Terry Lester were also presenting their own characters somewhat outside the mold of "traditional" soap opera fare -- without the bizarre antics associated with Miss Dickson. Losing Dickson, Davidson & Lester in 1987, 1988, and 1989 certainly deprived the show of three unconventional characters. The recasts were more "normalized" and (in my opinion) weakened the show to a certain extent. Now obviously the general public responded positively to the changes, as the show went to #1 and stayed there for 30+ years. But I always found that period to be a bit rocky from a casting standpoint, and the overemphasis on Cricket didn't help matters at all.

Maybe not. But it struck me as silly, because her storyline was so fantastically divorced from the realities of the disease she supposedly had. While most people suffering from AIDS in the real world were concerned about their CD4 counts, viral loads, and opportunistic infections, Jessica just breezed around glamorously marrying one patriarch, and then having everyone step aside graciously so she could be reunited with the father of her Precious Little Child. Once she'd completed all the items on her to-do list, she lay down and died without any signs of thrush-mouth, Kaposi sarcoma, or AIDS wasting. It seemed to be nothing more than another "human interest" story for Cricket, without any of the agony we'd all seen associated with the real virus that had killed our friends.

Well, it's actually Emily rather than Molly, and yes, she's a pretty innocent-acting girl. But she's unhinged mentally, which makes it all kind of pathetic.

I've often wondered that. At the time, Miss Eileen claimed she was leaving to try her hand at primetime (which made sense, considering she'd been in a couple of movies), and she did land a primetime show ("Broken Badges")(?), which failed after a few episodes. Then it was on to Santa Barbara and Days of Our Lives. But yeah, I always wondered if hadn't been for all that Cricket/Jessica nonsense, if she could've been convinced to stay. Everyone's role was diminished on Y&R during that period, and all the characters were obliged to pay constant homage to Cricket.

When I re-watch these old shows from the mid-to-late 1980s, I find Cricket even more annoying than I did when the shows initially aired. I believed at the time that her "reign of terror" would be short-lived, and it was just something we had to tolerate for a couple of years. Now in hindsight, we know that it went on & on & on (even costing us Terry Lester eventually), and that makes it harder to suffer through in a repeat watching.

Janice evidently had to re-tape Mary Grover's scenes. This press release with "Mary Grover as Leslie" is floating around in the week prior to the show's on-air debut. I did check fairly thoroughly to see if I could find anything about when Janice Lynde stepped in, but no success there. _________________ I found The Innocent Years bible scrap from Bill Bell's script archive (regarding the "Camden brothers") that was posted here on the board back in 2020. The older brother was actually BROCK CAMDEN (not Russell Camden), age 25, an intern. He would be "dating ALLISON, but has an eye for JAN". His younger brother, BRAD CAMDEN, was a 16 year-old student. These two boys, Brock & Brad Camden, were later repurposed in the projections into JIM HENDERSON and RUSSELL HENDERSON. However, Jim Henderson's name was changed to Mark Henderson by the time he hit the airwaves. Russell Henderson was changed to a non-character, lol. From a practical standpoint, it appears that Brock Camden's character evolved into Snapper Foster, and Brad Camden was repurposed into Greg Foster, as neither Snapper nor Greg existed in the initial outline that featured Brock Camden and Brad Camden. By the time the show premiered, Snapper Foster was dating Sally McGuire, but had an eye for Chris Brooks. The character we came to know as Chris Brooks was described as "Jan -- age 23, more bland, less attractive than [her sister] Liz". The "Liz" character had been in Europe for two years at school, and had a bunch of issues with her father, who had been dead for two years. "Liz" seemed to develop into Lauralee Brooks (who'd been in Europe in college for several years and later discovered Stuart Brooks wasn't her biological father, which led to a bunch of daddy issues), and also into Jill Foster (who'd been abandoned by her father Bill Foster). "Liz" was projected to "drink too much at times, a girl in search of a father image, little relationship between mother and daughter in the past two years, always in search of things out of reach". "Liz" would become pregnant, but not know who the baby's father was. Brock Camden would marry her, to give her baby a father. (This story thread seems to have evolved into Snapper Foster impregnating Sally McGuire with Chuckie, but marrying Jan/Chris Brooks. Pierre, of course, would marry the pregnant Sally McGuire, giving Snapper's child the name Charles Pierre Roulland.) There was to be a couple named "Phillip & Allison". Allison was 41 and was a mother, and Bill Bell had written some notes about wishing "Bette Davis was available". Phillip and Allison had been married for ten years, and Bell seemed to write one draft in which Phillip was still alive, and another draft in which Phillip had died and left a trust fund for Allison's daughters. (The Allison character seemed to have traits that would later manifest in Jennifer Brooks, Regina Henderson, and Kay Chancellor.) The guy who posted the bible scraps here had also seen the scripts for the first 8 episodes. He said the title page on Episodes #1 - #5 identified the show as The Young and Restless Years. Sally McGuire's line of dialogue in Episode #1 just before the opening credits was typed as "How awful to be stuck in a place like Genoa City during our young and restless years." Bill Bell had taken a red pen, marked through it, and revised it to "Kind of a drag, isn't it, being stuck in a place like Genoa City. God, I feel so restless." He said Episodes #1 - #5 all occurred on the same day, with Episode #6 starting a new day. Beginning with Episode #6, the title page was The Young and the Restless. Jill first appeared in Episode #2 and Greg in Episode #7. He said the Fosters were mysteriously identified as "the Larsons" in Episode #7. Chris Brooks referred to Liz Foster as "Mrs. Larson", and the scenes were described as occurring in the "Larson living room". By Episode #8, the Larsons had consistently become the Fosters.

Yep, I believe in the bible scraps that were posted here, "Russell Camden" was a prototype of the character that ultimately developed into Snapper Foster, and then the Russell name was attached to the younger son of Bruce & Regina Henderson.

That's just a typo in the news release. The cast list that went out a week before the premiere had "Mary Grover as Leslie". We know the part of Leslie was awarded to Janice Lynde, who appeared in the very first episode. But it's evident that Mary Grover was signed at some point (earlier) for Leslie. According to the bible scraps that were posted here, the "big storyline projection" for Regina Henderson involved her sleeping with a high school boy and then having a car accident which resulted in the boy's death. I believe most of Regina's personality traits (and some of her storyline material) were transferred to Kay Chancellor, rendering Regina pretty much obsolete.

lol ... not sure what happened there! I know that Mary Grover was a star of some Broadway musicals, but she doesn't quite have the vulnerability we associate with Leslie.

New CBS Serial Set for Spring Launch November 1972 A new half-hour daytime drama series, titled The Innocent Years, is planned for presentation in the spring of 1973 on CBS. The Innocent Years will be produced by Corday Productions, in association with Screen Gems. "The Innocent Years will be set in a mid-American city," said William J. Bell, who created the new serial, "and it will emphasize more the man-woman relationship than the life and death crisis situations used as the prime emotional force in many daytime dramas." ________________________________________ New Name for Planned CBS Soap January 1973 The Young and Restless Years is a new CBS soap soon to hit the airwaves. Not much is being told about it yet, but here's a clue: the original title was The Innocent Years. We can guess that title was considered too tame for the projected goings-on. Four new shows are premiering on television this week: The Bobby Darin Show, Here We Go Again, A Touch of Grace, and The Vin Scully Show. Waiting in the wings are Barnaby Jones, Escape, The Tuesday Night Movie, and The Young and Restless Years. _______________________________________ New Soap Opera Starts Monday March, 1973 Man-woman chemistry, young people, and music blend to form the dramatic elements of a new CBS daytime serial, The Young and the Restless, scheduled to premiere Monday. Genoa City, a mythical community with a population of 250,000 and located in upper mid-America, will be the home of the series. The program's story will revolve around two of its resident families. One family is headed by Stuart Brooks (publisher of the local newspaper) and his wife Jennifer. They have four daughters -- Leslie, 25, an aspiring concert pianist; Lauralee, 21, presently away at school; Chris, 19; and Peggy, 16. The second family is made up of Bruce Henderson, a medical doctor, his wife Regina, and their two sons, Jim, 24, and Russell, 17. An integral part of this family are Bruce's sister, Liz Foster, and her three children: "Snapper", 24, a medical student; Greg, 20, a law student; and Jill, 18. Entering the lives of these two families in the premiere broadcast of the CBS serial will be Brad Eliot, a mysterious but self-confident and well-educated young man. After leaving Chicago, Brad's car and all his personal belongings are stolen. He hitches a ride on a truck which takes him to Genoa City and into the life of newspaperman Stuart Brooks, who hires him as a copy boy. While alone at the newspaper office, Brad sees his own picture coming through in a wire photo story announcing that 'Dr. Brad Eliot burned beyond recognition in car accident and identified through a few personal belongings.' He decides to remain "dead" and not to reveal his past to his new friends in Genoa City. The Young and the Restless will star (in alphabetical order): Robert Clary as Pierre Robert Colbert as Stuart Lee Crawford as Sally McGuire, a waitress at Pierre's Brenda Dickson as Jill William Gray Espy as Snapper Dorothy Green as Jennifer Mary Grover as Leslie Tom Hallick as Brad James Houghton as Greg Julianna McCarthy as Liz Pamela Peters as Peggy Trish Stewart as Leslie Additional regular cast members will be named as the program progresses. The series' producer is John Conboy, who most recently produced the CBS daytime serial Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. William J. Bell created the show and also serves as head writer -- a capacity he fills for the serial Days of Our Lives. Alternating as directors are Herbert Kenwith and William Glen. [I never realized they'd made it QUITE this far with the "rejected" titles of the show, publishing them as the official title. I also never realized how "Mary Grover as Leslie" was hanging out there a week before the show hit the airwaves. Funny that Bruce, Regina, Jim, and Russell are given priority over the Fosters, but none of them was cast at that point, one of them had a name change from Jim to Mark, and the other boy bit the dust before he hatched from the shell.]

Oh yes, that was a big deal at the time. It was kinda confusing to me, as I'd never heard of Dorothy McGuire before, but obviously I've seen plenty of her films now. (If I remember right, it was always made clear that Dorothy McGuire had only signed on for a "limited engagement".)

Thanks so much!!

Ashland doesn't sound very dead. lol.

I always saw that as a pretty sad waste of K.T. Stevens. Like Miss Barbara Stanwyck, she was never an exceptionally versatile, captivating actress, but she was one of the few "leftover" actresses of Hollywood's "Golden Age" who was still working. It seemed a shame to stick her with such a one-dimensional character, and then have her leap to her death, just to facilitate a terribly DULL trial, that dragged on forever, where we already knew the outcome. ("Lorie goes free!! Saints be praised!! The old crone wasn't able to frame her!!) Vanessa would've been more entertaining if she'd been more than a plot device. (During this same time period, Henry Slesar at "Edge of Night" was having great fun with Kim Hunter -- another leftover from the golden age who was reduced to soap work.) Bell just never seemed to TRY very hard with Vanessa, keeping her strictly a domineering old villain, and then using her death to drag-out a pretty dull story involving a pretty played-out heroine.

I believe Victoria Rowell was perceptive enough to realize a young woman's Dru's age likely wouldn't call an imposing 75 year-old woman by her first name. The others were just barking out the (stupid) dialogue given them by ignorant writers. Tracey Bregman also seemed to tailor hers a little bit, with the occasional "Kay" thrown in, because like Victoria Rowell, she'd been around a while, understood her character extremely well, and probably thought, "If these writers want me to call Mrs. Chancellor by her first name, at least I'll use her *society* name, so I won't sound identical to Kevin Fisher and Amber."

Thanks! I forgot Cricket, Phillip III, and Danny! They all called her "Mrs. Chancellor". Nina Webster added her own unique voice and opted for "Old Lady Chancellor".

I'd say 1980. Seems like it was shortly after Deborah Adair took over for Bond Gideon as Jill (which was in the late summer of 1980). Seems like some of Terry Lester's initial scenes were with Deborah Adair, in which Jill encouraged Jack to be less of a playboy and more of a young executive (which was an assignment John Abbott gave her). Seems like by Christmas of 1980, Jill was sort of attracted to Jack, but didn't want to dismiss her chances of landing John Abbott, who controlled the money.

Yes, and Stuart Brooks -- who was the same age as Kay Thurston -- was always "Mrs. Chancellor", lol.

Oh yeah, for sure. Most of Miss Dickson's references to "Kay" in the late 1970s were when she and Derek and plotting and scheming behind Kay's back. "Derek, we have to find a way to get some of Kay's money for ourselves!"

Back in the day, Genoa City didn't have that small-town vibe where everyone was on a first-name basis with one another. Jeanne Cooper's character was known as "Mrs. Chancellor" to 99% of the cast; only her husband, Phillip was on a first name basis with her, and he called her "Kay". The closing credits also referenced her as "Kay Chancellor". Her son Brock called her "Duchess" or "Mother", but when he spoke of her to another character she was, "my mother Kay Chancellor." I guess the next character to get on a first-name basis with her eventually was Jill Foster, when they became rivals and enemies. Brenda Dickson's Jill also called her "Kay", as that's what Phillip had called her. Kay's second husband Derek usually called her "Kay" and occasionally "Katherine". About 1980, Kay acquired a British suitor named Douglas Austin who tried to be stiffly formal, and he always called her, "my dear Kath'rine." To Victor Newman, she was "Mrs. Thurston" to her face. If he spoke of her behind her back, she was "Kaychancellor", all in one word in one breath. Nikki got on a first-name basis with her in 1981 and called her "Katherine" which was pretty jarring. Not sure if that was Melody Thomas's choice as an actress, or if that's what Bill Bell and Kay Alden wrote for her. In 1982, we acquired Earl and Allison Bancroft, who had known Kay in college. They called her "Kay". The same year, Jerry Douglas, Terry Lester, and Eileen Davidson began interacting with her, and to them she was "Mrs. Chancellor." Behind her back, they referenced her usually as "Kay Chancellor". John Abbott eventually became first-name-basis, and he called her Katherine or Kay interchangeably. Dina Mergeron arrived in about 1983, and she called her "Kay". Brent Davis soon followed, and he called her "Kay". Jess Walton took over the role of Jill in about 1987, and she was 100% "Katherine", while her predecessors Brenda Dickson and Deborah Adair had been all "Kay". (That was another jarring instance.) Kay then became the stepmother of Danny Romalotti and Gina, and they entered the first-name realm, also as "Katherine". From there, it began seeping across the whole cast. Their father, Rex Sterling, alternated between "Katherine" and "Kay". Ashley Bashioum's character (Mackenzie Browning) who met Mrs. Chancellor in 1999 in a homeless shelter called her "Kay" and then "Grandma Kay". Elizabeth Harrower's character in 2003 opted for "Kay", as Elizabeth Harrower had been a writer on the show and knew that she'd always been Kay. Then the new writers came along who didn't much know the show's history, and they had everyone calling her "Katherine". It was sort of absurd that people like Nicholas and Victoria, Kevin Fisher, Neil Winters, Paul Williams and others were suddenly on a first-name basis with her, but that's what happens when you lose your history. Sorry! More than you wanted to know!

Thanks so much, French Fan!

Yes, those: For whom did Kay develop an unnatural attachment? Joann Curtis Who was Earl Bancroft's wife? Allison Who was spiking Kay's medicine with liquor? Jill Why did Bill Foster return to his family? Dying of lung cancer. Who pushed Kay off the wagon in revenge for Phillip's death? Jill What serious health problem did Traci's preoccupation with weight lead to? Bulimia -- I'll also accept heart problems caused by diet pill addiction. lol.