Broderick

Yeah, I doubt Bell was seriously planning to isolate Kay Chancellor in a long-term lesbian love story. I believe his goal was to find an edgy, unexpected method to showcase that Kay Chancellor was a very lonely, very controlling, and very determined woman -- which would result in her getting Derek Thurston drunk and popping a wedding ring on his finger. Without the Joann storyline, that sudden, impulsive gesture might've seen somewhat out of character. But after watching Kay's manipulation of Joann, we could see Kay's manipulation of Derek coming from a mile away -- buying him a salon, marrying him, bribing him into living with her for a year without revealing to Jill that it was platonic, etc.

Lela Swift moved from being a secretary to being a director circa 1950, but not sure if she ever directed a soap until 1966, when she began directing Dark Shadows. (She directed about 50% of the Dark Shadows episodes.)

Y&R also had Betty Rothenberg from about 1985 till about 2000. (You could usually tell from the very first scene if Kathryn Foster had directed a particular episode, because her episodes were typically prettier and more visually appealing than any of the other directors' work. Y&R REALLY missed the boat by not naming Kathryn Foster as executive producer, in my opinion.)

Seems like we SAW plenty of Brenda Dickson during 1977, but it was mostly about the Foster drama of Bill dying, and everyone's conflicting feelings about Snapper's having allegedly pulled the plug on Bill, and then the revelation that Liz had pulled the plug. David Mallory's purpose seemed to be "grounding" Jill, making her nicer and more sympathetic again, as she'd gotten pretty wound-up and bitter during the waning months of the Kay Chancellor "see you in court" storyline. That way, it had more of a dramatic impact when the Derek Thurston triangle came to fruition finally. (My own belief was that it was hard to find a suitable Derek -- and they never really did find one, in my opinion -- and Bell evidently decided that a "breather" was in order, to show how LONELY Kay Chancellor was in the Joann storyline and how Jill could go from wicked (Phillip Chancellor's court battles) to sweet (David Mallory) in a heartbeat -- and all of these character traits ultimately came into play in the Derek story.)

I'm enjoying the Y&R scripts and the monthly summaries so much! Thanks, fellows!

I'd have to agree that the lack of "family structure" made SFT difficult to follow for the casual viewer (like me). Whatever summer I broke my leg in the late 1970s, I saw about a month's worth of it, and it was bewildering to understand who the characters were. During that time, Travis & Liza Sentell were the "action and adventure centerpieces" of the show, and were apt to be seen sporting around on a location shot in a beautiful Cadillac Eldorado convertible. It was easy to gather that the old man (Stu) was Liza's grandfather, and it was also easy to absorb that Travis Sentell had a dead mother named for a piece of steak (Mignon?) whose drawling brother (Martin) was married to the old-timey main star played by Mary Stuart. But in a solid month of watching, that's about all that I could gather from it. There was an old guy named Ted who seemed to barely know the others, and there was a character named Stephanie who also wandered in and out with no evident connection. Liza had a mother, but she mostly interacted with the strangers instead of the core characters. There were a lot of other "loose ends" -- Renata, Sunny, etal. I realize that a new viewer who wanted to understand the show could've asked someone who all those people were, but for a channel surfer, there was a definite confusion and disjointedness about it that didn't tend to generate much interest. Now the same thing was true of "Edge of Night" (no real family structure), but it was EASY to pick-up on, because everyone was clearly a detective, an attorney, a DA, or a criminal, and with that format, it didn't matter whether they had a family unit or not.

Thanks for tweaking my script, Jack Smith! lol. To me, Julianna's "pipe dream" lines to Deborah Adair are iconic Y&R moments, right up there with Nikki's frequent "I'll get it, Miguel!", Snapper Foster's, "I've got something real heavy to lay on you, man," Kay Chancellor's regular pleas to Derek Thurston, "Oh dear sweet God, Jerrick!", Dina Mergeron's confidence that she was "making some REAL INROADS with John Abbott", and everyone's line when they barged into Victor's office, "Connie was away from her desk." All of these were regularly quoted around my house during the most unlikely of circumstances. lol.

Folks, thank you both so much for posting these gems!! I make fun of David Hasselhoff a lot, because he was such a "non-Snapper" as compared with his predecessor in the role. But this storyline really endeared him to me, how he was willing to lose his medical career and throw himself under the bus for his mama. All he had to do was tell the truth, but he wouldn't. (Guess he didn't wanna Lay Anything Too Heavy on Liz right then, as she was a Very Special Lady in his life.) The Kay Chancellor/Joann Curtis storyline was extremely edgy, daring, and bold for February of 1977. Most impressive is how natural it is, so deeply rooted in the personalities of the two characters -- both hurt terribly by the men in their lives, both vulnerable, one of the characters being young and insecure and needy, the other being older, wiser, more world-weary, wealthy, unhappy and extremely lonely. You can't help notice the numerous built-in "escape hatches" inherent in the tale: Joann could suddenly reconcile with Jack or could suddenly decide to attend college full-time out of town; Kay could suddenly become smitten with a handsome young hair stylist; Brock could suddenly swoop in and announce that the relationship is stifling and unhealthy for both women and that the Lord wants them both to walk in a more enlightened pathway. Gotta say it, kudos to Bill Bell for having the courage and foresight to map this out so cleverly.

Julianna McCarthy would be a rich lady if she got a quarter every time Liz had to say, "But Jill, Andy Richards LOVES you. Are you gonna throw all of that away, chasin' after some PIPE DREAM with Mister Abbott?"

Deborah Adair definitely put her own spin on the character. Wasn't there a period of time in 1982 when Deborah Adair's Jill went CAMPING & FISHING with Andy Richards? Can you imagine Brenda Dickson (complete with hats, plumes, veils, and heaving bosom) catching a trout? lol. Deborah Adair certainly brought her down to earth, made her more accessible, while still retaining some of the underlying bitchiness.

As we can see from the opening credits of this episode, Bill Bell clearly intended that "The Trials & Tribulations of Leslie & Robert" would be his "A-List storyline" for years and years to come. Leslie and Robert were given the Pole Position in the opening credits, as the show's most important characters. When the Lawrence storyline ended, Leslie was shuffled off the canvas almost immediately. And it happened over the course of one or two episodes. She had a scene with Stuart Brooks where she said, "Dad! Maestro has organized a concert tour for me." Stuart said, "Why Les, that's just wonderful!" And Leslie responded, "Yes, it is, Dad. Oh, and by the way, I'm leaving in five minutes. Love ya. See ya later! Bye." And she was out the door and gone. We can discern from this episode that Y&R had changed a lot during 1982. The show had repositioned itself entirely. The storylines that appealed to the audience by late 1982 and early 1983 were (1) the goings-on in the Abbott house, (2) the goings-on with Nikki and Her Men, and (3) -- although it isn't featured in this particular episode -- the adventures of young detectives Paul and Andy. Plus there was just the right amount of "crossover" in these three distinct storylines, with Paul being the brother of Patty Abbott and also regularly involving himself in Victor's activities, Kay Chancellor running Nikki's life and also interfering in the marriage of John & Jill Abbott, Lauren tempting Paul and taunting Traci, Amy Lewis being Traci's friend and Paul's right-hand woman, etc. ALL of this was set-up extremely well, and it shows why Y&R was winning the 1983 Emmy and moving higher in the ratings. The situation with Leslie, Robert, and Claire was just simply superfluous to the "real storylines" of Y&R. It was disjointed and didn't integrate well within the framework of the show. Claire's coma seemed hokey and old-fashioned, and this grouping of characters seemed to be "leftovers" from a different time and place. It just wasn't working. The Brooks family had outlived their usefulness. The only thing truly WORKING for the Brooks family was what you see here -- Liz Foster Brooks trying to steer Jill in the right direction (and trying to keep Kay Chancellor sober when Jill started dropping bottles of vodka at Kay's house). Even though it clearly wasn't his original plan, Bill Bell did the only thing that could work -- dropped all of the Brooks girls one by one off the canvas and retained Liz, who still served a useful purpose in the storyline.

Deborah, even when she's being bitchy, seems far more *genuine* than Brenda Dickson. With Brenda (in the 1980s), it was just such a camp festival. I could buy Brenda Dickson as the heartless vixen who divorced John and took him to the cleaners, just as I bought Deborah as the vulnerable girl who married him and seemed mostly sincere with her intentions. The actress switch occurred at just the right time for the story to work.

Couldn't agree more. If they can't afford to put up decent sets or to make them look presentable, they need to turn down that garish lighting, which is only highlighting their cheapness.

Deborah Adair makes her scenes interesting. She's not as "obvious" and "over the top" as Brenda Dickson, and not as comical as Jess Walton. She really created a 100% believable Jill, albeit a Jill who was far more down to earth than the other Jills.

Ha! Yep, in Y&R's first decade, if you got bored with a particular scene, you could entertain yourself by getting closer to the TV, squinting, and seeing if you could discern anything about the (darkened) sets. I remember doing that a lot with the Chancellor set ("Looks like she might have a couple of orange Cheshire cats over there. What's that a painting of?") and the Prentiss lakehouse set ("Is that a SHIP over there on that nautical-themed table in the corner?") lol.

"Edge" figured out they could erect a fake brick wall, shove a table in front of it with a red-and-white-checkered table cloth and create the illusion of a busy diner for a total price of about $5. For the next scene, they'd take down the fake brick wall, slap up a midnight blue backdrop, put a white table cloth on the table, upgrade the serving utensils, and create a fine dining establishment for $6.50. Every bit of it works, because they'd tape in tight shots and have a few extras clomp past between the camera and the table. Y&R is too lazy (or too set in their ways) to even attempt anything out of the box.

These old synopses, breakdowns, and scripts are the things I most enjoy seeing!

With everyone in his immediate family now dead -- Naomi, Jeremiah, Abigale, Barnabas, and Sarah -- the old patriarch, Joshua Collins, becomes a bit kinder, more compassionate, and more introspective. He adopts young Daniel and makes the boy his official son & heir. The present-day Collins family (Elizabeth, Roger, Carolyn, & David) are direct descendants of Daniel Collins.

Thanks so much!! These "look into the past" posts are some of my favorites! (I see Kay is heading toward her fixation on JoAnne Curtis on Y&R, and those "now-you-see-them-now-you-don't" characters Nadine, Ansel and Raven are back in full force on Edge of Night.)

I think Anthony George had probably moved on to a new job by the time Jeremiah Collins popped out of the ground. It's hard to say fifty years after the fact what the schedules/availability of the actors might've been; all we can do is try to piece it together. As you know, Anthony George's Burke Devlin character was last seen leaving for a business trip to Brazil in mid-October of 1967. That appeared to be Anthony George's final episode. Five or six weeks passed with no sign that Anthony George was still employed by Dark Shadows. Then in late November of 1967, Victoria Winters went back in time to 1795, and lo and behold, there was Anthony George, dressed like a lounge lizard, calling himself Jeremiah Collins, and building a new house for the Collins family. Three weeks later, Jeremiah Collins was dead, and Anthony George was gone forever. My GUESS is that Anthony George left the show "for good" in October of 1967, and the Burke Devlin character was killed off. But Anthony George had previously played Jeremiah at the famous "claret cup costume party" hosted by Barnabas Collins in in the Old House. I expect Dan Curtis placed a frantic phone call to Anthony George and said, "Hey, sport, can you come back in late November and early December to play Jeremiah Collins for two or three weeks, since the audience already identifies you with the Jeremiah character?" Anthony George must've said, "Yeah, I'll do it, but I want to get in and out of there pretty fast, because I've got another job. Can't stick around too long this time, Dan!" (You'll notice that the Jeremiah Collins storyline is VERY RUSHED, to say the least. It goes at 90 miles per hour. He's like, "Hi, Josette. I'm Jeremiah. I think I'm in love with you! Wow, look, we've both got the mark of the Devil on our wrists! A duel? Sure, Barnabas, I'll fight you in a duel! Oh, gosh, I'm dying. Good-bye, everyone!" It appears that particular section of the 1795 storyline was handled extremely quickly to work around Anthony George's schedule and get him on out the door as quickly as possible, since he evidently already had another job. You'll see this a LOT on Dark Shadows. I'm sure you probably thought Thayer David was gone for good after Matthew Morgan fell over dead in 1966. But a solid year later, Thayer David reappeared out of nowhere as Ben Stokes. Was the actor suddenly available again, or was he somehow kept on contract for a solid YEAR with no appearances? Who knows. At one point, it appears that John Karlen had left the show forever, and Willie Loomis is shipped off to the looney bin. But six months later, after the 1795 sequence is completed, John Karlen returns to his role (Willie Loomis), just completely out of the blue. Barnabas Collins suddenly announces one day, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Willie Loomis came back. Let's go see if he's ready to return. In fact, let's go right this very second. Hi, Willie. Welcome back1" After all these years, it's hard to know what was going on behind the scenes that led to these strange comings/goings, but you'll see PLENTY of it throughout the series.

Maybe. I'm not sure. I believe a certain portion of the public saw Search for Tomorrow as a "write-off" as early as 1980. That's based on my own personal experience, not a scientific survey, lol. I remember being a kid in study hall in the spring of 1980 and overhearing some much older high school kids discussing the impending demise of Search for Tomorrow. They were all sitting around a table whispering (while they were SUPPOSED to be studying), and I was in a desk nearby. One of the older kids asked, "What's been happening on Love of Life? I haven't been watching lately because of basketball practice and softball practice." (Love of Life came on late in the afternoon -- after school -- and some of the older kids watched it in sort of a half-assed manner.) The response, of course, was that Love of Life had fatally bitten the dust back in February. NOOOOOO, WHYYYY? One of the more "television savvy" kids explained that Y&R had expanded to an hour in early February, forcing Love of Life off the air. This was met with much remorse by the sporadic Love of Life viewers who weren't aware the show had been cancelled during basketball season. This led to a long conversation at the table about Search for Tomorrow's odds of survival. The older kids who were following the entire CBS line-up seemed to be aware that the new "trend" was either (a) expand to an hour or (b) get cancelled. Much discussion followed about Y&R, ATWT, and GL all being a full hour now, and Search for Tomorrow still being a half-hour show. Someone pointed out that SFT and LOL were "old shows" that had been around since the early 1950s, both were trapped in the half-hour format, and one of the two (Love of Life) had recently been given the axe. The gist of it was that everyone at the table was in agreement that Search for Tomorrow was living on borrowed time in 1980. I certainly wouldn't presume to suggest that all CBS viewers had that attitude toward SFT in 1980, but it was fairly sobering to hear eight or ten teenagers predict that the show would be gone from the CBS line-up in the next year or so. And sure enough, about two years later, it was GONE. I do think it would be safe to say that many CBS viewers probably DID see the cancellation of Love of Life as a harbinger of SFT's upcoming demise, especially with the schedule shuffling that soon followed, putting SFT in a strange, awkward slot several hours past its customary broadcast time. The message to the viewers seemed to be, "We're not too vested in this one anymore."

Interesting that Brockman was stringing along John Conboy with the idea that "Capitol" might be spared from the chopping block. I was thinking it was always a fait accompli that the Bell soap would be replacing the Conboy soap.

You're exactly right. Y&R didn't exactly have "couples" and "love scenes" like some of the shows did. What they were doing instead was flaunting everyone's "assets". They had Nikki stripping at the Bayou, Jerry Cashman working as a male prostitute (including a scene where Cash interviewed other potential male prostitutes by having them all strip down to their bikini briefs and stand in a line), many of the women doing dramatic scenes without bras, Snapper and Lucas prancing around with their shirts unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up over their biceps, Nikki and Paul butt-naked in the showers at the YMCA with a whole team of basketball players walking in. The show had always been known for having a "sensual, languid appearance", but in the early 1980s, as John Kelly Genovese noted, it was beginning to look more like t!ts and azz titillation than sensuality. By about 1983, they got back more "centered" I guess. (I'd guess it was the exit of John Conboy as executive producer and the arrival of Wes Kenney which halted so much of the sexual titillation that seemed geared toward adolescent boys and girls, and it was probably the arrival of Sally Sussman as story consultant/script editor that halted the cringe-worthy dialogue such as "you're playing mind games on me, you're doing a number on me, you're laying something real heavy on me, God I feel so out of it today.")

Ha! I expect Patty had a big handful of Russell Phillip's flowers that she was arranging in a vase, while announcing that they were "fresh-cut flowers from Mamie's garden. What a beautiful spring day it is!" The camera was likely alternating between the flowers and Lilibet's breasts. The breast & booty swiveling and flexing had gotten so flagrant in the early 1980s that one of the soap magazines finally commented on it. I can't quote the article exactly, but it said something to the effect of, "It's time for Mr. Bell and Mr. Conboy to scale back on the T&A titillation, which is causing daytime's most elegant soap to look downright cheap and tawdry." I believe the quote was from John Kelly Genovese, who during the early 1980s, wrote some fairly thought-provoking reviews of the soaps.

But remember how big the BUDGET was back then. Aaron probably was literally an Under Five in that episode. No doubt Lorie is sauntering around (braless) in a $10,000 low-cut blouse from Giorgio's of Beverly Hills. She's posing and preening and sighing heavily, displaying the expensive blouse in each long shot, and she takes the opportunity to jiggle her breasts 60 miles per hour whenever Frank Pacelli lets her know he's pulling away for a longshot to showcase the blouse as a courtesy to Giorgio's. Lilibet Stern (Patty) is smiling and pouting in another high-priced Giorgio's blouse, and Wes Kenney is making sure to get plenty of shots of her supple, perky breasts, as well. Not to be outdone, Terry Lester (Jack) probably bends over to pick up his briefcase and gives us a long, slow butt shot. Tom Ligon (Lucas) probably has on a $100 Giorgio's shirt, which he's strategically unbuttoned all the way down to his belly button. He's probably wearing a pair of tight white slacks. Frank Pacelli is likely taping Lucas from the back in several shots, so that Tom Ligon can flex his butt cheeks for us. Chris Brooks is probably having a super-expensive photoshoot at Jabot with Joe Blair, featuring about ten different outfits from Giorgio's. Joe is bending around and showing us his blue-jean clad bottom, while Chris is wiggling her perky little breasts at warp speed in each different Giorgio's ensemble. Then we're at the hospital with Chuckie and Sally. David Hasselhoff probably has on scrubs, but his shirt is open all the way down his goozle to show us his chest. Evidently, at the Chancellor house, Kay Thurston is presiding over a sparkling, shimmering dinner party for Nikki, Kevin, and Kevin's parents, including real food that's being served by Esther. Jeanne Cooper is likely decked-out in an evening gown from Giorgio's of Beverly Hills, with mores sparkling jewelry than you can shake a stick at. Melody Thomas is probably wearing a low-cut Giorgio's gown that's slightly less "showy" than Jeanne Cooper's gown, but she's making it up for it by leaning onto the table with her breasts heaving right into the champagne. Chris Holder (Kevin) is probably standing up to make a toast and flexing his butt for us during the long shot. That's just the way they all rolled back then. lol.