Broderick

If you're ever in his archives at UCLA, ask for Box 347. That's the one where it's apt to be, if by chance they have it. There should be really good stuff in that particular box.

There are definitely some copies of "The Innocent Years" bible floating around somewhere, based on what Bill Bell said in his interview with the Archive of American Television. Wish someone could find one! I'd assume the Bell family has one, unless they've donated it to a university or something. I really appreciate the notes posted above about the various working titles and the character prototypes!

About the Y&R bible, here's what Bill Bell reveals of its existence during his discussion about the initial meeting with executives from Screen Gems and CBS on a trip to New York: " I passed out the copies of the book, and as I was doing it I realized one thing --- that none of them were going to understand this. They’ll understand a nighttime show that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But here we are --- we have a 62-page book. Maybe it was 72 pages. But the first third of it told about what happens before the show even begins. The second quarter established characters and really defined the characters. And we were so diversified; it was just a fabulous group of characters. And then the final part, which was about 25 pages, told what the story would be for the next two years. Or maybe it was 30 pages. About 30. Covered two years of story. Well, I knew by watching them read it, not an expression on anyone’s face, they didn’t know what the hell they were reading. So then it was all over, and one by one, they closed their books, and they looked around at others. They were looking around at others, and then someone else would close their book. Everyone looking at the other for some look or expression, but there were no expressions …. They just don’t understand how you take these few pages and make two years out of it.”

I think the "Liz Prototype", in addition to blossoming into both Jill Foster and Sally McGuire, also has certain character traits of Lorie Brooks and Brock Reynolds inside her. The "years in Europe" is indicative of both Lorie and Brock, who had attended college in Paris. Like the "Liz prototype", Lorie was filled was "father issues", especially when learning that Stuart was not her biological dad, much as Jill was drawn to the older, more mature Phillip Chancellor, since her own father had been absent from the household for so long. The "little relationship between mother and daughter the past two years" is indicative of Lorie's tormented relationship with Jennifer Brooks upon the revelation that Jennifer hadn't been faithful to Stuart, and also defined Brock Reynolds' estrangement from Kay Chancellor following the death of Gary Reynolds. (Kay felt that Brock had always shared a special relationship with Gary Reynolds and was somewhat jealous, while Brock felt that Gary had loved him and Kay hadn't.) I really love the evolution of the title. You can see exactly where Bill Bell's mind was going there. He had a few traditional "soapy" titles that had come from his years of working with Irna Phillips: "Where Lies Our Destiny", "To Love Each Day", "The World We Live In". But he fundamentally knew that his show was going to be about a group of young people, living in a world of confusion, and finding themselves. So he started with that more superficial "The Bad and the Beautiful" to describe his young characters. Then he decided he'd rather concentrate on their "innocence" rather than their bravado, and he crafted "The Innocent Years" as his title. Then he and Lee Phillip came to the realization that young people in the early 1970s weren't really that "innocent" anymore because of the Vietnam War, the protests, and so forth. So he started switching switching to "The Young and the Innocent", then began realizing that he needed to ditch the word Innocent entirely, and find a better adjective that captured the mood of the early 1970s, which led him to "Young and RESTLESS Years", and as he reflected upon it further, he decided that YEARS needed to go out the window entirely, and he switched finally to "The Young and the Restless", a title that was the perfect compromise between "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "The Innocent Years". For a fan of the early years of the show, it's really fascinating stuff to recreate his thought process as he worked on those initial scripts.

I honestly don't remember much about Brent, or who played him. Jill had some "haphazard hit and miss" stories until she went to work for the Chancellors. If I remember right (and gosh I was a little kid back then and shouldn't have been watching), it seems like Jill wandered briefly into Gwen Sherman's orbit (prostitution and nude modeling), but Snapper bailed her out of all that.

Jeanne Cooper gave some insightful comments about her in one of her final interviews, basically saying, "She's a fine girl, a likeable girl, a competent actress who was put in an impossible position -- playing a major character on her father's show and opening herself up to so many complaints of nepotism." I just felt we saw way too much of Cricket. At my house, we used to laugh about it even before the internet came along. Whenever Cricket WASN'T directly involved in a storyline, we'd try to guess how she might ultimately take-over the storyline. During the Cassandra Rawlins story, I can remember my sister rolling her eyes and saying, "Well, I guess Cassandra will turn out to be Cricket's older sister." lol.

Oh yeah, Stephanie Williams definitely "interacted" with Amy. She was the beautiful young actress who portrayed Amy Lewis. lol. Dr. Neil Curtis, I've never read or heard much about what led to Stephanie Williams leaving the show. At the time it was happening, I thought it was a pretty bad mistake to let her go. My guess is that Bill Bell temporarily ran out of storyline ideas for her and released her from her contract. She had a haphazard "going-away" storyline of some sort --- such as Amy's dad had a heart attack in San Diego (or something), and she had to go spend time with him. (I'm a little bit vague on it at the moment.) Then as someone said above, Amy began reappearing several months later in a recurring capacity (no contract). Seems like Nathan Hastings found her working out in the gym and said, "Gosh, Amy, I didn't realize you were back in town," and she said, "Yes, I just got back", or something. It seemed that Bell was about to start working Amy back into the storyline. Then suddenly General Hospital gave Stephanie Williams a long-term contract to play the role of Simone Hardy, so any recurring work planned for her on Y&R quickly went out the window. Soon after, Drucilla was introduced.

Where on EARTH did you find this?? My guess is that the prologue features Kay Chancellor and Joann Curtis beginning a long, awkward conversation in the Allegro, then a quick cutaway scene of Ron and Nancy in her hospital room, followed by the opening titles. Act I is likely David Mallory and Liz Foster having a conversation in the Foster living room about how much David loves Jill. Then we segue into a quick "teaser" scene of Jill flirting with Derek at the Golden Comb. Commercial Break. Act II would be the longest of the hospital room scenes, featuring more of Ron and Nancy, who are now joined by Miss Simpson and Dr. Hanlin. Move to the Allegro for a few more lines of dialogue between Joann Curtis and Kay Chancellor. Commercial Break. Act III will feature the longest scene of Kay and Joann at the Allegro, followed by a segue into about 5 more lines of dialogue at the Golden Comb between Jill and Derek. Commercial Break. Act IV will feature the longest, most in-depth scene of the episode between Jill and Derek at the Golden Comb, followed by the "cliffhanger", which will be Nancy plotting to escape from the hospital room or something. Fashions provided by Giorgio's of Beverly Hills. Just my guess based on Bill Bell's "style" of writing a few VERY short scenes for each character group, and one LONG scene for each character group.

That's my feeling, Paul Raven. In late 1979, Bill Bell basically had a young recurring character (Doug Davidson's Paul) who had plenty of charisma, plenty of other career opportunities, and had no contract and no motivation to stay with the show. Meanwhile, Bell was sitting at his IBM Selectric typewriter frantically writing backstory and future storyline projections for the character's mother, father, older brother, and younger sister, all of whom would suddenly hit the airwaves in February of 1980, along with a greatly expanded storyline for the central character himself (Paul). Bill Bell and John Conboy just about HAD to have an Alternate Paul lined-up in case Doug Davidson suddenly got a film offer or a featured role in a nighttime show, or a contract with General Hospital.

I think that's a good guess (Doug Davidson). Wasn't Doug Davidson recurring (no contract) from 1978 to early 1980? Then when the show went to an hour, he was signed to a long-term contract and the rest of the Williams family were added in quick succession. I'd imagine that Bill Bell had a "back-up plan" for the Paul character, if Davidson's initial contract negotiations didn't work out, as the Williams family would've been dead-on-arrival without a viable Paul. Yeah, I believe Kay reluctantly sent some flowers, but didn't attend. Stuart and Jennifer swept in and gave the Fosters an all-expenses paid honeymoon to Arizona or Hawaii or somewhere.

I don't remember Ma Foster referring to her as ANYTHING except "Mrs. Chancellor" up until that (ridiculous) storyline circa 2003 when it was revealed that Jill had been adopted. At that point, Ma Foster inexplicably started calling her "Katherine", which I thought was utterly jarring and absurd. (But then again everything about that particular storyline was jarring & absurd, lol.) Liz might've occasionally referred to her in the mid-1980s as "Katherine" when she was FURIOUS with her about something. ("If you don't stop this drinkin', you're gonna kill yourself, Katherine, and you'll have nobody to blame but yourself!" ) Those were rare occasions though. She normally called her "Mrs. Chancellor". It's hard for me to type the word "Katherine" in regards to Jeanne Cooper's character, because to me she's "Kay Chancellor". That's all I heard everyday during my childhood in the 1970s. Phillip said "Kay" about 100 times per episode, and when the cast list rolled she was identified as "Kay" on there as well. In fact, even in the old scripts she's referred to as Kay. ("Kay picks up a cigarette and lights it. She moves toward the telephone. But before she picks up the receiver, Kay suddenly notices the photograph of Phillip on the desk. She gazes at it with love, nostalgia and sadness." That's just the way the writers treated her throughout the 1970s, and that's the way those of us who watched in the 1970s normally think of her, I guess.) A more modern example would be Lauralee Bell's character. Some newer viewers call her "Christine". I always have to pause and think, "Who on EARTH is Christine?" To me, that character is Cricket Blair. The Cricket character started popping up on a recurring basis about 1983, and became a full-time cast member in 1986. For all those years, and for several years afterward, everyone on the show called her Cricket. Nina called her Cricket, Phillip called her Cricket, all the Abbotts called her Cricket, Jill and Kay called her Cricket. When the closing credits rolled she was clearly identified as Cricket Blair. Then one day in the very late 1980s, we found out her name was really Christine, and Cricket was just a nickname. Scott Grainger started calling her Christine while batting his eyes stupidly, and then suddenly Danny Romalotti was doing it too, and then Paul was, and then Jill and Kay were, and all the Abbotts were. I guess everyone except Nina jumped on the Christine bandwagon. But to those of us who'd suffered through all that Junior Jabot mess in the middle 1980s and watched her make goo-goo eyes at Danny, and watched her deliver stern self-righteous lectures to Phillip Chancellor about alcoholism (with a smart toss of her lovely blonde hair at the conclusion of her sermon), she's just plain old Cricket and always will be. Same goes for Kay. Once you get used to a certain name, it just kind of stays with you, lol.

Yeah, the facelift was a pretty big deal. Jeanne Cooper was evidently a little bit vain about her appearance, and for YEARS she wore these rubber bands, that were fastened behind her head, which pulled her cheekbones tighter and smoothed some of the lines above her mouth. When she decided to have a facelift, and Bill Bell agreed to write it into the show, she started leaving off the rubber bands, and her face fell pretty drastically. She looked terrible, if you think wrinkles look terrible (which I don't). That was written into the script too. Jill Foster paid her a visit and said, "My God, Kay. What HAVE you done to yourself?! You look positively awful, even worse than usual, and you normally look petty terrible", etc. These scenes were done because Jeanne Cooper had been advised by her doctor that for the face-lift to be completely successful, she needed to remove all the stress and worries from her life. Likewise, Kay Chancellor went through the same process, trying to make peace with Jill Foster, but of course it didn't work. Still it was fascinating to watch. The surgery was taped. The removing of the bandages after the surgery was also taped. (They had a backup plan in case she bled a lot. If she'd bled excessively, they were going to cut the scene, wipe off the blood, rebandage her, and then "reveal" her for a second time, this time with no blood. But as it happened, she didn't bleed, and they were able to use the first take.) Her real doctor did the reveal, and the actor playing her doctor on TV said the lines of dialogue while the real doctor unbandaged her. We never saw the real doctor on camera, just the actor who played the doctor. Jeanne Cooper was an alcoholic and also a heavy smoker, like the character she played on the show. Kay Chancellor periodically stopped drinking, and then would fall off the wagon again. Jeanne Cooper was going through the same things in real life.

Same here. I credit Derek Thurston and Nikki Reed for it. Phillip always called her Kay. She generally always referred to herself as Kay. ("Yes, hello, this is Kay Chancellor. I would like to speak with the manager, please.") There's a scene from 1975 on You Tube where she refers to herself as "Katherine", but that was EXTREMELY rare. It was when Phillip presented her with the divorce papers. She said, "You come waltzing in here and say, 'Here, Katherine. Sign these papers, Katherine." She almost NEVER referred to herself as Katherine, just as Kay. In fact, in the closing credits, she was referred to as "Kay Chancellor -- Jeanne Cooper", up until about 1983, except for a brief period in the late 1970s when she was referred to in the closing credits as "Kay Chancellor Thurston -- Jeanne Cooper". That's why so many of us call her "Kay" to this day; that's all we knew her as for YEARS. The other characters in her orbit (Liz Foster, Jill, Snapper, Greg) --- they all called her "Mrs. Chancellor". After Phillip died from the car crash, Jill of course began to hate Kay's guts. That's when Brenda Dickson began referring to her as "Kay" rather than as "Mrs. Chancellor". ("I hope that I never see you again, KAY! You KILLED my husband!") Derek Thurston started out calling her "Mrs. Chancellor" when he first began doing her hair. But after she tricked him into marrying her (lol), he began calling her "Kay". After a few months, he started alternating between "Kay" and "Katherine". He was the first character that I can recall who consistently referred to her as "Katherine", although he threw in a "Kay" or two for every "Katherine". Then Nikki came along in about 1981, and she always referred to Kay as "Katherine". I don't know if it was written in the script that way, or if that's just what Melody Thomas felt comfortable saying. But Nikki always called her "Katherine". Deborah Adair's Jill Foster normally said "Kay". When Brenda Dickson returned for her second run in 1983, she said whatever she felt like saying. Sometimes she'd curl up her lips and say, "Kay." Other times she would swivel her hips, stick out her bosoms, look haughtily towards the cue cards and say, "COTH-ER-YN". This was when Brenda had begun transitioning herself into Alexis Carrington from Dynasty. Victor Newman called her "Mrs. Thurston" to her face, but when he spoke of her behind her back to Douglas Austin or Nikki Reed, he'd say, "I saw Kay Chancellor earlier today." The Abbott kids (Terry Lester's Jack and Eileen Davidson's Ashley) always referred to her as "Kay". [Kay was Ashley's godmother.] Dina Abbott Mergeron usually said "Kay". John Abbott sometimes said "Kay" and other times said "Katherine". In about 1987, Jess Walton joined the show, and she ALWAYS said "Katherine". And that's when it became pretty uniform throughout the cast. Since Jess Walton and Melody Thomas were both doing it, seemed like everyone started doing it. But even until Jeanne Cooper's death, we'd still occasionally hear Tracey Bregman's Lauren refer to her as "Kay", or Eileen Davidson's Ashley refer to her as "Kay", because both of those actresses had been around since the early 1980s, and they both knew that their characters were supposed to call her Kay.

Footage of the surgery, like a documentary.

I can remember THREE mysterious hiatuses that Jeanne Cooper had from the show during the early to mid 1980s. The first one is the one described above --- immediately after the conclusion of the Felipe Ramariez storyline, which had begun in the autumn of 1980. Her absence occurred something like April - June of 1981. She came back from her "island adventure" with Felipe, checked with Victor Newman to make sure Chancellor Industries was running smoothly, ditched Douglas, ditched Derek, then just disappeared from the canvas for what seemed like MONTHS, though maybe it was only six weeks. Then one day in the summertime, an episode of the show randomly opened with Kay Chancellor staring in the living room mirror at the lines in her face, talking aloud to herself about her drinking and smoking, her hatred of Jill, the death of Gary Reynolds, the death of Phillip Chancellor, and her divorce from Derek Thurston. She decided life would be simpler if she simply "hired" a boyfriend. So she contacted Jerry Cashman, he came by and "serviced" her, she gave him a check, and they ultimately began a relationship. I remember that scene so vividly --- the one in front of the mirror in about June of 1981 --- because she'd been missing in action for so long with no real explanation, and then she reappeared in a brand new storyline without a word about where she'd been. (I never knew if Jeanne Cooper had been in rehab, or if she'd simply taken a long vacation.) The second hiatus occurred a few months later, in the late summer of that same year (1981). Kay's storyline with Cash was in full swing. He was "servicing" Kay, she was paying him, but she was developing feelings for him. Meanwhile, Leslie Brooks was supposed to play in a concert in London for the royal wedding of Prince Charles & Diana. It was established that Leslie would be going, Lorie would be going, the Fake Lance would be going, and Stuart and Liz Brooks would be going. The only problem was that Liz didn't know what to wear. She didn't know which dress would be appropriate. Some famous designer was at the Brooks house -- seems like it was "Mister Blackwell" --- and he was showing Liz all these designer gowns, which had Liz bewildered and flustered, because she wasn't accustomed to fancy clothes. So she called Kay and asked Kay to come help her choose a dress. Mrs. Chancellor swept in and selected the dress. Lorie and Leslie began shrieking that Kay should go to London too. Kay had an invitation from the Queen or something and had about decided not to go, but since the Brooks family asked her to go, she decided she would --- provided Cash would go with her. Which turned out to be a big ordeal because she just "summoned" Cash to accompany her --- instead of asking him nicely --- which wounded his pride. I couldn't quite figure that out, since he was a prostitute after all, and they're not known for having much pride. But anyway, Kay and Cash went to London to see Leslie's concert. After the concert was over, when it was time to return to Genoa City, Kay broke the news to Cash that he would be returning ALONE, because she'd made the decision to meet with a plastic surgeon in Zurich, Switzerland about possibly getting a facelift. This all just came out of nowhere (the revelation that she wanted a facelift to look younger for Cash's benefit). He told her it wasn't necessary to meet with the plastic surgeon, but she insisted that she had an appointment and intended to keep it. So Cash went home to Nikki and the Bayou all alone, and we didn't see Kay Chancellor for weeks. Finally one day later in the fall, Kay came sweeping back in --- with no further mention at all of the plastic surgeon --- and the story evolved into Kay making Liz go with her to the strip club to watch Cash dance (which embarrassed Liz to death), then it turned out Cash owed a guy named Smiley some money for a gambling debt, and Kay gave Smiley her fur coat and some diamonds then called the police and reported them stolen, and Smiley and his friends stabbed Cash, and suddenly Nikki and Kay were grief-stricken best friends when Cash died. (I never had a CLUE why Jeanne Cooper had disappeared for several weeks in the mysterious "Zurich face lift" storyline. Maybe that was another quick trip to rehab; maybe it was another vacation; or maybe she was really considering having a facelift, as three years later, she finally did do it, and on the air at that.) Her third disappearance was in the summertime of either 1985 or 1986. "Due to illness, the role of Kay Chancellor is now being played by Giselle Mackenzie", the announcer said solemnly at the beginning of an episode during the Phillip Chancellor III storyline. That went on for several episodes. Giselle subbed for Jeanne Cooper and said all of Kay Chancellor's lines, but she said the lines softly and sweetly, and it didn't seem anything at all like Kay. Then suddenly Giselle announced to Brock and Esther that she needed to leave town for a while, packed her bags, left immediately, and they just shrugged and said, "Bye, Duchess. Bye, Mrs. C." And then a few weeks later, she swept back in, this time as Jeanne Cooper. (Never had a clue what happened there, but I expect she was either VERY SICK, or else that was a trip to rehab.)

That was me who suggested that perhaps Bill Bell's original intention was to kill-off Kay Chancellor, and have Phillip become involved in a triangle with Jill and Lorie. But that's only an assumption on my part. The reason I assumed it is that Bell went to the trouble of firing one actor (Jon Considine) and hiring another (Donnelly Rhodes) to get the "right" Phillip, as though Phillip was the "important" character in the storyline. Jeanne Cooper said in an interview that she was "only supposed to be around for a couple of years". From that, I drew the conclusion that when he wrote down the story projection, Bill Bell might've intended to dispose of Kay pretty quickly and keep Phillip. But by the time the whole thing started hitting the screen in late 1973 and early 1974, it was pretty clear that the Kay character, with her smoking and drinking and self-pity, was the character that the audience genuinely responded to, felt sorry for, and often hated. As for the Henderson family, I believe there were supposed to be TWO boys in the family --- Mark and Russell. Some daytime magazine had an article about how Y&R was casting the roles of "Mark and Russell Henderson, the sons of Bruce and Regina Henderson". I don't believe Russell ever made it onto the screen. As the process moved along, Bell evidently decided that he'd rather concentrate more on Jill, Brock, Phillip and Kay, and less on the Henderson family.

I don't remember Amy Lewis ever being a "random teen girl". Seems like Amy was always Traci's best friend from the time that Amy appeared, a dance and aerobics instructor (Stephanie was a dancer in real life), and the daughter of Commander Frank Lewis of the police force. She was a contract character from the get-go. Lauren didn't like Amy, because Amy knew Lauren was a heifer. Later on, Amy went to work for Paul and Andy, but at first she was a college girl teaching aerobics and helping Traci deal with the snotty Lauren.

My recollection is that Beth Maitland first appeared on-screen about 4 episodes after Eileen Davidson. (Miss Davidson debuted in #2350, so I'd say Maitland was about #2354 or #2355.) Both of their initial scenes involved graduations in the spring of 1982. John Abbott went first to collect Ashley from college. (Ashley was graduating from college in the spring of '82.) When we first saw Eileen Davidson's Ashley, she was living in her sorority house, was very bouncy, beautiful, aggressive, and straight-forward. A few episodes later, John Abbott collected Beth Maitland's Traci from boarding school. (Traci was graduating from high school in the spring of '82). Traci was all downtrodden, bashful, and indecisive. Both of the characters were clearly identified and developed from the moment we saw them. A few episodes after their initial appearances, they were both living in Genoa City with their father and served as bridesmaids in Jack and Patty's wedding.

My feeling has always been that Bill Bell originally had an entirely different "blueprint" for the Phillip/Jill storyline, and he changed his mind once he saw how pathetically engaging Jeanne Cooper's Kay Chancellor character was. It's always appeared to me that Bill Bell originally intended to kill-off Kay Chancellor, have Phillip Chancellor marry Jill, and then Lorie Brooks would become "the other woman" in Phillip's life, just as Jill had been "the other woman" while Phillip was married to Kay. But Jeanne Cooper just nailed the Kay Chancellor character from day one, and that seemed to necessitate changing the trajectory so that Phillip died in the storyline instead of Kay. (The reason I believe this is because Bell had tried on several occasions to create a middle-aged, vain, selfish female character on Y&R whom the audience would sympathize with: Jennifer Brooks and Regina Henderson both come to mind. The audience never really seemed to have much patience with Jennifer and Regina's vanity and self-absorption, but the audience immediately felt sorry for Jeanne Cooper's Kay Chancellor, and while Regina and Jennifer were soon ditched from the canvas, Kay was saved in perpetuity.) Yes, Kay and Lorie interacted sparingly on several different occasions. During the 1979 storyline when Kay "died" in the sanitarium fire, Kay secretly lived in the Foster house with Liz. Meanwhile, Jill was living in the Brooks home with Stuart, and was about to bilk Stuart out of a huge divorce settlement. Kay Chancellor called Lorie on the phone, revealed that she was alive, and instructed Lorie to tear-up the check. Kay and Lorie also interacted during the "royal wedding" storyline in the summer of 1981, although the interactions were fleeting. (Kay Chancellor and Jerry Cashman joined Stuart and Liz in London, where Lorie, Leslie and Lance were also in attendance.) There was a bit more interaction just before Lorie Brooks left the show in 1982. Lorie was becoming engaged to Victor Newman in an effort to retrieve her Prentiss Industries stock proxies from him. Nikki, who had a crush on Victor, was extremely jealous of Lorie and confided in Kay Chancellor that she was afraid Lorie Brooks was up to no good and was going to take advantage of Victor financially. When Kay learned that Lorie Brooks was in the picture, she darted her eyes from side to side, waved her jeweled talons in the air and said, "Dear God in Heaven, Nikki, I'm afraid you've met your match with Lorie Brooks!"

I saw an interview one time with Sharon Gabet, where she talked about her relationship with Henry Slesar. She said that Slesar watched the show every afternoon, and he tailored his writing to the strengths and weaknesses of the performers. If he observed a quirk or a trait in an actor that appealed to him, he worked it into the character. He obviously studied her very closely and worked her best traits into the Raven character. It also helped that he wrote Raven's "adversaries" with certain strengths, so that they often just appeared fed-up with Raven, instead of cowering in terror when she tormented them. It made her interactions with each of them more riveting and interesting than just a run-of-the-mill "vixen versus hero/heroine" scenario.

Besides playing so well off all the leading men that you mentioned, Sharon Gabet also had some incredible chemistry with Geraldine Saxon, Deborah Saxon, and April Scott.

That sounds about right. Henry Slesar seemed to be on a VERY tight timeline with Kim Hunter, in particular. I'm sure she didn't come cheaply, plus she got "star" billing ("and Kim Hunter as Nola", in the closing credits). The budget probably dictated how long she could stay on the show, and how hurriedly her storyline had to conclude. The most GLARING example involved the speediness of the Draper Scott trial, which would conclude with certain confessions from Nola Madison. In one episode Draper was indicted, in the next episode Logan broke the news to Draper that he'd been indicted, and in the next episode his trial began. Not much time for the prosecution and the defense to prepare a case for a murder trial! I was watching it a few days and scratching my head about the speediness of it all, but then realized that Kim Hunter's exit probably dictated that Draper had to be sentenced by March the whatever of 1980 so that Kim Hunter's paychecks could end.

Yes, indeed! Complete idiots. I'm sure P&G was bewildered why "Edge" wasn't performing well in the ratings, while the rest of ABC's line-up was soaring. But the problem was clearly the time slot (very low clearance in many major markets), as well as the "niche" appeal of a 1940s-style detective story with off-beat characters and twist endings. The problem was never the writer. Slesar was an expert at crafting clever tales, dropping vague hints, throwing in red herrings, keeping us guessing, and surprising us at the end. Lee Sheldon didn't just have what it takes; maybe he got slightly better once he settled in, but he was never anywhere near in the league of a Henry Slesar. I remember reading a short story by Henry Slesar when I was a kid, and being very impressed. Once I realized that he was writing "Edge", I was hooked until the day they canned him.

My recollection is that Tony Craig left on his own, fairly abruptly, and without much advance notice. I believe the actor's official story was that he was suffering from "burn out". You could sense there was some backstage scrambling and re-writing going on to explain his exit. Suddenly one day Draper was appointed to some special "crime council" in London, and the next day, during the middle of an episode he said, "Oh, and by the way, I'm leaving today. Bye!" It was just a bizarre and jarring exit for a character who'd been on daily for the past several years. (I would assume that at contract negotiation time, everyone thought Tony Craig would be re-signing for another three years, and instead he evidently said, "No thanks" at the last moment.) Terry Davis, of course, was on a different contract schedule from Tony Craig, and just because he left, that didn't mean she had to be disposed of also. Henry Slesar kept April Scott in Monticello for several more weeks (probably until Terry Davis's next 13-week contract cycle was up). Then April said, "Oh, by the way, I'm joining Draper in London. Good-bye, everyone! Here, Miles, you can have my penthouse!" And she left too. My feeling is that if she'd been written out when Tony Craig left, the show would've probably been obliged to PAY her for the remainder of her contract, so they just waited until her next 13-week "drop date", and then exercised their chance to let her go without a big pay-out. Someone else may recall more details. I was just a kid, then, but it all seemed haphazard, unplanned and sudden to me --- which always stuck-out like a sore thumb on a show that was, in most respects, so carefully plotted and scripted.

J Swift, as I'm re-watching the old episodes from 1979 to 1981, the word that keeps crossing my mind to describe Draper Scott is YUPPIE. We see Logan Swift as charming and clever; Cliff Nelson is hilariously immature and theatrical; Miles Cavanaugh is smart, sincere, and dedicated; Mike Karr is perceptive and intuitive, and provides the necessary "gravitas" to his courtroom scenes. Schuyler Whitney, when he appears later, is a suave, sophisticated, worldly young tycoon. Draper Scott provides another archetype entirely --- the fairly bland, handsome, upwardly mobile yuppie. I'd never even heard the word "yuppie" in 1980, as the word didn't become fashionable until the middle-1980s, but obviously young, climbing urban professionals were a demographic that existed in 1980 (especially in the legal profession), and Henry Slesar put all the components in place for Draper. We learned that Draper would ditch Monticello in a heartbeat, if he could secure a position with the prestigious, upscale Seward, Paxton, & Whiteside law firm in New York City, and, as we would expect, Draper throws a childish hissy fit when Margo Huntington denies him the opportunity to move. He decides to live in a trendy home in the suburban utopia of Oakdale, and when he finds out that Margo paid $35,000 to make the house more affordable to him and April, he becomes offended and says, "By God, I'm going to pay for my OWN house for MY wife!" For Draper, everything should be prep-school perfect, and when things don't fit his preconceived Ivy League whitebread notions of life, he's embarrassed by them. ("Oh, April, don't tell these people about your premonitions; they're not interested!") He's sheepishly ashamed of his father Ansel's tendency to rendezvous with attractive young starlets and wealthy widows. Raven's fondness for utilizing sex as a bargaining tool --- well, that kind of behavior is just downright EMBARRASSING to Draper. That doesn't fit into his ideal of how people should behave in the junior chamber of commerce. Yes, he could be dull as hell, but he provided a much-needed archetype on the show, and one that Slesar evidently loved writing for, because for long periods of time, Draper literally appeared in five episodes per week. Maybe not so much for what Tony Craig brought to the part, but rather for the interactions generated by the other quirky characters when they played off the Yuppie. I really feel that Henry Slesar lost some steam when his Yuppie (and by necessity of course, April) were removed from his canvas of characters.