wonderwoman1951

this was hogan shefer’s worst decision. i’d love to know if anyone with some institutional memory ever explained to him that bryant was connected by blood or marriage to virtually every ‘world turns character. as was jennifer. properly written and cast, they could have been the next generation’s umbrella couple. bryant’s connections jennifer’s connections as for kim onasch, i never heard about any issues between her and todd. however, helen wagner told me that kim often came to the set not knowing her lines.

praying that colbert’s not on vacation this week.

can’t remember where i read this, but it’s a nice example of elizbeth hubbard’s acting chops: “In the second episode, Lucinda's granddaughter, Faith, is brushing her grandmother's hair and asks why Lucinda's hair is coming out in the brush. There are so many ways that scene could have been written and played. The "soapiest" would have been for Lucinda to have a total emotional meltdown in front of Faith, followed by the requisite, and heart-rending, explanation and apology between grandmother and granddaughter. But that's not how it happened. Not even close. The drama of that scene was all in Elizabeth Hubbard's face as Lucinda struggled mightily not to let Faith see the pain and terror she was feeling, willing herself not to let go of her emotions until her granddaughter was safely out of the room. It was a powerful moment, and as the students watched, all I could hear was their breathing, punctuated by the occasional sniffle. Nothing illustrates the sorry state of daytime soap opera these days more than the fact that one must be of a certain age to remember when these kinds of moments were not so few and far between.”

don hastings, eileen fulton, and larry bryggman all did a locher room remembrance of kathryn hays. was surprised and concerned that marie masters wasn’t there.

a lot of that has to do with having the same actors in the role. much harder when there are new actors, who don’t always know their characters’ history, along with new writers who tend not to care. so while the writers may have only rarely referenced the long-standing animosity between kim and susan stewart, kathryn hays and marie masters always made sure it was there, even there was nothing explicit in the dialogue.

i’ve asked ta couple of headwriters and the answer is always “not true.”

the peter boynton interview was excellent! alan seems to do so much better in these one-on-one interviews than with a group. loved the betty rea story. just goes to show even the great ones don’t get it right every time. back in 1961, houghton mifflin turned down ‘mastering the art of french cooking’; knopf is still laughing all the way to the bank. interesting that charita bauer was still doing theater. nothing about it on her wikipedia page and ibdb lists her last broadway appearance as 1944. and never realized that doug marland continued to do theater after he became headwriter. it’s a lot to juggle. not surprised though that he created the part of tonio for peter. he really did appreciate actors. i’m always amazed at the insights soap actors bring to how fans really connect to both the shows and characters, perhaps if more of the suits had shared these insights over the years, soaps wouldn’t be in such a sorry state.

i think the fact that it was moonves who “suggested” black and stern as ‘world turns headwriters in 1996 makes that a rhetorical question. and for a little well-deserved schadenfreude: a freebie from the ny times: moonves/redstone

wasn’t sure where to post this, but here seems as good a place as any. on this day, 31 january, what’s considered the first television soap opera, irna phillips’ ‘these are my children,’ premiered on nbc and ran until 4 march.

this ny times obit mentions that. in 1980, she was cast as cricket montgomery on as the world tuns. ny times obit truth is though: she was far better known as wednesday on the addams family than ‘world turns.

exactly! i’ve always believed that money for deas was the reason behind killing off maureen. there was plenty of story for her after she found out about ed and lillian’s affair.

agreed about ‘what might have been.’ and what a reminder of what soaps had been in the past: an 8-minute uninteruppted scene — those were the days!

one of the greatest: https://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/04/50-greatest-soap-actors-24-michael.html

two words: les moonves! confirmed to me by lucy johnson, then cbs daytime vp.

decades just reappeared on my ota channels. checked the schedule and found a 2-day family binge for saturday-sunday, 14-15 january. can’t wait!

nice obit in the ny times — written by a staffer, not from a wire service. it’s a gift link, so there shouldn’t be any paywall issues. ny times obit

thanks much.

I don't think Michael would've been seen as old enough to play Scott either. Admittedly, recasting with Doug Wert de-soarsed him a little, and Carly interacted ‘swith Scott before she left in '95. But I can't picture Michael (as Scott) looking old enough to have been Lucinda's ex-lover. While I want to believe that Michael would've succeeded in any role he got, I'm glad he got to flesh out his own character. Sometimes recasts get bogged down with their previous history he’s only 7 years younger that doug wert, and given how fast and loose soaps play with age, i think it could have worked — fans are flexible that way. as for looking old enough for lucinda: well, she liked them young and i think he and liz hubbard would have sold it. and while it’s very nice for michael that he got to flesh out his own character without getting bogged down in a character’s previous history, it would have been SOO much better for the show had they found a way to connect one or both of them to the hughes.

i was in high school during his first run as ed bauer in the late 60s, and i’ve never forgotten what a huge crush i had on him. there is a scene between him and charita bauer when she’s chastising him for how he’s treated his father that is just riveting. tried to find it on youtube, but couldn’t. if anyone has the link, i’d love to see it.

one thing that always bothered me about carley and jack was that they were never connected to the hughes. so instead of a completely new character, here’s a thought: they could have michael play lisa’s son, scott eldridge, who then connects with carly, who also connects with andy dixon, which would have connected carly with the hughes family and set up a triangle involving both lisa and kim.

finally got to see the kathy hays remembrance. my favorite part was when eileen was taking about kathy giving her a place to stay when she split from her second husband and larry, thinking she was talking about lisa’s marriages said something about how many times lisa had been married. i, too, would live to hear what marie masters has to say. i met her in the mid-90s, and found her more than receptive to both fans and the soap media. so i’m wonder why she hasn’t participated — concerned that she may not be able to. eta: forgot to mention how surprised i was that when asked about memorable storylines, neither don nor larry mentioned one of my favorites — the bob-kim-susan affair that came about, in part, because of kim and john dealing with andy’s alcoholism. it was a storyline that i’ve never forgotten.

funny — two of my three worst are hunt block and roger howarth. nothing against the actors; just hated what happened to craig and paul when they took over. and hated why those recasts happened: the abcifaction of the cast after barbara bloom took over at cbs… a process that actually began in 1997 when felicia minei behr took over as exec producer and immediately replaced alison rice-taylor with susn batten as connor: my number one pick for atwt’s worst recast — ever!

i didn’t get up, but watched the pbs 90 minute wrap up for exactly those reasons. american commentators (and, i suppose, the networks) seem terrified of silence. although i was reminded of the 100th anniversary of fenway park. all the living red sox were invited and came out of the bullpen on to the field, one by one — took 20 minutes and the only sound was the crowd’s reactions — incredibly moving. would love to have been a fly on the wall for those meetings. fenway park anniversary as for the queen: i came across a couple of stories that spoke volumes about how she was able to convey what she was thinking without say a word. apparently, while meeting with donald trump, she wore a brooch that was a give from the obamas. and when prince abdulla (later king) saudi arabia (where women are not permitted to drive) was visiting the uk, the queen got behind the wheel of a land rover and took him for a drive.

some thoughts about ‘family’ and the show’s relationship to soaps. beyond seriality

that someone was fred silverman... how family finally made it to air “How one of the best shows I've ever seen on TV kinda not so immediately came to be... Three strikes and they're on Family has become a hit despite network fears that its members were "too well-dressed, too realistic and simply too good for TV" by Rowland Barber TV Guide, January 21, 1978 Those of us who regard Family as one of the most consistently fine hours on television are loath to peer into the program's clockworks to see what makes it go. We might find the illusion shattered. What if the Lawrences of Pasadena, so palpably real on the tube each week, and so decent, turned out to be -- unmasked -- just another troupe of bored and cynical actors, cleverly putting us on at show time? Blessedly, this is not so. It's been close to five years since the Lawrences were created. But on ABC, they're only in their second full season. The story of how they got there is too full of snags, happenstances and 11th-hour rescues to be believable as a script for the series. As a result, gratitude and concern are bywords among the Family family, off camera as well as on. In its struggle to make the ABC schedule, the show had three strikes against it. The network found the Lawrences, at various critical times, (1) too well-educated and too well-dressed, (2) too true-to-life for Family Viewing Time and (3) simply "too good for television." During the same period the network found three other shows out of the same shop -- Spelling-Goldberg Productions -- irresistible: S.W.A.T., Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels. The Lawrence Saga begins in the summer of 1973. The two production partners meet for dinner to kick around new-show ideas. Aaron Spelling: skinny, pipe-smoking, Texan, 50ish, onetime actor, longtime writer. Leonard Goldberg: not yet 40, handsome, muscular, up from Madison Avenue and network executive suites. Goldberg has been following the cinéma-vérité adventures of the Loud family on public television with fascination. "I'd love to see a contemporary traditional family get time on TV," he says. "I just don't buy this premise that the American family is disintegrating." Spelling agrees. Good idea. Worth investing in a pilot script. Calls for a script by some writer from outside television, who knows how to construct solid drama without resorting to shoot-'em-ups and car chases. They narrow the field to one such writer: Jay Presson Allen, a woman whose novels and screenplays they both admire. Two Weeks Later, Summer of '73. Lunch with Jay Presson Allen at a Beverly Hills restaurant. Miss Allen says yes. Turns out she is an avid television fan who has never written for the medium because nobody has ever asked her to, until now. Fall of '73. Allen turns in script, "The Best Years." The Lawrences -- parents Kate and Doug, son Willie, daughters Nancy and Buddy -- are born. Composite of two families Miss Allen knows -- one from Texas, the other from Philadelphia. Story, centering on Nancy's husband's infidelity, is set in suburb of Philadelphia. Script submitted to ABC. Verdict: dynamite! So dynamitic the network is stunned into silence, and the expected order to film a pilot episode is not issued. Spelling and Goldberg find out that the programming people have decided to go with another project, "The Chadwick Family," starring Fred MacMurray. The Chadwicks were more "typical" and therefore more "lovable" than the Lawrences because they didn't play tennis, or dress so conservatively, or talk like adults about such recondite things as how little girls change anatomically at puberty. Fall of '74. Michael Eisner, old compadre of Len Goldberg's, takes over ABC's prime-time series programming. Goldberg nudges him about "Best Years." Eisner rereads it, still thinks it's dynamite. Will put it in briefcase to take on upcoming trip to New York headquarters. On New York agenda is the Mike Nichols Question. Nichols, ex-comedy-improv partner of Elaine May, director of "The Graduate" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," is under open-end ABC contract for his TV debut as producer, but is without a first project. Nichols says, "I have come across one thing that appeals to me very much. A script by my friend Jay Presson Allen." Eisner recognizes cue to pull script from briefcase. Just happened to have a copy. Cloutwise, it's Nichols all the way. ABC orders pilot of "The Best Years." January '75. Co-production deal set up between Spelling-Goldberg and executive producer Mike Nichols. Name of series changed to Family because "The Best Years" is too close to Samuel Goldwyn's "The Best Years of Our Lives." February '76. Nichols, told that year-round outdoor shooting is not possible in the Philadelphia area, says: "We'll have to move the family to California." Agreed that the Lawrences must live on a real street in a real city, not behind an Andy Hardy picket fence on a studio lot. Nichols rents a car, goes scouting. He reports back that South Pasadena is Philadelphia Main Line West. House on Milan Avenue "borrowed" for pilot location. Nichols re-certifies his genius in casting Family with a finely balanced cadre of actors: Sada Thompson, James Broderick, Gary Frank, Kristy McNichol. March '75. Family pilot screened for 15 ABC executives. Goldberg: "They started calling us immediately. Most beautiful pilot they'd ever seen! They came out with tears in their eyes! Aaron and Mike and Jay and I and all the cast were absolutely euphoric." April '75. ABC announces its 1975-76 season line-up. Family is not on it. The reason is leaked: "The show is too nice to be set up against all those high-powered contenders. It would just get eaten up. But we still love it and it will be seen." Goldberg: "How? Are we supposed to take a projector and go door-to-door and show it to the people?" Summer of 1975. Fred Silverman named savior-designate of foundering ABC network. He screens inventory of pilots. Instantly hooked on Family. "Just may be the most beautiful pilot I've ever seen. You have my word that this series will go on the air in midseason. Get a staff. Order scripts..." September '75. Spelling-Goldberg hires Nigel and Carol Evan McKeand as line producer and story editor. McKeands old hands at scripting and editing (most recently on The Waltons), although new to marriage. Bank of scripts ready for January air time. Nov. 26, 1975. ABC announces its midseason schedule. Family is not on it. Thanksgiving Weekend, 1975. All principals stunned. Leonard Goldberg at La Costa sports spa for holiday. Aaron Spelling at home with family in Beverly Hills. McKeands in Hollywood Hills, with visions of sugarplums (back to The Waltons?) deadening their heads. Sada Thompson reading stage-play scripts, searching for a role. James Broderick packing to fly to his dream-house in Ireland. Spelling and Goldberg get on the phone, Beverly Hills to La Costa. They will not give up. They roust Fred Silverman out of his Thanksgiving rites back East. What the hell happened? Silverman contrite but unconciliatory. It is his job, he says, to turn the network around. He has no choice but to go for "big numbers" with "firepower shows" like Laverne & Shirley, Bionic Woman, Donny & Marie. Later they will afford a luxury like Family. Spelling and Goldberg still do not give up. They get a fourth party on the line, Silverman's boss Fred Pierce, in New York. The marathon conference call goes on, pleading and placating, demanding and denying, through the weekend. Turkeys go uncarved, pumpkin pies unpunctured. Leonard Goldberg, huddled over the phone in his La Costa kitchenette, finally hangs up. It is 1 A.M. Sunday morning, 4 A.M. back East. Fred Silverman has just said, "I think I can work something out." Monday, Dec. 1, 1975. Carol and Nigel McKeand have backed their station wagon up to the Family office-bungalow on the 20th Century-Fox lot, doing what dismissed writers traditionally do: loading up on supplies -- paper, paper clips, staples, pencils, manila envelopes. There is a call from Goldberg. "Take the covers off your typewriters," he says. "We're in business." Silverman had struck a compromise. In March, after the winter-season wars had quieted down, ABC would air six consecutive episodes of Family. Spelling-Goldberg's contractual holds on the cast had expired, but all the actors leaped at the chance to bring the Lawrences to network life. March 9, 1976. Family went on the air with the merest dribbling of pre-show publicity. It recorded an astonishing 40 share in the ratings. ”