wonderwoman1951

On 8/12/2023 at 2:11 PM, danfling said:

In 1977, Mr. Swanson joined forces with Steve Babecki and wrote a 38-page guide to Chicago-area museums, "Museums of Chicago."

interesting fact: steve babecki was the first husband of irna’s daughter, katherine. she’s credited as ‘world turns headwriter under that name from 1966-70

17 minutes ago, kalbir said:

CBS had a 3 1/2 hour soap block from February 4, 1980-September 18, 2009. Which of the line ups was the favorite here?

technically it was a block. but guiding light really took a hit from the time shift in so many major media markets. from wikipedia:

In 1995, beginning with CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, Guiding Light began airing at 10 a.m. Eastern time in several markets. Its once-solid performance began to crumble by the mid-1990s, when its ratings sunk as low as ninth place out of ten.^[26] However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, the ratings experienced a brief resurgence, moving up to fifth for many weeks that summer. Nielsen reported Guiding Light had 5 million viewers in 1999.

Up until its CBS finale in 2009, stations in a number of markets aired Guiding Light in the morning either at 9 or 10 a.m. local time: Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbia, SC, Fort Wayne, IN, South Bend, IN, Portland, OR, Quad Cities, Buffalo, Reno, Portland, ME, Milwaukee, Albany, NY, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA. Guiding Light aired at 12 noon local time in Honolulu, Hawaii. In Savannah, GA, it aired at 4:00 pm local time.

also remember her as fran fine’s cousin the the nanny

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

Apparently Irna quit the show about a month after it went to air, so unless she expected it to be #1 in its timeslot in the first few weeks, the theory that bad ratings were the motive doesn't ring true. And LIAMST was not losing half of ATWT audience.

i think its more likely that there was pushback about the 2 stories and backtracking from the execs . Irna could see where this was going and quit.

according to a variety article you posted upthread, liamst’s share was under 30. in the 60s, atwt was pulling shares as high as 60 — sound’s like half.

curious about where you heard that  irna quit the show a month after its debut. 

Just now, Donna L. Bridges said:

It's interesting & it adds a dimension but it really is splitting a hair. Bottom line, once they refused to go forward with those 2 storylines, she was outta there

true — but i suspect that if it hadn’t been those two storylines, she would have found another reason to leave.

and, this may be an unpopular opinion, but i gotta say i think cbs made the right call re those storylines. by all accounts, they were unpopular with viewers, and, and yes,  i’m award that a good deal of tha pushback on mia was likely due to anti-asian bias, i also think there may have been conservative catholic viewers who objected to the nun storyline. 

but, as one of the variety articles referenced upthread notes: cbs was on the verge of cancelling the show. so, change the storylines or cancel the show?

On 8/11/2023 at 4:27 AM, Paul Raven said:

i wouldn't be surprised if Irna quit that early if she got feedback that CBS didn't want to go ahead or wanted to modify her two plots-Laura the nun and the mixed race romance.

a while back, i heard an interesting theory about why irna left the show so early. in the past, this source had played fast and loose with facts about irna’s life, so i always took what he told me with a grain of salt. but, he said his source was the late warren swanson, an attorney who also worked with irna as a writer on ‘world turns, so it’s worth considering.

in 1966, after working with irna for 10 years, bill bell left to take over as headwriter at “days of our lives.” irna took his departure as a personal betrayal, and the two never spoke again. under bell, days’… ratings went up — a lot — so fred silverman decides to counter with a new soap. silverman told me that irna agreed to create “love is a many splendored thing” as a personal favor to him, as well as a chance to create a show that was not under procter&gamble.

but, did she also a chance to take bill bell down a peg? irna’s unfinished memoir, “all my worlds,” ends in late 1963, so we’ll never know. but, that’s what swanson told my less-than-reliable source. and having researched irna’s life for more than 10 years, i find it does have a certain ring of truth.

of course, in the first few months, not only did liamst never come close to beating days…, they were losing almost half the audience of ‘world turns. according to warren swanson, when irna she wasn’t going to beat bell, she lost interest, and when the network demanded she change the two storylines, she saw an opportunity to extricate herself from the show.

On 8/10/2023 at 5:02 AM, Paul Raven said:

Not only was GL's new production model something to get used to, everything looked so drab and unappealing. 

In 1983 Gloria Monty produced The Hamptons for ABC primetime on location on alow budget.

Although it was only once a week for 6 weeks, it looked a hell of a lot better than GL. And that was over 20 years earlier. There must have been big advancements in production techniques over that time. Yet GL looked dismal

agreed about gl’s aesthetics, but not sure this is a valid comparison. “the hamptons” may have been low budget, but it was certainly more than gl’s at the end. and whatever “advancements in production techniques” that may have occurred, they wouldn’t have compensated for time: “the hamptons” shot an episode a week; gl an episode a day.

On 8/9/2023 at 6:54 PM, Donna L. Bridges said:

On 8/9/2023 at 11:36 AM, TEdgeofNight said:

Agnes Nixon's bio had many errors.

Overall loved the book but 2 things: awful errors & so much stuff she didn't even mention.

while there were a lot of errors and omissions — especially re oltl — i have to give her a pass. she finished the book just before she died at 93, from parkinson's. her children were helping her, but i’m sure there was a lot they didn’t know,

when i saw her in 2011, her memory was already shaky.  

46 minutes ago, TVFAN1144 said:

I’ve read somewhere that Irna pitched Another World to CBS but no room on schedule so went to NBC. 

not true! read the article:

http://anotherworldhomepage.com/creation.htm

scroll down for a picture of jane house in ‘lenny’: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/movies/julian-barry-dead.html?smid=url-share

30 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

The story I read was that Irna tried to kill Liz off because of her hostility toward Jane House, but viewer backlash over what they sensed was coming (as Liz was in the hospital for a while) made P&G step in. House then decided to leave rather than keep staying under the situation with Irna.

i’d just heard bits and pieces. this version makes more sense. 

30 minutes ago, antmunoz said:

On 7/19/2023 at 3:33 AM, Paul Raven said:

The first Liz Jane House was replaced in June 72 by Judith McGilligan. 

Which Liz actress was allegedly fired because the actress was also doing a play that involved nudity?

“allegedly fired”

the play was ‘lenny.’ jane house played lenny bruce’s stripper wife, rusty, according to ibdb, for the entire run (may 1971-june 1972). and, yes, she took it all off! got to see it with my own eyes!

i’ve heard that irna was so irate she had her fired, but the facts don’t support that. since. it appears she left ‘world turns around the same time s lenny closed. no idea how the firing story got started. 

34 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

1 hour ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

thanks for posting this. i knew he had been on atwt, but couldn’t remember when. 

I wasn't watching when he was on so it was a lovely surprise.

is there video of his appearance? looked, but couldn’t find anything on youtube. 

On 7/21/2023 at 9:31 AM, Donna L. Bridges said:

https://soaphub.com/bold-beautiful/the-bold-and-the-beautiful-news/as-the-world-turns-stars-recall-tony-bennett-and-his-visit-to-oakdale/

Michael Swan, John Wesley Shipp & Scott Bryce remember ... 

thanks for posting this. i knew he had been on atwt, but couldn’t remember when. 

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Susan and Liz were both pregnant by Dan at the same time. Paul agreed to marry Liz, not knowing Dan was the father of her child. Upset by that marriage, Dan had an argument with Susan resulting in a miscarriage.

Liz continued her pregnancy and gave birth to Betsy.

Liz then got pregnant by Paul but a harassment by Susan resulted in a miscarriage. Then Susan managed to get pregnant by Dan resulting in Emily.

thanks for clarifying. hadn’t known about susan’s miscarriage. i do remember irna being outraged about two men being in love with the same woman, but don’t recall ever seeing anything about the pregnancies. 

On 7/20/2023 at 12:05 AM, TVFAN1144 said:

On 7/19/2023 at 3:33 AM, Paul Raven said:

Irna began the story in 1969 and as far as I can make out was responsible for Dan impregnating both women at the same time, even though I have seen claims that it was written in her absence and she found that twist distasteful. 

It has been written that when she returned Irna quickly killed off Elizabeth and Paul and sent Dan packing but Irna was back in Jan 72 and Paul didn't die until Nov of that year. I believe Liz died in early 73 and Dan left a few months later so Irna took her time in dismantling that story.

The first Liz Jane House was replaced in June 72 by Judith McGilligan. 

What’s strange is that if Irma really disliked this storyline she basically did the same thing with Bob Jennifer and Kim

as far as i can tell, dan did not impregnate both liz and susan at the same time. betsy was around when susan was pregnant with emily. liz had a miscarriage (by paul) ust before susan became pregnant with emily.

what irna objected to was the idea of two brothers being in love with the same woman. and, yes, that was essentially the same story she told with bob, jennfer, and kim. the big difference is that irna told robert laguardia, ‘kim is me.’ and, ‘kim is going to have that baby and raise it own her own.’

this was irna’s effort to replace the pregnancy she had lost as a young woman. irna had an emotional horse in this race, which explains a lot about her double standard.  

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Katherine Babecki is listed as headwriter in La Guardia's book and I'm pretty sure that was really Katherine Phillips. I think at most she was a co-writer like Boruff etc or a scriptwiter from Irna's outlines.

It's a pity that Katherine wasn't more dedicated to preserving her mother's legacy in some way.

yes, katherine babecki was katherine phillips. it’s not entirely clear what her role as headwriter was — may well be that it was in name only. ed trach told me she never put forth any story ideas in meetings. fred silverman had no recollection of her as headwriter. according to her brother, tom, kathy never went through any kind of apprenticeship. 

in irna’s unfinished memoir, all my worlds, she goes into great detail describing kathy’s  deeply troubled childhood. according to irna, kathy wanted to find her birth mother, whom she said she wanted to kill. likely the inspiration for the amanda holmes story. so, it’s not surprising that kathy never sent the amw manuscript to the wisconsin historical society where irna’s papers are archived.

it was only after kathy’s death in 2009, that the manuscript became available. 

On 7/16/2023 at 12:03 PM, Toups said:

33 points, 7 break points, 27 minute game.  Unbelievable play by both

i tuned in at the beginning of the 3rd set already knowing the outcome. plenty of suspense  watching how this single game turned out, though.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Reading this ATWT's take on Vietnam seems to be straight down the line patriotic, compared to the nuance of early AMC, but I still wish we could see to compare. 

not surprising. agnes nixon often talked about the freedom she had at abc compared to p&g. often wonder how irna might have approached vietman and other topical issues absent p&g. she was certainly aware of what was happening in the world.

37 minutes ago, j swift said:

45 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

if $40,000 is the average salary, what i’d really like to know is the median. couldn’t find it online. does anyone know?

I couldn't screenshot the PDF, but the median is $26, 276.00, which is just $6,000 over the poverty limit for a single person household in California.  And, given that the average rent for a 1br in Los Angeles County is $2,850, a person would need to gross $9,500 a month just to qualify to rent an apartment.  So, $40,000 annual salary is 65% below what one would need to survive in LA.

Meanwhile, Bob Iger, CEO of Disney just signed a contract extension earning him 62 Million dollars, in salary alone, not counting stock or property.  So, it is reasonable to expect that Disney could afford to pay actors for audition tapes

thanks!

averages can be deceptive, the median is more accurate. i knew it would be worse, but that is ridiculous!

and yes, at the very least, the studios should be paying actors for auditions — and cover their expenses. 

if $40,000 is the average salary, what i’d really like to know is the median. couldn’t find it online. does anyone know?

13 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

2 hours ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

that last scene, with terry lester, benjamin hendrickson, and elizabeth hubbard — all three gone — and of course, kathryn hays. 

as was so happy to see the scene between hal and lucinda in the courtroom — always wished they had more scenes together. 

A part of me wishes they'd tried a Hal/Lucinda pairing in the '90s or '00s, although I know he never could have taken it. Still, imagine Barbara's face...

now that would have been something to see! wonder if anyoone ever considered it? benjamin hendrickson once told me that hal and margo only became a thing because he and hillary smith started playing around in their scenes wondering if anyone would notice — and did they ever.

i knew margo would always be with tom and hal with barbara. but, i would have been more than ok if hal and margo had wound up together. 

that last scene, with terry lester, benjamin hendrickson, and elizabeth hubbard — all three gone — and of course, kathryn hays. 

as was so happy to see the scene between hal and lucinda in the courtroom — always wished they had more scenes together. 

23 hours ago, Liberty City said:

Maybe not faint, but I would lose my words around Maura West.

so, i’m visiting the metropolitan museum of art in the early 1990s and can’t remember where the bathrooms are. when i go to the information desk in the lobby, i stop short and think to myself, “what is nancy hughes doing at the met?” 

now, i know perfectly well that it was helen wagner, not nancy hughes. but could not form a thought or get a single word out of my mouth. my cousin thought i had lost my mind. helen had clearly been down this road before, and explained slowly and clearly, where the bathrooms were.

a couple years later, i’m on the set interviewing actors for a piece. i had forgotten about the met when the publicist brought helen in. she looked at me, cocked her head and asked, “have we met before?” told her the story a nd we had a good laugh. 

On 6/30/2023 at 6:20 PM, Soapsuds said:

The four actors were the ones nominated for an Emmy that year. I believe the episode was dedicated to the Emmys that year. Bryggman won that year.

https://youtu.be/J7lF5N24aLk

just watched the clip — thanks!

interesting that eric braden didn’t join his fellow nominees for regis and kathy lee. guess he had a scheduling conflict.