TVFAN1144

This may be another soap myth but supposedly CBS proposed to combine The Guiding Light and Search for Tomorrow into one show back when they were 15 minutes but Irna said no. Seems like a bad idea. Would Jo have moved and become neighbors to the Bauers? What would it be called? Search for the Light? No matter what both shows would have lost their identities.

Both were canceled December 31, 1982

There were probably very few markets that aired EON after GH at 4. Most aired between 9 and 11

Sounds like it would have been very similar to original Young and Restless whose working title was The Innocent Years

I must have been hiding under a rock but I’ve never understood the fascination with Luke and Laura

Not sure who thought SFT would work against Y&R and affiliate preemptions

Most of the actors knew the handwriting was on the wall. GL was under the cancellation ax for years. The ATWT people really knew that they were not far behind after the announcement of GLs demise Zimmer probably was trying to get all she could when available. There would never be another chance to have her be the center of another show in the youth dominated industry. And she may have had the attitude that her work made the show

Monty was never on SFT and the lost tape was after Tootsie. This seemed more like a publicity ratings grabbing stunt

It seems like Love of Life is like the middle child. You don’t hear much about it when thinking about CBS. It looks like it consistently was in the middle of the ratings It was moved to an obscure morning slot. It’s almost like the network forgot it was there during the 70s cancellations. I know that’s not true. There was a resurgence with the return Meg and Ben.

CBS could have moved it to 3 or even 4 (although probably would have had low clearance). There was that stupid rule about P & G soaps not competing and wanting their soaps in a block Although it competed against Somerset when it went to ABC Maybe they didn’t care since Somerset was on its last leg It sometimes seems like P & G tried to destroy their shows

Very interesting article. Thank you

I’ve read somewhere that Irna pitched Another World to CBS but no room on schedule so went to NBC. It was not a spinoff.

CBS had such a strong lineup back then. Sadly they now have 2 soaps remaining and it’s none of these. Weakened by inroads from other networks, network ownership and interference (Secret Storm, Love of Life), time slot changes due to P & G block scheduling (Edge of Night, Secret Storm, Love is Many Spendord Thing), 2:30 change for SFT and sponsor moving it to NBC and erosion, deviation from original focus as well as poor writing for all

No doubt the 90 minute expansion sent things downhill. Putting Texas against the formidable General Hospital was risky and then moving it to the morning Although I think I liked some of the show. Talented and experienced cast

Wow. Search for Tomorrow was doing well

Yes but what led to lower ratings before this that gave them the bright idea to fix it with the 90 minute nightmare

Why did AW fall so hard during this time period around 1978 to 1979? The writing was still strong I think. It was successful in early 70s and after it expanded to an hour Was it competition from General Hospital and Guiding Light? Maybe they could have tried moving AW to 2:30 followed by a new 1/2 hour serial like Texas or The Doctors

There are some markets with small to medium sized cities that just had one station. The town I grew up in had 1 station that was an NBC affiliate. I’m thinking NBC had more small markets than the other 2

I was probably 11 or 12 at this time and watched with my mom. I had a limited grasp of the birds and the bees and could not understand how he could get 2 women pregnant at the same time. She probably should have sent me outside

Sadly Chuckie will grow up to be a rarely seen child and tragically die Too bad. He could have grown to be a wild rebellious bastard child jealous of his brother Tom who has the respectable Hughes name. The Stewart’s would resent him because he was Michael Sheas bad seed Could have been a Roger Thorpe type

Thank you again for these episode reviews Very slow with lots of flashbacks and recalls. That was what was so special about the writing of this show back then

One Life to Live was carried by more stations than All My Children and General Hospital? The Dayton Ohio affiliate aired Woody Woodpecker instead of GH

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

Who wrote the Elizabeth/Dan/Paul/Susan story? Irma hated it or at least the Elizabeth character and actress

The writer during the 1968 period is listed as Katherine Babecky. Who was that? Was that a pen name for Irna’s daughter?