SoapDope78

Here is the premiere episode that has been uploaded.

She and Vincent met on the set of Y&R.

Gentry may have worked as a cousin of Travis. I wonder if the Dobsons had not created SB and if they had continued working for P&G if they would have wound up at SFT at some point? They had a gothic style of writing GL in the late 70's. I'm surprised Doug Marland was not offered a crack at it before he was at ATWT in the mid 80's. P&G really gave up on SFT. It also seems a lot of popular soap actors never found their way to a role on Search like they did GL, OLTL, AMC etc...

Too bad the 1985 film didn't result in a reboot. It was better than the 1977 TV movie "Murder In Peyton Place". The absence of Barbara Parkins and James Douglas was felt. Was Murder an attempt at a reboot or was it just a one off movie of the week?

Thanks for the article. I knew there had been an actor cast before Van Patten that didn't work out, but never knew Mariette Hartley had been up for the role of Joan the wife. Van Patten was one of those actors that was always constantly working up to the end. He knew just about everybody in the business. He was a kind man who loved his family and would often feature them in whatever project he was working on. In the 80's he his wife Pat and their three sons Nels, Jimmy, and Vincent did commercials and print ads for Oldsmobile and Jiffy Lube. Van Patten also emotionally and sometimes financially supported his Eight Is Enough cast members when they fell on hard times or got into trouble. He also created a line of natural pet food and donated large supplies of it to pet shelters.

I just wanted to add that Robert Gentry might have worked as a recast Travis when Arrants departed or maybe a cousin of Travis that Liza is paired with. Liza had chemistry with Kentucky, but the actor didn't want to sign on full time and it was short lived.

Yes. The cast was shocked he signed on and enjoyed every minute of it even though he couldn't sing or dance all that well. Thanks for the info. I bet that Reed probably had a lot of things to say behind the scenes about doing SFT. He and Anita Gillette did a week of Super Password when they were on the show. I noticed Kevin Conroy only lasted about year before joining the cast of Dynasty which his character was also short lived. Most people only know him as the voice of Batman and fangirl/fanboy all over that.

Yes, Lloyd was re-cast quickly in a few short years. Why did they have a hard time keeping an actor in that role? I'm surprised Robert Reed signed on for a soap role. I would think he would feel it was beneath his "talents" the way he felt the Brady Bunch was. Surprisingly the BB was some of his best work. Just about everything else I have seen him in he comes across as pissy and annoyed. Some great choices for writers and EP's listed above. It would have been cool if someone like Bill Bell had bought the show and revamped it. Maybe brought it back to CBS if necessary. Sherry Mathis was really was great as Liza. Liza did take a hard hit when Travis was gone. Do you think Travis could have been re-cast successfully when Rod Arrants decided to leave ?

What head writer and executive producer do you think could have saved SFT from cancellation? It would have been interesting if someone like Gloria Monty had been tapped for EP to save the show. I have been going back an looking at the shows last 2 years and the obvious big blow in 1985 was the loss of Sherry Mathis. The re-cast mid story is jarring you almost think it's a different character with the name Liza. Louan Gideon was all wrong for the part, but at that point I don't think the audience would accept anyone else besides Mathis. I suspect a lot of the re-casting took place because the actors were pretty much abandoning a sinking ship.

Elizabeth being fragile is the reason I suggested she could have been written out as having had a mental breakdown. She was emotionally abused by Alan through their marriage, she falls in love with Mike, but can't be with him because of Alan poisoning Phillip against him to keep them apart, and the ultimate blow would be discovering the son she raised was not her biological child.

Another re-uploaded 1979 episode.

I agree. The way she was written out was stupid. A terminal illness would have been better than having her leave a child she had raised, loved, and fought custody for with his natural parents and just vanish. They could have also written she has a mental breakdown over the revelation and has to be put in an institution. She would emerge years later back to Springfield. Yes, the Jackie replacement actress was blah. Cindy Pickett really made that character. If Jackie had been brought back from the dead I would loved to have seen Pickett return to the role. If not, someone like Dee Wallace might have been able to work as a recast.

Thanks for finding that. Yes she is very different from the way she acted on GL. I can picture her coming back to GL and looking and playing a stronger and more independent Elizabeth the way she is here. I wonder why SFT didn't keep her on ? Maybe she just agreed to a short term since she seems to like being more of a theatre actress than doing TV. She was on Dean Martin's show back in the late 60's/early 70's as one of the Golddiggers troupe. Cathy Lee Crosby and Lee Crawford (Sally on Y&R) were also in the that troupe at one point.

I did a quick search and it seems there are no episodes listed for May 1983.

I say if Elizabeth had returned they would have recast. I doubt Lezlie Dalton would have returned after she was pretty much shown the door by Marland. I saw that Dalton had a role on SFT in 1982. Are there any episodes from her time there available?