SoapDope78

Lynn Deerfield did a week of Match Game in Sep 1976. She was still on GL when they were taped. She's quite cute, charming, and a great sense of humor. In her first episode she didn't too great with the matches but episodes 2-5 she did quite well including helping a contestant win big cash. Lynn said she had originally been a contestant herself on the show in 1969 and was the big winner of $450 (which was the max then). She joked that she didn't know whether to cash the check or have it framed. When asked who her team captain was she said some guy named Burt Reynolds. In 69 he wasn't big name and she didn't know who he was at the time. Gene jokes wonder what happened to that guy and Lynn gives a grin. Gene Rayburn and Richard Dawson were quite handsy/flirty with her. Gene kissed her on the lips in her first episode and through out the week they keep telling her how pretty she is and Richard tries to tickle her several times. They also like her laugh and they all agree she sounds like Ron Palillo on Welcome Back Kotter. Lynn said he gets paid to do his laugh. I wonder why she never did anything else on TV after GL ? She could have easily done another soap. Did she leave GL on her own or did the Dobson's replace her with Maureen Garrett ? Did Holly arrive in 1970 or 71 ?

I think Koslow could pull of Lorie Brooks. There's something in her that reminds me a bit of Jaime Lyn Bauer.

Maureen said after she took over that Deerfield would drop by the studio and stand over by the cameras and watch her. She said it made her self conscious and she would try to hide her face behind her long hair. My Mom always referred to Deerfield as "The blonde Holly"

I wish we could get footage of Deerfield and see how she played the part. I remember Deerfield quipping in a blurb in Soap Opera Digest in the 90's " I was married to the chief of staff and wore polyester".

I found the 1979 scenes.

I would love to see that 1971 material, but the footage is probably gone forever. I sometimes forget Holly came from wealth. By the time she was married to Roger in the late 70's you almost get the impression she is clipping coupons and thrift shopping to take care Christina (Blake).

It would be interesting to see those pilots. I wonder if Ted's estate will release anything he may have in his archive if he still has ownership of his own footage ?

🤣. They could have had a running gag where her nose almost get slammed in various doors and dropping things as a throwback to her Room 222 days.

Y&R: Scenes I never thought I would see. In reading old synopsis/summaries of Lorie finding about Leslie's pregnancy, you kind of picture Lorie seeing Leslie step from the shower and Lorie coldly/smugly saying "Just how pregnant are you Leslie". while being somewhat composed. When I finally got to see the scenes OMG WOW ! Those summaries does not do them justice. Lorie goes ape crap and has a screaming meltdown at a cowering Leslie. I kept waiting for Lorie to start physically assaulting her. Good thing Lucas comes in and pretty much nearly puts her in a headlock while she's still raging.

Today on Tubi I was re-watching the 1969 ABC TV movie "Gidget Grows Up" starring Karen Valentine. It was produced by Screen Gems which of course was the television division of Columbia. I noticed in several scenes that the background music was later used during the 70's & 80's on Y&R. I knew that Y&R repurposed a lot of music from the film Bless The Beast and Children which was released in 1971, but didn't realize some of the tracks the show used went back into the late 60's. Karen Valentine really was the "It Girl" during 1969-1979 (along with Sandy Duncan). Her career seemed to wane when the 80's arrived. She was known for her cutesy, bubbly, perky personality and was mostly cast in comedy. She later took on some dramatic roles, but I think she was typecast. I would have loved to have seen her on a daytime or primetime soap.

I ran across this old commercial featuring Ted Turner. The uploader posted it today in honor of his passing. The house in the ad looks similar to the one used in The Catlins.

Too bad we will probably never see complete episodes of the short lived series " The Survivors"

The husband (Alex) looks like he could be a Tom Selleck impersonator.

Does RTV still exist? I got it in my area around 2005 when it was branded RTN then around 2013 it disappeared. I think it only became available in certain limited markets because of financial problems. I relied on seeing The Doctors when episodes got uploaded to youtube. That got shut down after a period of time when I got up to about 1977 episodes.

I meant she was a placeholder during her last year before her contract expired.

Found this 1975 video of Richard Higgs narrating/demonstrating cars for Ford/Lincoln/Mercury. The promo is in several segments featuring the different models in the lineup. I was surprised to learn Higgs would commit suicide in 1977. I saw him as Dan on The Doctors reruns several years ago on youtube. He was a very tall man.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like they pretty much saw Rattray as a placeholder till Martha was ready to come back.

Did Heather Rattray leave on her own or was she let go because they wanted Martha back? I never knew what happened behind the scenes at the time. I just knew Martha was returning and then she shows up singing. There really not much info on Rattray and she has no acting credits after about 2000. I remember back in the day Superstation WTBS use to rerun all those 1970's Wilderness Family movies she appeared in as a kid/young teen.

Thanks for sharing. I went and researched the backstory after you posted. Wow ! One one hand you could say he had nerve to appear on TV with his criminal history, on the other hand you could say he had lack of brains of not thinking that through clearly. I laughed when they said he showed up to collect his check and was chased down 11 flights of stairs and was found hiding in the restroom.

Another TV urban legend is why George Peppard only did 2 seasons of Banacek for Universal. In some write ups it says Peppard was contracted to only a 60 minute show and since it the series was a 90 minute show, his contract wasn't modified and he left. In other write ups the real reason was supposedly he didn't want his ex wife Elizabeth Ashley to get more in the divorce settlement and Peppard called it quits to pretty much screw her over. Peppard was known to be jerk, so I wouldn't doubt that is the truth.

Supposedly Fred Silverman felt bad about how BLB ended. When he moved to ABC, he wanted Meredith for the role of Nancy on Family. She didn't have to audition and they agreed to her terms of not having to appear in every episode during the season. One thing that's interesting, right after Baxter assumed the role of Nancy, Elayne Heilvel appeared on Serpico with Baxter's husband David Birney. There are a lot of TV folklore stories that try to explain why a show was cancelled. The religious aspect concerning BLB is probably one of them. Another fable is about short lived 1970-71 sitcom Nancy. Supposedly that was cancelled due to pressure from the Nixon administration.