vetsoapfan

I remember reading this review decades ago, and still agree with its excellent and insightful points. As originally written by the dreaded Anne Howard bailey, HTSAM might have been "hip," but it was also hackneyed, lacked any depth of character, and managed to be both preachy and BORING. It was not until Bailey was replaced by the wonderful Rick Edelestein, during the time of David Bachman's death, that the quality of the writing soared. Edelstein was a genius, and so good at complex characterizations and rich, interpersonal relationship conflict, in the style of Harding Lemay. Unfortunately, when the ratings did not instantly increase, TPTB replaced Edelstein with (gag me) Margaret DePriest, and the writing fell into the toilet once more.  It may sound bizarre for me to say that I hold a special place in my heart for this almost-forgotten little soap, because watching its brilliant middle section, after Bailey and before DePriest, I know what a great serial it COULD have been.

William Gray Espy simply smoldered as Snapper Foster, and he became hugely popular with the audience. It's too bad he did not enjoy playing the role. He became noticeably disinterested as the months went on, and even busted his hand at one point, by punching a wall out of frustration. In an interview at the time, he admitted that at least his lack of emotion in the part worked well for his restrained, emotionally-distant character. It was a major shock when he was replaced by David Hasselhoff, who tried at first to emulate Espy's style, but who lacked both the smoldering sexiness and the brooding quality which Espy brought to the role. In a critique of the series, written in Daily Serials, author Jon-Michael Reed wrote of Espy (something like; I forget the exact quote), "Have you ever seen strength look so vulnerable?"

 

Howard McGillan was the best of the replacement Gregs, IMHO. Sweet and endearing. Not bland like Brian Kerwin was at the time, and not homely and icky like Wings Hauser. Unfortunately, McGillan came and went so quickly, he really did not have much time to make the role his own. I don't recall if he played any scenes with Nikki.

No. Brenda Dickson was hired to play Jill Foster before the show's premiere and was part of the original cast when Y&R premiered in 1973, but she did not appear in the very first episode. Neither did other original cast members like Julianna McCarthy (Liz Foster), Dorothy Green (Jennifer Brooks), James Houghton (Greg Foster) or Pamela Peters (Peggy Brooks).  Dickson and the other actors whose characters were not featured in the first day's script did appear later on that week, however. You do see a gorgeous sketch (by artist Sandy Dvore) of Dickson in the premiere episode's opening credits,  where she is pictured with McCarthy and Houghton who played her mother and brother.

 

For the record, the contract actors who appeared in the first episode were Tom Hallick as Dr. Brad Eliot, Lee Crawford as Sally McGuire, William Gray Espy as Dr. William "Snapper" Foster, Janice Lynde as Leslie Brooks, Trish Stewart as Chris Brooks, Robert Clary as Pierre, and Robert Colbert as Stuart Brooks. Deidre Hall (later of DAYS OF OUR LIVES fame) also appeared briefly as Brad Eliot's ex-girlfriend Barbara Anderson.

 

if you are interested, you can watch the complete premiere episode here:

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2013/03/26/young-and-the-restless-first-episode-40th

 

 

Brenda Dickson was part of the original cast, when the show began on March 26, 1973. When she started, she was actually much more subdued and restrained in her acting than she would be later on, when she camped out in the 1980s.

Yes, Wings Hauser was totally wrong for the role of Greg Foster, on every level. I was aghast that they decided to bring HIM back, when the character returned for Liz Foster's death storyline. Egads! At the time he was originally cast, TPTB said that they wanted to recapture the similar look between the Foster brothers that had existed when William Gray Espy and James Houghton played the roles. I suppose the producers thought Hauser looked somewhat like David Hasselhoff. What an insult to the Hoff, LOL. Of all four Greg Fosters, Wings was by far the worst. Brian Kerwin was bland, but at least he wasn't actively repellent.

 

Chris Brooks Foster, as played by Trish Stewart, is my favorite Y&R character of all time. I adored her from the very first episode, and was very impressed with her talent during her rape storyline. I was not prepared for Stewart to be replaced by ANYONE, and I already hated the idea of seeing a "fake" Chris before Topping even appeared on-screen. That being said, Topping was an acceptable actress and a lovely women. I just never warmed up to her as Chris. When the Brooks sisters all returned for Nikki's wedding to Victor in 1984, I was pleased to see Stewart reprise the role. Had Topping been cast in another part, I'm sure I would have been quite happy with her, but Trish Stewart is the only "real" Chris Brooks to me.

 

I also never adjusted to Victoria Mallory as Leslie. Janice Lynde played Leslie Brooks as a fragile, doe-eyed heroine with deep passions raging just beneath the surface. Mallory came across as very charming, very self-possessed, but aloof, and without the depth or vulnerability that had made Leslie such a sympathetic character to begin with. Again, had she been cast in another role, I'm sure i would have found Mallory perfectly fine. She had charm to spare, and she sang like an angel. She was also gorgeous. But her interpretation of Leslie was so strikingly different than Lynde's, that I couldn't adjust to it. The editors of Rona Barret's Daytimers magazine wrote at the time that, "due to (Mallory's) colorless portrayal of the part", Leslie's importance in the story had dwindled, and the principle focus was now on Jaime Lyn Bauer's fiery Lorie.

 

I enjoyed the Lucas/Leslie/Lance/Lorie story for the most part, although again, when Dennis Cole replaced John McCook as Lance, I hated it. Tom Ligon as Lucas was sexy as hell, and his character was such a good, supportive guy, I always thought Leslie was a moron for pining over Lance when she could have had his hunky brother. I'll bet Janice Lynde's Leslie would have been bright enough to choose Lucas, LOL!

I am the first to acknowledge and celebrate Bell's genius and enormous contribution to the genre, but he did have some occasional dry patches as a writer; times when his material was hackneyed and cliche, and, well...pretty bad. The Suzanne Lynch story was not well written at all. I found it absurd, over-the-top, poorly acted (Ellen Weston was no great actress) and not well constructed. As I recall, Bell dropped the story quite suddenly, as if he had realized it was not working, and wanted to erase it from the canvas. To his credit, when a story was failing, Bell corrected course sooner rather than later.

Wings Hauser was so creepy in the role. It was as if a degenerate drug dealer and pimp had suddenly taken over Greg Foster's body...and nobody in Genoa City dared say a word, LOL! Casey was a major focus early on. I loathed her. I hated the idea of her coming between Chris and Snapper Foster, and every time she would appear on-screen, I wished the character would just disappear. The more I think about it, the more I wonder how I sat through this time on Y&R, since it was (temporarily) marred by weak writing, and had so many actors on-screen whom I literally could not stand.

She was pretty bad. Was it John Conboy who later snarked that she could barely walk and talk at the same time, LOL? To be fair, I thought Melody Scott was woefully miscast when she was first hired, too; she hammed up the screen. Wings Hauser's icky Greg Foster was also hard to watch. Yuck! And Pamela Peters was acceptable as Peggy Brooks, although not the greatest actress in the world, but I gained new respect for her after seeing Patricia Everly play the role. What an awkward actress. Watching Erica Hope, a newbie Melody Scott, Wings Hauser, and Patricia Everly in key roles certainly made sitting through Y&R at this time a chore.

Gene Bua was sex on a stick; very hot, charismatic, intriguing, and a good actor, too. I'd nominate the pairing of Bill and Tess as one of LOL's best supercouples. They had real, solid chemistry, and killing off Bill was one of those boneheaded moves (like TGL's killing off Maureen Bauer) which greatly damaged the show.

It's always nice to see more video material with Jacqueline Courtney, who was so great as Pat Kendall. (But, um...not so convincing as Maggie Ashley, alas.)

Don't worry about spoilers where I am concerned. I had been watching the P&G soaps for many, many years before this stuff even aired. I loved Jane House as Liz, BTW, and was crushed when they replaced her.

That 1972 material is an awesome find; a rare treat we are all lucky to enjoy. Thank you for letting us know about it.

OMG, what a great find, even with no audio! Eddie Drueding rocks!

According to legend, Mary Matthews' death episode is out there somewhere too, being horded by traders who want to keep their stash underwrap.

Rare episodes of AW from its golden period, 1964 to 1974. Bits and pieces of this material has been on the internet before, but (to my knowledge) not in such a complete form. This is my favorite decade of my favorite show, so woohoo!

 

 

I would kill to see more of the 1973-82 Brooks and Foster period, particularly 1973-78.

 

 

Yes, I kept scrapbooks for several of my favorite shows, including SOMERSET, AW, Y&R, etc. Even the short-lived HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE. What I found interesting--and frustrating--about SOMERSET is that its quality soared and plummeted at various times, depending on who was writing it. Henry Slesar and Roy Winsor were by far its best writers. I thought Greg Mercer and Steve Slade were two of the sexiest guys on daytime at the time. Jerry Kane was hot, too. I loved Jessica Delany. She was so sweet and sympathetic. I believe that with consistently good writing, the show could have lasted much longer than it did. Even at its "weakest," I would still watch SOMERSET over today's versions of Y&R, DAYS, GH, or B&B!

The Somerset register is indeed a treasure trove of information, and your post has jarred and clarified my memory.

 

Yes, you are correct: afraid of getting caught, herself, Zoe Cannell manipulated batty Aunt Rowena into "helping" give Andrea Moore her medicine (which Zoe had poisoned) by donning the Jingles the Clown costume and visiting Andrea at night.

 

I should have written, "As it turned out, Zoe Cannell, Carter's sister and Julian Cannell's wife, was the one BEHIND THE PLOT TO KILL ANDREA MOORE. She was afraid that her husband Julian was falling for Andrea...."

 

All of this is in my SOMERSET scrapbook, which I maintained during the show's run, and I should have referred to that for verification instead of relying on my memory.

 

Color me embarrassed. With senior moments like this, I appear as dotty as...Aunt Rowena! Sorry about that!

When it comes to technology, I am the single most clueless person on the face of the planet. I have no clue whatsoever how folks upload anything to the internet.

 

We can talk about this more in a PM.

The entire Jingles scene in this episode was very clumsy. I don't believe that Carter would not have sensed someone behind the door, or even sensed movement a few feet behind him as Jingles ran out of the room. His claim that no one had been in the room, when he had not even bothered to LOOK, was silly. There was one early Jingles episode that was very creepy, with carnival-type music playing in the background, and blinking, strobe lighting on Jingles as "he" crept into the room. Eeeek!

 

I enjoyed the eccentric Moore family. It was wonderful seeing Lois Kibbee on a soap again, after her great work on TEON. Most of the family did not last very long, but they were fun while they lasted.

 

I have not listened to any of the SOMERSET audio recordings yet; I only found out about them yesterday, when you kindly let me know about the video episode.

 

It amuses me that folks are uploading audio-only material onto the web, and that fans are eating it up. I have many soap episodes from the 1970s on audio, but I've always figured I was the only one weird enough to listen to audio-only episodes of my favorite shows. Before the advent of VCRs, when I was away from home, I used to set up a tape recorder in my bedroom and another one in the basement, and have a timer turn them on and record the shows so I could listen to them later, in the evening. Everyone in the family told me I was crazy, but now...40 years later, I discover that I was not alone!

 

 

Yes, upon reflection, I also figured that freeing up Matt by eliminating all remnants of his past was the motivation for killing off the twins. Still...ugh! Jack Sugden had a son named Jackie whom they axed too. And why kill off poor Joe Sugden, out there in Spain? If writers had decimated the Waltons like this, viewers would have been hysterical with rage.

 

I know that Annie married Amos, a few decades after he first proposed to her, and he moved to Spain with her. Is he still alive? Most references to Annie I've heard seem to suggest that she lives out there alone.

I've been watching many of the show's vintage eps on youtube. The earliest episodes from the 1970s were a chore to get into at first, being too cold and dry for my taste, but you get into it the more you watch.

 

I've gotten through the death of Annie Sugden's daughter, Peggy, which was rather grim to watch considering that all three of her adult children would die before her. BUT! What I found gratuitously gruesome was the death of Peggy's twins. Whose stupid idea was that? I hate when soaps kill babies, but to kill off both of Peggy's children for no discernible reason just irked me.

 

The Sugden family is cursed, I swear.

Now that I have watched this vintage episode of SOMERSET, I must say that the Jingles the Clown scene was not effectively executed at all; certainly, many other episodes in which the clown appeared were much more effective, probably because of the creepy music used, and more subtle, suspenseful direction.

 

It was fun to see Ernest Thompson, the best of the Tony Coppers, knowing that he would later become an award-winning screenwriter for the film ON GOLDEN POND.

 

Yes, Joel Crothers became a major player on SOMERSET. His character was enormously popular, and lasted through many writer and producer turnovers.

 

Richard Shoberg played Mitch farmer on SOM and the first (and better) Kevin Jamison on TEON.

 

Holland Taylor played a policewoman named Ruth Winter on SOM and also later turned up on TEON as Denise Cavanaugh.

 

Dorothy Stinette, so great as SOM's Laura Cooper, went on to play TEON's Nadine Alexander.

 

Susan MacDonald, an original cast member of SOM as Jill Grant was later the first Jinx Avery on EDGE.

 

Bibi Besch played Susan Forbes on TEON first, and then later starred on SOM as Eve Lawrence.

 

Many folks don't know it, but some actors who later became quite famous played roles on SOM. like Sigourney Weaver, Ted Danson, and JoBeth Williams. Danson was rather wooden, IMHO, but Weaver and Williams were great. Williams had enormous chemistry with her leading man, Gene Bua (who was so magnetic, he'd have chemistry with a rock).

 

It's hard to say why Slesar's tenure on OLTL was so tepid. He worked with Sam Hall for the first year, then by himself for a couple of months before getting replaced by the Corringtons. OLTL had originally been an intelligent interpersonal-relationships drama with social issues and class struggles at its core, but it changed drastically--and not for the better--in the early and mid-1980s. Jean Arley was the producer for most of Slesar's tenure, and the show floundered under her reign. It's hard to say why. Network interference? Incompetence on Arley's part? Slesar's "not getting" the show? In any case, the writing was mediocre. Not dreadful, on a Chuck Pratt or Jean P-Libidizone level, surely...but tepid. If I had to guess, I'd lay the blame on network tampering, because Slesar was so great elsewhere, but I guess we will never know.

Nuanced, subtle storytelling is long gone from today's daytime dramas, alas.

 

The scenes with Jingles the Clown were often quite terrifying, and the storyline went on for an extended period. As it turned out, Zoe Cannell, Carter's sister and Julian Cannell's wife, was the one under the disguise. She was afraid that her husband Julian was falling for Andrea, and with a husband as handsome as Joel Crother's Julian, could anyone blame her for being nervous, LOL? Actress Lois Smith (of EAST OF EDEN and TRUE BLOOD fame) was mesmerizing as the deranged Zoe. This was Writer Henry Slesar at his delicious best. We were so lucky to have him pen exciting, intricate, layered mysteries on TEON, but his work on SOMERSET was also very good. I only found OLTL weak under his pen, but he was not alone at the helm of that show.

That's right. After the Jonah Lockwood story, the Whitney family was not featured on the canvas for an extended period, but then came word that Geraldine's husband and son had died suddenly, and that Geraldine and daughter-in-law Tiffany were on their back to Monticello.

 

In their reintroduction scene, the camera took a long, slow pan across the empty Whitney living room, with all the furniture covered up as if for storage. Then the front door opened, and Geraldine and Tiffany entered. In complete silence, the women slipped into the house, with a look of agony on their faces. No words, no dialogue, just the actresses' talent to convey their pain. Brilliant scene. It still gives me chills when I think about it. Dialogue is not always necessary when strong direction and acting can say more than words.

WORD. Those Stewart girls were dumber than a pile of rocks, and painfully tedious much of the time. if I were David and had to deal with those morons, I'd be testy all the time, too.

Uh-oh.

 

Now you've done it.

 

My mind is awash with indecent, overheated fantasies of Pete and Andy doing the nasty.

 

Of course, the only person I want Ross to do the nasty with...is me. I'd make him forgot that Donna ever existed.