vetsoapfan

The audience's interest in Alice dwindled significantly after Jacquie Courtney was fired. Even Lemay admitted in his book that despite continued storyline attention paid to the character as played by Susan Harney, Alice was never again a hugely popular character as she had been with Courtney in the role. So whatever they did with Alice after the replacements started piling on (and most of them were dreadful in the role), the audience wasn't very interested in Alice anymore.

Courtney was a much better actress than Lemay gave her credit for; the fans knew it, and the critics and editors of the soap press at the time acknowledged it. I'm sure she could have played out a storyline in which a devastated Alice became bitter about life and all the rocks it had thrown her way. Lemay tried to touch on this a bit when Harney was in the role. Alice was being sarcastic and derogatory at one point, and her cousin Susan remarked, "Alice, it's unlike you to criticize someone gratuitously." Alice replied, "Yeah, well, I've changed." Of course, she really hadn't. The character of Alice was inherently a decent, loving person, and no temporary, half-hearted attempt by Lemay ever made the audience believe otherwise.

Yes, SB had suffered from management woes and atrocious headwriting for a long time, so Raunch only put...the final nail in that coffin, LOL.

In the 1975 interview, Watson was very diplomatic and did not bash anyone, as I recall. As for Rauch, I truly believe that most of his work damaged the soaps in the long-run, ratings-wise. When he came onto a new show, already established with a solid core, his attention to fine sets, lighting, directing, etc., could enhance the product, but he had no clue about how to preserve the heart of a soap, no idea about the importance of keeping its core intact. AW's ratings in 1971-2 were 9.1, and they increased to 9.7 over the next few years, thanks in large part to Lemay's stellar writing FOR THE CORE CHARACTERS already in place. Later, as Lemay's writing started to falter after the series went to an hour, and Rauch started to tamper with the show's core, ratings plummeted, and by 1982-3, they were a dismal 4.8! OLTL was a solid 8.2 in 1984. Rauch came on board, hacked away at the veteran cast and turned the once-erudite soap into painful, low-brow camp, and by 1991, OLTL's ratings were 5.4. His TEXAS, LOVERS & FRIENDS, and FOR RICHER FOR POORER were all ratings failures as well. He boasted about saving THE GUIDING LIGHT from the axe, but when he took over that series, it had a rating of 4.0, which only fell to 3.0 by the 2001-02 season, when he was finally replaced by John Conboy. That's why so many longtime fans think of him as Paul Raunch, soap killer, killer! As for Courtney, yes, she did have a deep voice when got lower as the decades went by. Years of smoking, I suppose.

Um...I'm not sure. Is it posted in this thread?

Actually, in 1975, Afternoon TV magazine (I think; I still have it around somewhere) published an issue with an extensive section covering the backstage drama at AW, with interviews featuring Reinholt, Lemay, Rauch, Wyndham, Watson, and others, all of whom gave their take on the situation of how and why Reinholt was fired. There were various contradictions in what everyone said; Lemay tried to downplay that by saying he and Rauch may have seen certain things differently. The interviews were quite interesting; Wyndham acknowledged that Lemay's writing was often not good, but felt it was because of the sheer output of material that he needed to produce. Actor John Considine said that he had never seen Reinholt do anything that merited his dismissal. Noticeably absent in the issue was any interview with Jacqueline Courtney, who kept quiet at the time. Later, in 1977, author Robert LaGuardia published an updated version of his book The Wonderful World of TV Soap Operas, with reprints of some of the interviews which had been published in the magazine. In LaGuardia's book, however, along with the quotes by Reinolt, Lemay, and Rauch, an interview with Courtney was also included. She spoke about her own dismissal from the show. She said that she had not trusted Rauch from the moment he took over as AW's producer, and when he did, the atmosphere in the studio began to change, with his favoritism towards new, aggressive performers. She spoke of how he manipulated her into admitting that she didn't like a proposed storyline (Alice's romance with Willis), and then used her comments about it as an excuse to fire her. She went away on vacation for a month and was notified that she was being replaced. The entire work environment sounded toxic, just like on OLTL, when Rauch wreaked havoc over there.

Right. Lemay was rehired, and then the writers' strike hit. During the strike, Swajeski worked as a scab, and then later took over full-time. Did she continue to use Lemay's story outlines after the strike ended?

Yes, but shortly after he was rehired, there was a writers' strike...after which, he was not asked to return.

For all his genius (and I believe AW under Lemay--particulary during his first few years-- was about as good as soaps get), I think Harding Lemay might have been a handful to work with. As low-brow camp took over many soaps in the 1980s, I think his brand of sophisticated, character-driven adult drama was simply not what the networks cared about.

I've noticed that some modern-day soap viewers seem to take Harding Lemay's opinions about the show and its cast and crew as gospel, whereas those of us who were actually watching AW back in the day know that some of his allegations and criticism appear to be borne out of pique. He would criticize one performer for doing the exact same thing that he praised in another; it was so obvious that personal dislike played into his negative opinions.

Lemay was very open about his disdain for Courtney's talents, inexplicably criticizing her work even though the fans and many critics praised her highly. She won the Daytime TV Best Actress award, the Daily TV Serials Best Actress award, and the Afternoon TV Best Actress in a Single Sequence award for the episode in which Alice and Elliot Carrington run into Steve and Rachel in St. Croix. At the time of her dismissal in 1975, Rauch was critical of her reluctance to play out a proposed story in which Alice would fall for her brother-in-law Willis, but upon her death decades later, when asked for a comment about her, Rauch at least had the grace to say that Courtney had been a "great gal" who could always be counted on to give good performances. To his credit, even Lemay, in his book about his tenure as AW's headwriter, admitted that Courtney had star appeal, and that after she moved over to ONE LIFE TO LIVE, her presence there may have been at least partially responsible for that soap's steady rise in the ratings.

Yes, in the second clip with Susan Harney as Alice, she's in the living room of the house that Steven had built for her. It's the same set as the in the earlier Jacquie Courtney clip, when Alice chased Rachel down the stairs and then sat on the steps with Aunt Liz after Rachel had run away.

Personally, I thought the chemistry between Espy and Stewart was far superior. In an interview once, Stewart acknowledged that her character had a social-worker complex, and needed to fix broken people. Espy's Snapper was an emotionally stunted, troubled young man, and it made sense that a do-gooder like Chris would be drawn to him. (Well, besides the fact that he was gorgeous.) In an review published in Daily TV Serials, the critic noted of Espy's performance: "Have you ever seen strength look so vulnerable?"

Oh, no! Could someone PLEASE send me a PM with the links? I missed them, and have been looking forward to rewatching episodes of this show for...YEARS! Thanks in advance.

And I remember reading that when she did start on GH, the ratings actually dipped, LOL. It wasn't her fault by any stretch of the imagination; she was wonderful as Lesley, but networks delude themselves when they imagine that taking popular performers from other networks and plunking them down into new roles on other soaps is going to make a major difference in the ratings.

Not too much, actually. They endured some drama together during their last few years on the show, but remained married, and eventually both of them moved to England. When Snapper returned a few years ago, during the dreadful story about Liz Foster's death, Jill asked him how Chris was, so we know that Snapper and Chris are still together, 30 years later.

Ahh, Trish Stewart as Chris Brooks, my favorite Y&R actress and character of all time. I wish there were more clips of Chris available on the net, and I wish I knew what Stewart was up to these days.

In the original novel, Allison McKenzie was a major character, and I imagine the producers of the TV series envisioned her being a lead right from the start, whereas they may not have been certain to what extent other, supporting characters like Rodney, Betty, Norman, etc., would develop. As the series progresses, some characters/actors really take off and become quite popular, while a few others simply don't, and their roles are diminished. The star billing will reflect that; you'll see. As for Constance's secret, there's more to the story than you may think, and it definitely turns out to be a big, big deal. Lots of drama unfolds!

Listening to it now is like listening to an old radio soap opera like MA PERKINS.

Hi, DRW50, Yes, I have sent the PP uploader a PM, politely suggesting that he change the titles of his vids to something else, in order to avoid being targeted for deletion. It would be difficult to know what to call the episodes, however; it would need to be something that TPTB wouldn't notice, yet recognizable to the fans so that WE could search for the vids. "The Constance, Mike, Allison and Rodney Saga," perhaps. As for HOW TO SURVIVE, the audio was salvageable, at least, so there's that. Better than nothing.

Attention PEYTON PLACE fans: A poster named coffeegulper905 has undertaken the herculean task of uploading the entire 514-episode series to youtube. The quality is great. He's already up to episode number 388. Who knows how long these treasures will last before getting yanked, so watch them while they're hot, LOL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH3BwBNceeQ

Yes, luckily the entire run of Y&R remains preserved in the archives, but since they are not going to let us see those vintages episodes any time soon, if ever, the rare episodes that fans still have are indeed precious to me, LOL. Most of my stuff from the mid-1980s forward is also in pretty decent shape. Unfortunately, my favorite era of many soaps (Y&R, AW, OLTL, TEON, etc.) was during the 1970s, and my tapes from that era are not holding up so well. Thank God for folks like you and other generous fans who share your material on youtube. Oh, that reminds me: a poster named coffeegulper905 has been uploading the entire series of the 1960s soap opera PEYTON PLACE onto youtube, and the quality is great. I'll have to post about it in the PP thread on the Cancelled Soaps forum. He's already up to episode 388 (out of 514) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH3BwBNceeQ Ahhh, old soaps are great!

Once again, you are very generous, and your efforts are appreciated. Thank you so much.

Howdy, Alphaguy74, I've managed to make back-up copies of some of my rare stuff, but sometimes, the source material LITERALLY falls apart. I have some old Beta tapes that (how do I describe this?) are dropping "specks" into the sleeve, and the spool of the actual tapes look worn. I was transferring the series finale of HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE when the tape started to drag and "slur", and tons of teensy pieces of the tape fell off into my machine. I am one of those technology-phobes who is mechanically illiterate, and always thought that if I didn't play the tapes over and over again, I wouldn't wear them out and they would remain safe. Now I realize that I should have made the effort to learn how to make back-ups years ago. Feel free to slap me for my ignorance, LOL! (That's great news about DOCTOR WHO, for fans of the series. I have some rare primetime TV series which I HAVE managed to make "safe " copies of, thank God, and it's always wonderful news when other long-thought-lost material pops up intact!)

I agree about the earlier years being Y&R's golden era. So many soaps hit their greatest strides in the 1970s: not only Y&R under William J.Bell, but TEON under Henry Slesar's masterful writing, AW under Harding Lemay, DOOL under Bill Bell/Pat Falken Smith, OLTL under Gordon Russel, GH under Douglas Marland and Pat Falken Smith, AMC under Agnes Nixon and Wisner Washam, LOVE OF LIFE under Claire Labine, TGL under the Dobsons and marland...the list is almost endless. Knowing that so many of the greats are no longer with us, and that the remaining soaps are being handled by hacks, is heartbreaking for anyone who remembers the quality, adult drama that used to be seen on daytime TV.