vetsoapfan

The writing really nose-dived in 1979 or so, and was quite poor for the next few years. Viewers were forced to endure painfully stupid, campy plots along with strangely stilted and unnatural dialogue, performed by several ((ahem)) "actors" who should have remained hair models. One thing used to drive me crazy: multiple characters would put the objects before the subjects in their sentences: --"The book, are you going to write it?" --"The concert, are you going to perform it?" --""The divorce, are you going to accept it?" --"Your wife, are you going to stay with her?" ARGH! Noooooobody speaks like that, so having multiple characters using the same bizarre style was egregious. Personally, I thought Tammy Taylor was fine, but both Erica Hope and her replacement, Melody Thomas, were unbearably bad. Yes, NBC promoted the heck out of the show. They wanted to cash in on the success of primetime's DALLAS, which was a mega-hit at that time. True. Even though I cringed my way through Y&R in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I DID stick with the show. I knew William J. Bell would eventually turn it around. I cannot stomach today's pod-version of the soap. I cannot really say what I still have until I stumble across it. I have been finding various old magazines here and there as I clean out my apartment, and only know what I have when I actually find it and look at it. But yes, at the time of all the upheaval and gutting of the vets, the letters-to-the-editors pages were filled with irate complaints from livid fans. They threatened to abandon the soaps, and judging by the ratings, many of them did. ATWT really took a nose-dive when it made drastic and delirious changes in a lame attempt to capture the youth market. Only mindless idiots who did not understand the show would allow Helen Wagner to drop out of the series.

From AFTERNOON TV, January 1981: A summary of the soaps' ratings at the time and a review of the debut of TEXAS. A harsh, but accurate, analysis of Y&R, which was quite dreadful in 1980. I only endured its heinous writing and plots because of the remaining actors/characters whom I still cared about. This period was NOT one of William J. Bell's best.

I'm happy to share the limited material I find. I just wish I had more. I'm about to upload a review of Y&R from shortly after it went to an hour! From AFTERNOON TV, February 1977:

Many actors were in the closet way back when...and still are today. There were always rumors about Guthrie's orientation, and Seaforth Hayes did joke about it at that awards show (which I found offensive; outing gay actors without their prior knowledge and consent can play havoc with their personal lives and careers and should never be done), but I suppose the truth died with RG. He never publicly acknowledged anything. I live to serve my fellow SONers!

They were always very close and Viki adored him, but it was Larry who really carried a torch for Viki for many years.

From 1976: (Gratuitous Beefcake Alert!) From AFTERNOON TV, December 1973: From AFTERNOON TV, May 1977: From AFTERNOON TV, 1979: From AFTERNOON TV, September 1977:

From AFTERNOON TV, May 1977: From AFTERNOON TV, February 1977: (The headline that must have thrilled William J. Bell, LOL.) Editorial: RAPE ON SOAPS From AFTERNOON TV, December 1973: From AFTERNOON TV, January 1977:

After losing her son Bill, Aunt Liz should have fought to keep Kevin in Bay City with her, upon Sally's death. I supposed we can imagine the child went to live with his grandmother, Alice, but viewers should not have to guess and fill in the blanks for ourselves. You are right: awful writing.

From Daytime TV Library Series, # 6: ONE LIFE TO LIVE (1976)

My pleasure. Not particularly good, to be honest. He had had a long career writing for Broadway and primetime TV before he got into soaps, so I understand why TPTB gave him a shot at daytime. Perhaps the pace was too fast for him, but his work on both SFT and GH failed to impress me..

From Daytime TV Library Series, # 8: DAYS OF OUR LIVES (1977)

From Daytime TV Library Series, # 7: SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (1977)

From Daytime TV Library Series, # 1: LOVE OF LIFE (1975)

Bill Hayes of DAYS was born on June 5, 1925, making him 94. I am happy to see that he still looks wonderful and can contribute to the show. I'd love to hear her thoughts about her long career, about getting fired from EDGE, and about being one of the "fake Bauers" on TGL.

UGH. This was aired under the reign of clueless producer Mary Ellis Bunim, who arrogantly thought she could "modernize" the show and bring in a new youthful audience. She was in charge for three looooong years and mismanaged the show the way Chris Goutman would years later. In 1984, I think the writer was Tom King, another mediocre presence in daytime TV for many years, who was never successful at any series which he wrote. Fortunately, six months after this awful episode was produced, Ellis would be fired and replaced with the wonderful Robert Calhoun. Don Hasting later proclaimed to the press that Calhoun returned ATWT to its true self.

From Daytime TV Library Series: ALL MY CHILDREN (1976)

From Daytime TV, March 1974: (The Young and the Restless' original cast was extraordinary: hot, charismatic, sexy and talented. Just sayin'.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMC had a remarkable 18-year-long string of quality storytelling, from 1970 to early 1989, with Agnes Nixon, Wisner Washam and Lorraine Broderick as the headwriters. Then we inexplicably got stuck with Margaret DePriest, who has never written a soap opera well, but who kept getting shuffled from soap to soap for decades. UGH. The later hiring of Megan McTavish did not help matters, although to be fair, until we saw Charles Pratt stink up Pine Valley, AMC viewers did not know how bad things could get, LOL. Agreed. He was a totally different actor than Christopher Reeve, who had played Ben so well before him, but Harben truly made the role his own.

From TV By Day, March 1977 Attempted Same-Sex Rape in Prison, on LOVE OF LIFE:

In the first photo, the only one whom you could not identify was Stephanie Braxton, who was a recast Tara Martin. In the second photo, you ones you did not know are Dan Hamilton who played Hal Shea/Short (top right), and Paulette Breen (the blonde actress beside Kay Campbell) who played Claudette Flax. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Daytime TV's Library Series: ANOTHER WORLD (1976) Our Miss Penberthy was not a happy camper that day.

Genie Francis and Kin Shriner from GENERAL HOSPITAL (Look how adorable Scotty was! What twit would abandon HIM for Luke???) The DAYS OF OUR LIVES cast: Erika Slezak and Lee Patterson from ONE LIFE TO LIVE: Maeve McGuire and Donald May from THE EDGE OF NIGHT: Eileen Fulton and Don Hastings from AS THE WORLD TURNS: Lydia Bruce and James Pritchett from THE DOCTORS: Emily McLaughlin and John Beradino from GENERAL HOSPITAL: The ALL MY CHILDREN cast:

From Daily TV Serials, June 1975: Thank you so much for posting this great article for everyone to enjoy. I hope other SONers will also feel welcome to post vintage material from years gone by. (I would only ask that posters stick to sharing classic articles and stories from the 1950s through the 1970s or 1980s. I do not consider an opinion piece by Carolyn Hinsey from the latest Soap Opera Digest to be "classic," LOL.) Her words are so true. Ironically, writer Henry Slesar made similar comments in an interview from a few years earlier, so I know he also understood the important of viewer identification with the characters. We found out after Keane had been fired that P&G was intent of "youthifying" the show, which is why actresses like Keane were deemed expendable.

From Daily TV Serials, June 1974:

From Afternoon TV, 1973:

From Daytime TV's Greatest Stories, 1980: :

I was bored to tears by GH in the mid-1970s and then frustrated by it in the 1980s after Pat Falken Smith left, thanks to the awful writing, but when it was good, the show was great. TEON was unequaled in offering up delicious, complex, and often terrifying tales of suspense. Henry Slesar was a genius. I knew once he was replaced that the show was doomed. But like GH, when TEON was good, it was wonderful!