David V

I fear this will be the death blow for this great series. SVU has always been closely associated with Benson and Stabler.

I think the Laibson/Swajeski era on AW is viewed favourably because it was the only period post-Lemay/Rauch that AW had any stability in that department, although it did not translate into such success. AW was hurt by a dizzying turnover of writers and producers over 20 years but until JFP took over, the show kept its realistic depiction of social classes and character focus even through the regime changes. The quality level was sometimes great, at times less so, but it was never near the worst shows on air.

Helen Gallagher won a Daytime Emmy in 1988, not long before the show was cancelled. If you thought today's soap ratings were bad, look at Ryan's Hope in its last year- they were atrocious even by more recent standards. I suspect people had realised long ago that cancellation was only a matter of when and not if.

I recall a possession sort of storyline on the show, in fact the gimmick and effects may have even inspired Days' Possession storyline.

Sunset Beach remains an enigma. It was just plain fun to watch, but the writing was very uneven- brilliant some times, awful at worst. Storylines ranged from traditional to supernatural, although earthquakes and tsunamis certainly don't count as "far out". Where Sunset Beach did stand out was in its production values, especially location shots.