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Thanks @DRW50 . It's nice to get a glimpse of this, though I agree with @te. I expect that if it ever did turn up it would be disappointing. There seems to be a lot of press regarding Beacon Hill in the papers with mixed reviews and lots of ongoing discussion of what wasn't working and more post-mortem analysis of why things didn't work out. In a very little sense, the show was cancelled the weekend of October 25th after two weeks of disastrous ratings against the World Series. The October 14th episode The Million Dollar Gate had a rating of 9.77 and a 17 share; this landed it the position of the lowest rated nighttime show for the entire week. The October 21st episode, The Suitors, received a 8.2 rating 13 share. It rebounds pretty quickly the next week with The Test where 10.8 / 20 share but remains among the lowest five shows for the week. There are lots of complaints given about the show. Some people liked the pilot episode, while others thought there was too much focus on sex. The episodes did not air in order, which Jackie Babbin complained about as the second aired episode The Colonel and the Fawn, the episode featured in the promo, was a later episode and Babbin felt it gave the show's audience a false sense of what the show was about as it was another sex heavy episode. Then, they switched episodes at last minute an week three showed The Marblehead Club instead of The Poor Little Thing. The consensus seemed to be that most people thought the show improvied around episode 5, which introduced the speakeasy run by the chaffeur Harry Emmet, an oblivious physically disabled Rob Lassiter, and Grant Piper, the son of the black chef. In addition, there seemed to be some interest around the political storyline as Benjamin Lassiter groomed his son-in-law, Trevor Bullock, for the poltiical world and they backed Peabody Carbury for a political posiiton. The general audience and reviewers felt that Benjamin Lassiter was a clearly a thinly veiled Joseph Kennedy, which everyone involved in production claims was false. They did, however, say that the Lassiter sisters were based on the Cushing sisters. There was lot of coverage about the production. Costumes had to be made, not rented, because there was supposedly nothing around from that era, which sounds suspect. There were live plants and freshly baked food in scenes. The production team would scour junkyards looking for authentic pieces to polish and restore in order to create authenticity and accuracy. A butler was hired as a consultant to explain how the staff should act. There seemed to be some consultants who were brought over from England by the executive producer, Beryl Vertue, including Jean Marsh and John Harkesworth. Vertue stated that Harkesworth worked on the last produced episode, the unaired The Visit about Charlotte Hacker arriving from England to critique how the Americans ran their household. It sounds a little bit meta by that point. After the cancellation, there were lots of complaints about the writing by actors who seemed to think things fell off after pilot and that the scripts were so bad that Jackie Babbin had to tell the cast to stop laughing when writers were on set. Some felt things got better towards the end. There were structural complaints as well. Some that have already been stated and restarted over the years about how it was unlikely that nouveau riche Irish would be living on Beacon Hill in 1920s. Some point out that there wasn't enough of a distinction between the social classes from the clothes theywrote to the amount of intermixing between the two groups. Others pointed out that the Irish staff serving in an Irish household really ignored the complexities and interconnection of race, ethnicity, religion, and class in American. It was suggested that even a wealthy Jewish family with Irish servants would have allowed more of that to come to the surface. At least one early episode hints at some of those possibilities. In The Marblehead Club, Benjamin Lassiter is put up for membership at an exclusive club by his snobby neighbor, Cleveridge, This occurs while Fr. Tom Lassiter, Benjamin's brother, is visiting after 20 years in India with Fr. John Dilip Singh. Tom comments about how men of color are treated and tries to get him out of town. Accustomed to his new homeland, Tom and John walk arm in arm in public causing a stir. The setup is rich in issues of social class, race, societal custom, sexuality and gender roles, and religion but I'm not sure how this was all handled by the scriptwriter David Wiltse. Sidney Caroll, who wrote the pilot, outlined the next 12 episodes, but stated that his outlines were heavily edited and disavowed most of the work after the pilot. There also was ongoing issues with censorship according to Jackie Babbin. In addition, there was quite a bit of back and forth about the general direction of the show. Carroll and Vertue seemed to want a quieter series, while the network wanted somethign bolder. While Vertue loved the final script about the visiting sister, the network didn't like it. Ultimately, Vertue went on to say you couldn't make a show like Upstairs, Downstairs in the States because of the structure of the television industry. The reviews were mixed, but I suspect some of the issues were that the reviewers were mostly male. One even complained that the products advertised in the commercials were female oriented, There is probably a bit of sexism in these. One post-mortem review was hypercritical of Kathryn Walker's acting but devolved into a critique of her looks, which is clearly unnecessary. Paul Rudd seemed to be the stand out new star of the group. George Rose , Beatrie Striaght, and Stephen Elliott were typically cited as among the stronger actors. David Dukes got mixed reviews in the beginning, but was praised later in the run fairly consistently. Another reason I suspect it didn't catch on was the cast was too large. Despite there being 18 or so lead cast members, there were usually at least one additional featured guest star every week to drive the story. I think you could have easily reduced the show to 10-11 cast members by cutting several of the Lassiters (Trevor, Maud, and Rosamond) as well as several of the servants (Terrence, Maureen, and Marilyn). I know Brian and Rosamond were emerging as a major couple, but I would have combined Rosamond and Betsy's roles. Fawn's love Giorgio may also have been expendable in the long run. @Franko Neighbors' score was composed by Bill Conti, a far cry from his Dynasty theme.

@DRW50 A significant amount of From These Roots exist in script form. I believe the University of California Santa Barbara now houses the Provo and Pickard collection which covers the first 580 episodes. Cornell houses the final thirteen weeks written by John M. Young. The only writer who doesn't have an archive, that I know of, is Leonard Stadd. However, 176 of his episodes covering January - Septemebr, 1961, are available in the NBC Archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society. So the only significant gap in scripts is September 26 - December 30, 1961 which would cover the first 14 weeks of Stadd's run. Came across this: @slick jones you might appreciate this.

In May, 1959, the show had wrapped up a story involving Liz Fraser standing trial for the murder of Enid Allen Chambers. Enid was Liz Fraser's romantic rival for the affection of Bruce Crawford, Liz's cosmopolitan finance who had been looking to launch a national news magazine with the help of Enid's money. The Allen family was very well off and were supporting a local medical research facility. During the course of the trial, the lawyers built a strong circumstantial case against Liz before it was revealed that Bruce Crawford was the actual murderer. Bruce's motive was connected to a previous murder he had committed years earlier involving his college roommate, which Bruce believed Enid had uncovered. After the truth came out, Bruce was locked away in a sanitarium. A NBC representative stated this was so they could release Bruce to complicate the story later if they saw fit. With Bruce institutionalized, Liz's romantic story with Buck Weaver was now complicated by the interest of David Allen, the late Enid's twin brother who had initially been introduced into the show as Enid's confidant.

I've only caught a few episodes since my last post so I'll just play catch up on the Phillips family story. In this last set of episodes both Lee Carrouthers and Sebastian Knight have been introduced, which means now each member of the Phillips family has their own separate story as well as the ongoing dramatic tension based on the turmoil over the death of the only son, Kevin Phillips. I feel like Dave is such a solid person which really is a nice way to address the salvation / redemption angle that CBN would want the show to address. Dave's work at the clinic is noble and the introduction of Lucille Figgins, the new nurse, adds a level of comic relief and I hope a sort of low key foil for Ione Redlon. I think Dave's reconciliation with Stacey has been very sweet and tender. It's a nice contrast to the hostile encounter between Dave and Amber weeks earlier. Karen Chapman is a warm presence and a nice addition to the show. Stacey's ambitions at the newspaper are still a simmering story with Stacey complaining about covering very basic stories and then offering to help with the coverage of Lee Carrouthers potential political campaign, but the curmudgeon boss McGovern only wants Gene on the job. I like the camaraderie between Gene and Stacey and Gene definitely gives off a mentor vibe, which works given the larger context of Gene's story with Monk. The ties between the Redlon and Phillips family work well for me. I sorta wish we got something between Amber and Carla because that would be an interesting mash up. Stacey's more calculated side emerges when she starts to put a bug in her mother Kate's ear about he possibility of reconciling with Dave. I don't get the Sami Brady vibes of Stacey wanting her family back together, but more righting the injustice of Kate and Dave's divorce. I believe the divorce rate is high among couples who lost a child. Dorothy Stinettte's Kate is more softer than I expected, but I imagine there could be more brittle bitterness later in the story as I had imagined. Those qualities seem reserved for Amber. Amber is pushing her own agenda wanting Kate with Lee Carrouthers, mostly to keep her mother and father apart. Amber's motive seems to be vengeance for her brother's death, but Kevin is such a shadow rather than an actual figure. His death is the defining moment of his life that overshadows almost anythign else. There is no sense of who he is outside of the dead son and brother, which I think is a missed opportunity. Fleshing out Kevin and his relationship with the other family members would help to not only make the pain over losing Kevin more palpable, but it would enhance the characters through their relationships with him. Amber and Kate would benefit the most from this. Amber emerges as Nancy's successor as one of the cruelest, most heartless people in Kingsley. As the Stacey / Kate / Amber triangle over who Kate shouldend up with builds, Amber undermines her father in a brutal move by mentioning that she was driving to the country club and could only think about how this was the route that Dave took the night he killed Kevin. Amber is such a complicated figure for me. I appreciate that the show seems to give her a more liberated female viewpoint, but it's clearly meant to make her the villainess. She fight with Gil when she pays for breakfast for them. Amber is rarely presented in any other light than as a smooth operator who's obsession over her brother's death doesn't make her as sympathetic as it may be intended. I wish Amber was presented more as Becky was in late 1981 as conflicted young woman with baggage, but also desperately hoping that she could find her happiness. I don't need Amber turned into a simp, but a moment of gentleness outside her sexual relationship with Gil would be nice. A friendship would do her wonders, and that's where I would probably pair Carla and Amber. Also, given the trajectory of Amber's future story, having Amber's thoughts on pregnancy during Carla's story would be fun. Amber's story makes me wonder what would have happened had the Barnes introduced Tony Cardello before they had left. I imagine Vinley would have dumped Vince's gay son pretty quickly, but I also think that Amber, in some ways, might hint at what was to come. Tony would be seen as a threat to the social and moral core of the community and while his point of view might be presented with surprising candor, it would most likely lack depth and complexity. Honestly, Tony as Amber's gay best friend might also have worked especially if they explored a Russ / Amber pairing. Falling further down the hole of speculative soap opera, I think a Amber / Tony friendship would have been an interesting threat for Gil / Amber as I could see Tony as confusing Gil in a number of ways. As Russ' half-brother, there would be built in animosity based on Gil and Russ' history. In addition, if Tony helped Amber with her later situation, I could see Gil being heated over Tony's role in the situation. Also, I don't think Gil would like Amber having a male best friend, even if he was gay. I also think the sexual power dynamics between Amber, Gil and Tony could have been intriguing with Amber always wondering if Tony just hasn't found the right woman, Tony potentially being sexually attracted to Gil, and Gil both despising and loving the attention Tony could provide to him Even if none of this actually developed, I could see the accusations of any of this be lingering in the air as a threat to the dynamics in play. Ultimately though, I would have biggest fight be when a rejected Tony finds God through a friendship with Dave Phillips. Without Vince in his life, I could see Tony looking for a father figure in Dave espceically if Tony had an alcohol problem. Dave would help Tony find religion like Jeff helped Dave. This would make Amber furious. And if a muckracker wanted to distort the relationship between Tony and Dave in order to ruin Lee's political career through the association of Dave's ex-wife, Kate, by showing what type of people she associates with. Though we would probably just get a horrifying AIDS story instead. The political angle is developing as we meet Lee. I don't complete buy the timeline of Lee and Kate's previous romance "last fall" during Lee's campaign, but I do think it would have worked in fall 1981. Kate was away from Kingsley for most of 1982 even if she was never on camera. Lee's campaign will take up a bunch of story space and revisits the political arena that Vinley quickly abandoned the previous year. I do have to wonder if there wasn't a plan, or at least consideration, of writing this story for Jason Prescott instead of Lee. With Jason in the role, you would have had more connections with Terry, Peter, Gil, Gene, Marianne, and a variety of others through his children. I think a past public relationship between Jason and Kate would have had to been addressed earlier, but I think there are ways that this would have enhanced the story. The Jason / Amber / Gil dynamic would fascinate me as I could see Amber seing Jason as a father figure more than Dave. Jason turning over the reigns of Prescott Development in a grander sense with Jason deeper into the political landscape to Gil but still meddling with Amber and Marianne forced to mediate. Terry and Jason having romantic tension while also arguing about Terry's involvement in Marianne and Russ' relationship. Dave and Alex's friendship fueling Dave /Jason tension. I would have loved for Jason to be reimagined as a character who was only publicly devoted to his faith, but continued to do things behind peple's back much like they hinted at but never addressed completely under the Barnes. I think Paul Gleason is solid in the role. I did find it wild that in the first scene between Lee and Sebastian Knight, Lee comments that one day Sebastian will go too far in pursuit of power. I wonder if his role in Kate's fate had already been decided.

There was a lot of story built around Victoria coming back from the dead. Her return in May, 1993, is well staged as it's set in a gothic monastery with incredibly moody lightning. I don't think Victoria really fit into Port Charles and I don't know how they could have kept the Victoria / Bill / Holly stuff going long without being too long. Victoria was definitely treated like a big deal, but I guess that is because she was being paired with Tony Geary. Randolph Mantooth's Richard Halifax and Frank Runyeon's Simon Romero also fall into this category of being tied up in the Holly / Bill romance that sort of quickly faded from into the background. Nikki's initial run is under a year (late January 1992 - late October/early November 1992) before she returns for a week in May 1993. I thought Monica's decision to take in Nikki was driven by Monica's guilt over not telling David about Dawn before David died and the fact that little orphan Nikki had lost her mother and her father several years apart. Nikki felt like an important character under the Riche led headwriterless period, but was quickly dumped by a solo Bill Levinson. The Monty 2.0 era is full of characters that fizzled including Sheila's original love interest Joey Moscini, who was ditched with his uncle and aunt Fred and Angela Eckert. There was also some hype in the press about Brandon Hooper's Dr. Eric Simpson, Sheila's boyfriend, who was A.J.'s rival. He lasted a little more than a year as well.

From the Characters that Fizzled Thread: Yeah, Bree was never a 'real character' or brought on with any fanfare. She was needed for a plot function, but I figured they must have liked Marie Wilson so much that they either created Summer for her or kept her in mind until a role came up. Summer was truly a cursed character, and I'm still unclear what was even the point of bringing her on. They didn't seem to have a clear vision for whether she was supposed to be a rootable character or a villain, and that whole convoluted thing with having known Daniel previously and then falling for Brady, who had Daniel's heart... it was a complete mess. @Michael As you may or may not recall, Bree and Summer were introduced by different regimes. Bree was in the tailend of Tomlin / Whitsell and then Summer appeared a year later in that awkward period of February, 2016, right after Chase Jennings raped Ciara Brady on the Horton couch and Dena Higley took a "sabbatical" until the fall. I think Summer arrived in the mix of the turnover as I recall. I imagine the thought was to introduce another female character of a certain age who was related to the canvas, but not necessarily related to everyone on the canvas. I didn't love Summer, but I didn't like much of the Griffin led months (late February - August, 2016). I think Summer as a con artist and Maggie truly believing that her child was stillborn could have worked, but it would have been a stretch. I also suspect they may have wanted to go the route of having Maggie redeem another schemer, which was effective with Melanie. Summer was dumped very quickly though (around August 2016) as I think she was the one who had kidnapped Tate Kiriakis because Kate had paid her to do it as an act of revenge on Victor, if I recall correctly. That 2015-16 "season" with Griffith & Higley was overrun with confusing, short-run character. They hyped up the casting of Dr. Fynn, played by hot Australian Alexander Bruszt, but they clearly had no vision for the character at all besides "hot" -- they introduced him as an old pal of Daniel's, had him hit on Daniel's fiancée Nicole, sent him on a date with Ava Vitali, and then semi-paired him with Kayla for a hot minute before writing him out. Very weird. And that was the same time period in which they brought on the Hernandez parents -- A. Martinez as Eduardo and Alma Delfina as Adriana -- both of whom flamed out quickly, even though Eduardo made a few weird returns. There was also that lady Blanca, some Hernandez family friend whom Adriana wanted to pair up with Rafe to get him away from Hope. They toyed with her and Jordi Vilasuso's Dario (another one for this thread!) for a minute, then unceremoniously wrote her out and shuffled Dario over to Abigail for a terrible immigration story. Fynn was the result of some contest in Australian meant to hype either the show's return to Australia or some sort of tie in. I don't think there was much thought there other than we have an actor and the hospital crew had been decimated over the last few years. Originally, Fynn was going to be revealed as the drug dealer in some storyline that was going on at the time, but they dumped the filmed scenes and brought back Rory, J.J.'s pal, instead to be the drug dealer. I thought Eduardo as Paige's father was a neat twist and propelled the Gabi / J.J. pairing. Someone briefly set up the Hernandezes with Eduardo and Dario as the low level criminal family in town and I didn' hate it (I think the show tried something similar a year earlier with Clyde and Ben Weston). Adriana never really made sense other than to give the show a complete family unit. I think both she and Blanca were nurses, if I recall correctly. I didn't hate Blanca, but I also didn't lose any sleep when she stopped appearing. There were also a lot of short term characters attached to the younger set stories that I seem to recall from that era. Real Andrews appeared as Jade's father. Zak Henri appeared as Henry, a friend of the younger set who briefly flirted with a much older Paul Narita after Henry had come out to his (offscreen) minister father.

Madison died as a result of the explosion. Ian stuck around for a few more episodes to be revealed as the person behind Stefano's death. He had kidnapped Stefano and claimed that he was Santos Dimera's bastard son via the family maid, Sophia, but I believe E.J. and/or Stefano dismissed Ian's claim. The scripts with the Santos' reveal were Tomlin and Whitsell, but I wondered if that wasn't the intention of MarDar all along. In retrospect, I have to wonder at what point Joe Mascolo's Alzheimer's was diagnosed. I feel like Stefano was used pretty consistently until his murder in 2012, but afterwards, there were so many gaps. Stefano was revealed alive in August and then disappeared again for some time. In 2012, "Days" did a tour of different cities to promote the show and I caught the even at one of the Connecticut casinos. I remember Drake Hogestyn basically walking arm in arm with Mascolo because of Joe's health. Now, I have to wonder if things weren't starting then. I won't rehash too much on MarDar as my feelings are fairly well known. If I recall though, part of the issue was the business infrastructure wasn't there for Madison to work. The typical business stories of the previous few years were always grounded in the relationships, however underdeveloped they may have been. From what I remember, the business stuff was constantly shifting under MarDar without much impact. Sami worked for Madison, her childhood friend, and then went to work for Kate, I think. And Kate had been a hooker who slept with Ian during his marriage to Madison. Even on days that was a wonky timeline. Almost as funky as Chad's mother being a prostitute with Kate when Chad was conceived under Higley a year or so earlier. It's always possible that is why Sarah J. Brown was dropped, but I don't think financially there was space on the show for her where the story was heading with Kristen's return and her seduction of Brady. The elephant story was stupid. I also thought that adding Xander as the third wheel and making him a Kiriakis was just a little too tight. In a post-Sami Salem, having a medical reporter arrive in town with a past connection to Melanie and to Eric opened some interesting possibiliies. It also should have provided Nicole, then also a journalist, a much needed rival. Everything seemed to go south very quick, which is a shame, because I remember thinking this could be a nice pivot. Nathan was only on for about a year and a half introduced in April, 2012, when the show was gearing up to have Lexi die of cancer. Yancey was out in the fall and then Owens did a one year run (November 2012-November 2013). Yancey had previously appeared as a bartender at the Brady Pub probably around 2010. Owens came in for the Cameron / Abigail / Chad triangle with his big plot being that he was in debt and had secretly been stripping to pay the bills leading to the strip show sequence. When Casey Jon Deidrich left as Chad, Cameron really wasn't going to be able to carry the story, as you said. Bree Tjaden was a bit part (maybe 3 months) and served her purpose, to propel the mystery of Aiden Jennings' wife. I really like all those bitchy moms that appeared briefly (Bree's sister-in-law was Hope's friend). Paige Searcy had such a unique look. I thought her Jade could have made life miserable for Kayla for years, but I don't think people really liked the idea of Kayla as this aging helicopter mom. I didn't hate it. I also liked how both Ciara and Claire snubbed her once Jade got knocked up by Joey. Haugh wasn't good, but I thought the show could have recast and gone with a Joey / Jade / Tripp story and there would have been some interesting moments to explore. None of the Taylors lasted long. I think Taylor was introduced in late January 2011 because someone's contract was up for negotiation (Allison Sweeney's maybe?) and the show was setting up a potential next step. At the same time, there was a casting call for a male that many assumed was going to be Eric, but I don't think that part ever materialized. Sebastian's story was stunted when Wheeler didn't recast Ed Bauer for the Santa Domingo story when Peter Simon refused to return. The shift to Sebastian and Beth was pointless though I did enjoy where they were going in Sebastian's final days with Blake, Sebastian, and Josh plotting a takeover of Spaulding with Sebastian and Josh developing a close friendship and Blake crashing out when she learned Alan and Holly were in a business deal that would have exchanged ownership of the Journal and shares of Spaulding Enterprises. . I wonder if Michelle Ray Smith's Ava was originally suppose to be Lena's daughter. I do remember the set up and wondering if they were going to introduce Lena's daughter, but I also thought that maybe it was just backstory to give Lena a reason to look after Harley in prison.

I managed to watch 10 more episodes this weekend so I am at 460. I'll start off with Another Life's answer to Bobbie and Lucy. The rivalry between Babs Farley and Nancy Lawson is just fun. Babs arrived on the scene as Nancy's prison cellmate and, from the beginning, Nancy has always thought of herself as better than reformed hooker Babs even though Nancy is never against using her body to get what she wants. For all my praise for Jason Vinley, I will say Nancy is one of the few characters not better served by this writing, yet. Babs, on the other hand, has emerged as a comical secondary heroine who will make you laugh and break your heart in the same scene. I do feel these episodes moved the dial slightly towards improving Nancy's position on the canvas. Nancy and Babs' separate stories collided when both women were visiting Harold Webster and a cat fight ensued. Babs' got the upper hand and left Nancy with a nasty bruise on her face, which led Nancy to file charges against Babs. Nancy's pursuit of "justice" later ends up saving Babs' life when another hit is arranged for her in Fairmount involving Lance and Marty, an informant for the organization. Before we even get this far, there is a very great episode that highlights the hypocrisy of Nancy. When Russ comes to collect the money that Nancy owes, Nancy alludes to the fact that she is willing to sleep with Russ in order to work off her debt. For all the grief that Nancy puts Babs through, Nancy is the one who offer her body still to pay off man. In the same episode, Gene visits Babs at Walter's Restaurant where Babs is employed with money from Harold. Babs vows she will pay the money back. It's a very deliberate contrast to Nancy who thinks she doesn't have to pay. Nancy's big story has been dragging for weeks with her refusal to leave Nora's house, which she cannot afford, and her desire to keep the Redlons from owning it due to Nancy's blatant racism. Nancy's money problems have been brewing for awhile and we finally learn that, yes, she has borrowed money from a loan shark from Vince and Nick's organization. It's a delightful turn which I figured was coming, but I hadn't expected. When Russ comes to collect, now Nancy is privy to knowledge that should move forward Russ' story. It's only a matter of time now before Nancy lets the Davidsons know Russ is working for the mob. I can't wait for Lori to react. Nancy is back to a lot of lower level scheming with characters like Vicki and Carla. With Vicki, Nancy manages to not only get 500 dollars from her, but also a place to crash once Nancy is evicted. With Carla, Nancy goes the extortion route and offers to vacate the house without issue and sell to the Redlons if Carla will give her 1000 dollars. Carla later considers it as she despertely wants the house with the baby on the way. There is little movement in the Monk story with Carla and Gene arguing over whether or not Monk can move in, and Harold making it clear that securing Monk's release is dependent on Gene agreeing to become Monk's guardian. It's a story I wish got a little more play because I do think there is threads to play given that Monk was Lori's student. I think Lori's pregnancy is a complicated story. I do think Lori isn't completely healed and I do think it's a stretch for her to think the baby is Blueś, but I don't hate it. I just wish they would lean into others acknowledging that Lori isn't as mentally well as they would like her to be. For me, the biggest issue is that we are suppose to believe that Lori got pregnant around the time of the attack in September so Lori is supposedly fairly far along and this wasn´t caught at all when Lori was in the hospital. The movement in the mob story is nice. I cannot beleive how much I am enjoying this story, but because Vinley has grounded it in relationships, I am fascinated. Ron has decided to make Russ his second in command which aggravates the current second in command, Lance. The tension between Lance and Russ is continuing to build. I am not really sure where they are taking it, but I enjoy it. Russ' loan collections has put him in contact with Nancy, which threatens to cause problems in his world. There also seems to be a bit of a suggestion that Ron might be elevating Russ just to stick it to Vince for insisting that Russ be in the organization. While I do think Ron admires Russ to an extent, I do think part of this is making things more chaotic for Vince so that he doesn´t look too deep into the record keeping. I also wonder if Lance and Ron will set up Russ as the fall guy for the side hustles. I hope Nancy becomes more involved in this world. I do think Nancy would be the perfet mob wife for either Ron or Vince or married to Vince and sleeping with Ron on the side. I am ready for the kidnapping to end. It's gone on for a long time and I feel like it has stalled the Carpenters as characters. There was a lot of good stuff in the Phillips' story, but I'll save that for a later post.

Thanks for filling in some gaps for me. I didn't realize that Marty had appeared as early as the Isis storyline. I think this has to be one of the earliest recurring roles for a Native American character in soaps. I don't remember liking Del in much of the bits and pieces I've seen over the years. He seems too sleazy compared to Gerringer's more larger than life, slick Striker Bellman. I can see why people wouldn't like him. I imagine they were going for an opposites attract situation with a society matron and slightly reformed con man ala Phoebe and Langley on All My Children.

Labine and Mayer left in May, 1975, in anticipation of the premier of Ryan's Hope. At this point, the bigamy hadn't been revealed yet. Paul and Margaret Schneider are writing in June, 1976, when Christopher Reeves' Ben is sent to prison. Gabrielle Upton is writing when Ben returns in October, 1976, when Chandler Hill Harben premiered in the role with the prison rape occuring in November during sweeps. Love of Life tried several stories that seemed much more successful on One Life to Live several years later such as the prison rape story (I believe Brad Vernon was raped in prison) and the prostitution tale (Karen's story was much better remembered than Arlene's stint as a hooker).

Reading through the "lost" episode summaries, it's interesting seeing how the faux infidelity story was plotted out with the first arc being the divorce case and custody suite where Charles paid off Creasy and Norm to lie about the infidelity including the tie clip. This seems to be such a silly plot point to secure a divorce on. The second arc seems to be the countersuit with the Davidsons going after the Carpenters because of the perjury and the bribes. It's also worth mentioning, I believe Norm Elliott is also Lori's former boyfriend. I don't think this made the summaries, but was mentioned in a summary of the premier episode. The review was rather vague so I didn't include it in this. It would seem that the show replaced this story with drug trafficking plot involving Scott's investigation and Capital Distributors. I'm actually surprised that CBN didn't reset the show in 1984 back to episodes 56-60. That seems to be a rather engaging week with the introduction of the Capital Distributors plot, Jeff's DUI, and Russ' attack on Norm. It would seem that the Lori / Paul / Miriam story was wrapped up in the week or two prior. I have to wonder if those episodes weren't somehow legally bound up because they had been syndicated with The 700 Club. The original distribution deal had the first 13 weeks sold as a part of a package deal with CBN's more established series. It was also nice to fill in some holes. Becky had spent time with Francis in order to get intel on Norm. Mitch was brought in for the initial divorce trial representing Lori. I don't think I knew the intricacies of Norm's connection. Peter drinking is a sequence I would like to see. As is the material surrounding Jimmy's overdose. The secondary plot in these opening episodes involving Jeff's fall from grace is less clear to me based on what is happening. I think it picks up a bit with Mandy Bolen. It is a surprise to see that Nick Trench was only there a few weeks before episode 70. Mandy still seems intriguing and less problematic with Jeff's deception regarding his marital status. I can't say I find any of this super appealing in the broader sense, but it was nice to have a bit more of an idea of what was going on.

My apologies. I should have checked a soap book before posting rather than doing a quick Google search. The information I posted may not be completely in the right timeline. I know the bigamy story continued until Paul and Margaret Schnedier were there in 1976 so some of the blackmail stuff with Jamie Rollins might be Maragaret DePriest.

I can't say I'm the biggest The Edge of Night fan but I really liked the use of music in this last episode posted. I also thought the use of the Christmas decorations was a great way to revisit the past. That whole sequence in the Karr house was pretty fascinating. The set seemed very small, but the conversation gave such depth and dimension to the home talking about the kitchen and the "infamous" decision to dump the twin beds for a full. I've seen Linda Cook mostly in her more animated role as Egypt Masters on Loving and in some throw away parts as the mother of schemers on One Life to Live and Guiding Light. She is very effective as Laurie even though she's been gone for several years. Am I reading correctly that Laurie's return wasn't for just the finale but that the plan had been to bring her back before cancellation was announced and that there was a longer story planned? I was a bit surprised that Mike Karr let his grandson off his radar enough that he was unaware of where his whereabouts was, but I guess that generated better story. The Sky / Raven and Mark / Michelle stuff does little for me. I like the use of Pachibel's Canon in their scene (I think it was their scene) as I was just talking about Ordinary People in the Another Life thread. Christopher Holder and Sharon Gabet would be involved again on Another World in the following year, correct? A lot of the newer female actresses female a bit green. And I felt Larkin Malloy overplayed some things but maybe Sky was just suppose to be an over the top character. Didi's law partner Marty who was mentioned is the Native American man from a story earlier in the fall correct? I LOVED Robert Gerringer's early work on Texas under the Corringtons. Del seems colorful, but I think the Gerringer has so much more range that I hope was utilized.

Labine had watched Love of Life in the late 1950s/early 1960s when she was nursing her babies so she had a working knowledge of the show. I cannot remember if she specifially watched the period where Meg was present, but based on the available dates of birth for Eleanor and Matthew, I think that it's unlikely unless Labine had been watching longer than she claimed. She would have been watching in the early Rosehill period. Prior to Labine and Mayer's arrival at Love of Life there had been some creative upheaval. The show had spent several years on two or three storylines that had either come to a close or never completely sparked the audiences interest. Vanessa Sterling, the show's central mature female lead, learned that her first husband, Paul Raven, was alive and living his life as attorney Matt Corby, which led to a series of complications involving both of their new spouses (Bruce Sterling and nasty Southern anatognist Evelyn Corby). If I remember correctly, the story ended when Matt/Paul was revealled to be Evelyn's murderer. In the other really big story, singer Bill Prentiss (the son of the Sterlings neighbor) and his love Tess Krakauer overcame a series of obstacles to be together (including being accused of murdering Tess' husband, John Randolph). Bill got sick with a blood disease and died leaving Tess to raise their son on her own. Tess ended up being duped by a phony psychic who claimed he could communicate with Bill and there was something about a song that Bill wrote that was being published. The fan reaction wasn't great from what I've read. There was also a story involving Kate Swanson, a singer, in love with an uppercrust doctor, Dr. Dan Phillips, and was pursued by Rick Latimer, Brue Sterling's son-in-law. A Who's the Daddy occured with Nurse Candy Love, who liked Dan, changing the baby's blood type so it looked like Rick was the father of the baby and that Candy could have Dan for herself. Dan's elitist mother Lavinia Phillips also didn't approve of the lounge singer as a potential daughter-in-law. Eventually, the truth came out and Dan and Kate were together. When Labine and Mayer came on, they did seem to explore some less conventional soap opera stories than what had been playing out previously. Meg returned with her family in tow, ski bum Ben who had been practically raised by Vanessa in tandem with Meg, Meg's innocent daughter Cal, and yet another ex-husband of Meg's, Eduardo Aleata. Meg became involved with the newly introduced Jeff Hart, a businessman with criminal ties runnning for mayor of Rosehill. Meg marries Jeff and Jeff wins the mayoral election making Meg the First Lady fo Rosehill. Meanwhile, Vanessa, now a reporter, began investigating the school cafeteria because her niece, Cal, said the meat tasted funny. It turns out, Jeff's cronies had been skimming money by providing the cafeteria with horse meat. Vanessa and Cal ended up locked in a freezer to keep the corruption from being exposed. In the interlude, stepsiblings David Hart and Cal Aleata were becoming romantically involved. David was a more sensitive young man than his ruthless father. As Jeff's world was crumbling, he attempted to sexually attack Cal leading David to shoot his own father dead. Ben's story is the one that you most likely already now. Meg promised Ben his inheritance once he had been married to a proper young woman like Betsy Crawford. Ben seduced and married Betsy despite already having a wife, vampy piano player Arlene Lovett. Arlene and Ben schemed together to get Ben's inheritance while keeping quiet about Arlene and Ben's marriage. Jamie Rollins, a district attorney, started to put the pieces together so they set up Jamie to look like he slept with Arlene, to blackmail Jamie. Jamie didn't crumble to their blackmail scheme and the pictures were sent to Jamie's live in-lover Diana Lamont, an older woman had been married when they began their affair. Diana lost the baby she was carrying as a result. Jamie and Diana's situation was a bit of a the talk of the town as gossipy society matron Vivian Carlson clucked about the two living in sin at Ben and Betsy's wedding. The Ben bigamy story is the broad outline for the Lois / Ned / Katherine story nearly 20 years later on General Hospital. If you look at the @saynotoursoap posts early in the thread you might get a better idea than what I provided.

I did a little research using a newspaper archive and looking at which of the major soap opera columnists overdue Another Life. Jon-Michael Reed only covered monthly synopses for the show for the first and second month. Seli Groves seems to start with summaries in late August, 1981. The earliest consistent summaries come from Mary Ann Cooper's column. With these, we are able to get a broad overview of the missing episodes. A real treasure was finding 2 weeks worth of summaries (9 days) from late July from a Massachusetts newpaper where the show was carried in primetime. I suspect other papers may have provided daily teasers so hopefully we will, in the nearish future, get an even clear picture of the missing weeks. June 1981 Miriam Mason accused her professor husband, Paul, of adultery with student, Lori Davidson. Lori's parents, Scott and Terry, hired Mitch Dunbar to defend Lori. Paul was suspended and Miriam sought custody of their child, Frederick. Miriam conned her father, Charles Carpenter, to pay for student Norman Eliot's false testimony. Norm is Miriam's secret lover. Lori's friend, Becky, and Lori's sweetheart, Russ Weaver, failed to break Norm's lies. Liz Cummings' husband, Jeff, took to drink. Lori learned that her brother, Peter, also hit the bottle. Scott convinced Gene Redlon to help him investigate drug traffic July 1981 Miriam was granted a divorce from Paul and won custody of Frederick. Scott and Terry filed a countersuit to clear Lori's name. Jeff seduced Mandy Bolen, who has a married lover, Loring Chase. Jeff assured Mandy he's divorced, while Liz suspected Jeff is cheating on her. Mitch convinced the judge to reopen the case because of evidence that Norm perjured himself in return for loot from Charles. Paul was fired because of the adultery scandal. Monday, June 29 - Friday, July 3, 1981 (episodes #21 - 25) Paul Mason and Lori Davidson refuse to settle out of court and are determined to clear their names. Charles Carpenter pays Norm Elliot and Creasy to testify against Paul. Paul admits to Terry Davidson that he loves her daughter Lori, but would never say so. Liz Cummings threatens to divorce her husband Jeff Cummings as he continues to drink. Monday, July 6 - Friday, July 10, 1981 (episodes #26 - 30) Lori Davidson worries about her boyfriend Russ Weaver's lack of faith. Miriam Carpenter Mason and Charles Carpenter try to put more pressure on Paul Mason. Creasy says that Paul Mason's tie clasp was found in Lori Davidson's room. The divorce is granted on the grounds of adultery. Miriam Carpenter Mason gets custody of Frederick Mason. When Miriam condemns Paul to their son Frederick Mason, Frederick runs away. Monday, July 13 - Friday, July 17, 1981 (episodes #31 - 35) Paul Mason refuses to resign his post. Scott Davidson accuses Miriam Carpenter Mason and Charles Carpenter of a frame up. Monday, July 20 - Friday, July 24, 1981 (episodes #36 - 40) Jeff Cummings makes a play for Mandy Bolen and succeeds. Becky Hewitt steals a deposit slip and letter addressed to Norm Elliot from Miriam Carpenter Mason from Norm's room. Scott Davidson discovers that Norm was dishonorably discharged for stealing and dealing in the black market. July 20, 1981: Mitch investigates Creasy's financial situation and Paul checks around the church for further leads. July 22, 1981: Becky steals a deposite slip and a letter addressed to Norm from Miriam; Mitch learns that Creasy deposited a $2,500 check in May. July 23, 1981: Back from investigating Norm in Washington, Scott praises Becky for her discoveries and makes copies of Norm's letter from Miriam. July 24, 1981: Scott's findings in Washington reveal that Norm was dishonorably discharged from the army for stealing and dealing in the black market Monday, July 27 - Friday, July 31, 1981 (episodes #41-45) Mitch Dubar plans to reopen the case soon. Scott Davidson praises Becky Hewitt's efforts. Miriam Carpenter Mason fights back when Paul Mason reopens the case. Jeff Cummings continues his affair with Mandy Bolen. Lori Davidson tries to maintain her optimism despite her fears that the tables will be turned on her and Paul once more. July 27, 1981: Jeff assures Mandy that he is divorced, but she puts him off. Charles warns Norm to stay away from Miriam. July 28, 1981: Liz confides in Terry that Jeff may be cheating on her. Russ considers working at the Norfolk waterfront to earn money for medical school. July 29, 1981: Moran is having second thoughts about pulling Scott off the air. Norm learns that Becky has been seeing his roommate, Francis. July 30, 1981: Mitch convinces judge to re-open case after revealing new evidence. July 31, 1981: Warren tells Charles and Miriam that Mitch is suing them for defamation of character and that they could go to jail if the witnesses were bribed. Monday, August 3 - Friday, August 7, 1981 (episodes #46-50) Scott Davidson and Becky Hewitt land a hand to Paul Mason. Charles Carpenter learns money won't buy everything. Jeff Cummings lies when he tells Many Bolen he is divorced. Scott Davidson has to hold his temper on the job. Lori Davidson receives a great deal of peer pressure to change her values. Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14, 1981 (episodes #51-55) Paul Mason gets support from an unlikely source. Jeff Cummings is almost caught. Norm Elliot is picked up by the police for questioning and threatens to get even with Francis Miller for squealing to Becky Hewitt. Helen Carpenter tells Charles Carpenter that she'll seel th house and leave him if he's guilty of framing their son-in-law, Paul Mason. Moran gives Scott Davidson editorial control and his old job back. Russ Weaver asks Lori Davidson to marry him, but Lori thinks they're not ready yet. Monday, August 17 - Friday, August 21, 1981 (episodes #56-60) Russ Weaver has an angry confrontation with Norm Elliot. Helen Carpenter takes strong action. After Norm Elliot is beaten up by Russ Weaver, Norm suffers flashbacks about his life in Vietnam. Charles Carpenter plans to sell his import business and return to his trucking firm which services Capital Distributors, dealing with liquor and drugs. Jeff Cummings' drivers license is suspended and he may lose his sales job. Scott Davidson and Gene Redlon plan to begin their drug trafficking investigation. Monday, August 24 - Friday, August 28, 1981 (episodes #61-65) Jeff Cummings' life hangs in the balance. Norm Elliot has more violent outbursts. Mandy Bolen is hired by Capital Distributor's new boss (Nick Trench?) as a secretary and Jeff Cummings, out of the hospital, is also hired as a sales rep. Miriam Carpenter Mason puts her lover Norm Elliot down, but convinces her father, Charles Carpenter, to hire Norm. Norm says he is available to do anything, even drive, steal, or kill. Jimmy Redlon is in the hospital from a drug overdose. The loss of his driver's license threatened Jeff Cummings' sales job. In a panic, he asked Nick Trench for a job. Mandy Bolen promised Jeff she would behave. Monday, August 31 - Friday, September 4, 1981 (episodes #66-70) Miriam Mason moves to Richmond. Russ Weaver gets a new job. Afraid of being hurt, Jimmy Redlon will not tell who gave him the drugs. At Paul Mason's home for dinner, Lori Davidson, Russ Weaver, and Becky Hewitt learn that Charles Carpenter and Miriam Carpenter Mason, Paul's former wife and father-in-law, have moved to Richmond. Norm Elliot goes on his first assignment for Charles delivering "fish" with a gun for protection. On the way to Lori's parents home, Russ and Lori are side-swiped and overturn many times before landing at the bottom of a hill. Norm Elliott realizes he needs help, but isn't ready to ask for it. Scott Davidson agreed Terry Davidson must befriend Liz Cummings, no matter how much Jeff Cummings hates the Davidsons. Scott crusaded against drugs on the air.