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The Slater story was dumped in January, 1984, because ABC wanted to promote their telefilm "Something About Amelia" as the first time the network aired material regarding incest. Lily was shipped off to an institution in Washington. Also, the ratings weren't great for "Loving." The show also dumped the Roger-Ann-Merrill storyline with all three actors being dumped. Callan White arrives just as news arrives that Roger has died. I like Scott Feraco's Jeff Hartman. I saw a couple episodes with Maguire. I think he was only there about a month to a month and half (September-October) and, at one point, it bounces between Maguire and Richard Steinmetz. Maguire didn't impress me in the couple scenes I saw.

C.C. always came across as a character who needed to control everything. I felt that the AIDS story could be used to dig at what should have been a much more deeper issue in the relationship between C.C. and Sophia than what it was: C.C.'s golden child was in fact Lionel's. The entire opening storyline deals with the deep pain that C.C. feels over the loss of Channing and how he, in the aftermath, controlled the life of Brandon, Channing's son. I don't get the sense that this was an ever present issue in C.C. and Sophia's relationship. Ultimately, I see the situation with Lindsay coming to stay with the Capwells and the aftermath as a chance to dig into the deep fissure that should have existed between C.C. and Sophia. C.C.'s reaction would be at face value homophobia, which was and still is deeply ingrained in society, but more about the fact that Channing wasn't C.C.'s child and Sophia openly deceived C.C. I would have had a nosey reporter (possibly working for Warren and dating Ted) wondering why Lindsay has come to stay with the Capwells and start digging around only to discover not only the connection to Channing, but also Sophia's role in Channing's murder and possibily Brandon's paternity. I don't think that Sophia's role as murderess was made public was it? Or that Channing was Brandon's father? People knew, but it wasn't like it was well known in Santa Barbara. Then again, with Brandon's custody, I imagine that the paternity became public, but maybe I am wrong.

I like stuff that tends to be a bit obscure so it makes it easier to obtain since there is no real value for some of the lesser known soap opera stuff. Thank you though. My winter hobby to beat seasonal depression from the cold New England winter will be to catalog more of my material. I have some script stuff I've gotten that I've never really dug into in other soaps. Cabot Butler's father's profession was mentioned in the bible as a butler. I think it was meant to be a slight because it was either suggested (or I assumed) that Cabot saw himself as more Rhett Butler. In the cast lists, a Louise Robertson appears in February, 1985, around the time they seem to be dealing with Carter's paternity so I am assuming that's his mother, but I'll wait until I dig into the episode listings more before saying that definitively. In the material I received, was an unedited script for episode 34 (I think) in which Jeff Robertson has reported to the police that Eddie Gallagher was the man who attacked him in Boston at the start of the show. As Jeff delivers the exposition to Christina, Jeff states that Christina will be shocked because it was her uncle, Eddie, who attacked him. Mike later mentions that Christina must feel odd given her stepson's claim. So I guess the bible relationships were maintained, which makes sense as Lisa is never called Sara's sister in the material I've seen though I always assumed since both Lisa and Sara were listed as Christina's sister that was the case. Other tidbits I forgot to mention: Dakota's name was originally Dresden Lane. Dresden was only 17 and Cherry had originally named her baby Lou Ann before giving her a new moniker (Dresden) when Dresden started to model. The only other character who was mentioned in the bible as being significant, who didn't become that significant, was Carlos, Diandra's lover from San Raphael. Carlos was a revolutionary type who had been groomed by guerillas to help destroy the dictatorship led by Diandra's father. Whitney (Taylor) and Susan (Christina) were friends from college and Susan became close to a wheelchair bound Katherine (Katherine had been paralyzed during the car accident after disclosing knowledge of Rose and Bradford's child). Susan was also in love with Bradford (Patrick). Regarding ratings, I know that show did well in some markets, but many times the show was being moved around towards the end so I don't think the ratings were that great. AT one point, Metromedia stated "Rituals" was the number 1 soap opera in Boston. I'm very curious to see what, if anything, else is mentioned about Brady not being a Chapin. That was a pretty profound revelation to me. I could see how that would impact the show as Noel was after the money and Brady's parentage would eventually be contested. Also, there was no hint that Brady was Rose and Bradford's child, just a boy that Bradford adopted and passed off as his and Katherine's to appease her father. Carson Scott Field is mentioned as Whitney (Taylor's) first husband and is from a family with a pretty successful department store. Matt Parrish is also listed as Whitney's ex-husband in the relationship listings at the top of his bio, but in the narrative he is said to be her former lover. Like Susan, Matt (Logan Williams) is brought into the Chapin fold through Whitney (Taylor). Whitney and Matt met in New York, had a brief affair, and then Whitney married Carson. Matt learned of the marriage and basically engages in a sexually aggressive (but supposedly mutual) encounter which led to Julia's conception. Marissa Mallory ends up being around for a few months with Janice Heiden in the role. The unedited episode is either Marissa's first or second episode (from late October, 1984) and Marissa's last episode is in late February, 1985. Marissa was involved in the early stages of the Chalon project, which I believe was a fabric that would be used to develop astronaut suits. It was a big government contract that became more prominent in the show's last months. Marrisa was briefly married to Carter, but I don't think he divorced Christina so it wasn't valid. I just think Marissa is dropped without a resolution, but I'll be curious to see if she pops up in a cast list that I missed. Goldstone most likely replaced Marissa with Lisa Thompson, which gave Christina more to do. Claire Yarlett seems to be dropped rather suddenly as Dakota. She is listed on cast lists for about a week or so after the first thirteen week cycle, before there is no one listed, and than Mary Beth Evans is listed. I'm thinking Evans may have appeared earlier. I wish the material for Dakota's story was still available. It would help to pinpoint some stuff. Also, I want to mention I was watching the February, 1985, episode the other day which I remember being super unimpressive in my first watch. In this more recent watch, it didn't bother me as much, but I've watched a lot of Palumbo's "General Hospital" lately so I was used to him stylistically. I'm much more interested in seeing the second half of the series post-Palumbo.

I received a copy of Gene Palumbo and Clifford Campion's bible for "Rituals" today. It came with some set designs, some outlines for episodes from October 1984, a binder of marketing material intended for stations to promote the show, and a binder full of cast and set lists for most of the show's 260 episodes. It will take a bit to get through, but here are some immediate stand outs. Many of the characters names changed from the bible to the on-air. The city was originally called Barrington, not Wingfield, and it was named after Katherine Chapin's family. The Robertsons were the Butlers. Now, whether this was the on-air situation, but, in the bible, Susan Butler (Christina Robertson) is Rose (Sara) Gallagher's niece. @NadineC, you might be interested to know that Jeff Robertson was originally called Tim Butler. Tim was also the product of a brief marriage Cabot Butler (Carter Robertson) had prior to marrying Susan (Christina). Whitney Chapin and Matt Parrish (Logan Williams) were the parents of Julia Field. Julia was suppose to be this naive, innocent young woman who was going to fall in love with her own father. This, in turn, puts a different spin on the tale about Jo Ann Pflug leaving over the moral issues. Taylor was seducing her own daughter's boyfriend, but she was also allowing her daughter to love her own father. Also, the affair between Rose (Sara) Gallagher and Bradford (Patrick) Chapin was also detailed in the bible and the child that resulted was mentioned as well. Rose and Bradford's affair was prior to her marriage to Eddie Gallagher. Rose went and had the baby up in Boston where she stayed with Susan's father. Meanwhile, Katherine Chapin became pregnant and learned of the Bradford's illegitimate child. Katherine confronted Bradford while driving leading to an automobile accident. After the accident, the child died and Katherine remained in a coma. Bradford replaced his dead child with Brady because Trumble Barrington (Katherine's father) wanted a male heir. Brady's origins are ambigious in the character profiles section, but there is a lengthy document covering the story for the first 29 weeks so I'll be curious if anything comes up. Also, I skimmed a bit and Kin Shriner's complaints start to make more sense. After Sally Jarrett Gallagher (Lacey) loses the baby, Mike and Sally end up with possession of a child. Mike struggles with fatherhood and becomes physically abusive to the child. This is probably something that Clifford Campion (the writer of several social issue telefilms) developed. I only saw a little bit of the story outline so I'll have to look into a little more. From the set and character lists, I was able to determine a couple things. It looks like Logan and Tina Louise's Taylor last air in episode 130. The switch between Lorinne Vozoff and Laurie Burton and Claire Yarlett and Mary Beth Evans was at the end of the first contract cycle. Marc Poppel is replaced by Jon Lindstrum at the end of the second cycle. C.J. Field's first episode was March 22, 1985, so there was no crossover with C.J. and Tina Louise's Taylor. Marissa Mallory seems to just fade out an episode or so later than the one online. Bernhardt and Patty stick around into the third cycle of the show (May, 1985) and I think Bernhardt appears even later than that. Unfortunately, the cast lists online contain character names for (I'm assuming) non-contract players. So I cannot tell when Ketty Lester is replaced by Lynn Hamilton or Randy Hamilton takes over from Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. No writers are credited either so I don't know when Raymond Goldstone leaves and Steve Burkow and Stacey Anderson assume the role.

Travis and the Kendalls overlapped for about a year. Michael, Steve, and Lloyd were introduced in April, May, and June, 1983. There was definintely an intent to develop the Kendalls as rivals to the Sentell/Tourneur crew, not to eliminate them from the canvas. Besides Martin's affair with Estelle, the General had left Lloyd's father high and dry during a business deal years earlier involving a government contract and faulty parts. The General was able to save his own hide, but Lloyd's father went bankrupt. The failure led to Lloyd's father taking his own life. Lloyd actively hated the Tourneurs and had kept the paternity secret partially out of spite it seemed. In 1984, there was some build up about having Liza and Travis raising one of the Kendalls, in what was meant to be karmic retribution for Steve being raised a Kendall. T.R. was revealled to be the missing Rebecca, but, at one point, the baby Elan was going to be Adair's child by one of the Kendall brothers. Even with Travis "dead," I think the value in the Lloyd / Liza romance was Travis' inevitable return that simply got lost in the shuffle of writers and producers much in the same way I expected Roger Forbes would have been revived on "Loving" had they not seen writing staff turnover.

@skylark Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Rusty Sentell. I watched a bunch of 1982-1983 episodes a couple of years ago and found Rusty (not David Gale) such a fascinating mess. It just seemed like they were going to throw him all over the canvas and see what would happen. By the end of Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt's run, I felt that they were just leaning into making him a more grounded Stefano Dimera/Mikkos Cassadine type. Tonally, the Operation Sunburst story seemed to be an odd story space to explore the kind of "General Hospital" inspired adventure tales that were becoming more and more prominent. It's an odd story in that it starts in 1981 under Don Chastain and just continues with ninjas, dopplegangers, and other over the top elements when Hunt and Ellis are writing. Then, it just sort of stops being a thing when David Cherrill takes over, but I haven't seen every episode so its possible there is some conclusion to the story. Using this story as a vehicle for bringing Rusty back isn't a choice I would have made, but so be it. Bringing in Rusty, Sr., as an obstacle to Travis and Liza made sense given their history with Travis' mother, Mignon. I thought the psychological games that Rusty and Liza engaged in were the strongest element of Rusty's storyline even though I don't think Ellis and Hunt did Travis any favors in the process. I could have watched the one-upmanship between Rusty and Liza all day. Rusty's motivation was something that I struggled with. The whole concept of the codicile was just odd. Why would the General want Rusty in charge of his own grandchild's inheritance rather than Travis himself? Why not just reopen the will claiming there was a sizeable inheritance left to Rusty that went to Travis because of Rusty's "death"? Granted, this would have made the Travis-Rusty relationship more antagonistic, but it may have made Travis less like an idiot. If Travis was trying to cozy up to Aja, who would play on her connection to both men, you could still have Aja in the role of the third party obstacle without forcing the baby angle. Rusty's quest for power seemed to dominate a lot of his actions. I thought Rusty's relationship with Martin was driven by the need on Rusty's part to gain control of Tourneur Instruments and Martin was a two-level obstacle: he had shares in the company and he had a close relationship with Travis. Rusty needed Martin out of the way in order to accomplish this. Also, Martin was definitely a Liza sympathizer. I thought the idea of Rusty as the General's son of choice over drunken rogue Martin was a logical stance. The Aja stuff was definitely odd. The spy angle was weird. I wasn't sure if they were trying to generate a level of romantic tension between Rusty and Aja or simply developing a fatherly rapport between the two that would potentially incite jealousy from Travis on the basis that Aja had the parent-child bond with Rusty that should be Travis'. I don't have much use for Aja, if I'm honest. Having her kill Rusty was a two for one special in my book. The gun running angle was bizarre. There just seemed to be too many deals going on in Rusty's world. He is trying to secure the rights to Operation Sunburst as well as TI and he is also running weapons through South America with Warren and Ringo as couriers. The other thread that was odd was Rusty's friendship with Jenny Deacon. I don't know if they were looking to cause Rusty-Stu tension which would have extended to an eventual Rusty-Jo relationship, but it was just very annoying as both characters seemed to be all over the place even if played by decent actors. I felt another angle to approach with Rusty, had he stayed, would have been to have him become involved with Janet Collins, Liza's mother, and having Rusty take control of Colins Corporation (which I think was still around but may have been absorbed into one of Ted Adamson's companies) to use it to fight TI. Or instead of pursuing Liza and Dane, which seemed to be the direction that Hunt and Ellis were suggesting in their final weeks, I would have pursued Liza and Lee by having Cissie leave Roger Lee with Lee in Henderson and having Liza start to spend time with Lee and the child she had once raised as her own. To me, the Aja-Rusty stuff would have been better suited to Lee-Rusty and would have lacked the sexual tension (or maybe not, but that could be a conversation for another day). I liked that Rusty's return utilized the history of the Tourneur clan, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that Rusty's loss didn't feel as significant because by June Peter Haskell arrived as Lloyd Kendall and ultimately played a very similar role to Rusty and he felt less forced onto the canvas.

IMDb has Joel Bailey's last airdate in August, 1985. Gina Gallego didn't join the show until after "Rituals" last aired in September, 1985. I think Gallego and Bailey may have been in episodes of "Flamingo Road" together, but I don't think they were ever in the same scene. I know it probably would have been a very bleak story, but I know NBC wanted "Santa Barbara" to do an AIDS plot. I would have had Lindsay Smith diagnosed with the disease and come to stay with the Capwells while he was living out his final days. I'm thinking a sort of "In the Gloaming" style story. Sophia would have liked to get to know the boy she raised as her own despite Minx 's deception and Lindsay would have given her insight into a part of her son she never knew. I think it would have also been a painful reminder that C.C.'s vision of Channing, Jr., was not the reality. In the aftermath, maybe even have Sophia become involved with an AIDS charity with possibly Sophia's involvement infuriating C.C. over Sophia wanting to share her connection to the disease through Lindsay which would make very public Lindsay and Channing, Jr.'s relationship. Maybe have Mason handle the legal end of the charity work with Mason siding with Sophia.

The final pages of the mystery document cover the character biography of Turner Lawson. Some of Turner's story seems to be placed onto Eddie Gallagher: the violence, the bitterness, and the crippling accident. On top of that, Turner and Jenny's relationship may have been the basis of the Patrick/Sarah affair. The dynamic between Turner and Charlotte is also interesting. Originally, in the book, the Turner Lawson character was Sterling and was bisexual and Charlotte cited her husband's sexuality as the reason she didn't think he could be the father of Sandy Hutchinson. In this version, Turner has fathered a son, Lee. If this is indeed written by the Corringtons, I think they had Martin Tourneur in mind when crafting the similarly named Turner Lawson. *** pg 7 Turner Lawson, 45, playboy, horse breeder The General has never been able to figure out what went wrong with his only child, Turner. He has wondered if his absence in the wars had anything to do with it. Never mind. It doesn't matter. The fact is, from the General's perspective, Turner is no damned good. Handsome, intelligent, charming, attractive to women, connoisseur of the high life, Turner seems more a parasite on the Lawson family than its continuation. He seems content to drink, to ride, to take sudden unplanned trips abroad, and to take no part at all in the many facets of the family businesses. What had once seemed nothing more than exuberance and high spirits in a young man has soured into the methodical and almost pathological womanizing of a man in middle age desperate to hold back whatever kind of darkness he senses just over the horizon. IT has been a long time since any emotions have been exchanged between Turner and his father-- except for contempt on the General's part, resentment on Turner's. What the General does not know is that, years ago, Turner paid a high price for his exuberance, and that the baby girl born at Lawson Manor to Turner's wife, Charlotte, is not Turner's child. Turner has been sterile since an incident years ago when he became involved in a passing affair with a town girl, Jenny Harris. The girl had been almost engaged to Jeff Byrnes, one of the town's young policemen, but Turner had seen her at work in a local cafe and wanted her. He had waited for her to leave work one night. His pg 8 position had made him something of a legend among the people in town, and Jenny had gotten into his car when he invited her to. Later, Jeff, on patrol duty, had found Turner raping her. He pulled Turner out of the car and beat and stomped him almost to death. Not wanting to create a scandal, Jenny had lied to Jeff, telling him Turner had not raped her. She had refused to press assault charges, and had soon married Jeff. Not even Turner knows that Jenny's first son, Lee, is his son. Since General Lawson had been out of the country at the time of the incident, Turner managed to keep him from knowing about it. But though he soon recovered from external signs of the beating, there was permanent internal damage. Turner found that he was sterile. It was then that his high spirits turned to desperation. He became known for chasing almost every Briarwood girl, and when the situation became known to the General, Turner was faced with the alternative of marrying and settling down-- or losing his inheritance. Turner had discovered that one of his Briarwood girls he had enjoyed-- if not loved, Charlotte Stuart, was pregnant and seeking an illegal abortion. He had made her a proposal-- but not a typical one. Turner offered to marry her and raise her child as his own, if she would agree to never reveal the baby's real father. Charlotte, in desperation and appreciation, had agreed hoping that with time she could win Turner's love, forget her own heartbreak, and make the marriage work. She had learned later that an unspoken condition of her marriage was that she would let Turner lead whatever kind of life he wished without her complaining to the General. Their marriage had become one of convenience early on. They keep separate bedrooms, and Turner has had a series of discreet... *** Unfortunately, this is where this document ends. The set up here is pretty fascinating, in my opinion. I would have been fascinated to see how this version could have worked.

The document I have presents more questions than answers. It looks like, and reads like, the pages of a story bible to me. It is formatted a bit similar to Palumbo and Campion's. Now, who wrote it, I'm not sure I'll ever know. I've ruled out Keel because she has gone into some length about her involvement with the development in the Soap Opera Digest article from July, 1985, that you referenced earlier. To me, it seems like someone decided fairly early on that the original concept of the show (the four college freshmen) wouldn't be appealing in the nighttime spots they were actively seeking. Since the Corringtons are listed as developing the show, and we know that Keel developed the original concept, I believe that the Corringtons were hired to develop the new version of "Rituals" sometime around early spring 1984 without Charlene Keel's knowledge and this document would be their proposed story bible. Why the Corringtons didn't end up writing "Rituals" most likely had something to do with the fact they started writing "One Life to Live" in the summer of 1984. As @te. pointed out, the show was syndicated and being renewed in chunks (6 months at a time). I suspect the Corringtons may have wanted more stability and jumped at the chance to work at the network. I think after the Corringtons bible was developed, the material was given to Gene Palumbo and Clifford Campion who developed their own vision of the show. It's also possible this is a draft of Palumbo and Campion's before they ditched the concept. If that is the case though, where do the Corringtons fit in? Since I originally received this, I've purchased a bunch of PR material that was used to help promote the show. There was a "Rituals" newsletter that promoted the big NATPE (I think that is the acronym) conference where syndicated shows were being sold in mid-June 1984. Up until and through the conference, the show is still being developed with the Lawson family in mind as the material promotes how the set designer is creating the Lawson mansion, which I believe was the Chapin mansion. How the person got a hold of this document, I am unaware as it was with the press kit with materials on the final version of "Rituals" that made it to air. Maybe it belonged to someone in PR at Metromedia and there were using it to develop material. I really don't know. So the show was in production in May, 1984, under either the Charlene Keel concept or this alternate concept that is suggested in the story document. I'll post the final two pages tonight of the document that detail Turner Lawson, but give some significant details into the Brynes in the process.

Continuing yesterday's discussion on the evolution of "Rituals," I can only speculate on the purpose of the document I have which I am called Rituals 1.5. It seems more traditionally family focused series with the upperclass WASP Lawson family and the working class Bryne family headed by a cop and a restaurant owner. There are some clear lineage to the Chapins and Gallaghers with some elements repurposed into other characters in the other family. The next three pages I have cover the biography of Bayard Lawson, the patriarch of the Lawson clan. He would appear to be the basis of the Bradford Chapin character of Palumbo and Campion's bible and the character Patrick Chapin who appeared on air played by Dennis Patrick from September until December, 1984. Here is Bayard Lawson *** pg. 4 Genl. Bayard Lawson, 65, communications mogul Even the money, the power, and the prestige do not really make up for the old fays as far as Genl. Lawson is concerned. He lives in a smaller, uglier world now and has to make do with it. Once, an age or two ago, when he was young, it had seemed there was no end at all to the American world, the American century. His family had been decently fixed, not wealthy since the Civil War, but possessed of a fine old name, 200 acres of land in the Virginia Tidewater, and a history resplendent with connections to early presidents and statesmen-- and wisdom enough to continue to bring strong women into the ranks with each passing generation. Bayard Lawson, born a second son, had graduated from Virginia Military Institute just in time for service in WW II. He had applied for a commission in the Army Air Corps, but a friend of his father's, Genl. Allen Preston, who had been called back into service even before hostilities had started, had sent for him and offered him something wilder, more dangerous even than flying those damn crates all over somebody else's sky. Bayard had joined the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, which, much later, would become the CIA, and which did indeed offer the possibilities in war and peace far more interesting than barreling through the skies of Europe or the Pacific in a P-40 or a B-25. His service continued until the close of the Korean War, and ended only then because his older brother died unexpectedly in an automobile accident leaving no heir. Bayard retired and returned pg 5 to the Lawson's Virginia estate. They do not announce medals given those who work in the Intelligence Service. The world does not come to know what you have done in the service of your country, and considering some of the things done, that may be just as well. But in a wall safe at home, Bayard Lawson has decorations that would amaze his friends-- and some documents that would dismay his enemies. More than that, he still possesses the intricacy of mind, the cleverness, the animal instincts that he has picked up in four years of lethal service during the war. Those instincts, that cleverness--- plus information and friendships few others possessed-- have made him very rich and nationally powerful. In 1953, the General had purchased an almost bankrupt newspaper in Alexandria, near the Pentagon. Within a few years, with vigorous and determined work-- and extraordinary news breaks supplied by some of his old connections-- The Alexandria Examiner had become one of the most important conservative newspapers in the country. Its central focus has always been on government, on corruption, on bureaucratic indolence and stupidity, on any hint of disloyalty to the U.S. No matter who you are, what your politics, how large and powerful your corporation, Bayard Lawson's Examiner will break you, wreck you, if you are caught in betrayal of the public trust. The paper's success allowed the General to move into television, book publishing, and, most recently, into high-tech communications design and innovation. His conservatism does not extend to science and technology, and he delights in the Space Program, in the advances of science and its application. pg 6 While his wife has been dead for many years, the General has never re-married. Perhaps because his deepest feelings belong to Dr. Rose Hamilton, President of Woodbriar College. Rose returns his devotion but, a feminist of the old school, she had chosen early to devote her life to scholarship and education. Between Bayard and Rose there is an easy affectionate relationship that would surprise some of his Washington acquaintances who suppose Bayard Lawson is framed of brass and steel. Because of his instinctive respect for education and his relationship with Rose Hamilton, Bayard has long been the chief financial backer of Woodbriar College and seems always available to fund new programs that would enhance the college's prestige. His daughter-in-law, Charlotte, a Woodbriar graduate, serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and he has just commended the education of his only grandchild, Laura, to Rose Hamilton's capable hands. Laura is especially dear to him. Not just because she is a beautiful and spirited young woman, but because he is beginning to have a strong sense of his mortality and his granddaughter is his only hope of influencing the future. He would have preferred a grandson who might have picked up the reins his son Turner let fall from disinterested hands. But Laura will at least continue the family line, and hopefully will do better than that. If she chooses wisely and marries a man of ambition and ability, she might even help him forget some of the disappointment he feels over Turner's failure as a man. *** Typing this, I am making connections between this version of the Lawson clan and the Tourneur/Sentell clan who also had a military nicknamed lead, a son who was a failure at many things, a grandchild maintaining the legacy, and interests in technology. Though, this is if this is in fact written by the Corringtons, which I will probably never know. Below is the title page for the bible for the series and the first page including the start of the biography of "Bradford Spencer Chapin," who is eventually renamed Patrick Chapin.

From what I understand, here is the history of the development of ¨Rituals¨ Rituals, the novel (1979): Charlene Keel publishes her novel, set in Woodbriar, a private girls' college. The main characters were Priscilla Lawson, a spoiled young woman, Dabney Palmeroy, a cosmetics heiress with a harelip leaving her insecure, London, the daughter of a rock-and-roll singer Ariel, and Sandy Hutchinson, a British student who would be revealed to be the secret daughter of Sterling Lawson. The girls, and their mothers, had all been involved in some form with Judd McBroom. By the end of the novel, Charlotte Lawson reveals to her daughter Prisc that Judd is her biological father with Prisc revealing she is pregnant by Judd. Rituals, the pilot (c. February, 1984): Charlene Keel developed a pilot script for a stripped version of ¨Rituals¨ that was very faithful to the original novel. It was still set in the girls´ college. The emphasis remained on the girls´ with less emphasis on the mothers. This pilot was filmed. As far as I am aware, Keel was driving creative force behind this. The cast for the pilot includes: Christine Jones as Charlotte Lawson Philece Sampler as Priscilla Lawson Barbara Crampton as Sandy Hutchison Joe Lambie as Judd McBroom Tom Hallick as Eliot Fine Stephanie Braxton as Jenny Barnes Michael Savage as Sam Barnes Howard ¨P¨ Pruett as Richard Barnes Wendy Smith Howard as Dabney Palmeroy Matt Latanzi as Fenton Langley Robin Leary as London Dwyer Jane Merrow as Harriet Winslow Rituals 1.5, story bible (c. March-June, 1984): Here is where things become a little more complicated. We know that the show is credited to John William and Joyce Corrington, Gene Palumbo, and Clifford Campion. I have an incomplete document of 5-pages of character summaries that seem to be from a bible that seems to bridge the material in Rituals, the pilot and Rituals, the bible for the series . What I included above is from this document. I don't think this is from Gene Palumbo, but it could be. Palumbo and Clifford Campion's bible is dated July, 1984. This version seems to keep intact elements of the original show. Woodbriar is still at play. The Lawson family has been fleshed out and becomes the prototype for the Chapin family in the final television version. Bayard Lawson, the patriarch, seems to be clearly the first attempt as creating Patrick Chapin. The Charlotte-Laura dynamic seems to be reused later for Taylor-Julia. In this version, the secret heir is not Sandy Hutchison but Lee Byrnes, the product of Turner Lawson raping Jenny Harris Byrnes. The Byrnes family is the prototype for the Gallagher family. Jenny's husband is Jeff Byrnes, a cop. Given that we don't know what role that the Corringtons played, and given that I have only five pages of this document, I'm suggesting this may have been written by the Corringtons. Rituals 2.0, the story bible (July 3, 1984): The story bible that was most likely used for the show was written by Gene Palumbo and Clifford Campion. What role Campion played is not clear as he was mostly a writer known in the 1980s for writing issue telefilms. This is clearly not the version that I am speaking about above because both bibles outline the character who ultimately becomes Patrick Chapin. In this bible, the Chapin patriarch is named Bradford Spencer Chapin. His wife is Katherine Haddon Barrington Chapin and his children are Whitney and Brady. It is Barrington Mills (not Chapin Industries) which is originally the source of the family fortune. Rituals 2.0, the series (September 10, 1984): The first episode airs after being filmed August 16-17, 1984. The source of the filming is the set and cast list from the first episode. There are more changes made. Bradford becomes Patrick. Whitney becomes Taylor, though Christina Jones was playing a character named Whitney at one point so I'm not sure if the name Whitney was reused or Jones was initially slated to play the Taylor role in the series given that Taylor was the successor to Charlotte Lawson (Jones' role in the original pilot).

This came among the pages of a press kit I bought on eBay several years back. It is pages 3-8 of a document, which I suspect is a bible written for the show sometime between February and June, 1984, presumably by John Wiliam and Joyce Corrington. First up is the final page of a biography for Laura Lawson. Laura is clearly the Priscilla Lawson character with a new name. *** page 3 ... kind of power. Her family´s wealth, social position and importance to the college gave her unique standing among the eighty entering freshmen. Laura won election as her class president and has been asked to conduct Freshman Orientation for this year´s crop of girls. She plans an impressive student-faculty reception at her home. Because she has, without knowing it, Judd´s blood in her veins, Laura is more imaginative and romantic than most children of staid upperclass families. She is bored by young men like Randolph Stiles who pursue her because of her grandfather´s wealth and political influence. So when Laura first sees Judd Dwyer come riding into the student-faculty reception she is hostessing, elegantly dressed in a tux and mounted on Turner´s best stallion, drunk as a lord but still handsome and gallant-- she falls in love. That he is old enoguh to be her father is no detriment. She wants Judd, and sets out to win him-- by offering him what all the males who´ve pursued her want. She senses some old tension between Judd and her mother-- and wining for a change-- spurs her onward. If her indiscretion with a faculty member is discovered, Laura knows it would end her career at Briarwood before it has time to flower. But she does not know the turth about the relationship between Judd and Charlotte, there is no way that Laura can realize a much more serious disaster will lie ahead for her if she succeeds in keeping the affair secret from her mother. *** Lots of things have been renamed besides Laura. Judd McBroom is now Judd Dwyer. I suspect Randolph Stiles is a renamed Fenton Langley (who, in the pilot, is Priscilla´s fiancee played by Matt Lantazi). Other names will be changed as the show moves away from the original pilot stage into this (brief) unproduced bible. Turner is Turner Lawson, Laura´s legal father. I have his (incomplete) biography as well as the complete biography of General Bayard Lawson, Turner´s father and Laura´s ¨grandfather.¨

Thanks! I had mistakenly thought that the halfway point would have been episode 120, but it would be 130. So yes, it would seem most likely that Gene Palumbo´s last episode was episode 130. When Raymond Goldstone stops and Anderson and Burkow begin, I do not know. I may have a better idea in the near future. The only reference I have to the final writers is from early June, 1985, which would be right before the start of the final cycle. I do have a comment from someone at Metromedia in one of the newspapers where they state they would wait until after May sweeps to make a decision regarding cancellation, which I believe was announced in early July. Given that Burkow and Anderson were announced after sweeps, I wonder if the news was delayed. The final 13 weeks would start in mid-June 1985 and there are some story points that seem to end abruptly while others start (the Crusaders kidnapping ends with Mark Field being shipped back to New York, Clay Travis returns for a hot minute to tie up that dangling thread, and the surrogacy plot begins). Regarding filming, I am in the process of receiving material that should help with that. I know that episode 1 was taped August 16-17, 1984, with episode 2 filmed August 20-21, 1984. The last film date I have is for episode 251, which was Monday, July 1, 1985. It would be most likely that the show filmed its last episode around Friday, July 12, 1985, but I am not sure if Christina´s final speech was an add-on, but it seems unlikely given that Jones is quoted as having 40+ pages her last day on the set, I would imagine that most of this was her final monologue. I don´t believe Jeff had a reason. I have to look into the February, 1985, episode summaries that are available via Soap Opera Digest and the newspaper columns. I am also trying to compile an episode guide using the daily newspaper listings, but I am going backwards and have only gotten from June-September, 1985. I believe Christina Robertson hired Clay Travis to steal a necklace from Taylor Chapin so he had a reason to break in. At this point, Carter has discovered he is a Chapin, which means so is Jeff. Jeff shouldn´t need to break in. Thanks.

@DRW50 There are moments in 1990 where they play Anna/Robert, but usually it is just an attempt to make Katie Lady (as King refers to her ad nauseum) jealous. Part of the issue is a big chunk of the first half of 1990 depends on the revelation that Anna cheated on Robert with Faison during their marriage and that Sean arranged it to happen. For this to be a big deal, you had to play into Robert/Anna. I think Joe Hardy said to the press he wanted to open up opportunities for Anna, which is why they ditched Jonathan Paget. Also, at one point, Robert misses his wedding to Katherine in order to save Anna. Anna and Robert as endgame makes sense in this era because none of Anna's new pairings work and almost nothing works about Katherine. Her career as a pianist keeps her out of the spy circuit. She is an orphan so there is little family drama to play. Every time they try to expand either area, it just doesn't work. Cheryl is set to return in the upcoming weeks (I'm in mid-September), but I haven't even gotten to the groundwork for her return yet. Though, I suspect the Anita's baby subplot plus Alan and Bobbie's adoption program was meant to lead into the Lucas/Cheryl stuff. Cheryl/Shep/Anna/Robert would be a quad that makes sense. Regarding Anita's baby, there is a nice little beat during the scene where Anita meets the baby's prospective adoptive parents. The couple (also Latinx) talk about their struggles with conception and then explain that they were discriminated against in the adoption market, which I thought was pretty surprising for 1990. Though, it lets Bobbie get on her soap box. Lucy's "baby" is a great arc, which leads into Lucy's actual pregnancy. I like when they just play the reaction to things. Lucy is with the Q clan in the red living room (Tracy, Monica, Ashton, Lila) discussing Dawn, Decker, and Ned's predicament in Midvale. The nice moment where Tracy comments feeling odd being bonded to Monica in this moment is disrupted by Lucy's attempts (again) to make a connection within the family. Monica, Tracy, and Lila all go in on Lucy about how she couldn't possible understand until she becomes a mother. In that moment, Lucy, who has already been plotting to get pregnant, announces she is carrying Alan's child. It's delightful. Later, when Alan comes home, Tracy lashes out at Alan about the baby, which Alan is not aware. Stuart Damon and Jane Eliot do really well in those scenes. @VeeThank you kindly. I enjoy your posts as well. "General Hospital" was never my show, but the early 1990s period interested me when I bought a lot of DVDs and there was a three month stretch (October-December 1989). Palumbo's work intrigued me (less now than then) and massive overhauls such as Monty's 1991 purge fascinate me. I kindly stumbled upon someone who was getting unloading DVDs they no longer wanted from GH so I got (March 1981-January 1992, with some gaps) for a very good bargain. So I'll continue to pop around. I really want to get through Wendy Riche's entire pre-Labine era because what I have seen is very intriguing. I'm most disappointed, and interested, in Tom, Simone, Meg, and Harrison. Stephanie E. Williams is just a leading lady. I don't see how they weren't keeping her on the front burner in this story. Simone is clearly still captivated by Harrison, whether that is sexual or not Williams leans into the ambiguity. Harrison is clearly playing Meg, but there is no build. The fact there is no build to Harrison/Meg is really wild when you realize Meg's first scenes (at General Hospital with Lisa Fuller's Dawn) revealed that she had a crush on Harrison. Not building the Harrison/Meg angle is a misfire. Furthermore, the fire Alexia Robinson shows when Simone confronts her after learning Harrison and Meg are married (Simone has come to Harrison's condo to discuss Tommy and finds Meg in her negligee) is wonderful. We are a month away from "Generations" doing the Maya / Doreen catfight, but you have two very strong African American actresses here as well who could carry the show if TPTB allowed them. I also appreciate that Meg/Harrison happens when Dawn is out of town and not able to counsel Meg from making such a decision. With that being said, the diversity for 1990 is somewhere between admirable and criminal. The African American cast is great, but not used. Hardy and Palumbo also introduced a Latin American community with Rico Chaccone's bodega, the Grecos, and briefly a nightclub that seemed to have a latinx flair. Their stories aren't great, but I think Colton/Carla are interesting in context of the class conflict between the Qs (where Carla is employed as a maid) and Simpson/Coe clan. I know the "Santa Barbara" crowd wasn't thrilled with Robert Fortinero, Jr., but I like Frankie, but he is very limited in his scope. I still think they should have kept him and paired him in an unlikely friendship turned frienemies situation with Gerald Hopkins A.J.

I've jumped back into late August - mid September 1990. The show maintains the typical adventure story of the month and I have watched two climaxes to two different action and adventure stories. The first saw the end of Cesar Faison. I do not have much use for Cesar so I was glad to see him go. That whole group of characters is not my favorite. I appreciate the references to other spy missions and the sense of commraderie between Sean, Anna, and Robret, but the stories are very plot heavy. Katherine Delafield remains the odd person out. She feels so forced into the show. She takes over the club to give her something to do, but that doesn't work. So they give her an adopted son, King, from the San Cristo storyline. I just do not care. Similarly, poor Finola Hughes cannot hold onto a love interest to save her life. There has been Jonathan Paget/Duke, Julian Jerome, Cesar Faison, Casey Rogers, and now Shep Casey. Before the year is out, I think they might even try her with Edge Jerome. The end of Cesar at an essay contest for Wyndamere's at Delafield's has a few nice moments. One where Anna seems more complicated about her feelings for Cesar than she had suggested earlier while Robin reads her essay about how great her mother is. Andre Hove leaned into Faison's feelings for Anna. I liked the twist that the DMX agents (including Boris played by a pre-"Days of our Lives" Ivan G'Vera) working with the WSB agents. There was also a rather ludricious twist where Frisco dresses as a man of another nationality for a second time this year (this time he is impersonating Jacques, but I believe it is actually Ric Young playing Frisco playing Jacques). The second adventure plot that comes to a conclusion is Decker's mysterious past/ Wendy Masters' murder. I think Wendy Masters' departure is a loss for the show. I think she is a young schemer that the show really could use. The tailend of the story is high camp with Decker and Dawn playing a reheated love on the run tale which takes them first to a movie house in West Viriginia and then later Midvale, the town populated by the people of Turley's Roadshow, the circus that Decker use to belong to. The Midvale story is mostly camp complete with Lynn Milgrim (I think its Milgrim) appearing as the thought to be dead, Loretta Drago. There are moments I feel like I am watching Jean Holloway's Bambi Brewster story or wondering if it is an attempt to redo Laurelton. Either way, the highlight has to be the insane conclusion featuring Anna and Shep and the circus folk in full costume performing a clown reenactment of the tragic love story of Drago, Loretta, and the late Collssimo. Palumbo and Hardy do not disappoint in conclusions, but they are often these hugely over the top events. The quieter material is more enjoyable. Alan and Bobbie are developing an adoption service based on their work with Anita, the pregnant bodega worker who's baby Rico was going to sell. The antics of the Quartermaines in reaction to everything going on. Tracey Q really is a gem and Jane Eliot can sell even the silliest of quips. The relationship material can be fun. Tracy and Monica connecting over their children in danger. Carla's concern about her mother back in Santa Mora. Scotty and Tracy are fun when they are given something to do. Tracy going at it with Lucy is great, which leads to Lucy faking a pregnancy to be "more apart" of the Q clan. There is some nice Alan and Monica scenes revolving around an offscreen AJ failing in school. The strongest story is still a B-story unfortunately. Simone is concerned about the closeness between Harrison and Meg. Harrison has secured a lawyer, Eric Nash, who has stated Harrison's custody case will be a cause for him (I'm assuming father's rights). Stphanie E. Williams is great as Simone. Alexia Robinson holds her own as Meg, who has gone all in and married Harrison. Harrison and Meg now have a condo set, which is quite nice, and leads to another story at the end of the year. Simone learning about Meg and Harrison's marriage is delightful. I wish this was a bigger story. There was a moment where Steve prevented Audrey from meddling, but I would have liked to see where that would have gone. Tony has been given little to do, but Brad Maule continues to do so mcuh with so little. I don't really feel much one way or another about Felicia and Frisco and the baby, which is crazy because I love Felicia later in the Wendy Riche era. I do think the problem is the lack of agency that Felicia has. It is definitely an issue across the board. Furthmore, another strange choice is the fact that the show is so expansive in terms of where the story is taking place. Raimundo and Electra arrive from San Cristo. Shep and Tiffany spend a lot of time together in Midvale before Anna, Drago, Dawn, and Decker arrive. There is talk of Santa Mora, the country that Rico, the Grecos, and Anita are from. Dawn and Decker are in West Virginia. Cesar is on Spoon Island, which I realize is off the coast of Port Charles, but it still isolates the character at times. I think this travel continues fairly often until later in Riche and Labine's run. The couples are fun: Lucy/Alan, Scotty/Tracy, Carla/Colton, Simone/Tom, etc. It just seems like so many of the long time characters are sidelined in order to focus on the very narrow focus of Sean, Robert, and Anna. I look forward to seeing how the final days of Palumbo/Hardy go before Monty arrives in December.

Only from the clips online, but the shift from Gene Palumbo to Raymond Goldstone is pretty big. Out are a lot of the original older players (Logan, Taylor, and maybe someone else I´m forgetting) and some younger ones (Marissa and Clay) to be replaced by C.J. Field. The C.J. and Carter feud that takes up a good chunk of the second half occurs at that point. I believe it is Palumbo who brings on Lucky Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and pairs him with reformed spoiled princess Julia Field. I don´t know exactly when Burkow and Anderson start but there definitely seems to be a bit more social relevance or attempt to present real world issues with the radiation leak (a year before Chernobyl) and the surrogacy plot. I don´t know who wrote the white supremacist plot. Off the top of my head.. . 1) ¨Search for Tomorrow" 1985 had Jeanne Glynn & Carolyn Franz, a brief Jeanne Glynn solo period (a few weeks), Stephanie Braxton & Paul Avila Mayer, and Gary Tomlin 2) In 2000, ¨Port Charles" had Scott Hammer, an interim period with no head writer, Karen Harris & Jonathan Estrin, Karen Harris solo, Karen Harris & Barbara Bloom, and James Harmon Brown & Barbara Essensten. 3) From February 1991- February 1992, ¨Loving" had Tom King & Millee Taggert, Millee Taggert solo, Mary Ryan Munisteri, and Addie Walsh. 4) In 1991-1992 on ¨General Hospital," you had Norma Monty, Monty with Linda Grover, Noma Monty solo (again), interim writers, Maralyn Thoma, Maralyn Thoma & Bill Levinson, and then Bill Levinson solo. 5) In 1988, ¨Another World" would have had Margaret Depriest, Sheri Anderson, strike writers, Harding Lemay, and Donna Swajeski. 6) ¨How To Survive a Marriage¨ had Anne Howard Bailey, Rick Edelstein, and Margaret Depriest in a single year I believe. 7) It´s not well documented, but I do think that ¨The Catlins¨ had about three or so headwriting teams in 1984. I believe Steve Lehrman started the year, Maura Swanson and Robin Grunder at some point, and I believe somone else. I´ll edit this later.

Is Jessica Tuck coming back? This article says its from 2019. Alexandra Shipp (ex-Marybeth, ¨Days of our Lives¨) was in the ¨Barbie" movie. I know Shipp is better known for other roles, but she appeared on ¨Days¨ during Tomsell´s run as Paige´s friend and talk-to. As I recall, her character wasn´t the biggest fan of J.J., who was in his rebellious stage still. Marybeth wasn´t a well developed role which is a shame because Shipp had more charm than True O´Brien. When Shipp left, I think to do an Aaliyah biopic, her role was replaced by Alisha Boe´s Daphne.

@NadineC Thanks for sharing that. I think the clip may end with Clay Travis, not Jeff Robertson, breaking into the Willows. I may be wrong. Michael Weldon and Tim Maier do have a similar look. I believe this episode would be probably around 110-119 from February, 1985. This seems to be approaching the end of the show´s first batch of episodes ending with Eddie´s murder. It was nice to see Tina Louise´s Taylor. Taylor mentioned she was going to see Logan so I am curious if Lazenby was still around or if he was just on canvas, but the actor have left already. @Paul Raven I think there were only three sets of headwriters. 1) Gene Palumbo wrote the show from September, 1984 - February / March 1985. He is credited in the February 28, 1985, episode #124, available on YouTube. 2) Ray Goldstone wrote the show from March, 1985 until early summer 1985. Goldstone is listed as the lead writer in the episode #141 credits on YouTube. He was also announced in Soap Opera Digest as succeeding Palumbo 3) Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow early summer until September, 1985. The development of the show had many writers attached as you can see in the credits. Keel wrote the novel. Someone developed the original pilot from the book. I also have a couple pages of a second bible for ¨Rituals¨ which seems to be the first attempt to transition from the original faithful adaption to the more traditional soap opera with Keel´s characters receiving new names and slightly altered backstories. I don´t know who developed what other than I can speculate that the bible pages I had were reworked by Gene Palumbo into what ended up airing on screen because there are definite predecessors to the on-air ¨Rituals¨ characters in the few pages I have. Here is my source for Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow´s work. It is Mary Ann Cooper´s Speaking of Soaps Column that appeared in papers the first week of June, 1985 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-dothan-progress-rituals-new-writers/130508521/

¨Love of Life¨ was just consistently reinventing itself even in the 1950s which is probably why the audience was willing to play along. The initial crime element involving two sisters seemed successful for a couple years before they shifted and had Vanessa working in the TV industry in New York. Then, they had her marry Bruce and move back to the suburbs and go back to more domestic drama. At some point in the 1950s, Winsor wanted to embrace the community feel and expanded the story outside the realm of the Sterling clan and added more stories about their neighbors and the boys who attended the private academy that employed Bruce. Then, the show had a strong youthful love story with Tess and Bill, before having that brief period of static before Labine and Mayer came in and reintroduced Meg´s branch of the family. i think ¨Love of Life¨ could have continued to evolve if the audience had been there.

As I recall, Penny died in January, 1981, in a plane crash right before or right after Althea returned to the canvas. Althea was brought back as a potential obstacle for Matt/Maggie. It does seem like Althea is having a moment because all of the stuff she has had in storage has arrived and there are painful memories, but it just comes off as very odd to me since there is no attempt to explain the source of grief in context. Jerry came back in March, I believe, when Nola remarried Jason. I think there was tension between Althea and Jerry over what had happened in Japan, which was a mystery. It was later revealed (during the strike) that Jerry was involved with drug lords. I think Robin´s stepfather, Sebastian, was the head of the drug cartel that Jerry was involved with. At one point, I thought I figured out why they killed off Penny, and I think it had something to do with Matt and Maggie, but I don remember anymore. It was weird bringing Jerry back as a doctor when he had previously been a lawyer. Jason dies during the strike killed by Kevin´s deranged sister, Catherine Shaw. It would have helped to have had a lawyer around. Penny had died in a plane crash with no body recovered. I imagine the plane was to bring her back at some point. I don´t think it was terrible to give Matt and Maggie a marital conflict that wasn´t an infidelity. I think Matt´s impotence also was part of Steve Aldrich´s book about sex. I just think it was silly to jump from an impotence story to a pregnancy story. There was a story teased towards the end of the Writer´s Strike in August, 1981, when a mysterious young woman, Robin, was brought to the hospital. It was suggested in the weekly summaries that Robin might be Penny, but I think it was more of a story beat. Given the nature of Penny´s death, she easily could have returned.

@DRW50 Thanks for sharing that. I hadn´t seen it before. Such a mess of an episode best exemplified by whatever Elizabeth Hubbard is doing in her one scene. I don´t know how much of that was scripted or not, but it is an insane scene. I have read in one of the newspaper summaries that Nick Bellini was stated to be dead around this time. Í´m curious if that´s the reason the scene ends with his picture. It´s great to see a little bit of Matt´s impotence storyline. I´m still unsure how Maggie is pregnant by the end of the summer, but I was hoping we would find out if there was a resolution to the impotence or the writing just got that bad. Jerry and MJ´s comedy of errors date was almost on par with Hubbard´s one-woman meltdown. I´m surprised by the material in the Kevin Shaw / Nola scenes. It´s such a bizarre story, but the scenes were well done. Zimmer seems to be trying to find some way to sell Nola´s motivated seduction of Kevin, only for Kevin to reveal that he was raped as a child by a friend while his sister Catherine watched. I think later they reveal Kevin and Catherine have also slept together, or maybe that´s just how Kevin´s confession has gotten twisted in the retelling over the years.

The online fans definitely leaned into that angle. This was also nearly twenty years ago. Was Nelson Branco in charge of TV Guide Canada´s Soaps section at the time? I feel like he may have as well, but I honestly don´t remember when he became a thing. I think your characterization of selfishness/unselfishness though demonstrates the mindset that was prevalent at the time that led people to blame Zimmer. How was it Kim Zimmer´s, and the rest of the cast, responsibility to make up for P&G mismanagement of the show? The only morale issue is that Wheeler allowed Zimmer to stay on after refusing the paycut. I like Zimmer, but it was Wheeler´s decision, not Zimmer´s, that led to the show having to drop people. Also, given how Martha Byrne departed ¨As the World Turns," her unselfish decision may have been made because she knew she would be out of a job. @MichaelGL I respect your opinion. I remember having this discussion with you several times over the years, and possibly even when these events were playing out. I think the plans Taggart/Culliton had developed for the Spauldings was definitely stronger than the angle Weston took them in. The problem I always have is I always seemed to find myself catching that period at it´s worst moments: Cassie stripping for Danny, Marah yelling for Tony to rape her, etc. I also remember the show just being very energy-less in many places. I remember tuning in for Joan Collins' arrival and being in utter shock by how boring the show was. To be fair, I think Culliton only was added in early September, but Taggart had been working on the show, I think, since February supposedly rewriting Lucky Gold´s material or working with him. In some ways, I´m curious what the fan reaction would have been to the original outcomes of the stories left behind. Jonathan as the stalker would have provided Reva conflict (as he did a year later), but ultimately, where would that have gone? The younger set was a mixed bag. Tony and Marah weren´t good. Ben and Marina had a following, but I felt not enough work had been done (or if had I missed it) to undo the damage that had already been done to both characters with Marina accusing Gus of molesting her and Ben agreeing to deflower Marah as part of a bet. I imagine the younger set would have been opened up a bit more since they had dumped a bunch of the younger people in 2002 as I recall the unmemorable Catalina Quesada Santos and Romeo Jones, who I only remember because he was Pamela Murphy´s son who´s early birth prevented her from airing in the final episodes of ¨Bright Promise.¨ Also, Gus´ parentage wasn´t going to end in a satsifactory conclusion as he really should have been Selina and Miguel Santos based on the original 2001 setup. I think it was rumored that Gus was going to Alan and Rita´s son, but I think that outcome would have produced a lot of the same issues that came up with Alan and Lucia as his parents. There were things I definitely liked. Bill and Michelle´s pairing worked well. I thought the scene where Michelle had a bad reaction to Ed wanting Holly to help him babysit Robbie was incredibly well done and led to a nice moment between Holly and Ed. I thought the stalker storyline gave the show some general suspense and intrigue which had been missing. Overall, I remember thinking late December, when Conboy started, until late February, when Taggart and Culliton´s work was done airing, was very strong, but I didn´t get the sense that this was going to be sustainable, but I could be wrong. I found Ellen Weston´s work disjointed, but not as miserable others. I could enjoy most of the episode, but really would have no strong attachment to the stories being told. I remember she gave an interview where she took a lot of the story direction ideas from the energy she got from the actors. Matt Bomer gave off an intensity that I could see would have inspired the serial killer angle (not that I support the decision). Similarly, I remember feeling that Marj Dusay was still a bit manic in some of her performances early on as she was recently off playing the nutty Vanessa on ¨All My Children." I could see why Weston made her Reva´s stalker. Again, not a decision I agree with, but one I understood. I thought some of the angles approached were intriguing. The characterization shifted in ways that I didn´t mind (Harley deciding she wanted to focus on being a mother rather than her career as a cop, Josh being an overbearing baseball dad), but I could see why people didn´t enjoy it. I thought they were both elements that hadn´t been done a lot on soaps so I was curious to see how they played out. Jeffrey was trash. I felt incredibly sorry for Troy Kurtis, who was greener than Marty West. To be fair, most of the Weston material I really liked was under Wheeler, which supposedly was being doctored by different people depending on the rumor (Kriezman was said to be one of the people but seemed unlikely based on later work). The way most people feel about late 2002-early 2003, I feel about spring 2004 - early 2005. Kriezman needed to be paired with a strong co-headwriter than Donna Swajeski. Someone who could have made the day to day plotting more entertaining and kept some of his clear biases (i.e. Jonathan) in check. He occasionally had intriguing ideas, had decent filler domestic stuff, but no real sense of how to make the daily plotting work. Given what ¨Days of our Lives" had done to the veteran cast in 2003-2004, Wheeler should have known that the show could have survived post-Reva. Also, they needed to be realistic about what the story parameters were and stopped building entire stories for people on recurring.

The year was very disjointed. The stories just petered out. One of the big stories in the fall of 2005 was the baby switch (Hope Bauer was passed off as Cassie and Edmundś child). I remember because the first episode of the audio only version that were put online was Michelle coming out of the car accident when her baby was stolen. Then, everyone was gone. Stewart, St. Alban, and MacDonald were all fired. Laura Wright jumped ship to ¨General Hospital.¨ Daniel Cosgrove had played a supporting role in the story and he also jumped ship. This left just Cassie and Olivia who were then positioned into stories that didn work (Cassie/Josh and Olivia / Buzz / Frank). The show became incredibly focused on the love story of Tammy and Jonathan, which was just poorly written. Jonathan would do truly terrible things that hurt Tammy, like having Sandy arrested at the church on Sandy and Tammyś wedding day, and Jonathan was still the hero. Michelle Ray Smith was added as Ava. Then, overnight, Sandy was batshit crazy because they needed a villain for Tammy/Jonathan. I think Sandy´s demise was a repeat of Tony Santos' end a year earlier but only Sandy was more of a psychotic than Tony was.

The argument made was that Jerry ver Dorn was available because he had been put on recurring due to the budget issues. You are absolutely right though, it wasn´t Zimmer´s fault, but that was how it was spun. Just like Wheeler should have fired Zimmer if that was the route she wanted to go, Wheeler should have recast Ed Bauer. Ed´s presence was needed for other stories that were playing out as well. There was an emotional affair brewing between Rick Bauer and Beth Raines that came to a climax in January, 2005, and it couldn´t go much farther because a lot of the drama came form Ed and Lillian seeing their children repeat their mistakes. Also, Michelle was still suffering amnesia and was about to become engaged to Tony. I had forgotten about Mary Beth Evans. I think Kimberlin Brown played Paige on a recurring basis, and they wanted to make the role contract. I was watching ¨One Life to Live" at this point because I was curious about what Dena Higley was doing (I thought her work the first time at ¨Days of our Lives" had been so bland, but was intrigued by the Daniel Coulson stuff). I think Mary Beth Evans was offered the role when Brown left and Cady Huffman came on. I remember they only signed Huffman for six months. Wasn´t August, 2005, about the time that Nora went into the coma? Now the six month contract makes more sense. Anyway, I think Crystal Chappell was up for the role in late 2005 when they were Huffman´s contract was up. Valentini, I believe, wanted Chappell. Beth Chamberlain had supposedly also auditioned for the part. Typically, I wasn´t impressed with Beth Chamberlin. Under Raunch her material tended to be weak. The Lorlei story was bad. I think Chamberlin did some of her stronger work on recurring. Collins' run was cut short because of the turn over in executive producers. Raunch hired Collins with the understanding that Collins' would have needed time off to promote the book she was releasing. I suspect Collins´ took the job thinking it would give her additional exposure, even though she didn´t need it. Collins was suppose to be on for about six months, but, when Raunch left, Mary-Ann Dwyer Dobbins was a brief interim EP, not even sure if she was credited, wouldn´t release Collins for her book tour appearances so she left. I want to say that John Conboy´s first episode or one of his first episodes was Marj Dusayś first episode.

I started watching in 1998. I started middle school and got home from school around 2:45 so I could either choose ¨Guiding Light" or ¨General Hospital." The episodes I taste tested were on the same day. On GH, Brenda and her mother were driving over a cliff. On GL, Cassie learned that she was in disbelief that she was pregnant with Hartś baby. The GL situation seemed more compelling. Most of middle school I watched GL, but I think I dipped a bit in high school (if I recall, SoapNet was airing early 80s ¨Ryan´s Hope¨ in 2002 and I found that more consistently compelling). I thought 2004 of ¨Guiding Light¨ was strong, but I associate that with a very specific point in my life. I thought Wheeler initially made the show very compelling. I loved a lot of the family scenes and the approach to the material. I loved the warehouse bombing storyline. I thought the staging of ¨Romeo & Juliet" was intriguing. I liked Olivia manipulating the Spauldings by first lying that Emma was dead and then using her mere presence to manipulate them. I found the daily episodes the most compelling in my viewing years. I remember there was a scene where Olivia crashes Bill Lewis' bachelor party to Daniel Beddingfield´s ¨James Dean¨ because Olivia learned Bill had secretly been acquiring Spaulding stock during the SEC investigation. This was playing out with Danny and Jeffrey staging a warehouse bombing that would lead to Eden´s death. While Eden´s death was faked, a curious Michelle went to investigate and got caught up in the explosion. There was a scene with Danny in the hotel room telling someone that he was finally free and able to live happily ever after wiht Michelle while a siren blared in the background that was going off to the bombing to deal with Michelleś injuries. There was a very brief story where the younger set participated in a contest where they could earn a job at Spaulding clearly inspired by ¨The Apprentice.¨ There was a scene where Tammy, knowing she was losing, decided to prance around in her bathing suit for a car wash which pissed off Lizzie. Meanwhile, Sandy was lusting after Marina, his brother´s girlfriend. Phillip had returned and was looking to make life hell for Olivia. There was a very silly set of scenes where Phillip made Olivia wear a red dress to some sort of gala event, where I think they revealed that Alexandra had been Brad Green´s contact at Spaulding for the drug ring. I think that transition period (March-July 2004) was just remarkable. Early Kriezman was enjoyable as well. Dinah was impersonating Cassie throughout Europe leading to Dinah´s return to Springfield, which caused tension in Blake and Ross' marriage. The end of Roger story was enjoyable. The impersonation story was one of my favorite stories with JB arriving, Sandy saving Tammy from being hit by a car, Tammy and Jonathan growing closer, the confession by Sandy that Jonathan was really his son, and the realization how twisted Jonathan was by deflowering his own cousin to purposefully hurt Reva, who had taken Tammy in briefly earlier in the year after Tammy was embarassed by her own crush on Edmund. By January, 2005, I could feel the switch. I know some credit it to Lorraine Broderickś departure (she had been working as a breakdown writer I believe). There was just a change. The first set of stories Kriezman had planned were wrapping up and the next set were terrible. I watched a bit from February until April intermittenly. I think May, 2005, was the last solid month. Once they revealed Phillip was alive, a storyline we were suppose to invest in, I was pretty sure the show was done. I saw some episodes in July. The last episode I remember watching in any sort of series of episodes had Reva holding Nate/Alfred hostage and really giving him hell about what he had done to her son with Zimmer playing both the angry, the pain, and the love for Jonathan all at once. It was a strong scene, but I knew we weren going anywhere. I saw some episodes here and there. I tried to watch around February, 2009 when Jill Lorie Hurst was writing and she was getting a lot of praise. I watched the episode where Coop (a half-baked character at best) died, which was incredibly strong and then ended with Buzz crying over some totally inappropriate song. I´m not even sure I watched much of the final episodes. I did tune in for the finale.