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Marland actually did it three times. He originally told the incest story on "A New Day in Eden" with Emmett and Cynthia Clayborn. Cynthia was played by Britt Heflin who ended up playing Lily Slater #2 on "Loving." Nixon also retold the story with Ceara Connor on "All My Children." Based on the research in the "Loving" bible, I suspect that Nixon pitched Palmer and Nina Cortlandt as an incestuous relationship. Her notes state that any relationship that left the child feeling uncomfortable could be deemed incest. When Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy were writing "Loving," Stephanie Brewster has a memory of her mother Deborah accusing Malcolm Brewster, Stephanie's father and Deborah's soon to be ex-husband, of having unnatural feelings for Steffi, which led to Malcolm cutting himself out of Steffi and Deborah's lives. Back in 1984, not only was the Slater story killed by the network, it was towards the start of a new contract cycle in January, 1984. Despite the credo of not mentioning the story, June Slater returns for one more episode at the end of March 1984, probably with Ann Williams still under contract, revealing that Lily's condition had deteriorated and that Jack Forbes needed to move on.

I've finished watching "Tribes" this summer. Mary Ryan Munisteri definitely mimicked the style of storytelling for the youth stories on "Loving" in the tailend of 1991 into early 1992. The drug dealer who had been supplying Matt Ford ended up in the band with Matt and the others with Ally eventually flirting with one of the other band members. This was a replay of the Matt Kubiak / Melinda Cox / Billy Pressfield situation with Jojo (the show's resident bad boy) being brought into the band as well. Similarly, the situation with Ally Rescott becoming emotionally attached to Giff Bowman while her parents marriage broke up is very similar to Stacey Cox's relationship with her science teacher Mr. Stevens. Most of this though played out after Munisteri departed. I would bet the original plan was for the third leg of the Ally / Matt story was to be Revel Bowman, Giff's son who has been mentioned around Christmas. Actually, I am almost positive now that Addie Walsh used whatever storybible had written for the first part of 1992 to wrap up the stories while she built up the canvas she wanted. The social issue stories were relevant to both series. I think Matt overdosing on heroine is one of the most dramatic moments in the show's history and shocking given how short a run the character had on the show. Even the presentation of Matt's story, being accused of a rape committed by his stepfather, is a storytelling style that was popular on "Tribes" where the kids stories were reactionary to what their parents were doing. Ally was similar in that most of her story was in reaction to her parents divorce.

Thanks. I don't know if I ever saw Bonnie Bartlett perform as Vanessa before.

Patricia Englund's character Dr. Jamie Larson was said to be Scott Phillips' half-sister. Did they ever clarify if she was related to his mother or his father? I find it interesting because, while Scott wasn't present, family members from both side were. Scott was Suzy Martin Wyatt's half-brother and Ellie Bergman was Scott's aunt or cousin on his mother's side. Also, I don't know if the episode is online or not, I think it isn't, but there is an episode set in San Marcos in October 1985 with a postal clerk. The actor credited is Tony Rivera, I think, but I'm pretty sure it is Tony Shaloub. Has anyone else considered this before?

Not to continue the train off-topic too much, but I've interacted with the buyer before. He is a very fair man from my experiences and has a genuine passion for the genre. I would highly recommend him. For many years, he was a trade only individual when I first started on soap message boards in the late 1990s. I think not wanting to buy from someone is fine, but I don't think this is an unreasonable person. It's not like the asking price is incredible high or the market for this is incredible big. Also, he did at one time post on this board. Also, from my understanding, this episode isn't for sale, unlike "The Secret Storm" episode. I've only seen him offer to trade it with someone for this "All My Children" episode. I am always happy to see new material find its way out in the open. Eventually, this makes its way into the public sphere once it enters the market.

@Paul Raven Sorry. I ended up going in a hole of "Road of Life" searching without actually sharing anything. The final years seem to be dominated by a lot of turnover in the actors playing the roles. As TV became the dominant medium, I imagine a lot of actors who made the move to television no longer had the time or ability to perform on the daytime radio soaps. As a result you have a lot of turnover in key roles. Paul McGrath is more than likely the final Dr. Jim Brent. He first appeared in September 1958 and the show wrapped up in the first week of January 1959. There's about a year (July 1957-August 1958) where I cannot find anyone listed in the role as Jim. I am pretty sure he appears, but I'm not sure if Don McLaughlin was in the role until 1958 or if there were another actor in between McLaughlin and McGrath. Though, I am beginning to wonder if Brent may not have been offscreen for a bit in January - March 1957 (or 1958 I have to check) in Mexico because of McLaughlin's part on "As the World Turns." Similarly, several actresses played Jocelyn post-Virginia Dwyer. Teri Keane assumed the role by September 1955. She was there for about a year or so. She was replaced in 1957 with Lenka Peterson. In 1958, Pat Wheel returned to the role of Jocelyn. I cannot find any newspaper listings confirming Pat Wheel, but I am almost positive I read about Wheel resuming the role in one of the old TV Mirrors online. I think Bobby Readick was the final Dr. John Brent. I believe there was another actor in the Frank Dana role towards the end as well. I mistakenly wrote that Elizabeth Lawrence was Jocelyn, when she was Francie. I'm not sure if she was there until the end. John and Franice Brent took the lead for a bit in 1957-1958 with Francie's ex-boyfriend, Cable, arriving on the scene from her days in Chicago around the time she also started working for Ed Malloy, a multimillionaire, who arrived in Merrimac in August 1957. John Brent became obsessed with social status and used his inheritance from Aunt Reggie to improve their lifestyle. To keep up with the payments, John became involved in gambling and with loan sharks. This placed strain on his marriage to Francie, which I would assume pushed her towards Cable, but I don't think Francie and John broke up. Cable, who had been a physical trainer for a baseball team, became involved in the newspaper business and ended up married to Nicole Malloy, who had some neuroses related to her mother's mental decline. I imagine Francie's professional involvement with wealthy Ed Malloy also made Brent a bit more driven to elevate his status. I now suspect that the Overton clan was deemphasised in mid to late 1956. Charles Dingle, the actor who was playing Conrad Overton, passed away in January 1956. Another actor, who's name I have not been able to locate, assumed the role until at least June 1956 when Sybil was involved in yet another trial. I suspect Dingle's passing is what spurred the exit of the Overtons. I imagine Abbey Lewis and Doug Parkihurst may have departed around the same time if they hadn't already. I'm also unsure at what point the show wrote off Malcolm and his wife, Augusta, who I imagine may have departed before the tv series began, but I am unsure if she reappeared. With Conrad Overton gone, Ed Malloy became the heavy in the story. He was at war with Frank Dana presumably over the way Ed tried to control the newspaper with his money and power. The animosity between the two escalated when Frank's (adopted) son Tom Dana returned from college in the summer of 1957 when Gabrielle Malloy, Ed's daughter by his late first wife, also returned. Tom and Gabrielle fell in love in a "Romeo and Juliet" style story that kept them apart. Gabrielle was dragged into some legal matters involving Ed and Frank which would have caused her to testify against her father. Frank eventually recruited Cable to work as an editor at the paper which meant that now Malloy's son-in-law was working in the enemy camp. Cable, and I believe Nicole, both began to suspect that Ed may have in fact been behind his first wife's untimely death. This would have placed Malloy's new wife, Sybil Overton, at risk after she and Malloy forged Jim Brent's name on papers in April 1958 in order to marry without waiting for a blood test. Cable threatened to use the newspaper in August 1958 to do an expose on the mysterious passing and Ed ended up fleeing from justice in late 1958. In January 1959, Sybil was informed that Malloy had perished in a plane crash, most likely one of the three cliffhangers spoken of in Charles Gussman's obituary. I suspect Tom Dana may have shot Frank Dana as well thinking Frank might have been Ed Malloy, but that's pure conjecture. I'm realizing more and more that Dr. Jim Brent and Jocelyn really are regulated to the sidelines in the final years, more likely than not because of the constant turnover in actors and actresses. I wouldn't be surprised if McLaughlin stayed until late in the show's run (summer 1958) but that they had to keep Jim on the sidelines becasue of McLaughlin's workload on "As the World Turns." The last big Jim Brent story seems to be Brent's involvement with Hopehaven Sanitarium, a crooked old age home where his Aunt Reggie Ellis was interred. Aunt Reggie defended the charltan doctors at this hospital before falling victim to neglect and dying in June or July 1956/1957. Sybil became involved with Randy Ogden, a financier involved with the hospital who was also involved in mismanaging Aunt Reggie's money. Jim spent the better part of the year trying to bring the responsibile parties to justice, which he did. Also, briefly, as a part of the story, Sybil was looking to make amends with people as her involvement with the criminal element had led her to loose custody of her daughter. Jocelyn, post-TV, seems to have a few stories. I think she would have given birth to her and Jim's child on radio while wrapping up the love triangle between herself and Armand Monet and Jim with her going back to Jim. When Jim went missing in Mexico, it is Jocelyn who was leading the search to find her husband. Charles Gussman would have written this entire period. I easily think this could have played out on television more successfully than what actually played out on TV. Most of "The Road of Life's" run is fairly compelling to me, barring the two or three year period where Howard Teichmann pushes out the medical angle and inserts a spy ring involved in trying to steal the research Jim Brent is doing for a government lab. As a part of the spy ring plot, Carol Brent, Jim's decade long love interest, is killed off and replaced with a doppleganger, Beth Lambert, who infilitrates the Brents lives in order to get access to the research. The plot is resolved in mid-1950 before Gussman shifts the story from spies to the complicated relationship between the Brents and the Overtons, who I believe he created. If there is any interest, recently about two and half months of episodes from 1944-1945 were released from a radio fan's collection. What's most interesting about the period is its from the time the show switched filming locations from Chicago to New York so there should be an entirely new set of voices playing role after four or five episodes. I haven't listened yet, but it seems like it might be of some interest to those here. https://archive.org/details/RoadOfLifeJHMC

These 1985 episodes have been great fun. I'm not a fan of the Jonathan storyline, but it's well produced. I'm a bit more ambivalent to the 1990s replay with Gilbert and Jeremy retelling the story. With that in mind though, I think Nixon wanted to try and recapture the gothic understones. It only sorta works in my opinion. I am constantly thinking of different ways the show could have told different stories. In one of my latest alternate timelines, I maintain the gothic tone by bringing in Rita Mae and Billy Bristow much later, after the Slater story had reached its initial conclusion. In my revised version, I went with a revised version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Billy Bristow is Billy Rescott, one of Kate's boys who finally made it out of Corinth on a football scholarship only to end up in a car accidnet with his best friend leaving Billy Rescott physically disfigured. Rita Mae was the social climbing wife who convinces Billy to buy the Slater house because it's a beautiful house below market value because no one in Corinth wants to own the house where a murder happened. Rita Mae would hire Forbes Construction to do some remodeling to spruce the place up, but also so there would be a deluge of young men in and out of the house. Billy would end up working on his memoirs with Doug Donovan, who in my version almost 100% of the time is gay. Billy would soften over time as Doug pushed him to accept that he is not the monster he has made himself out to be, with Merrill Vochek in the background determined to get a scope on the accident the ruined Billy's career and took the life of Billy's friend and lover. I'd probably have Mike Donovan develop a friendship with Billy, or rekindle if they played high school football together, and let Mike learn the truth after bedding down with Rita Mae. Given the climate of ABC daytime of the 1980s, I mean even today, this would be unlikely but I still like to dream. In real time 1985, I think the Stacey / Jack story is strong foundational, but the dialogue could be crisper. I get that the posh Aldens would be scandalized by Jack and Stacey's affair, but Clay is still missing at this point and Cabot's son-in-law has stolen the company from him during a medical crisis. A messy divorce and custody battle seems pretty tame by comparison. I would like to see them lean in more to the Donovan's faith. I know they've already done this before, but the scandal stuff seems a bit much at times. I do root for Stacey and Jack even in the material as it is presented. I also really like Dane and Gwyn. It's a shame they were never able to keep Anthony Herrera around too long or never thought to recast the character. Dane is the kind of Gatsby-esque insider/outsider that is needed to keep the Aldens on their toes and give them someone to show an united front against. I like how they've positioned the two affair storylines with Ann at the center of one and inline to react poorly to the other based on her own experiences. The reporter blindsiding Lorna in an interview is replayed in a few months (November 1985) when Christy Conners (Lois Robbins) asks Lorna about Linc Beecham's wife. I would have linked the Beechams and Rita Mae. Not that they had to be related, but maybe Rita Mae grew up in the same town. It would have given the Beechams a bit more ties to Corinth. It's very interesting to see Rita Mae free of Billy. Sheri deciding she wants to keep the baby is just great. I love it. Ava is such a selfish, self involved individual. I don't think I realized they had made Tug and Jack friends. Here's to hoping for a few more to pop up.

@SAPOUNOPERA I actually don't disagree on the tonal issues with the stories you mentioned. Hunter Belden convincing Dolly Jones that her daughter had been adopted out to child pornagraphers has to be one of the most tasteless stories told. The Jonathan/Keith story just wasn't the kind of story that worked for a show like "Loving" as initially conceived. I imagine it was suppose to be a form of spiritual successor to the dark, gloomy Slater family drama that had opened the show's first year, but I don't think it worked. Possibly, the show may have thought the same of Hunter Belden's and Alan Howard's stories. Recently, I've begun to wonder if the show was planning on recasting Merrill Vochek in the summer of 1984. After Doug Donovan marries Edy, Doug goes off to California to turn his book into a television series. He ends up getting a co-writer, Stephanie, a journalist who was interested in developing a story based on the Van Ark murder. Stephanie appears to be a potential love interest for Doug. it would have made sense if that journalist was in fact Merrill, working with Doug on the series while also actively working on a case that would have revealed Doug's wife to be a liar. I'm thinking that someone nixed the Merrill return and instead developed the Stephanie character. I'm curious if the plan was to keep Roger longterm after Shearin departed. John Shearin's last appearance is at the end of his first 13-week cycle. Peter Brown starts in September 1983 with a four month contract (this was stated in the press) before being written out in January 1984. Roger doesn't die until March/April when the show reintroduces Ann in the form of Callan White. It's a shame that Merrill wasn't given the moment to grieve Roger as I think that would have been a nice beat to play. Anyway, the bigger crime wasn't writing out Roger, but not bringing him back at some point to cause some havoc.

Interesting to see that Marland is already out as headwriter by the end of May as is his creator credit. Eugene Price is listed first under writers. I haven't watched all of it, but it's great to see more of Betsy Burr as Noreen. Noreen and Mike Donovan were an interesting conflict for Jim and Shana. I'm not a huge fan of the Jonathan tale. I think the first part with him as a sinister serial killer is dark and gloomy, but the second round with the devil stuff isn't my cup of tea. Given Jim's profession, I can see why this would be intriguing, but it's just goes against the tone of the show's premise. @SAPOUNOPERA Part of the problem with the premise was that the characters that were heavily outlined in the bible (Merrill, Roger, June Slater, Lily) were not always the ones that jumped off the screen. Jennifer Ashe's Lily is very intriguing and given her trajectory in daytime Ashe could have clearly taken Lily in many different directions, but ABC politics is always cited as the reason Lily's story was discontinued. Roger and Merrill didn't really work. I think the show was more successful using the affair angle with Stacey Donovan and Jack Forbes later when Jack was married to Ava and carrying on behind her back. Young, Catholic Stacey wondering how she became the type of girl who would sleep with a married man came off as more sympathetic than Merrill Vochek's blaise view of love and marriage. Shana's independent career woman was a more palatable character because Jim was only cheating with her on God not some alcoholic housewife. Susan Walters' Lorna emerging as a central character was a smart move, though her more ambigious anti-heroine was more santized with Parker O'Hara and emerged as a traditional heroine. A grave mistake. Similarly, Christopher Marcantel's cheeky and conniving Curtis was shifted into more story, but never to the level he should have risen to. It probably would have made things too neat, but an Ava / Curtis / Stacey / Jack situation where Curtis and Stacey were either involved or very much unlikely friends would have been something I felt that could have been pursued further. To me, Dane, Shana, Ava, and Gwyn were all great additions that gave the show a bolt of energy that was very much absent in the original canvas. They were much needed catalysts for plot movement that was rarely occuring in those early episodes. Of the characters absent at this point that I would have liked to see around still from the original structure would be Doug and Merrill, but both probably in more supporting roles than anything else. Billy doesn't appeal to me. Roger's death opened up story and his inevitable return would have caused more ripples in the canvas. The Slater story had a beginning, middle, and end. I think exploring the Slater women forging ahead after years of abuse would have been a positive message to send, but I think allowing Lily should have returned in January 1986 right before both Jack and Stacey and Curtis and Ava married as a potential third leg to both relationships.

I agree that Higley, Whitsell, and Tomlin managed to reinvigorate a show that had mostly atrophied from years of neglect and was on life support. Besides the things you already mentioned (the baby switch, Chappell and Sorel's returns, and working within a budget), this regime focused on emotional outcomes, building storylines to payoff, and building non-romantic relationships between characters in order to keep time between signifcant story beats interesting. Intergenerational story telling also really helped. The show also, I think this is really important, was no longer being run with the philosophy that super couples had to be front and center and dominating a majority of the storytelling. Avoiding those sacred cows helped a lot. Characters also no longer returned just because they were big names. There had to be enough reasons suddenly to justify why they were returning on contract for a two year period. Vivian returned to enact revenge on Carly for killing Lawrence in November, but, by December, there were already interactions with Victor and Kate regarding Phillip and it was clear what Vivian's second arc was going to be once the revenge story was over. Similarly, Chappell was returning as a Bo / Carly spoiler, but the Melanie angle was eventually going to give way to the Carly / Daniel angle. The show was written as if it was a show that had the possibility of staying on the air. In the end, I dipped out for a bit during Nighttime Hope. I thought the tribute for Alice Horton, and Francis Reid, was lovely and full of great moments (Bill wondering what life would have been like with Kate, Kim and Shane's reconcilliation after years apart, Jen/Mike/Bill/Laura all together), but I think it was a mistake to wholesale stop the rest of the show to tell that story for a month or so. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have done it, but rather that material, even if filmed in advance, should have been spread out over time. Regarding Hope's point of view, what I remember from that time was the show was driven by a series of female characters (Sami, Nicole, Hope, Chloe, Carly, Melanie). According to what Higley wrote, from prior to Whitsell and Tomlin arriving, the bone of contention in Hope and Bo's relationship stemmed from their son Zach's death and the fact that Bo kept Hope in the dark about his daughter Chelsea's role in it. At the time, I don't think this had been brought up much prior to Higley's arrival, and I was willing to go with the fact that losing a child would have a huge impact on a marriage and it wasn't something that would have been easily resolved. Almost all of the stories Bo and Hope had in that era revolved around that dynamic. After Bo had hid evidence that may have implicated Phillip in Paul Hollingsworth's disappearance, Hope was offered the position of chief of police which would have put her over Bo, but she didn't accept the position. When Hope was suspended for shooting Kayla, the specific reason Hope went on leave was because her superior office, Bo, did not give her permission to fire her weapon and he had done so because he hadn't told her about his visions. Ciara's kidnapping in the summer had a similar issues. It was all driven by emotion and it was effective. To me, the end of Higley/Whitsell/Tomlin was a combination of things. As I recall, the show was preparing for the possibility that Allison Sweeney might not return by re-introducing Taylor Walker. The idea was smart, but the execution (and casting) were pure misery. The Taylor/EJ/Nicole stuff was just bad. At the same time, Shelley Heining and Jay Kenneth Johnson had elected not to renew their contracts with Mark Hapka's contract being terminated after a rather contentious conflict with TPTB over the fact that Nathan did little more than pine for Melanie. Heining's wedding day breakdown where Nathan confronts Stephanie over her lies and involvement in Parker's paternity switch is one of my favorite "Days of our Lives" confrontations to this day. To me, blowing up the Nathan/ Melanie/ Phillip/ Stephanie quad was a bigger issue than is often cited in the downfall of the show in 2011. Having to reset that story, after just resetting the Nicole storyline was too much. It was very clear where it was all going. Nathan and Melanie, after learning about both Stephanie and Phillip's deception, would have reunited with Melanie's pregnancy being the lingering shadow that kept Phillip in Melanie and Nathan's life. Melanie's miscarriage was inevitable as it would be the motivation for Melanie and Phillip to reunite and provide a united family front for Phillip to gain custody of Parker. Meanwhile, I imagine Stephanie would have become involved with Dario and played something akin to the Patch/Kayla romance before having Nathan try to "save" her. God I loved Nathan and Melanie. Fake Rafe and Nighttime Hope were the weakest spots of that era for sure. I actually liked the Dimera / Kiriakis war. Though, I also liked Carly's drug dependency and Chloe's post-partum induced prostitution stint so I'm not really the best judge of character lol

I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't hate the Bo/Carly/Hope story. I felt Kristian Alfonso did some of her strongest work in those scenes where Carly showed up at Maggie Horton's house after Mickey had died and Hope confronted Carly about the affair. To me, that was just really solid soap opera. I also loved how when Hope learned that Carly had a child out there, she contemplated that Bo might be the father, but dismissed it because she knew that Bo wouldn't keep that from her. When I had started watching in the 1990s, Carly and Bo were the couple and I adored them. I liked them being reunited even though it was clear from the beginning that Carly was an obstacle and there was no plan to keep Carly and Bo together. If anything, there wasn't enough story to tell with Bo and Carly at the center of it as a couple. Carly was clearly intended for Daniel Jonas and was pretty quickly thrust into the Daniel / Chloe / Philip / Melanie / Nathan saga with playing Chloe's confidante. It worked because of Bo's connection to Phillip and Daniel. I really enjoyed Chloe and Phillip's one night stand and all the complicated mess that came out of it. With that said, Bo and Carly were a couple mostly in name only. Bo spent most of the same time period involved in the Nighttime Hope stuff, as I recall. To be fair, in some ways, Higley's second round at "Days of our Lives" was a much quieter show than it had been in many years and that was quite an adjustment for cast and viewers. I really enjoyed Bo and Hope integrated into the canvas more than having the need for them to drive story 24/7. I actually really enjoyed angsty Bo and Hope driven by the unresolved feelings from Zach's death, Bo's need to be in control, and Hope's stubborness in reacting to Bo's possessiveness. I think the show could have done a better job with the break up Bo and Carly. For me, Bo's hero complex was at the center of his romantic stories of that time and examining how Bo ultimately needed to save someone would have been interesting if that was part of the manifestation of Carly's drug dependency. Also, I wish post-prison Hope and Bo had a longer reconilliation period, not so much rocked by massive threats to their relationship, but rather two adults trying to navigate a happy medium before settling down again. Also, with a stronger sense of community, characters could react to other people's stories during that time and it was still meaningful.

Adrienne had been reintegrated into Salem before Sonny arrived. Kurth returned as Justin in the summer of 2009 when Daniel Jonas was accused of poisoning Chloe. Kate was the actual culprit at the time going after the couple because of the ongoing affair Daniel and Chloe had while Chloe was married to Lucas and Daniel had been involved with Kate. At the time, it appeared the show was planning on playing a Justin / Hope relationship as Hope and Bo had been struggling the last year with residual resentment stemming from Zach's death. While Justin was defending Daniel, Hope and Bo were dealing with a kidnapping involving Ciara by some cop that worked for the Salem PD (Dean played by Nick Stabile). Given how stories were told at the time, I believe Bo, once again, made the decision to ice Hope out of the decision making process just as they had started to make some leeway on making things better (Hope had forgiven Chelsea before Rachel Melvin departed the show). With Bo acting alone, Hope found solace in Justin's arms. By November, Justin and Adrienne had divorced (offscreen) and Carly Manning had returned in October on the run after murdering Lawrence Alamain. A relationship between Hope and Justin was described in previews, I believe, but it was scrapped and instead the show went with Nighttime Hope. Adrienne returned in late March or early April 2010 during the start of the Nightime Hope story. Adrienne arrived to see Justin in the hospital after he had been clobbered by the mysterious attacker who had targetted powerful men (I believe other victims included Abe Carver and Charles Woods, the district attorney who had raised Chad). Adrienne was used as a voice of reason for her niece Stephanie Johnson as well as playing some romantic tension between her and Justin. She also bought the Cheatin' Heart and operated as the owner/manager. In May 2011, the show married Justin and Adrienne offscreen in preparation for Sonny's arrival in June 2011. Other than Marlene MacPhearson and Darrell Ray Thomas, most subsequent writers used Adrienne pretty consistently until she was killed off, which was a shame in my opinion.

I believe when Adrienne was brought back in 2007 after Bonnie Lockhart departed town they made Judi Evans wear a darker wig. I don't know if she wore it the entire run, but I seem to recall her donning darker hair during some sort of kidnapping.

Thanks @DRW50 @te. There were six 90-minute episodes produced and aired, but they didn't air with any consistency. Two episodes premiered in June, 1983, and then a single episode every month until October, 1983. In the summer of 1984, the show was re-run with some frequency with up to two different episodes being repeated. In terms of Showtime, it doesn't surprise me that they didn't care about "Lone Star Bar & Grill." In 1982, Showtime has launched "Romance" which was a romantic anthology. It was a story told in 5 parts. Some of it was developed for the network, but at least one story, "33 Brompton Place," was simply bought from another country and repackaged under the "Romance" banner. By November, Marland's "New Day in Eden" was launched with "Romance" folding in December. "Loving Friends, Perfect Couple" launched in January, 1983. "New Day in Eden" would air two episodes a week before rerunning six of the previous episodes in the course of a single week. These reruns ended in May, 1983, right before "Lone Star" came around.

I'm very sorry to hear about Robyn Griggs. My grandmother was a fan of the NBC shows so I remember watching some of "Another World." Tomas and Maggie (as played by Robyn Griggs) stood out as did the triangle with Angela. It seemed very much like the Sami, Austin, and Carrie story on the show proceeding it, but there was something different. Tomas and Maggie seemed more relatable. I don't know if it Maggie's look (Griggs looked like the teenager girls my cousins were friends with) or the fact that Tomas wasn't a dunce (at least I don't recall him being as dense as Austin Reed), but there was something really nice about them.

I clipped a bunch of stuff on “Road of Life” years ago that I’m starting to review. I had forgotten that after Teri Keane played Jocelyn that Elizabeth Lawrence briefly played her. Gussman would have done well in televised daytime. I’ll see what I can put together this weekend of the final years of RoL. I know that Jim Brent lingered in the Mexican desert for several weeks at some point after a car accident tied to a government project, Aunt Reggie was bilked out her fortune by Randy Ogden before dying of neglect in a shady nursing home, Francis’s old flame Cabe came to town and tempted Francis while also seducing(and I believe marrying) Nicole Malloy. “The Road of Life” and the final run of “Right to Happiness” sound incredibly strong. I wish more material was available.

Just to clarify, despite Irna Phillips claims, she was not the creator of "The Brighter Day" or "Young Doctor Malone." "Brighter Day" was created by Orin Torov and "Young Doctor Malone" is from John Pickard and Frank Provo. Irna usurped control of "Brighter Day" from Orin Torov, who had set the show in the same universe as his hit series "Ma Perkins." There was once a rather bleak letter from Orin Torov to one of the actresses (maybe Liz Dennis) informing her of his termination. I don't know if the "Joyce Jordan" story is true either about the characters starting out on one and moving to the other. Though, I know when "Women in White" ended the characters were shuffled around. I believe Karl Webber ended up on "The Road of Life" as his WiW character Dr. Kirk Harding. I don't know how long Provo and Pickard wrote for "Young Doctor Malone," but one of the men served during World War II and I believe that impacted their writing stint. Charles Gussman was the final writer for nearly a decade for "The Road of Life." He was the one who introduced the wealthy, dysfunctional Overton clan until he replaced them with the even more psychological complex and wealthy Malloy family. Tying the two together as a sort of right of passage, Sybil Overton ended up marrying Ed Malloy, the patriarch of the family, in April/May 1958 as the show was in its final year. Malloy's three children included Nicole (a neurotic who believed she would suffer the same fate as her late mother), Quentin, and Gabrielle (who ended up in a starcrossed lovers story with Frank Dana's college aged adopted son Tommy). I believe the mystery looming over the show at the end was whether or not Ed Malloy had killed his first wife, the mother of his children.

Paul McGrath was the final Dr. Jim Brent. I think Patricia Wheel returned as Jocelyn in 1957/1958 after being the originator of the role in 1950/1951.

We will probably never know what happened unless somewhere correspondence between the two pops up or some network executive has some insight. The closest thing I have been able to gather comes from Patrick Mulcahey, who wrote scripts for Marland at "Loving" in the first year. I'm pretty sure I have another Mulcahey quote in here somewhere, but this one is from Santa Barbara Online How did you start in Santa Barbara ? Thereby hangs a tale. After working with Douglas Marland on Guiding Light and then on Loving, which I hated (and where Agnes Nixon was like some psychotic schoolmarm on speed, making copious condescending red-pen "corrections" in the margins of scripts - "You used the same word on page 2 and on page 34 ! Too repetitive !") - after that, I decided I was done with writing for soaps. Douglas was the best. He'd taught me more about writing than any ten literature professors ever could have, plus I'd won an Emmy. I figured I'd never have another experience like that, so I decided go back to what I knew best : waiting on tables and writing plays at night and being a starving artist again. He has given the same variation on this response over the years in several interviews. I thought he did a similar one with WeLoveSoaps, but WeLoveSoaps is linking me to Nelson Branco's column. Either way, Mulcahey has made it abundantly clear of his displeasure for working with Nixon. To be fair, this was a woman trained by Irna Phillips so I'm sure she felt she was providing much softer feedback than she would have received, but it doesn't seemed to be received well. I cannot imagine Marland felt much differently. Marland's creator credit appears to be due to the fact that he was the show's original headwriter. Nixon wrote the bible by herself which outlined Lily's sexual abuse, the Roger / Merrill affair, and Mike Donovan's descent as a result of his failure to seek treatment for PTSD. Nixon made it clear that she felt she deserved credit for creating "Search for Tomorrow" because she was the headwriter for the first thirteen weeks even though Winsor created the concept. Marland's credit would appear to be something that Nixon agreed to on the basis that he was the first headwriter and knew that that influence would set the foundation for the show. How it went away would be more speculation. There seems to be no legal drama involved so either Marland didn't care or maybe there was some sort of financial settlement.

This period seems so strong for the show. You can see why in a few years time it ended up on television, but the television year is probably one of the least satsifying story moments in my opinion. What comes before here and what comes after is so much better. I don't remember what the reason Conrad hates Jim Brent or what trouble Hugh Overton presents, but I just love what Charles Gussman has done by transitioning the show away back to a more domestic drama set in a hospital compared to the last few years where a Carol Brent doppleganger is revealed to be a foreign spy and other less than stellar stories. I do think Carson McVickers, Jim's love interest before Jocelyn is interesting, but this set up with the Overtons and the Brents is just very strong. Also, when the show transitions from the Overtons to the Malloys in the final year or two, I think the story still remains strong. I wonder if the show increased the action due to the decision to televise the show as the show remains mostly family conflicts and such throughout the other parts of the show's run. Mostly I just want to see the story where Sybil decides to dump her child with her maid Pearl, who in turns gives the child to Malcolm and Augusta Overton who try to adopt the child until Sybil decides to change her mind and go back after the child again pitting brothers Malcolm and Conrad Overton against each other. This just seems like such a precursor to all the baby switch plots of the last decade and a half.

Interesting, @Paul Raven. From April to August 1965, Frank Provo and John Pickard were headwriters for "Love of Life." At that time, I believe all of their daytime work had been for NBC. I'm curious if AHP hired Provo and Pickard with the intention of having them make the show more in line with what NBC would have wanted. Of course, I could just be putting too much thought into this.

I was watching some May 1985 episodes today. I believe I'm a little farther than the episodes that have been uploaded to YouTube so if you are watching those uploads and don't wish to be spoiled, you've been warned. There are little things that surprise me about this period. Particularly, how long some characters are around for. I didn't realize Justine Calvert was on through May 1985 nor did I realize that she got what resembled an exit. I thought that she, like Alec Kendall, just sort of fell off when the actress' contract expired. With that said, Leslie Stevens wasn't given a formal goodbye scene, but I do like to think that her final scene with Wendy and Quinn was rather suggestive with Quinn and Justine on top of the bed and Wendy under the bed and Justine's lack of shock that she was interupting a romantic moment. If Quinn invited her to join them, I wouldn't have been surprised. On a less salacious exit, I didn't realize Angela Bassett was still appearing as Selina McCulla into May 1985. I figured her final appearance was in April when Ryder was in the hospital. Though here she was again sending someone home from the clinic (possibly Sarah Whiting after her bout with smoke inhalation). I also am impressed that the show has immediately introduced two grandkids for Stu and Jo and thrown them into a triangles with the established crew. Both entrances are suppose to be exciting, but I find them both rather odd. John Loprieno's arrival as Danny Walton during the siege on the Sentell house is wildly over the top and Loprieno plays the excess. To be fair, the direction seems to rely on extreme, nearly frantic performance such as Jane Krawkowski's TR manically delivering her dialogue about her newfound love of fast cars and announcing to Lloyd that he too will die one day. I sorta miss the over the top line reading of A.E. Houseman poetry from earlier in this writing team's run. The romantic pieces have been fun. Liza and Hogan in the cave is great. I really enjoy the decision to lean into Hogan's chauvinism. I also like that they continue to play Liza as an outdoors woman without having to mention that Liza has gone camping with Stu for years. Liza and Hogan's no feelings love affair is delightful. I also love the fact that it is Hogan that seems to have caught feelings while Liza seems more remote in her feelings. Also, I adore Joe Lambie's version of Lloyd as this point even though its very different from Peter Haskell's and very different from the direction the character is heading. Lambie definitely allows Lloyd to show a romantic side that was more emotional and while still guarded like Haskell. With that said, the stronger chemistry, for me at least, is between Lambie and Marcia McCabe, who barely anyone knew how to use during the NBC run. Sunny is still on the sidelines, Hogan is still whining about a woman needing him romantically, and Liza remains deliciously complicated throughout it all. In terms of other fun couplings, I cannot help but love Quinn and Wendy. They are just fun. Their little painting in the bathtub scene is both flirty and hilarious when Wendy realizes the paint is permanent and she cannot get it off before Suzi's wedding. Also, the decision to make Quinn Stephanie's new secretary is delightful. I just love Stephanie's little comment about males taking on secretary roles. The show which was so dry for for so long has a levity to it that I appreciate even though the serious tone was also pretty strong at the tailend of Jeanne Glynn's run. Cagney and Suzi have one of the most bizarre weddings in soap history with Suzi's visions. It's a campy disaster. It dawned on me later when Suzi and Cagney recited their vows in front of Kate in the hospital just how bad the wedding itself was. I did like Kate and Suzi's talk about contraception and couldn't help but think of how that conversation would play out today. I love that Mayer Avila and Braxton's Kate is a over protective helicopter mother who crosses lines in the lives of her children. It's such a sharper characterization in the vein of early Maeve Ryan who I remember in the first year of the show telling Jillian Coleridge she (Maeve) would never accept her (Jill) as her daughter-in-law because in the eyes of God that would always be Delia. I also have come to really like Teri Eoff, and dare say I think I like her more now that I have liked Cynthia Gibb. Eoff just embodies that quiet strength that keeps Suzi from being wallpaper but not abrasive to offend Kate. I know there was some discussion about the show positioning Kate as the matriarch replacing Jo, but I don't see that. Kate's role is clearly antagonistic. I don't see Jo in that vein at all. With that said, one of my favorite moments at the wedding was when Suzi is becoming completely unhinged Stephanie and Jo, who have squabbled during the lead up to the wedding, unite and swarm Suzi with love without judgement in a rare moment of unity. It's really a beautiful thing. I forgot that Braxton and Avila Mayer reveal that the McCleary boys are all going by their middle names. Patrick (Hogan), Liam (Cagney), and Matthew (Quinn). I don't remember if that is continued beyond their run. In some ways, and I'm going to be dodging some bullets here, the McClearys are a better version of the Ryans because they are allowed to fight and not get along. By contrast, I feel like the Kendalls have begun to evolve in a different direction. TR is spiraling. Lambie's Lloyd is enjoyable but such a different character. There seems to be little purpose to Chase who one minute seems like he might be getting back together with Adair and later seems to be seeing a mixologist trainee and buying sports cars. I know they are putting Chase and Quinn in a rivalry, but Chase seems to be floating aimless. Adair as well. I also noticed for the first time that Susan Carey Lamm bares a resemblance (at least to me) to Maeve McGuire, the actress who would play Kate after Lamm was gone. I would have loved to see the two of them play opposite one another. I like the stuff with the Caldwell House. It definitely is a slow build and there are parts I like (the bits with Hibbard giving them grief) and parts I'm not super fond of (the fire), but overall I like it gives Jo and Stu a set piece that will keep them back in the thick of things and gives Jo a rather robust kitchen set which was never fully utilized to its domestic drama potential before the show becomes daytime's answer to "Miami Vice."

Central casting for "For Richer, For Poorer" was lackluster. In the little that has popped up, Darlene Parks and Tom Happer lacked the gravitas to carry the story, which was generic at best and overdone at worst. The story shifting to Richard Backus as Jason Saxton with Julia McKenzie as Laurie Brewster Hamilton was a smart move, but it should have been done to work on finding someone strong to play those major roles. Christine Jones and Rod Arrants are strong actors, but they were pretty much sidelined. I think Jason vs. Austin was an interesting dynamic and Jason marrying Megan as this sort of naive, innocent was interesting, but this wasn't the original concept of Megan. The show did try some things that I wish would pop up. While the gang storyline seems very trite, I would have liked to have seen the pairing between Paco and Wendy Prescott, Edith's goddaughter. This seemed like an attempt to replicate the type of stories "All My Children" was telling. I think Jason arranging for one of Austin's clients with a hooker would have been an interesting sequence as well. I also would love to see more of the affair between Laurie and Jason. What's really crazy to me is how the significant batch of the show's run is overlooked. The show shifted in the final months to Tessa and Lee as one of the lead couples which was such a bizarre idea. Also, Connie Ferguson's amnesia and her involvement with Dennis Romer's Dr. Roy White seems to be a rather significant thread. None of this is overly exciting to me, but its just interesting that its overlooked.

Until I saw this list, I thought it was Susan Seaforth Hayes.

@Joseph If you are asking who cancelled Liza's flight, I believe that was either Aja Doyan or Rusty Sentell. I believe those are holiday episodes from 1982. At the time, Rusty wanted Aja to marry Travis because a stipulation of Rusty's former father-in-law's will left Rusty in charge of a trust for Travis' child. Since Liza had trouble conceiving, Rusty wanted Travis to marry Aja. To keep Liza and Travis apart, Rusty needed to keep them apart so he either made the call to the airline to cancel the flight or had Aja do it. Since I believe Liza was in New York visiting a recording artist or agent that Rusty has arranged, I think he would have cancelled the flight.