dc11786

I think it was Steinmetz, but I'm not sure if he is ever credited for his 1993 or 1994 appearances online or in books.

In early 1995, the Aldens learned Trisha was really alive. This was actually Gwyn Alden's motivation for slaughtering the Alden family in the show's final storyline. I don't remember why, but Trucker decided to exhume Trisha's body in January 1995. In February 1995, Trucker had tracked Trisha down to Rome and learned of her existance. Trisha, now calling herself Crystal Hartman, wrote a letter to the Aldens claiming she had no memory of them and didn't want to disrupt her life in Rome. Later, when Trisha's family and friends were being murdered, Jeff Hartman was contacted. He revealed that Trisha/Crystal had suffered a miscarriage and had lost her sanity. In the final weeks of "Loving," Trisha returned to Corinth and was being sheltered by Gwyn, but Trisha managed to escape again.

Trisha's close friend and psuedo family member Shana almost ran into her Rome in June 1994. Shana and Leo married in Rome and relocated there, departing "Loving." Shana ran into Jeff Hartman there who was worried about Shana discovering he was living in Rome with Trisha.

I was watching a clip of when they started to find out about Cabot being alive (imagine an ABC soap today using actors who were over 70 -- Brian Frons would keel over), and it's so much better than most of what is on now. I never understood why Loving was seen as a bad soap. I guess the constant turnover didn't help with reputation. I also remember how much I liked Steffi. I'm sorry Ameila Heinle has not ever been able to make an impression in a role since then.

I believe "Loving" got a bad rap because it was widely inconsistent for such a duration of its run. Characters came and went, while others changed dramatically. Also, the first five years was dominated by uninspiring couples, mainly Jack and Stacey, Trisha and Steve, and Shana and Jim. While these couples took center stage, none of them seemed to gain the following that a soap like "Loving" needed. I think Alex and Ava were the show's first big couple. This worked because of Alex's ties to the Aldens family. Later, Trisha and Trucker gained a similar following.

Yet, even the story you mention highlights the major problems with "Loving." The return of Cabot Alden really wasn't possible. Cabot died on screen of a heart attack. His granddaughter, well not his biological granddaughter, Trisha watched as he flatlined. Jack Forbes would have made more sense given the scenario and really shaken things up. Anyway, the big reveal during the storyline threatened to shake the show to its core: the Solowsky partriarch had created the product which the Aldens used to create their fortune. A guilt ridden Cabot turned over AE to Kate and Ava. This would have really affected everyone on the canvas. Yet, the storyline was swept under the rug in the end.

Steffi was a wonderful character because she was allowed to play a character who was a complete mess. Heinle made that work, but I don't think she gives off the confidence needed for a character like Victoria Newman. I don't think Heinle's material on "All My Children" was all that great, and this as a person who enjoyed Mia and Edmund's romance. Anyway, Heinle seems casted as a traditional ingenue, which doesn't work.

I've never heard of a cough syrup storyline. Only one I've heard of is Dru on Y&R being delusional from cough syrup and sleeping with Malcolm.

"Loving" never went to the Old West, but they did do a past lives story ala "One Life to Live's" Buchanan City storyline. Trisha began having dreams of a wealthy family in the 1800s. The family servant (Robert Tyler) was accused of stealing something from the home. James Horan played the man who had set him up. Reading old RATS board messages, the plot involved a stolen puzzle box which contained the deed to some land. Thaddeus was the actual culprit, but Mr. Robinson was blamed. Tessa was determined to prove Robinson's innonence and got help from a maid (played by Marisol Massey) and the black sheep of the family, played by whichever actor was playing Jack at the time. This all happened in the spring of 1990.

dc I find your thoughts on this fascinating--i know some of it is speculation but I expect you're more right than wrong. I do think many fot he changes in direction early on were because of pressure to make the show a hit--Agnes as wonderful as she is isn't beneath feelign that pressure and changing things due to it or giving in to some network interference. However I think her period right after Marland left was fairly brief--but I cna't be sure but it seems her name was out of the writing credits fairly soon. Still I think under her the show was better than not (I agree with her second tenure later dropping the Cradle foudnation story when she left was a mistake0> i think you're right that stories, actors, characters, everything had too quick turnaround but again this was probably partly due to ABC getting upset that ratings remained so low. And yeah I think Agnes playe d apart with the Coop story etc (which started off SOO strong and then was sorta ditched... the story of Loving's life sadly)

It's entirely possible that Nixon was under pressure, yet supposedly she still had enough clout to get the timeslot shifted. The year-to-year ratings early on showed "Loving" gaining momentum despite the constant turnover. Maybe ABC wanted bigger gains, but I'm not sure the cast instability was anything more than a poor foundation. I feel like Marland got more sway in 1984, and there were some rough waters because he was now inheriting a show with mainly Nixon themes and archtypes. As a result, I think Marland floundered, just as Nixon did when she inherited the show back again. Again, it all seems to go back to the collaborative thing. When I think of the stories of Paul Avila Mayer and Claire Labine having shouting matches about character, I just cannot see that with Nixon and Marland. Labine & Mayer basically started as a writing team whereas Nixon and Marlands were proteges who made names for themselves.

I may be harsh on Nixon's 1985 stint, and I suspect the stories probably played out better on a day to day basis, but I will still maintain the show lost something when Marland was gone. I think the direction was stronger when he left. He made throwaway pairings (Tony and Rita Mae come to mind) work. Nixon deemphasized the corporate aspect even though the show really had built a pretty stable foundation around that during Marland's final months. To be fair though, Nixon isn't really a corporate stories type writer, which is probably why we got stuff like Rebeka Beecham using a deranged Zona to come between Linc and Lorna instead of using the emotional fallout of the Linc's betrayal from participating in the hostile takeover of Alden Enterprises. It's probably. Also, I feel like Nixon writes character in terms of black and white, and when someone does something bad they have to be punished for it. I think Marland's characters were a little more human at times with shades of gray. For example, Marland's Lorna was selfish, as she truly wanted to be loved, and as a result didn't really destructive things to maintain emotional happiness. Nixon's Lorna was more a peril of pauline type dealing with psychos like her ex Jonathan Maitland, Linc's wife Zona, and possibly Jane Kincaid if Nixon was still headwriter during that story.

However I do see a LOT of very early AMC (which, Phoebe aside for the first coupel of eyars wasn't quite as "colourful character" based as it became) in the first two years of Loving.

I'd consider characters like Nick Davis, Amy Tyler, and even Erica Kane rather colorful for daytime. I'd say "Loving" was more early "One Life to Live" with the Vochek family similar to the Woleks, the Lily plotline, and even the Merrill/Roger having a bit of darker Viki/Joe edge to them.

"Having a former prostitute learn the child she gave up for adoption was the star of kiddie porn certainly wasn't going to bring in the viewers"

I have NEVER even heard of this story before! lol what year? What happened? sounds like it owulda been kinda shocking--Agnes liked to deal with issues but it is a bit exploitive too.

Dolly Jones appeared from 1985 until 1986. Bad, bad stories ensued. Dolly was a former prostitute who found an amnesiac Keith Lane after his identical OLDER brother Jonathan Maitlaine returned from the dead. Dolly fell in love with "Bill"/Keith and when the truth about his identity came out they set up house together. Soon Dolly found work as Gwyn's assistant and she was tormented by wealthy playboy Hunt Belden, who knew her when she was a prostitute. Hunt claimed to know where her illegitimate daughter was, the one sired by her pimp Carl. Dolly was desperate and slept with Hunt while she was involved with Keith. To torture Dolly, Hunt claimed her daughter had been sold to child pornographers and was now starring in their films. Dolly and Keith married while Hunt strung her along. Eventually, there was a shoot out and Carl and Hunt were killed. Dolly learned her daughter hadn't been given to child pornographers and met with Jennifer, the adoptive mother, about seeing Dee, Dolly's daughter. Jennifer agreed and Dolyl saw Dee only for Dolly and Keith to leave town in July 1986.

Thanks for all this info. I never knew Agnes came back to the show. I still wonder what could have been if they'd given the show a little more time, the cast and the stories were finally gelling.

Nixon wrote from November 1993 until the summer of 1994.

Yes indeed, Egypt was very Opal, just as Ava and Kate were Erica and Mona etc. Poor Loving, SUCH potential, I'm reminded of stories of Lemay's For Richer, For Poorer, or even The Colbys... I wish Nixon could have been even more hands on.

I think Nixon was fairly hands on. She co-wrote the first two years with Marland and then succeeded him solely as headwriter. Anyone know how long? I don't think her vision for "Loving" worked to be honest. The stories were terribly weak. The fact that soap books overlook Cyd Quilling's run as Dolly Jones is fairly notable considering the character dominated the 1985-1986 season. Having a former prostitute learn the child she gave up for adoption was the star of kiddie porn certainly wasn't going to bring in the viewers. Similarly, the complex, corporate storyline involving the takeover of Alden Enterprises floundered under Nixon instead focusing on her favorite storyline: Jonathan returning from the dead to taunt all those invovled with him. After Marland left, the work became less intricate and story threads stopped spinning.

Ava was certainly a social climber under Nixon, but she definitely had Marland's mark on her. Ava worked on a construction site for goodness sakes. Could you imagine Erica doing that?

I suspect Nixon consulted in the 1992 college revamp. Considering Nixon rewrote the abuse storyline later on as well as the inclusion of Dr. Ron Turner, who appeared on "Loving" in 1983 in Lily's storyline, makes me believe Nixon may have suggested the Coop storyline. Plus, Hannah was the typical Nixonian heroine. Also, Ava was suddenly working for Burnell's, a company that the Aldens owned in the 1980s, and a mysterious boss was watching over Ava. I think it was clear Curtis was set to return to woo Ava. Instead, we got Leo Burnell, Ava's high school love who founded Burnell's.

To be honest, the biggest problem for "Loving" post-college revamp was no writer, producer, story, or character stayed long enough to give the show vision. Nixon was working on giving the show a vision, and I think she was grooming Walsh and McCarthy to take over. Unfortunately, I think they made MAJOR mistakes. Nixing the brilliant Cradle Foundation storyline, recasting Dinah Lee when she should have been killed off, offing Elise Neal's Janie Sinclair (the African American Erica Kane), not utilizing the veterans, and focusing on the Gilbert/Jeremy saga. The only McCarthy/Walsh story I liked was Who Ran Down Clay Alden?

I also really liekd Hannah especially with Cooper. Oh well

I just thought Hannah was too vanilla. Gayheart didn't have the zest required for an actress to play a heroine of her breed. Hannah lacked the personality needed to bring the character to life. I felt like Heinle's Stephanie was always trying to overcome personal demons. Her Stephanie lacked self confidence, but she wanted to be a better person. She was more gray than Hannah, which worked for egotistical Cooper.

Gilbert, Jeremy's evil twin, was Agnes? it's always funny to me when agnes does such cliche soap storylines but of course a part of her seems to enjoy some of the more over the top stuff (she did the 80s Loving story with the villain who turned into a snake and was implied to have ties to Satan or whatever).

The Gilbert storyline and the Jonathan Maitland storyline were similar. In both stories, Gwyn Alden slept with a man who she believed was her lover. Gwyn had to be the dumbest woman in the world. She slept with Gilbert thinking he was Jeremy, Jonathan thinking he was Keith, and Alex thinking he was Clay. Both stories had one brother taking over their brother's life. Each tortured the show's heroine of the moment (Gilbert/Ava and Jonathan/Lorna). Nixon only wrote a little of the Gilbert story. I suspect Marland probably approved of the second round of Jonathan Maitland as he too had a gothic flair at times.

Was Egypt and Alex under Nixon?

I believe Ralph Ellis introduced Egypt, but Nixon may have had a hand in it.

Loving did have a weird beginning--originally it was a creation between Agnes and novelist Dan Wakefield (who wrote the awesome All Her Children and was a huge fan--also did the teen drama in the 70s James at 15, apparantly a huge influence on Dawson's Creek) with co creation credit but they seemd to have different views or something as by the time it started Marland was HW and had co creator credit (even if the basic setup was very much 1970s AMC with a bit of Marland influence in the Donovan family).

This is purely speculation, but I suspect the show's opening months was Wakefield's original vision for the show. The show was more Lemay than either Nixon or Marland. The show was more character vignettes rather than the complex plotting of Marland or the colorful characters of Nixon. This would explain why the Merrill Vochek/Roger Forbes love affair was quickly dropped. The political nature of the story was very different from the writing of Nixon and Marland. Also, it would explain why the Lily Slater storyline was quickly dropped without much drama behind the scenes.

I think Marland was given more free reign with the revisions. Once the Lily and Roger/Merrill storylines were dropped, the main storyline was the Edy Lester/Jonathan Maitland mystery which took up most of 1984. This mystery was typical Marland, complex murder mystery, but I think the problem was it went nowhere. There was no fallout from this story. While I suspect Shana and Jim were suppose to be the main couple, Jack and Stacey emerged as the leads because they had been there since the beginning.

What confuse sme is why Marland's name was removed from create dby when he left--Agnes Nixon has always it seems had great things to say about him so I don't think it was a fight

To be honest, I don't think Marland and Nixon was a match named in heaven. They were two very different people stylistically and both had a lot of clout. I suspect this is why Wakefield and Nixon also parted ways. Collaboration isn't easy and I suspect they simply didn't agree on very much, but both respected what they gave the genre. When Marland left, Nixon took the stories in a completely different direction. Maybe Marland asked for the creator credit to be removed because he didn't feel it was fair to take credit for something he wasn't that involved in. Unfortunately, we will probably never really know the truth because both are (were) too decent to discuss why things didn't work out. The fact that neither have said much about it speaks volumes though.

Unfortunately, most of what I know is from the reading and the things posted online over the years. I've read the soap column by Jon Michael Reed, which was very engaging. Lynda Hirsch's is good, too, but you could tell what stories Reed was engaging in. Unfortunately, he passed away in the mid-1980s. His replacement (who's name I'm blanking on at the moment, Selig? something) was pretty good, but Reed's synopses were wonderful.

Earlier, I had read most of the postings from RATS about "Loving" from 1992 through the end. It's funny to read the longterm fans reactions to the plots as they went on. Most tolerated a lot of poor stories with hope until Brown and Essensten came on, and maybe the tailend of Walsh & McCarthy material. The plans for "The City" certainly alienated long time fans, but then again wasn't that the point?

Hannah was Rebecca Gayheart's character. Hannah just didn't seem to work. It was hard to justify Hannah and Cooper as end game when Ally had been with the show long and had the makings of a typical Rescott woman, well intention but often making horrible choices. Stephanie worked because she was willing to play at Ally's level, but there was a vulernability there. It's funny, there are clips up on youtube of Paul Anthony Stewart's work from the beginning until he married Ally (during Nixon's last stand). Stewart and Heinle worked well off one another, as did Heinle and Weatherly, Weatherly and Wright, and Wright and Stewart. After seeing the clips, I can understand why some of the shoddy storytelling worked. The chemistry among the cast worked. Randolph Mantooth worked well with Peluso, but had wonderful parental chemistry with Dabney and Rowland in the scenes I've caught. Also, there was some wonderful sexual tension in the scenes with Tudor Newman and Partalo. If Partalo hadn't gotten the role on such shaky grounds, I wonder if the audience would have accepted him as Roger? Clay was a bit similar.

Marland left at the end of his two year contract. He simply said it was time to move on and I don't think he had the job at "As the World Turns" yet when he announced his plans to leave. Personally, he was probably frustrated. The show was constantly turning over cast and story directions were taking such drastic turns. Couples were built up only for actors to be recast or fired. By the time Marland had left, the show was really in its third incarnation, and probably it's strongest and most Marland-esque. Marland left the show in such good shape, it's a shame to see all the stories change so quickly.

In the final months, the show came to a head with a takeover plotline. Dane Hammond, a disgruntled former employee and biological father of Alden scion Jack Forbes, plotted along with Linc Beecham to take over Alden Enterprises. The story was set to affect most of the characters on the canvas. Lovers Shana Sloane and Mike Donovan were on different sides of a labor dispute which would likely send Shana back into Jim's arms. Lorna was pursuing a modelling career and gave her shares of stock in order for Dane's clout. Dane and Ann had married causing a rift in the family, while Clay was presumed dead after a boating accident. Gwyneth alligned herself with Dane in order to get power at Amourelle, the cosmetics company, which would cause trouble for Keith Lane, a chemist who was once Gwyneth's lover. Keith was falling for Colby Cantrell, Curtis' latest squeeze who worked for Burnell's. Colby's recently divorced aunt Rita Mae ended up with much younger man Tony Perilli when he ended his engagement to Stacey. Stacey pined while Jack had married Ava because she was pregnant. When Ava later lost the baby, Dane gave her the money to buy her sister Sheri's baby (who gave up the baby for money so her daughter Patty could get a hip operation). Jim Vochek was involved in the young romance of Trisha Alden and Steve Sowlowsky. Harry had tormented his love Shana, but Jim took an interest in Steve. Also, Lorna romanced Linc, who was alligned with Dane. It was all about loyalty, plotting, and scheming. Tight storytelling with interesting characters, even if most of them were new.

Faison was like July 1993. Jeremy moved to Corinth in November 1992 and worked with romanced Stacey until about May when Hannah pulled the sexual harassment stunt. Around the same time, Shana was pregnant with Leo's baby and Ava was faking a pregnancy because she wanted to keep Leo. Jeremy called her out on her sh&*^& and they became a couple. In July 1993, Jeremy and Ava went to Florida and Universal Studios. They had something Faison wanted or something like that. Jeremy and Ava didn't work storywise, but supposedly Peluso and LeClerc supposedly had chemistry which is why the show did the Gilbert stuff (man Agnes Nixon can pen some awful stuff sometimes). Anyway, Ava was targeted by an arsonist in September 1993 which brought her ex-husband Alex back to town and Jeremy and Ava were kaput by Christmas. He saw Gwyn next, which was a well done relationship.

Addie Walsh and Fran Sears were behind the college revamp plans, but they really didn't get to execute much. The revamp began around April/May 1992 after several months of research had been done and a huge casting call had been done. None of it really worked out though. Fran Sears was gone within six weeks of the material beginning to air and Walsh may have been around for two months of it. Haidee Granger supposedly acted as defacto headwriter for the first few months of her run as executive producer. The summer was very uneven. Stories and characters came and went without rhyme or reason.

Taggert and Guza stablized the show, but I wouldn't say there stories were all that great. The Curtis/Tess/Buck triangle seems like a vortex of sh&^*. Does anyone even remember Trucker's loser father coming to town pretending he was dying? Guza and Taggert won an award (the Writer's Guild) but I really don't think it was for the overall show. They lucked out inheriting a decent younger set, Cooper, Ally, and Casey, and ditching the loser, Hannah, for a winner, Stephanie.

Nixon's return material was good considering the mess she inherited from Taggert. There were certainly some clunkers (Dante in general and Gilbert), but most of the material was pretty good. Too bad her solo run post-Marland wasn't as strong.

This is Margaret DePriest's work, correct? She really seemed to coast off Labine & Mayer's work. She seems like someone who does a good enough job at keeping the ball rolling, but not necessarily generating the spark.

I've spent years looking for information on "The Catlins" with little to no success. There have been bits and pieces I've heard about, but nothing to really give a sense of the series.

The big thing that few entries really pick up on is the fact it was supported by Proctor and Gamble. Considered a conservative producer by most of the online audience, involving itself in a cable venture in the 1980s seems rather pioneering. I suspect P&G was hoping to recapture the audience who followed "Texas". When "Texas" was cancelled, NBC received the most letters it ever had over the cancellation of a program. P&G was probably hoping another Souther serial would grab the same audience.

Initially, the show was a local venture with Atlanta based actors playing most of the roles and the storylines being rather old fashioned. By the fall of 1983, P&G must have intervened as there were a number of soap actors brought in to play major roles. Charles Hill arrived in the fall to play Woody Thorpe while Julie Ridley (who was initially working on the production team) replaced an Atlanta actress as lawyer Maggie Catlin. Early storylines seem romantic in nature. Robert Goode was engaged to marry Jennifer Catlin, the heroine of the show, only to be murdered at the end of the first week. Jennifer was accused of the crime and stood trial for his murder. Someone mentioned once that Memphis Morgan, a waitress at a dive, had been involved with Robert and was also a suspect, but I don't believe she was the killer. Anyway, while Jennifer stood trial, her brothers Matt and Beau fought for the affections of newsreporter Lauren Woodward. While I never seen any resolution listed for this storyline, I know Beau became involved in a storyline with Jacki McCormack and Woody Thorpe so I suspect Lauren and Matt ended up together. Plus, neither character was listed in the July 17 1984 cast list for the episode on YouTube.

The Catlin/Quinn feud was downplayed as the series went on. The initial love story between Eleanor and Jonathan did result in a wedding and a pregnancy, but later on Eleanor was killed as a result of a fight between Jonathan and her brother. Jonathan stood trial, but was found innocent. Medger Quinn didn't let up and later entered a custody war over little Quinn Catlin when Jonahtan began seeing Fayrene Bishop, a single mom who had been abused by a man in her life. The Christmas episode on youtube shows Medger calling a truce with the Catlins by dropping the suit. Also, most of the members of the two families were written off by the fall of 1984. Eleanor was dead, Seth and Beau were in Argentina, Maggie in Washington, D.C., and Matt was long gone. I'm not even sure how long Cullen was going to stick around as his father seemed to have a mission for him in November 1984 which I suspected may have set him abroad.

Also, the show definitely became more youth focused as time went on. McIntyre was excited to write for older characters, but I read once that Pamela Burrell and Michael Forrest were a decade younger than the actors they replaced. I liked T.J. and Annabelle's story from the few episodes I've caught. Annabelle easily could have been waifish in comparison to thunderous matriarch Catherine (played by prominent Atlanta theatre actress M.N. Santacroce), but Burrell held her own and gave Annabelle a quiet confidence that I admired in her standoffs with her mother-in-law and her husband. At some point, it was revealed T.J. had slept with Valerie Kostapolis (or something along those lines) and later, when T.J. was spending time with Mrs. Crowe, Annabelle feared he was cheating again. They fought through Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought the duo had enough to carry the storyline.

Towards the end, the show introduced another family: the Mahoneys. Jack was running for Congress and had ended a hostage situation which had involved several of the show's major characters (I suspect it was a sweeps storyline as everyone was talking about it at Thanksgiving). Stacy Manning, Cullen's reporter girlfriend, was moving into the Mahoney house and staying with them. Jack's daughter was Vanessa Crane, played by Lisby Larson. Vanessa was psychopath who had tried to kill her husband Peter Crane (Victor Bevine) with a knife. Peter was the doctor who was treating a blinded Jennifer Catlin when she got her sight back. Anyway, Vanessa arrived home freshly escaped from the mental hospital just in time for Peter and Jennifer (now played by Terri Vanderboesch, who died within the last few weeks) to become cozy. I suspect Vanessa was the main antagonist in this love story. Also, there seemed to be the suggestion that Jack was in fact Stacy Manning's father. There is one scene on youtube of the two alone in Vanessa's room looking at Stacy's locket and Stacy making some ominious comments once Jack has exited.

In the show's final months, I suspect the main storylines featured Vanessa trying to ruin Peter and Jennifer's blooming romance, T.J.'s attempts to salvage Catlin Enterprises (a shipping company) with Dirk's help, Dirk and Babe's growing attraction, Stacy's secret, T.J. and Annabelle's separation, Fayrene and Jonathan's romance, and any other plots the writers cooked up before the show went off the air.

Matt's published his fan fiction for a few weeks in the spring of 2007. I remember Leann Hunley had just been rehired at "Days of our Lives" when it ended because Matt announced he was planning to recast Betsy when the show returned. I'm almost positive it's still in the blogs section as are SOD synopses for mid October 1979 through February 1980.

The last year of "Love of Life" was bizarre. When the year started, Jean Holloway was writing the series. Holloway had written for the popular radio soap "When A Girl Marries", among others. Her early television work had been criticized for not utilizing the medium, which I believe referred to the lack of action in the story. When Holloway wrote "Love of Life', the big storyline was the Bambi Brewster mystery. Bambi Brewster had been introduced several years earlier as a waitress at former criminal Ray Slater's club who Ray and his wife Arlene looked after. Bambi's parentage was in question and when she went searching for the truth everyone's lives were in danger. She was attacked several times, Ray was kidnapped, and the search for her true parents invovled a religious zealot determined to keep the truth secret, several women claiming to be or know the REAL Barbara Brewster, and a woman donning a blonde wig and alternating between the names Ruth and Eloise. The storyline was something out of "Stella Dallas".

The Bambi Brewster was really the only storyline allowed to play out. I suspect it was an umbrella storyline gone wrong, but damn the storyline was bad from the synopses I've read. The only other stories playing out on a regular basis seemed to be Ben Harper and Betsy Lang's chaperoned romance by geratric lawyer Timothy McCauley and Meg's sex games with Scott Carmichael, a businessman who had no intention of marrying Meg, a woman looking to settle down.

I believe during this mess Cathi Abbi must have been hired as the executive producer. Things certainly changed in quick order. While the Brewster storyline reached its high, Dr. Lianne Wilson was introduced. Lianne became involved with Tom Crawford, Betsy's brother, and provided some career conflict at Rosehill Hospital when Dr. Tucker disapproved of the fraternization. Similarly, Andrew and Mia's reconcilliation, which seemed like a side story, was dropped in favor of Andrew focusing on workplace drama.

While this storyline was being built up, Vanessa Sterling, the aging heroine of the serial, returned from Switzerland after tending to her former ward, Lynn Henderson, who had been involved in a ski accident (Lynn had been on the show several years earlier). Vanessa went to work to for a college professor before being offered a position teaching commercial art at the college. Bruce was upset at this, but he too had found work at the college teaching law. Neither Vanessa nor Bruce had any background in their fields, however I believe at one time Bruce had been a school master for a private school. Most recently, I beleive Vanessa had been a newspaper reporter.

To keep this story interesting, Paul Craggs was brought on as Steve Harbach, an ex-con who had served time with Ben Harper when he was imprisoned for bigamy. Steve moved into the apartment over the Sterlings garage and used Ben to get his Uncle Bruce to help him get into the law program. It was a fairly good use of the show's history, especially since the ramifications of Ben's bigamy still remained a vital part of the canvas. Steve soon became interested in Vanessa Sterling, and during the duration of the storyline, he began to have sexual fantasies about her. The tenson between Steve and Vanessa played out for the remainder of the show's run. While it was clear it was a one-sided attraction, it sounds like a neat story. It certainly caused conflict for Bruce and Van.

As "Love of Life" continued its movement towards a more youthful canvas, Wes Osbourne arrived in town to stay with his sister Mia Marriott for the summer. Wes found work as a life guard and became interested in sweet and innocent Gina Gaspero, Ray Slater's underage sister who was staying with her brother and sister-in-law while her parents vacationed in Italy. Virginal Gina was conflicted about giving it up to Wes and watched Christy Bringham try to steal Wes away. During a party, Gina ate some pot brownies and had a bad trip. Later, she and Wes slept together and a pregnancy scare followed. Gina confessed to Ray, who was determined to press charges against Wes for statuatory rape. When Gina learned she wasn't pregnant, the charges were dropped, Gina went home to her parents, and Wes returned to school.

Wes' departure was probably actor dictated. Woody Brown appeared in the pilot movie for nighttime soap "Flamingo Road" in January 1980. I suspect he was filming the movie during his four to six week absense from the soap. Wes departed in September and returned in November after quitting Harvard to settle in Rosehill. Wes found work as a disk jockey at Ray Slater's club, he was hestitant at first because of the Gina scenario, and gained love interests in the form of Kelly Wilson, Liane's sister who arrived in Janaury to attend Rosehill University, and Cheryl Kingsley, another co-ed introduced as the show was only weeks from leaving the air.

The other major younger characters introduced were Amy Russell and Joel. Both college students, Joel and Amy were partners in crime, but they had different reasons. Joel was romantically interested in Amy, while Amy was determined to ruin her biological father- Bruce Sterling! Bruce had abandoned her mother Loretta King when they were in law school together. Amy became close to Steve in order to infiltrate the family even going to the wedding of Vanessa's mother Sarah to professor Timothy McCauley on Christmas or New Year's Eve. Amy's mother Loretta sent Bruce a letter around the same time threatening him.

Probably the biggest, and most talked about storyline in the show's final year, was the continuing love story of Ben Harper and Betsy Crawford. In June, Betsy's politically ambitious husband Elliott Lang raped her. Betsy's rape resulted in a pregnancy and Betsy opted to have an abortion, but couldn't go through with it. Elliott believed the baby to be Ben's intially, but was delighted to learn it was in fact his. Elliott used the pregnancy as a ploy in his campaign to be elected to the district attorney's position. Betsy refused to let Elliott use her. Elliott plotted with Mia Marriott to keep the two apart.

Mia's big scheme resulted in a rather dramatic November sweeps. While Ben and Betsy went away on a romantic weekend at a lakeside cabin, Mia called and went into details about her relationship with Ben to Betsy pretending she beleived she was talking to Ben. Mia's insinuation deeply upset Betsy and she rushed to the lake to clear her thoughts. Ben followed her and they discussed their problems as they were rowing the boat. When a snake appeared, Ben raised the oar to kill it, but, in the process, the boat flipped. Betsy was injured and rushed to the hospital where she lost the baby she was carrying. Elliott was furious, and, believing Ben had done this on purpose, vowed vengeance by mercilessly prosecuting Ben in his newly elected D.A. position. The trial was nasty and things didn't look good for Ben. A fisherman had pictures of Ben swinging the oar and Meg's bribery of witness Mia Marriott made Mia look like a liar when she revealed the truth. Betsy, conveniently, suffered a bout of amnesia. In the final episodes, Betsy recovered her memory and testified at the trial just before the verdict was to be served. As the final episode came to a close, Betsy collapsed on the stand.

Another major trial was on the verge of happening as the show went off the air. The roadblock to Liane and Tom's budding romance came when a recently rejected Meg Hart, who lost Scott Carmichael when he left town, took an interest in Tom. She funded his cardiac project and wanted to take him as a lover. Tom gave her what she wanted after Meg had managed to keep separating the two. Meanwhile, Liane fought off the attention of Dr. Andrew Marriott. In the fall, once Tom had finally succumbed to Meg's demands, Liane ended things with Tom. Tom was upset and later fought with Meg resulting in her taking a tumble down a flight of stairs. Liane went against the orders of her superiors and performed the necessary surgery to save Meg's life, only for Meg to end up paralyzed. Meg, to get even with her romantic foe, pressed charges against Liane and was mounting a law suit against Lianne and the hospital for malpractice. Liane ended up being suspended and she went to stay with her friend Maggie.

Meg did offer Tom an ultimatum. If he agreed to marry her, Meg would drop the suit. Liane was reinstated to the hospital, but was unaware of how much in debt to Meg Tom was. As the show concluded, it appeared Meg and Tom would marry and Liane would end up find solace, for the meantime, with Andrew Marriott.

Arlene and Ray had little to do after the Brewster mystery. They played heavies in the Gina and Wes romance and only when Hal Carson returned to Rosehill in November did there story begin to heat up. Ray, who had played father to Arlene's baby April, wanted a child of his own and convinced Arlene to try to have another child. Initially, Arlene wasn't interested, but eventually she conceded. Hoping to keep it a suprise, Arlene stopped taking her birth control and actively plotted to conceive a child. Unfortunately, Hal returned to town at the same time. Hal and Arlene were involved in a November sweeps plane crash that left them stranded in the mountains. Hal admitted he loved Arlene while she was in a fevered state. When Arlene returned home, Ray's jealousies were ignited. When Arlene revealed she was pregnant, Ray beleived the father to be Hal.

Bambi Brewster had been involved in a triangle with Dr. Paul Graham and Tony Alfonso. Tony and Bambi became endgame and Tony's former lover Kim Soo Ling arrived in town hoping to locate the child she gave up for adoption. She revealed Tony was the father and Tony vowed ot help her.He even left Bambi at the alter in September during Kim's suicide attempt. Eventually, the child, Tran, was located and the with one of the adopted parents dying, Tony and Kim agreed to leave the child alone during this time. In the last episodes, Kim left town so Bambi and Tony would be happy.

I think this was a majority of what happened in the last year of the series.

Funny, neither Sears nor Walsh lasted long enough to see this fully happen. Sears was out by May, replaced by Haidee Granger, and Walsh left shortly after in conflict with Granger, who took over as defacto headwriter until hiring Taggert and Guza in the fall. The summer was a mess as a result. I do have to wonder though what Sears and Walsh would have done. I suspect the show would have been a bit more rooted in its history with the younger set and the return of Curtis Alden.

An Italian viewer has uploaded Susan Walters edits from the Zona Beecham storyline. The clips appear to start in December 1985 with a confrontation between Linc and Lorna after Rebeka reveals Linc is still married to Zona. The clips end in March 1986 as Lorna departs Keith and Dolly's wedding reception to be imprisoned for Zona's murder.

Of course, they're in Italian. Still, it's an interesting glimpse into the show.

Here's a link to the first of the clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKAZaHRGNhA

I saw a GREAT episode today where Frank (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) LIT INTO Seneca for concealing the fact that Jill's son, Edmund, was really Frank's.

The funny thing is, I can't remember what happened to Edmund in the later years, when they SORASd the kids. Does this mean Edmund died at some point?

In any event, the scene was quite powerful. The lower production values of the time really aren't a major issue, and those scenes had classic soapy music and pregnant pauses. These are important parts of the soap formula.

Edmund did perish. Some point in early 1979 Jill took Edmund to the Coleridge beach house (located on Long Island?). Jill put Edmund down to sleep while she sat in the dunes thinking about her problems. Before she left, she turned on the heater for Edmund since it was winter. While Jill was on the dunes, the faulty heater exploded. Jill found Edmund dead in the rubble only to be knocked unconscious by a falling beam. Labine & Mayer referred to Edmund's death for many years as they did with Mary's passing. In the 1980s, there was a Edmund Beaulac Pediatric Unit still in existence. I remember seeing Maggie appearing in posters for the unit during the St. Patrick's Day marathon that SoapNet use to do yearly for "Ryan's Hope".

The beauty of "Ryan's Hope" is the powerful confrontations between the strong actors. People miss catfights, but I miss a good old fashion confrontation between characters. Unfortunately, today's characters are underdeveloped, plotlines are wrapped up too quickly, and non-romantic relationships on soaps are nearly non-existent.

Harding Lemay didn't say the show needed a core family, he said "The City" lacked a generational aspect to it. His complaint was the show was about a bunch of twenty-somethings. What I find interesting is that many of the fans of the show by either Tracey or Sydney, two older female characters. Based on those two episodes on youtube, Lemay's point seems to be proven. It is only when that generational aspect comes into play (Tracey vs. the Qs/Tracey v. Carla) that the show really becomes interesting. Considering Lemay's own work, I don't think he would say that core families are needed to make a show work considering the turnover of characters on his time on "Another World". He was stating that you cannot revolve a show around one generation, which seems to be a fair assessment.

Reving an old topic, someone has posted Christina's final speech from the convent where she revealed the fate of all the characters on "Rituals". Reading some old soap columns from the 1980s, it appears the Corringtons left the show up in the air because they weren't show if the show was going to be renewed, hence the big cliffhanger with Christina shooting her sister Sara. I have read Kin Shriner was departing the show at the end of his one year contract. I suspect he would have been recast since the show ended with both Dakota and Diandra pregnant with his baby.

The other thing is most of the affiliates dropped the show after six months and by February 1985, the show wasn't airing anywhere in a primetime slot having been shafted to a late night or daytime timeslot. The show went through a major revamp in March 1985, when the show wrote off both Tina Louise's Taylor and George Lazenby's Logan, and brought on Peter Haskell and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Jacobs must not have lasted long as I know that Randy Brooks talked about his time on "Rituals" and he talked about the interracial pairing between Lucky and Julia. I still wonder when the Corringtons took over from L. Virginia Browne. I think the Corringtons were probably the show's best bet as they had a strong history writing interesting characters in a Southern setting. After listening to Christina's speech, I will say they seemed rather bitter about the show's cancellation. Most of the characters suffered rather unfortuante fates. I do hope this wasn't there longterm goals for said characters.

Here are some synopses from the last few months of the show. They come from a syndicated column called Before & After:

June 29-July 3, 1985: Mike and Lacey learned the conditions imposed by secret 'surrogate mother'. Sara questioned Noel about her affair with Jeff. Lisa gathered more information from Roger to give to Christina. Coming: Christina finds something unexpected in Carter's office.

July 6-10, 1985: Dakota feared the discovery of her tumor might affect her chances to be a surrogate mother. Lacey and Kin signed the papers for the surrogate parenthood program. Lisa flirted with Roger to learn the location of the Chalon formula. Coming: Christina gets a strange greeting after crashing C.J.'s fundraising reception.

July 13-17 1985: Carter vowed to Jeff he'll ruin C.J.'s chances for governorship. Christina tricked Cherry into giving her information on Roger. Jeff received a death threat from Keifer. Coming: Jeff and Brady find problems with their music video campaign.

July 20-24, 1985: Lisa told a shocked Christina that she must leave Wingfield. Cherry was suspicious of Dakota's motives in seeing Mike during Lacey's absence. Tom learned Diandra would bear a baby girl. Brady found Lucky coming out of Julia's room. Coming: Dakota realizes her medical news means changing her life.

July 27-31, 1985: No synopsis available.

August 3-7, 1985: Brady vowed to find the person responsible for Tiger's fatal injuries. Christina gave Michelle the secret file in exchange for the Chalon formula. Lacey was upset when Mike said he had to take care of Dakota who later admitted she's the surrogate mother for his child. Coming: Sara learns how to deal with C.J.'s romantic overtures.

August 10-14 1985: C.J. tried to find out if Sara still felt romantic over him. Gates told Brady the "mob" killed Tiger. Workers at C.J.'s plants may have been contaminated by radiation leaks. Coming: Mike and Dakota must cope with their growing feelings for each other.

August 17-21, 1985: Sara and Noel began to suspect the truth about Tom's condition. Dakota began to think about an abortion. Lisa realized she had to made new plans regardless of how Carter might react. Coming: Mike hears some startling news from Diandra while Dakota gets advice from Lacey.

August 24-28, 1984: No synopsis available.

August 31-September 4 1985: Carter learned the truth. A doctor was found who might be able to remove Dakota's tumor. Coming: Will the stoyr of "Rituals" resume?

Watching these episodes for a third time, I am continually shocked by how great Labine & Mayer are, not that I wasn't aware of their greatness before. I know "All My Children" was known for being the humorous soap in the 1970s, but I think Labine & Mayer given Nixon a run for her money. Delia Reid Ryan, as wonderfully played by Ilene Kristen, had just been released from the psychiatric ward after faking mental illness to maintain her marriage to exhausted doctor Patrick Ryan. The great thing about the storyline is Delia is genuinely neurotic, the product of an unstable home life and unhealthy relationships with both Patrick and his brother Francis, but in order to keep her beloved Patty, she is going to pretend to be crazy. So she flips out during a dinner party and starts talking to cornish hens and later runs off to talk to "mama", a woman that has been dead for many years. Ever so patient, Delia sits their doing her nails besides her mother's grave while her husband and in-laws worry about her mental health. The problem of course is complicated by her jealousy, which results in irrational behavior. When she catches Pat and Faith sharing a tender moment together, she runs off to the family bar to throw a big scene about Pat and Faith's affair and then makes allusions to the fact that she and Pat had sex before marriage in front of Patrick's very Catholic parents Maeve and Johnny. This of course resulted in Delia's trip to the psych ward. Delia tried to explain that she had been given books about how to pretend to be crazy, but her psychiatrist thought the story was too unreal to be true.

When Maeve Ryan learned from the babysitter Miriam George that a nice man was visiting Ryan in the park, Maeve deduced it as her one time son-in-law JAck Fenelli, the baby's wayward father. Jack had divorced Maeve's daughter Mary because he didn't want children, and Maeve was determined to have Jack reveal his true feelings about the child. So Maeve concoted a plot to have Miriam claim she beats Ryan so that Jack would tell the truth. Frances Foster had wonderful comic timing as she reveals that when Little Ryan is a pain she gives her a good whack, shocking Fenelli. Mind you this is a man who was so upset over his ex-wife naming giving their daughter her maiden name as the child's first name that he named the stray cat he found Fenelli Fenelli to maintain the playing field. Of course, this resulted in a rather humorous scene in which Maeve announces Fenelli has come out of the closet causing Johnny Ryan to drop an entire tray of dishes in the middle of Ryan's Bar.

Currently, Tom Desmond has feelings for Mary, but realizes she is still in love with Jack so he concotes a plan with Maeve and Faith to lock Mary and Jack in the Ryan's basement until they can work out their problems. The episodes in the basement are wonderful from the scheming to get them in their, to Jack's admission that he's been the scared little boy from the orphanage who didn't want to share Mary, to Mary and Jack's near kiss. I'm usually not big on angst, but I was dying when Mary and Jack nearly kissed for nearly the first time in over two years. Damn, soaps don't do that anymore.The payoff was well done and the acting between Michael Levin and Kate Mulgrew is fantastic as is their chemistry.

I was thinking about Jack Fenelli as a stock character, the strong male who doesn't like to share his emotions, which seems to have replaced the old fashioned male hero from soaps of the past. Audiences today often struggle to like this character (GH's Sonny, OLTL's John & to an extent Todd, GL's Jeffrey, among others) and I couldn't figure out why. I should hate Jack; the man left his pregnant wife to raise their child on his own, yet I care for him. I think it's because of his soft spot for the show's mother figure, Maeve Ryan, even if he didn't like Jack. In a recent episode, Jack called the house looking for Mary, drunk and upset, and when Johnny blasted him Jack replied that when he saw a walrus barking orders in the zoo, it reminded him of Johnny. This resulted in a chuckle from Maeve and Johnny slamming the phone.

Jack & Maeve have such a wonderful mother-son bond even though he is only her son-in-law. Maeve's love for Jack is unconditional and his love for her is the same. Today's soaps don't allow that dynamic. Could anyone see Sonny and Bobbie having a heart to heart? On Guiding Light, Jeffrey ended up sleeping with Marah's mother rather than breaking bread.

When I started watching soaps, the internet audience bemoaned the loss of friendships on soaps. Now, soaps barely have connection between characters outside romantic partners. If soaps really want to survive, they need to establish links between characters whether they be friends or foes.

I don't think "Ryan's Hope" is for the occasional viewer. The stories are about characters who aren't flashy or glamorous, but who are well established and firmly grounded in the fictional world they live in. If you are looking for a quick fix, then you'll be disappointed. On the otherhand, if you give the show your attention for a few weeks, the payoff is well worth it. I don't think something like Mary and Jack's reunion has played out in daytime in quite some time.

A Mary Dobson-Collier wrote for "Santa Barbara" from 1991 to 1992. I assume this would be their daughter?

I believe it was Fran Sear's doing. Sears didn't last long after. By September 1992, Haidee Granger was the producer and she was there through at least August 1993 as she was the spokesperson to the press when Bernard Barrows passed away. Joanne Emmerich was there when Nixon was at her height in the summer of 1994. Of course Jean Dadario Burke was the show's final EP. "Loving" executive producers didn't last very long in the 1990s.

I've been using Google's news archive to search for old soap synopses. I found nearly complete weekly synopses for Loving from the beginning until about November 1986. I have some really weak synopses for 1987, but not as good as the ones for the previous years. There's enough to tell the basic outline of the story without going into all the details that some of the other ones.

I haven't gotta to 1992 yet, and my older synopses start in the August 1992.

Nearly positive the headwriter/executive producer for the episode you are watching are Addie Walsh and Fran Sears. I have a synopsis for the week of March 30-April 3 which states "Gwyn almost blew the plan to fool Hannah. Clay later told Gwyn he won't get Dinahlee out of town. Dinahlee decided to tell Hannah the truth. Paul and Ava went to New York to find Carly. Ally rushed Alpha Delphi, and idolized sorority big shot Staige Prince." Since this is the start of the college stuff, it really has to be Fran Sears and Addie Walsh.

Clay returned to town in late January 1992 looking for Trisha's approval. Apparently they wanted to pair Clay and Dinahlee. In one newspaper synopsis from that time states "Clay's determination to fix the vandalized bowling alley impressed Dinahlee", but later Clay spotted Dinahlee and Trucker together when Trisha was delivering Christopher. Clay told Trisha and Trisha was angry. Hannah arrived in town. Dinahlee apparently had been telling her lies about her life in Corinth as the synopsis for the week of March 2-6 1992 states "Just as Dinahlee was about to level with Hannah about her life in Corinth, Clay pretended to be her finace, Trucker Mackenzie." Why shouldn't she lie? She came to town to be the Forbes nanny and failed to seduce married man Jack and later suceeded bedding Trucker, another married man. Not something you really write home about. There doesn't appear to be much reason for Clay to pretend to be marrying Dinahlee other than his attraction to her, even though this seems to contradict his reason for returnign to town.

So I would say they weren't hiding Clay's identity from Hannah so much as hiding the fact that Dinahlee was, to be polite, a bit promiscious. The assumption must have been that Hannah seeing her sister happy would result in her leaving town, but instead she ended up enrolling in AU.

Most likely, Gwyn doesn't like Dinahlee because of her affair with Trucker, though Gwyneth isn't one to talk as she slept with most of Trisha's lovers. I do know there appeared to be a Gwyn-Dinahlee-Clay triangle brewing around June 1992 when Gwyn and Clay married with Isabelle on her deathbed. However, this seemed to be dumped when Clay left town.

1992 was a really choppy year for Loving. I think there were three very different headwriters (Mary Ryan Munisteri, Addie Walsh, and Millee Taggert & Robert Guza, Jr.) as well as two executive producers (Fran Sears and Haidee Granger). Yikes! The show did seem to settle by the time Granger and Taggert & Guza took over, but so much was lost in the shuffle.

From the December 24, 1975 Evening Independent.

New Dimensions to Daytime Viewingby Perry Fulkerson

The headline in Variety reads: "Gaytime Soaps & Docu Weighed, NBC Tells Homosexual Group." In other words, NBC is considering introducing a homosexual story element in one of its daytime soap operas in addition to producing a documentary on homosexuals.

Representatives of the National Gay Task Force (NGTF) and network executives last week found NBC agreeing to follow the NTGF credo that no negative images of homosexuals will be shown until positive gay images have been established in programming.

Daytime series producers reportedly will be encouraged to develop gay themes and, according to daytime programming vice president Lin Bolen, a gay soap opera pilot is a strong possibility in the near future.

Public affairs vice president Russ Tornabene expressed interest in production of a documentary on homosexuality and said he would arrange a meeting between the NGTF and Al Perlmutter, the network's vice president in charge of documentaries.

I think this is a positive step forward that has been taken much too long, especially in light of the NGTF's charges that the nets have shown gays unfavorably more than once.

Metro, a New York based cable station, aired "Central Park West" six or seven years ago. Oddly, in the weekly showings, they skipped over episodes 9-13, but on a Thanksgiving Day marathon, they aired the entire series. I was surprised how smoothly the show transitioned from "Central Park West" to "CPW". The whole Mark-Carrie mess was revealed resulting in Stephanie and Mark returning to Seattle as Adam Brock arrived looking to purchase Communique.

Overall, though, the show never completely gelled. The canvas had interesting characters, but they never really seemed to be used well. Rachel Dennis was a wonderful manipulator, but her receiving the title of editor was rather anti-climatic and she was rather dull in the CPW episodes. The potential of the Carrie-Rachel rivalry was always there, but never made it to complete fruitition. I couldn't understand dumping John Barrowman's Peter. Nikki never seemed to have much of a story (other than a romance with a hitman/artist in the unseen episodes).

BTW, Melissa Errico's antics were the basis of a plotline on Star's WB comedy "Grosse Point". When the show was writing of Marcy Stenfeld's character Kim, Marcy pulled the same stunt. Star said in an interview that an actress on Central Park West had done something similar when she was killed off, and Errico's Alex was the only female to bite the dust.

I believe Kyle was played by two actors. Kyle and Maggie's one night stand is revealed. This happens about the time Greta starts sleeping with Billy. Greta gets pregnant and contemplates an abortion around the time that Matt and Maggie have it out over the one night stand.

Doreen is said to plan a memorial for Stacy in FrenchFan's June synopsis. Is it possible Doreen was the mother?

Eleanor Conrad appeared when Althea and Scott had started dating.Althea was aware of Eleanor, but she wasn't there initially. Eleanor was insane and released herself from the hospital and attempted to befirend Althea. Althea convinced Scott to return to Eleanor, and later Althea was paralyzed. Eleanor stays on as Luke's sugar mama. I believe Doreen forces Luke to end it with Eleanor and Eleanor attempts suicide. Wendy returns to worry about losing her mother's money. Wendy blames Luke for her mother's condition. Eleanor awakes and gives Wendy her inheritance as long as they part ways.

I was mistaken. For some reason I was thinking Barlow and Scott were the Konners.

The summer of 1981 would have been written by scabs, so that means Levin came in either right before or right after the strike.

re: Ann Larimer

According to SOD synopses, Steve and Jason tracked Ann down to Brazil in August 1977. Ann claimed she miscarried and when the Aldrich brothers left she called the doctor who was going to deliver her baby. In September 1977, Steve was concerned that the Ann hadn't sent back the annullment papers as he was planning on marrying Carolee. When the papers did arrive, Ann also sent a 'no claims' clause, which puzzled Steve but was intended to keep Steve from taking the baby from her. Before Carolee and Steve's November 1977 wedding, Ann is mentioned as a possible threat to the union. She isn't mentioned after that.

re: Doreen

Doreen's father Evan arrived in November 1977 when Doreen agreed to divorce Jason. Evan was devasatated to learn his daughter had been cheating on her husband and he disinherited her. In January 1978, Doreen flirted with newly arrived doctor, Colin Wakefield, who performed surgery on Erich Aldrich and was revealed to be Sara Dancy's old married lover.

Doreen and Jason lived in Dallas before arriving in Madison.

re: Dr. Croft

In an June 1976 (the March 1976 synopsis) SOD that Matt posted online, Winston Croft told Mona he would divorce her if she didn't return to Boston with him. So Mona and Winston were still married in March 1976. I assume the union dissolved shortly after.

re: Toni

In Manuela Soares "The Soap Opera Book", "The Doctors" was in the process of recasting Toni, but apparently that was dropped. By August 1977, Mike was involved wth Sara Dancy and considering marriage.

re: the plague

Hilary Bailey Smith once said in SOD that one of the reasons behind the plague on "The Doctors" in 1982 was that a lot of contracts were up and they were using that as a way of negotiating. Who got sick besides Mona?

re: Lemay

The Christmas 1981 episodes were written by Lawrence and Ronnie Wenker-Conner, but Lemay wrote the New Year's Eve episode so Lemay started in December 1981.