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In November 1978, Dr. Joe Cusack died in a car accident the night of his engagement party to Wendy Hayes. Two weeks later, Wendy later revealled she was pregnant, and that is the last mention I find of her. Eddie Aleata married Dory Patton in November and immediately departed for France, I assume the took Dory's daughter Kirsten (and son Kevin) with them. Lynn Henderson went to Switzerland to care for her sick dad. Mary Jane Owens and Andy Marriott went to Los Angeles once Andy was clear of murder charges. Sometime in 1978, Jonathan Moore stopped appearing as Charles Lamont. He wasn't written out, he simply ceased to exist and with him went Charles, Jr. and Johnny. Cherie Manning, a member of Upton's younger set, disappeared at some point in the fall of 1978. As Paul mentioned, Felicia was dropped much earlier than 1978. I think she died in June 1977 right before Betsy Crawford ran off to England. Rick and Cal left in June 1978 with Rick's son Hank with the intentions of opening a restaurant in Canada.

Feel free to add the stuff about 1977. I've been meaning to getting around to look at the "Love of Life" stuff from 1978 and 1977. This will give me a reason.

I don't have as much information about 1978 as I do 1979. I use newspaper columns to pinpoint timelines for "Love of Life." The paper I originally used only started running Jon Michael Reed's column in February 1979. Since then, subsequent papers have put their archives online. In October 1978, "Love of Life" aired its 7,000th episode. Jon Michael Reed covered the event and announced Cathi Abbi had just taken over and Jean Holloway had been announced as the headwriter. While not inexplicitly stated, it sounds like Holloway's work hasn't aired yet. I haven't been able to completely pinpoint the weeks in this SOD, but I think it is September/October 1978, which is Gillian Upton's period. I think Holloway's material begins in November 1978 because half a dozen characters are written out in a matter of several weeks.

Regarding the synopsis Paul posted, Soap Opera Digest was posting 3 weeks worth of story at the time. The synopsis Paul posted covers the weeks of May 14-18, May 21-25, May 28-June 1, 1979. This is the first batch of Ann Marcus' own material as the week of May 7-11 covered the end of Holloway's much derided Brewster saga. In one of his April columns, soap columnist Jon Michael Reed announced Ann Marcus' work would start appearing in early May. The SOD synopsis prior to this one would have covered Holloway's final week(s), Marcus' arrival, and detailed the conclusion of the mysterious dealings of Reverend Richard Brewster and his connection to Bambi Brewster. Ann McCarthy's Bambi Brewster was the center of the bizarre tale Jean Holloway wrote for "Love of Life." I was actually shocked to see Ann McCarthy as Sam on "Texas" when the series was being shown on the AOL P&G Channel. McCarthy was talented and charismatic as Sam, which is probably why Marcus kept her rather than dumping the character. Marcus continued the Bambi/Tony/Paul triangle that Jean Holloway had created. Marcus put her spin on it by introducing Kim Soo Ling, Tony's lover from Vietnam. Kim had been a nurse who tended to Tony during the war and had his baby. Kim arrived in Rosehill to convince Tony to help her locate their son, Tran. Tony even blew off his nuptials to Bambi in order to do so. Bambi and Tony's story continued to play out into the final week when Kim departed Rosehill. From what I've read, Marcus' story seemed more cohesive than subsequent writers, but she did have a bit of a rough start. The highlight of the summer was Given more time, or a better time slot, I think Marcus' "Love of Life" would have caught on. Cathi Abbi was also a solid producer from what I've heard. It's a shame she never was given a shot EPing another serial. Van had worked before. I believe she was a newsreporter when Labine wrote. It should also be noted that Van returned only recently to the show after a brief break; I assume Audrey Peters had been on vacation. In the story, Vanessa had spent the past several weeks in Switzerland tending to Lynn Henderson after a skiiing accident. However, Lianne Wilson also lamented the fact she was the ONLY female resident at Rosehill Hospital, so at times the show could be a bit much.

On "Loving," Doug Marland was still head writer when the Sowolsky family was introduced. Ava first appeared in May 1984, Harry was Dane's henchman who probably popped up around the same time, Kate showed up not long after, and Steve arrived in December 1984 just as the show brought Noelle Beck on as Trisha Alden. Marland left in June/July 1985 after his two year contract with "Loving" expired.

Thanks for sharing. Was Pat Falken Smith also responsible for Allison and Hugh? I assume Christine entered that story after Allison and Hugh were married.

Delphi Harrington temped for Judith Bancroft when Barbara Wilde recovered after choking on a canape at the anniversity party for "The Proud and the Passionate." On "Where the Heart Is," Harrington was Allison's photographer pal Christine Cameron, who had a pension for married men. Initially, she was involved with Tony Monroe, which I've read went bust when Tony was shipped away. I suspect there was a change in writers as the show seemed to go through so many of them. Later, Christine bedded Dr. Hugh Jessup, who married Louise Shaffer's Allison Archer, a birthed his daughter Katrina. When Hugh chose his wife over his mistress, Christine sought the solace of John Rainey, a lawyer who was estranged from his wife Adrienne Harris. Adrienne was a psychiatrist who treated Christine for her psychological issues and used her position to have Christine go insane during Katrina's custody battle in order for Adrienne to resume her marriage to John. On "Where the Heart Is," Liz Rainey and Julian Hathaway rendezvoused at the Red Hand, an Irish pub. It was during this storyline that Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer contemplated the idea of a story about a family who ran a pub. The scripted moments from the WeLoveSoaps article come from another online article about the cancellation of "Where the Heart Is." The Village Voice wrote about WTHI on several occassions and recapped much of the show's final storylines involving Liz/Julian/Mary, Adrienne/John/Christine, and Kate/Steve. Saynotoursoap, do you what stories or characters Pat Falken Smith was responsible for?

I don't think they would have revealed that Kate and her father had a sexual relationship. It is said on the article on page one that it was a rather cathartic experience for Diana van der Vlis, delaing with her own father's death not that long ago. Plus, I think Kate's devotion to her father seemed more related to proving to him she was good enough professionally. Kate was studying law, while her father had been a judge. Her daddy issues seem more related to proving herself. Not to side bar too much, but I love early "Ryan's Hope." Maeve was a nasty b###tch at times. I remember a conversation she had with Jill where Maeve rather bluntly informed Jill she would never recognize Jill as Frank's wife because, in the eyes of the church, Delia would always fill that role. I also loved Patrick Ryan before they decided he needed to be the romantic male lead. When Pat realized Bucky loved Faith, Pat rather coldly informed Bucky Faith wasn't worth the time because she wouldn't put out. Then a month or two later Faith was the love of Pat' life. Ugh! I loved when Faith was a cold fish who was messed up because she had slept with one of her professors in college. God, some of the early characterizations for those characters were so much richer before they were watered down.

In the final months, Kate had developed a split personality, Betty, who was the one dancing lewdly in front of children. Kate's psychological issues stemmed from her troubled relationship with her father, Judge Hathaway, who had died when the show premiered. In the final week, I beleive Kate agreed to take time off from law school to take a vacation with Steve in order to handle her issues. In regards to Labine & Mayer and incest, I remember Delia, on at least one occasion, accused Mary Ryan of loving her brother, Frank, a bit too much. Kate Mulgrew was playing the role at the time and played it like there may a have been a bit of truth to that. I'm not saying Mary was trying to jump into bed with Frank, but I think Mary's attachment to Frank ran a bit too deep at times.

Eric, I've been searching newspaper archives using Google News. The wedding story is most likely from "Love of Life." The first time Audrey Peters appeared as Van it was on Van's wedding day to Bruce. I believe Diana van der Vlis was referring to temporary recasts vs. a full time replacement. She had never worked on a soap before WTHI so she is referring to CBS' practices. When I watched "Guiding Light" in the late 1990s, CBS typically stated "The role of [insert character] will temporarily be played by [insert actor/actress]." I don't remember them announcing recasts otherwise, but maybe I'm forgetting.

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The university was the focus for the first six months or so. Garth Slater was killed during November sweeps, which set in motion the slow decline of the college scene. By the end of sweeps, Roger Forbes had been offered a position in Washington, D.C., which meant he and Ann needed to reconcile in order for his career to take off. Then, Doug and Rita Mae's flirtation ended after their faculty folly show arc came to its conclusion and Rita Mae and Billy focused on having a baby while Doug began working on a television series. One by one, the younger characters left the college to pursue careers (Jack worked at Forbes Construction with Ava, Lorna pursued a modelling career, Curtis went to work at Burnell's department store) so there was no real need for the college. In reality, "Loving" probably was never really a college soap as much as it was a soap set in a college town. Denny was the one who killed Rick, but then Norma killed him (I think) or was lead to believe she killed him. Then his twin brother Wally arrived and romanced Norma. It's all covered on Ilene Kristen's site. To be honest, it sounds a bit bizarre, which is what I think Jacqueline Babbin was going for. The real problem was the show wasn't grounded very well at the time in anything solid. I think she sort of ran off Perry Stephens because she found him bland, but I've never heard much about Christopher Cass. Stephens had been a staple for many years and I think she was a bit foolish to ignore that. Babbin was hired April 1990 and was key to getting Susan Keith to return to the show. She was fired around August 1991; her dismissal announcement was reported alongside the hiring of Michael Malone as OLTL's new headwriter. According to Nancy Reichardt's column, Joe Hardy took over from Joe Stuart June 20th, 1988. I'm assuming this date was his first date on the set, which means he was probably responsibile for hiring Taggert and King to pen the show once the Writer's Strike ended. I don't think Patricia Kalember was fired for cutting her hair or if she was, it was simply used as an excuse to cut the character who was wandering aimlessly on the canvas. Once Anne took Roger back and Doug learned of Merrill's affair, there was pretty much nothing left for Merrill to do. She seemed to be chemistry tested with Clem Margolies, the Alden/Forbes family lawyer, and later Warren Hodges, the district attorney, but there was no investment in the character. Savitch died in October 1983.

Thank you, I appreciate the clarification. It's a shame that soap books are riddled with errors.

From the Claire Labine/William Bell interview in On Writing: In regards to Love of Life's syndication deal, I have to wonder if Marcus thought it was a real possibility. At the time, her comical serial "The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts" was also airing and in some press she mentioned that stations were looking to find a nightly serial given the moderate success of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." I wonder if Marcus suspected she could get a production company to push a more edgy "Love of Life" to a late night audience focusing on the Rosehill College set. Others who got work post "Love of Life" included Ron Tomme, who appeared as a con artist in Joe's revenge against Jack on "Ryan's Hope" in the spring of 1981. Ted LePlat ended up as Andy Norris on "Guiding Light." Ann McCarthy was Sam Walker on "Texas" with Chandler Harben Hill. Mark Pinter went to "Guiding Light" as Mark Evans. Dana Delaney returned to "As the World Turns," this time as Hayley (previously she had appeared as a dayplayer).

The clip was from Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy's brief tenure (maybe six to eight months) as headwriters. I think this was set up for the Who Mowed Down Clay? storyline. Clay and Steffi were one of Nixon's bizarre pairings, but I think it was suppose to incite conflict between Deborah/Steffi, Steffi/Cooper, Cooper/Clay, and Clay/Deborah. In the end, Clay looks like a predator, when most of the audience seemed to accept him as a sort of aging anti-hero. I don't understand why Steffi wasn't written off before "The City." Did they really expect Amelia Heinle to stay once her contract was up? I wonder how "The City" would have worked had the younger set stayed in tact. I think it was Paul Anthony Stewart, Michael Weatherly, and Amelia Heinle's choice to leave rather than being fired. Maybe if they had renewed their contracts the show would have had a more solid ground to work from? The way I've read it, Lisa Peluso and Jean LeClerc had terrific chemistry togehter, but storywise Ava and Jeremy were dull. Gilbert was suppose to be a more exciting character to keep up wiht Ava. To me, it sounds a bit like a retread of the Jonathan Maitland story from the 1980s (which Nixon wrote). Ava and Gilbert were involved at Burnell's after Cabot turned over Alden Enterprises to the Rescotts. Gilbert was involved with Gwyn Alden (who slept with three men who claimed to be her lover when they were actually imposters) and there was the whole shoot out climax. I'm pretty sure Gilbert died at the end of the Gilbert/Jeremy storyline.

This scene was probably written when Addie Walsh was still headwriter. At the time, Giff was Trisha's shoulder to cry on when Trucker boinked Dinahlee when Trisha was pregnant with Christopher. Giff was well intentioned and probably was intended to have a larger role when the show was focusing on the college set. Then, Walsh quit and Haidee Granger became defacto headwriter and Giff decided he needed to keep Trucker and Trisha apart so he kidnapped Christopher and gave the baby away. By the time Robert Guza and Millee Taggert arrrived, Giff was such a mess they just wrote him off quickly. I haven't watched the scenes in a while, but I remember the scene with Casey lamenting Alise's death being distinct.

Linda Cook appeared on "One Life to Live" as Ellen Foley, Ginger's mother and Margaret's sister. I LOVED Ginger Foley and the actress who played her, Shannon McGinnis. I don't know why she was killed off. I wanted her to try and snare Duke and the Buchanan millions so bad. Cook also appeared on "Guiding Light" a few years prior to that as the mother of some missing Spaulding employee. Her character's daughter was involved with Brad Green, Michael Swan's character. It was hinted Brad had offed the girl, but eventually she popped up. I think Cook's character was involved in the scheme to extort money from Spaulding or something. I'm not Eric, but I think you are referring to Minnie Madden. She eventually took over one of the residential hangouts. I want to say TJ's (the club/restaurant that Todd Jones ran).

I've read Janet, like Alice, was also unable to have children. This was supposedly part of her backstory. It was why her first engagement was broken off, and she kept it secret for fear it woudl ruin future relationships. Nancy Wickwire didn't die until 1974. She even appeared on "Days of our Lives" as Phyllis Anderson after departing "Another World."

Gwyn miscarried, I didn't mean an induced abortion. Marcantal and Ashby were good in the episodes I've seen.

First, Patrick T. Johnson was fired and replaced by Michael Lord, who was playing Curtis for less than two months when Curtis and Dinahlee married and by the fall Michael Lord had been fired after Curtis torched PINS with fauxLouie inside several weeks before Louie was killed off. When Dante popped up in November, he then made reference to his pet, who turned out to be Curtis and Chris Marcantel returned to the show in December after being off the serial for almost eight years. Marcantel, by the way, is working behind the scenes on "Gotham." Let's not forget that Gwyn was going to spawn Buck's offspring. Thankfully, Taggert aborted that plot, literally, right before she left or Nixon mended that very early on. Agnes takes credit for Jonathan Maitland's pact with the devil which came to a climax in December 1985. The rehearsal dinner was from February 1986. It's possible Ellis took over, but I don't think Ellis came aboard until later. No proof however. Nixon returned to AMC in summer 1987, so its likely she left Loving around that time.

Dinahlee and Curtis (Patrick T. Johnson).

For those who didn't know, it probably seemed like Lily's story ran it's course. Lily revealed to Jack that daddy raped her and they ran off together. Garth had the police track them down and suddenly Lily's other side, Trista, emerged and flirted with Curtis Alden. During sweeps, Garth ended up dead and the police walked in to find Jack holding the gun that killed Garth. Anyway, Jack was arrested for the crime, and Trista emerged and went on the run with Curtis to New York City. Lorna was determined to track down some petty thug, who had robbed the Slater home the night of the murder. Lorna dated him to get information from him hoping to free her brother. People were looking for Lily because she was in the room at the time and saw the murder happen. Lily returned to Cornith and freed Jack with her testimony. During the trial, Trista emerged and told off part of the audience. Trista promised Curtis that she was going to remain in power and that they would have a life together. Once June revealed she was the killer, June and Lily left town for Lily to receive psychiatric therapy. Jack, and probably the audience, were led to believe that Lily might return to him. In the meantime, Jack decided to look into his parentage and met Ava at Forbes Construction and so the story goes. The first months of "Loving" was so disjointed. Characters were tested with one another romantically without any followup. Plot threads would play out for a couple of weeks and fail to develop. The 1987 clip is from Ralph Ellis, who was Nixon's successor. I don't know when Ellis started, but he was there at least Sept 1987 (the date of this clip) until the beginning of the Writer's Strike in April/May 1988. Taggert and King were hired to write the post-strike episodes. Overall, Loving was never able to find a head writer who could really give the show a strong group of characters to work with. I feel like Marland left the show in good shape in 1985, but Nixon's follow up was so vastly different from Marland's style that it simply didn't work. Marland had such a rich executive set with Alden Enterprises and its subdivisions Amourelle and Burnell's. Nixon really isn't a business stories kind of writer so this left her in a bit of a bind. Lorna and Linc seemed farcical dealing with Linc's secret wife Zona (the name alone was too much) and her fake pregnancy. The hooker with a heart of gold (Dolly) was too dated a concept by then to really work. Nixon was able to coast off the baby switch plotline for some time with Ava/Jack/Stacey/Curtis, but, other than that, most of the work seemed so bizarre. What I think worked in 1993-1994 was that Nixon made the canvas work rather than installing what she thought it needed to make it work. She repaired Ava and Alex, put Trucker in a triangle with Dinah and Curtis, kept Steffi/Casey/Ally/Coop front burner, and create compelling stories based on what was there. Nixon was much more suited for the stories the show was telling then. Walsh really wasn't there long either time. Maybe six months in 1992 and another six to eight months in 1994-1995. Taggert was the show's writer in the 1990s. She wrote 1988-1991 with King and 1992-1993 with Guza (and briefly solo). Somewhere in there you had brief stints by Mary Ryan Munisteri and unofficial headwriter Haidee Granger.

I don't think it really came together until the final six months of Marland's tenure. Dane Hammond finally snared Alden Enterprises in a plot with the Beecham brothers, which caused conflict for Lorna and her lover, Linc Beecham. Dane paid Ava money to buy a baby so Jack would marry her. Shana and Mike's relationship was complicated by the return of Noreen. Curtis and Colby continued their love affair. Rita Mae was involved in a younger man-older woman affair with Tony Perilli after Tony and Stacey's aborted wedding. The show gelled very well. Nixon alone didn't seem as exciting. She wrote the Jonathan Maitland sold his soul to the devil story. Keith ended up romanicng a hooker named Dolly who had a baby by her pimp who she thought was the star of child pornography. Doug Donovan returned and hooked up with Shana for a Shana/Jim/Doug triangle. Most of it didn't seem to make a lot of sense. I think Rose and Patrick were dropped to recurring fairly quickly. The Donovans went to Florida in Janaury 1984, but would pop up occassionally. Merrill left in March or April. Noreen left in June with Warren, but returned in March 1985. Doug left in December 1984 before returing in September 1985. Noreen and Mike remarried and left in the fall of 1985. Millee Taggert and Tom King wrote out the Vochek clan in May 1989, and were there when Shana returned in September 1990 only to watch her husband and son die. Nixon's 'plane crash' is a bit of urban legend from what I understand. Shana didn't have much of a love life after Jim and Jimmy's deaths. She was engaged to Dane when she had amnesia, but after that she didn't have much of a story until February 1993 when she decided to have a baby via artificial insemination. Leo Burnell agreed to be the father and then they had sex and fell in love.

I don't think Steve was sacrificed for Trucker. I believe there was a bit of an overlap. Trucker was brought in as a part of the Clay/Alex tale. Clay had paid Trucker off to take the fall for some crime he committed. The tale was very convulted from what I've read and I don't think I've ever understood the whole thing. Something about hypnosis and bullseyes and a corrupt Maine sherriff. Jim died in 1990. Shana and Jim left town with their baby, Jimmy, in 1988 or 1989. Shana returned to Cornith solo and watched Jim and Jimmy's plane crash. Shana suffered amnesia and was duped by Dane into an engagement. Shana later married Leo Burnell, suddenly Burnell's was no longer an Alden entity but a business created by a self-made man, and had a daughter Patti. Nixon wrote out Shana and Leo during her 1993-1994 stint. The cast was becoming bloated, but it was a shame. Leo and Shana are who you are thinking of and they ended up in Rome. Rick did come back and was the next chapter in the Stacey/Jack saga. Rick and Stacey became an item after learning of the infidelity. I believe Rick plotted with Jolie, Jack's love interest, to keep them apart. Anyway, Rick ended up fathering Stacey's daughter Heather and Stacey penned a romance novel about her love for the Alden cousins. When it looked like Stacey and JAck were going to reunite, Rick kidnapped Heather and was involved in a shady business deal to extort money from his father. Rick ended up murdered, Stacey went on trial, and it was all revealed that the business associate Denny was behind the scheme. What I know I've gathered from reading weekly newspaper columns online by people like Jon-Michael Reed, Lynda Hirsch, Seli Groves, and others. Duboc's Alex was more involved with Egypt. I think the Clay/Ava/Alex story was more interesting than Ava/Alex/Egypt. Matt Ford was a runaway. His minister stepfather raped a young woman who accused Matt of rape. Ceara and Jeremy Hunter helped Matt when they were in town in 1991, a year before Jeremy permanently relocated to Cornith. Funny, I never heard the cut hair story. I know the show made a big deal when they scrapped the Merrill/Roger love story claiming that the story played out the way it was intended and that Shana and Jim were going to be the show's it couple. I call BS. No one would play out stories in the first six months that were going nowhere. THat would have been foolish on Marland and Nixon's part. Ultimately, I wonder if Marland didn't want to tell a politically heavy story bouncing between D.C. and Cornith as the show did in the opening months. Roger was only presumed dead, a body was never found. I suspect Marland left that open for future writers. How Marland came to Loving still puzzles me. Marland claims that when he wrote General Hospital he worked with Nixon at the network because she was a consult for all of ABC. Nixon says that when Wakefield had to leave, she thought of Marland from those meeting about General Hospital. Yet, at this point in time, Marland's soap "A New Day in Eden" would have barely hit the airwaves. Flannery claims the show was a moneymaker, and I found another article from Michael Jaffe talking about how "A New Day in Eden" was not going into the red, yet in some pre-premier press for "Loving" Marland claims financial arrangements were going to do the show in. Marland bounced around a lot. I suspect he may have liked that but settled into his role at As the World Turns because of the lack of network hassle he was given, but that's personal speculation. Merrill's brohter was Jim, the priest. The first clip is more June's alcoholism/Lily and Jack's first meeting, while the second is from Jack's trial where he was accused of killing Garth Slater. All threads were tied into the incest storyline. I believe these scenes are from June and Lily's final weeks. Despite being labelled December 1983, I'm almost positive that was simply the tape date. The trial wrapped up in January. Marland said they weren't allowed to reference the storyline after January 15th or something and then learned of the Something About Amelia movie. I do know that Lily was mentioned in February 1984, and her progress wasn't good. Jack and Lily were the original 'it' couple with Curtis Alden as the third wheel. Curtis romanced Trista, Lily's slutty alter, who ran off to New York wiht Curtis during Jack's trial. I believe Stacey pined for Jack early on, even though Jack had just returned to Cornith, but her first major love interest was Tony Perelli, Jack's boarding school pal who attended on scholarship. Tony ended up briefly married to Lorna when she got knocked up and later aborted her baby to pursue her modelling career. Marland had a two-year contract to write "Loving." This all played out in the first six months. 1984 was a rough year. Stories and characters were dropped on a dime. Warren Hodges, the D.A. in the trial scenes, was romancing Noreen Donovan and talking about moving his teenage daughter to town. Then suddenly Warren and Noreen were both written off. After Merrill left, Doug was suddenly involved with an old flame Edy Lester and was marrying her in May only for her to end up dead after a labrynith murder mystery set in San Francisco involving Edy's secret husband Jonathan Maitland. Doug's novel was suppose to become a movie or TV series and he gained a writing partner Stephanie Smith who was helping him solve the murders. It all went nowhere. Curtis' romance with Colby Cantrell hit a snag when it turned out Burnell's model Sasha Hale had starred in some pornographic films Curtis had financed during his days in Europe, but this really didn't go anywhere.

The extended Alden family was being widdled down to Clay and Gwyn's nuclear family most likely because of the success of the Trisha and Steve pairing. The show's big couple, Shana and Jim, were written off within a year or two of Anne's absence. The show definitely seemed more focused on the romantic entanglements of Trisha and the mammouth Clay Alden saga which played out for much of the late 1980s/early 1990s when it came to the Alden family. Britt Hefler, the Lily in this video, is Lily#2. Lily was off canvas for a good three years before she returned. Wasn't Ashe already playing Meg Snyder at this point and time?