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Brown and Essensten were writing much longer than just the serial killer storyline. The serial killer plot didn't start until July 1995. Even if Brown and Essensten's work was filming in January, they were writing from at least March to mid-July before Stacey ended up dead. There early stuff was painful compared to what had been written in 1994, even when Nixon left. To be fair though, the suffered some major blows with the departures of Robert Tyler, Michael Weatherly, and Paul Anthony Stewart in the course of six months. Jacob Johnson's background story was too similar to Charles accept for the fact that Angie was obviously falling for a Jessie imposter. After all the build for Charles and Angie, it was a fairly one-sided triangle and I don't think many liked Angie breaking her martial vows to Charles to sleep with Jacob. The Charles/Lorraine storyline seemed pretty boring and predicatable with the never before daughter popping up. It felt rather blah. Neal Warren's storyline was interesting but never really developed. It was nice to see Kate dating again and pulling the plug on his wife was interesting. Then, the revelation he had slept with Gwyn's mother was another interesting turn, but then the show was over because Gwyn had knocked most of the interesting characters off. Casey's descent into drugs was a fairly dark storyline for a show that defined itself in the mid-1990s as mainly escapist entertainment. Casey's death in the shootout was a bit much and I didn't even find Casey that interesting. I thought Ally was made a fool when she was paired with Danny, who was responsible for her husband's death. I wonder if Taggert was on the staff at the time because Ally/Danny had a very Danny/Cassie vibe when Taggert was writing "Guiding Light". Tess faking Steffi's stalking left a bad taste in my mouth. Steffi was alone and pregnant and Tess was doing it for publicity. I didn't mind Tony Soleito, but Stephanie and Cooper were such a wonderful written couple under Nixon that Tony and Steffi seemed like sloppy seconds. I'm glad that Brown and Essensten wrapped up the Trisha stuff, but it was weird to have Dinahlee return to the Aldens with the letter, especially since Elizabeth Mitchell had very little to do during her time on Loving. I under Robert Tyler had already left, but Trucker should have been the one there to resolve that storyline. There was some stuff I like under Brown & Essensten. I liked the Stacey/Curtis pairing. I liked the heart disease storyline with Deborah. I believe Essensten and Brown were breakdown writers for "Guiding Light" during its golden period. As breakdown writers they are fairly good in my opinion, I found both "Days of our Lives" and "One Life to Live" very good when they were in charge of breakdowns, whereas Sheffer and Higley could waver respectively during their stints. Wasn't AMC more succesful ratings wise in the 1990s? I known both AMC and OLTL are critically aclaimed for their realistic issue oriented storylines around the time "Loving" was on its last legs, but "Loving" and the other two had a completely different feel. "Loving" of the 1990s was more a fluffy little soap that was more escapist than realistic. Also "Loving" preceded AMC in most areas so I think they were hoping to grab the AMC audienec a half hour earlier I never understand why the Loving and AMC crossovers happened. Was Jeremy really that much of a beloved character that they expecting his move to "Loving" to spike the ratings? Debbi Morgan as Angie was definitely a coup, but she was certainly out of place in lily white Corinth when she arrived. Frankie floundered without much story for most of his time on "Loving".

I would kill to see "Bright Promise". There is a wonderful site devoted to Susan Brown's work and unfortunately this is the only soap they seem to be lacking information on. What a pity as it sounds rather fascinating once it dumped the Boswells and the college and focused on the antics of Sandra Jones and the Pierce family. The set up for the later episodes seems like classic soap with the Martha/Sandra rivalry and the Sandra's marriage to Martha's brother. I would love to see the storyline with Anthony Geary playing David Lockhart who turned out to be the illegitimate son of the late Sylvia Bancroft, who Martha went on trial for killing. I think both Bright Promise and Return to Peyton Place should have been given more time to develop.

Kin Shriner played Mike, an eccentric artist. Mike was initially involved with Lacey and when Lacey lost the baby Mike and Lacey had Dakota carry a baby for them. Dakota was initially played by Claire Yarlett, but during the artificial insemination storyline Marybeth Evans plays her. I believe Mike was around until the end, not sure about Lacey or Dakota.

There is an excellent book called "Prime Time Network Serials", which I belive is the source of the information Paul Raven posted. I have the book. Usually it runs for a 80 to 90 dollars, but if you check Barnes & Nobles Used Book section there tends to be some that come up in 20 to 30 dollar range. Definitely a worthwhile book for PTS fans.

I have an article from late January 1995 saying Brown & Essensten and Jean Dadario Burke are new to "Loving". So I suspect either really late 1994 or early 1995. I would say there work was airing in January as that is when the Gilbert stuff ended and the show became especially dark. Personally, what I've read of their tenure wasn't very good outside of the serial killer plot.

I was just discussing "Rituals" in another post. With the success of all the primetime serials, someone decided it was time to syndicate a soap opera nightly. The show did, however, end up airing in the daytime or mid-evening in some markets. Recently, FOX was going to try something similar with a telenovela platform called "Desire" before the creation of MyNetworkTV. "Rituals" problem was certainly poor ratings. I think it had 2.0 or less at the time, which was terrible. Several reasons can be cited for the show's failure. I believe in the course of the one year run there were three headwriters causing the show to change focus every few months or so. Initially, the drama surrounded the death of Katherine Haddon Chapin and the reprocussion of her will which required the executor Logan Williams (ex-James Bond George Lazenby) to stay a year to evaluate the conditions of the will. Other drama focused on the international love affair between Diandra Santiago, who escaped her war torn nation to work as a domestic in the Chapin family home, and soldier-turned-cop Tom Gallagher. Tom had a secret past involving the suicide of an old girlfriend and Diandra's father was involved with revolutionaries who eventually kidnapped Tom. Tom's sister Noel was the Erica Kane of the series attempting to bed playboy coke addict Brady Chapin, who was more interested in actress Dakota Lane. The show had another couple, Lacey Jarrett and Mike Gallagher, who were dealing with the complications of living together before marriage while Lacey was suffering through a difficult pregnancy. Early on though, there was some press about Ronald Regan's daughter playing a femme fatale Marissa Mallory, who I believe was a student of Mike's who became obessed with her. There was a big squabble in October 1984 about Patti Davis reportedly not showing up to work after she had filmed two episodes. Later, Janice Heiden finished out the role, but was gone by the end of the year. Around this time, Joann Pflug departed the series citing moral reasons for her inability to play the show's rich bitch Taylor Chapin von Platen. Most of the initial cast was gone by January 1985 and the storylines changed focus. Dakota Lane agreed to be Mike and Lacey's surrogate, which seemed to spark a Mike/Dakota/Brady triangle, while Mike's niece Noel did in her nasty father Eddie in February 1985 in a murder mystery that was a promotional attempt to bring in some ratings for the floundering serial. No one stayed around to watch Noel admit her crime or fall in love with her psychiatrist. Taylor departed in February as well and soon after her ex-husband C.J. Fields. I suspect that the Corringtons may have been behind C.J., who fought Taylor's half-brother Carter Robinson for the family fortune. In the early episodes, it had been established that Taylor married C.J. to revive the Chapin family fortune, which was the reason she had dumped Logan Williams (who I think may have intended to be the true father of Taylor's daughter Julia, but I'm not sure if that ever played out). C.J. and Carter were the focus of the final months of the series, which saw Taylor's return in August in the form of Francine York. C.J. became the governor of Virginia, Carter had control of most of the money, and Carter's wife Christina was in a convent after shooting someone (maybe her sister Sara who Christina mentioned was dead in her final monologue). The other major storyline that got the show some attention was the pairing of Julia Chapin Fields and Lucky Washington. Julia was C.J. and Taylor's daughter who was initially involved with Cameron Bernhardt, a wealthy man who lived in a villa in Acapulco. Julia later lost Cameron to another one of the Haddon Hall girls, Patty Dupont, who he married and left town with. Lucky Washington was the son of Maddie Washington, the black housekeeper for the Chapin family. Randy Brooks, the second actor to play cop Lucky Washington, said in an interview around the time he arrived on "Generations" that he received some interesting mail when he was paired with Andrea Moar. Ultimately, low ratings prompted affiliates to drop the program even as producers scrambled to salvage the show, which was something they had been doing since day one. The series was initially based on Charlene Keel's book about college girls who were falling in love with their drama professor, just as their mother's had years before. A pilot was filmed with Philece Sampler, Renee Jones, and Barbara Crampton playing the girls and Joe Lambie playing the professor. However, the initial concept was scrapped several months before the show started and I believe Gene Palumbo created the original on-air concept for "Rituals".

Most people liked that the Ava in Heaven storyline hinted at what was suppose to come in the next few months. Uncle Harry gave Ava several prophecies: - Someone would return (Cabot's return from the grave) - Someone would die (Janie Sinclaire, but I suspect the original victim was going to be Dinahlee) - Someone would come into their own (Ava & Kate getting possession of Alden Enterprises). When did Agnes Nixon's work stop and Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh's work begin? July 1994 was awesome, but by late August things were already getting murky and appeared to be rewritten.

Steve went to see Ann in Brazil. I'm not sure if it was to settle the divorce or to confirm whether or not she was pregnant. Anyway, Steve left Brazil believing his marriage to Ann was over and there were no ramifications lingering. Ann definitiely made it clear that she was indeed pregnant with Steve's child. I should be heading home within the next couple weeks and I'll see if I can locate the old SOD articles I have on The Doctors. I had the ones on Love of Life on a computer that I believe has been trashed since then unfortunately.

I liked what I've read of Agnes Nixon's 1994 return. Egypt was well intergrated and set off the well loved Ava goes to heaven storyline. I like how Egypt faked her death and then later blackmailed Buck to get her out of town, supposedly they'd slept together in the past. I believe Curtis burned down PINS for the insurance or out of revenge. Fall 1993 was a weird time with stories starting and ending rather quickly and changing midcourse. I seem to recall within a month Gwyn got pregnant, she ran off to Vegas with Buck, and then miscarried with Clay by her side. I had heard many liked Roya's Ava better and I think you have the Strasser/Wyndham comparison right on. In the later years, Ava wasn't as money hungry and needy as she had been, though it was hinted at in two storylines (the pairing of Ava and Leo and later the outcome of the Cradle Foundation storyline). Peluso's Ava seems rather mellow. Most of the Aldens ended recast at some point. Had the show continued past 1995 I'm sure Cooper #2 would have arrived on the scene.

re: Curtis in the cage SOD listed Millee Taggert as sick in late October/early November 1993 and said Agnes Nixon was taking over immediately. Taggert and company had made a big deal of the Curtis/Tess/Buck triangle in Kuwait that Dante needed to come in to finish the storyline. My assumption is Nixon was forced to pen the Dante stuff as that was what was in place when she came in. Dante didn't go over well with the audience. A Middle Eastern villain was not politically correct, which is why Dante was written out in March 1994 as having died after pairing up with Egypt Jones. I do believe though that it was Nixon's decision to bring back Curtis in December 1993 in the form of Christopher Marcantel (who did a lot of soap work in the 1980s). After two failed recasts earlier in the year, Curtis left town after setting Pins on fire with Louie (played by the recast since Bernard Barrows died unexpectedly in August 1993) inside. The series representatives said they were not recasting Curtis, who was a pretty pivotal character. I thought I had read Ellis was the one behind all the gangster plotlines in the mid 1980s which is why I assumed Ellis was the one writing this episode. Interesting that Marland was still writing the show in November 1984. I know in the soap book i have from earlier in the year Doug Donovan had just married Edy Lester, a woman with a mysterious connection to Jonathan Maitland. I just assumed this meant that Nixon was writing at the time.

I thought Linden Ashby was playing Curtis in this episode? I think Marland was out in 1984. I have a book published from summer of 1984 talking about the beginning of the Jonathan Maitland storyline which Nixon penned. This 1986 episode came off as a Ralph Ellis episode based on the Spider plotline.

Doreen Aldrich's father was in town around late 1977 or early 1978. SOD Online use to have this really neat section called "20 years ago" around 1997 where they posted SOD synopses from the late 1970s. In those, Doreen's father popped up trying to convince Doreen to reunite with her husband. Three actors played Winston Croft I don't remember their names off the top of my head. Speaking of inlaws, wasn't Stacy Wells, married to Dr. Paul summers, the step daughter of Jason or Steve aldrich. I alwasy mix them up. I believe Ann Larimer was pregnant when she was written off. Steve, or was she married to Jason, went to see her to end their marriage and their were major hitns she was pregnant. Mike just had the one son with Toni Ferra I believe

Did Toni actually die? I thought I read she simply left town, but I do know soap books are notorious for being spotty at times. Ricky was the son of MJ's sister Betsy who died in a car accident with her husband in Vermont. I believe "Tom's child abuse" storyline was a result of him having Huntington's disease, which was genetic. Tom's ex-wife having aborted their baby because of fear their child might suffer from Huntington's. I read somewhere Doug Marland initially planned on outing Tom Carroll in daytime's second attempt at introducing a gay character to the canvas. Just like Lemay, the network nixed Marland's plan.

I believe in some countries, "Loving" was actually called 'Patricia' or 'Tricia'. Even after Noelle Beck left the show, there were phantom Trisha stories ala GL's Phillip. One of the soap books recalls only the plotlines involving Stacey and Jack, which seems to suggest that at least some people saw the show as Jack & Stacey's love story. BTW, there is an episode from February 14, 1986 on youtube: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_6TRwbSqKM Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUsG30Do4jk Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02ipUbp0Gg Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SGAr83HF0...feature=related The episode focuses on the quickie nuptials of Curtis (Linden Ashby) and Ava (Roya Megnot) and the rehearsal dinner for Stacey and Jack. There is a little bit about Trisha and her first love, Ava's mechanic cousin Steve. Steve is in jail, probably because of Cecilia (Alice Haining in this episde), and Trisha is being stalked by Spider.

I really like how you've started setting up what I assume will be a battle between Cleypoole and Martin/Barclay over the plans for downtown. I think it's an intriguing storyline that should really cause some big drama for a lot of the residents of Somerset. Everything is being set up very well. Just enough information is given to keep you intrigued.

I really enjoyed the premier. I thought it established Susannah and Jack fairly well as well as tying the past and present together. I've enjoyed the general feel of the series that I've gotten from reading the other stuff that you've posted. While you bill your "Somerset" as a loose revival, from what you posted it sounds like you've truly captured the spirit of the original series, which is more important than original characters. I think that it is okay if you sacrifice the established characters if your staying true to the general vision of the series, but that's just my two cents Keep up the great work. Looking forward to the next episode.

Five days in a row of a woman over forty-five. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What were you thinking? Interesting, Meg Dale Harper Aleata Crawford Marriott was murdered. Looking at her ex-husbands alone that's four suspects, but then again I think Charlie Harper died on the show didn't he? I liked the issue with funding, just as it had been a problem on the tale end of the original series. I'm curious to find out what Alex Marriott did that upset step-grandmother Meg so much. I was shocked that Alex was Lynn and Andy's son and that Allison was Amy and Andy's. People surely have been busy since the show ended. Even Andrew Marriott has managed to snare two wives since the show ended. lol I'm loving Joy and Chaz. I like the idea of the fun loving party girl and the rebel. They seem like a fun couple. If Joy's mother and step-father are who I think they are, I have a feeling that is going to have some fun and nasty reprocussions for Ben and Betsy. I like the way that people are getting cut off before revealing their secrets. I get so mad because I want them to spill, but I figure a lot of them are worth the wait. I thought the way the stuff at the funeral with Eddie and Chaz played out really well and very naturally, or at least as naturally as they would occur in a soap.