kalbir

NBC soap anniversaries in 2024

March 27 - Generations premiere 35th anniversary

May 4 - Another World premiere 60th anniversary

June 25 - Another World finale 25th anniversary

July 5 - Passions premiere 25th anniversary

July 30 - Santa Barbara premiere 40th anniversary

December 31 - Sunset Beach finale 25th anniversary

@OpportunisticSlut Re: Stephanie, it's the writing that made the difference. Bill Bell wrote Stephanie complex and layered. Bradley made Stephanie one-dimensional. 

10 hours ago, OpportunisticSlut said:

Roger Thorpe is such an entertaining villain. 

It's unfortunate that so little of MZ 1971-1980 run is out there. I've accepted we'll probably never see anything prior to 1979.

Whatever is out there of Roger and Holly storylines of 1979 and 1980 are must watch because those storylines set in motion so much of what we saw 1989-1991.

4 hours ago, GL Oldtimer said:

Roger Thorpe is definitely an entertaining villain. Despite all his misdeeds, he's easy to root for. I think so much of that is thanks to the way Michael Zaslow portrayed him. There were just so many layers to Roger. He certainly had his soft spots, and I loved that vulnerable side of the character.

Even though I never thought of Roger as an anti-hero/romantic leading man, I'd say it was the combination of MZ acting and the writing during the Potter and Calhoun eras that made Roger a complex and layered character and not just a one-dimensional villain.

@1974mdp @OpportunisticSlut I pointed this out in the B&B Old Articles thread, but I think Karen got lost in the shuffle. 1992-1994 B&B had too many females in the early 30s age range (Brooke, Macy, Taylor, Karen, Sheila) and not enough storyline to go around.

If we're counting long-lost twins, some more to add

Y&R: Camryn Grimes - Cassie/Mariah

B&B: Joanna Johnson - Caroline/Karen

GL: Vincent Irizarry - Lujack/Nick

7 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

Inspired by your 80s Trends topic 

Aww, thanks  Happy to read I inspired someone.

7 hours ago, Khan said:

"Pyramid," because it was an opportunity to see B- and C-level celebrities 

Also CBS daytime and primetime stars in cross-promotion.

The best cross-promotions were the Family Feud soap opera specials and The Price is Right soap themed showcases.

Good topic @Sapounopera

11 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

The teens become more prominent.

That was 90210 influence.

Anyone else a fan of the CBS game show block of 1982-1993? These are the game shows excluding The Price is Right that were a part of the block (I included those that aired at 4 pm).

Tattletales (January 18, 1982-June 1, 1984)

$25,000 Pyramid (September 20, 1982-December 31, 1987; April 4-July 1, 1988)

Child's Play (September 20, 1982-September 16, 1983)

Press Your Luck (September 19, 1983-September 26, 1986)

Body Language (June 4, 1984-January 3, 1986)

Card Sharks (January 6, 1986-March 31, 1989)

Blackout (January 4-April 1, 1988)

Family Feud (July 4, 1988-September 10, 1993)

Now You See It (April 3-July 14, 1989)

Wheel of Fortune (July 17, 1989-January 11, 1991)

My favorites other than The Price is Right were $25,000 Pyramid; Family Feud, Card Sharks.

5 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

 Y&R's actors did not get much Emmy love during the 80s). 

It's true, they didn't. The only 1980s wins were Beth Maitland Supporting Actress 1985 and Tracey Bregman Younger Actress 1985. Tracey was also nominated for Younger Actress in 1987. Terry Lester got four Lead Actor nominations (1984-1987) but the Lead Actor fields those years were tough. EB got one Lead Actor nomination (1987), JC got one Lead Actress nomination (1989), and Quinn Redeker got one Supporting Actor nomination (1989).

2 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Also, unless I’m mistaken, PB arrived at Y&R the same year Y&R first ascended to be the #1 daytime soap. He benefited from Y&R’s new status imo.

Y&R reached #1 December 1988. PB debuted November 1989.

15 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

Killing off Laura was a cost saving measure. 

15 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

I don't want even get started again on the hiring of Stacy Galina. 

It was a pattern across all three CBS primetime soaps in the off the rails plus budget mode years: Salary dump the long-time female cast members and bring on sweet young things hired on the cheap.

4 hours ago, te. said:

No wonder they cancelled Search For Tomorrow and moved up Scrabble - that show was low-key killing it in its slot!

New game show Wordplay replaced Search for Tomorrow at 12:30 pm and its run was December 29, 1986 to September 4, 1987.

NBC moved Scrabble to 12:30 pm on September 7, 1987, where it remained until March 24, 1989. 

Scrabble probably was a better lead in for Days than Search for Tomorrow, Wordplay, and Generations were, but I think it's safe to say that Y&R was clobbering it.

@SoapDope Nicollette Sheridan became a main cast member in season 10 and she practically ate the show for the rest of its run. Donna Mills left at the end of season 10 and she was smart to walk away when she did.

IMO Knots Landing went off the rails in season 9 after Laura's departure and was effectively over at the end of season 10 when Abby left. 1988-1993 was a chore to get through.

11 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

GL's primetime 40th

The GL primetime special was 1992 for the 40th anniversary on television.

I remember seeing promos celebrating the overall 50th anniversary in 1987.

1 hour ago, BoldRestless said:

LOL perfect description of PB @Broderick I noticed he was just as affected when speaking as himself on the Y&R 50th anniversary special (where he obnoxiously noted that he'd won an Emmy whereas Lester never had - in my view, that was due to his ABC friends as Y&R's actors did not get much Emmy love during the 80s). Sometimes I crack up when Bergman is the one doing the "brought to you by Palmolive" line after the commercial break, as if he's reading Shakespeare.

I never liked PB. He comes across as so smug and thinks he's a better actor than he actually is. PB's first two Lead Actor wins were the results of the fields being weak. 

1 hour ago, Taoboi said:

Because refresh my memory...wasn't Cole leaving just as ED reclaimed her role of Ashley from SS? 

ED 1999 return was in the spring and J. Eddie Peck departed that fall. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think J. Eddie Peck gave an exit interview in one of the soap mags where he said he didn't think he and ED connected as actors. 

12 hours ago, Chris 2 said:

Nighttime soaps were collapsing

Not just the primetime soaps, but CBS primetime on the whole was a mess.

CBS hung on to the primetime soaps as long as they did because the new dramas they launched from Fall 1985-Fall 1989 that got multiple season runs showed no signs of growth, not to mention a bunch of one season and done dramas.

Spring 1988 should have been the end for primetime soaps. It feels like the genre met its natural end point then.

@soapfan770 Yikes indeed. I'm like OMG what did I just read?

54 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Apologies @kalbir I had thought my reply went through wayyy back, I was musing through recent threads and found my reply from last was still sitting in the reply box

No worries  

54 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

While I found Season 9 a lot more entertaining than Season 8, there is a little lot of stuff that is very unnecessarily cruel, like Maggie’s death, Pilar fierce to sleep with a sleazy obese businessman, Emma in an abusive relationship once again and Chris Agretti’s murder etc. I get the theme of the season was losing everything and then winning, but the losing everything part was overkill indeed. 

I didn't like either season 8 or 9, but I agree with you about the cruelty and losing everything being overkill.

54 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

I think keeping Maggie alive and around the whole season as well as Emma would have been a lot more beneficial. 

Unfortunately budget mode prevented that.

54 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

The saving grace of Season 9 was at least everyone on got a happy ending

I don't know what the timeline was for CBS deciding to end the show, but I have a feeling the final four episodes were refilmed to wrap up the storylines. Remember there was that five week break between the last Friday episode and the first Thursday episode. 

Promo for the first Thursday episode at 0:41

Larsa harvested her eggs, I knew it! She probably has a surrogate lined up already.

22 hours ago, GL Oldtimer said:

One of the reasons why I watched Guiding Light was because I always thought the acting was some of the strongest on the soaps, at least during the time when I watched in the late 80s and early 90s. I could watch actors like Michael Zaslow, Maureen Garrett, Kim Zimmer, Rick Hearst, and Beverlee McKinsey recite the phone book, especially Maureen Garrett. I was always so intrigued by her as an actress.   

Agree. It's criminal that BM was never nominated for Lead Actress for her work on GL. MZ deserved more Lead Actor wins than the one he got. MG got three nominations for Supporting Actress but the competition was tough.

Agree. The only reason Phyllis wants Danny is to stick it to Christine. It's not like Danny was Phyllis's great love or anything like that.

Did Bill Bell write the original Doug/Julie storyline?

If so it means Bill Bell created one of the first supercouples yet he wasn't big on supercouples in the 1980s on Y&R.

1 minute ago, Sapounopera said:

The problemn with SB was that it was a product of the 80s. Supercouple mania with a Dynasty vibe.

100% this. The whole show embodied all the 1980s trends.