Paul Raven

There is so much rubbish on Facebook about all the soaps eg 'Peter Bergman's heartbreaking decision to leave Y&R' etc so I'm inclined not to believe it.

Well they didn't explain back from the dead or why Matt now had a different face again so that would not be an issue. Did they approach Rick Hearst? Again, I'll state there was zero reason for Matt to be in this story especially if Hearst was not available. At least then they could have used flashbacks to bolster the story. Otherwise forget it. Roger should have played a new character.

Miss Ellie did have a brother Garrison who came and went in one episode early on.

The ratings are not high. The show is #1 by default. I wish they took more care in recasting Billy than just grabbing JT because he was popular on GH and the previous Billy was a bust. Actually I think Micheal Roark who played Travis and is now Jeremy on Days would have been a better choice. Jason Thompson is too old and dour for Billy who was always more light hearted when Billy Miller played him.

10 years! What did we do to deserve that? The writing and Thompson's take on Billy make the character insufferable. Today we have Tessa announcing she's divorcing Mariah. WTH is that storyline? Camryn is hardly ever on and we still don't know what happened after months. Awful. I know it's budget but the show's treatment of children is terrible. They're never seen apart from Harrison. If we saw Tessa as a mother to a young child, Sharon as a grandmother we might feel the emotion of the 'story' than just having the kids referred to (or not). So much wrong with Y&R.

They are almost a year ahead of what is playing so those two couples will probably get a lot of story in that time. Maybe by then it will feel right to let them go. The reverse of this is when young couples are front burnered and go through so much story in a few years that they are prematurely played out but stay onscreen for more marriages/divorces and affairs .

One thing is that Ashley is the only young white female on the show and I think they are conscious of having that onscreen.

The 1981/82 season was a struggle for NBC. It was the end of the Fred Silverman era that had produced more misses than hits. Apart from Hill St Blues, NBC's only hits Real People, Different Strokes, Facts of Life debuted several seasons before so Silverman hadn't replenished the schedule. Apparently the pilot line-up for Fall 81 was so uninspired that NBC announced Rock Hudson, James Arness, Angie Dickinson in shows they had no title or clear concepts for. There seemed to be a budget freeze as NBC had no big theatrical releases, splashy mini series, TV movies and specials. And only a few back up shows. They also had bad luck with Powers of Matthew Star and Devlin Connection delayed to the following season which left gaps to fill. Those shows bombed any way. Compared to the following season's schedule with Family Ties, Cheers, St Elsewhere, Knight Rider, Remington Steele all debuting. None of them were huge hits but building blocks in NBC's ultimate success.

I dislike characters 'fading away'. If Derek is a goner, and I'm not sure he is, a couple of farewell scenes should be written where he decides to leave town for a better job, or be closer to sick parent etc. It seldom makes sense when character just disappear.

#67 Palms Precinct. This was a failed pilot that NBC programmed Fri @10 against Falcon Crest and Strike Force. It starred Sharon Gless and Steve Ryan as police inspectors in mythical Palms City CA. #52 Mork & Mindy. After a ratings bump early in the season with a marriage and birth viewers tuned out and ABC later tried Police Squad and No Soap, Radio in that timeslot, bumping M&M off the schedule. #47 Fame, Debut episode. Despite good reviews that show never took off, coming distant second to Magnum.

That was a pretty standard week with no special programming of note. As for Dynasty, at that point it was winning it's timeslot but usually finishing somewhere between 20th and 30th-it hadn't broken through yet. One explanation for the lower rating was that it hadn't aired the week before so maybe a bit of momentum was lost? Anyway it continued to slowly grow throughout the season moving into the Top 20 on occasion but it wasn't till the May finale episodes that it exploded, finishing at #2 for the final two episodes. NBC was having trouble on Friday and Saturday nights but what possessed them to program the movie The Late Show Sat @9?It was a repeat of a box office flop that had rated poorly the first time around. Surely they could have found something with a bit more ratings potential? Barbara Mandrell had won it's timeslot and they squandered that. CBS programmed a repeat of Foul Play and ABC Love Boat.

There's definitely a story there for Derek going to the dark side. Not out and out psycho but becoming desperate to regain Ashley-trying to create 'accidental' meet ups, the 'we can still be friends' strategy etc. Having Greg Vaughan come on and teasing a relationship with Nicole and then having her seeing Carlton is an odd choice. I'm sure Kial will start appearing more regularly but it is a rocky start.

Bryan Cranston left a nice comment and mentioned that they worked together on Loving. The Deadline article mentions 'early soap roles' leaving the impression that he moved on from soaps, whereas in fact he continued to work in soaps for decades alongside theater and film.

Well he wasn't going to get much of that on a soap. Agree. Marland set them up as the struggling second family on the show with long term plans but Kobe/Long and subsequent writers seemed more interested in the Lewis family then the Shaynes.

Seeing how savvy ABC was in promoting their daytime line up and the ratings the soaps were getting, I'm surprised they didn't put together a primetime special celebrating Luke and Laura's wedding, maybe on the Friday or Saturday night preceding. A retrospective of the couple, the Elizabeth Taylor visit, sneak peak of the wedding etc., It would have been good cross promotion, cheap to make and slotted Saturday @8, most likely rated better than the flop sitcoms airing there Maggie/Open All Night. It wasn't until 1990 that ABC aired the AMC 20th Anni special in primetime.

And most of them are just acting out the scripts, collecting the checks, and in for the long haul, knowing there is not much else out there for them.

I don't mind Pamela popping in from time to time-plenty of people have friends they touch base with occasionally, But it could become wearing after a while I guess. I know there's a lot of personal drama going on, but the lack of work related scenes and stories is still a bugbear for me. Dani was on her laptop and mentioned the modelling agency, but that business is so far on the backburner. Chelsea/Kat is glossed over. Martin the politician, gossipy nurses, not sure what Smitty is doing, Vanessa the real estate mogul and so on.

On the AW thread, there was discussion of Michael/Rachel. Talk about an odd pairing, Didn't they try Cass/Donna at one point? I would also count Felicia/John.

Thanks @SoapDope78 for posting that. A nice story. Barbara must have been disappointed when she was axed as Leslie. Luckily Joyce on ATWT was waiting in the wings. But it seems viewers responded well to her and the Mike/Leslie relationship and Lynne Adams didn't resomate with a lot of the audience second time around. A similar think happened when John Colenback returned as Dan on ATWT. A lot of viewers preferred John Reilly's version of Dan.

Dennis Weaver Gunsmoke CBS 1955-64 Kentucky Jones NBC 1964-65 Gentle Ben CBS 1967-69 McCloud NBC 1970-77 Stone ABC 1980 Emerald Point CBS 1983-84 Buck James ABC 1987-88 Wildfire ABC Family 2005

OK so it seems he's a new love interest for Ashley. I found him boring on Y&R so it's going to be interesting how he works on BTG. And it will interesting to see if Ashley becomes more likeable with a new scene partner. Looks like he's recurring, so how often is he going to make that drive?

Billboard July 24 1972 (*Danny Fortunato was Eileen's husband at the time.) Nectar in TV Push on LP NEW YORK - Nectar Records has launched a television advertising campaign for "Eileen Fulton Sings With You in Mind," which was released late last year, Danny Fortunato, Nectar president, who produces, promotes and markets the company's product, said that the Fulton LP is being supported by three TV spots in 12 markets. The commercials are airing on the CBS -TV soap opera, "As the World Turns," on which Miss Fulton stars. In addition, Nectar has placed ads in TV fan magazines. Her latest single, "I Wonder Who My Daddy Is," written by Gladys Shelley, was recently released. The artist's first single, "Radio," concerns the oldtime radio soap operas, and Fortunato believes it is the only record of its kind. Nectar is also into the nostalgia wave with "Bring the Boogie - Woogie Back," by Toni Mathis. The single recreates the musical background of the 40's, and is "probably the first nostalgic record created with a soul motif," by Fortunato. Nectar, which has 21 national independent distributors, has two music publishers, Scottie Music (BMI) and Donato Music (ASCAP). The label is aiming for the MOR pop market.

In the first episode it looked like Laura and Mona would have a strong surrogate mother/daughter vibe and we got a little character sketch of Mona being childless and Laura having a boyfriend. But nothing really happened beyond that.

With Lily gone we'll be spared the Cane/Lily back and forth where she schools him and he grovels, then she softens etc. But where to for Cane? Maybe more AI/business garbage? More Cane/Phyllis? Neither option is palatable.

Just looking at characters birth dates . Christian was born Oct 2015 making him 10 yrs old. Just ridiculous that he hasn't been sighted in years. With the customary SORAS he should probably be 15 or 16 by now. Y&R has a viable younger generation with Connor/Katie/Johnny/Christian as teens and Faith/Reed/Moses now in early 20's. Sharon/Nick/Victor/Nikki can step back to being involved parents/grandparents.