Paul Raven

Two characters sitting at Society talking-that pic could be from any episode in the last 4 years...

Ray Wise Began his career as Jamie on Love of Life in the 70's, moved on to decades of primetime with Twin Peaks finally giving him some recognition. Eventually returned to soaps in the 2010's on Y&R as Ian Ward.

Not really a feud but certainly animosity ATWT Lisa/Ellen

Jon Michael Reed suggested it was more suitable for a Tampax commercial.

That schedule was one factor contributing to the slow demise of soaps. Viewers now had some difficult choices to make. Whereas only a few years earlier you could spend 90 mins of your day watching 3 soaps, now it was 3 hours. If you watched shows on different networks, they now went up against each other, so you either gave up one or watched on alternate days-quite likely giving up on one in the end. It wasn't helpful to soaps as a genre.

To me that was the worst of the Dobsons - it just wasn't ATWT. That zany ,larger than life stuff was a turn off.

All of those recasts were successful. Apart from Will, who was supporting,Jenny,Karen and Brad were frontburner and accepted by viewers.

When TGL resumed in June 47 it was acompletely different show, now set in Selby Flats. Dr Charles Matthews (Hugh Studebaker) was pastor of Church of Good Samaritan in Selby Flats , an underpriveleged area of LA. The good doctor's philosophy of life was keynoted in the opening installment by a lamp of friendship delivered to him by a divinity student from Five Points. 'It's the symbol of 'The Guiding Light' says Dr Matthews.Now I know what to say at the state prison.' The next scene took place at the prison and the new storylines unfolded

Jenny canceled the wedding and Brad was incriminated in Lana's death when his ring was found in her apartment. Cathy insisted it wasn't suicide. Karen went bananas over Lana's death. She went on a bar-hopping look for Mr. Goodbar and kept on trucking while blowing Larry's money left and right. Sam shared Brad's confidence about finding Lana's tell-all note to Jenny. Will had the guilts after succumbing to Robin's charms. Definitely the Will/Robin hookup pushed them to #3...

Dusty Donovan was an iconic character? Amanda Spaulding? 'In terms of character creation the Dobsons were unmatched.' I think Agnes Nixon, Irna Phillips and Bill Bell might have something to say about that.

Regarding the Dobsons at GL and ATWT They took over GL when it was a half hour show and there were fewer characters and stories to accomodate. But by the time they took over ATWT it had been an hour show for 5 years and there were many more characters they had to deal with. It was probably easier for them to make changes at GL than ATWT.

Interesting to see GH take a ratings jump and move up to #6 in the Nov sweeps before Monty came on board. Here's what was happening Katie fretted about Lamonts deteriorating condition while Mark called in specialists. Lesley softened her regard for David, while Laura took a special interest in him. Lana buttered up Jeff for a seduction and confessed she and Lisa played twin tricks on their boyfriends. Monica was further attracted to Alan while working on their helicopter operation study for cardiac patients. Peter and Diana returned home with their adopted son, little Peter'

I recall reading that at first Martha was said to be spending some time at the Marceau's Summer cottage but then she was just not mentioned anymore and Bill was seen in a professional capacity only.

Was that anything to do with Marland? He had written for Ed for quite a while before the switch. I think it came from the higher ups - same as the decision to fire Adam, Barbara and Steve. Ostensibly it was due to Hulswit balding and weight gain, but didn't he say something in a Locher Room interview that he was a strong union supporter and clashed with producers on some issues? That was back in the 50's when Irna was still writing I think andif the show was based in LA she adhered to that. But later on, maybe not so much. Selby Flats as a name actually suits what we saw in the the Peapack era.

Probably the time has come to reunite Nick and Sharon. Really any other romances for them at this time aren't working-they should have evolved somewhat beyond falling in love repeatedly. Now I know putting them together supposedly means less exciting stories but really, have either of them had much excitement over the past few years? I'm thinking the breast cancer story, Cameron's return could have played out with them married. They could still be active in the story if Mariah, Noah and Faith had more prominence. Then we have the oft requested search for Sharon's father. That could provide airtime and possible angst. Sharon discovering a shady half brother could shake things up. Desperatedly searching around for new love interests for them is no longer cutting it.

@DRW50 thanks for posting. Those live NY shows of the 50's were bursting with soap names. Probably everyone in that cast had done a soap. It's often our only chance to get a look at some of those performers.

Re Selby Flats. The explanation that a town name was not mentioned for a good while seems most likely but still the question remains as to why there was need to change it. Selby Flats had operated as the locale since the 40's so why would anyone feel it was a problem ? It's not like the show was dealing with issues about living in an LA suburb. Mike Bauer wasn't kvetching to Bert about freeway traffic.

I guess a lot depended on timeslots. Some stations might show Knots at 4pm and others late night. It's not as straightforward as network. I remember seeing in Variety Lorimar placing ads to tout KL for example, and cherry picking markets where the show was doing well, whereas actual ratings reports painted a different picture.

Or Walter was in on the whole thing and faked being dead... Or Walters wife/son/daughter/grandkid etc blames Nikki and comes back to torment her...

Days from #4 to # 10 the next few months should put the Ann Marcus era in perspective. Although Love of Life was way down in the rankings it was airing at 11.30 am when viewership was lower. The competition was Knockout on NBC and Family Feud on CBS so I would imagine LOL was #2 in the timeslot and may have been scoring slightly better demos in W 18-49 than the game shows. EDIT went back through this thread and found ratings for w 18-34 Jan thru Aug 78. Family Feud was #1 in that demo and LOL #17

May 87 Syndicated Ratings Rating/share/number of markets/percentage of the country 1. Wheel of Fortune 18.9 34 199 99.6 2. Jeopardy 11.3 27 187 98.1 3. Oprah Winfrey Show 9.3 34 154 93.6 4. PM Magazine 8.5 17 39 31.1 5. M *A *S *H 7.7 19 164 91.8 6. Peoples Court 7.1 21 185 96.7 7. Phil Donahue Show 6.9 28 182 97.5 8. New Newlywed Game 6.6 15 178 97.2 9. Ent. Tonight 6.5 15 142 87.8 9. Three's Company 6.5 16 146 87.1 11. Big Spin 6.4 14 10 10.8 11. Hollywood Squares 6.4 16 142 85.6 13. Card Sharks 6.1 15 29 21.3 14. Facts of Life 5.4 13 109 79.4 15. Magnum, P.I. 5.3 15 119 77.6 16. Benson 4.9 13 102 60.6 16. Diff'rent Strokes 4.9 13 123 77.2 16. Jeffersons 4.9 13 102 66.1 19. Hee Haw 4.8 16 172 82.8 20. Divorce Court 4.7 16 138 85.8 20. Fight Back 4.7 15 29 36.5 20. Gimme a Break 4.7 11 97 75.9 23. Barney Miller 4.5 13 89 56.3 23. Judge 4.5 17 73 63.2 23. Superior Court 4.5 16 107 71.9 23. Too Close- Comfort 4.5 10 80 66.6

Not invested in GH but have enjoyed the thread. What I don't understand is that certain actors, most of whom are well past their use by date are being given (perceived?) power to dictate aspects of story and couplings etc. They should be damn grateful that they're employed in the first place.

Night time soaps rarely dug into the past, unlike daytime. Especially the self contained eps. The above mentioned examples as evidence.

AW Donna -Anna Stuart v Philece Sampler Vicky - Anne Heche v Jensen Buchanan Y&R Over time Jack Abbott Terry Lester v Peter Bergman

Pretty much yes! Worked with one at one time and was unamused by their antics. Check out the Proposed Soaps thread for details on Manhattan Lives.