Paul Raven

The Jeffersons would have to up there as the show with the most timeslot changes. It began as a mid season replacement in Jan 75 following All in the Family 1. Sat 8.30 In Fall 75 it moved to the lead in slot on Sat as AITF got moved to Monday 2. Sat 8.00 It remained there through 75/76 season and beginning of 76/77 season. Themn moved to Wed following Good Times as AITF struggled in its new Wed timeslot and was moved to Sat displacing Mary Tyler Moore, which moved to the Jefferson's slot. 3. Wed 8.30 Fall 77 saw the Jeffersons moved to Sat 9pm as CBS tried to rebuild its Sat night sitcom lineup. 4. Sat 9.00 Late in the season it was moved forward replacing Bob Newhart so new sitcom Another Day could be given a spin 5. Sat 8.00 Fall 78 saw The Jeffersons now leading off Wednesday 6. Wed 8.00 That failed so it was moved to follow One Day at a Time 7. Wed 9.30 Late in the season Dear Detective was given a tryout Wed 9pm which displaced TJ. It was moved to lead in position 8. Wed 8.00 Fall 79 saw CBS put all its aging sitcoms into a Sunday night block which paid off 9. Sun 9.30 Fall 80 saw TJ retain the timeslot as did Fall 81 -Jeffersons finished 3rd. Fall 83 saw Jeffersons move up a half hour 10. Sun 9pm Fall 83 Jeffersons stayed in that timeslot Fall 84 Jeffersons began to falter and CBS moved it mid season to Tues. 11. Tues 8pm. That was the final move. I am not including a few times it was moved during Summer reruns. Is there any show that could match that?

This is Nora Drake 1950 Lovely Nora Drake is a nurse in Page Memorial Hospital. Anytown, USA Zealously devoted to her work. Her pursuit of her own personal happiness runs a poor second to her career—which makes tough on the men who fall m love with her. Charles Dobbs, a young lawyer, loves her desperately and hopes some day to many her. Attractive and successful has the common sense and keen judgment of people that Nora-the idealist and champion of the underdog—frequently lucks, Charles has an ill-starred brother George who has changed his last name to Stewart in order not to blacken the Dobbs name. Brilliant but weak George constantly involved i n shady enterprises, the latest of which is forgery, for which he is wanted by the police His wife Dorothy, whom he adores, has stayed with him through all his other deals but for her this is the last straw, and she leaves him. Charles Dobb, who loves Nora Drake. enters his office one night is shocked to see his brother George , who is wanted by the police. "Why don't you have me arrested?' taunts George. Charles finds he can't do that. He takes George-ill physically and mentally to a restaurant and gives him twenty dollars for decent food and lodging. He learns George only lives for his wife's return to him. Later that evening, Charles tells Nora about it. and they go to George's wife Dorothy. She's packing to fly South with a wealthy suitor and scorns the idea of returning to George. A huge corsage of orchids arrive, which Dorothy thinks are from her new beau. Discovering they're from George (who has spent the whole $20 on them!) she won't accept them and hands them to Charles. Charles leaves to go back to his brother. Nora tries in vain to persuade Dorothy that she still loves George. At the airport, Dorothy is belatedly touched by George's corsage. Nora goes to George's shabby furnished room, finds turn quite ill, and hasn't the heart to tell him that Dorothy has left for Florida. George guesses as much, believes that she has left him forever. Dorothy suddenly enters and goes lovingly to her husband. George, strengthened by her devotion, decides to stand trial. Joan Tompkins is Nora Drake Elspeth Eric is Dorothy Stewart Grant Richards is Charles, Dobbs Leon Janney is George Stewart Milton Lewis, Writer Charles Irving Director

Kevin Dobson was sexier on Kojak. His KL hairstyle to disguise his baldness always was a little weird. CBS liked him. After Kojak he had the short lived Shannon and then a number of TV movies including a Mike Hammer. I wonder if he would have taken the series role that went to Stacey Keach, if he wasn't tied in Knots.

Valley of the Dolls was CBS counter programming the World Series. Pt 1 on Monday and then a 3 hr Pt 2 up against baseball. Today's FBI was the 2 hr debut Sunday which was heavily promoted during baseball so viewers tuned in. But ratings dropped after that and it fought it out with Chips for #2 in the 8pm timeslot. Cancelled after one season. CBS Sunday 60 Minutes, comedies and Trapper John was dominant and that continued all season. Dukes/Dallas/Flacon Crest was another CBS sweep on Fri nights, Mork and Mindy got an early season boost from their wedding and birth of their son, but then fizzled out and got cancelled. Magnum dominated 8pm Thursday. Love Boat/Fantasy Island continued to help ABC win Saturday.

Thanks @DRW50 for continuing to find these treasures. Hildy Parks was Ellie. Bert Thorn as Alex. Interesting because @slick jones lists only Russell Thorson as Alex in 1953. But if this is January obviously Alex was around in 1952 also. Or has there been some confusion between Thorn and Thorson? I think Alex's secret was the existence of a previous wife Jill, although it appears Jill may be lying that they were married and is up to no good.

Richard came off more as villain of the week than hero. Parker Stephenson was perfect casting. Just wish the scripts had been better.

Thanks @DRW50 Stepmother: CBS: Jan 17, 1938 to July 10, 1942. (234 Weeks) Colgate Dental Cream Totals:234 Consecutive Weeks - 1,170 Episodes Broadcast KITTY KEENE, INC (1937-41, CBS, Mutual) Premiere: September 1937 Final episode: April 1941 Kitty Keene was written by Day Keene. If anyone is interested summary of his life and career here: https://thrillingdetective.com/2020/12/09/day-keene/

Courier Express, 8 February 1981 Soap Report Jon Michael Reed "ONE LIFE to Live" has tried to squelch rumors for months that Keith Charles was slated to be removed from the cast in his role of Ted Clayton. Next week, Mark Goddard inherits the part. Keith is a soap opera veteran, but the show wanted a change to someone who's "more menacing." Mark is a more glamorous "looker" than Keith, and that doesn't hurt either. Nightime series viewers may recognize Mark from frequent guest appearances and from his co-starring roles in "'Lost in Space and ''The Detectives." The soap is also auditioning a replacement to fill the Samantha Vernon role when Julie Montgomery takes a hike within the next two months. Julie wants out, and some lucky young lady will find herself playing a prominent and juicy soap role. *that was the beginning of Goddard's soap career in the 80's. He went on to play Paul Reed on The Doctors and Derek Barrington on GH. And Dorian LoPinto became Samantha.

Courier Express, 8 February 1981 Soap Report Jon Michael Reed NEW YORK - The casting wheels of change are afoot at all of the ABC soaps. The first soap to be struck by the Russian roulette casting game is "All Mary Lynn Blanks (Tara) was the first "AMC actor to receive her walking papers. For Mary Lynn, it was an especially crushing blow, since she had been led to believe the show was gearing up a terrific triangle involving Tata, Chuck and Jim. Add to that her father's holiday advice that she's wasting her time with that acting business- imagine how down in the dumps she is these days. Paul Falzone, who joined "AMC" as Jim Jefferson three months ago, is now hustling to find work elsewhere to support a new addition to his family. Paul's wife is expecting a child in July: Several weeks ago, Paul's agent complained that he wished Paul had more time to be sent out on lucrative commercial auditions. Now, he has the chance. ALSO SLATED to exit within the next month is Gwyn Gilliss and her "AMC" character of Anne Martin. Gwyn's screen husband, Paul (played by William Mooney) will probably be shipped off with a handful of other actors. It's a sad day, indeed, in soap heaven when such stal- warts as Tara, Anne and Paul, who've been mainstays since "AMC debuted, are relegated to the junk heap. On the other side of the casting coin, Tudi Wiggins joins "AMC" as Sara Kingsley; Brandon's wife. Erica, who's been sleeping in Brandon's bed, should really love that bit or news, since Erica has no idea her lover has a Mrs. Add the fact that Wiggins is one of the best "scene-chewers" in the soap business and "AMC" might have at least a temporary remedy for viewers who will bellyache about the dismissal of familiar Pine Valley folks. One guy who won't be missed, however, is wife beater Kurt Saunders Judging from fan mail, the actor who played this character was as loathed for his overplaying theatrics as for the character's vile story behaviour. We respectfully refrain from mentioning the actor's name. He's probably a nice guy who deserves an acting job else where, like Siberia. *The actor was William Ferriter BTW. AMC eased out those original charcters along with Linc and Kelly w/ouch backlash. I guess one reason was that Mary Lynn Blanks and Gwynn Gillis weren't super popular castings so viewers were less connected. And AMC had struck gold with Nina and Cliff. Erica was super popular and you still had Phoebe, Ruth, Joe, Chuck, Donna etc to provide consistency.

Phyllis, Alice, Sheila, Sharon, Mari Jo, Molly...maybe Bill Bell had a lot of maiden aunts he wanted to honor.

Doug Marland, Pat Falken Smith and John Corrington have all spoken against Gloria Monty. Seems she didn't accommodate writers too well. At least not those who wanted more autonomy. Jackie Smith also seemed difficult at times. That story where Doug Marland went into a meeting with Agnes Nixon.. I remember meeting Agnes Nixon downstairs at the elevator because Agnes was a consultant for all the shows on ABC and it was the week General Hospital hit number one solid-- wiped everything else out. The fact that this once pathetic show was the solid number show was like victory--this was the first story meeting I haven't dreaded. Agnes said, “Don't be too sure.” I said "What can they say, we're number one?” Jackie Smith came in , she's a half-hour late, and her opening remarks were, "We're in terrible trouble.” I that couldn't believe it. Her maid that morning had said that the Laura, Bobbie, Scotty thing was boring, she didn't like it --all our eggs are in that basket. I said, "It was the basket that brought us here.” She said, I “Yes, now we have to find ways to stay there." "I said the story isn't even over yet." I couldn't believe it. Agnes was totally right. She winked at me from across the room. There is an incredible instinct to panic. I have not found that at all with P & G."

Musical chairs ran from June to November 75 on CBS at 4pm replacing Tattletales which moved to the morning and then to 3.30. It made history by having Adam Wade as host, the first Black gameshow host. Mary Stuart was one of the guests on the first episode and Adam had appeared on search in 1970, so perhaps there was a connection there. Anyway, MC failed in the ratings and was replaced by another short lived show Give n Take which faired even worse, lasting only a few weeks. CBS moved Tattletales back to 4pm the same day Edge of Night began on ABC.

Courier Express, 26 April 1982 Writer says Malpractice Harms General Hospital by Gary Deeb John William Corrington is a respected novelist and scholar. He's also one of television's best writers of daytime soap opera. Partnered with his wife Joyce, Corrington was the creator and headwriter of "Texas" and the head writer of "Search for Tomorrow." And until this week, the Corringtons were the newly installed head writers of ''General Hospital" (3 p.m. Monday through Friday, Chs. 7 and 11 in the Buffalo area). The overheated and trouble plagued ABC soap has been losing viewers by the ton for the last few months, and the husband and wife team had hired to pump some spirit into serial that had lost most of its energy. But after only three months at the writing helm of ''General Hospital," the Corringtons have called it quits. In Chicago for a speaking engagement at Roosevelt University, Corrington said he's frustrated by the constant meddling of ABC bureaucrats and fed up with "having to be an administrator instead of a writer." So as the Corringtons wrap it up and head home to New Orleans, they join the long parade of writers who have shuffled in and out of "GH" since last summer. Once among the most spectacular moneymakers in TV history, 'General Hospital" now is in very deep trouble. As reported here in recent weeks, the show is creatively bankrupt and has lost a staggering 3.5 million viewers since Christmastime. That represents nearly 25 per- ' cent of the program's former viewership, and many observers believe it's only a matter of months before "GH" gets bumped off its four-year joyride atop the daytime audience ratings. As a result, ABC executives are panicking. Corrington describes them as "frothing with madness" at the prospect that the $150 million a year in net profits generated by "GH" may be in jeopardy. ''You can't imagine how desperate things are," Corrington said. "'For the last three months, the writing has been the worst crap in the world, and the show is totally out of control." That candid admission should come as no surprise to anybody who has tried to follow "GH" since last fall, when actress Genie Francis - who played the part of Laura Spencer -- announced that she was leaving the soap to work for CBS. Suddenly, producer Gloria Monty had to dream up a way to get rid of the pivotal character of Laura, whose storybook romance with Luke Spencer, played by Tony Geary, had been the key to catapulting "CH" to dizzying heights of popularity and media hype. The trouble was, nobody could agree on how Laura should be done away with. So to buy time, the program "vamped" for months, forcing the writers and actors to dance around the unexplained disappearance of the lead female character. First, Luke and Laura were hexed by a vague "curse" (delivered by Elizabeth Taylor in a foolish cameo role); later a mysterious stranger with hypnotic powers arrived on the scene, and Laura disappeared; and then a lookalike for Laura (also named Laura) popped up to confuse things even further. During this time, the show's writers were ordered to churn out daily scripts and to keep everything up in the air until Monty and ABC could get their act together and agree on a coherent storyline. When Corrington proposed his own plausible scenario to explain Laura's demise, he said he was shot down without explanation. As things now stand, Corrington said, Laura's death will be explained away simply as "an unfortunate accident,"" totally ignoring all those red herrings "GH" has been dishing out for months. Even Jackie Smith, ABC's vice president for daytime programs, is enraged at the idea of such a cop-out and finds it creatively unacceptable. But the bungling of the Laura story is only one of the many problems Corrington encountered during his three-month stint on "GH." Most of the scriptwriters who worked under him, he said, are "incompetent hacks who aren't worthy of writing on used toilet paper." Because producer Monty was out of action for several weeks because of surgery, "production of the whole show fell frantically behind schedule and has never recovered."

'Hospltal'intrlgue behlnd-the-scenes by Gary Deeb. COURIER-EXPRESS WEEK OF OCT. 18 to OCT. 24 1981 Patricia Falken Smith is mad as hell, and she intends to take it out on her former bosses - the producer of "General Hospital" and the ABC daytime program executives who preside over that enormously popular soap opera. As reported here recently, Falken Smith was the head writer for "General Hospital" for 2 1/2 years through last month. But in the wake of a series of disagreements with "GH" producer Gloria Monty, Falken Smith and her entire writing staff have departed that program and now are toiling on the storyline for the rival NBC soap .'"Days of Our Lives." Monty's office said Falken Smith was fired; Falken Smith, however, insists that she got tired of working for Monty and simply quit on her own. In fact, Falken Smith is so upset by what she believes is a deliberate attempt by Monty and ABC daytime vice president Jacqueline Smith to embarrass her that she's making noises about suing them unless they both publicly declare that her leaving "General Hospital" was a genuine resignation rather than a firing. "I won't be maligned by these two crummy broads," Falken smith told this column fired. I made this ----- show No. 1, but they've done nothing but scheme to keep me and my staff from getting the credit we deserve. We took those corny, awful plots that Gloria and Jackie dreamed up and we turned the show around. 'But now, because their stupid science-fiction storyline was such a drag all summer, they're trying to blame it on me. Well, that . .. (bad) writing all summer wasn't mine. It was created by the scab writers who worked last spring during the writers' strike, which I honored. I'm a very strong union person. I refuse to scab during a strike. And that's what got me in trouble with those two insecure broads. When I came back to the show on July 15 after the strike, they dumped all over me and made life miserable for me. ''So I quit - and then they put out the word that I got fired. All I know is I'm now the head writer on 'Days of Our Lives'; my entire staff of writers came over here with me; and I look forward to and watching 'General Hospital sink into oblivion." And folks, that's the sort of anger, skullduggery and personal intrigue that frequently makes life behind the scenes on a soap opera infinitely more electrifying than what winds up on the screen itself.

I didn't find that apartment that awful. Looked pretty spacious actually. Seemed to be a bit of ad libbing b/w Leslie and Laura. Gloria allowed that.

Is that LA restaurant actually outdoors? Through the slats on the back wall I saw a person walking in the distance. Maybe it's on the studio roof? I'm impressed with the hospital set -there's a corridor, waiting room and Noah's room. Some new sets and faces makes the show slightly more watchable. But as soon as we return to Cane/Phyllis...

The synopses at the time only mentions Jason's death: Alan found Amy admiring his house, then consoled her after learning her father had died Luke comforted Laura about her stepfather's death. Amy arrived right when Marland departed and Pat Falken Smith took over. I'm guessing Marland planned her arrival but PFS may have changed the story for the character.

Agree with that. Nitpicker here-but regarding the Hamilton decor-it'd further evidence that Hayley is an amateur and they should play it as such. Like she previously got involved with a rich guy and lucked out, so wanted to keep the lifestyle and went after Bill when the situation presented itself. If she had smarts the place would have decorated way less gaudy. Bill has been around the Duprees and would know from good taste. Maybe it should have been a little less awful and Bill could have reacted to it- showing he wasn't a fan but letting Hayley do her thing, cos he's in luvvv. As for Tomas, just write him out and bring in someone new for Kat and whoever. Sometimes you just have to recognize what's not working and move on.

😅

Bill does favor a singlet. No bare chested scenes for Timon.

If they had tried to make it look a little more authentic it would help. And that door that opens outwards bothers me. Is Isaiah going to visit his bro and sis in law in their bedroom? He made a good first impression and worked fine with Eva. Liked the brief appearance of Rosamund-those under 5 roles help to create a world outside the regulars. Still wish we saw Rowena.

Phyllis on her laptop at CL hacking into Cane's AI program and talking to herself...🥺

Would that have been 1980? Nancy was gone by 81. In July 1980 James was still the dashing suitor-his true nature yet to be revealed, so he would have been welcomed as Barbara's guest.

He just f'ing debuted. My God

I think this was Robert Calhoun's vision as EP. Bringing the Hughes back into focus.