Paul Raven

May 87. Who's The Boss' aired an episode that was a possible spin off-'Mona' based around Katherine Helmond's character. Premise was she goes to visit her brother (James B Sikking) in NYC where he has bought a down at heel hotel. Other cast Joe Regalbuto, Paul Sand, Susan Walters,Robert Petkoff, Billie Bird.

Mark La Mura ALL MY CHILDREN Mark Dalton February 2 1977-85; 1986-89; 1995; 2004; 2005

The final year of Somerset, quite a read, but good to have the storyline in one place. Julian Cannell, the editor of the Somerset Register, finds his marriage to interim Register publisher Kate is floundering. Vickie Paisley, local heiress and co-owner of Paisley’s Department Store,makes no secret of her attraction to him. The marriage of Dr. Jerry Kane and his wife, Heather, seems to be faring no better, as Heather chafes under Jerry’s constant instructions and orders, feeling that he refuses to acknowledge her ability to function as a responsible adult. Finding that housework doesn’t fulfill her personal need for accomplishment, the newly married Heather | Kane gets a job singing with Bobby Hanson at the local coffee shop. When her husband, Dr. Jerry Kane, curtly informs her ‘that it’s out of the question, her job is demeaning to his career, Heather angrily moves out Ellen Grant and her daughter Jill Farmer were both widowed last year, when their husbands died in a car crash in Italy. Jill inadvertently sidetracked the attentions of the one man her mother has been interested in |since the tragedy, and Ellen herself suffered terribly when her new love, Jon Wheeler (reporter Carrie Wheeler’s — father), was senselessly killed by a burglar. Carrie is now falling in love with Greg Mercer, Heather’s half brother, also a reporter on the Register staff. In the past few months Somerset has undergone a series of robberies, muggings and murders which has raised panic among the residents, and business is suffering, as the ere now fear to leave their homes. Ginger Cooper is pleased when her husband, Tony, is promoted to manager of Paisley’s Department Store,but quickly finds that his longer hours are upsetting to their little son, Joey. Finding that Tony is working closely with beautiful Victoria Paisley further complicates Ginger’s thinking, but Tony hastens to assure her Vickie’s harmless. Ellen Grant, widowed last year, befriended Dale Robinson, a graduate student at the university, and he’s renting a room in her home. Dale takes a parttime job as a toy-collection Santa Claus. Greg Mercer is continuing his investigation into the murder of Carrie Wheeler’s father, despite police warnings that he not interfere. Having deliberately aborted their expected child because she felt she’d lose Julian while unattractively pregnant, Kate Cannell sees that her actions have also killed any love he had for her. Determined to take revenge on him, she informs him she’s returning to the newspaper as publisher, which means he’ll be demoted back to editor. When Julian refuses to work under her, she coldly tells him she was going to dismiss him no matter what he said. Now desperate for an editor, Kate forces the job on Greg Mercer. And, as she’s having trouble handling her job, Kate leans heavily on the young reporter,to Carrie’s annoyance and dismay. But finally Kate’s emotional guilts and pain become too much, and Dr. Terri Kurtz gently suggests that she look for |psychiatric care. Fearing commitment, Kate attempts suicide and is hospitalized. As, her condition worsens, her commitment is processed. Tony, under increasing personal as well as business pressure, is having chest pains. Dr. Stan Kurtz, examining him, warns he must take it easy or he could have a full-scale heart attack. When Vickie gives Tony a cashmere coat for Christmas, he finds ‘himself involved in an affair. When Tony expresses regret at betraying Ginger, Vickie, who hasn’t gotten over her feelings for Julian, who rejected her, tells him that all wives know,-they just don’t say anything. Vickie assures Tony their relationship has no strings and warns him off when he suggests he’s falling in love with her. Heather decides to try to work things out with Jerry and goes to their cabin to talk. Horrified to see another woman in her bedroom, she runs out and turns to Bobby for consolation. They spend the night in separate rooms, but in the morning Jerry walks in and chooses to make his own assessment, calling her a tramp. She slaps him and throws him out. Vic Kirby tries to help Jerry and Heather to a reconciliation,but Jerry’s insistence on Heather’s giving in to all his demands infuriates her, and, unwilling to give up her independence, she walks out. Dale and Ellen become lovers. Ellen tells him she’s happy to help him financially with his career—he’s planning to be a doctor—but she won’t consider his marriage proposal. Dale presses her to overlook the age difference between them, and finally coaxes her into agreeing they’re engaged. When he offers her an engagement present, half of an antique coin, Ellen is horrified, as she recognizes it as half of the coin Carrie’s father gave Ellen’s daughter, Jill, just before his death. Dale insists he bought it from a guy on campus but can’t go to the police, as he has a record because of a teenage robbery. Vic Kirby is overjoyed when his son, Chris, shows |up at his cabin. Chris took off years ago. Vic's happiness soon becomes despair, however, as Chris reveals that he is the murderer who’s been terrorizing Somerset. Vic realizes from his son’s ramblings that— their misunderstandings during the boy’s youth warped him, and tells his son he accepts the blame and they'll go away together. But Dale has been arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder.. One of the victims was attacked by a Santa in the area he’d been working. At the moment that the latest victim, Sarah Brisken, is clearing Dale,Vic persuades his son to let him call the authorities|promising to stand by him. Ellen and Dale announce their engagement, to mixed reactions throughout Somerset. Jill rushes home from Hong Kong, where she’s been visiting her brother David, convinced that Dale only wants Ellen’s money. Seeing her mother’s happiness makes Jill waver, but seeing how cavalier Dale is about letting Ellen pay for everything reconvinces her he’s out for what he can get. Ellen’s friends try to gently show her there will be problems—for example, can she give him a child? Tony is angry to realize that Ginger and Joey have seen a great deal of Julian lately, and he’s jealous of his son’s growing attachment for their friend. Tony rushes to Vickie’s for consolation after an argument with Ginger and has a heart attack there. Vickie rushes him to the hospital, but Ginger arrives before she can leave. Ginger doesn’t believe Vickie’s account of ho the attack actually happened, but can’t confront Tony now. Tony survives, but his recovery will take time. He confesses his affair to Ginger, insisting he still loves her and his son. Ginger is shattered, but decides to take him back for Joey’s sake. But Tony, who expected her to say that their marriage is over, now tells her he’s going to get an apartment when he leaves the hospital; he needs to be alone. Ginger is badly hurt by this. When Jill continues to castigate Dale to Carrie, insisting he’s only out for a meal ticket, Carrie asks if Jill’s vehemence is perhaps due to her own attraction to Dale. Jill, taken aback, finally admits it’s true. Jill then gives Dale and her mother her blessing, telling Ellen she tried to attract Dale to make Ellen see how foolish she was. But now Ellen is having second thoughts. When she confides this to Jill, Jill suggests she look at it from Dale’s side: Is he making a mistake by marrying Ellen? Julian is stunned to learn that Kate’s condition has |deteriorated. She’s now catatonic, and her chances of recovery aren’t good. Ellen goes away to think things out. Returning, she tells Dale he needs to live “wildly and spontaneously”now, that she’s already done that. Their needs are’ different. As he leaves, she tells him she loves him and they must not see each other again. Dan Brisken, a retired millionaire publisher, has bought the Somerset Register. Heather learns she’s pregnant but insists that Jerry not be told, as she’s filing for divorce. But, through a mix up in medical files, Jerry does find out. Stan makes him see that Heather’s fight is for her independence, her right to grow on her own. Understanding this, Jerry offers Heather a partnership in their marriage, promising not to take back responsibilities from her if she makes mistakes. On this basis they reconcile. | Somerset has been besieged by a series of fires that may be arson. Greg uncovers information which indicates two men, Gammidge and Bailey, were hired in Chicago to set the most recent fire and Bailey left Gammidge in the building so he wouldn’t have to share the money. Carrie is assigned to the human interest side of the story. Greg follows his leads to Chicago, and on the way back is threatened by a man on the plane. Policeman Lieutenant Price realizes that Greg has opened a major can of worms and places him under protective surveillance. Carrie, realizing how much she cares for him, confesses this to him,and they plan to marry. Julian feels he’s responsible for Greg’s situation—if he hadn’t printed the story,Greg would be in no danger. But the arson ring stations a man with a gun in the building across from Greg’s, and when he answers the phone, he is shot and killed. Carrie, refusing to cry, because Greg wouldn’t have wanted that, returns to work right after the funeral. When Gammidge, under. police guard, regains consciousness before dying, she tapes his story, in the presence of his wife and the nurse on duty. When the nurse disappears soon after, foul play is suspected. Carrie then volunteers to go through Greg’s things for papers needed to settle his affairs. Only now age she break down. She is given sedation. Tony, out of the hospital continues to badger Vickie into resuming their affair. Vickie, continuing to make a play for Julian, pointedly evades Tony, until he finally realizes she means it. He leaves Paisley’s and returns to his family’s company, Delaney Brands. Tony’s father, Rex Cooper, returns from California |and tells his son he has no intention of losing his only grandchild: Tony is to reconcile with his wife or be disinherited. Tony soon learns that without his trust-fund income he’ll be in bad financial shape, but he refuses to kowtow to his father. Ginger fears that Rex will somehow try to take Joey from her. But Rex engineers a meeting between Ginger and Tony, which clears the air’ somewhat, leading to further conversations. When Tony suffers another bad heart attack and surgery is necessary, both Ginger and Tony admit their part in the breakup of their marriage and pledge to not make the same mistakes again. Since the recommended surgeon is in California, they decide to move there with Rex. Vickie confounds Julian by suddenly putting their relationship on a strictly business level. She admits to Dan that this is a new tack to win Julian, but refuses to return to the old relationship, saying she’s no longer going to play those games. Ellen, trying to forget Dale, has befriended little Brian Gammidge, son of the dead arsonist. They meet sculptor Lucius (Luke) McKenzie, who helps Ellen in her efforts with the disturbed child. They are gratified when the child begins to respond. Ellen is shocked when Luke is injured in a fall. Surgery is performed, but damage to his spinal cord cannot be assessed yet. He’s optimistic, however, and implies to Carrie that he’d like to start a family with Ellen and Brian. Julian has hired reporter Steven Slade to replace Greg. Carrie resents Steve’s being there in place of the dead man. Tom Conway, who has been running the Grant law firm for Ellen since her husband’s death, is upset to learn that Ellen’s son David is coming home and may want to join the firm. Tom, who has been collecting powers of attorney from the firm’s clients and making highly speculative investments (including Heather’s stock), gives David his own version of the firm’s assets and situation and makes him an attractive offer. Tom explains that David’s interest is litigation and his own is investment counseling, so they can work well together. Tom also introduces David to a local contractor, Mr. Harrington, who promises to speak to a friend in the district attorney’s office on David’s behalf. Vickie’s business-only stance has piqued Julian’s interest, and finally, after a late supper at her home, they become lovers. But when, in the morning, Vickie begins to make decisions for them which would interfere with Julian’s work as well as his free time, he makes it clear to her that he won’t let her run his life.Vickie, seeing her mistake, quickly promises to change. Julian warns her they then might not find each other so attractive. The arson-ring trial begins. Steve is assigned to the defense, Carrie to the prosecution. She promises Julian she'll be objective even though she holds an almost murderous hatred for the men who killed Greg. Carrie and Jill find their apartment has been rifled and are unaware that it also has been bugged. When Carrie finds a dead bird in her desk drawer, it gives credence to Steve’s contention that Carrie, a prosecution witness to Gammidge’s deathbed confession, may be in danger. He feels Carrie may have evidence pointing to the syndicate’s “Mr. Big,” even if she doesn’t realize she has it. She assures him that Greg’s papers offer no clue. When Carrie is subpenaed to testify, she’s warned that she’s the only prosecution witness left and must keep quiet about this. Soon after, Carrie receives a threatening phone call, and when Jill mentions clicking sounds on the phone, David finds the bugs. When Steve goes to collect Greg’s papers for safekeeping, he is attacked, and they are stolen. The tape and Carrie are now the whole case for the prosecution. The DA forms a Committee for Public Safety,composed of prominent citizens and police, to try to determine the extent of infiltration by the criminal element. This committee learns that Carrie is to be a witness. When Carrie is almost run down in a hit and run,Steve and Julian ask for police protection for her. An explosion in the D.A.’s office destroys the tape, and now Carrie is the whole case. And the harassment is increasing. Then, when Steve is shot at, and a lead he’s following is killed, and he finds a hit man in Carrie’s hallway despite surveillance outside, he persuades her to “disappear” with him. He later calls Julian to say they’ re all right, but refuses to tell him where they are. Television coverage of the trial has brought beautiful Avis Ryan to Somerset, and she’s intrigued with Julian. Vickie knows competition when she sees it and prepares for the challenge. Avis glowingly informs Julian that the network execs liked her tape with Julian and are considering offering him a job as her teammate. Heather, visiting Carrie, is found unconscious at the foot of the stairs. Despite an emergency Caesarean, the baby dies. Heather, who has a subdural hematoma, is in a coma. Tom Conway, horrified, calls “him” and protests he was assured there would be no foul play. He’s told Heather was an accident—the wrong girl. Tom want out but is threatened with disbarment (they have incriminating papers) if he doesn’t locate Carrie for them. Heather remains comatose until Jerry, desolate,calls to her, telling her of his love. She finally opens her eyes. Later, learning of the loss of her baby, Heather comes to terms with it, and she and Jerry plan to have another child soon. In their hideout apartment, Steve questions Carrie, trying to determine what she might subconsciously know about “Mr. Big.” A noise at the door precipitates their quick exit. Later, Lieutenant Price and Julian follow up a shooting report—the lock has been shot off the door of the secret apartment. Steve then |shows up alone, claiming that someone shouting at them caused. Carrie to run away from him. Price implies that Steve turned her over to the syndicate, Julian fires him. Nurse Fellowes is. found murdered, and Carrie’s shoe is found in the lake. Price has Steve arrested as an accessory in Carrie’s disappearance. Steve, ironically, hires Tom, who arranges bail. When Vickie presses Julian on his seeing Avis, he tells her-he’s tired of her jealousy and tantrums. Vickie decides to get away from Somerset. Julian asks her to reconsider; she refuses. Dan learns that Avis lied about the -job offer to Julian. She admits it, but assures Dan that she wants Julian, and with her contract renewal pending, the other networks would like to have her and she can arrange it for Julian. She pledges Dan to secrecy. But suddenly Vickie has a very important reason to stay in Somerset after all. Since he’s now cut off from contact with Julian or Carrie’s friends, Steve visits her secretly, explaining that Julian’s firing him was part of his own plan to allow him fo infiltrate — the Organization and flush them out from the inside. Vickie senses that Steve is telling her the truth and agrees to be his intermediary with Julian. Vickie also realizes that if Julian is a partner in this scheme with Steve, he too is in danger. After a‘ painful scene with Carrie’s grandmother Lena at the Hayloft’ Restaurant, Steve realizes he has to put Lena’s mind to rest. He visits her after dark, promising her that everything will be all right and Carrie will come through this safely. Lena, reassured by him, informs him that she has Greg’s notebooks, which now everybody is looking for. Steve convinces her to let him have them on Julian’s say-so. To ease Lena’s heart, Steven has Julian drive her to a convent out in the country, and there they find Steve with Lieutenant Price. They take Lena inside, where she finds her granddaughter, safe and sound. Julian and, Lena are quickly filled in on what happened at the apartment. Realizing that they were only moments ahead of the hit men hired to eliminate Carrie, they created evidence that she had been either captured or drowned, and Steve hustled her into a taxi with orders that she go to Lieutenant Price’s home. She was then taken secretly to the convent, where she will stay until the trial. Meanwhile, Tom is becoming badly frightened of his own deepening involvement with the Organization, and finally decides to go to Lieutenant Price and confess now, before he’s in even further. But Price is unavailable, and Tom is beaten up on his way home from police headquarters. Getting the message, Tom, when asked the next day by Price what he’d wanted, makes an excuse and passes off his bruises and swellings as a traffic accident. Price finds Tom’s story unconvincing somehow. When Julian instructs Steve to hand Greg’ s notebooks over to the police, Steve refuses; he’s sure of Price’s loyalty, but explains that they don’t know if the Organization has already infiltrated the department or not. When Julian finds that his car has been bugged,Lieutenant Price assumes the bug was installed after their visit to the convent. Despite warnings from Dan, his publisher, and Fred Harrington that he’s putting his life on the line, Julian has been making repeated statements about his determination to put the big man in the Organization away, once and for all. Tom is frightened when his contact man from the organization hints that unles Julian shuts up, he will be shut up for good. Steve now embarks on his plan to be recruited by the Organization. Picking a truck stop as a likely starting point, he returns regularly to advertise his need for. a job and his desire to get back at his former friends, making it clear that he doesn’t care what kind of work he gets. Finally, on the night before the trial,Joe Castor approaches him, saying that he has to be tested—you don’t just walk into the Organization.When Steve finds that he’s going along to pick up Carrie, and that the bug in Julian’s car was there before they visited the convent, he leaves all the lights in his place on when he leaves. Seeing this prearranged signal that something is wrong, Lieutenant Price has Carrie warned immediately. When Steve arrives with Castor they're informed that Carrie went with the police. Only after a complete search does Castor believe this: As Steve leaves with Castor, he winks at one of the assembled nuns: Carrie in disguise. More to come....

James O'Sullivan ALL MY CHILDREN Dr. Jeff Martin Dec 23 1976 -79

Maybe Jordan was a stripper at The Bayou who was the lead attraction till Nikki came along. She's harbored a grudge ever since. Erica Hope makes a 1 day appearance as Jordan.

Also ATWT dropped Judge Lowell, Joyce, Don, Grant, Mary, Jay, Dan,Susan, Sandy etc over a 2-3 yr period. GL also dropped Mart Hulswit for younger(slimmer) Peter Simon. SFT dropped Bob, Ellie AW -John Randolph Probably others we've forgotten. Another trend was the push to location shooting. It certainly was a welcome change from interiors but instead of it becoming a regular thing where we saw characters in their yards or outside workplaces-day to day stuff, it was saved up for splashy sweeps stunts in most cases. And made the contrast with fake 'outdoor' sets even more noticeable.

This whole story is moving way too fast. Within a month of meeting Claire has kidnapped Nikki? Where can they go from this? My feeling is the aunt Jordan thing will be some lame retcon. I think its going to be another misfire from Griffith.

Requests Rev Norman Walter Jay Lanin Joseph Cali Carol Mayo Jenkins

Do posters think Tovah Feldshuh would have been a good Mary Ryan replacement? Those who have seen her as Martha McGee would have an idea.

David Gale Search For Tomorrow .... Capt. Porter 1977 Berrengers...Rick Carol

Search for Tomorrow Captain Porter...David Gale ..77...cop investigating Wade Collins murder

Search for Tomorrow Laine Adamson ...Megan Bagot Aug 78- Aug 79 Ambitious daughter of Ted, sister of Sunny.Becomes roommates with widowed Liza to get info on Collins Corp for Ted,suggests Liza sell her stock to finance Steve's movie. Becomes Gary Walton's patient and is attracted to him and vice versa. Also involved with David Sutton. Upset when Carolyn and Gary reconcile and discovers she is pregnant with Garys child. On trial for criminal negligence in construction of Tourneur plant.Leaves town for Florida and attempts suicide David rescues her and offers to claim paternity but Laine decides to leave for good.

Dynasty makes a come back in early 87 Week 19 Dynasty 18.9/28 Gimme A Break 16.1/24/Toretellis 16.2/25 Broken Vows CBS Movie special 14.1/22 Week 20 Dynasty 18.2/28 Magnum PI 16.7/25 Gimme A Break 14.3/22/Tortellis 13.1/20 Week 21 Dynasty 17.8/26 Magnum PI 16.7/25 Gimme A Break 13.6/20/Tortellis 11.6/17 Week 22 Dynasty pre-empted for Amerika miniseries Week 23 Magnum PI 20.6/30 Dynasty 16.9/25 Gimme A Break 13.6/20/Tortellis 11.6/17 *Magnum hits a season high.W/o checking I suspect this was some kind of highly promoted special ep. Dynasty begins another dip Week 24 Due to Pres Reagans speech Dynasty pushed back to 9.30 I'll Take Manhattan 22.5/36 Dynasty 13.7/21 NBC continued Reagan coverage not rated Week 25 Houston Knights 2 hr premiere 17.1/26 Dynasty 16.5/25 Highway to Heaven 2nd hr of 2 hr rpt 13.7/21 Week 26 A new possible challenge as NBC moves Top10 hit Night Court from Thursday Dynasty 16.8/26 Magnum PI 16.1/25 Night Court 16.5/28/ Tortellis 14.22

Michael,Kevin and Gloria? They've outlived their usefulness, esp criminal Kevin. I can stand Michael and Gloria for occasional appearances, but that's it.

Jordan seems an odd choice of name for an aunt-guess I am picturing someone older. They surely wouldn't do a doppelganger story???

Search for Tomorrow Agent David Sutton...Lewis Arlt... Jan 76-81 Dr. Allen Ramsey...Conard Fowkes... June - Oct 77...best friend Wade/kidnapper... . Doris__Ramsey.. Gwynda Don Howe...June - Oct 77.wife, Allen Laine Adamson Walton...Megan Bagot.. Aug .78-79...+Gary=Craig Dr. Matt Weldon...Robert Phelps...Jan - Sept -73 friend, Dan W.married Melissa

Go Sean ! Has any other POC been #1 in monthly rankings ?

#1 and could be long gone by this time next year...

So possibly there might be a whole story invented about Casey in the time she's been away. Knowing JG quite probable.

Some Dynasty trivia John James tested for Steven ,along with Al Corley and a few other actors. The auditions were taped on a set at the General Hospital studio. George Peppard upset the Shapiros by rewriting his lines for a presentation film made for ABC bigwigs. Also he rewrote scenes in the pilot and instructed Al and Pamela on how to play scenes. The Shapiros issued an ultimatum him or them. One scene was written for Matthew and Blake to get into a brawl but when John was cast Bo Hopkins wanted it change because it looked wrong to have his character pummeling 'an old man'. George may have been off the booze but his trailer was well stocked with 'dolls' Dale Robertson upset the shooting schedule one day when he refused to wait around a location for hours to film the final scene of the day. The pilot was supposed to be 2 hr but came to 2 and a half once filming was complete. They expected to have to trim things down but Esther Shapiro decided to write extra scenes and persuaded ABC to go with a then unprecedented 3 hr premiere. Initially to save time they contemplated using long shots of Peppard but then realized he would have to be paid for any appearances. Entire scenes w/o Peppard were reshot b/c originally local SF actors had been used and they would have to be transported to LA for reshoots. So it was cheaper to do the whole sequence again. Jerry Ayres and Barry Cahill were among the actors hired as replacements.

Some comments from Ralph Senesky director of the pilot and episode 5. LAKE CARRINGTON: It is pretty much accepted that the whopping success 2 years earlier of the television series DALLAS had an effect on DYNASTY. Consider a similarity: the unscrupulous J.R. Ewing, an oil baron in Texas of the earlier series, and DYNASTY’s Blake Carrington, an oil baron in Denver. George Peppard, the first Blake Carrington was properly unscrupulous, but he lacked the fascinating evil charm that Larry Hagman brought to his baron. John Forsythe brought power to his baron sans the unscrupulousness From something I’ve recently learned from an 8-year old television interview by Richard Shapiro, co-creator of DYNASTY, John had brought unexpected positive elements to his characterization of Blake Carrington. In the pilot, in a scene following the wedding of Blake and Krystle, an enraged Walter Lankershim, a wildcatter friend of Matthew Blaisdel, armed with a gun comes to the Carrington mansion because of an accident at their oil derrick. In the interview Richard stated, “…and the script says ‘Blake puts the dogs on him’, and John Forsythe said, “I’m not putting any dogs on anyone.” …when we got into the editing room…there was a shot of John standing on the porch and he just moved his eyes to the left and I said “that’s it, that’s the signal” I had staged the scene unaware of any of that conversation and unaware of what occurred after I turned in my director’s cut. It was true. John had brought dignity, decency and integrity to his man of power. Episode 5 I was even more certain of what I sensed while directing that episode — the series was changing direction, there was a shift of tone. When I was signed to direct OIL, along with the script I was given the series ‘Bible’, a document with many more pages than were in the 2-hour script. It contained the background history of the story and complete detailed biographical information of all of the leading characters. This was the usual procedure for any project that was a possible series. I had ‘lived with’ the Carringtons for almost 10 months. I felt I knew them intimately and as currently being scripted they were not acting as they had in the pilot. It was as if a new ‘Bible’ had been created for the series.

Beacon Hill was a tremendous gamble at the time. Remember this was 1975 and the likes of Starsky & Hutch and Police Woman was considered standard drama fare. I'm sure there were a lot of people at CBS that hated the whole concept and thought it was doomed to fail. Reading b/w the lines it seems they wanted more plot and less character stuff. Maybe they should have started it over Summer to iron out the bugs instead of a splashy Fall debut. Hill St Blues 5 years later was seen as daring and was low rated but NBC stuck by it. And compared to BH it was way more accessible to network viewers. The Saturday timeslot was a problem also. A lot of viewers are not home every week so following a serial can be tricky. Had NBC already decided it was a loser and burned it off in a low rated slot? Bottom line -was Berrengers any good?

Looks like Claire is going to be short term? Unless she joins the long list of criminals walking the streets Of GC free as abird. Are we leading up to aRoberta Leighton return? And what set is Nikki in when syringed?

Who's to blame for `Beacon Hill'? Bob Wood doesn't know what went wrong with the season's most ballyhooed new show; the creator blames the producer and vice -versa. Robert D. Wood, the president of CBS -TV, is the man who had to make the decision to cancel Beacon Hill, and "I'm sick about it," he says. "With the departure of Beacon Hill, a little bit of me went with it." "I couldn't fault the intention of the series or the production, which was superbly mounted," Mr. Wood goes on. "There was some lint- picking about the writing on the part of some critics, but as far as I'm concerned it was the Tiffany of TV series. And in all my years in the business, I don't remember a series getting as much promotion or as much advance notice in the consumer press. "But the public simply rejected it. Watching the audience decline each week was like watching the rungs of a stepladder going down" Mr. Wood says he doesn't want to play Monday morning quarterback on the reasons why Beacon Hill didn't attract a mass audience. "Maybe we were too ambitious," he says. But the creator of Beacon Hill, Sidney Carroll, says it could have survived if the producers had only followed his original plan. As Mr. Carroll explains it, he scripted the two -hour pilot and then wrote out plot outlines for the first 13 episodes of Beacon Hill. He got involved in the production of the pilot and says he was quite satisfied with how it turned out. He cites the episode's 23.1 rating and 42 share (on Monday, Aug. 25, 9 -11 p.m., NYT) as one of the indicators that "the general public liked the people in the pilot." But between the completion of the pilot and the start of production on the first episode, according to Mr. Carroll, the producer, Jacqueline Babbin, changed the plot outlines he had written. "When I saw how the first two finished scripts differed from the way I outlined them," he says, "I walked off the series." In Mr. Carroll's eyes, the likeable characters he had created in the pilot were turned into "a lot of stinkers. They became nasty and sad and stupid." Ms. Babbin sees things a little differently. "Sidney's plots were charming little stories that could've filled 20 minutes out of each hour," she says. "But CBS wanted stronger material, stories with more bite, more guts to them." Both Ms. Babbin and Alan Wagner, the CBS vice president closest to the series, disagree with Mr. Carroll about the quality of the two hour pilot. "With 19 characters to be introduced, it was like a French farce situation," she says. "The characters ended up being unsympathetic because the viewer wasn't given enough time to understand any of them. And CBS over promoted and ballyhooed the pilot to the point of stupidity." "It was really an error on our part to open up with an episode populated with with so many characters," adds Mr. Wagner. "Everything became complicated, the public got confused and you couldn't follow the characters without a scorecard" Mr. Wagner points to a second "major error." "The series didn't find its direction early enough," he says. "The first batch of episodes were placed in too small a frame and were on too small a scale to interest an audience in 1975." Ms. Babbin adds that the public didn't know what to make of Beacon Hill's characters because "they were too real - they weren't like the cardboard cut -outs you usually see in TV series, who seem to spend all their time in fast cars."

I guess originally Blake was painted as the villianous character who I assumed a la JR we were going to be fascinated to watch. But unlike JR and later Alexis, there was no mischief in his portrayal so he just came across as unsympathetic. John Forsythe had played light comedy way back to Bachelor Father, but there was nothing in the writing or direction for him to lean into that talent. Nightime soaps were restricted by having to focus on the same characters season after season and not stray too far from the formula. There was no way Blake was going backburner for a season.