Paul Raven

That lack of camera movement is because there is not enough time for rehearsal to block out scenes and have actors move about to create interest. At one time they would have a camera block rehearsal where the director would choreograph the actors movements and camera operators could work out their shots, but there is no time or budget for that. It's also why scenes are so short- fewer lines to learn, less chance of things going wrong and having to retape.

That GL reference was so random... Here's a TV Guide article from 1969 on Millette Alexander This lady has a 17 room house, four children, six dogs, seven cats and a soap opera career, too - by Judith Jobin “Soap opera at its worst can be black-and-white—but most of the time the characters are as a real and the conflicts are ones the average person really deals with. I’m proud of it and I'm livid because the industry ignores it. There are no Emmys for soaps!' So says actress Millette Alexander—looking authentically angry—as she defends her membership in television’s much maligned soap-opera club. And it might smack of a case of sour suds if it came from a lesser talent. But by all accounts, Miss Alexander plays soaps with a degree of involvement and intensity usually reserved, in an image-conscious profession, for more prestigious theatrical endeavors. The case in point is her latest role, a young, attractive lady doctor. For the past six months Millette has been feeling her way around the psyche of Sara McIntyre, M.D., one of the central characters on CBS’s The Guiding Light. Says producer Peter Andrews: ‘‘She’s quite an intelligent girl and she works very hard in preparation—much more than most. She always has a point of view—she has the whole edifice of her role constructed by the time she gets in.” On the surface, the action is uncomplicated: Millette puts in upwards of 40 hours a week alternately clucking over patients and getting into clinches with a handsome colleague. But under the clucking and clinching is “much more than the words say,’ insists Edge of Night actress Teri Keane, who remembers Millette’s nimble portrayal of a dual role on that series. “She's complex. There's nothing surfacey about her acting.”” And a Guiding Light actor agrees, pointing admiringly to her ‘‘emotional quicksilver quality.” But at this point, an inevitable question leaps out: after 15 years of landing television, Broadway and summer-theater roles with ease and regularity, why isn’t Millette Alexander more famous, a little closer to stardom? “She could definitely have it if she tried,’ declares producer Andrews, confirming that her talent is widely acknowledged in the trade. Teri Keane agrees: ‘‘Absolutely. She's tops. But she doesn’t want it.” And Millette herself, recalling an early offer from 20th Century-Fox, confers a convincing air of distastefulness on the whole business: “They wanted me to sign a seven-year contract, move to California, become a starlet.I didn’t want to be locked in.” Her friend Ed Zimmermann explains: ‘‘l’d say she wants most to do good work.” Finally, Andrews points to her off-stage existence: ‘‘She thinks a lot about her home life.” By any standard, it’s a life worth thinking about. At 35, she’s married to rangy Jimmy Hammerstein. He is the son of Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, is a respected director in his own right (most recently of a pair of off-Broadway Pinter plays), and was. undeniably a catch. They live in a 17-room Stanford White house in Nyack, N.Y., complete with a six-acre spread of rolling lawns, fruit-tree orchards, greenhouse, lavish swimming pool, and hilltop gazebo overlooking the Hudson River. Their four children are abundantly rosy-cheeked and well-fed. And they solved their servant problem by importing an entire family from Honduras—but the bargain included five more children and an 88-year-old grandmother, all of whom live-in. After that the law of diminishing returns takes over and things look a bit raffish at the edges. There’s a bright red four-wheel-drive jeep in the driveway, and unwary visitors are assaulted by a friendly tangle of six dogs and seven cats. A tour of the interior turns up stray dolls and hobby horses, jars of freshly made fruit preserves in the kitchen, a pair of well-used pianos, an alarming assortment of electronic instruments and an open Dickens volume in the bathroom. Not to mention sound effects—the indecorous clatter of nine children, plus sputtering balloon sounds and Indian yells. It all looks disarmingly like a television headache commercial featuring Millette as its miscast heroine. As keeper of the house and grounds, and Big Mama to that brood, she’s more like the earthy old lady who lived in a shoe than an other-worldly Cinderella. ‘‘! don’t even nose-count any more,” she laughs. “She looks like quite a socialite,” says Teri Keane, ‘‘but she can get down there in the garden and weed!” And that’s not just a figure of speech. In off hours, Millette weeds with gusto, dips deeply into art and music (she’s a highly skilled pianist, also plays violin), finds time for exquisite needlepoint projects and generally has a disconcerting affinity for over-achievement. “She's got a helluva lot of energy,”’ says one friend, and another adds, “It must be pretty exhausting.” Which raises a final question: How did an admittedly ‘“‘overly sensible’’ teenager from the Great Neck (Long Island) High School Orchestra find her way from first-chair violin to the center of such a helter-skelter life? “I finally got sensible about myself,” she explains happily.

Two other actors I don't believe have been mentioned Palmer Deane (Hank the Doctors) Wayne Hudgins (Beau Spencer As The World Turns)

As I stated most (not all ) of the cast were gay. Russom and LePlat were two who were not.

They got less than a year out of the Ashland marriage. That is not good storytelling.

To me one big problem was the SORASING of the next gen way too soon. It began with Victoria. They lucked out with Heather Tom and Bill Bell's writing but it immediately aged up Nikki in particular but it was workable. Then came Nick who was only 6 in real time when he suddenly was aged up. And married within a few years. Victor and Nikki were soon grandparents, but still getting romantic stories. Then in about 10 years Noah was aged so you had the romantic travails of 3 generations of Newmans. Too much too soon.

Requests Christopher Templeton Robert Drivas Crystal Carson Camille Yarborough

@danfling Enjoy! More Perils Than Pauline Kathryn Leigh Scott is the Super Victim of daytime TV By Robert Higgins The day Kathryn Leigh Scott stood before an ABC camera and uttered the words “You jerk!” (not too classy a line, but that was it), the curtain rose on Dark Shadows. That's the daytime soap crammed with vampires, ghosts, et al., which insiders predicted would be buried in 13 weeks. Today, 156 weeks later, ABC’s teatime harpy hour is not only alive (well, comme ci, comme ca) but kicking up a ratings storm to boot. Miss Scott, in her role as governess Maggie Evans, has grown to be the Jinxed Jane of ironing-board TV. Between gulps of coffee that she lugged into our Manhattan offices, Kathryn lost no time telling why: ‘‘Maggie’s a Super Victim! Always running around screaming, ‘Run! Run! Here come the ghoulies The ghoulies are fast steppers. Maggie, it seems, gets mangled more than Silly Putty. Werewolves maul her, vampires partake of her plasma, and, once, none other than the devil had his way with her. If that wasn’t enough to make Mag feel jinxed, Kathryn reports: ‘‘Then he jilted her!” Poor Mag. Poor Kathryn, too. Life upon a Shadows stage, one learns, is roughly akin to traipsing across the Hollywood freeway blindfolded. Miss Scott has been hurled off cliffs and tossed through windows—‘‘backwards, yet.’’ Even makeup’s a problem. To simulate lumps from a beating, she once had split ping-pong balls glued to her face. The effect was swell—but Kathy’s skin turned ‘‘raw.”' Happily, Kathryn Leigh Scott comes from hardy stock. Born Kathryn Kringstad to a Norwegian couple in Robbinsdale, Minn., she was a farm girl until her late teens. She entered college to study journalism. In 1962 she quit to study acting in New York. “In high school,’ she explains, ‘I toyed with both writing and acting. Acting won out.’”’ After getting her diploma in ’64, she found parts scarce. At liberty, she took the typical (selling in stores) and not-so-typical (walking dogs) jobs. Such work kept Kathy out of the poorhouse. She’d embarked for Manhattan with only $200. “My father,” she continues, ‘thought I had $600, otherwise he’d never have let me come.” Still, $200 was probably more than Mr. Kringstad had in his pocket when he immigrated from Norway. ‘I’m first-generation American,’ Kathy says, “My family—uncles, aunts, cousins— are ‘over there.’ “Although I was born in Minnesota,” Kathy continues, ‘I became involved with my Norwegian relatives early.” The involvement came at the end of World War Il, when Mr. Kringstad took his family to Norway to help resettle lands devastated by the Nazis. ‘‘When we arrived,’ Kathy remembers, ‘‘three of my uncles, like many Norwegians, were still in the mountains, where they were in the Resistance movement.”’ Memories of the valorous atmosphere remains with Kathy, although the experience was no picnic. “Food was scarce,”’ she recalls. “On the boat coming home my brother and I would sneak around the dining room swiping leftover butter and sugar." Miss Scott enjoys talking about herself and she’s not a bit shy about mentioning her many good qualities and attitudes. Such as: 1) she ‘has a need to do things,”’ doesn’t believe in ‘‘negative answers” and thinks “where there’s a will there’s a way’; 2) she’s ‘open, honest and outgoing’; and 3) she’s “independent.” Boy, is she “independent.” The word, in fact, came up nearly a dozen times in our talk. It ranged from the “‘independence” that permitted her to ‘‘come to New York and become an actress” all the way over to the ‘‘independence”’ that started her sewing all her own clothes. (‘I refused to pay the prices for ready-made things.) She opposes the war in Vietnam and resents “paying taxes to support it.” Civil rights has her all in a lather. Yet she won't join picket lines. “I’m too independent.” The “independence” showed up on the set, too: “When I first started, people were always fussing with me— telling me how to do things, how to stand. I felt |Ihad contracted my mind and body to somebody else.” Such cheery bull-horning of ‘‘virtues’’ and “independence” hasn't made Miss Scott greatly loved in some quarters. “She's a bargain-basement Saint Joan,” opines one actor. Another: ‘Anyone who ballyhoos her ‘independence’ has a nest of insecurities somewhere.” Self-confidence comes in handy on a show like Dark Shadows, where keeping one’s head at all is a chore. But Shadows characters seem to have the proverbial nine lives. Consider hapless Maggie. She’s entered rigor mortis twice. With luck, she has seven more shots before giving up the ghost.

TV Guide published this farewell in May 69 Farewell to Peyton Place By Leslie Raddatz Farewell to Constance Mackenzie, bookstore owner and ostensible widow, Who eventually wed Elliot Carson, father of her illegitimate kiddo— Allison, whose blonde hair was so long at first. She disappeared from Peyton Place in a burst Of publicity, but was talked about all the years the show was on the air. (She was supposed to be in New York, where she reportedly gave birth to an heir.) Good-by, Elliot Carson, jailed for a murder he didn’t commit. (Catherine Peyton really did it, But she was dead when the story began.) Elliot bought the Clarion, which he edited and ran, Replacing Uncle Matt Swain, Who left town on an early train. Elliot and Constance argued a lot And took in strays like Rachel (whose possession of the vanished Allison’s bracelet was never explained in the plot) ; And Jill’s baby, Which she hinted might be Allison’s —maybe. (She later acknowledged Joe, Dr. Rossi’s brother, the pater— We will get to the doctor later.) Oh, yes, the Carsons had their own little tot, Who, unlike Allison, was legitimately begot. A triple farewell to the Harringtons— Leslie, the father; and Rodney and Norman, his sons. Leslie married the late Catherine Peyton for her money And went on to do all sorts of unfunny Deeds, like having an affair with his secretary, Julie Anderson, mother of Betty Anderson (who not only married Rodney twice, but also his illegitimate half-brother, Steven Cord), and planning to murder his father-in-law, Martin Peyton—of whom more anon, you may be sure. Rodney loved Allison, and they had one nationally telecast nautical affaire d’amour— A cheery event in the career of Rod, who was tried for the murder of Joe Chernak, A roughneck, And later was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. Norman's life took a brighter bent. He married Rita Jacks— Once involved with the Chernaks— And, except for an auto accident and — loss of an unborn baby in an emergency cardiac case, They had a happy time—at least for Peyton Place. Good-by to Ada Jacks, mother of Rita and owner of the local taphouse, Whose husband Eddie, a louse, Conspired with Leslie Harrington to murder Martin Peyton. But old Martin had fate on His side, plus the story chart, In which he played an important part. A parting with patriarchal Martin seems de trop, Since he has already passed on— leaving no dough To Betty or Steven, Apparently to get even, For the failure of all manner of machinations Involving his will, plus sundry situations With a friend of men Named Adrienne And with his housekeeper, Hannah Cord (Who posed as Steven's mother—her Damocles' sword, Since Steven was really Martin's grandson, born out of wedlock, A regular occurrence in the Peyton flock). Good-by to Dr. Michael Rossi, to whom we said hello in the very first show— A friend of Constance, and, concerning Allison, in the know. Rossi was one of those Latin romantics Getting involved in antics With Dr. Claire Morton, Ann Howard and Marsha Russell, Whose ex-husband died after a tussle With Dr. Rossi—on trial for his life as the series ends, And no clue given to what the future portends. Finally, farewell to the others in the endless, ending anecdote— Eli Carson, Lee Webber and Sandy, Jack Chandler, John Fowler, Tom and Susan Winter, the Miles family, Carolyn Russell, Dr. Vincent Markham, Nurse Choate, The Schusters and their deaf daughter, Kim, Judge Chester. Remember him? There were almost a hundred of them —quite a mob. Television won’t be the same. Sob.

@depboy Great find! Wish more actors would talk about their soap experiences. Yes the claim of 140 seems too high.

Good point. There was about a gap of several months before Marlowe assumed the role. Wonder what was going on. Did NBC make a thing of Marlowe joining the show? Bud Grant was NBC daytime VP 66-72. He was poached by CBS daytime in 72 and went on to be their primetime VP.

That's an interesting thought- had never occurred to me. ABC had Joan Bennett leading Dark Shadows and Gloria De Haven joined ATWT in 65. Secret Storm added Jeffrey Lynn to the cast- he had been in many movies. Guiding Light had Jan Sterling-incidentally, one of my favorites-she was always worth watching in any 1950's movie. So I guess it was just an overall trend rather than NBC specific. I guess Bright Promise did imitate Days with Dana as the 'patriach'.

NBC's response to those awful ratings for SFT and TD was to write out vet characters Janet and Kathy and bring in a slew of newbie youngsters-Kristin, Warren, Jenny,Keith etc Ellis/Hunt were dropped as headwriters for C David Colsen TD hired Harding Lemay but he lasted but a few months. A pity we will not see his work. With that timeslot and those ratings there was no hope for The Doctors but they did keep trying. Meanwhile CBS was mounting a challenge to ABC. In addition to adding Capitol, Guiding Light was remaining strong, the Dobsons returned to ATWT and Bill Bell was revamping Y&R, April, Barbara and the Stevens were dropped, Snapper and Lance were written out. John,Ashley and Traci were added and (unwisely) Angela and Claire Laurence arrived.

@depboy. Thanks .The changeover could have happened at any time in Dec/Jan. I wonder why he was replaced? Another interesting character at this time is Duncan Stewart played by Kerwin Matthews. Matthews was best known for the Sinbad/ Gullivers Travels movies and did some Euro pix. By 72 he was acting sporadically and I wonder if Duncan was always intended as a short term role and not a major new romance for Audrey. ratings from around this time February 16, 1973. 1. 11.9 - ATWT 35% 2. 11.0 DAYS - 33% 3. 10.5 AW 33% 4. 10.4 GH - 31% 5. 10.3 SFT - 33% 6. 10.1 Doctors - 32% 7. 9.3 OLTL - 27% 8. 8.6 EON - 28% 9. 8.6 AMC - 26% 10. 8.0 LOL 29%

So SFT moving to NBC gave them nothing. The few weeks before The Doctors had been getting a rating around 3.4-3.6. Search debuted with a 3.6 then dropped to below 2.9 within a month or so. And we know SFT's demos skewed old so doubtful it was doing any better than TD in that regard. Meanwhile TD replaced Password Plus which had been averaging 3.4/13, within a month TD was rating below a 2.0. And Password would have been way cheaper to produce. The best NBC could do was move Texas to the morning, throw in Diff'rent Strokes and Chips reruns and then Fantasy at 3pm for the Fall.

Now that we have seen how The Doctoes and Search for Tomorrow performed after SFT switch to NBC , could I request the numbers for Password Plus at 12pm on NBC before it was replaced by The Doctors for comparison. At the time NBC claimed that Search and TD moving would improve their ratings in the timeslots.

James Westmoreland was playing Teddy in Oct 72 . At some point John Gabriel took over. Do we have a date for that?

Variety Jan 27 82 NBC's Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff trying to talk up the daytime lineup. The article mentions daytime makes the money to power primetime and NBC is looking like 'Berlin at the end of WW2'. The priority is to get away from the gameshow mentality in the morning and fix the soaps in the afternoon. They are looking at more personality/service oriented shows that may include Richard Simmons. As for the soaps anything that doesn't show ratings improvement by early Summer may go down the drain. Top of the list is Texas (13th) that has affiliates hollering as it's a poor lead in to local stations'fringe time'. Tartikoff said he was more hopeful for Texas now than six months ago and that Texas had no problem attracting the younger demo but was getting killed by GH (1st) Now that GH writers have moved to Days (10th) Texas has more of a chance. Tartikoff expects to see an immediate ratings improvement when The Doctors moves to Noon, altough station clearances are lowest that would be true of whatever was placed there. He hopes to knock off Family Feud, but not before TD undergoes major changes. At 12.30 Search for Tomorrow (8th) moving from CBS should show some fast improvement in that timeslot up against RH (5th) and Y&R (6th) When the timeslot changes take effect NBC promo department will go all out. A lot of hype there but nothing positive eventuated. NBC made no moves towards 'personality/info' shows in the morning, instead moving Texas to 11am replacing Wheel of Fortune and Battlestars. that was a flop. Search did better than The Doctors at 12.30 but I'm not sure TD did much better than Password Plus at midday. Getting Pat Falken Smith back at Days was a good move but unfortunately she was soon gone and DePriest/Anderson were not of the same caliber and Days momentum was lost. AW hired Corinne Jacker and that was a bust. Imagine if PFS had stayed on at Days and maybe The Dobsons had been grabbed for AW. Things might have been different.

I'm pretty sure that would be the case. And the financial side of things would come into play also. If CBS could make more money from Capitol that would be a major factor.

Yes in the mid 60's ATWT was getting shares in the 50's but by 67 it had settled down a bit, as competition increased from Let's Make A Deal 2 weeks ending August 6 1967/ 2 weeks previous/coverage - a few weeks before LIAMST thing debuted 1. As The World Turns 10.9/39 (11.5/41) 99.3 10. Let's Make A Deal 8.6/31 (7.5/27) 86.7 At 2pm 9. Newlywed Game 8.7/33 (8.7/33) 97.8 17. Days of Our Lives 8.0/30 (7.4/28) 95.6 20. Password 7.9/30 (7.8/30) 98.0 Variety October 11th 1967 In its 2nd week Love Is A Many Splendored Thing had a 7.6 to be beaten by DOOL 8.3 So doing roughly what Password had been doing. However I suspect the demographics would have been better. A 7.6 would probably mean around a 27 share so not half of ATWT rating or share. Variety Feb 7 1968 ' ...Miss Phillips quit the new serial 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing' back in October, P&G asked her to return to "Guiding Light'.

There was never any mention of what 'Coming of Age' was about. Obviously about young people reaching maturity. But it could apply to many age groups,I guess. Do you think it was a good title? Soap titles can be tricky.

I tasked myself with watching Fri ep (must admit to some FFing) The main thrust was Phyllis celebrating her freedom. It was unbearable for me to see her pity party of how hard done by she was and Lauren having to be her support. That nonsense of her collaborating with a criminal, killing him, hiding the body to protect her kids! They are grown adults and thankfully gave her a serve for her psycho justifications. Now the whole thing happened on the park set, where somehow Fylthllis had managed to set up a table for her celebration. There was Lauren keeping up the one shoulder dress tradition and, I'm sorry Tracey but the surgery and that awful hair is screaming waxwork. Lauren propping Phyllis was nauseating. Summer and Daniel meet in her GCAC suite which is identical to Audra's. They don't bother to differentiate them with different accessories or furniture. But their next scene takes place in the GCAC entrance. Puzzling how set choices are made. Phyllis could have had a table at GCAC or CL. Seems like taping is all over the place. Meanwhile Audra gets around-her GCAC suite, Crimson Lights, CGAC dining room and bacxk to her room. Lots of talk of mergers and takeovers but Audra doesn't actually do any work. Sharon is channeling businesswoman vibes with talk of offices and staffing-from a table in empty CL. And never a word on what these businesses are actually going to do. This show....

Was there any reason to have Jack and Sharon married? It was a ridiculous pairing that went nowhere. They barely interact now and when they do it is not as former spouses. Similarly Jack marrying Nikki the second time was pointless. Ashley's track record would look slightly better w/o Blade and Cole in the mix. Those stories could have played w/o marriage involved. They should have done more with Steven. Was the first marriage to Tucker necessary?

Apparently Irna quit the show about a month after it went to air, so unless she expected it to be #1 in its timeslot in the first few weeks, the theory that bad ratings were the motive doesn't ring true. And LIAMST was not losing half of ATWT audience. i think its more likely that there was pushback about the 2 stories and backtracking from the execs . Irna could see where this was going and quit.