Paul Raven

Bare Essence had a few strikes against it from the start. It was rushed into production as a spin off of the mini series- I don't believe there was ever the idea of the mini series being a 'pilot' for a series . So there was recasting and having to come up with a concept for a series. The 9pm timeslot - no soap had successfully debuted at 9pm. The competition was a still strong 3's Company on ABC and CBS had a strong movie Murder in Coweta County to blunt BE's debut. Reviews were not great,so viewers weren't inclined to tune in, and those that did didn't return in Wk 2.

Ok that all makes sense. Don left Oakdale in maybe late 67. Chris' heart attack was in 71 and Don returned but only stayed a year or so. So Peter Brandon was Don in two stints it seems 65-67 and 71-72. Glad we could clear that up! Thanks. The Don/Joyce involvement began when Don returned in 76 played by Martin West .

I enjoyed it. i guess it depends on how interested you are in Rock and his life.

Just watched the HBO doco 'Rock Hudson All That Heaven Allowed' and in addition to Frances Reid popping up in the first few minutes in a scene from 'Seconds' Howard McGillan (ex Greg Y&R) talked about being cast as Rock's son in the miniseries 'Wheels' and how the revelation that Rock was gay and had AIDS kept him in the closet for years.

Alerted to Ben Hogestyn (ex Lucas) on the GH thread, https://benhogestynmalibu.com/ Just checked out his website- a few nondescript caps and t shirts, a leather tote 'sold out' and some pics of previous sculptural works N/A. A couple of tweets from years back. Doesn't scream success to me. How many similar entrepreneurs are scrambling to make a buck in LA let alone the rest of the country.

July 84

@Donna L. Bridges this is the Cancelled Soaps section and Days has not been cancelled. The place for old clips is in Discuss The Soaps- DAYS behind the scenes, articles/photos

From the July 68 synopses that French Fan has so kindly supplied there is no sighting or mention of Don Hughes. According to all references Peter Brandon played Don from 65-72. In 68 the Don/Amanda/Sara story had played out with Amanda on trial for Sara's death. That all happened in 67. There really isn't any more mention of Don until he becomes involved with Lisa in 72. So is Don/Peter Brandon on a break in the summaries we are seeing now, or was the character written off? @FrenchFan any info in coming episodes?

General Hospital Mamie Marshall ??? Burt Marshall's wife who told the police Burt was not at the office the night of Brooke Clinton's death, causing him to flee to Canada.

JUDY LANDERS SOMERSET Nurses aide 1 day role 1975

It was quickly established that running an hour soap was cheaper than 2 30 min soaps. In most areas ,although it was more costly expanding, it still came in cheaper and pretty much assured the same ratings throughout the hour. No of actors, sets, costumes and BTS crew all less on one soap than 2. 1. It didn't cost twice as much. Yes they had to employ more actors and BTS crew but not as much as mounting 2 separate shows. 2/3 Yes but shows did not double the casts or have twice as many sets. 4. True and that is why they wanted it. When AW expanded the second half hour scored a 30 share whereas How To Survive A Marriage had around a 20 or less.

Dr. Bruce Baxter Steve Harmon Aug 72 -? Ben Hayes ?72- March 73 Susan Stewart's boss whom she quickly married after divorcing Dan. Not not interested in being a stepfather to Emily or children in general. Susan secretly tried to get pregnant w/o success and wondered if the problem lay with Bruce. When Susan lied that she thought she might be pregnant, he revealed he had a vasectomy years earlier,due to a hereditery blood disease that his brother was suffering from.Bruce realized the marriage was a mistake,that Susan had lied about not wanting children, had the marriage annulled and left Oakdale for Boston.

The ratings took a big drop over those 2 weeks. guess Xmas/NY was amajor factor. The NBC changes brought immediate improvement. So sad to see that final TD rating, the lowest soap rating since Best of Everything way back in 1970 I believe. Just Men was no blockbuster but brought in better ratings than TD and I'm sure NBC hoped it would build. Wheel of Fortune/Hit Man did better than TX. In fact, this was the beginning of NBC daytime showing some life in 83 as they tweaked the game shows (adding Dream House for Hit Man) and began to show solid improvement, helped by the fact that Loving was a ratings dud.

Actually there were 6, the other being Somerset.

Susan and Liz were both pregnant by Dan at the same time. Paul agreed to marry Liz, not knowing Dan was the father of her child. Upset by that marriage, Dan had an argument with Susan resulting in a miscarriage. Liz continued her pregnancy and gave birth to Betsy. Liz then got pregnant by Paul but a harassment by Susan resulted in a miscarriage. Then Susan managed to get pregnant by Dan resulting in Emily.

There was a lot of repetition and flashbacks, as many viewers couldn't watch everyday and no VCRs or newspaper summaries to help. Also with the show being live a flashback that took up a few minutes of airtime made it easier on the cast and crew working that day. Those were the days when the older characters like Pa Hughes and Judge Lowell got airtime and a point of view. By the 80's whatever vet characters were left got wheeled out once in a while to be a listening post or a few lines in a crowd scene.

Thanks Jason. Can I ask about the week of Jan 3 1983 when NBC debuted a new morning lineup 10 am Facts of Life 10.30 Sale of the Century 11.00 Wheel of Fortune 11.30 Hit Man 12.00 Just Men How did the shows fare compared to CBS and ABC competition? Also in comparison to the previous week when NBC aired Texas and The Doctors at 11 am and 12 midday.

As The World Turns Bennett Hadley Doug Higgins May - Dec 1979 author, widower was engaged to Lisa; The Willows Dr Forest ??? April 78 surgeon who had a attack during surgery forcing Dan Stewart to take over. Patient died causing Dan to feel guilty. Dr. Ben Forrest ... David Bailey July - ? 1982 dated Ellen Dr. Marcia ___ Campbell Cynthia Bostick-Sherber May 1979- Jan80 wanted Jeff Ward Dr. Doug Campbell Dennis Romer Dec 1978 -Jan 80 liked Annie Jane__ Spencer Adoptive mother of Beau; manipulated Beau with wealth; hospital board member; blackmailed by John Dixon over her secret about Beau Georgann Johnson Aug 77- July 79

Thanks so much. Chips ratings went up when kids got out of school. The clearances were not great but a 4.4/15 was better than Texas was doing and what Santa Barbara would achieve a couple of years later. I'm sure that the cost of Chips reruns was a lot less than a daily 60 min soap but the demos were probably too skewed towards kids/teen males etc so NBC was not making the $$$ in advertising. I wonder how things would have gone had NBC replayed Flamingo Road at 3pm for some of that time?

So much misinformation is being clarified and corrected thanks to our generous posters!

@JAS0N47 when you have the time, would you be able to post some ratings for Chips when it aired at 3pm up against GH and GL? I have always been curious as to how that worked out for NBC. That was April - Sept 82. Thanks.

That must be the case. Wonder why no shows were carried 100%? I remember a SOD article that stated that Days now had total clearance ie airing on all NBC stations. Not sure when that was. Maybe late 80's? Also puzzled as to why the no. of stations changed by 1 or 2 week to wek?

In February 1970 Irna Phillips departed after 14 years of writing ATWT, 12 of which the show was #1. Joel Kane was announced as new headwriter-a puzzling choice to me. Kane had written for movies and primetime, but never a soap. It seems odd to choose someone with no soap experience to take on the show but maybe P&G and CBS wanted someone more manageable in the job after Irna. He only lasted a year and that gig doesn't even make it on his IMDB. He ended up living out his life in Australlia and writing for some primetime soaps there, dying in 1993. All in all a bit of a mystery man and a forgotten footnote in ATWT history.

@TEdgeofNight thank you. Glad to know you enjoy the posts. Guiding Light Cliff Richard Council has a one night stand with Amanda Wexler Middleton April 1979 Mrs Aikens ??? Ed& Rita's housekeeper 79 quits after clashing with Rita over care of Christina Dr Newman ??? Nov 79 Rita's doctor in Bluefield who confirmed her preganancy Dr Stearn ??? Dec 79 Rita's abortion doctor Dr Everhardt ??? May 75 Ken Norris' doctor in psych unit Spence Jeffers John Ramsey April - July 1976 Gus Hildebrand ???? Jan 77 foreman of the Granger ranch testified at Rita's trial that she had lied about events baclk in Texas Charles Babcock ??? April 77 manager Rancero Motel manager testified that Roger/Rita stayed at motel Dr. Peter Chapman Curt Dawson Oct 1977- June 80 son of Max Chapman ran prison clinic; involved with Holly and Rita; thought he was responsible for Linette Waterman's death. Elizabeth Granville Spaulding Marler Lezlie Dalton Nov 1977- Sept 80

Thanks for posting. That is very interesting. As you say, those numbers for Y&R stack up very well compared to primetime. Obviously being Summer, primetime ratings are down but nonetheless... And this is network, one can only imagine what numbers some of the cable shows are getting. I read that Succession for example, despite being critically acclaimed and widely discussed actually had similar numbers to Y&R. Considering that Y&R costs a fraction of what a primetime hour does, it is sad to see the budget being slashed the way it is. There really needs to be a reassessment of the worth of Y&R and B&B.