Paul Raven

On AMC,didn't Erica grow close to Myrtle after Mona died? I guess literally and figuratively, Myrtle became the stable mother figure Erica turned to. On SFT, Jo fostered a teen boy Bruce who grew into adulthood throughout the 70's. In a sense he took the place of Jo's son Duncan who was killed off as an infant in the 50's and would have been that age by the 70's.

B&B I recall Sally Spectra dressed as a man to infiltrate Forrester? Can't find a pic. Y&R Christine disguised herself as Kelly something at one point. I wasn't watching at that point. What was the story?

Agree that having 4 married couples was limiting. And the self contained episodes were eating up too much story. Karen's possible affair, Laura's rape etc could have gone on several episodes. However, I don't agree that the the show would be cancelled. Knots ratings were inconsistent. Ep #1 was 23rd for the week,then 14th, 36th, 30th,14th , 38th and so on. Not great but not cancellation worthy, neither then or now.

ABC did not own Edge of Night, so I wonder how much influence Jackie Smith could have? Not as much obviously,and I guess that's why Edge was always neglected .

An interesting sideline to that is that there were several women on soaps who were portrayed as heroines, an ideal to look up to but never given children even though they were married and able to bear children Van on Love of Life married Bruce and was saddled with stepchildren, yet never had any of her own. Nancy on Edge of Night-again had a stepdaughter but she and Mike never had a child. Maggie on The Doctors had a daughter then found true love with Matt but no kids with him. What about Carla on OLTL? There are probably more. And then there were those women who were written as unable to bear children -Penny on ATWT, Alice on AW. Why were they 'punished' in that way?

We had to endure the Diane return and now this. Digging into the past shouldn't mean coming up with dumb retcons that resurrect dead characters. Interesting to see if Eve has more longevity than Allie. And the explanation as to why Jordan has waited decades for revenge, which at this point consists of gathering the Newmans together and poisoning them.

What about when Bill Bell had Victor spank Nikki for her misbehaviour? A lot of things that wouldn't fly today went through w/o comment because it was a different time. Simple as that. That is what some people fail to understand by constantly judging things by today's standards .

Santa Cruz Sentinel 19 September 1980 ABC's Daytime Performance Has Shone Since Jackie Smith Arrived By TOM JORY NEW YORK (AP) Jacqueline Smith says she was a bit nervous when she took over as vice president for daytime programs at ABC three years ago last March. "I'd worked in daytime before, but mostly children's programs," she recalls, "and now I was responsible for all of these shows. "I looked at what we had on the air. Brain tumors all that predictable stuff that had been the bread and butter of the daytime serial since radio. And I wanted to liven things up." ABC has, since Jackie Smith took over, become the No. 1 network in daytime by a comfortable margin. And though she's reluctant to take all the credit, the fact is the most successful shows in the ABC lineup "General Hospital," "All My Children," "One Life to Live," "Ryan's Hope" have soared in the ratings during her tenure. Through July, the four shows were the highest-rated in daytime , with "General Hospital" reaching an average of 4.84 million women in the desired 18-49 age group. In the week of Aug. 18-22, the most recent for which figures are available, 'General Hospital" had 40 percent of the audience opposite "Guiding Light" on CBS with 25 and NBC's new "Texas" with 16. In that same period, the network's daytime lineup averaged 34 percent of the audience for the entire week, compared with 27 percent for CBS and 16 for NBC. ABC now has been the highest-rated network in daytime for nearly three years. "I've tried to look back and say, 'How did all this happen?'" Ms. Smith says. "Spicier stories. And streamlining, I think. "Agnes introduced the faster format," she says, referring to the legendary Agnes Nixon, who created both "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." "We've taken that, and gone in the direction of suspense, high suspense, rather than the kitchen sink variety of story. "And then we've been aggressive in promoting our product." Jackie Smith's career in broadcasting began with a book on educational television called "TV The New Teacher." She later was a writer-producer at KPIX-TV in San Francisco, where she won three George Foster Peabody awards for children's programming. She came to New York as director of on-air promotion at WPIX-TV, and joined CBS in 1963 as executive producer for daytime programs. While at CBS, she initiated the network's award-winning Children's Film Festival. Ms. Smith spent three years as director of special projects for Warner Brothers Television, and returned to CBS in 1974 as director of special programs. At ABC, she is responsible for development and production of all daytime series, and she clearly enjoys her job. "I think we're entering a Golden Age of Daytime' she says, with characteristic enthusiasm, "when the audience will no longer accept stories that do not have energy and humor." "General Hospital" is. in a sense, the showcase series in ABC's daytime lineup. "There was a story line on 'General Hospital' some time ago," Ms. Smith says, "where a man was tampering with the brakes on someone else's car. That doesn't really have much fantasy and emotion to it. We're talking there about crazed people. "Now we have two of the series' leading people, Luke and Laura, on the run. searching for answers to a mystery. And if they are successful in their search, they will have the ammunition to unmask a very heavy villain. I don't believe in the history of daytime we've ever had a story like Luke and Laura."

To me that was a campy type comment. Hence my reply.

In May 89,after a 10 yr stint as VP of NBC daytime Brian Frons departed and Jackie Smith, who headed ABC daytime from 77-86, was brought in to fix things. I'm surprised Frons lasted that long, when NBC had limited success all those years. Who knows, if they had shown Frons the door earlier, maybe NBC daytime might have had more success? What do you think NBC could have/should have done in the 80's to improve their fortunes?

That would be a scene worth seeing. I can picture a frantic Nikki trying to get through to those guys. I can imagine the stoned guys dialogue- "Man, that crazy chick is freaking me out. She's really sending out some bad karma" "Hey pretty lady, you need to catch some cool vibes' etc

Search for Tomorrow Prof. Jim McCarren Mike Shannon Dec 1971- Oct 73 Lauri's English professor married + Lauri Leshinski Phillips .Died in car accident on honeymoon. Mitch Farmer ??? July 1974 former fiance of Paula Markham,who returned to Henderson finding Paula now engaged to Stu. Stu forced Paula to face her lingering feelings for Mitch and she and Mitch left town together. Michael Kendall Tom Sullivan April - Sept 83 Son of Lloyd Blind piano player, fell in love with former hooker turned singer, Jenny Deacon and adopted her daughter, Andrea, a diabetic. Married Jenny and left town. Dr. _______ Facciola Conrad Bain 1971 Janet Walton's doctor when she is hospitalized during her pregnancy.

That is going to be interesting...

Ummm, men allowing women to have careers ?

When I think of classics Roots, Holocaust and Malibu come to mind.

We have learned that Y&R credits can't be trusted. Unless she got the Kate Linder contract deal.

I guess Stephanie on SFT would fit that criterion. She had Wendy but they wanted a new young male so why not rewrite Stephanie's past. Maggie on Days was given a long lost daughter, never mentioned in decades and an egg baby(the dreaded Daniel)

A pity that Cole/Victoria flashbacks can't be used, especially with the story they appear to be telling. And Neil/Victoria was erased the minute they broke up. Kinda like Jack/Sharon years later.

Melissa Claire Egan?

Thank you so much. Can't wait! Will be adding character info and more precise dates for SFT.

On Y&R Nikki acquired Dylan. Supposedly she was impregnated while in a cult. We saw the cult storyline and I think Melody Thomas Scott had a few months break (was she on maternity leave IRL?) but there was never any indication that she was pregnant or had a child by Paul. That story would have worked better for Paul and another cult member. It's much easier for men to have unknown children-as witnessed by so many soap men having children turn up. Stephanie on Search for Tomorrow acquired Brian Emerson after years on the show . Kim (and Bob) on ATWT acquired Sabrina,supposedly dead at birth but actually spirited away. Doug Marland always claimed his retcons fitted history but that was a stretch. Sharon on Y&R discovered that she actually had twins so they could bring Camryn Grimes back to the show and have a daughter for Sharon to interact with.

On Y&R,David Kimball disguised himself to romance Nina's mother Flo. Did Nina meet Jim, or Flo meet David? I can't recall but that was an unconvincing disguise.

Another trend that began in the 80's was the Serial Killer story. Maybe a reflection of the serial killer gaining attention in the media. Previously there had been murders, but not (seemingly) randon killings. Even Edge of night had not gone down that route I think. I believe Pat Falken Smith began it on Days of Our Lives with the Salem Strangler. It was attention getting, well written and suspenseful. But then other shows jumped on the bandwagon. Days itself followed up soon after with the Salem slasher , Another World had the Sin Stalker and Santa Barbara the Carnation Killer. It became a quick go to to create suspense and kill off a few unwanted characters.

Another cheap looking promo. That jacket...

Rosemary Forsyth, original Sophia on SB only got to appear in drag as Dominic before being replaced by Judith McConnell.