Paul Raven

@dc11786 thanks for that deep dive. Boy, there was a lot going on-so many characters and story threads. Too many,obviously. Makes it hard for the viewer to really invest. I think that the expanded canvas of the 1 hr shows was another nail in the coffin as the shows lost focus. As a viewer you began to watch to see what was happening, rather than anticipate what would happen. So there was less of an attachment and with everything else going on- VCRs, cable etc it was easier to move elsewhere.

Variety reports 'The Heart of Julia Jones' March 72 Robert Shaw writing, Roy Winsor producing. To be taped on location in and around NYC. I wonder if this was another attempt to bring comic strip 'The Heart of Juliet Jones' to TV. The title may have been a misprint. Nov 65 Variety reports that NBC has ordered a pilot 'Many Mansions' by Robert J Shaw with Roy Winsor producing. this is probably another title for 'Masterson's Valley' mentioned earlier. At that stage they were considering dropping The Doctors.

Bright Promise ??? Frank Shamus Dec 71 ??? Larry ward Dec 71 ??? Frederic Downs Dec 71 ??? Richard Forbes ??? Kate Hawkins Dec 15 69 ??? Barry Higgins Dec 15 69

I didn't realize it took Len and Patti about 5 years to be married. For some reason I thought they had married a few years earlier. Apparently after the famous trial where Sam was accused of attempted murder of Andrea (when in fact she was trying to poison him but the drinks were mixed up) Len freaked out when the truth of Andrea's deception came out and he left medicine.He went to work in a factory and meet Grace and went to bed with her. She became pregnant but died , possibly from a brain tumor. Jo was involved and realized that Len was the father of Grace's child, causing her to lose control of her car and crash. This was the Friday cliffhanger that Search cooked up to stop viewers turning to ABC for the March 1970 premiere of A World Apart. Irna Phillips sent them a 'bravo' telegram for that move. Anyway, Patti had had another miscarriage and was becoming pill addicted to cope. Jo and Len arranged for he and Patti to adopt Chris, without Patti knowing he was Len's child. Schemerings book says Grace died in childbirth in California , but doesn't explain how the baby made it back to Henderson. Maybe Len was at the birth? I don't think Patti ever found out about the paternity. As we have learned as synopses such as these come to light , the summaries in books are sometimes off with timelines or wrong with story points. Hopefully French Fan's future synopses will help,

One of the problems to me was that Noah and Abby were aged too soon. Especially with Noah as his father had been drastically SORASED only 10 years earlier and there was no need for Noah to become a teen so soon. It just put 3 generations of the family -Victor/Nick/Noah all fighting for frontburner stories. Then casting Robert Adamson who looked way too old for the role was another issue plus the overall reluctance to commit to Noah as a character. The latest go round with Noah/Allie was puzzling as there was potential but they were so blandly written. Obviously some BTS stuff saw them sidelined.

What's done is done and La La is gone. If Alexis had been less dramatic over being saved the week before the'betrayal' wouldn't have been so controversial. Once again Kandy is saved. Her dress was super basic and ill fitting but she got praised (of course) for such a valiant effort, considering she was not a seamstress. Jimbo was as amusing as ever and Jessica impresses(but not enough to win) That episode had more filler than Kahanna's face.

If anything a big floppy hat and sunglasses inside would make you MORE noticeable... Staff claimed that her castmates didn't even recognize her when they were taping the memorial scenes - hun, they just used it as an excuse to ignore you.

Those are amazing .Thank you so much. Hope you have more. In just 3 episodes we learn the date of Scott and Lauri's wedding,mention of a memory loss for Andrea, details of Grace /Bill/Bob- all stuff unknown before!

April 13 1973. Large ad in Variety(with picture) - NBC/Screen Gems/Betty Corday Productions take pleasure in welcoming Bennye Gatteys as a continuing member of the continuing regular cast of Days of Our Lives. We invite your attention to her outstanding premiere performance . Today 12.30 Ch 4 This was unusual for a soap to draw attention to a performer in this way. And to place an ad in a trade mag. Guess they were mad about Denise Alexander leaving and wanted to show they were moving on?

Return To Peyton Place Mr. Blake ...James Doohan April 73 'mysterious figure in international finance'

I agree that Jack and Jamie were miscast. Dack Rambo never really took off in any of the roles he had over the years. He was easy on the eye but didn't deliver on bringing characters to life. Garrison, Ellie's brother should have had children. They could have caused trouble causing Ellie to be torn b/w them and her kids.

Driving Toyota Camrys. If only at some point they had taken stock of the situation-changing tastes, slashed budgets etc and invested in producing a smaller scale serial based on interpersonal relationships like ..I don't know...Days of the 60's and 70's?

Not when Hunter King was playing her-she was quite the vixen eg sleeping with Billy, her momma's bf and blackmailing Kyle into marrying her. Lola was more the heroine. When Alison took over, Summer had a persona transplant.

The meddling mother - well meaning or not . Lauren on Y&R would have suited that role but her kids are never on and she's too busy pushing the sex kitten angle. The heroine-dying breed as soaps moved towards making the vixen the lead. A good heroine may be slightly naive but not so dumb as to lose audience sympathy The wise benevolent matriach/patriach. As mentioned, characters have not evolved into this role either because they are still being pushed as romantic leads or written off because they have reached a certain age. eg Paul on Y&R could now be in that role except his kids all got written off and he was marginalized. Characters from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make it, by fair means or foul. But now that just about everyone is mega rich the class differences and striving has been lost.

Posted these numbers earlier in the thread but to save you searching, here they are again. Look how much stronger ABC is in the desirable demo. All of their soaps anyway rank higher with the gals 18-34 than in households. Whereas CBS and NBC are mostly lower. No wonder ABC was raking in the $$$ January - August 1978 (Women 18-34 Ranking) 1. Family Feud 9.1 38 ABC (5) 2. AMC 8.6 32 ABC (1) 3. AW 8.3 28 NBC (8) 4. ATWT 8.1 30 CBS (7) 5. All in the Family 7.9 27 CBS (12) 6. Y&R 7.8 31 CBS (6) 7. GL 7.5 27 CBS (10) 8. GH 7.2 25 ABC (4) 9 OLTL 7.2 26 ABC (3) 10. Happy Days 7.1 33 ABC (11) 11. RH 7.1 28 ABC (2) 12. SFT 7.1 28 CBS (9) 13. DOOL 6.9 25 NBC (14) 14. TD 6.5 24 NBC (17) 15. TPIR(2) 6.1 28 CBS (18) 16. Wheel of Fortune 6.1 27 NBC (22) 17. LOL 5.8 25 CBS (15) 18. Match Game 78 5.8 19 CBS (20) 19. TPIR(1) 5.7 28 CBS (19) 20. $20,000 Pyramid 5.6 22 ABC (15) 21. EON 5.5 18 ABC (12) 22. Hollywood Squares 5.4 27 NBC (21) 23. New High Rollers 5.1 24 NBC (21) 24. Card Sharks 4.3 24 NBC (26) 25. New Tic Tac Dough 3.9 21 CBS (23) 26. America Alive 3.5 14 NBC (23) 27. FRFP 3.4 13 NBC (25)

Daytime TV gives the ranks for the two weeks ending August 22, 1971. 1. ATWT 36% 2. GH 36% 3. AW 32% 4. DAYS 31% 5. Doctors 32% 6. Edge 33% 7. GL 28% 8. Splendored Thing 27% 9. Search 28% 10. LOL 30% GH heading towards knocking ATWT from #1.

Yep saw it now.

Friday, January 22: Steve decides he is going to Boston to find Audrey. Variety reports that John Beradino vacationed in Acapulco for that time Steve was offscreen.

Requests Tammy Lauren Don Briscoe Betsy Jones Moreland Heather Lowe

As The World Turns Johanssen...Anthony Inneo 1980

Long/Kobe had a lot of engaging new characters and stories initially but the problem was they chipped away at the core by obliterating the Bauers and the Reardons, who Marland had set up as the next long term family as well as slowly dropping most characters from previous eras, leaving only Ross and Ed (recast) and a few others. Then when Kobe/Long departed there were more changes and the show became a patchwork of fractured families in dull stories and more new characters eg Simon, Jessie, Calla that viewers were supposed to be interested in.

Bright Promise ??? Carolyn Chriss April 71 ... at least 2 episodes

Variety March 1980 Y&R put out a casting call for the role of Snapper Foster 26-28 yo, 6'2"-6'-3", all American type, Clint Eastwood prototype, personable, charismatic, continuing role. So at this point they were considering a recast in case Hasselhoff wouldn't commit.

As The World Turns Dr Foley ??? June 77 ... surgeon who operated on Tom Hughes following car accident that killed Chuck Shea Lois Tanner ??? June 77... old girlfriend of Beau Spencer Gloria Porter ??? Oct 78 ... nurse at Memorial who contacted Jane Spencer to tell her that dying patient Rose Lange(Beau's real mother) wanted to see her. Alfred Baines ??? Jan 79 ...lawyer who contacted Tina Cornell to inform her she was sole beneficiary in Nick Conway's will. Evelyn ??? March 79 ... ex girlfriend of Hank Robinson who informed Carol that Hank had been violent with another ex-Linda. Bill Huntingdon ??? May/June 79 ... affair with Joyce Hughes while Don was paralyzed. Lends Joyce money so she can leave town Joe ??? June 79...Jay's foreman who complains about Chip Kelly's poor work ethic. Mrs Brice ??? Sept 78...cranky elderly patient who clashes with Barbara Ryan in art therapy. Dr Steel ??? Dec 79...Joyce Hughes SF doctor, after her 'return from the dead'.

@DRW50 thanks for sharing. a brief rundown of that story. Betsy lyingly tells Craig her doctor wants her to go on cruise. Betsy does so to warn the cruisebound Steve that Vermiel is dangerous Craig joins Betsy on the cruise. Steve, on ship, poses as wealthy Daniel Bishop and tries to find out more about Vermiel. Steve tells the captain of ship that Vermeil is planning to auction stolen coins. So some plotty stuff about stolen coins with David McCallum on board.