Paul Raven

Billboard 1981 LOS ANGELES -Gladys Knight is apparently to try her hand at an acting career again. She has reportedly been offered a guest spot on one of her favorite daytime soap operas, "All My Children." She recently met with the show's producer, who offered her the role. Knight joins a list of singers, including Sammy Davis Jr. (an avid soap watcher), who appear on popular daytime programs. Knight first threw her hat into the film world a few years ago, when she starred in the ill -fated "Pipe Dreams," a love story based in Alaska and centering around the pipeline there. Although the film, in which Knight and the Pips had a personal financial investment, received less than enthusiastic reviews, Knight's performance garnered higher ratings.

The Catlins David Frizell himself 1984 David Frizzell has been cast in an ongoing role (as himself) in daytime soap opera, "The Catlins," aired by WTBS from Atlanta. Frizzell will sing on the show in addition to speaking lines. The half -hour soap is seen twice a day on some 4,750 cable systems carrying the superstation. His first segments as a soap opera actor should air between mid -March and early April.

March 83 Billboard Magazine. NEW YORK -An in depth cross promotion between songwriters, a performer, a record company and a soap opera has Stephanie Mills appealing on NBC -TV's "Search For Tomorrow" this week and next to perform a song associated with two of the series' stars. The song, "Do You Love Him," will be on Mills' new Phil Ramone produced album, "Merciless," on Casablanca. The song has been played as background music on the program for about six months, but apparently a number of interested parties thought it would be a good idea to have a well -known singer perform it, especially in the wake of the success of "Baby, Come To Me" from the soap opera "General Hospital." That song, performed by Patti Austin and James Ingram, reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. Neither of the singers of "Baby, Come To Me" actually appeared on "General Hospital," but Mills, hoping to further an acting career begun in Broadway's "The Wiz," has been written into "Search For Tomorrow" for two weeks as a local girl returning home. According to Betsy Durkin Matthes, who wrote the lyrics for ¢ "Do You Love Him," mention of 4 Mills' new album will be made on mthe program. "All the various publicity departments are in sync," she says. Her co-writer, Barbara Morr, adds, "This is a chance for us to get more exposure for the song. Patti Austin's record was virtually revived from the dead due to expsoure on `General Hospital'." That song came on the Hot 100 in April, 1982, peaked at number 73 and disappeared, only to return last October -and ultimately to reach No. I last month. According to Mills, no decision has yet been made as to whether "Do You Love Him" will be a single. Mills explains that she was sent a tape of the song and asked to appear on the show. She agreed "because being associated with a soap opera can help sell more records, but more importantly I want to expose my acting abilities. People still consider me a little girl from `The Wiz' days."

Secret Storm Frank Carver...Laurence Luckinbill...67-68 reporter, +Susan, killed a guy in Mexico . ...Jack Ryland...71 ...Robert Loggia... Feb 72 -?

Joan Winters Bachelor's Children Dorothy Keeler

At the time there was a lot of hype about Rick Moses/Hutch. I think Gloria Monty really believed she had the magic touch and lightning would strike again a la Luke. But they struggled to find a way to reform him and integrate him into the story. With writers strikes and backstage drama., Hutch got lost in the turmoil.

Ken Corday's loyalty and persistence with Days is indeed admirable, but to me it always comes off as wanting to preserve his parents legacy than any true love for Days as a part of the soap opera genre. His parents worked on radio soaps and previous TV soaps alongside people like Irna Phillips. Ken came to Days only because it was the family business and he saw how his mom stepped in and carried on her husband's work. To me he has never really shown a true understanding or appreciation for the genre. He wants to put his faith in whatever the current writing/production teams push and whatever it takes to keep the show on the air. Which is fair enough and has worked but still....

Joan Banks Love of Life Amanda Randolph 1969 I believe she used her married name Joan Lovejoy for this role. Her husband Frank Lovejoy died in 1962 so perhaps she began using his name in memory of her late husband.

Thanks for sharing. Let's Gossip was mentioned in French Fan's summaries post but no examples have ever surfaced.

Peter Bergman 20th Anniversary interview 2009 On Nov. 27, Peter Bergman will celebrate his 20th year playing Jack Abbott on CBS’s top-rated The Young and The Restless. The veteran soap star (he previously played Dr. Cliff Warner on ABC’s All My Children) talked exclusively to EW.com about what it was like to originally assume the role, how he felt about his character talking to a ghost, and whether he and the cast believed that Eric Braeden would ever really quit the show. EW: What was it replacing Terry Lester, who had previously played Jack Abbott, 20 years ago? Peter Bergman: He had burned every bridge he could burn before he left. He had alienated pretty much everybody in the building. Had I showed up as anything less than an axe murderer, I would have been welcomed. That said, every lighting guy, every wardrobe person knew more about Jack Abbott than I did. That took some getting used to. Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman) was very friendly to me but Eric Braeden was a big Terry Lester fan so his wasn’t the warmest welcome. From the start, Jack was a very angry character. We didn’t see his compassionate side for a long time. What was the journey like for you? The journey was an interesting one. I actually loved playing a careless, womanizing, and manipulative Jack for as long as I did. But one of the cool things about being on these shows is that characters grow and change. And I can tell you who the characters were who changed Jack Abbott: Nikki, followed by Phyllis – the least likely person ever to touch Jack’s heart — and then Sharon, who of all people, I think was a disaster on the writers’ part. It’s almost like they thought, ‘They both are basically in the same predicament. Put them together.’ I can remember the day Sharon Case sat in the dressing room with me and how we decided to make it believable. And I think we did a pretty respectable job. So three women changed this guy so much in these 20 years, so he’s a very different character now. Let’s talk about one of Jack’s most memorable scenes – sitting at his dying father’s bedside. It was far and away his most emotional experience. He still hasn’t recovered from that. He is still seeing his father in his office, in his home, in his car. He’s everywhere he goes. How did you react when the writers said, ‘By the way, you’re going to be seeing your dad’s ghost’? Oh my God. I’m on the one show that’s based in reality and suddenly I am in charge of the f—ing ghost storyline? Oh, great! But you know what? I was wrong. In the end, it worked. It was Jack’s conscience coming back to him. He had lost his conscience. You’ve been at this for a long time now. What do you think is going to happen to daytime dramas? I have good things to say about that. We are all going to get leaner, tighter, with smaller casts. Fewer sets. Tighter stories. Better-written stories than you see on the air [now]. And when they minimize the casts, they are going to cut away the bad acting. They are going to keep as many of the good actors as they possibly can. Get rid of the scenes we didn’t need to see, like ‘Well, let’s follow the maid and what her life is like. Let’s see who her boyfriend is.’ No! Let’s focus on Victor and Nikki and Katherine and Jack and Ashley and Phyllis and Nick and Sharon. I know you are pretty optimistic but there are a lot of predictions that we’ll see another soap opera die in the next five years. We will. We’re on the top floor of a sinking ship at Y&R. But I do think that when we are talking about seven, eight daytime dramas, do you have to replace all of them? That’s too much programming. What the f— are the networks going to do with a giant hole in daytime television? Eric Braeden has been very vocal about his recent salary negotiations, especially about how he was being told to take a pay cut – or else. Had you experienced the same type of negotiation? Everybody on this show was asked to share in some of the burden and Eric was no exception. Did you really expect that Eric was going to leave? There were days that we all thought he was going to be gone. In the end it was fighting with a corporation, and the corporation was going to win. It wasn’t whether or not they were going to fold. It was always whether or not Eric was going to agree to come back for a lesser salary. Are you going to retire as Jack? I will retire from daytime television as Jack, yes. With All My Children moving to Los Angeles, everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, well, that would be fun. They’d probably love to have you back.’ And I think, ‘No … that’s a different character.’ I get to play one of the truly great characters in daytime television.

They're scared to focus on the young ones because the longterm viewers might switch off. See- Reed,Mattie, Charlie, Ana, Fen, Faith, Moses,Noah,Ally etc The bicentennial idea is crap-that's 200 years so nothing to do with 50 anyway. So then why not celebrate Jabot's 60th or 70th- at least that ties in with something viewers can relate to, although Jabot has been ignored for years in favor of these 'trendy' media companies.

Mrs Martinez has been seen occasionally over the years played by different actresses I think, but not since pre COVID It's ridiculous she is not seen more often. It would only have to be once every few months. Jill paying off Mamie was an awful story. It happened so quickly and was out of character. It might have worked had they delved into it more.

Exactly. I'm sure some of the cast are only interested in how much airtime they're getting, what challenges there might be in a script or who they are working with. Not that today's episode doesn't track with what happened in 2007...

For the next 2 weeks in Jan 72 Hollywood Squares was #1- the first time it held that position. In the second week it tied with GH for #1. One reason may have been that it had more exposure to viewers because a syndicated nightime version had started that season.

These little vignettes are great. Were they part of a 'soap spot' series?

Another win for ABC week ending Jan 9 1972 ABC 8.7/29 NBC 8.0 CBS 7.7 #1 GH #2 ATWT #3 Newlywed Game #4 Hollywood Squares

Anthony Quinn after decades in the movies attempted TV stardom with Man and the CIty on ABC for the 71/72 season Over at CBS Glenn Ford tried TV with Cade's County

Search For Tomorrow Arthur Tate...Karl Weber...55-56 husband, Jo .... Grant Sullivan 2/54 (3 day temporary) ...Terry O'Sullivan...52-55 56- Feb 66 Duncan Erik Tate... Jeffrey Krolik 56-?...killed by car .I'm not sure about this. I believe that Duncan was never seen onscreen, which in the live days,seems likely. Mary imagined the child in the crib was her real life son of the same age to play the scenes believably, so she was devastated when he was killed off.

Also her Texas contract was shorter than the standard 3 yr deal. How long was Iris on Texas?

Looks like they had blue paint left over from when Billy gave the Chancellor home a makeover.

ABC hit #1 in daytime for the first time ever in the 2 weeks ending Aug 20 1971. 10am to 4.30 pm ABC 8.1 CBS 7.9 NBC 6.5 For the nine timeslots all 3 networks programmed ABC 8.3 CBS 7.5 NBC 7.0 General Hospital was ABC's highest rating show 9.8 but the overall rise was attributed to the addition of Love American Style - replacing A World Apart, and Password - replacing Dark Shadows. In addition to GH ,LAS, Newlywed Game and Bewitched won their timeslots and Let's Make A Deal was a close 2nd to ATWT. ABC had 5 of the Top 7 shows. Another factor for the rise was the increased number of school age children watching during Summer who preferred sitcoms and game shows to soaps. The feeling was ABC would not sustain those numbers once school resumed. In anticipation ABC was planning to swap LAS and Password. CBS was not happy to see ATWT threatened and brought back Irna Phillips as headwriter.

I guess the difference is in the demos. A lot of those primetime viewers would be younger, more urban and wealthier than Y&R viewers and thus more desirable to advertisers.

Trapper John played in the same timeslot for years (till the end). CBS never moved it to freshen up Sunday nights or boost another night. So it was one of those shows that flew under the radar till it ran out of steam.

Lies to them, manipulates. interferes and tries to control them. That's too much but it's not love.

Dabney had 3 attempts as a primetine lead- Buffalo Bill, Slap Maxwell and Madman -none of them worked and I guess they finally got the message that the public wasn't enamored of his onscreen persona. Year after year Knots managed to outrate its lead ins and be competitive in its timeslot.