Paul Raven

RADIO DAILY REVIEWS JANUARY 1938 “ THE WOMAN IN WHITE” Pillsbury WJZ — NBC-Red, Monday through Friday, 10:45-11 a.m. Hutchinson Adv’g Co. AIMED AT WOMAN INTEREST, NEW SERIAL SOUNDS LIKE IT HAS SWELL POSSIBILITIES. This is the new serial for which Irna Phillips, author, decided to give up writing her popular “Today’s Children.” Whether decision was a wise one could not be adequately determined by the first broadcast yesterday, as the newcomer barely acquired its sea legs in the initial airing. With a hospital background, new script is well written and there is plenty of scope for it. Surrounding the “woman in white,” one of those sympathetic, understanding and inspirational characters who helps folks around her to work out their difficulties, is an ambitious young doctor, played by Macdonald Carey; a nurse, portrayed by Ruth Bailey; a student nurse, played by Toni Gilman, and her brother, acted by Willard Farnum. Cast is thoroughly capable and Miss Phillips knows her script writing. “ ATTORNEY-AT-LAW” with Jim Ameche S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. WJZ — NBC-Blue, Monday through Friday, 10:30-10:45 a.m. Needham, Louis & Brorby Inc. DRAMATIC SERIAL WITH LAW-OFFICE BACKGROUND MAKES INTERESTING START. With Jim Ameche and Frances Carlon heading the cast, this new daytime serial has a couple of good points in its favor right there. In addition, locale of the action, a young lawyer’s office, offers plenty of opportunities to drum up incidents, complications and dramatic highlights. Ameche plays the title part of a young attorney, Terry Regan, who is more interested in furthering justice than in fat fees for his work. Initial situation dealt with a mother who had signed away rights to her child and later regretted the act, so the lawyer is called in to fight for the return of the little girl, who’s be ng mistreated by her foster parents. In the supporting cast are June Meredith, Lucy Gilman, Fred Sullivan and Grace Lockwood. Carl Wester is creator of the production. “ MARGOT OF CASTLEWOOD” Quaker Oats WJZ — NBC-Blue, Monday through Friday, 10-10: 15 a.m. Lord & Thomas SURE-FIRE SERIAL STUFF WITH TOP- NOTCH CAST AND ACE SCRIPT. As the new half of the double-fea- ture Quaker Oats morning show on CBS, this new serial by Les Weinrott is the type of stuff that always proves popular. The girl in the case, Margot Carver, is a modern girl who wants to break away from her uppish old-line American family to make a career on her own. So she decides to go to Hollywood. Plenty of excitement and adventure is thereby promised the listeners. Script is an expert job and all its values are elicited by the crisp acting of an excellent cast including Barbara Luddy in the title role, Charles Carroll as co-star, Francis X. Bushman and Miss Thelma Owen

May 59 KTLA - major LA station developing Naked Heart half hour daytime serial

Today Is Ours was replaced by Young Dr Malone but several cast members appeared on YDM into January 1959 to provide a smoother transition b/w the shows.

Today Is Ours Laura ____Manning ... Pat Benoit ex wife, Karl, mother Nicky assistant principal of Bolton High School Glenn Turner ... Ernest Graves architect working on school building project Ellen Wilson...... Chase Crosley Jun - Oct 58 dated Peter, Laura's friend teacher at Bolton High Betty Winters ... Nancy Sheridan teacher at Bolton High Jean Stapleton Oct 58- Peter Hall... Tom Carlin teacher boyfriend of Ellen Wison Chester Crawley family name was Crowley...Martin Blaine car salesman Rhoda Spencer ... Audrey Christie Oct 58-

As The World Turns Reverend Sidney Lanier Reverend Sidney Lanier married Penny and Jeff Oct 59

I guess at the time the show was going through a major upheaval with Gloria Monty returning and revamping. Perhaps the plan was to get things in order and then deal with Jessie's passing. But it was a turbulent time and maybe that plan got lost in the midst of other stuff OR Gloria had no plans to deal with it as Jessie had been severely diminished over the years and she felt it was not worthy of a mention-better to have Jessie just be forgotten. Gloria had her own vision for the show and didn't want to deal with a character she felt had no relevance to the show as she saw it and more recent viewers would not be interested in. Who knows?

Taking a deep dive into 70's Search there seems to be an over reliance on killing off major characters often through violent deaths 72 Dan Walton 72 - cancer 72 Sam Reynolds - shot 73 Laurie leshinsky car accident 74 Doug Martin 75 Tony Vincente -heart attack 75 Clay Collins - shot 76 Eunice Wyatt -shot 77 Wade Collins - shot 78 Steve Kaslo - blood disease 79 John Wyatt - shot Obviously death and murders are soap staples, but it seems a bit much and a quick fix to provide some shocks and sadness. Surely some of these characters could have just left town?

Search For Tomorrow More dates and character info Cynthia (Cindy) French...Alison Argo ...Feb 77-Dec 77 pursued Gary and Tom (almost married Tom in Las Vegas) nurses aide babysitter, Tory Dr. Greg Hartford...Robert Rockwell..Feb 77-March 78..engaged to Jo, impregnated Louise Bergman in his youth thus disliked by Stu who believed Greg was responsible for his sister's death ,retired doctor/lecturer, Vietnam vet,father of troubled Meredith, ex to Diane. Left with Meredith for New York when her schemes against Jo was exposed. Meredith Hartford...Tina Orr...Oct 77- March 78 daughter, Greg, hated Jo. Worked in cahoots with Evelyn Reedy (who also resented Jo) to break up her father's relationship. Admitted her scheming and left with her dad to get help in NY. Diane __Hartford...Julia Meade..Oct 77... selfish ex-wife of Greg living in Europe-gladly handed over custody of Meredith when she was causing trouble. Evelyn_____Reedy... Lenka Peterson...Jan - March 78..housekeeper for Greg Hartford, (arranged by Meredith)hates Jo for firing her daughter years back. Works in cahoots with Meredith, as she needed money for grandsons operation. When Meredith ran away Evelyn confessed all and discovered Jo had actually protected her daughter from further trouble.

Y&R definitely underwhelming. The only story that peaked was the Phyllis poisoning which was nonsensical. The returns were nice but basically cameos. The Mamie return should have been longer with maybe Mamie gifting Lily something from her mother-those sort of moments. Leanna should have turned up to the bash on the arm of say Matt Miller- with him unaware of who she really was -leading to a mini story there And so on...each return having some sort of impact rather than just a few lines here and there. And no throwback to the 70's at all-at least have Leslie performing. Also a collection of clips representing each decade. And the gala with the GCAC and extras gave us false hope that the production values might be improved, but no- back to empty restaurants used as offices. A definite disappointment to me.

Joan's daughter Christina played a character named Joan(!) on SS. She suddenly fell in and Joan contacted the show saying she would fill in for her daughter until Christina could return. Despite the absurdity of Joan playing a woman in her 20's they went ahead for the publicity and Joan appeared in a few episodes until the character was written out. What Joan's real motivations were was anybody's guess...

David Choe seems as creepy as the character he plays in Beef.

The following week when Knots was again up against Hill St #10 Hill St Blues 22.2/34 # 16 Knots Landing 19.6/30 So a lot of viewers from the week before who had the chance to catch Hill St stayed with it and Knots was weakened by being moved. And Knots had a strong lead in Simon & Simon #6 24.9/35 whereas Hill St had a much weaker lead in- Cheers

He's actually Doug's brother Byron Carmichael, who faked his death all those years ago because he discovered Lee's involvement with the DiMeras.

Reunited with her dotter!!

? ?? It's DVD not Andy Griffith.

Some ratings of note that week. Hill St Blues at #2 its best rating ever due to Knots being replaced by a CBS News Special which scored a 13 share and ranked 68th - last place of the week. Knots held up well in the Dallas slot-viewers wanted their 9pm soap fix. The 2 hr Simon & Simon special was actually a reworking of the original pilot 'Pirate's Key' from a couple of years back. CBS passed on that show but liked the leads so reworked it into Simon & Simon. They used footage from the pilot as flashback material in a new storyline. Mama's Family debuted Sat @9 on NBC to an 18.6/28 - highest NBC rating in that slot for the season. NBC would have been thrilled with The A Team-the first out and out hit they had in years. ABC 17.9/27 second weekly win of the season CBS 17.4/27 only the 4th time in 17 weeks they were not #1 NBC 16.4/25 best score since World series week at the start of the season Mon ABC win That's Incredible(season high)#7 /AMA's#3 CBS Square Pegs/ Filthy Rich 18 share MASH (lowest rating new episode of season) #16/Newhart (season low)/Cagney and Lacey(season low) NBC Little House/Movie Tues ABC win Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley/3's Company #4/9 to 5 #17/Hart to Hart #19 CBS Walt Disney/Movie NBC Father Murphy/Hill St special/St Elsewhere Wed ABC win Tales of Gold Monkey/Fall Guy #12/Dynasty #10 NBC Real People #20/Facts of Life/Family Ties/Quincy CBS 7 Brides for 7 Bros/Movie Thurs NBC win (first time CBS had not won Thurs) Fame(2nd best rating of the season/Gimme A Break/Cheers (best rating of the season,beating It Takes Two))/ Hill St Blues (best rating ever)#2 CBS Simon & Simon 2hr #9/CBS News Report #68 ABC Greatest American Hero (season low)/Too Close for Comfort/It Takes Two (both season lows)/20/20 Fri CBS win Dukes/Knots #6/Falcon Crest #8 ABC Benson/New Odd Couple/ Movie 'Alligator' #64 11.8/19 NBC Powers of Matthew Star/Knight Rider #23 (best rating for hour long ep)/Remington Steele Sat ABC win TJ Hooker 17.1/27(season high) Love Boat #11/Fantasy Island NBC Diff'rent Strokes/Silver Spoons (both season highs, winning timeslot)/Mama's Family/ Taxi 20 share/ Family Tree #67 10.1/16 CBS Bring Em Back Alive #65 10.8/17 /Movie Sun CBS win 60 Min #1/Bunker #14/Gloria #18/Jeffersons #15/One Day/Trapper John NBC Voyagers 10.8/16 #66 /Chips/A Team 2 hr debut #5 ABC Ripleys 14.1/21 (second best score of the season)/Matt Houston #29 18.2/26 (second best rating of the season)/Malibu Pt1 18.6/28

Search For Tomorrow Dr Gail Kaplan ??? arranged for Amy Kaslo to have an abortion March 76 Dr Porter ??? Jennifer's doctor after her suicide attempt Sept 76 Mr & Mrs Peterson ??? bought Ralph Heywood's property Jan 77 Yang Lee ??? owner of repair shop that repaired shattered bowl Jennifer stole from Eunice Nov 77

SFT Liza - Kathleen Beller, Meg Bennett, Sherry Mathis

90%?? Ok we need some names ...Timothy Patrick Murphy and Tom Fuccello are 2 that come to mind but you obviously have alot more.

Academy award winner Susan Hayward had 2 attempts at a TV series via TV movie pilots. 'Heat of Anger' was for a proposed lawyer series 'Fitzgerald and Pride'. Barbara Stanwyck had to pull out and Susan took her place. The series was not picked up. Her next attempt 'Say Goodbye Maggie Cole' about inner city doctors never had the chance as Susan became ill and was unable to work.

Wasn't that just a stunt photo put out to hype interest and speculation about Bobby's return -with no intention of going that route?

Reading these summaries from 76 it amazes me that a few short months later, after Ann Marcus takes over, Mickey and Maggie are Mr & Mrs Happy Horton. There was so much to be mined from Mickey's recovery. Maybe Maggie had enough and moved on and Mickey had to fight to get her back. Mickey couldn't work as alawyer and had to accept a more menial job. Maybe Tom used his influence and get's Mickey a job but Mickey finds out and is angry etc, Maybe the Barton domestic violence story could have been included in that scenario eg Mickey gets a job in the Barton business and enmeshed in their lives. Whatever, the decision to quickly re-unite them was problematic on a number of levels.

Further evidence why extra episodes of the soaps were ordered. May sweeps 1981 CBS repeated Who Shot JR, the highest rated primetime show ever at that point. Up against Battle of the Network Stars on ABC Dallas scored a 17.3/30 while Battle managed a 19.3/34, the first time Dallas had been beaten all season. The next week NBC ran TV Censored Bloopers Fri @10 22.3/40 and 5th place while Dallas was 46th 13.4/24 CBS was in 3rd place that week. They only had 2 shows in the Top 10 - TV Movie Stand by Your Man #7 and 60 Minutes #8 and 4 in the Top 20 Mash #13 Trapper John #19 .

In 80/81 Knots finished its run and was replaced by Nurse starring Micheal Learned, which spun off from a high rating TV movie. It did well first outing 18.3/31 which placed it in the Top 30 and in Wk 33 was #15 so viewers were coming back. So next season CBS moves it to Wed @9 where it bombed. Why not leave it Thurs @10 and run Magnum/Knots/Nurse which on paper looks good or Magnum/Nurse/Knots giving Nurse a nice position b/w 2 hits. The new 10pm Thur show Jessica Novak also flopped whereas Nurse might have done better in a timeslot where viewers were accustomed to seeing it. So many odd programming decisions on the face of it. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes...