Paul Raven

It's interesting that Somerset got a 6 yr run w/o great ratings but no other soap got that opportunity. Guess they wanted to keep in good with P&G who wielded a lot of power in those days. I wonder how the creation of Y&R came about? Bill Bell was successfully working on Days. You would think that NBC would be interested in taking on a new soap from him.

And Jerry really loved working with Deborah so any actress may have had it a little tough. With Deborah you could see how John was smitten. Not so much with Brenda. I remember when Deborah filled in for Brenda for a few eps and immediately the dynamic changed. It was during the divorce. Also in talking about Brenda's Jill she went as far as destroying her mother's happiness by seducing and marrying Stuart. That demonstrated how damaged she had become.

Just watched the first of the much derided 45 min episodes. Positive -less time spent on Michelle 'directing' the queens in the rehearsal for the challenge and watching them mess up. -less time spent on the supposedly spontaneous chats in the werkroom where inevitably a queen breaks down about some hardship while another feigns sympathy Negative -runway was sped through with hardly a chance to see the outfits - especially with so many queens. -no segment of Ru and the judges discussing the finalists Maybe when they get down to fewer queens, the 45 min format will work better.

CBS dominated primetime and daytime in the 60's. By the late 60's NBC was closer in both daytime and primetime. Early 70's pretty much CBS in both but NBC close. Then ABC took off in primetime and daytime, but as stated when NBC broke through in the mid 80's they could never acheive that success in daytime. Of course a lot goes back to who was running the daytime division and the decisions they made. I did some research and here's what I've got so far. NBC Bob Aaron 61-66 Larry White 66-67 Bud Grant 67-72 Clare L Simpson June 72 - Oct 73 Lin Bolen Oct 73 - Feb 76 Madeliene David Feb 76 - 77 Michael Brockman 77-80 Lucy Johnson 80-81 Linda Line Nov 79? title was vp of serials Brian Frons March 83- May 89 Jackie Smith May 89 – May 91 That's what I have at the moment.

As a big Adair fan, i see your reasoning. Deborah's Jill didn't really tally with the hell that the character went through in the 70's. Whereas Brenda had that steeliness that came through from being rock bottom as a result of all the drama with Kay. The Jill that fell for Jerry Douglas' John was different and to me John/Jill with Brenda didn't work as well. The story directionwas part of that and also that Jerry didn't like working with Brenda may have played a part.

And Bright Promise, How To Survive A Marriage and Return to Peyton Place. They were all tried at 3.30 following AW and the successful soap block but were all cancelled. Maybe they should have persevered a bit longer with one of them and maybe it would have taken off.

Looks like the going to pretend Paul never existed.

Well it was kind of in character for Jill. A few years before, in the midst of the Derek/Kay triangle she got involved with David Mallory, another decent man who could offer stability but oh no, Miss Foster loved the drama,the $$$ and the D too much. I'm sure that Liz had the same reaction both times... 'Jill, David/Andy is a fine young man who can offer you and your boy a decent future but instead you keep on with those foolish notions of a life with Derek/Mr Abbott. Daughter, it's time you stopped wishin' your life away and did what's best for you and Phillip'.

Yes 1968 was the pinnacle for NBC daytime at that point both creatively and ratings wise. For a short time they came within striking distance of CBS. Their big mistake was allowing Let's Make A Deal to slip away to ABC. In renewal talks they only offered the same amount for the nightime version and Monty Hall/production company felt they deserved more. ABC met their demands and the deal was done. NBC were caught on the back foot and made the mistake of slotting Hidden Faces in the 1.30 slot. LMAD fans went to ABC and the show did almost as well as it had at NBC and brought a ratings windfall to ABC, boosting the shows that followed LMAD. HF was more suited to a later timeslot like Edge of Night. NBC should have catered to the gameshow audience. Once LMAD went Days, TD and AW lost ratings points.

Just found the SOD synopses from 81. Danny got involved with Patty pretty early on but she was swept off her feet by Jack. Andy was involved with Nikki much to stalker Edward's chagrin. Nikki found out Andy was married and then Edward went full psycho so that was it for Andy and Nikki. After a run in with his ex Karen, Andy crossed paths with Jill at Jonas' and they began dating. Jill was in the midst of suing Jack for wrongful dismissal from Jabot. There was even a mention of Nikki realizing that Jonas meant more to her than she realized, so Bill was thinking of hooking up those two but quickly dropped it.

Thanks for the reply. Am I correct that Andy was a teacher? Maybe they explained that in the script that he was working at The Bayou for extra cash in the Summer. Thinking about it Danny would have worked at Jonas' club not The Allegro. So he would have interacted with Jonas. Hope someone else can fill in the gaps.

Thanks for clearing that up re Patty/Gina Now on to Danny and Andy Looking over synopses from that time Danny is hardly mentioned well into 82, so maybe he was recurring. Wonder how that worked? Was Danny's intro during a writer's strike? Maybe he was a Conboy hire? Maybe Conboy pushed for him so Bill agreed and wanted to see him onscreen to decide where to go with the character. I think Danny was a waiter at the Allegro. Maybe there was a scene with Leo to introduce him and he probably met Patty there. Same with Andy. When and how was he introduced? He seemed to be linked with Jill pretty quickly. Was he a school teacher at first-is that how he connected with Jill? Does anyone remember?

I feel that this has happened at every soap, past and present at one time or another. Two characters become close via a variety of circumstances and regularly share scenes. Then the story moves on and former friends hardly or never share a scene for whatever reason. Marlena and Maggie on Days is a prime example. The reason seems to be backstage tension b/w those 2 actresses but when was the last time they interacted.? On Y&R I recall Abby and Lily being gal pals a few years back but have they caught up recently? i guess a change in writers and less crossover of stories due to budget might account for that. Any other examples come to mind?

Patty moved from days to Y&rR within a month I think-might have even been a week. Gina the ex con- did she sleep with Jack? Anyway she had story with Neil/Lauren story but then that was pretty much it. There was the Clint romance years later but even that was secondary to the Marge saga. I wonder when she got involved with Jerry Birn? That probably cemented her place on the show and maybe she wasn't fussed not to be a lead. Would love to see Gina back.

Pauline Tyrell Harris Fuller Rysdale... Haila Stoddard 54-61 62-68 69-70

These are fantastic! Please keep them coming. They give a real sense of how stories played out in those years that broad summaries do not.

Sally's stint would have been the perfect time to start scaling back the business/ wealth element. They hinted at it with Fenmore's having troubles, which was realistic but never followed through- a couple of years later Lauren is declaring they're opening stories in Korea. Instead she should have had to close stores and reinvent the business-that could have been an ongoing thread. GC Buzz should have been dropped and Hilary/Mariah moved to Jabot. Devon's inexperience could have seen him lose some dough. Similarly Jabot would have to face the future. Jack could be all about John's legacy and represent tradition with Kyle wanting to embrace a new slim line business model etc Again that personal/professional angle brought into stories. Enough with private jets, billion dollar takeovers and villas in Tuscany.

I know Sally was thrown in at the deep end and had network interference but she had months to implement changes and a lot of what she offered was pretty mundane. Jack and Nikki rekindling their affair for 5 minutes. Scott Grainger. SORASING Charlie and Mattie. Sally said she liked GC Buzz which would have been the first thing that should have been dropped. Victor v Nick And so on...

So very true. That's why in the current budget climate, having a multitude of characters in the one workplace makes sense. The personal and business interact. And to me Jabot is the best bet.The beauty industry is something a lot of viewers can relate to and are interested in. Although I always found it hard to swallow that a major company of this sort would be operating out of Wisconsin, nonetheless there were attempts made to discuss product strategy, promotional campaigns etc. We also saw the products. Vague discussions of podcasts etc don't have the same impact.And there could be topical stories about the challenges facing the industry with online, monorities, influencers, 'green' products etc.

That set/budget issue is crippling the show. Still doesn't explain how random sets sometimes appear. Smart writers/producers should have scaled back on the business stories and let Jabot be the main business. Jack/Kyle/Ashley/Lily/Billy/Abby etc could all be working there. That business has history with the show and far more relatable than some media company that we have no idea of what they do and seems to change direction and leadership every few months.

Still can't get my head around Heather who was born in 79 and Daniel in 94 are now the same age and involved.

Not only are the stories suspect in the first place but the execution adds nothing. GC's lone policeman turns up by himself to execute a search of a tiny hotel room that we see repeatedly used by various characters. To me the dreary stories coupled with cheapjack production is hard to watch.

Brandon Beemer B&B, Days, GH Patrika Darbo Y&R, B&B, GH, Days

Weren't Nick and Adam involved in a similar story with Sage a few years back?

So much interesting stuff. Seems like Josh is happy to give CBS what they want. Hence the bland, dreary stories that don't really lead anywhere.