Paul Raven

That green trim at Uptown has to go.

Another bone headed move from Josh. BFTD again? Is he that desperate? Roger could be Sharon's half brother for starters. He's already made a boo boo with wasting Billy Flynn as Cane. Anyway I believe it's a short term gig.

Why?

So in addition to Mona and Laura, Nicole also has Wanda? Meanwhile no Rowena or any sign of help for Dani. I'm thinking maybe Mona was supposed to be on and the actress wasn't available at the last minute so they did a quick rewrite? That can happen with recurring players. Does anyone else find Martin and especially Smitty way too noble and worthy? Their dealings with Samantha (who's underage!) showed little compassion IMO. They would have been better off with a softer approach. And an example of the dialogue that tries too hard. Martin said something along the lines of 'I'm like a nuclear explosion and you're the cooling system' Just go with- 'Yea I go over the top and you're the calm one' or something to that effect. Sounds way more like how someone might actually speak. I did like Nicole putting out Carlton's fire. He took it well and can always be around as one of those backup characters that are useful in soaps to provide a little lovin' b/w big romances. As for Ted,I really don't know where they can go to next. Nothing about the character is appealing at the moment.

LA Noir....seriously Josh has no clue. Maybe he's going to rip off Double Indemnity.

Mmmm...'real executive leadership'?? Is that a dig at Days?

We don't see Vanessa the businesswoman, only Vanessa the floozy. Obviously her unseen staff of 20 are beavering away at her unseen office keeping the business afloat.

Lots of unnecessary exposition that was unnatural. That final scene with Smitty announcing 'Samantha Richardson Smith!' Really?

TV GUIDE 4/29/1995 Old soap stars never die—they just buy a word processor. Nearly two dozen former daytime performers are now writing for soaps, and eight of them—including ex Young and the Restless stars Meg Bennett and James Houghton—are currently nominated for a Daytime Emmy. Chalk it up to the cutthroat realities of show biz. “It was my terror of auditioning that turned me to writing," says Bennett, who began scripting Y&R in the mid- 80s, even before her Julia Newman role ended. "But I've never quite given up the idea that I do both. I tested for an ABC pilot two months ago, and it came down to me and another actress. She got it. But now when that happens, I still have a job to go to." A member of Y&Rs original cast, Houghton (who played Greg Foster) has written for the soap since 1990. “You could no more get me back into the turmoil of auditioning," he says, "than you could get a Vietnam vet to go back to Khe Sanh again." And if Y&R offered him his old role back? Laughs Houghton: “Гd snap it up in a second.” Не already has one Emmy for writing Y&R. A win this year for Bennett (who's nominated for General Hospital) would be particularly sweet: In 1986, in one of Emmy's blackest footnotes, she and her fellow Y&R scripters proudly walked to the podium to accept the Outstanding Writing trophy. Days later, academy officials confessed to a screwup and gave the award to Guiding Light.

SFT didn't need another ill conceived adventure plot with location filming. It couldn't hurt but more attention paid to the structure and history of the show was what was needed. Turning it into the Travis and Liza show was a mistake.

That Loving logo was just as bland and generic as the real thing. Can you work on Secret Storm, Love of Life, Lovers and Friends, The Doctors etc? Thanks

Portia Faces Life CBS: Oct 7, 1940 to April 25,1941. (29 Weeks) NBC: April 28 1941 to March 31, 1944. (153 Weeks) CBS: April 3, 1944 to September 29, 1944. (22 Weeks) NBC: October 2, 1944 to June 29, 1951. (352 Weeks) HERE ARE THE PLOT AND CHARACTERS, UP TO DATE, FOR THOSE WHO CAME IN LATE 1943 A soap opera that outdoes its sisters, in the realm of feminine drama, is achieving something of a record. "Portia Faces Life" might be said to do that, in presenting an heroine who has to meet not only the private heartaches (as reported by fiction writers) of a mother and a woman in love-but also the public problems of a criminal lawyer by profession. In general, Portia Blake's name and character are patterned after Shakespeare's lawyer -heroine in "The Merchant of Venice." Like her, the 20th Century Portia wants to temper justice with mercy, but radio listeners are probably more enthralled by her struggles to keep both her sweetheart and her child than by her tense courtroom battles to save people from injustice. Unlike her Shakespearean counterpart, author Mona Kent's Portia now has a war to contend with, and her current trials are bound up with Nazi spies and saboteurs. Prior to this, however, she has had many personal problems which latecomers to her audience should know about, to understand the characters who play a prominent part in her story. First of all, there was the unhappy marriage of Walter Manning, her fiance. Society girl Arline Harrison had forced him to marry her, through his belief that this was the only way to save her life, but she had soon realized that he was ill in love with Portia. She attempted to "frame" the woman lawyer, was saved from the consequences of her plot only by Portia's own legal skill, and finally divorced the husband who didn't love her. Meanwhile, Walter had gone to Europe as a foreign correspondent, and Portia threw herself into slum clearance work in Parkerstown. There she found a loyal friend in Miss Daisy, whom she took into her own home as nurse for Dickie Blake, her son by a former marriage. Unluckily, she also crossed the path of the town's corrupt "leading citizen," John Parker, who tried to pin a murder on the fighting young lawyer, in order to get rid of her. Although Portia managed to prove her innocence, the trial gave Mrs. Amelia Blake, her mother-in-law, a new excuse for trying to take Dickie away from her. In Europe, Walter was imprisoned in the dreaded concentration camp at Dachau while his Nazi double, Nicholas Veit, came to America to impersonate him. Veit tried to marry Portia, so no one would suspect his true missionsabotage-but she stumbled upon the real truth and began collecting evidence to prove his subversive activities. That is the situation leading up to the more recent episodes... PORTIA BLAKE (played by Lucille Wall), the lawyer heroine of 'Portia Faces Life," is defending her fiance, Walter Manning, against a charge of treason. She alone knows that he is being tried for the crimes of a Nazi agent who had impersonated him. Walter had killed the impostor, in order to save Portia'i life-but, in the absence of the body as evidence, Portia has been unable to prove, even to his friends, that any double ever existed. WALTER MANNING (Bartlett Robinson)-a newspaper man and foreign correspondent-returned from Europe to discover that his place hadbeen taken by a German spy who looked exactly like him. Portia alone believes that "Walter Manning" has really beentwo different people-and he is now being tried for treason onthe very evidence she herself had collected against his double. ARLINE HARRISON (Nancy Douglas), vivacious but spoiled society belle, uses tank tactics to get what she wants. She wanted Walter, and once snared him-only to lose him. Determined that Portia shall not have him, no matter what else happens, she gave perjured testimony at his trial which might have convicted him of treason, but for Portia'r brilliant cross-examination. MISS DAISY (Doris Rich) is devoted to Portia and hasstood by her through trial and mistrial.She lives with her, taking care of Dirkie. and acting as combined companion, nurse and housekeeper. She has been a bufferfor them both, through one disaster after another, and is oneof the few people on whose help the busy lawyer can rely. AMELIA BLAKE (Ethel lntropidi), mother of the widowed Portia's former husband, has long had a hidden but grim determination to take Portia's son, Dickie, away from her. Using both her frail health and her immense wealth as weapons in the unequal struggle, she has tried to win the youngster's affection away from his busy mother, while Portia was practicing law to support him. BILL BAKER (Les Damon), ex -newspaper man now a captain in Army Intelligence, was once Walter's closest friend but is now his bitter enemy. Believing that Walter is guilty and that Nazi threats had been able to persuade him to shed his democratic principles rather than his skin. Bill is helping the District Attorney with the prosecution. He wants to save Portia, whom he loves devotedly, from a miserable life with a cowardly "traitor. ELBERT GALLO (Karl Swenson), long respected as a well-to-do publisher, was really the ringleader of a crew of Nazi saboteurs, exposed by Portia's investigation. Although Gallo knows that the false Walter is dead, he has resolved to drag the real Walter down into disgrace and a traitor's death with him, as a final revenge. KATHY MARSH (Selena Boyle) is a real friend of Portia', but, as a busy dietitian, plays rather a minor role in the lawyer's professional life. Her wholesome common sense has often been a personal comfort to Portia-and Portia is going to have need of all her friends in the next developments which she faces in the story of her dramatic life, according to present plans

The Jeffersons would have to up there as the show with the most timeslot changes. It began as a mid season replacement in Jan 75 following All in the Family 1. Sat 8.30 In Fall 75 it moved to the lead in slot on Sat as AITF got moved to Monday 2. Sat 8.00 It remained there through 75/76 season and beginning of 76/77 season. Themn moved to Wed following Good Times as AITF struggled in its new Wed timeslot and was moved to Sat displacing Mary Tyler Moore, which moved to the Jefferson's slot. 3. Wed 8.30 Fall 77 saw the Jeffersons moved to Sat 9pm as CBS tried to rebuild its Sat night sitcom lineup. 4. Sat 9.00 Late in the season it was moved forward replacing Bob Newhart so new sitcom Another Day could be given a spin 5. Sat 8.00 Fall 78 saw The Jeffersons now leading off Wednesday 6. Wed 8.00 That failed so it was moved to follow One Day at a Time 7. Wed 9.30 Late in the season Dear Detective was given a tryout Wed 9pm which displaced TJ. It was moved to lead in position 8. Wed 8.00 Fall 79 saw CBS put all its aging sitcoms into a Sunday night block which paid off 9. Sun 9.30 Fall 80 saw TJ retain the timeslot as did Fall 81 -Jeffersons finished 3rd. Fall 83 saw Jeffersons move up a half hour 10. Sun 9pm Fall 83 Jeffersons stayed in that timeslot Fall 84 Jeffersons began to falter and CBS moved it mid season to Tues. 11. Tues 8pm. That was the final move. I am not including a few times it was moved during Summer reruns. Is there any show that could match that?

This is Nora Drake 1950 Lovely Nora Drake is a nurse in Page Memorial Hospital. Anytown, USA Zealously devoted to her work. Her pursuit of her own personal happiness runs a poor second to her career—which makes tough on the men who fall m love with her. Charles Dobbs, a young lawyer, loves her desperately and hopes some day to many her. Attractive and successful has the common sense and keen judgment of people that Nora-the idealist and champion of the underdog—frequently lucks, Charles has an ill-starred brother George who has changed his last name to Stewart in order not to blacken the Dobbs name. Brilliant but weak George constantly involved i n shady enterprises, the latest of which is forgery, for which he is wanted by the police His wife Dorothy, whom he adores, has stayed with him through all his other deals but for her this is the last straw, and she leaves him. Charles Dobb, who loves Nora Drake. enters his office one night is shocked to see his brother George , who is wanted by the police. "Why don't you have me arrested?' taunts George. Charles finds he can't do that. He takes George-ill physically and mentally to a restaurant and gives him twenty dollars for decent food and lodging. He learns George only lives for his wife's return to him. Later that evening, Charles tells Nora about it. and they go to George's wife Dorothy. She's packing to fly South with a wealthy suitor and scorns the idea of returning to George. A huge corsage of orchids arrive, which Dorothy thinks are from her new beau. Discovering they're from George (who has spent the whole $20 on them!) she won't accept them and hands them to Charles. Charles leaves to go back to his brother. Nora tries in vain to persuade Dorothy that she still loves George. At the airport, Dorothy is belatedly touched by George's corsage. Nora goes to George's shabby furnished room, finds turn quite ill, and hasn't the heart to tell him that Dorothy has left for Florida. George guesses as much, believes that she has left him forever. Dorothy suddenly enters and goes lovingly to her husband. George, strengthened by her devotion, decides to stand trial. Joan Tompkins is Nora Drake Elspeth Eric is Dorothy Stewart Grant Richards is Charles, Dobbs Leon Janney is George Stewart Milton Lewis, Writer Charles Irving Director

Kevin Dobson was sexier on Kojak. His KL hairstyle to disguise his baldness always was a little weird. CBS liked him. After Kojak he had the short lived Shannon and then a number of TV movies including a Mike Hammer. I wonder if he would have taken the series role that went to Stacey Keach, if he wasn't tied in Knots.

Valley of the Dolls was CBS counter programming the World Series. Pt 1 on Monday and then a 3 hr Pt 2 up against baseball. Today's FBI was the 2 hr debut Sunday which was heavily promoted during baseball so viewers tuned in. But ratings dropped after that and it fought it out with Chips for #2 in the 8pm timeslot. Cancelled after one season. CBS Sunday 60 Minutes, comedies and Trapper John was dominant and that continued all season. Dukes/Dallas/Flacon Crest was another CBS sweep on Fri nights, Mork and Mindy got an early season boost from their wedding and birth of their son, but then fizzled out and got cancelled. Magnum dominated 8pm Thursday. Love Boat/Fantasy Island continued to help ABC win Saturday.

Thanks @DRW50 for continuing to find these treasures. Hildy Parks was Ellie. Bert Thorn as Alex. Interesting because @slick jones lists only Russell Thorson as Alex in 1953. But if this is January obviously Alex was around in 1952 also. Or has there been some confusion between Thorn and Thorson? I think Alex's secret was the existence of a previous wife Jill, although it appears Jill may be lying that they were married and is up to no good.

Richard came off more as villain of the week than hero. Parker Stephenson was perfect casting. Just wish the scripts had been better.

Thanks @DRW50 Stepmother: CBS: Jan 17, 1938 to July 10, 1942. (234 Weeks) Colgate Dental Cream Totals:234 Consecutive Weeks - 1,170 Episodes Broadcast KITTY KEENE, INC (1937-41, CBS, Mutual) Premiere: September 1937 Final episode: April 1941 Kitty Keene was written by Day Keene. If anyone is interested summary of his life and career here: https://thrillingdetective.com/2020/12/09/day-keene/

Courier Express, 8 February 1981 Soap Report Jon Michael Reed "ONE LIFE to Live" has tried to squelch rumors for months that Keith Charles was slated to be removed from the cast in his role of Ted Clayton. Next week, Mark Goddard inherits the part. Keith is a soap opera veteran, but the show wanted a change to someone who's "more menacing." Mark is a more glamorous "looker" than Keith, and that doesn't hurt either. Nightime series viewers may recognize Mark from frequent guest appearances and from his co-starring roles in "'Lost in Space and ''The Detectives." The soap is also auditioning a replacement to fill the Samantha Vernon role when Julie Montgomery takes a hike within the next two months. Julie wants out, and some lucky young lady will find herself playing a prominent and juicy soap role. *that was the beginning of Goddard's soap career in the 80's. He went on to play Paul Reed on The Doctors and Derek Barrington on GH. And Dorian LoPinto became Samantha.

Courier Express, 8 February 1981 Soap Report Jon Michael Reed NEW YORK - The casting wheels of change are afoot at all of the ABC soaps. The first soap to be struck by the Russian roulette casting game is "All Mary Lynn Blanks (Tara) was the first "AMC actor to receive her walking papers. For Mary Lynn, it was an especially crushing blow, since she had been led to believe the show was gearing up a terrific triangle involving Tata, Chuck and Jim. Add to that her father's holiday advice that she's wasting her time with that acting business- imagine how down in the dumps she is these days. Paul Falzone, who joined "AMC" as Jim Jefferson three months ago, is now hustling to find work elsewhere to support a new addition to his family. Paul's wife is expecting a child in July: Several weeks ago, Paul's agent complained that he wished Paul had more time to be sent out on lucrative commercial auditions. Now, he has the chance. ALSO SLATED to exit within the next month is Gwyn Gilliss and her "AMC" character of Anne Martin. Gwyn's screen husband, Paul (played by William Mooney) will probably be shipped off with a handful of other actors. It's a sad day, indeed, in soap heaven when such stal- warts as Tara, Anne and Paul, who've been mainstays since "AMC debuted, are relegated to the junk heap. On the other side of the casting coin, Tudi Wiggins joins "AMC" as Sara Kingsley; Brandon's wife. Erica, who's been sleeping in Brandon's bed, should really love that bit or news, since Erica has no idea her lover has a Mrs. Add the fact that Wiggins is one of the best "scene-chewers" in the soap business and "AMC" might have at least a temporary remedy for viewers who will bellyache about the dismissal of familiar Pine Valley folks. One guy who won't be missed, however, is wife beater Kurt Saunders Judging from fan mail, the actor who played this character was as loathed for his overplaying theatrics as for the character's vile story behaviour. We respectfully refrain from mentioning the actor's name. He's probably a nice guy who deserves an acting job else where, like Siberia. *The actor was William Ferriter BTW. AMC eased out those original charcters along with Linc and Kelly w/ouch backlash. I guess one reason was that Mary Lynn Blanks and Gwynn Gillis weren't super popular castings so viewers were less connected. And AMC had struck gold with Nina and Cliff. Erica was super popular and you still had Phoebe, Ruth, Joe, Chuck, Donna etc to provide consistency.

Phyllis, Alice, Sheila, Sharon, Mari Jo, Molly...maybe Bill Bell had a lot of maiden aunts he wanted to honor.

Doug Marland, Pat Falken Smith and John Corrington have all spoken against Gloria Monty. Seems she didn't accommodate writers too well. At least not those who wanted more autonomy. Jackie Smith also seemed difficult at times. That story where Doug Marland went into a meeting with Agnes Nixon.. I remember meeting Agnes Nixon downstairs at the elevator because Agnes was a consultant for all the shows on ABC and it was the week General Hospital hit number one solid-- wiped everything else out. The fact that this once pathetic show was the solid number show was like victory--this was the first story meeting I haven't dreaded. Agnes said, “Don't be too sure.” I said "What can they say, we're number one?” Jackie Smith came in , she's a half-hour late, and her opening remarks were, "We're in terrible trouble.” I that couldn't believe it. Her maid that morning had said that the Laura, Bobbie, Scotty thing was boring, she didn't like it --all our eggs are in that basket. I said, "It was the basket that brought us here.” She said, I “Yes, now we have to find ways to stay there." "I said the story isn't even over yet." I couldn't believe it. Agnes was totally right. She winked at me from across the room. There is an incredible instinct to panic. I have not found that at all with P & G."

Musical chairs ran from June to November 75 on CBS at 4pm replacing Tattletales which moved to the morning and then to 3.30. It made history by having Adam Wade as host, the first Black gameshow host. Mary Stuart was one of the guests on the first episode and Adam had appeared on search in 1970, so perhaps there was a connection there. Anyway, MC failed in the ratings and was replaced by another short lived show Give n Take which faired even worse, lasting only a few weeks. CBS moved Tattletales back to 4pm the same day Edge of Night began on ABC.

Courier Express, 26 April 1982 Writer says Malpractice Harms General Hospital by Gary Deeb John William Corrington is a respected novelist and scholar. He's also one of television's best writers of daytime soap opera. Partnered with his wife Joyce, Corrington was the creator and headwriter of "Texas" and the head writer of "Search for Tomorrow." And until this week, the Corringtons were the newly installed head writers of ''General Hospital" (3 p.m. Monday through Friday, Chs. 7 and 11 in the Buffalo area). The overheated and trouble plagued ABC soap has been losing viewers by the ton for the last few months, and the husband and wife team had hired to pump some spirit into serial that had lost most of its energy. But after only three months at the writing helm of ''General Hospital," the Corringtons have called it quits. In Chicago for a speaking engagement at Roosevelt University, Corrington said he's frustrated by the constant meddling of ABC bureaucrats and fed up with "having to be an administrator instead of a writer." So as the Corringtons wrap it up and head home to New Orleans, they join the long parade of writers who have shuffled in and out of "GH" since last summer. Once among the most spectacular moneymakers in TV history, 'General Hospital" now is in very deep trouble. As reported here in recent weeks, the show is creatively bankrupt and has lost a staggering 3.5 million viewers since Christmastime. That represents nearly 25 per- ' cent of the program's former viewership, and many observers believe it's only a matter of months before "GH" gets bumped off its four-year joyride atop the daytime audience ratings. As a result, ABC executives are panicking. Corrington describes them as "frothing with madness" at the prospect that the $150 million a year in net profits generated by "GH" may be in jeopardy. ''You can't imagine how desperate things are," Corrington said. "'For the last three months, the writing has been the worst crap in the world, and the show is totally out of control." That candid admission should come as no surprise to anybody who has tried to follow "GH" since last fall, when actress Genie Francis - who played the part of Laura Spencer -- announced that she was leaving the soap to work for CBS. Suddenly, producer Gloria Monty had to dream up a way to get rid of the pivotal character of Laura, whose storybook romance with Luke Spencer, played by Tony Geary, had been the key to catapulting "CH" to dizzying heights of popularity and media hype. The trouble was, nobody could agree on how Laura should be done away with. So to buy time, the program "vamped" for months, forcing the writers and actors to dance around the unexplained disappearance of the lead female character. First, Luke and Laura were hexed by a vague "curse" (delivered by Elizabeth Taylor in a foolish cameo role); later a mysterious stranger with hypnotic powers arrived on the scene, and Laura disappeared; and then a lookalike for Laura (also named Laura) popped up to confuse things even further. During this time, the show's writers were ordered to churn out daily scripts and to keep everything up in the air until Monty and ABC could get their act together and agree on a coherent storyline. When Corrington proposed his own plausible scenario to explain Laura's demise, he said he was shot down without explanation. As things now stand, Corrington said, Laura's death will be explained away simply as "an unfortunate accident,"" totally ignoring all those red herrings "GH" has been dishing out for months. Even Jackie Smith, ABC's vice president for daytime programs, is enraged at the idea of such a cop-out and finds it creatively unacceptable. But the bungling of the Laura story is only one of the many problems Corrington encountered during his three-month stint on "GH." Most of the scriptwriters who worked under him, he said, are "incompetent hacks who aren't worthy of writing on used toilet paper." Because producer Monty was out of action for several weeks because of surgery, "production of the whole show fell frantically behind schedule and has never recovered."