Paul Raven

Brooke is shattered with the news that Nick had died .She remembers the good times and the bad. Weeks later she finds that Grant Chambers died in a hit and run. Poor Brooke wonders about the odds of two exes dying in such short order. Then Eric takes a fall and is comatose.When he comes to, he says he felt like he was pushed. And on it goes Whip, Oliver, Bill , Thorne and Ridge all die or face death. The lead investigator is Brooke's old boyfriend Dave Reed who is determined to find the culprit and protect Brooke. Eventually Deacon is revealed to be the culprit as evidence is found that proves he was responsible. Sheila is convinced this isn't true but no one will listen Brooke gets closer to Dave again causing problems with Ridge. Eventually Sheila uncovers that Dave has been responsible and as a police officer was able to fabricate evidence against Deacon. He wanted vengeance against all the men that had married/bedded Brooke when he felt rejected. Dave finally snaps and Sheila is the one to save her.

The Guiding Light 70th episode where they recreated the radio days and early TV was very entertaining.

Gwen Van Dam Young and the Restless Miss Jackson 1975 Carlos Bernard His Sunset Beach stint was a 5 day role as an intern friend of Rae Chang.

Oliver Macready Son of Pamela Murphy, grandson of George Macready (Martin Peyton,Peyton Place) Taurean Blacque One Life to Live pre 1975

Oops didn't delete from my list.

Variety reported that Woman in White, despite healthy ratings went off the air in September 1942. Reason given was that Art Gladd, who write the show under Irna Phillip's supervision had been called up for Army service and Irna could not find a satisfactory replacement, so would not renew her contract with NBC. Gladd was also writing Right to Happiness. Irna had taken over writing Guiding Light as her writer for that show had departed to write his own show. Her other shows at that point were Road of Life and Lonely Women.

That was the Knots season finale. A lot of series programming would have been repeats and I'm assuming Hill St Blues up against Knots was a rerun. That was also the Falcon Crest finale which did not have the usual Dallas lead in. Caddyshack ran 8-10 and only ranked 32nd so FC did well considering. The #27 show 'International Airport' was a pilot for a Hotel like series starring Gil Gerard and aired Sat 9-11. Guess viewers used to watching Love Boat were quite happy to sit through it.

Thanks for posting. have watched the first 30 min or so. Interesting that Roger finds all 4 soaps enjoyable. One reason is he stays away from discussion/comments. I agree that joining the pack and criticizing does take away viewing pleasure but still there's so much wrong with today's soaps. When I watch Y&R I can't invest too much because there's always something in the writing or production that bugs me.

Thanks everyone for the Suzanne Somers info. I mixed up Cass Malloy with Suzie. Don't know how ABC could claim Suzanne was playing Chrissy. Anyway the CBS deal didn't get her a series but she probably made some money out of it. Always wonder about the BTS stuff in moves like these. Was there some exec change that resulted in Suzanne being cast aside?

Emmerdale has been moved to 8pm 5 nights a week after being a 7pm stalwart for decades. Now up against EastEnders 4 nights a week.

After 62 years,ITV have moved Corrie from 7.30 start and six half hour episodes to 3 Ihr eps beginning at 8pm. Obviously that will change how the episodes are structured.

There has been quite a lot of blowback about the cost of the set in light of the falling ratings and general dislike of the state of the show. also, because the BBC is facing cuts and so much money was spent. These episodes coincide with a change of timeslot in the UK. EastEnders now airs Mon-Thurs at 8pm, brought about by ITV changing the timeslots of Emmerdale and Coronation St. Disaster was predicted with EE facing Emmerdale every night but initial ratings weren't as bad as predicted.

Seeing that Suzanne Somers special on CBS - did CBS sign here after leaving 3's Company? I recall 2 pilots 'She's the Sheriff' and 'Suzie Mahoney' both I think for CBS that weren't picked up. 'She's the Sheriff' ended up as a syndicated sitcom.

Glad you referenced that. If 80's Days supercouple adventure could have incorporated more of that 70's sensibility....

That makes sense but it seems she was thrown in at the deep end. It would take months to get a feel for GL old and new, research and familiarize yourself with the history of the show, form positive working relationships with cast and crew etc. At least a few weeks notice would have helped in any or all of these areas. i recall one of Wheeler's first moves was to fire a long time director (Bruce Barry?) Didn't he then leave a memo in staff lockers which was subsequently removed. Obviously the contents were not flattering to TPTB.

I read that he spoke with Stefano's accent, not that he stayed in character. I guess that was because he wanted it to come naturally rather than switch throughout the day, where it might have got a bit 'wobbly'. A touch 'actory' but fair enough.

Joanie Loves Chachi from Happy Days. 4 episodes aired after Happy Days in a short season The first episode was #2 for the week behind Dallas, even outrating its Happy Days lead-in. It continued to do well so for Fall 82 ABC moved it to Thurs @8 to take on Magnum PI. In Wk1 Magnum had a 2 hr premiere 23.1/37 while JLC could only muster a 13.5/23. That set the pattern and JLC was cancelled. At least they got to return to Happy Days. From Scott Baio All the Happy Days people had written the first four episodes, when the show got picked up for series, but then they left to go back to Happy Days, and we were stuck with new writers who didn’t know us. So that was a problem. And then some of the people on the show had chemical issues, and that was a problem. It was just on and on and on, and it just sort of all crumbled and fell apart. In retrospect, if given the choice again, I would not have done that show. That was just the wrong idea. If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve waited ’til Happy Days was over until I did anything else.

Re the Ellen Wheeler interview. WTH was going on at that time? To hire someone who not only had had limited experience but to do it in such a haphazard fashion? I could understand if it was someone who had worked their way up and had a connection and experience with the show. But with Ellen it seemed out of the blue. I wonder if money came into this as more experienced EPs would have had to be paid a lot more? MDD was probably under huge pressure from P&G and fighting for her own survival. Nice that Barbara Bloom mentioned Ellen being a mom but I wonder if a man would be given the same consideration? Probably not as he would have a wife to take care of the family. I wonder about some of those other names we see in the credits in production capacity who never got the EP positions.

Braeden: Of course, it’s crazy! You must remember that people who come onto the show as new executive producers have their own egos, and they think they can rewrite it, they can redo it all. What they don’t understand is that [Co-Creator/Former Head Writer] Bill Bell was a brilliant man who laid a very sound foundation, and if you want to veer away from that foundation, it willbegin to flounder. That’s all I’m going to say. Digest: Well, I must say how much I enjoy Victor hiring Michael and those two characters being back in the same sphere. Braeden: It’s well-written! It really is all very good, very natural, makes a lot of sense. Other storylines make no sense, introduced by the former regime, names that will remain nameless.

Digest: Fans found it surprising that Abby didn’t include Victor in some of the things going on with her, that Victor would have wanted to take charge and help her with the Chance situation or the Dominic situation. Did you have an opinion on that? Braeden (laughs): We only have so many hours a day to shoot this stuff! It would be too far-flung right now, I’d be involved in too many things, I guess. Melissa [Ordway, Abby] is another wonderful actress to work with, and I think the fellow who plays her husband now [Conner Floyd] is also doing a very good job, he really is.

Exactly. Eric Braeden: It was about high time! Hightime. I think it’s one of the best storylines that I’ve had in years. Digest: Tell me why you think it’s so successful. Braeden: Because it’s all very real, meaning,one understands that Victoria would fall for a good-looking guy like that with a lot of money; one would understand how she, being Victor Newman’s daughter, would have certain Machiavellian tendencies, meaning she sees the possibility of a merger between Locke’s company and Newman. She sees all that and at the same time, he’s a good-looking guy with a lot of money and she fell for him. But the real Machiavellian, of course, is Victor [laughs]! Victor,on one hand, has very paternal,fatherly feelings, wants his daughterto be happy, is happy that she’s out of Billy Boy’s clutches, yethe, too, is beginning to smell a certain rat. He doesn’t quite trust him and is very aware of it and of course, his fatherly instincts of wanting to protect his daughter are stronger than almost anything. And to protect his business. So, he’s not stupid! Victor is a chess player. He’s about two, three, four moves ahead of everyone else. So it all makes sense, psychological sense. Sound sense. That’s why I think it’s such a brilliant storyline because it’s one where you can do long-term planning. But Victor was totally Team Ashland before this.Where was his innate sixth sense then,when he walked Victoria down the aisle?

No Mr Braeden was more restrained. From the interview Look, let’s be very honest. The last regime introduced things that no one gave a damn about, okay? Let’s call a spade a spade. No one gave a damn about some of those storylines, no-one, because they were not a part of the history of that show! I hate to say it, but obviously, the Newman empire is one of the main cornerstones of the show. What the last regime really wanted, to be frank with you, was to get rid of me and get rid of Melody[Thomas Scott, Nikki], if you want to know the truth.

This week's SOD has an EB cover promising his most honest interview ever etc. All he does is take a few potshots at the 'previous regime' (Mal Young?) who wanted to diminish Victor. Praises the Ashland story. Says Victor's lack of involvement in the Abby story is a case of only having a certain amount of time to get everything done. Says he has no plans to retire.

Is Lou Grant the only example of a spin off where a drama came out of a sitcom? Sitcoms seem to be the breeding ground for spin offs, but can we recall any that were in other genres? Knots Landing and The Colbys cover the soap genre. The Law and Harry McGraw from Murder She Wrote. Although this is an example of an occasional character getting their own show, not a regular character doing so.

CBS moved KL to 9pm on 2 occasions Fall 1981 up against Barney Miller/Taxi on ABC and Diff'rent Strokes/Gimme A Break on NBC' The new 10 pm show Jessica Novak flopped and Knots went back to 10pm Fall 1986 up against The Colbys on ABC and Cheers/Night Court on NBC Again the new 10 pm show Kay O'Brien flopped and Knots moved back to 10pm Maybe the lesson for CBS is not to name a new show after after the title female character.