Paul Raven

Having Bob move towards Kim would have made sense at that point. It played onto history and tightened the canvas with Bob/Kim becoming 'parents' to Frannie, Andy, Tom, Betsy - the next generation. Nancy may not have found that coupling suitable in her eyes. I'm sure it would perturb Lisa and John would have been livid. So a lot of possibilities then. Ellen/David would have an opinion etc So quite a bit of story could come from this pairing. Bob and or Kim could back off due to general Oakdalian concern/disapproval. Only a few years later the decision was made to put them together anyway. We would have avoided the awful Bob/Miranda and Kim/Nick marriages.

Wasn't sure where to place this but since it deals mainly with OLTL here it is. Makes you think how other shows with clearance problems might have rated with more coverage. May 1970 What clearance woes can mean to ABC -TV The half hour, daily afternoon serial, One Life to Live, is suffering from "live clearance deficiency" and this con- dition is costing more than $2 million a year, $1.5 million of it lost directly by the network. ABC -TV stations last week, at the annual network affiliates meeting in Los Angeles , were given a striking illustration of what it can mean to a network when just one program is not being carried live on a competitive line -up of stations. Frederick Pierce, vice president in charge of planning and assistant to the president of ABC -TV, citing One Life to Live as a specific example, offered the following editorial and mathematical suppositions as evidence of how a lack of live clearances does not pay: Fact: In the first quarter of 1970, One Life to Live registered a 7.1 rating nationally. Fact: General Hospital, the half -hour afternoon serial that generates ABC - TV's biggest daytime audience, gained a 9.1 rating nationally during the same quarter. Supposition: According to Mr. Pierce, "the difference is live coverage." Logic: General Hospital enjoys a 92% primary live line -up. One Life to Live only has 83% live coverage. Supposition: If One Life to Live had General Hospital's live line -up, ABC - TV figures that it would have a national rating of 8.6 -near General Hospital's level -or 1.5 more rating points than it now earns. Question: What does this mean in terms of dollar loss? Mathematical formula: One Life to Livé s 1.5 rating -point deficiency represents 880,000 fewer homes nationally. At the going cost -per- thousand daytime rate of $1.60, this amounts to $1,400 less per minute on the selling price of the show. There are 1,560 available commercial minutes in One Life to Live per year (in round figures 1,500) at the show's actual 96% sell -out situation. This figures out to 1,500 available commercial minutes multiplied by $1,400 lost for each minute. The total: $2.1 million in revenues lost per year. Some $360,000 of this total would be station compensation. Subtract about $200,000 more for agency commission. Sub -total: about $1.5 million in annual revenue loss to the network.

i recall something about a fire at Columbia/ Screen Gems in the late 60's. Will do some research and hopefully come across something. This was what I was thinking of I guess but it doesn't apply to Days. Fire blazes on Burbank sets Feb 1970 High real -life drama, bursting out at the Columbia Studios ranch in Burbank, Calif., on the afternoon of Jan. 30, almost wiped out the physical property of several comedy television series. A fire that started in an old sound stage raged for about an hour and caused an estimated $2 million in damages. Sets used in such Screen Gems - produced programs as Here Come the Brides, Bewitched and The Flying Nun were damaged. Studio officials indicated, however, that the fire damage would not delay TV production.

And he was married to Lee Warrick who was on OLTL as Julie Siegel and GH as Mary Ellen Dante in the 70's.He had done of print and TV commercials .

Yes, the story is ridiculous but I think having an over 50 actress in a contract role, who hasn't been facelifted to the heavens and brings her natural essence to the role has been a plus. Of course TSJ is going to look older. I didn't really watch when SN played Tucker so what should I expect to see from Trevor? Is 82 yr old Victor going to be presented as a viable rival to a man 30 yrs his junior?

Love this show. They are always talking about how underfunded it is, but it looks pretty nice to me. And for stressed out teachers they have a lot of time to sit around chatting in the teacher's lounge!

Hope you can add some more. My next contribution is Dear John on NBC. In the 1998/89 season it took Night Court's 9.30 pm Thurs slot following Cheers. Cheers was # 4 and Dear John a respectable #11. In it's 2nd season it kept the 9.30 pm slot till mid season when it was replaced by Grand. I believe NBC was under pressure from Carsey/Werner productions to place their new show in that plum slot (they supplied Cosby and A Different World) Dear John got moved to Wed 9.30 following Night Court. It finished #17 for the season but that average was bumped up from the Thurs showings. In 90/91 it retained the 9.30pm Wed slot but now followed a new show Fanelli Boys. Wed 9-10 Wk 1 1990/91 season ABC Doogie Howser #8 CBS Jake and the Fatman # 25 NBC fanelli Boys #42/Dear John # 52 Fanelli flopped and NBC moved Dear John to 9pm. By Jan 1990 Night Court was back to 9pm and Dear John was back to 9.30 before being shunted to 10.30 Saturday. It's overall ranking was #50 For it's final season it was given the 9pm Fri timeslot but was moved to 9.30 . It ranked #77. So it only worked with a strong lead in - timeslot hit.

1978/79 Mini Series Ratings 1. Roots Next Generation ABC 30.1/45 2. Pearl ABC 28.6/45 3. Roots (R) ABC 25.4/42 4. Backstairs at the White House NBC 25.0/37 5. Ike ABC 24.7/40 6. Little Women NBC 22.6/34 7. The Word CBS 21.2/33 8. Jesus of Nazareth (R) NBC 21.2/33 9. The Chisolms CBS 21.1/35 10. Blind Ambition CBS 20.5/34 11. The Best Place to Be NBC 20.2/34 12. A Woman Called Moses NBC 19.9/32 13. Centennial NBC 19.5/30 14. From Here to Eternity NBC 18.9/30 15. Mr Horn CBS 18.5/29 16. The Sacketts NBC 17.5/30 17. Greatest Heroes of the Bible NBC 17.4/28 18. The Critical List NBC 17.0/27 19. The Pirate CBS 15.4/25 20. Moses the Lawgiver CBS (R) 15.4/30 21. Women in White NBC 14.0/23 22. Studs Lonegan NBC 14.0/23 23. A Man Called Intrepid NBC 12.5/21 24. Hanging by a Thread NBC 12.4/21 25. The Innocent and The Damned (rpt) NBC 12.4/23 26. The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (R) NBC 10.3/18 27. Wheels NBC (R) 10.0/18 NBC showing the most mini series for the least return. The Innocent and The Damned was a new title for Aspen. Maybe they thought people would be fooled into watching a rerun. The Wheels rerun was truncated due to dreadful ratings. Originally all 5 episodes were going to be shown, but after dire ratings for ep 1 and 2, they showed a summary of eps 3&4 before playing the final episode.

Bit hard to play that when Paul has been gone for years, but yes beforehand their connection was downplayed. With Paul isolated because of LLB's absence they could have easily played up a lonely Paul leaning on Lauren. Write in some issues that would cause friction b/w Lauren and Micheal and bingo! Paul and Lauren could be tempted. Yes that relationship should have remained stronger over the years.

To my way of thinking a show can only be classified as a timeslot hit if it is moved out of a timeslot it is rating well in, and doesn't perform as expected/hoped for in the new timeslot. That discounts a lot of shows that get moved at the end of their lifespan. I would put Hotel in that category along with other examples like Falcon Crest and Trapper John, which after several successful seasons were falling in the ratings and basically moved elsewhere to finish their runs. Had Hotel been moved in Season 3 and bombed then its status as a timeslot hit would be proven. Looking forward to your response!

Fantasy Island Debuted mid season as Love Boat, an instant hit at 10pm Saturday was moved to 9pm with FI inserted at 10. 77/78 season Love Boat #14 Fantasy Island#17 78/79 LB # 17 FI #22 So after 2 seasons of solid ratings ABC decided to try and shore up some of it's 8pm ratings woes and moved Fantasy Island to 8pm Friday. It ranked 53rd with a 19 share behind Diff'rent Strokes #16/37 share and Incredible Hulk. After two showings it was moved back to Sat @10 where it once again won its timeslot. 79/80 LB #23 FI #28 80/91 LB #5 FI #17 81/82 LB 314 FI #30 82/83 LB #9 FI not in Top 30 83/84 LB #17 FI #49 So Fantasy Island was definitely a timeslot hit, always rating respectably but lower than it's Love Boat lead in. And it's brief tryout in a lead in timeslot was a disaster.

For all soaps past and present- what are some of the relationships b/w characters that were played at one point and then seemingly forgotten. For Y&R Nikki and Tessa At one point Nikki took Tessa in and mentored her. But in recent years they have had nothing to do with each other. Lily and Abby They were friends during the Sussman years ,I think. But now never interact. Any others?

There was no reason for Nikki to interact with Sheila. It makes sense to keep some characters/storylines separate as it can become cumbersome to keep all those connections going.

I don't think that would be a surprise to anybody, especially considering the short timeline and the demographics involved. Have they started taping the Peacock episodes yet? They're probably hoping word of mouth will increase the viewership.

Yep.

It really only left the possibility that Alison had come to some harm. Why wouldn't she make some contact with her parents?

Top Television Shows for the 1980-1981 Season 1 Dallas 3 The Dukes of Hazzard 4 The Love Boat 5 Private Benjamin 6 M*A*S*H 7 House Calls 8 The Jeffersons 9 (Tie) The Two of Us 9 (Tie) Little House on the Prairie 10 Alice 11 Real People 12 (Tie) One Day at a Time 12 (Tie) The Greatest American Hero 13 Three's Company 14 Magnum, P.I. 15 (Tie) Too Close for Comfort 15 (Tie) ABC Sunday Movie 16 Diff'rent Strokes 17 Archie Bunker's Place

From SOD Bill Bell interview re working with Lee. "We don't write together per se. We talk a lot",Bill Bell explained when asked how he and wife Lee collaborate. "Lee is a pipeline and a source for good story material-especially when it comes to social issues-but we don't sit down and write out projected storylines in the formal sense.We just sort of make it up as we go along.Lee is very pivotal to a lot of story and character ideas,but I am the thrust of the show.I do all the daily blocking on B&B,that is I do the outlines for the scriptwriters.I block both shows in the long term sense.And you have to sort of streamline the operation if you're going to be doing the amount of work that we're doing.But there are really no shortcuts in the terms if the thought process.You have to work on something until it feels right.At least I do.I go on my instincts. "A storyline is really a process of trial and error. I've always said that everyone that I work with that there is no such thing as a bad idea,because any idea can be a catalyst to a better idea,it may open the door to something else.so,there aren't disagreements in that sense of tension.Tension stifles people and that is the last thing you want when you are working as a group to create something.Lee and I tend to mesh.Lee plugs into my psyche and we have developed some very memorable stories together.We read each other well.And I think we understand that the key to a partnership,is that,ultimately one person must prevail.it's never the kind of thing where we are at opposite ends of the spectrum and then I prevail.It's usually that I know I am going to be developing the story and I know what feels comfortable and what doesn't. If it doesn't feel comfortable to me,then I don't do it.I can't do it.I would say that I think there should be a separation of responsibility if you want to keep compatibility.If we're both working on the same words or on the same scene on the same scripts,sooner or later you're going to have a difference of opinion.You're bound to.In a working relationship,those differences co-exist. "One exciting aspect of working on a new show-and Y&R-is that my whole family is here.The kids are learning so much about the business(Lauralee plays Cricket on Y&R,Bradley is on B&B's writing team,while Bill Jr is involved in production.)Frankly that is one of the reasons B&B exists.CBS had been after me for ten years to do another show and I felt I had my hands full with Y&R.But I wanted them to see the excitement,to see everything that goes into the making of a serial.so,we're all in it together.People ask me what we do to get away from it.The answer is nothing.We don't want to get away from it.We thrive on it."

Apart from Malcolm and Katherine , all the clips represented current characters. They showed vintage Jack/Phyllis, Nick/Sharon, Lauren/Michael. The first two are obviously thought of as 'destiny' couples. Phyllis got 2 clips... Maybe this is one of several clips. I'm sure that 40 yr character Paul will be absent.

Good topic for us scheduling nerds. I'll start with 'Flo', the Alice spinoff. In it's initial tryout in March 1980 following MASH , it debuted at #1 and stayed strong for the rest of it's 6 episode run, finishing # 7 for the season. CBS believed they had a new comedy hit and moved it to 8pm Monday to lead off the night next season, counterprogramming That's Incredible on ABC and Little House on NBC. It was strike season so debuts were staggered, with Flo debuting in November. It debuted at #13,That's Incredible was #14 and Little House #18. The following week Little House was #11,That's Incredible was #20 and Flo was out of the Top 20, never to return It was shunted off to Saturday night against Love Boat to replace the flop 'Freebie and the Bean' and that was it for Flo

I have been a faithful watcher of most of the international editions but had to give up on Down Under Season 2 as the production was atrocious and the queens rough and not entertaining. France i gave up after about 3 eps and didn't even bother with Canada. Hopefully UK Season 4 will be an improvement.

Poor Mishael. Amanda is a nothing character.Cut her loose from Grandpa Devon for starters

As soon as you see words like fearless and unapologetic you know what you're in for.

Poor misguided fool. Everytime a new character or return is announced, there's that faint hope that a decent story might be taking shape, but it never happens.

Surely not. Robert Newman would have made a better Tucker. As awful as that character was, he does have a place on the canvas, but not as a 50 yr old.