Paul Raven

Thanks for the info re Jane. I wonder if that story was a writers strike effort, in that by focusing on Sally's past and bringing in those characters they could keep going without altering Bill Bell's template for the main characters? In a May 79 Variety article CBS daytime changes were discussed. Mike Ogiens vp daytime announced expansion of Y&R due to loss of MASH reruns in daytime and suffering in not programming at 1pm. The new lineup noon Local 12.30 - 1.30 Y&R 1.30 - 2.30 ATWT 2.30 - 3.30 GL 3.30 - 4 SFT 4 - 4.30 LOL They obviously rethought that schedule. So as far back as May 79 Y&R was preparing for the expansion. I had always thought it was much later and Bell/Alden/Conboy were under the gun to deal with the changes.

I'm drawing a blank on Jane Wilcox,Can you fill me in? Thanks. Variety reports in July 79 that Kathleen Engel, formerly of CBS press department is joining Y&R as a writer. Her only IMDB credit is a writer on Texas. I wonder how long she was there? She joins a select group of writers in the 70's.

Variety May 79 Fred Silverman, presiding over NBC at the time announced changes to the daytime schedule in an attempt to arrest failing ratings. His plan 10 - 11.30 Gameshows 11.30 - 12.30 The Doctors (expanded to 1 hr) 12.30 - 1pm New soap 1 - 2.30 Days (expanded to 90 min) 2.30 - 4 AW Silverman noted this could be up and running by early 1980. Can you imagine a 90 min Days with a new soap as lead-in??

Ina May 79 Variety article CBS daytime changes were discussed. Mike Ogiens vp daytime announced expansion of Y&R due to loss of MASH reruns in daytime and suffering in not programming at 1pm. The new lineup noon Local 12.30 - 1.30 Y&R 1.30 - 2.30 ATWT 2.30 - 3,30 GL 3.30 - 4 SFT 4 - 4.30 LOL So Search was originally scheduled for 3.30. Wonder if that would have made any difference?

The Bare Essence miniseries (2 part) aired on CBS in Wk2 of the season as counter programming to baseball. This was a strategy CBS used regularly to provide female friendly alternatives to sport and also delay the debut of new and returning shows so they wouldn't get lost up against all the new shows and World Series. It rated well, so someone had the idea of spinning off a series and NBC picked it up. Several of the cast were not available or interested in committing to a weekly series so those roles were recast. NBC scheduled it for Tuesday at 9 following The A Team which proved to be a hit from the get go. Bare Essence failed to follow through. It's debut 2 hr episode scored a 15.0/23. The A team had a 20.6/31. BE was third in its timeslot and as the A Team kept building, BE kept dropping. So NBC moved Remington Steele from Friday at 10 and Bare Essence went there up against Falcon Crest, which had a hold on the soap audience. NBC was obviously just burning it off there. Remington scored better than Bare Essence so the move worked for NBC trying to win Tuesday nights. Soaps @ 9pm had never worked .If NBC had put Remington at 9 and Bare Essence at 10 it may have stood a chance.

The death of Mary Matthews probably didn't meet with a lot of resistance from P&G due to the fact that Lemay/Rauch were bringing in the ratings-revenue and that was always their bottom line. Although Mary was an original and much loved character, she wasn't driving story and scoring in the fan polls. Also, this was at a time where P&G were dropping older characters. Patricia Bruder on ATWT, Teri Keane on EON, Ellen Demming on TGL (mmm...all women coincidentally) so it wasn't as though this was a one off for them. Dwyer was probably earning quite a lot as an original cast member so money would be saved dropping her. They were spending quite a bit extra with the expansion to 60 min.

Vinton Hayworth Purex Specials for Women with Dinah Shore 'Child in Danger' Judge 1964

Well Lisa was obviously a lady who liked the institution of marriage! Grimaldi was her last married name and had a certain prestige. And wasn't it a happy marriage? I could hardly see her going back to being known as Lisa Miller. That version of herself was long gone. She probably would have preferred Lisa Hughes.

Quite possibly that was the case but it was under the Pollocks that Lucille left town. Was she still married to Al Weeks and he was just her offscreen husband or had he died at some point?

Jill was quite an operator and Laura was probably the more innocent friend who was a sounding board. Considering what followed it was ironic that Jill got the lion's share of the teen storyline. Soon she would be history and Laura a soap icon.

The Pollocks wrote out Lucille along with Lee and several others to clear the decks for the Webbers and Mark Dante.

October 1964 1. ATWT 14.4 2. The Guiding Light 11.9 3, Search For Tomorrow 11.8 4.Password 11.2 5.Love Of Life 11.0 6.Secret Storm 10.2 7. House Party 9.8 8. To Tell The Truth 9.6 9. Pete and Gladys 9.2 10. Edge of Night 9.1 11. I Love Lucy 8.1 12.The McCoys 8.0 All CBS. They were making huge profits in daytime . ABC and NBC wanted a piece of that and were constantly juggling their line-ups trying to break through.

1964 Warner Bros pitching nightime soap based on the 40's movie 'Kings Row'. There had been a short lived radio soap of that movie in the 50's.

In the wake of Peyton Place initial ratings splash in 1964, Variety reported that Screen Gems was pitching ABC for 2 nightime serials 'West Wind' and 'Days of Our Lives'. So for a brief moment there was a possibility of Days in primetime on ABC.

Sarah Fussell Guiding Light 1964

Day after day of Phyllis running around like a chicken with its head cut off whining about what 'Terra' did to her 'dodder' is starting to wear thin. Especially when everyone else is listening to her ravings. The Mariah disappearance story is playing out so weird. Is it going to take a severed ear sent through the mail for folks to start worrying? There really needs to be an advisory warning when a Billy/Lily lovin' episode is to be screened. His scrawny bod on display while they praise each other... The sexism in the writing also annoys. Lily was all like - have you been watching action movies with the sound up full blast? No replies Billy-romcoms so I can set the scene for some pointers on seduction.

And my final word on the subject Donald Buka My True Story Jonathan Willard 2/17/54 Guess he was one of those NY working actors that CBS knew could come in for a few days/weeks and get the job done. Maybe he had made a few connections over the years with BTS personnel...

By the same token, actors interest can be self serving- as long as they are front burner, they are happy. I've seen many an actor praise a story that has been universally panned, only because they got a lot of airtime and were doing something different. A lot of actors don't have much interest or awareness of the show as a whole.

Check the Soap Hoppers thread in the Cancelled soaps section for info on KT and many more. KT started on a radio soap back in the 40's!

Not finished with him yet! Edge of Night 1964

Donald Buka As The World Turns 1964

But Sandra was an unknown at that point. We're talking about well known/successful performers giving a TV series a whirl.

Have a set with neutral colored walls - a door on each side. If it used as say Lauren's office a bookcase is placed in front one of the doors and the other used as the entrance. Decorate accordingly... Then when it becomes say Nate's hospital office, a new bookcase/display cabinet covers the door used as the entrance to Lauren's office, exposing the opposite door as a different entrance. New furniture and placement, paintings/decor and voila - a separate set! Is this not possible?

Jody was on for a Summer teen story so there is not much to say.

Such sad news re Jess. Y&R is obviously under severe budget restrictions. I think a lot of it is due to COVID and the costs of establishing the protocols - deep cleaning of sets, daily procedures etc. However, there has probably been a another budget cut due to lower ratings/less advertising revenue. That being said,I think there could be more strategy in how that translates onto what is ends up onscreen. It's been discussed before, but the depiction of mega wealth that can not be represented. There should have been a shift in writing to scale back on those sort of stories and characters. Or at the very least less explicit on air references. Having characters constantly meet up at CL/Society (sometimes more than once on the same day) for business meetings, dinners and these places be empty. There was a scene a week or so ago when Lauren met Sally to talk business at Crimson Lights.Not only was it stupid that the meeting took place there but the camera showed the place as empty. At the very least some tighter shots. Yet a few weeks earlier Angelina was on the phone and a small office set was depicted.It was only a wall and obviously tiny but couldn't something similar be set up for a two person scene for Lauren/Sally? What I'm saying is that a bit of creativity - a generic office set that could be redressed? could go a long way in improving the look of the show.