Paul Raven

GH I wonder what the thinking was re return of Lee Baldwin? He was written out the year before and as an older character it was odd that the decision was made to bring him back. A good one nonetheless. Y&R Nurse Cynthia was being set up as a temptation for Snapper but nothing came of it. Imagine if Bill Bell had been inspired to make Cynthia a Sheila type of character!

In the mid 60's both Maureen O'Hara and Janet Leigh had sitcom pilots that weren't picked up.

2 weeks ending April 19 1970 CBS 8.1/35 NBC 6.9/31 ABC 5.1/20 10am NBC It Takes Two 32 share CBS Lucy 29 10.30 NBC Concentration 40 share CBS Beverly Hillbillies 31 11.00 NBC Sale of the Century 38 share CBS Andy Griffith 32 11.30 Hollywood Squares 39 share CBS Love of Life 33 12pm NBC Jeopardy 40 share CBS Where The Heart Is 29 12.30 CBS Search for Tomorrow 43 share NBC Who,What, Where 28 1.30 -3.00 CBS wins each time period - As The World Turns, Love Ia A Many Splendored Thing, Guiding Light 3.00 Another World 33 share CBS Secret Storm 29 3.30 CBS Edge of Night 37 share NBC Bright Promise 20 4.00 CBS Gomer Pyle 33 share NBC Somerset 20

Phyllis' relentless vendetta towards Sally is overkill. Yes, it is in character but for it to be an A story? Wish we could get a new writer/producer. Anthony Morina is obviously just there to get the show on air - he doesn't seem to care about sets, lighting,costuming staging ,plotting, character motivations etc. Adding Susan Dansby has made no difference - me thinks it was just a PC move.

I read somewhere that Goutman actually fought to keep Fulton and some of the other vets on the show, even though what we saw onscreen contradicted that. I think it was just a casual comment in an article somewhere.Maybe someone else remembers?

Rosemary Murphy As The World Turns Cora (Franny Brennan's sister) 1966

I'm behind and just watching the ep where Ash and Victoria arrive at his NY penthouse. YIKES! They need to clear half of the stuff on that set. I think they were going with the 'eclectic priceless art collectors' look but even if all that stuff was genuine it does not photograph well. Sally/Jack does not work ,especially the writers ignoring the age difference. Peter Bergman always has Jack looking at his phone when he enters CL/Society (which he does with monotonous regularity)

Thanks for that. Esther should be living at the Chancellor Estate and be onscreen.Kevin/Chloe are not needed.

So true. Many instances where there could have been some natural conflict is passed over. Abby could have been annoyed that Chance took off with good reason, but no she sat around praising him for his heroics. Nick could have been ticked off by Phyllis' reaction but he was passive about the whole thing. Are Kevin and Chloe still supposed to be living at the Chancellor Estate? WTH are they? Kevin should have thrashed things out with Chloe over working with Adam (as ridiculous as that is) but he's offscreen.

You're right Somerset was cancelled to make way for Lovers and Friends but NBC decided to place L&F at 12.30 to lead off it's soap lineup. I wonder if L&F would have done any better at 4pm? NBC had no luck expanding their lineup beyond Days,TD and AW. They tried Hidden Faces, Bright Promise, Somerset,Return to Peyton Place, How To Survive a Marriage, Lovers and Friends, For Richer,For Poorer,Texas ,Search for Tomorrow and then Santa Barbara,Sunset Beach and Passions. About 30 years of trying...

Thanks for posting. Roy Thinnes made a big impact on GH. He was cast on Long Hot Summer for ABC primetime and then The Invaders. I think he left to do LHS and then came back? Not sure of the timeline.

I don't believe that Lovers and Friends was ever shifted to 4pm From an article at the time NBC also said it would begin running Chico and the Man next Monday (May 9, 12:30 -1 p.m.), replacing new soap opera, Lovers and Friends (with 3.0 rating and 12 share in first 64 episodes), which "will go on a summer hiatus," according to NBC. The Gong Show was scheduled at 4 pm all through 77, having been moved from 12.30 when L&F premiered.

Around 1965 Love Of Life almost moved to NBC. P&G wanted to place All My Children at noon and create a 1 hour soap block-AMC/SFT/TGL but American Homew Products, sponsor for LOL, dug in their heels as they did not want LOL to shift to the less desirable 11.30 am slot. NBC offered AHP the noon slot but CBS gave in and LOL stayed on the network in that timeslot.

Re Lilia Skala Variety has her into SS in June 65 so either the above dates are incorrect or this was a different role?

Well Susan was actually a Burke and her parents were on the show in the 60's but then disappeared. It's so annoying that writers don't bother to address these family ties. Some mention by Susan at some point about her parents. I proposed at some point that there could have been another Lowell, Ellen's younger brother. He could have played some of Dan Stewart's stories in the 60's rather than the drastic and ultimately destructive aging of Dan. Then when Dan reached adulthood in the 70's,Ellen would have had more to do. On the subject of the quads, they were a wasted opportunity. They didn't all have to return at once, just like the Snyders appeared one at atime. Their names bothered me - Nancy, Greg , Maria, Lowell. Lowell was a good choice, but why not Claire(after Ellen's mom) James (after Ellen's dad) and Daniel after her deceased half brother) All much more meaningful and tied to history.

Fred Stewart Edge of Night 1965

Variety reported that several producers were vying for the NBC 2pm timeslot that ultimately went to Days of Our Lives. Colgate-Palmolive thru the Ted Bates Agency proposed 'Crystal' by Orin Tovrov, who was writing C/P's other soap'The Doctors'. Failure of Ted Bates to sell the show saw C/P drop the agency which meant they no longer made money off The Doctors. Lever Bros proposed 'Masterson's Valley' by Robert J Shaw. They granted NBC full say over program content but no deal. General Foods thru Universal proposed an update of 'One Man's Family' which had run on radio for years and had TV runs in the 50's. P&G proposed 'All My Children' which had previously made the rounds at NBC and CBS. To think what might have been...

In May 1965 Irna Phillips appeared on Chicago Tv (Irv Kupicnet) to express her displeasure over P&G not allowing her to write 'significant negro portrayals' on ATWT. She said she had been trying to get P&G to budge on the issue but they would not allow 'racial angles' or politics on their shows. She claimed P&G had been 'liberal and permissive' otherwise but when she proposed a story of divorce seen through the eyes of a young Negro child P&G nixed it. She asserted she would like to integrate her shows, but refused to use Black performers as 'fillers'. There were currently no Negro performers on the show as she couldn't use them as she wanted. P&G had stated that on the contrary they had encouraged producers to shape story without regard to color.

Donald Buka Love of Life 'government agent' 1965

In 1965 Emily MacLaughlin and John Beradino fought and won to be credited on every episode.At that point union rules specified cast list must be run at least once a week. Emily was on a yearly contract and John had signed on for five years. Guess they fought this together and producers decided it was a small price to pay to keep them happy. MacDonald Carey got credit on every Days ep and I think Joan Bennett did also on Dark Shadows. At some point Mary Stuart was credited on every Serach ep. Those 60's eps of The Doctors also list a certain actors in every ep.

Guiding Light Dr Walters Charles Randall 1965

Nov 65 Following a quick decline in the ratings of Peyton Place, other primetime proposals were shelved. CBS dropped a Sunset Boulevard twice weekly serial which Stirling Silliphant was writing for Paramount. as well as East of Eden, based oh the book and movie.

In a Variety article about Strange Paradise, it was mentioned that one of the motivations for going forward with the show was the the success of Dark Shadows as a 7pm serial in Cincinatti. The local ABC affiliate did not take the show so an independent station aired it in the evening to great rating success. The ABC affiliate then took it back at first opportunity.

Strange Paradise originally titled Garden of Evil.

Martha Greenhouse Love of Life 1969