Paul Raven

So Tara was originally named Terry and Amy was originally Carol. The name changes seem to be last minute. I wonder why Agnes had a change of heart with those two names?

re Patricia Wheel Add Aunt Jenny 1949 Romance of Helen Trent 1950

Re Kay Campbell Add Miss Luther - True Confessions Story #1'From this Day Forward' 1957 Re Mary Patton Add Front Page Farrell 1949

The Reardons were Marland's prototype of the Snyders and he had long term plans for them but subsequent writers were more interested in bringing them on only to use them up and write them off.

AW (Bay City) was connected to Springfield (GL) as Michael Bauer existed in both towns. Also to Somerset b/c of characters existing in both towns and Pt Clair (L&F/FRFP) for the same reasons Bay City had links to Oakdale thru Mitchell Dru existing in both and later Donna/Cass/Vicky/Jake etc visiting/living there. Also b/c Mitchell Dru was on Brighter Day 3 Rivers(?) was part of that universe. I recall mention of the signpost that showing Oakdale and or Springfield being connected to Monticello (EON) and as Danfling stated Somerset (and by extension Bay City) were referenced on EON. That leaves Henderson (SFT) out of the picture. Oakdale was connected to Genoa City (Y&R) as Allison Stewart was connected to both. Rosehill (LOL) and Nortchross (WTHI) were connected. All of the ABC shows existed in the same universe and real settings NY (RH) and SF (LIAMST) connect all soap towns.

Keeping Greg and Liz around would have created stronger ties to the past. Greg could have been the go to lawyer ala John Silva, confidante to Jill, romantic interest for Nina etc He was married to Nikki and that could have been useful.Maybe she turns to Greg during one of her estrangements from Victor. There was no real reason for the Brooks to stay in town. Stuart could have decided to move also to be nearer any of his daughters, But with Jill still around the Fosters were still a part of GC.

If only Mary stuart had gone straight to GL following SFT's demise. It would be natural for Meta to return at that time following Bert's passing and Mary would have been in better health. Maybe Meta returns with a long lost Bauer (Trudy's son?) rather than the ill advised Jack & Lainie

Virginia Dancy and Tom Carroll. Looks like even then older female characters were dispensable. The writers decided that Barney had more longevity. Killing off Tom was an easy way to wrap up the abuse storyline, which seemed to be a Marland idea that was carried over but not really invested in. They probably should have bumped off Doreen at the same time as she was quite a pointless character at this stage.

Kim/Bob/Nick could have worked with Kim and Bob the end game. The show moved too far from its roots in trying to update, with way too many new and ultimately pointless characters.

Today we saw the fire at Andre's and the aftermath. I think they did a pretty good job depicting the fire and the follow up at the hospital. It's amazing the difference a few extras can make. Two characters were killed off. Melba Moore guest starred and got special billing.

I think the recasts definitely played a part in Bell's decision. Also he was facing the challenge of coming up with viable stories for those characters. Snapper and Chris were his golden couple - they had stayed together for 6 years by 1980 and then you had Hasselhoff taking time off and Lynne topping as a fairly bland recast. He had struck gold again with Lance/Leslie/Lorie/Lucas and Vanessa but after several years that story was getting played out and John McCook left. Jill was still prominent and then Brenda left. All of this and the move to 60min meant some big changes had to be made. I think the original plan was to mingle the Brooks and Fosters in but as time went by he was more enthused by the newer characters.

Petronia Paley...elegance, class and beauty personified.

It was difficult fitting Lucy into the show and her storylines were always pretty much islanded. Maybe had Mitch been a businessman and could have some connection to JR/Cliff? Lucy could have been more connected. Or Pam got her a job at The Store? Charlene, by her appearance and characterization of Lucy never seemed to mature. The idea of Lucy at Ewing Oil for example doesn't work for me.

Mary Stuart spoke well of her in her book,but this was during the 70's when Bunim was working her way up. Maybe once she was in a position of power she forgot some of the niceties...a common story.

Not if Victoria is Kevin Bancrofts's daughter,,,,

NBC boasted that Passions was leading the 11-17 demo and stated that those viewers would age into the coveted 18-34 demo and take Passions with them, ignoring the fact that that most young women don't want to be doing what they did as teens and wouldn't be interested in Passions juvenile storylines.

Yes I forgot about Somerset. Maybe it was doing better at 4pm than RTPP at 3.30? Also the P&G connection may have been a factor as NBC stood to lose alot of ad dollars if they cancelled a P&G show.

Part of that is due to admin changes and new heads of daytime wanting to make their mark. With NBC in the 70's it was Lin Bolen coming on board and shaking things up. She gave the game shows a makeover, insisting hosts wore more trendy clothes and grew their hair. RTPP was a sitting duck as the lowest rated soap and Bolen wanted her soap HTSAM on air. Ken Corday relates that Bolen requested Days show more skin and Betty Corday agreed and immediately had the ladies in clingy dresses and low cut tops. However , wires were crossed and Bolen had meant she wanted the men to be baring more, not the gals!

Media Week Sept 23 1996 ChrisCraft/United Television Productions and Grosso Jacobs Productions are said to be teaming on 27th Precinct, a soap opera described by one rep source as NYPD Blue meets Young and the Restless.

Mediaweek April 1999 P&G, NBC in a Lather Daytime's biggest spender lobbying hard to save Another World 'NETWORK TV / By John Consoli NBC executives are feeling some pressure from Procter & Gamble as they near a decision on which of the network's daytime soap operas to cancel to make room for Passions, a new series that will premiere in July. P&G is the producer of the long -running Another World, one of two ratings -starved soaps NBC is considering for the chopping block. While P&G has not said publicly what action it would take if the network pulls the plug on Another World, insiders say the company has dropped hints to NBC that it might withdraw most or all of its daytime ad budget. P&G, daytime TV's largest advertiser, spent $238 million in the daypart in 1998, according to Competitive Media Reporting. An estimated $50 million of the total went to NBC, according to agency executives. Bob Wehling, global marketing officer for P&G, said last week about his most recent meetings with NBC: "I've done all I could to lobby for Another World. I'm very proud of it. I hope it makes it." While Wehling would not comment on the company's likely reaction to a cancellation of Another World, another P&G exec said last week: "We have a plan." NBC executives did not return calls seeking comment. Buyers said that if Proctor & Gamble were to pull out a sizable amount of inventory, it might not damage NBC too seriously because P&G is a bulk buyer that gets deep discounts for its commercials. A release of some of P&G's inventory would put NBC in position to try to sell it at higher CPMs. However, demand for daytime spots is not nearly as keen as it is for prime -time inventory. Johnson & Johnson, the second-largest daytime advertiser, spent $70 million in the day - part last year, far behind P&G's total. P&G insiders say that if NBC cancels Another World, the company would probably not shop the soap to another network because any interruption in continuity would further erode ratings . For the week ended April 4, Another World posted a 2.4 rating/9 share in households, according to Nielsen Media Research. That number ranked World only ninth among the daytime soaps, but well ahead of the other NBC soap being considered for cancellation, the last -place Sunset Beach. A more damaging statistic for Another World is that its prime audience, women 18-49, has declined by more than 25 percent in both rating and share this season. While Sunset Beach has never posted numbers as high as Another World, NBC execs view Sunset as being on the rise and World in decline. Another World, which premiered in 1964, is NBC's longest -running soap. Sunset Beach, produced by Aaron Spelling in conjunction with NBC Studios, premiered in January 1997. Passions, like Sunset, is expected to attract much younger viewers thanAnother World.

First reference I've come across dealing with Harding Lemays's short stint as SFT headwriter (from Lynda Hirsch's syndicated column Jan 82) Fired writer strikes back at Procter and Gamble By Lynda Hirsch Harding LeMay, whose last major soap assignment was as head writer for "Search for Tomorrow," recently stated that Procter & Gamble does not know how to produce a soap any longer. He was especially caustic about their desire for rape scenes. LeMay claims the final straw on ' Search for Tomorrow" occurred when he did not want to do a rape storyline. He also says was the reason he was fired right after the Writers' Guild strike had to do with the book he wrote, "Eight Years in Another World," where he was very open about P&G's soap-opera procedures and took many of the company's executives to task. "Not true," claims one-time "Search for Tomorrow" producer Mary Ellen Bunin, who is now producing "As the World Turns." According to Bunin, Harding had little respect for the art form and was not very successful at it. She did not dispute that he was powerful at one time, as head writer for "Another World," but does think his last few years as "Another World" head scripter were anything but successful. very aware of the book and his feelings about soap operas before he was hired to head-write "SFT." In fact, Bunin says it was very hard for P&G to hire LeMay knowing about the book, but did feel he might do a credible job for "Search." Bunin, as the one who fired LeMay, said that obviously their decision to hire him was wrong and that she has little respect for him as a soap opera writer.

Jan 82 Lynda Hirsch column Pat Falken Smith, now head writer of "Days of Our Lives" and former head writer of "General Hospital," had another go at Gloria Monty, producer of "General Hospital," on the cable network news special "The Soap Behind the Soaps." In it, Falken Smith said she simply did not want to work for Monty any more and furthermore, "If the show had been on radio I'm certain Gloria would have done the acting parts as well." Falken Smith also took Tony Geary to task and said at one point she asked him "to get a Writer's Guild card because he was doing rewrites of the scripts and then telling people in the media about it." She further says that she went to Geary and asked him to stop rewriting continually and also said she wanted to know where the gracious, grateful young man who came to her two years ago and thanked her for giving him the role of a lifetime had gone. In Geary's defense, Falken Smith said, "When I asked him to stop doing all this rewriting, he stopped." Geary makes no secret that he feels that Luke is a very important part of his career and that he does take liberties with the script. However, we believe that's probably one of the reasons why the character of Luke has been so exciting. On the other hand, most of the "General Hospital" actors stick to the scripts, and when they were being written by Falken Smith, they rang true and were interesting, just as they were when Doug Marland was writing it. As for the new writers on "General Hospital," we'll have to give them a bit more time because their main concerns to date have been getting rid of two major characters Bobbi and Laura. By the way, when Gloria Monty was asked about Falken Smith on the same cable network news special, Monty said as graciously as she could, "Pat and I are dear friends. She was a great writer and when her sub-writers left with her, they all wrote notes to me saying they were sorry to be leaving."

No contest - Terry/Eileen.

The original leads