Paul Raven

I have read that Tom Selleck was the one who didn't want to sign a contract. Selleck did have a higher pitched voice than expected from someone with his looks. I wonder if he was advised to have voice lessons and refused?

That darkness was a hallmark of the Conboy years. It was carefully constructed so that the actors and/or certain props were specifically lit. Hours were spent on the lighting. Wes Kenney changed that and said he got feedback along the lines of 'I didn't realize you had sets!'

I think Bill Bell deliberately isolated characters eg Kay and Jennifer as he realized that the half hour could not support it. If Kay and Jen were friends then as well as Kay being a part of the Brooks story, Jennifer in turn would have involvement in all that was going on with Kay and Jill and there would be an obligation to write to that which could dilute the overall story. Also he liked to keep things up his sleeve so that later, characters could connect and open up new avenues to explore. Nowadays everyone on canvas has a history with just about everyone else and it gets incestuous and unwieldy ...

Carol Lynley has died aged 77. Best known for The Poseidon Adventure. Lots of movie and primetime appearances. Her soap connection...she payed Judge Martha Dunlay on AW in 1989.

Maybe the demographics for SFT were skewing too old?

Edge of Night hitting the Top 10 for the first time in years. If ABC had got more affiliates on board and a consistent time slot....

Sept 12 1978 Dorian LoPinto debuts as Missy Palmer in a 'meet cute' scene with Luke Dancy. Missy Palmer was Carol Roux's character on AW/Somerset. Wonder if naming her that was intentional?

Thanks for the clarification re GL/GH So Y&R was the first show to beat GH to #1, yet it never was acknowledged. As momentous as GL's triumph over GH was, surely Y&R deserved some attention as well.

Slesar also wrote EON and SFT for 6 months or so. Irna Phillips wrote ATWT and AW amongst others. Agnes wrote TGL and AW in 66/67. But no one took on the challenge of writing 2 1 hr shows. Did Lemay write all of L&F and then Tom King wrote FRFP? Or did Lemay bail on L&F durings its run?

Ed Mallory had a week when he was taping on both Morningstar and DOOL. Whether those scenes aired the same week I don't know. When the show was facing the ax, Ted Corday has a scene taped whereby Mallory's charcter Bill was defending the actions of Norman Burton's character Joe. He faced the camera and asked the audience directly something along the lines of 'Do you believe Joe deserves a second chance? If so write to NBC and gave an address. Thousands of letters poured in which Ted Corday hoped would show the execs that the show had a following.It didn't work...

I searched for Gene Williams and didn't see that.🙄

Re SFT Add Gene Williams 8 yr old Jan 13 1978

I'm watching from time to time via YouTube. The new MJ - Carla Dragoni has debuted. Not sure why they bothered as MJ could have easily left town and Dragoni play a new character.

Re Ralph Camargo Larry Haines Add Right to Happiness 1960

re Arthur Peterson Obviously a slip up Rev Rutledge Guiding Light 1937-46?

It will be interesting to see GL's ratings for later in Marland's run to see if it stayed strong or he was running out of steam. The show was rocky after he left and the Gail Kobe/Pam Long came along and even got it to#1 for a few weeks in 84. The trouble with that regime IMO is that they threw out too much of the old structure and focussed on new characters and then further writers did the same until there was a patchwork of families - a couple of Bauers, some Reardons, Lewis and Shaynes. It was all too fragmented...

What a non story. Who hasn't received some fake email promising money? Did they contact Inside Edition to keep them in the public eye?

Guiding Light was CBS #1 soap at this time and that was up against GH. I don't recall that being acknowledged much at that time. If only CBS and P&G had found the formula to keep them strong. Maybe Doug Marland could have overseen the GL and ATWT as he seemed to be the only writer that could keep ratings up consistently. He was really the last writer that seemed to have the magic touch.

Roger Davis played Robert E Lee Prewitt in the From Here to Eternity pilot

re Leora Dana Add The Working Mother NBC Daytime special 8/12/1960

Patty Weaver - October 85 Would that be her going recurring? I don't recall Gina leaving town at any time... Was Gina/Patty recurring from then on or did she go back on contract at some point?

Henderson Forsythe was 64 in that 81 ep and Linda Dano was 38 so quite an age difference. Meanwhile real life couple Larry Bryggman was 43 and Jacquie Shultz was 25. Funny how some people looked older back then. I imagine a 43 yr old in todays soaps would have a much more youthful appearance than Larry B.

Days was in ratings and story trouble by the late 70's. The characters and stories that Bill Bell/PFS had written thru late 60's to mid 70's had been played out. Bill/Laura,Mickey/Maggie and Doug/Julie had been through the mill and were happily married but subsequent writers had to scramble to find story that kept them frontburner hence Bill/Kate, Laura going crazy.,Maggie the alcoholic,Julie being raped/ on trial for murder and burnt etc Also these characters were now in their 40's and in the case of Ed Mallory and John Clarke had not aged well. Susan Flannery and Denise Alexander were gone and Laura and Susan were damaged as a result. SORASING Mike and David worked short term but they were also married off too soon. So the thinking behind an overhaul was sound but the execution was off. Within a few months, characters were killed off, shipped out of town and disappeared while a bunch of newbies appeared. Had things played out more slowly and the new characters been more interesting things might have n=been different.

That is a story I have read many times. Jane House I believe was the actress in question and had appeared nude in the play Lenny. But when Liz was killed off she was being played by Judith McGillan.

Re Whitfield Connor Add Husband... The Working Mother NBC Special Dec 1960