Paul Raven

I would love to read the Afternoon TV interview with Wes Kenney where he talks about taking over at Y&R. He does address the lighting approach and how he brightened things up, and a bunch of other stuff.

AW Taylor Miller coming back to daytime after her success as Nina on AMC. And taking on the role of Sally AW's most popular heroine at the time. After a year Taylor was outta there and Sally was killed. Maybe if Taylor had played a new role and not a recast it might have worked. But the odds were stacked against her. Same for Sharon Gabet, who managed to garner a lot of praise despite EON's low rating and eventual cancellation. But AW miscast her as Brittany and the writing was all over the place. Again she was shortlived in the role. FIZZLE.

In 7 months we have yet to see Martin do anything connected to his political career. He's either at home or at a restaurant. So much could be mined from him having an office, some staff (at least an assistant) and some plot related to being a politician.

Why not go recurring so that if she's not available regularly?

So each episode now pretty much consists of groups of 2 characters seated having a discussion for the entire episode. They might shake things up by having a 3rd character enter the scene later. Quite boring.

With the budget/set situation I don't know what they can do to improve the look of the show. And the uninspired writing is no help.

They need to put a half wall or a screen to cover the bed in Ashley's apartment. It looks so odd to see that bed sitting in the living room.

If they knew where they were headed with June, they should not have made her so messy at the outset eg the imaginary money etc. Sure she could be struggling but maybe more on an upward trajectory when we met her. The story would still have worked and in fact if she was more together, she would have more agency in wanting to reconnect with her kids. The jury is out for me on the insta wedding. Interesting to see where they take it. Based on some past plots it might be wrapped up in 2 weeks.

I have read that Agnes asked that when the show expanded to an hour that the episodes be saved which means May 77 onwards. If so, who kept/has access to those tapes? I've also heard about the fire. When did it occur and do we have any idea of what may have been lost?

Huge Nov sweeps storyline. 2 barely seen characters tie the not. Will Danny's sister Gina show up to serenade the couple? Or will Danny croak out a love ballad to his bride? Where will the wedding take place? The Jazz Lounge? Chancellor Park?

Brenda Dickson pre Y&R on The FBI. Brenda Dickson on The FBI

John Conboy was all about the visuals- sets, costume, lighting etc, which was fine if their was the story to back it up and the actors to bring it to life. Too often there was no substance to back up the glitz. Someone called Conboy 'the Ross Hunter of Daytime TV' referring to the movie producer famous for lavish productions. When Hunter teamed with Douglas Sirk, some fabulous movies resulted. With other directors/writers the results were less compelling. Similar to Conboy.

No Lee, Carolyn, Samantha and Bobby were all shipped out of town in early 76. When the Pollocks took over they were all dropped.

Traci's return to town was treated as the second coming. I was surprised she went into detail about her past with Cane. I thought that would be swept under the rug a. because it was a filler story that went nowhere and b. because of the recast and reset of Cane it didn't have any relevance. But instead of a 'yes, Cane and I became close when I was writing a book and I'm surprised he's Dumas etc' Traci went all in on their epic love story of him wanting a relationship and she pulling the plug. Then they met up at society and there was an awkward embrace etc. Billy Flynn must have wondered WTH was going on. Is this woman my maiden Aunt? Anyway, Traci will probably disappear again and the whole thing will be forgotten. But it filled up an episode with 'drama'. @BeeLol Thanks for the laughs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chances_(TV_series) Details the history of the show. Low ratings lead to a change in timeslot and format, with a move to more outrageous stories. One factor that may or may not have kept it on air was that Oz TV stations were required to have a certain amount of local drama in their schedule. As mentioned in the Wiki article the Nine network had endured a number of flops and probably didn't have the budget or possible projects in the pipeline ,so Chances may have been kept on air to fulfil that quota until other projects could get off the ground.

CBS always had the most TV movies on tap but used them for years as counter programming Tues, Wed and Sat. Occasionally a title would break through and win the timeslot but mostly they were just there to provide semi decent numbers up against stronger competition. I guess someone realized they might be wasting some potential ratings grabbers in those timeslots and thus the Sunday movie was scheduled and it paid off. Those movies would have otherwise played Tues or Sat and no doubt have drawn fewer viewers.

Every time an actress becomes pregnant, the producers/writers have to decide whether to incorporate it into the storyline or cover it up- cue the large purses, close ups etc. In the former case what real life pregnancies resulted in onscreen babies? Way back in the 50's Mary Stuart was pregnant so Jo on SFT was also expecting, resulting in baby Duncan (who got killed off). Maybe that was the first soap to do that. What are some instances you recall over the years?

That week illustrated the problem CBS faced on Sunday. Up against a big mini series and premiere movie Crazy Like A Fox couldn't compete at 9pm. MSW was #3 but CLAF #26 and Trapper John #52. The following week MSW was #5 but CLAF was #26 and Trapper was #53. CBS was squandering the lead in on a top rating night. The next week CBS went with Pt 1 of Kane & Abel mini series 8-11 and it ranked #8. The following week MSW was back and ranked #4 with part 1 of Doubletake @9 ranked #14. The return of CLAF ranked #36 so CBS saw they would get much better numbers playing a movie @9 which is what they did with instant ratings improvement.

That week was before the official start of the season so most premieres were up against reruns, hence the good ratings for Paper Dolls, Jesse and Hawaiian Heat an AfterMash . Viewers were willing to give them a look see. Once the likes of A Team, Riptide and Dallas returned those shows took a dive.

One thing Knots and other soaps failed to do was look into the past and bring back characters. eg Jeff Cunningham, Abby's ex could have easily turned up to see his kids and reconnect with Abby in some way. Karen's brother Joe and a myriad of other characters could have returned for short stints to provide story for the long running characters, rather than always bringing in new people.

That's the first I've heard of this. When did that happen? I know FI aired on Friday @8 for a few weeks in 79 but flopped and was quickly moved back to Sat @10.

That was one of Donna's go to references-have we ever had verification of that rumor?

I agree that Jen Jacobs isn't a terrible actress. But she's stuck with a poorly written role, and a triangle storyline that doesn't work.

No shade to Marsha Clark (well, maybe a little) but Hilary wasn't the most glamorous cast member. She worked as a nurse/friend/loser in love but not a gal 2 'hunks' would be fighting over. Kind of got a Subaru driving, jeans/plaid shirt vibe from Hilary...

Hilary should not have been killed. Send her out of town , leaving room for a recast and return.