Paul Raven

Broadcasting magazine Dec 1980

The Great American Villain Contest is about to begin. Challenging J.R. Ewing for the prime -time championship are Sheriff Titus Semples on NBC's Flamingo Road and Guy Millington on CBS's Secrets of Midland Heights. In the Flamingo Road pilot, broadcast last May, Semples arrested a waitress on false prostitution charges in order to break up her romance with his deputy. Then he tried to entice Claude Weldon into having one of his paper -mill buildings torched for the insurance. When Weldon resisted, Semples went ahead and had the fire set anyway. The flames accidentally killed the only citizen of Truro, Fla., who was ever nice to the sheriff. Howard Duff, who plays Semples, is eager to take on J.R. in the miscreant sweepstakes: "I could be as mean as Larry (Hagman] any day." He acknowledges Hagman's head start, "but I'm older, so I've had more experience" - such as his self- described role as "a whore master" in ABC's upcoming East of Eden miniseries. He also has a juicy role model to draw on in Sydney Greenstreet, the original scoundrel in the 1949 film of "Flamingo Road." But Duff has a soft spot: he doesn't believe people really think of themselves as bad. This could mean that his performance will lack the lip - smacking gusto that's so evi dent in Hagman's portrayal of J.R. "Look at Richard Ill," begins Duff. "Even he didn't think he was a deep -dyed ... oh, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about."

Meanwhile, in Midland Heights, Guy Millington (played by Jordan Christopher) will this month be heard dropping hints that his niece, his only rival for the family fortune, should be institutionalized. In order to drive her over the brink, he pokes into her diary and dispatches thugs to beat up her boy friend. It's not as awesome a display of bad deeds as Sheriff Semples' -but it is done in a mere 60 minutes, compared with the sheriff's two hours. Guy's villainy is "completely opposite to the good-ole' boy style," says Christopher. "He's a more Northern, colder character" than J.R. or Semples. But Christopher sounds even more excited about playing the bad guy than Duff does: "I'd love to have people love to hate me. I love the old -fashioned booing and hissing." Assuming their shows survive, we may spend next summer wondering who shot the sheriff or who shot Guy. "God, I hope so," says Christopher. "That would be terrific."  

February 1957

ABC had yet to program in daytime.

Comedy time was  sitcom reruns on NBC and aired at 5pm,hence the higher ratings.

1. Comedy Time NBC 12.3

2. Guiding Light CBS 11.4

3. Search for Tomorrow.CBS 10.9

4. Queen for A Day NBC 10.2

5. Secret Storm CBS 10.2

6. Edge of Night CBS 9.9

7. Houseparty CBS 9.9

8. Modern Romances NBC 9.8

9. Tic Tac Dough NBC 9.6

10. Brighter Day CBS 9.4

11. Big Pay Off CBS 9.4

12. Arthur Godfrey CBS 9.1

13. Matinee Theater NBC 9.1

14. Love of Life CBS 8.8

15. Truth or Consequences NBC 8.2

16. As The World Turns CBS 8.0

17. Strike It Rich CBS 8.0

18. Tennessie Ernie Ford NBC 7.9

19. Garry Moore CBS 7.6

20. Bob Crosby CBS 7.6

21. Our Miss Brooks CBS 7.4

22.Price Is Right NBC 7.0

23. Valiant Lady CBS 6.7  

24. Home NBC 3.0

1977 interview with John Conboy and Patricia Wenig from Broadcasting Programming and Production mag.Fascinating look at Y&R at that time.

BP&P: How does a soap opera like "The Young and the Restless" get on the air?

 

John Conboy: I guess every show has it's own story, but generally the networks are most interested in things that come to them by a proven commodity. In our case, Bill Bell, who has an enormous track re- cord in the soap opera field, did a presentation on The Young and the Restless that was sent to CBS and CBS, via Columbia Pictures television, decided to buy it. It was an 82 page presentation of the general concept of the show and how characters were to be used. Bill had had a successful show on NBC and CBS wanted him to do a successful show for them,

 

BP&P: Is the main selling tool seeing if you can sustain the premise for five years?

 

John Conboy: It would be more like 15 years. No network is interested in a soap that runs only five years.

 

BP&P: Why is that?

 

John Conboy: Because it's a long term investment. Most networks put on a daytime serial and they don't expect to see numbers for a year, a year and a half. We happened to be lucky and saw them in under six months.

 

BP&P: Could you define for me the executive producer and producer functions on a soap?

 

Conboy: Those functions are less clear cut on our show than in nighttime. For some reason, there are only three executive producers in daytime TV and I'm one of them. I really don't know why, but primetime shows have more.

 

Patricia Wenig:John deals mainly with the creator of the show, Bill Bell, while I'm more involved in the day to day operation of the show.

 

Conboy: We share the artistic control but Pat is with it a bit more closely than I.

 

BP&P: I would imagine you could use one full time person just dealing with your cast.

 

Conboy: It is a large ensemble cast.

 

Patricia Wenig: We have 17 principals under contract and then there are four others who have major roles but are not under contract. All in all it's a large cast for a half hour show.

 

Conboy: We started off with 12 contract players when we went on the air five years ago and we still have ten of them.

 

BP&P: Most of the soaps are done from New York while the majority of programming is done from Hollywood. Why is that?

 

Conboy: You forget that years ago, in the live days of TV, most of your product was coming from New York. They still consider daytime to be live although it's done on tape. The broadcasters feel a very strong urge to keep as much production in New York as they can for their own survival as well as the survival of broadcasting in New York. But we feel we're making an inroad. Three soaps are

now done from the west coast.

 

BP &P: It is difficult working by long distance between here and New York?

 

Conboy: Actually, it's between Los Angeles and Chicago where Bill Bell lives and works.

 

BP &P: You mean that your writer sends in his scripts?

 

Patricia Wenig: He mails them in every day to us. He does all the plotting and has a writer that works with him as well. In fact, he's just hired a third writer, but generally since we've been on, the show has been written by two people.

 

BP &P: Writing a soap has to be a writer's dream.

 

Conboy: From the standpoint of hard work, I don't think you could call it a dream. But there are a lot of skilled writers around who'd like to get involved in daytime just because there's so much money in it. It's the only area of television that's on the air five days a week, fifty two weeks a year. The problems for writers are in sustaining the story. All good writers are trained in beginning, middle and end type stories and we do it differently in soaps. Most daytime writers change about every six months.

 

BP &P: Scriptwise, how far in advance do you people work?

 

Wenig: Five days, as far as scripts go. Today is Monday and we have in hand scripts through Tuesday of next week.

Conboy: We're probably the only show on the air that doesn't work from a daily outline. We never have a production meeting. We work from a long form, which means we know the directon a show is going in any given year. We don't work from weekly outlines because Bill creates as he goes and doesn't like to be locked in. If you have writers who are less skilled in the form, you have to insist on the outlines so that the show doesn't wander off in some odd direction.

Wenig: We've put the rest of our staff together just like the way Bill works. They can design quickly, light quickly, they know what Bill wants and what we want the show to look like. It's kind of like ESP - we pass one of our technical people in the hall and say 'By the way ...' and they do it. In New York they'd be in cardiac arrest if they had to do it that way. It's called instant producing.

 

BP &P: How long of a script do you use? Conboy: It's shorter than a nighttime half hour show. A sit -com might run 40, 50 pages or longer for a half hour. We have about 30 pages because we have a shorter show, six commercials. That narrows it down to 21:35 of dramatic material. Then it depends on whether we have a lot of action, talking, emotional scenes, or light scenes.

Wenig: Keeping that in mind, the script is anywhere from 28 to 34 pages long.

 

BP &P: What is a normal production day like? Conboy: Pat and I are in the studio for the first run through. The actors arrive and do a dry rehearsal with the director in the rehearsal hall. Then they do a camera blocking with the camermen and technicians in the studio. Then comes that first run through followed by a break and dress rehearsal. Then we have another break and we do the taping. The air show taping is followed by another fifteen minute break and then we go into the afternoon reading which one or both of us are at.

Wenig: We have found that it's much more helpful to the people that are working with us if we know the problems as they exist in the control room rather than picking up the phone and saying "What the hell is going on there!" and start yelling and screaming.

 

BP &P: Is there much yelling and screaming?

 

Conboy: Not more than you'd find on any other show!

 

BP &P: When you begin a taping, how often do you stop, or do you let flubs go to give the show that live quality?

 

Conboy: We stop whenever it's necessary and seldom let a flub go.

Wenig: For instance, if there's a missed line it would depend on if the camera move is bad enough to ruin the shots and other action. An actor could drop a line and we could miss 14 camera shots. Or it might be an important line and the actor can't answer. It might be the key to the scene and you miss reaction shots and they might not cross when they're supposed to and the camera is out of position. Conboy: We really don't stop the show, per se. We build the show, so we just go to the last commercial black and edit it and we have a complete show. The last thing you need when you do a show five days a week is a lot of time in an editing room.

 

BP &P: And the show is done each day? Conboy: Yes, today's taping (Monday) is for airing next Tuesday.

 

BP &P: Is that true of most soaps? Conboy: I really don't know. I think we're less ahead of other shows. Some are two or three weeks ahead. It depends. Wenig: The only reason we're six days ahead right now is because we were preempted in January for the Carter Inaugural. The minimum is a week ahead because of foreign markets like Canada and the fact that commercials have to be put into the show in New York.

 

BP &P: I understand you have rotating directors. Conboy: We use two directors because it's just too much of a strain for one man. He's into the work all day long, through the dry readings, the rough blocking, into the taping in the control room. Once a week is one thing, but five days a week could kill a man. Wenig: Then he also spends time at home blocking out his shots. What we do is use one director Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wedneday, then we use our second man. This gives them some time to recuperate and stay fresh.

 

BP &P: How are they able to keep up with any character changes or nuances?

 

Conboy: They either watch the shows or read the scripts so they know what's happening.

Wenig: The toughest thing is for the actors who have to sustain their character over five or ten years and keep it fresh and interesting although they don't have a lot of screen time.

Conboy: The complaint comes from the actor who's been playing his character for a long time that he knows the character better than the writers. They know when material is false and they panic if they feel the character is being pulled out of shape. But we are careful on our show, we protect our people and that's what makes it work.

 

BP &P: You are also able to integrate a lot of music into the show. Conboy: That was in the original concept and presentation of the show. It's not a musical at all, but we do use a lot of actors doing music in the show. When Pat and I came in, we told the musicians all about the characters and the kind of music we felt they should have in their entrances and as bridging music. They went ahead and wrote what they felt we wanted, we listened to it and made some changes. Then the music was recorded and we pulled it apart and made our music cues.

 

BP &P: And you have a first in that your theme turned into a smash hit single. Wenig: Nadia's Theme. That's actually a long story. You see, the theme music was chosen by Bill Bell from the movie score of "Bless the Beasts and the Children ". It worked out beautifully because it was owned by Columbia Pictures television who also own our show. It really became a hit from the Olympics and not just our show. The music was used as background on a piece that ABC did on Nadia Comenici which, strangely enough, was edited by my husband who works as a video tape editor at ABC. But he didn't pick the music, an A.D. did. I told you it was a long story!

 

BP &P: Whatever happened to organ music which was a staple of soaps for years, going back to the radio days. Wenig: We don't use it at all and most soaps are getting away from it. I think it was all started by a man named Ted Corday who came to California to do Days of Our Lives. He decided to have music composed because he wanted something different. Another soap, General Hospital, had organ music until a short while ago and now they also have music done for them. Organ music means soap opera and people are tired of it.

 

BP &P: Just how important is music to a soap? Conboy: More so in soaps than anything else, music seems to be perfect for creating a mood. It helps an audience. Dramatically, it makes something more important than it should be. Soaps are more moody than other shows and the music serves to heighten that mood.

 

BP&P: How about sets?

 

Wenig: If you've watched soap operas through the years you probably notice that sets are looking better today than ever. We have a permanent stage here at TV City, stage 41. There are four permanent standing sets we use all the time and we average between 3 and 5 sets per show.

 

Conboy: As far as new sets are concerned, if the writer is going to have a major set coming up that's going to play for awhile, he lets us know and it gives us from 2 to 3 weeks to have our art director start designing. Then it takes 3 to 6 working days to actually build it. We make the sets as real as possible. In fact, some people pattern their own living rooms or dens after them.

 

BP&P: That brings me to a point about viewer response. Do you get much and what type of response?

 

Wenig: We get fan mail and all of it is read. Something like 1,000 to 1,500 letters a month. That's a combined total for the writers, producers, performers. And we pay attention to what people have to say. All of the actor's mail is read ahead of time before it's passed on to them because there are some viewers who have a number of unkind words to say and we don't want to upset them. People take this show and other soaps very seriously. I've been told that for every letter we get, there are 100 people who feel the same way but aren't writing. So if we get 20 letters, 2,000 people are upset.

 

BP&P: Any comments from Program Directors or Station Executives?

 

Conboy: Not that we know of.

 

BP&P: Have any stations refused to air the show?

 

Conboy: If you mean because the show is controversial, no. No stations have refused to air the show, but then they have no preview of the show like they do with primetime specials. Maybe if they did, someone would find fault with the shows. Who knows.

 

BP&P: Are you aware of the show's demographics?

 

Wenig: Not exact figures, but from the mail and what we hear from people, we have a large following in colleges and with young people.

 

Conboy: 1 guess the prime audience is 18- 49, but I sure wouldn't want to miss the ladies who are 65 or 16 or the men at any age. We get a pretty broad spectrum of audience. The older audience reacts positively to the kids because we have them doing certain things on the show like singing or playing instruments. But we don't have them singing Dylan or the Eagles or Chicago or things like that. Instead we have them doing "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" or songs of that nature which work for the kids because it's nostalgia and works for the older audience because they can identify with it. This show, or any show for that matter, is not successful if you just have kids doing a lot of young things.

 

BPf7P: Do you have a breakdown as far as your male audience goes?

 

Wenig: I don't have actual numbers, but a lot of men watch soap operas.

Conboy: And, like we said before, a lot of college kids, too. We've even received petitions from colleges saying they want their classes rescheduled so they can watch the show.

Conboy: Colleges are teaching masters or doctorate courses around our show.

 

BP&P: What about time slot?

 

Wenig: We're on at noon in New York and Washington. Some stations air us at 9 a.m., some at weird times like Phoenix. Most take the general feed from the network at noon and the west coast takes an 11 a.m. feed which is carried on about 20 stations.

 

BP&P: Do you have any thoughts about scheduling in the afternoon or the morning?

 

Conboy: You schedule a show where you think it will do you the most good. We wanted the time period which was held by As The World Turns because it was unchallenged in that time period. But the truth is, if you have a good show, people will find you. If you start out hot, it's likely you'll get hotter. I mean, we're on the full network except for 2 or 3 stations at the most.

 

BP&P: Have the ratings held up?

 

Wenig: Of the soaps on the air, we're usually 1,2,3, or 4. As the World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, and, in the past Another World had higher ratings. We are currently up against two game shows in our time period and they've found that game show watchers are game show watchers and soap opera people watch soaps. So it really doesn't affect our ratings.

Conboy: Interestingly, ABC has expanded All My Children to an hour and re-arranged a few other shows in their schedule yet they have avoided us. They just won't program against us, so that seems like a good omen.

 

BP&P: Do the censors ever bother you?

 

Conboy: Hells and damns generally. You see, we are aware of problem areas and we stay away from them. If a censor reacts negatively to a story, most often the audience would too. We tell love stories on this show and, like I said, every now and then we have some hells and damns. But we can usually trade one hell for two damns or vice versal.

 

BP&P: Do you have any thoughts on the expansion of soap operas to the one -hour format?

 

Wenig: Networks always like to experiment, some things work and others don't. When ABC tried the Afternoon Playbreak, it did fairly well. Then CBS tried the same thing and it was a disaster. Programmers will continue to try new things, but they can always come back to the old tried and true.

Conboy: What Pat is trying to say is that despite what happens, you'll always have the soap opera.

 

BP&P: One final question: If someone had this great idea for a soap opera, what would be their chances for gettting it on the air?

 

Conboy: Hope is a thing with feathers. If a person is in the right place at the right time with the right people and they could deliver the right product with the right network, it could work. Wenig: In other words, don't hold your breath.

 

JOHN CONBOY (Executive Producer of Columbia Pictures Television's daytime serial, "The Young and the Restless," for CBS.) John Conboy has worked as an actor, production assistant, stage manager, associate director, director, production supervisor, associate producer, producer and now, executive producer.

Born June 19, the native of Binghamton, N.Y., began acting in resident stock companies at the age of 15. Following high school, highlighted by his winning the New York State public speaking con- test, Conboy went on to earn a B.A. degree in Drama at Carnegie Melon Institute in Pittsburgh, Penn. After graduation, he toured with a theatrical production of Tea and Sympathy and then headed for New York. Two days after arriving he became a production assistant on the WCBS -TV children's show, Captain Jet, eventually becoming its associate producer. He then returned to the stage, but not as an actor. He became production man- ager for several national companies of Broadway musicals. After a brief association with off - Broadway musicals, it was back to television for Conboy. He handled the stage manager chores at ABC -TV for nighttime musical variety shows and later moved to CBS to serve in that same capacity on nighttime live dramatic shows. After serving as associate director for numerous other CBS dramatic shows,

Conboy was elevated to director of the first "National Health Test" show. He then joined the network management team, becoming a production supervisor for many shows, including the daytime serial, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. Within six months he became the show's associate producer, and nine months later took over the producing reigns. John has collectively won seven Emmys for the two shows he has produced; The Young and the Restless and a segment of ABC's Matinee Today series entitled The Other Woman. Conboy has recently signed a longterm pact with Columbia Pictures Television to head his own production com- pany and to develop new programming, as well as continue his duties on The Young and the Restless.

 

PATRICIA WENIG (Producer of Columbia Pictures Television's daytime serial for CBS, "The Young and the Restless. ") Promoted to producer of The Young and the Restless in January of 1976, Patricia Wenig was born in Indianola, Iowa, but raised in Sacramento, California. Just before her 20th birthday, she went to study at a New York television production school and after graduation began working as a secretary for Benton and Bowles Advertising Agency. Seven months later she became a production secretary on the daytime serial, Edge of Night, a position she held for one year. Next came a six -year stint as a production assistant on As the World Turns. Patricia later returned to San Francisco where she worked at the CBS affiliate station for one year before going back to New York where she was the assistant to the producer on Our Private World. Unemployed due to cancellation of the show, Patricia received a California call from the late Ted Corday and soon went to work for him as a production sec- retary on Columbia Pictures Television's Days of Our Lives and the short -lived Morning Star series. She later joined Chuck Barris Productions where her assignments included chaperoning the Dating Game contestant winners. Patricia ventured to New York again to function as a production assistant on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing but re- turned four months later to be married. Before joining The Young and the Restless production team in January of 1973, she was associate producer of KNXT's noon show, Boutique. She also served as a production assistant on the Tom Jones and Robert Goulet specials and the serials, Bright Promise and Return To Peyton Place.  

 

Broadcasting August 1960

ERA ENDS AS SOAPS LEAVE RADIO

 

Last of radio's daytime serials are marked for oblivion at CBS Radio's request. most controversial and by all odds most profitable, institution neared the end of the road last week.

 

CBS Radio officially signalled the end when it announced new program plans (see page 28) that have no place for daytime serials. a program form that mesmerized audiences and advertisers for close to 20 years. At their peak. daytime serials ran virtually uninterrupted for six to eight hours each weekday, held more than half the housewife population spellbound and waiting to "tune in tomorrow at the same time." stirred up nationwide controversy among psychiatrists, doctors and social researchers, and accounted for perhaps a third or more of all the income on the radio networks. At the end. which now seems apt to fall on Friday. Nov. 25, they occupy only two hours of network time per day, and the advertising revenues they represent. which used to be counted in quick millions. now are figured in slow hundreds of thousands.

 

High Water Mark

In 1940, one of the serials' best years, it was estimated that daytime sales on CBS and NBC amounted to $26.7 million, most of it from serials. In that year records indicated that CBS was carrying 25 serials a day or 125 quarter -hours a week, 120 of then sponsored, while NBC was carrying 20 serials a day, all but three sponsored. This arithmetic. with daytime then selling at one -half of nighttime rates, indicates that both networks must have been billing -for time charges -about as much on daytime as on night, which in those pre -tv times was prime in the purest sense. By 1948, serials were said to be attracting $35 million a year from sponsors. Historically, CBS and NBC have been the main networks in the serial business. ABC, which came along later. carried a few from time to time, including such strong entries as My True Story and Whispering Streets, but dropped these in its aborted all -live programming experiment in 1957. NBC abandoned serials along with all other entertainment programming the first of this year, leaving the field to CBS. CBS's plans to end the era are not irrevocable, but they're close to it.Theoretically, CBS Radio affiliates could upset the plans, but in this case (1) the plans originated with a group of affiliates and (2) the cry to abandon serials has come periodically from throughout the affiliate body. The only thing that has kept the serials on has been a combination of continuing evidence of relatively strong audiences and relatively strong, though sporadic, advertiser interest. They're currently 25% sold and have a 32 -week average of 45% sponsorship thus far this year. If they maintain any advertiser interest at all they will go off stronger than they came on, some 30 -odd years ago.

 

Before the serial was invented and took hold, daytime radio was an empty stretch of time which advertisers widely regarded as unsuited to their purposes. The Mists of Time The genesis of the daytime serial is hazy. There is dispute about whether its birthplace was Chicago or WLW Cincinnati or, less likely, New York. Most historians nominate Chicago, which by all accounts was the first headquarters of serial production. There is argument, too, about the identity of the first serial. Some authorities say the forefather was The Goldbergs, which started in Chicago radio about 1928 as a nighttime show, later moved to daytime and ran to 1945, the last eight years under sponsorship of Procter & Gamble - probably the heaviest underwriter of serials among all advertisers. There are other claimants to the ancestral role, among them The Stolen Husband, a serialized version of a novel, which ran on WBBM Chicago under Quaker Oats sponsorship. Others identify Just Plain Bill as the original. Whatever the origin, the formula that developed was simple. With a few notable exceptions, it was to take a heroine. give her a strong will and a lot of problems (preferably including men of weaker will and more problems), and let her work everything out for the best. A handful ventured into humor -among them Vic & Sade, Myrt & Marge and Lorenzo Jones -and a few. like Just Plain Bill, had men instead of women for the stars, but as a class they centered on heroines and might be described, generically, as "unhappy stories about unhappy people."

 

Everybody's Problems

Housewives by the millions loved every tearful minute of it, reveled in every agony, wrote in for advice on their own personal problems and deluged the networks with flowers when illness took their favorite characters (as it often did in order to give them vacations, to accommodate a budget cutback or for other non -medical reasons). A wedding would bring tons of gifts, a new baby a shower of clothes and playthings, a death reams of condolences on paper often stained by tears and edged in black. A condemned murderess, according to newspaper accounts, confessed she was worried about the outcome of Abies Irish Rose, which was taking a virtually unheard -of summer hiatus at the time. "I won't be here in September," she sobbed, and the producers brightened her last days by sending a resume of the story line for the fall and winter. Women obviously took the dramatized miseries seriously, and some people began to get worried. A psychiatrist, Dr. Louis I. Berg of New York, stirred up a storm that swept across the country when he declared in 1942 that, judging from stories of women undergoing change of life, serials were inducing a string of ailments ranging from arrhythmia to vertigo. All sorts of activity followed. The networks set up committees and hired researchers; others, including independent research organizations, got busy in many ways. Surveys were made, papers were printed and books published -and in the end, serials were exonerated. A lot of statistics came out of these and similar studies. The serials' audi- ence was generally estimated at 20 million women. One project found that 54% of the available housewives were serial listeners and that the average fan listened to 5.8 serials a day. This was about 1944 -45. Another study, commissioned by NAB and published in 1946 as "The People Look at Radio," found that housewives were about even- ly divided between listeners and non- listeners and estimated that the listeners averaged four serials a day.

 

The Origin of "Soaps" The object of this devotion had earned, in the meantime, a number of soubriquets less dignified than "daytime serials." "Soap opera" remains the most popular term and, at the time of its invention, was well earned. Soap companies had been among the most ardent investors, and in 1939, which may not have been their high year, sponsored more than 40% of approximately 250 quarter - hours which were on the air each week. Procter & Gamble alone once had 19 different daytime and evening programs going on the networks, and that may not have been P &G's highest year. Aside from soap companies, breakfast foods and drugs were among the biggest serial users. At the last remaining serial center, CBS Radio, General Foods and Glenbrook Labs Div. of Sterling Drug get the nod as its first serial sponsors, dating to 1931 and remaining -though not continuously into 1959 at least. The soap opera remains as a generic term describing a type of program, but it no longer is correct as an indication of sponsorship. NBC's archives do not provide an immediate answer to the question so far as that network is con- cerned, but CBS Radio hasn't had a soap sponsor on a serial in 16 months: not since Lever's Surf pulled out of Romance of Helen Trent, Whispering Streets, Young Dr. Malone and Right to Happiness in April 1959. Cereal, laxative and various remedy advertisers have been more frequent buyers in recent years.

 

The Production Factories

If one product category- soap -can be linked with the heyday of serial sponsorship, one little band of nimble -minded, facile - writing people can be identified with serial production and, in most cases, with its origin. The names of Frank and Anne Hummert, Elaine Carrington, and Irma Phillips are synonymous with daytime serials, and their productivity - and that of a few others, mostly con- temporaries- continues to mystify historians of the daytime drama to this day. The Hummerts, credited with being among the first to envision the magnitude of the gold mine that advertisers might tap in daytime radio, built and operated what is generally regarded as the biggest factory ever constructed for the manufacture of daytime serials. By 1948 they were producing 13 soaps and 5 half -hour programs turned out by an assembly -line of writers working from plots that the Hummerts conceived and supervised. At one point the Hummerts were producing virtually all of the serials carried on NBC. CBS newsman Ned Calmer was once in their stable of "dialoguers." But the honors for productivity usually go to one of the Hummert writers, Robert Andrews, who is credited with turning out five scripts a day, five days a week, for years. Once, when a shipment of his scripts was lost in a plane crash, he is said to have dictated that day's episode of one serial by telephone from Hollywood to New York while the show was on the air, managing to stay a few lines ahead of the actors. The show that day contained a few more long pauses than usual, but they passed unnoticed. The pause was a standard device in most soaps. Plots moved about an inch a day. Ma Perkins and Bill the Barber (later Just Plain Bill) were among the earlier shows in the stream that Mr. Andrews turned out for the Hummerts. He quit in 1942. "Got tired," he explained. The Hummert factory rolled on. Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones, Young Widder Brown, Backstage Wife, were among their best known entries in those years, along with Skippy and Terry & Mary, a pair which the Hummerts sold to General Mills to show the profit to be had in sponsoring daytime serials for children.

 

Other Writing Machine

Elaine Carrington started Red Adams in 1932 on NBC as a half -hour nighttime program, moved it to daytime under Beech -Nut chewing gum sponsorship a short time later (after changing its name to Red Davis to avoid identification with Adams Chiclets, a Beech -Nut competitor), and finally, under P &G sponsorship, changed it to the name that is still best known, Pepper Young's Family. Irma Phillips, noted like the Hummerts for prolific output, acted in as well as wrote one of her first serials, Today's Children. She later wrote, among others Woman in White, Lonely Women, Right to Happiness, Guiding Light and Road of Life, The rights to the last three of which she subsequently sold to P &G for $175,000. Other names pop up prominently in histories of the serial. Paul Rhymer's Vic & Sade ran on NBC for some 13 years and won critical praise for a vehicle of contemporary humor in America. Carleton Morse's One Man's Family had a highly successful run that spanned 27 years, also on NBC. Sandra Michael's Against the Storm, a wartime serial with a patriotic theme, won a Peabody award for excellence. Charles Jackson. who won fame with his novel Lost Weekend, turned out Sweet River for two years. Aside from Mr. Jackson and Mr. Calmer. others have gone on to more permanent fame from serial stints. Don Ameche is said to have played the lead in as many as four serials at once. Jim and Marian Jordan, who became Fibber McGee & Molly, played miscellaneous voices in daytime operas in the early days. Actor Everett Sloane was Sammy Goldberg for a while, and Van Heflin and Joseph Cotten also appeared in roles on the Goldbergs show.

 

Mail Pull

The serials also set up a new concept of coverage maps for radio stations. P &G had used premium offers to find out where its listeners were, one of the first being a seed offer to Ma Perkins listeners in return for 10 cents and an Oxydol boxtop. Lever once got an estimated 2 million write -ins for a brooch offered by.Rinso on Big Sister. The Blackett- Sample -Hummert agency used premium offers extensively -Duane Jones, later known as the Boxtop King, was then with B -S -H -and sometimes, it is recorded, received more write -ins than the programs could claim in total audience.

 

Irna Phillips was one of the most prolific writers of soap opera throughout its long, sudsy history. Her brain children include Road of Life, Woman in White, Right to Happiness, among others. P &G enthusiastically bought three of her properties for $175,000. John Karol, who was in charge of sales for CBS Radio before switching to CBS -TV a couple of years ago, recalls that when he first joined CBS in the early 1930s, as head of research, he adapted the premium -offer idea to obtain measurements of station coverage.

 

The Remnants

Out of the scores of serials that once filled daytime radio, four remain, along with two more re- cent entries, on CBS Radio. These are slated to go in November. Ma Perkins has been on for 27 years, and Right to Happiness, Young Dr. Malone and Second Mrs. Burton have been on for close to 20. The newer ones are Couple Next Door, which is outside the soap - opera tradition in that it is humorous, and Whispering Streets, which also departs from the norm by dramatizing separate stories. A seventh serial slated to leave, Best Sellers, which was launched only a few months ago, also doesn't really count as a daytime serial in the old sense: it serializes popular novels. Approximately 50 to 60 actors and actresses are employed in these seven shows. By comparison, the soaps once gave regular employment to some 150 actors and part-time roles to 1,800. Although CBS Radio's decision on serials marks the end of an era, it does not mean the end of serials. While their fortunes were waning on radio they were surviving on tv -where some of the oldest old -timers may still be found in modern dress. Among them: Love of Life, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light on CBS -TV and Young Dr. Malone, From these Roots, NBC -TV.  

Broadcasting  June  1989

In 1985, a quarter of the top 20 prime time network programs were episodic melodramas, better known as prime time soaps. CBS had capitalized on the tremendous suc- cess of Dallas with a spin -off, Knots Landing, and another offering, Falcon Crest. ABC had countered with Dynasty and Hotel, then later the Dynasty spin -off, Dynasty II: The Colbys. Today, Hotel and The Colbys are history, and with the departure of Dynasty from ABC this year after nine seasons, CBS - with Dallas (entering its 13th season), Falcon Crest and Knots Landing -claims the only remaining prime time soap operas on commercial network television. Once the owner of a reserved seat in the Nielsen Rating's Top 10, Dallas has been finding its numbers slipping. At the same time, prime time dramas such as L.A. Law and thirtysomething are using variations of the continuing storyline in their reality - based scripts. Does the remaining prime time soap producer see the borrowing of reality -based elements as the solution to further erosion of the soap genre?

"Dallas has done well by moving closer to a reality -based format," said Lorimar Telepictures President David Salzman, who oversees the production of Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. "When we took Dallas to Russia, it reflected what Ameri- can businessmen may be facing in dealing with the new openness of glasnost. But we must never forget what makes a show suc- cessful. People are naturally attracted to stories of wealth and power." "The wealth of Dynasty, The Colbys and Hotel brought in the glitzy settings and cos- tumes- that's past its peak," suggested Knots Landing executive producer David Jacobs. "I think for a while during the Reagan years it was O.K. to be ostentatiously wealthy and glitzy. All of a sudden it has been distasteful in the post- Boesky era," he said, referring to Ivan Boesky, who was indicted for insider trading. For the classic prime time soaps that remain, however, the ratings peak may have passed as well. Dallas finished the 1988 -89 season with an average 15.4 rat - ing/26 share, down from two years ago's potent 21.3/34 average. In the 1986 -87 season, Falcon Crest scored a 17.4/25 average; this year it recorded a 12.5/22. Knots Landing was the only one to show improvement, scoring a 16.1/28 average for the 1988 -89 season, following a 15.8/27 average the year before. Although the soap genre may be slipping somewhat, other serial dramas have picked up on the continuing story lines, or "arcs," pioneered in prime time by the likes of Dallas.

"L.A. Law has an advantage of using less than five episode arcs," said Dallas executive producer Leonard Katzman. "They have adapted the soap formula into their program, except in a smaller arc. We find that most of the story that we try to tell usually goes over a five- or six -week period. It may be that viewers don't necessarily want to have to stay involved episode after episode with what is transpiring throughout the arc. That's why we introduced story summaries at the beginning of each new episode, so viewers can catch up on the storyline if they missed the previous epi- sode." "Look at thirtysomething [which employs continuing story lines]. It finished 47th in the ratings," Jacobs said. "It's not that the genre is changing, it's the varied stories and characters that are changing. At some time, thirtysomething is going to find itself reaching for the more sensational melodramatic stories because you run out of the other stories. Knots Landing had smaller, everyday stories, that's what separated it from the pack. Finally, we had to make it a little more sensational to keep it exciting. The reason Knots Landing survived, and is going to survive all the others, is the fact we have kept those characters reality - based." "I would say the television drama has gone through some evolutionary changes," Salzman said. "Where prime time drama had been fairly homogenized in the past, Hill Street Blues and Dallas came along and introduced whole new forms to television. They showed the audience that television can come in a 31 -flavor variety. With remote control and multichannel viewers, they tired of the vanilla flavored, predictable programing of the past."

"Cable television has made it tough to compete" Jacobs said. You can't do an action adventure on network television against a Stallone or Mel Gibson movie on cable. You can do a sexy show, but you can't compete with a Kim Basinger on the Playboy Channel. Whatever the erosion,how many shows last that long? Dallas has had an incredibly long run, as have Knot's Landing and Falcon Crest. I don't think of it as an erosion of a genre. A show sometimes just gets old and tired."

 

 

Peter Burnell played Mike on The Doctors longer than any other actor. Once he left, the role became a rollercoaster of replacements. I wonder if it was ever considered to bring him back.

Broadcasting magazine  July 84

In a premiere preceded by an unusual amount of fanfare, NBC launched its newest daytime serial drama last week: the one -hour Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. It is NBC's first new soap opera since 1982, when Texas was dropped after less than a year on the air. Although NBC is in third place in daytime ratings, it has shown some important gains against the other two networks this year, and NBC executives hope Santa Barbara will help to continue that trend. In the second quarter of this year, for example, NBC aver- aged a 5.1 rating and a 19 share in daytime - a 19% increase over the same period in 1983. And in June, NBC's average daytime rating increased 13% to 5.2 over June 1983, compared to a 6% rise for CBS (7.3) and a 19% decline for ABC (6.0). Daytime serials are renowned as slow au- dience builders, but once viewers are hooked, they can pay dividends almost in perpetuity. Although two of the newest network soaps-CBS's Capitol, which was launched in 1982, and ABC's Loving, launched last summer -consistently find themsleves outside (sometimes way outside) the coveted top 10 daytime shows, others like Search for Tomorrow (NBC) and Guiding Light (CBS) each have been on the air for 32 years. But NBC appears to be pulling out all the stops for Santa Barbara. First, it will be produced at NBC's new $12- million videotape production facility in Burbank. The 62,000 -square-foot complex features the 18,000 -square-foot Studio 11 -the largest daytime television production facility in the U.S., network publicists claim, large enough to house three basketball courts. Second, NBC burned up $2 million worth of its own air time the week preceding Santa Barbara's premiere for promotional spots. NBC even decided to introduce Santa Barbara on the second day of the Olympic games in hopes of picking up some of the disgruntled ABC daytime viewers. Santa Barbara .was created by the husband and wife team of Jerome and Bridget Dobson, who also serve as co- executive producers. Their credits include General Hospital and As The World Turns. In addition, NBC signed Broadway actress Dame Judith Anderson to play a role as one of the wealthy Santa Barbara residents. In all there are about 25 continuing parts in the series - about average for a serial drama -which centers on four Santa Barbara, Calif., families, including two prominent ones: the Capwells and Lockridges.

Advertising agency executives warned that it is too early to judge the show, and several confessed to having not yet viewed it. But those who had seen it were impressed by the show's production quality and liberal use of location shots. Over the first three days, Santa Barbara averaged a 3.5/11 in Nielsen's eight metered markets, according to NBC. That compares to an average of 4.2/ 14 for the Match Game - /Hollywood Squares Hour in the 3-4 slot over the previous four weeks. But the numbers for Santa Barbara steadily declined over the first three days. For Santa Barbara's premiere on Monday (July 30) it averaged s 4.4/14, compared to a 3.4/11 on Tuesday and a 2.8/9 on Wednesday. National ratings will not be available until this week. By comparison, the top 10 daytime show; usually average between 6 -10 rating points with shares in the low 20's to mid 30's. An NBC spokesman confirmed that it would cost around $30 million to produce the show for the first year. "I think that's probably the highest budget for a new daytime serial," but added that given rising costs it could even be exceeded by successful serials on other networks. Daytime can be very profitable for the networks. Whereas it costs an average $800,000 per hour to produce a weekly prime time series, it costs about half that to produce a whole week's worth of daytime serials. NBC accountants have estimated that each rating point in daytime is worth approximately $40 million in advertising revenue. "NBC has put everything into this, like David Merrick would bring to Broadway," observed Robert E. Buchanan, executive vice president and U.S. media director for J. Walter Thompson U.S.A. Buchanan -who produced daytime serials in the early 1950's -said Santa Barbara "appeared to have all the attractive ingredients," including well -known writer /producers like the Dobsons and actress Dame Judith Anderson, who rarely appears in televison roles. The signing of Anderson, he said, "is a real coup. It lends instant respectablity and prestige to the show

NBC's daytime drama, Search for Tomorrow (Mondays -Fridays, 12:30 -1 p.m. NYT), will introduce a new formula on Feb. 26. The soap opera is consolidating all of its characters in one apartment building after its Feb. 25 episode, when the fictional town of Henderson will be destroyed by a flood. The series's executive producer, John Whitesell II, said 15 new sets with multiple rooms will be created by June, and a new logo and rock music theme will be introduced with the Feb. 26 episode. The only difference between starting a new show and doing what we intend to do is this: We have the advantage of having established people that the audience already cares about," he said. 

"Tune in Tomorrow," or "How I Found 'The Right to Happiness' with 'Our Gal Sunday, Stella Dallas, John's Other Wife,' and other Sudsy Radio Serials," by Mary Jane Higby. Cowles Education Corp., New York. 226 pp. $5.95.

As the book jacket says about radio soap opera -"it was melodramatic, it was hilarious, it was bone -tiring, it was the big time, it was the tranquilizer for millions of housewives, it was the stimulator that soared sales." Mary Jane Higby's book is, if anything, nostalgic and anybody who cared about the peak program years of network radio, or wants to care about them, will find much to go by in Tune in Tomorrow.

Miss Higby was the leading lady for 18 years of When a Girl Marries and spoke, sang and "sometimes sputtered" her way through a number of shows including Lux Radio Theater, Camel Caravan, Kraft Music Hall, Maxwell House Showboat, Silver Theater, Shell Chateau, We, the People and a legion (52) of drama serials, which defy listing. There's also some residual promise for those in the broadcast field: Miss Higby, who currently is cast in motion pictures and appears in radio and TV commercials, touches on such ongoing matters as "censorship" by program sponsors; the inevitable presence of advertising agency types, and the influence of program ratings.  

This book was published in 1968. Can be found for purchase on the web.

That's so cool! Thanks for doing that.

Re Runyeon.

Remember that when Marland came on,Steve/Betsy were about the only 'supercouple' that the show had,even though Meg Ryan was gone.ATWT was synonymous with Steve/Betsy to many viewers at that point. Marland may have had orders to keep Steve in the mix.

Maybe Runyeon's contract was such that dropping him would have meant a big payout.

Also,one of Marland's rules was never to come on and make cast changes immediately.Rather he advised waiting for 6 months or so to get a feel for the characters and which ones the audience liked and could be used moving forward.

He did contradict himself at ATWT however by dropping Frank and Maggie straight away.

Reported in Variety Dec 5th 1980,so probably a week or two before

DOOL 5.6 21 NBC's top rating daytime show

 

May 84 11.30 timeslot

TPIR 9.9/39 

Dream House 5.1/20

Loving 3.9/15

 

Edge of Night Oct 84 2.7/9

General Hospital week ending June 27 1982 10.6/36 (outrated 18 primetime shows)

Weekending Dec 30 1983 the second half of TPIR hit 14.1/40 the highest daytime rating in 9 years.

 

Jimmy Waa was played by Alvin Lumm  from 79-86

That seems odd that the character was on for 7 years.Does anyone know anything more?

SOD late breaking news Sept 27 1983 reported that Lewis Arlt would be playing Ted Bancfoft .Instead He appeared as David Thatcher.Was it a last minute change or did SOD get incorrect information?

Barry Jenner who played Tony Cooper has passed away.

Barry Jenner who played Evan Webster 76/77 has died.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/10/barry-jenner-dead-star-trek-deep-space-nine-family-matters-actor-dies-75

Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Y&R) tested for Colleen many years prior.

Don Diamont's real life wife Cindy Ambuehl tested for Ashley on Y&R (I guess when Shari Shattuck was cast)

This was Corinne Jacker's era. 

Just seeing this snippet points to why viewers were not tuning in.

Apart from Cecile,everybody else was  a newbie.

Had there been an effort to incorporate more established characters into all of this,maybe things would have been different.

They dropped so many Frames and Matthews in these years and the new families had no staying power.

It was a lesson all soaps failed to learn from.

Howard R was looking hot here.

Petronia Paley managed to hang on another 5 years despite writing/producer overhauls.Such a classy/elegant presence.Quinn should have formed the basis of a new core family by having her marry,maybe step children  as well as bringing back Thom,now a divorced single mom,but instead they killed her off.

I think Ellen was first written off around 74.This was odd because Dan had returned and Annie was being aged. Ellen was still in Oakdale supposedly,so I wonder how thry handled Dan not interacting with his mother.Ellen came back when the show went to an hour,I believe.

 

ATWT seemed to have credits in order of seniority, so at some point Hastings demanded and got top billing. Guess Wagner etc didnt care about such things.

These are transcribed credits from a Dec 67 episode

Written by Irna Phillips, Warren Swanson and John Boruff.
Directed by Paul Lammers and Cort Steen.
Producer: Lyle B. Hill.
Cast Credits (in order):
Nancy Hughes . . . Helen Wagner
Chris Hughes . . . Don McLaughlin
Penny Hughes McGuire . . . Rosemary Prinz
Bob Hughes . . . Don Hastings
Ellen Stewart . . . Patricia Bruder
David Stewart . . . Henderson Forsythe       
Lisa . . . Eileen Fulton
Grandpa Hughes . . . Santos Ortega
Claire Shea . . . Barbara Berjer
Paul Stewart . . . Steven Mines
Dan Stewart . . . John Colenback
Dick Martin . . . Edward Kemmer
Dr. Michael Shea . . . Roy Shuman
Roy McGuire . . . Konrad Matthei
Susan Stewart . . . Jada Rowland
Judge Lowell . . . William Johnstone
Karen Adams . . . Doe Lang
Tom Hughes . . . Paul O'Keefe

Looks like William Johnstone was recurring by this point and Don and Eileen were not singled out.Although Santos Ortega should be higher up as he was there from the first week,I believe.

So rare to have credits from that time.

So Don Hastings got top billing above Helen Wagner and Don MacLaughlin...

Jennifer Houlton is now appearing as Greta Powers in the 1971 reruns,a role she played for 8 years. She was a teen playing a teen pregnancy story in the late 70s.She is now a writer.

Full Circle

Peter Raleigh Mason  played by William Mims (hundreds of tv credits 50's - 80's including Falcon Crest)

Variety Sept 1960

Diana Crawford - ????

Dec 1960

William Challee - ????

March 61

Jamie Forster - ????

Raymond Edward Johnson,who played Judge Faulkner on TBD suffered from MS and was never seen standing.