Paul Raven

The shooting on Cutting Edge was Th and Fri Feb 8&9 1996.

Anna Suart/Toni seemed to be in limbo her last few months on the show. I wonder what the plans were for her character and the circumstances of her departure? She was unhappy so did she leave when her contract was up or was it a mutual decision? Mike hooks up with Sara Dancy...was that the original plan for that character?

Y&R began its unbroken run at #1 after Days hit #1 with the Steve & Kayla wedding in July 88.

And the changes began... ABC replaced Once A Hero with another superhero Sable (not a Colby's spin off!) at 8pm Saturday.After 2 airings they swapped it with O'Hara and aired at 9pm and then cancelled it. Max Headroom replaced by Mr Belvedere and The Pursuit of Happiness. CBS,coming third announced a raft of changes Mon Frank's Place and Kate & Allie swapped timeslots. Wiseguy moved from Thurs to Monday @ 10 replacing Cagney & Lacey Tues 48 Hours @ 8 replacing Houston Knights Cagney & Lacey @ 10 replacing Law & Harry McGraw Wed Law & Harry McGraw @ 8 replacing Oldest Rookie (on hiatus) Thur Simon & Simon @ 9 ( replacing Wiseguy) Sat High Mountain Rangers @8 Houston Knights @9 replacing My Sister sam (on hiatus) Everything's Relative and Leg work (cancelled)

Wk 3 of the 87/88 Season. NBC had baseball from Tues thru Sunday which meant their blockbuster Th and Sat shows didn't air (except for Cosby) A few shows saw a bump in their ratings as those viewers not into baseball sampled something different. The first cancellation : Once a Hero on ABC Sat replaced by a Carol Burnett rpt special. 1 Cosby Show NBC 28.2/45 2 Murder, She Wrote CBS 23.3/36 3 Growing Pains ABC 23.1/37 4 Who the Boss? ABC 21.9/36 5 Moonlighting ABC 21.8/34 6 Dallas CBS 20.2/35 7 Newhart CBS 19.5/30 8 CBS Sunday Movie CBS 19.2/30 9 Head of the Class ABC 18.7/29 10 A.L. Championship, game 2 NBC 18.7/32 11 Designing Women CBS 18.6/29 12 Magnum, P.I. CBS 18.6/28 13 60 Minutes CBS 18.5/32 14 ALF NBC 18.5/30 15 Valerie's Family NBC 17.6/27 16 A.L. Championship, game 1 NBC 17.2/28 17 Perfect Strangers ABC 17.0/28 18 Hooperman ABC 16.8/26 19 A.L. Championship, game 4 NBC 16.8/28 20 Monday Night at the Movies NBC 16.7/27 21 Knots Landing CBS 16.5/28 22 Falcon Crest CBS 16.4/31 23 Thirtysomething ABC 15.8/28 24 Cagney & Lacey CBS 15.7/27 25 N.L. Championship, game 1 NBC 15.5/26 26 Dynasty ABC 15.4/26 27 Dolly ABC 15.1/23 28 Kate & Allie CBS 15.1/23 29 Slap Maxwell Story ABC 14.9/23 30 Jake and the Fatman CBS 14.8/23 31 N.L. Championship, game 3 NBC 14.6/27 32 N.L. Championship, game 4 NBC 14.5/27 33 Equalizer CBS 14.2/24 34 Monday Night Football ABC 13.8/25 35 Wiseguy CBS 13.8/22 36 Franks Place CBS 13.7/22 37 Law and Harry McGraw CBS 13.6/24 38 Charmings ABC 13.2/21 39 Beauty and the Beast CBS 13.0/23 40 Houston Knights CBS 12.7/20 41 A.L. Champ., pre -game 1 NBC 12.3/22 42 MacGyver ABC 12.2/20 43 Oldest Rookie CBS 12.2/19 44 Spenser: For Hire ABC 12.1/19 45 Tour of Duty CBS 12.0/19 46 Hotel ABC 11.9/24 47 A.L. Champ., pregame 4 NBC 11.9/20 48 Married Dora ABC 11.6/20 49 Full House ABC 11.4/21 50 Disney Sunday Movie ABC 11.3/19 51 NBC Nightly News (Sun.) NBC 11.2/20 52 Buck Names ABC 10.9/18 53 20/20 ABC 10.8/20 54 N.L. Champ., pregame 1 NBC 10.7/19 55 ABC Thursday Night Movie ABC 10.6/17 56 O'Hara ABC 10.5/19 57 My Sister Sam CBS 10.1/19 58 . N.L. Champ., pregame 3 NBC 10.1/20 59 . Everything's Relative CBS 10.0/18 60 . N.L. Champ., pregame 4 NBC 9.6/19 61. Sledge Hammer! ABC 9.3/15 62. Leg Work CBS 8.6/16 63. Carol Burnett Special ABC 7.8/14 64. Wést 57th CBS 7.6/15 65. Max Headroom ABC 7.1/12

Dreadful episode. The subplots were inane and the whole balance was thrown off by having Grace interact with Noah only. Karen and Jack didn't share I scene. His character was unpleasant yet we're obviously expected to buy into the non existent chemistry between the two. I did laugh at the face cream antics but the rest of the jokes were pretty dire.

Publisher's Weekly review Bloody Soaps: A Tale of Love and Death in the Afternoon Jacqueline Babbin, Author abbin, who once produced All My Children , calls on her extensive backstage knowledge of daytime soap operas to enrich this lively, tartly witty murder mystery. The cast and crew of a TV soap opera called The Key to Life are shaken when their producer, obnoxious Wally Krog, is found in the studio with a knitting needle thrust through his neck. New York homicide detective Clovis Kelley, whose girlfriend Yancey Howland acts on Key , quickly learns that nearly everyone associated with the program resented the dead man. In fact, Wally's bullying and taunting infuriated so many people that Clovis is hard put to identify a prime suspect. To gain additional insight, he questions Key stars, writers, executives and staffers. What emerges is a tangled tale of behind-the-scenes backbiting and tenuous alliances just as titillating as the show itself. Then a second murder complicates things even further in this overpopulated piece of light, entertaining fiction. (July)

Jackie Babbin loved a murder mystery (she went on to write a few mystery novels) so certain she would have requested one to create interest.

Interesting. Thanks for posting. Valerie Harper returned to CBS with 'City' but it flopped. Full House was low rated and most of the shows with similar ratings were dropped. ABC stuck with it and it went Top 10 several seasons later.

Yep. It was originally Valerie, then when she departed it became Valerie's Family and then the Hogan Family. Does anyone have the details on why Ms Harper left her show?

Wk 2 of the season with all of the shows now on air Cosby Show NBC 29.8/49 A Different World NBC 28.2/45 Growing Pains ABC 26.5/41 Cheers NBC 26.1/41 Moonlighting ABC 25.9/40 Golden Girls NBC 24.4/44 Who's the Boss? ABC 24.0/39 Tonight Show 25th Anniversary NBC 23.8/39 Murder, She Wrote CBS 22.8/34 Family Ties NBC 20.9/32 60 Minutes CBS 20.7/34 ALF NBC 20.3/32 NBC Monday Night Movies NBC 20.2/32 Amen NBC 18.7/34 Valerie's Family My Two Dads NBC NBC 18.6/28 NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC 18.1/29 227 NBC 17.6/32 Hooperman ABC 17.5/28 CBS Sunday Movie CBS 17.5/29 Dolly ABC 17.3/26 Head of the Class ABC 17.1/28 Dallas CBS 17.0/30 Hunter NBC 17.0/34 Thirtysomething ABC 16.7/30 Perfect Strangers ABC 16.3/28 Matlock NBC 15.25 Miami Vice NBC 15.9/28 Designing Women CBS 15.8/24 Facts of Life NBC 15.4/29 Dynasty ABC 15.2/26 Newhart CBS 15.2/23 Falcon Crest CBS 15.1/28 Slap Maxwell Story ABC 14 Magnum, Pl. CBS 14.9/24 J.J. Starbuck NBC 14.9/23 Knots Landing CBS 14.8/25 Crime Story NBC 14.2/26 St. Elsewhere NBC 14.1/24 Beauty and the Beast CBS 14.0/26 Equalizer CBS 14.0/24 Monday Night Movie NBC 13.7/22 33. Cagney & Lacey CBS 13.6/23 Highway to Heaven NBC 13.5/23 Kate & Allie CBS 13.0/20 Our House NBC 12.4/21 MacGyver ABC 12.2/19 Frank's Place CBS 12.2/20 A Year in the Life NBC 12.0/19 Private Eye NBC 11.9/22 Buck James ABC 11.6/19 Wiseguy CBS 11.5/18 Oldest Rookie CBS 10.8/18 20/20 ABC 10.7/20 Spenser: For Hire ABC ABC 10.7/20 Tour of Duty CBS 10.3/17 Disney Sunday Movie ABC 10.2/18 Hotel ABC 9.6/19 Jake and the Fatman CBS 9.6/15 Rags to Riches NBC 9,6/18 Full House ABC 9.5/18 I Married Dora ABC 9.4/17 ABC Thursday Night Movie ABC 9.4/15 Law and Harry McGraw CBS 9.4/17 O'Hara ABC 8.5/15 Charmings ABC 8.4/14 Sledge Hammer! ABC 7.9/13 My Sister Sam CBS 7.3/14 Everything's Relative CBS 7.2/13 West 57th CBS 6.9/14 Max Headroom ABC 6.4/11 Leg Work CBS 6.0/11 Once a Hero ABC 4.6/9

I think CBS was the last to continue to offer fresh programming on Saturdays. I guess the others gave up when season after season they couldn't come up with a winner. And viewing patterns changed. Looking at the ratings above, My Sister Sam got a raw deal.Originally scheduled for Mon 8.30-9.00 between Kate and Allie and Murphy Brown it was switched with Frank's Place to Sat where it was off the air in a matter of weeks. Had it stayed on Mon it probably would have lasted the season at least. Leg Work and Everything's Relative were also quickly dropped. Margaret Colin was the star of Leg Work. Her co-stars - Frances McDormand and Patrick James Clarke (ex RH, SFT )It was CBS' second attempt to give her a series. Jason Alexander and John Bolger were in Everything's Relative.

Dramatist, I know you mentioned not having read Rouverol's book. You can borrow it online at Open Library. I think you'll enjoy it!

i just jumped online to grab a quick look at a PP episode. Maybe Mal Young should do the same. The sets, lighting, staging, costumes etc outshine today's Y&R. Surely the budget of online OLTL was less than Y&R ? What was the taping schedule of OLTL ?

Yes I went back and realized I had read that....old age catching up with me...BTW Heart of JJ was posted a while back in the old Proposed Soaps thread which was archived and I have reposted(planning to put everything back in when I'm so inclined). So Mr Gussman had the clout to get that credit. I know Irving Vendig had a created by tag at the end of Edge of Night each ep until he left in the early 60's. Did find the opening amusing when the actors had to pose in those picture frames.

NY Times Oct 28 2000 Charles Gussman, 87, Dies; Spinner of Soap Opera Webs Charles J. Gussman, who brought delightfully tangled plots, addictively picturesque characters and heaping doses of steamy romance to soap operas he wrote for radio and television, died on Oct. 18. He was 87 and lived on a farm in Holland, Pa. Mr. Gussman was a master of a genre that once claimed 20 million radio listeners a day, from Cole Porter to housewives to construction workers on lunchtime breaks. He strove to bring wit and cleverness to what often seemed a melodramatic formula of failed love, insidious illness and, always, the ever-dangling hope that all questions might be answered in the next episode, said Anthony Heilbut, who is researching soap operas as part of a book he is writing. With relish, ''he turned the already baroque story lines rococo,'' Mr. Heilbut said. Among the radio serials for which Mr. Gussman wrote were ''The Road of Life,'' ''The Right to Happiness'' and ''Young Doctor Malone.'' All three were among the top-rated programs of the early 1950's, when daytime soap operas, usually 15 minutes long and named for the soap companies that sponsored them, attracted far more listeners than nighttime dramas. A typical story line for the Malone program might go: Jerry Malone, a principled and idealistic physician in the little town of Three Oaks, goes to New York on a business trip; there he falls into the clutches of the treacherous Lucia Standish. Meanwhile, his wife, Ann, is fooling around with Sam Williams, an aggressive Three Oaks businessman. Though these shows were far from serious drama, Arthur Miller and other serious young playwrights were more than willing to write such episodes. A basic requirement for success, Mr. Heilbut argued, was not to be condescending. Of Mr. Gussman, he said: ''He wasn't really winking, but was trying to do the best he could with this idiom. He went for broke.'' Mr. Gussman was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1913, his daughter, C. Brooke Gruenberg, said. His father was a railroad worker who became a lawyer by attending night school. The boy was picked up by police at the age of 4 for ''promiscuous throwing of cardboard,'' but became an Eagle Scout. He attended the University of Missouri for two years before dropping out during the Depression because of lack of money. He wandered from radio station to radio station working as an announcer. At 19, he managed a radio station in Iowa, his daughter said. One of his earliest writing jobs was a serialized radio version of ''Lil' Abner,'' a brazen combination of soap opera and down-home humor, Mr. Heilbut said. Mr. Gussman conferred regularly with Al Capp, the comic strip's creator, but had license to develop his own plots. As television became the dominant medium, Mr. Gussman turned to it enthusiastically. But he hedged his bets. For the last radio episode of ''The Road of Life'' in 1959, he left at least three cliffhangers hanging, including a man on the verge of realizing that the man he had just shot was his father. Mr. Gussman's work for television included writing for some of its first soaps, including ''Search for Tomorrow'' and the television version of ''Young Doctor Malone.'' He wrote the pilot script of ''Days of Our Lives'' and gave the series its name. He once said of the title, ''The big guys loved it because it didn't mean a thing.'' He also wrote some episodes of ''Gilligan's Island,'' among other shows. Ms. Gruenberg said that her father tried to fight blacklisting during the McCarthy era by requesting actors whom he knew were controversial because of allegations of Communist connections. When some of them began to be accepted, he knew the situation was easing. He also faced another challenge in bringing the amount of sex to soap operas he sensed viewers desired. Network policies required all actors to have at least one foot on the floor at all times. ''His basic solution was contortionists,'' Ms. Gruenberg said. She described his creative process as simultaneously reading a magazine and playing solitaire in the living room, then retreating to an officer to bang out a complete and almost always perfect script in less than three hours. ''My mother would say: 'Be quiet, Brooke. Daddy's working,' '' she said. ''I had the strangest idea what work was.'' In addition to Ms. Gruenberg, also of Holland, Mr. Gussman is survived by a son, Christopher of Kansas City, and a stepdaughter, Zoe Hollenbeck Barr of Santa Rosa, Calif. He and his first wife, the former Mary Alice Young, the mother of his children, were divorced in 1969. His second wife, the former Angelique Dean Hollenbeck, died in 1985. For years, Mr. Gussman had said he wanted his last words to be memorable. As his death approached, his daughter reminded him of his wish. He slowly removed the oxygen mask, she said, and whispered in the faintest voice: ''And now for a final word from our sponsor. . . .''

To give a clearer picture of how the ratings related to the schedule. Sunday 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC movie Spenser: For Hire Dolly Buck James CBS 60 Minutes Murder, She Wrote movie Fox 21 Jump Street Werewolf Married with Children The Tracey Ullman Show Duet local programming NBC Our House Family Ties My Two Dads movie PBS local programming Masterpiece Theatre Monday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC MacGyver football CBS Frank's Place Kate & Allie Newhart Designing Women Cagney & Lacey NBC ALF The Hogan Family movie Tuesday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Who's the Boss? Growing Pains Moonlighting Thirtysomething CBS Houston Knights Jake and the Fatman The Law & Harry McGraw NBC Matlock J.J. Starbuck Crime Story Wednesday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Perfect Strangers Head of the Class Hooperman The Slap Maxwell Story Dynasty CBS The Oldest Rookie Magnum, P.I. The Equalizer NBC Highway to Heaven A Year in the Life St. Elsewhere Thursday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Sledge Hammer! The Charmings movie CBS Tour of Duty Wiseguy Knots Landing NBC The Cosby Show A Different World Cheers Night Court L.A. Law Friday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Full House I Married Dora Max Headroom 20/20 CBS Beauty and the Beast Dallas Falcon Crest NBC Rags to Riches Miami Vice Private Eye Saturday 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 ABC Once a Hero Ohara Hotel CBS My Sister Sam Everything's Relative Leg Work West 57th Fox Mr. President Women in Prison The New Adventures of Beans Baxter Second Chance local programming NBC The Facts of Life 227 The Golden Girls Amen Hunter

No worries...I'll let you know when she pops up May I propose: Judy Lewis John Loprieno Elizabeth Savage Komrad Matthei Allan Miller Michael Nader Jon Cypher Damien Scheller Dan Frazer

Thanks again for all this info. Re Maxine Stewart on PP. I am currently watching from the start and as of mid 1966, no sight of Mrs Hewit...

And 227 and Amen were winning their time slots on NBC Saturday. Frank's Place on CBS starred Tim and Daphne Reid and was given the prime Monday lead in slot.

That list is all the shows that aired that week. Falcon Crest was not shown as CBS aired a 2 hr Beauty and the Beast 8-10 pm with Dallas at 10. The following week Dallas moved back to 9 and Falcon Crest had its season premiere at 10 Other shows not appearing in premiere week CBS Magnum PI ,The Equalizer. Law and Harry McGraw, Leg Work, West 57th, Everything's Relative and My Sister Sam ABC Head of the Class, Thirtysomething,O'Hara and Hotel NBC Amen, Hunter and LA Law.

Great Thanks!! That Sybil is something else. Funny how episodes of a short lived show surface...would be great if other similar shows eg Hotel Cosmopolitan or The Seeking Heart turned up

Diana Van Der Vlis Geraldine Brooks Lloyd Bochner Maxine Suart William Smithers Richard Cox Gwyda Donhowe Madlyn Rhue Percy Rodriquez

With the fall season upon us, I thought some of you might be interested to see what the Big 3 offered up to begin the 1987/88 TV season. Would welcome any questions/comments and happy to post more if anyone is interested ... Cosby Show NBC 31.5/51 A Different World NBC 31.3/49 Cheers NBC 28.4/44 Night Court NBC 24.9/40 Dolly Show ABC 24.7/38 Who's the Boss? ABC 23.4/39 Growing Pains ABC 23.3/36 Golden Girls NBC 22.3/40 Full House Special ABC 21.7/34 Hooperman NBC 21.5/35 Family Ties NBC 21.0/34 Murder, She Wrote CBS 20.4/32 I Married Dora Special ABC 20.3/33 60 Minutes CBS 20.0/37 Newhart CBS 19.1/30 Monday Night Football ABC 18.7/34 Moonlighting ABC 18.3/32 Slap Maxwell ABC 18.2/31 My Two Dads NBC 18.1/28 Unsolved Mysteries Special NBC 17.9/32 Alf NBC 17.9/29 Designing Women CBS 17.8/28 Head of the Class ABC 17,4/29 227 NBC 17.3/32 Matlock NBC 17.0/27 Dallas CBS 16.9/31 Buck James ABC 16.6/30 Special Movie Presentation CBS 16.6/31 Dynasty ABC 16.5/28 NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC 16.5/27 Cagney & Lacey CBS 16.4/28 Valerie's Family Miami Vice NBC 16.2/29 J.J. Starbuck Special NBC 15.8/30 Kate & Allie CBS 15.6/24 Highway to Heaven NBC 15.6/27 Perfect Strangers ABC 15.2/27 Knots Landing CBS 15.2/27 Facts of Life NBC 14.8/29 20/20 ABC 14.7/28 Equalizer CBS 14.4/24 Frank's Place Special CBS 13.9/23 A Year in the Life NBC 13.8/23 Beauty & the Beast Special CBS 13.5/26 St Elsewhere NBC 13.4/23 NBC Monday Movie 13.4/22 CBS Movie Special 13.1/22 CBS Sunday Movie 12.6/21 Jake and the Fatman Special CBS 12.5/24 Crime Story NBC 12.3/21 ABC Thursday Night Movie ABC 12.2/20 Wiseguy CBS 12.1/19 MacGyver ABC 11.9/20 Private Eye NBC 11.5/22 Rags to Riches NBC 11.2/21 Tour of Duty CBS 10.6/17 Disney Sunday Movie ABC 10.4/19 Oldest Rookie CBS 10.4/18 Our House NBC 10.2/19 Spenser: For Hire ABC 10.1/16 I Married Dora ABC 10.1/18 Houston Knights CBS 9.6/16 Full House ABC 9.3/18 Sledge Hammer ABC 7.9/13 ABC Sat. Night Movie Special ABC 7.3/14 Max Headroom ABC 6.9/13 Charmings ABC 6.7/11 Once a Hero ABC 3.7/7

The reference to Lew as Luke and of Madison are further evidence that Marland had a hand in reshaping DePriest's last week.