Paul Raven

CBS 1950s After NBC cancelled her first TV soap 'These Are My Children'.Irna Phillips announced she was developing a new serial which had attracted sponsor interest ,thus proving there was interest in daytime soaps and NBC may have been hasty in cancelling. The show was titled 'Challenge To Spring' and expected to air on CBS. 1951 Garden of Eve,from an idea by Jerry Horwin of CBS script department and to be written by Manya Starr. 1953 General Mills may divorce "Bride and Groom" this fall. The program has done a good job for the sponsor in the 12 -12:15 Monday - Wednesday- Friday CBS -TV spot, but the advertiser is considering whether a soap opera might not do even better. GM may program the old soaper, "Woman in White," which was a radio serial. 1954 'Haven House' for actress Joan Bennett. 1957 US version of hit British medical soap 'Emergency Ward 10' with plans to produce it on location at New York's St Luke's Hospital. Actress Margaret'Maggie'Hayes was approached by CBS for the lead in the proposed Mildred Pierce, based on the 1945 Joan Crawford movie.This was shot down due to legal wranglings over ownership of the property. 'The Will to Dream' ready to go.It concerned the relationship between an atomic scientist and his wife,with the background being 'contemporary' and many of the problems 'topical' Doris Frankel was listed as writer.She wrote for GH,SFT and AMC

It was the Tues April 27 episode.

Do the Pollocks depart in 75? I have read that Robert Cenedella was the next writer and then Margaret DePriest. Time will tell if this is correct and what stories these writers introduced.

A shame that Redaric and Lamon were given the axe but the likes of Daniel Goddard and Greg Rikaart and Bryton get to hang around for years..

Earle Hyman, who played Neil Davenport 1970 - 71 has died aged 91.

Della Reese, who guest starred as Aunt Virginia in 2009 has died aged 86.

NBC 1950s 1950 Family Doctor was to be written by John Haggart and produced/directed by Al McCleery who had worked in radio with the prolific Hummerts,who created many radio soaps. Candy and Bill was a domestic comedy packaged by Carol Irwin an ad agency exec who had also worked in radio soaps. 1951 Cinderella Story. Produced by Biography Films, the serial has been optioned by NBC. The estimated cost comes to $11,000.00 for five 15 minute programs weekly. Curtis Mitchell, co-producer along with Blair Wallis. says that by the use of standardization techniques invented for this series the weekly cost is comparable, to the cost of a live serial. A big advantage for advertisers: good prints rather than kinescopes can be distributed to markets which haven't been cleared live. The story line: Young Ohio school teacher wins a cover contest conducted by a famous New York magazine: comes to the big city. This lends itself to another cost-cutter: actual backgrounds will be used. Whenever necessary, the cast will he photographed against Radio City. Statue of Liberty, and other Manhattan sights. Shooting schedule calls for Biography Films to work 20 15 minute episodes ahead on the 35mm. black and white soaper. Sincerely, Katy Randall To be broadcast from Philadelphia 1952 'Hometown USA' ,NBC had a plan for 4 15min soaps under the banner 'Hometown USA'.The idea is that the shows would be cheaper to produce because common permanent sets could be used.The Brooklyn studios were planned as home for these shows. I guess that is the same studio AW taped in. They were to air in the 10.30 - 11.30 a.m.. Each 15 min show would focus on different residents of the town-the doctor,a female personnel manager in a local factory,a mother seamstress and the local grocery store. Some of the supporting characters will appear in all four stories This last segment would be patterned after the successful radio soap 'Vic n Sade' and was to be written by that show's writer Paul Rhymer. Authorities said present thinking is that the sale of two quarter -hours will be sufficient to get the series under way. Talent costs were estimated at less than $9,000 per quarter - hour. NBC -TV officials said an advertiser would have to spend almost $45,000 a week to use a setting comparable to Hometown for his own 15- minute daytime strip. Under the Hometown concept, they reported, this cost is cut as much as 80%. Sylvester L. Weaver Jr., NBC vice president in charge of radio and television, told a news conference t'.:e programs would represent soap opera "on a more interesting level, and more informative," and said it was hoped the new pattern would stimulate writers to move into "new dimensions" which, while providing entertainment, would do more than entertain. With the action of all four plots taking place in a single town, he said, the effects of real -world events can be shown in the actions and reactions of the characters in the stories. He said the programs will have the quality of nighttime shows. Outlines of Hometown's four stories were presented in a kinescope with Dave Garroway as m.c. NBC would not put the show to air until they had substansial sponsorship and obviously that never happened. 1953 'Fisherman's Wharf' produced and directed by Charles Powers. 1983 Flamingo Road . Continuation of nightime soap slotted at 3pm. Change of daytime execs saw it shelved. Edit

Checked out Ariane's website. Another get thin/ make money venture. That's the best headshot she could come up with?

Kathleen Murray's first episode was Monday Feb 10 1958.

I think its the hairy arms on too pale skin that looks off, as he's one of those boyish types that don't age well.

Zalman King film director, writer, actor and producer. His films are known for incorporating sexuality eg Two Moon Junction, 9 and 1/2 Weeks. For TV produced Red Shoe Diaries for Showtime.

Paul Rauch was involved with a proposed late night soap for Fox titled 'Up Against It' Cast included Anthony Addabbo. Donna Swajeski and Zalman King were headwriters. This was in 95.

delete

Just ffing through...that pool party scene had more extras than they've used in all of 2017!

Actor Jack Bannon had died age 77. He played Walter Larkin on Days in 1967 and was also seen in SB,KL,DYN and FC amongst scores of other TV shows. Best known for his role in Lou Grant. Son of Bea Benaderet of Petticoat Junction fame. He was married to Ellen Travolta at one time.

Fair point.

Well, Nina was a character that had never had a cent to her name or much stability, so I could see her being manipulated by a smooth talker. Weren't there some scenes after she first got the money where she had a bunch of hangers on mooching off her and Cricket (of course) had to set her straight about these fake friends?

And it didn't make much of a difference to his appearance...

CAN A RELIGIOUS SOAP OPERA FIND AN AUDIENCE? By KENNETH A. BRIGGS Published: May 31, 1981 Beginning tomorrow, ''Another Life'' a 30-minute, five-day-a-week soap opera will make its debut on 63 stations around the country, including WPIX/Channel 11 in New York, where it will be shown at 12:30 P.M., According to its producers, the difference between ''Another Life'' and major network soap operas is that the new serial will have an underlying religious theme and present positive answers to moral perplexities. Otherwise, viewers can look forward to the usual array of human foibles and miseries. The program appears to be an example of the fact that religious broadcasters, long mainly confined to Sunday mornings, have been branching out in recent years. Acquiring funds and resources, they have purchased more time in weekday slots and launched several ventures in nontraditional religious programming. ''Another Life'' revolves around the Davidson family of Richmond, Va. Scott Davidson, the husband and father, is a television newscaster, and his wife, Terry, is a practical nurse and housewife. The couple's two children are Lori, a college student in love with the school's football hero, Russ Weaver, and Peter, the precocious high-school student son. The Davidsons represent a religious outlook summed up in the premise of the serial that ''faith in God can overcome the trials of life.'' According to the program's producers, the Davidsons teach by example rather than sermon. Though the family goes to church, it is to no church in particular and, from advance descriptions, their theology seems closer to Universalism than to that of Southern Baptists. The idea is to inject subtle spiritual messages. No clergymen appear in the show. The rest of the cast of characters will bring a range of challenges to test the Davidsons' faith. There include the Cummingses, Jeff and Liz, with their marital tensions and alcoholism; Paul and Miriam Mason, he a brooding college teacher and she, according to promotional material, a ''scheming wench''; Miriam's wealthy parents, Charles and Helen Carpenter, who live on Chicago's ''Gold Coast,'' and Gene Redlon, a black colleague of Scott Davidson, who is divorced and lives with his son and mother. Producing the serial is the Continental Broadcasting Network, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the Christian Broadcasting Network of Virginia Beach. At the head of the parent body is its founder, the Rev. Pat Robertson, who is among the most successful of the new wave of television evangelists. Mr. Robertson is perhaps known best as the host of ''The 700 Club,'' a 90-minute Christian talk show that is shown weekdays on hundreds of stations across the country, including WPIX. As his financial resources have grown, mostly through viewer contributions, Mr. Robertson has broadened his vision. Among the main elements in his new goals have been the completion of a modern 160,000 squarefoot television complex in Virginia Beach, the purchase of satellite time on the RCA Satcom I and the formation of the Continental subsidiary to develop commercial programming. The facilities at the Virginia Beach headquarters, where ''Another Life'' originates, have a total of 30,000 square feet of studio space, including two 11,000 square-foot studios and two 3,500 squarefoot studios. It is among the most automated systems in the nation. During its first year, the total production costs of ''Another Life'' are expected to run around $5 million. Largely because of Continental's labor-saving advanced technology and a non-union staff (including all the actors), production costs for individual episodes will be kept well below the $200,000 minimum that the major networks ordinarily spend for a similar half-hour segment (costs can run as high as $500,000 per episode). Under a ''soap-for-barter'' arrangement, each client station will give over to Continental four of the six commercial minutes in each half-hour telecast. The usual agreement is a 50-50 division. But even with a formula comparatively unfavorable to stations, Continental officials claim that the serial has been enthusiastically received. Money for developing the series has been supplied by the Christian Broadcasting Network. Since filming began early this past March, more than 40 episodes have been taped in the studios and on locations in Richmond, as well as along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline and at Colonial Williamsberg. On its own, the Continental Network has moved ahead at an accelerated pace since Robert F. Aaron took over as head of the operation nearly a year ago. Mr. Aaron is hopeful that ''Another Life'' will appeal to the large numbers of college students who regularly watch soap operas; housewives, of course, are another target audience. Mr. Aaron and his colleagues believe their serial can provide a much needed moral alternative to other soap operas. In response to the ''mindless prurience'' found in much daytime television, he says, ''we feel a need for quality, wholesome programming.'' Before joining Continental as executive producer, Mr. Aaron directed his own production and consulting firm and, in that capacity, had worked with the Christian Broadcasting Network. When Mr. Robertson decided it was time to move ahead with Continental's new programming agenda, he turned to Mr. Aaron, who had an extensive professional background in both soap operas and other forms of daily television, including 17 1/2 years with the National Broadcasting Company. For six years, he had been the network's national director of daytime programming. He helped develop three of NBC's long-running soap operas: ''Days of Our Lives,'' ''The Doctors'' and ''Another World.'' When Mr. Aaron took command as head of Continental, he began reviewing progress on an idea for a daytime ''Christian serial'' that Mr. Robertson had conceived a year-and-a-half earlier. Two writers had been working on scripts for the project, and Mr. Aaron's mandate was to make the series, tentatively named ''The Light Inside,'' compete successfully in the daytime commercial market. Mr. Aaron was not pleased with what he saw in those preliminary scripts. ''They were essentially written from a totally Biblicalparable point of view,'' he explained recently. ''The Bible was quoted up front.'' In short, he said, they were ''heavily didactic and a little smug.'' The problem, as he saw it, was that a direct religious approach could alienate viewers. In addition to Bible quotes and ''sermonettes,'' the original scripts had characters giving accounts of their spiritual experiences. Scott and Terry Davidson, for example, clearly identified themselves as born-again Christians, each citing the time that personal conversion had taken place. Any debate concerning the Christian content of the new serial might seem ironic in light of Mr. Robertson's reputation for speaking the Gospel message directly and uncompromisingly. Further, he belongs to a wider community of evangelicals who believe that the road to salvation is narrow and cannot be circumvented. But about a year or so ago, in an attempt to gain a hearing among those who might not be reached by a preaching or talk-show format, Mr. Robertson had embarked on a new television strategy. Indeed, in this effort to expand his audience, he has somewhat softened his own approach on ''The 700 Club.'' The assumption behind this strategy is that viewers who begin by watching low-key religious programming may eventually be more receptive to programs with a stronger religious content. After convincing Mr. Robertson that ''The Light Inside'' needed to be toned down if the serial was to stand a chance of reaching the wider audience Mr. Robertson sought, Mr. Aaron hired Roy Winsor, a 20-year veteran of network television who once produced ''Have Gun, Will Travel,'' as script supervisor. A thorough revision of the scripts got underway. One of the origianl writers was retained, the other went to work for the parent organization and additional writers were hired. Under the new concept, religion was to be brought into the scripts only where it might seem logical or natural for the characters to introduce a spiritual or moral note. The accounts of the Davidsons' conversion were stricken in favor of a low-key approach in which the couple becomes more a symbol of religion in general than of religion in a concrete denominational form. What the producers hope to achieve are opportunities to deliver discreet object lessons and gentle persuasion in the midst of the sort of tribulation that has become the hallmark of the soap opera. ''Another Life,'' states the promotional material, ''will not avoid dealing with the provocative subject matter of promiscuity, adultery, child abuse, aberrations of personality, jealousy, pride, fierce ambition and lust -all of which lure over 100 million people every week to view some form of soap opera.'' ''The dfference between our serial and others,'' it continues, ''is that Scott and Terry Davidson will demonstrate that they have the courage and inner strength to handle whatever life visits on them. The source of their strength is God.'' One example Mr. Aaron cites proudly to show how the serial applies its own moral message is a scene that raises the issue of pre-marital sex. In the setting, a picnic, Russ Weaver makes repeated advances to Lori Davidson; in a demonstration of her strong faith, she finally succeeds in fending him off by giving him a sandwich. ''Oh, great,'' Russ says good-naturedly, ''we've made it to premarital lunching.'' An opportunity for a more explicit religious theme takes place in another scene where Liz Cummings, whose travail includes a failing marriage and an alcoholic husband, asks Terry Davidson where she finds the strength to face her own problems. The answer is, of course, spiritual. Mr. Aaron and his associates are convinced that Americans are wallowing in enough moral turmoil to provide plenty of customers for a show that promises at least some answers. Yet, for financial and promotional reasons, they are also skittish about linking the serial too closely to a Christian identity. Viewers, station managers and advertisers could all be chased away by such a label, the Continental officials believe; thus, efforts have been made to keep Continental at arms length from the activities of the Christian Broadcasting Network. ''A lot of stations are watching us to see how we do it,'' Mr. Aaron said. ''The more religious slant we have, the less advertisers might appreciate the line of demarcation that we have tried to put forth.'' He recalled one potential sponsor who asked, ''How far are you planning to go with the God bit?'' and wanted assurances that the serial would not be ''Lamp Unto My Feet'' (a former CBS Sundaymorning religious program) in commercial form. The delicate process of negotiating these and other issues with independent stations and advertisers has been handled by a team of seasoned professionals hired by the network. Lloyd Watson, the director of programming for Continental, came from an executive position at 20th-Century Fox. Peter Andrews, the associate producer, produced ''The Guiding Light'' for eight years at CBS. Richard McHugh, chief consultant for network sales, once supervised budgets for all of NBC's divisions and later joined Needham, Harper and Steers as senior vice president for programming and network relations. Perhaps the key decision reached by the Continental staff was to steer clear of direct competition with other soap operas. Many stations that plan to show the new serial also carry ''The 700 Club,'' and Continental officials hope to forge a chain of attractive offerings on the success of ''Another Life.'' Already on the drawing boards are plans for game shows, a sports series and a 6 A.M. wake-up rival to the networks' morning-news programs. Will ''Another Life'' make these goals possible? Mr. Aaron exudes unshakable confidence. ''I am not the kind of guy plagued by doubts,'' he says. ''I am stepping forward in faith.'' 1 2 NEXT PAGE >

DAYTIME TV'S RATINGS DRAMA By PETER KERR Published: August 18, 1984 Can ABC find happiness as the nation's No. 2 purveyor of soap operas? Is NBC, for years a bit player in daytime television, ready for a starring role? Does CBS have trouble attracting young women viewers? Such are the questions being asked by executives in the continuing drama of daytime television, a story of network rivalry for the eyes and ears of Americans before 4:30 P.M. and for more than $1 billion in annual advertising revenues. As the new television season begins next month, the networks' new prime-time evening schedules will probably attract the attention of most viewers and television critics. But industry executives, advertisers and analysts will also be scrutinizing the fate of daytime programs, which often provide the networks with more than half their profits. The competition in daytime this year is particularly fierce. For the first time since 1977, CBS has passed ABC in the daytime ratings. NBC, meanwhile, has revamped its daytime schedule and made a major investment in a new afternoon soap opera. All this takes place against a backdrop of growing revenues in daytime television, as advertisers spend more to reach a highly prized audience of women aged 18 to 49. Big Money, Viewer Loyalty ''There is far more money in daytime than any other part of the schedule,'' said Robert C. Butler, a group executive vice president at NBC. ''The difference between our ratings and the other networks could easily account for a $100 million difference in pretax profits.'' To be sure, the networks charge advertisers far more for 30-second spots in prime time - 8 to 11 P.M. - than in daytime. But an hourlong prime-time show, such as NBC's ''The A-Team,'' costs the network $800,000 an episode, Mr. Butler said. By contrast, five hours of an afternoon soap opera cost only $550,000. And, he noted, there are 12 minutes of commercial time in a daytime hour, nearly twice as much as in prime time. Another factor that makes daytime programming important to the networks is viewer loyalty. Daytime viewers tend to watch the same afternoon soap operas for years, adopting characters like family members and staying with them as they age. It can take years for a soap opera to build an audience, but an established program can provide big revenues for decades. According to Alan Gottesman, a security analyst with L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, prices have risen 15 percent in the past year for long- term advance purchases of daytime advertising time. ''As we see a great unit price expansion in prime time, advertisers are looking at other parts of the schedule,'' he said. ''Daytime is the chief beneficiary.'' CBS Scores an Upset Although the networks will not disclose their daytime advertising revenues, Mr. Gottesman estimated that in the past season ABC's share was approximately $600 million, CBS's $350 million and NBC's $250 million. For years, ABC dominated daytime with the traditional formula for success: game shows and reruns of situation comedies in the morning and soap operas in the afternoon. In the late 1970's one of ABC's afternoon soap operas, ''General Hospital,'' became something of a cultural phenomenon, with millions of viewers tuning in daily to watch the exploits of Luke and Laura, the main characters. As recently as the 1980-81 season, ABC programs had a commanding lead between 10 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. They garnered an 8.2 rating and a 30 share that season, to CBS's 6.8 rating and 26 share. NBC trailed badly with a 4.3 rating and a 17 share. A rating point is 1 percent of all the homes with television sets in the nation, or approximately 838,000 households. A share is 1 percent of the households watching television at a given time. But ABC's lead has been steadily shrinking, and this season CBS scored an upset, achieving a 7.1 rating and a 25 share in daytime, to ABC's 6.7 rating and 22 share. NBC advanced as well, to a 5.1 rating and an 18 share. ''ABC's problem is it just lost the momentum it had years ago,'' said Michael Brockman, vice president, daytime and children's programming for CBS. One of the big problems for ABC is in the 11 A.M.-to-noon period, considered a critical ''lead-in'' hour to the afternoon block of soap operas. ABC last year introduced a new half-hour soap opera at 11:30, entitled ''Loving,'' which has so far failed to attract large audiences. In addition, ''General Hospital'' and the network's other afternoon dramas have experienced audience declines. Spokesmen for ABC argue that the CBS ratings lead is deceptive, since ABC still has an edge in the audience most attractive to advertisers: women 18 to 49. And CBS has failed to shine with those younger women; in the 1983-84 season, ABC achieved a 6.2 rating among women in that age group, against CBS's 4.3 rating and NBC's 3.1. ''In the spring our daytime dramas suffered because the story lines of the shows all softened at the same time,'' said Marvin S. Mord, the vice president for marketing and research services for ABC. The network has made an effort to beef up the plots of all of its soap operas, he said, and as a result, he expects traditional ABC viewers to return this fall. The network also hopes to strengthen its 11 A.M. time period with a new game show, ''Trivia Trap,'' which resembles the successful board game Trivial Pursuit. Because much television advertising time is sold in advance and the daytime revenues for all three networks are growing, industry analysts say ABC has not yet lost money as a result of its slip in the ratings. ''There is no cause for panic at ABC,'' said John Reidy, broadcast analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert. ''But if CBS contines making the same progress this season, it will make a difference.'' Changes at NBC The third-place contender in the daytime race, NBC, has made major changes in its daytime line-up over the last two years. A long list of programming failures, including such entries as the game show ''Just Men'' and the soap opera ''Texas,'' were tried and tossed aside. ''The week I got to NBC we were running three ratings points behind ABC,'' said Brian Frons, vice president for daytime programs, who came to NBC in 1982. ''It was not a pretty sight.'' The network buttressed its soap opera production staffs, Mr. Frons said, so that more writers would be involved in planning the program plots. NBC tried, he said, to make the shows faster-paced with more scenes per broadcast, and introduced younger characters to attract more viewers under 35. Those moves seem to have paid off in improved ratings. NBC's most important decision, however, was to broadcast a 3 P.M. soap opera called ''Santa Barbara,'' about love, infidelity and intrigue in the coastal Califoria city. The network may have to contend with relatively low ratings for at least a year before executives know whether the new drama is a success or a failure.

This topic got archived, so I will start it up again and bring over the info gathered on the previous thread, as well as updating. Young Lives ANEW syndicated soap opera may have found the ultimate approach to ''give 'em what they want'' programming. ''Young Lives'' is having a ''special preview'' this week at 5:30 P.M. on WPIX-TV, Channel 11. Viewers who watch all five episodes are being asked to answer several questions being published in the current issue of TV Guide. Among other things, the producers want to know if the situations and characters are realistic: Which characters did you find most interesting? Most realistic? Would you watch ''Young Lives'' on a regular basis? Would you watch it with your family? Would you prefer to see it in the afternoon, early evening or after 10 P.M.? Presumably the answers to these burning questions will be carefully collated by the psychologists and family counselors who are said to have helped in the preparation of the show, and the producers will be left with a thoroughly computerized foolproof construction. Judging from Monday's first half-hour episode, ''Young Lives'' is about as realistic as any other soap opera -and that observation is not intended to be snide. For years, the soaps have been tackling social problems well before they or the dramatic treatments of them were allowed into the more heavily patrolled precincts of primetime. Using a clever, carefully calculated mix of realism and fantasy, ''daytime drama'' weaves its own special spell. The problem is that the plot lines, devised and usually written by committees, tend to be superficial and simpleminded, more concerned with milking a story for as long as possible than with exploring its more complicated ramifications. ''Young Lives'' would appear to be no exception to the hackneyed norm. The series is being touted in the ads as being ''about young people, and the people who share their lives - about romance, rebellion, relationships.'' The people who share their lives seem to be parents. Susan's mother, for instance, is recently divorced and is being wooed by Johnny, the rough-edged owner of a nightclub. Johnny is not totally uncouth. He does recognize the name of Mikhail Baryshnikov when it's mentioned, though he quickly notes that ''Misha'' is a great athelete. Problem No. 1 is that Susan, who is trying to get admitted to the American Dance Conservatory, does not like Johnny. When he tries to be friendly and says something about Susan having a job at his place, she shouts, ''I didn't take dance lessons for 10 years to work in your stupid club.'' Mother looks understandably apprehensive. At high school, Susan and her friends spend most of their time in a luncheonette setting complete with booths and pinball machines. Here they talk about whether to have one or two ears pierced, or who has invited whom to the weekend party. Prominent in this group is Problem No. 2, a pretty young woman named Rachel, who is aggressive, bitchy and experienced. Slithering up to Brad, the local nice guy and allround heartthrob, Rachel begins nibbling at his face. ''C'mon, Rachel, not here,'' whispers embarrassed Brad. ''Well,'' smirks Rachel, ''let's go somewhere else.'' The third problem is Dirk, Melanie's younger brother who is obviously flying high on something as he listens, droopy eyed, to Bruce Springsteen in his loudly blaring portable radio. Melanie admits to her friends that ''Dirk is having a little problem right now.'' Meanwhile, there is Tony, a dark-haired ethnic type, who is also catching the attention of many of the girls. Obviously bad news, Tony seems to be a friend of Dirk's even though he looks several years older. But when Tony asks ''You wanna do something?'' visions of joints begin dancing in Dirk's head. Clearly, a lot of plot was stuffed into the first episode of ''Young Lives.'' At fadeout, Dirk's mother was confronting him with a strange looking object - a water pipe for smoking pot - that she found in his bedroom. He insisted that it was an incense burner. She was deciding to show it to his father. He was looking increasingly glum. Would I watch this on a regular basis? I don't think so, but I probably would dip into it once a month just to see how things are going with the kids.

AS WORLD TURNS FOR ISLAND ACTRESS By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER Published: October 24, 1982 EVERY now and then, Marilyn Raphael walks out the door of her ranch-style home in Merrick, hops on her bicycle (equipped with two baskets) and pedals off to the supermarket. And every now and then, while she shops, someone walks up to her and says, ''Aren't you on 'As the World Turns?' '' The answer is, of course, yes, because for nearly a year now, Miss Raphael (though married, she uses her maiden name in her career) has been playing the role of Madame Koster, a psychic medium, on the popular CBS network soap opera. And when Miss Raphael says yes in that Merrick supermarket, the next question is likely to be, ''What are you doing here?'' The rest of the dialogue goes something like this: ''I live here and I shop here.'' ''You do? I can't believe it.'' Miss Raphael says, ''They all believe we live some glamorous life in New York.'' Though she has been an actress since her childhood in Brooklyn, Miss Raphael, who is 50, has been living in Merrick since 1959 with her husband, a corporation president, and she has spent much of that time raising a family of two girls and a boy, who are all now in their 20's. Still, during the years since her graduation in 1950 from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School, which awarded her a gold medal for dramatic art, she has managed to appear in a variety of roles in a variety of mediums. She has worked in theater, radio, television and film - and in theater, for example, in roles in scripts by such playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Moliere and Neil Simon. ''I've never been a leading lady,'' says Miss Raphael. ''I've never been an ingenue. I've always done heavy roles.'' It was one of these heavy roles -the mentally disturbed overprotective mother of a retarded boy - that Miss Raphael was enacting in a play called ''Imperceptible Grief'' in New York City at the Actors Theater of America last autumn when she was spotted by casting directors for ''As the World Turns.'' Not long afterward, as she was preparing to take a vacation in Florida, Miss Raphael received a telephone call from CBS asking if she were available for the role of a psychic medium on ''As the World Turns.'' ''Originally, it was, as far as I know, a one-shot, but I've been extended for 10 months,'' she says. ''The writers developed my story line. I have been turned into a villainess. The audience doesn't know whether I am a genuine psychic or a phony.'' Some fans, she notes, have asked if she really is a medium. ''That means they believe what I'm doing,'' says Miss Raphael. ''That means I've done my homework.'' When it comes to acting, Miss Raphael, who has trained others in workshops all over the Island, says: ''I have my own method, because I've studied so many different techniques and because I teach as well. I go for the truth of the character. I do research. If I am playing a widow, I will talk to heads of widow groups, because I'm not a widow. I will talk to widows, if it's not too painful for them. I will read books about widowhood. I try to be truthful. You owe the audience the truest chartacter you can bring them.'' Miss Raphael describes performing in soap operas on television (she's also appeared in ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live'') as ''probably the most pressured acting job there is, because in one day you're turning out one hour. Usually you start work at 7 in the morning, so your day can be from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. and sometimes 10 o'clock at night.'' Still, it is clear that she regards the experience as satisfying. In the meantime, says Marilyn Raphael, ''I'm just a normal suburban housewife who happens to be on network television.''

TV: 'LOVING,' NEW ABC SOAP OPERA By JOHN J. O'CONNOR THERE is a new soap opera in television town. It's called ''Loving'' and can be seen weekdays at 11:30 on ABC, representing the first new ''daytime drama'' that the network has commissioned in eight years. One of the architects of the plot is Agnes Nixon, the so-called soap queen whose successes include ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live.'' Credit is also given to Douglas Marland, who, as head writer on the project, is clearly in charge of ongoing developments. ''Loving'' remains true to the basic construction that is the hallmark of all soap operas. Instead of a hospital setting, through which can pass a variety of sterotypes, the new show revolves around a university campus situated in a geographically vague Northeastern town called, of all things, Corinth. Moving right up into the 1980's, the heroine is a television news anchor named Merrill Vochek, product of a modest family background but obviously destined for bigger things. She is described in one network release as ''idealistic, caring and ready to fight for what she wants out of life.'' The going, needless to say, won't be easy. In a special two-hour television movie that launched the series Sunday night, Merrill found evidence of a prostitution ring involving students at Alden University. Unfortunately, her initial informant was later found dead in a motel room. Scrawled across the bathroom mirror in lipstick was the message: ''Whores Must Die.'' A classic bit of soap dialogue was exchanged between the two investigating policeman: The first: ''What a waste, huh?'' The second: ''You telling me?'' Details of the prostitution business were kept rather hazy. It seemed the recruits were poor students who could not exist solely on skimpy financial grants from a work-study program. But the very subject was a signal that ''Loving'' is going to tackle ''serious'' stuff. Reportedly on tap for future plotlines, for example, are explorations of alcoholism and AIDS. More to the point, the prostitution gambit provided a vehicle for introducing most of the major characters. Merrill can move easily among different groups of people. She is having an affair with her childhood sweetheart, Douglas Donovan, the boy next door who is a model of innocent goodness. Douglas is the kind of guy who, when finding Merrill and his mother in the family kitchen, can exclaim, ''Well, my two favorite women in the world!'' Merrill loves Douglas, but not quite enough to marry him. Meanwhile, Douglas's brother, Mike, is a cop who is not necessarily impressed with the powerful and their ''fancy shindigs.'' At the other end of the social scale, there are the Forbeses. Roger Forbes, son of a self-made millionaire, is a former Congressman with Presidential ambitions. He becomes the new president of Alden University. Someone helpfully notes that a similar position didn't hurt the careers of Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the process, Roger bumps to the lesser position of dean Garth Slater, one of the more slimy villains to grace a soap-opera stage in recent times. Roger and his wife have two children: the beautiful but dangerously scheming Lorna, and the handsome, athletic Jack who, in addition to running around in skimpy shorts most of the time, happens to be adopted. Sunday night's movie also included the one-time-only characters of Roger's father, Johnny, and his former love interest Amelia Whitley, secretary to the university president. Scorned by Johnny, Amelia was desperate for revenge and, as it turned out, she was the organizer of the prostitution ring. After finally killing Johnny, she was hauled off, one hopes to an appropriate insitution. Giving this utter nonsense a modicum of interest was the casting. Johnny was played by Lloyd Bridges, Amelia by Geraldine Page, who kept lurching about wearing crazy hats and puffing on odd cigarettes. Faced with a hopeless situation, Miss Page evidently decided to unveil her own special impersonation of a Russian empress. As the writers would have it, on the special and on Monday's first episode of the series, idealistic Merrill and rich Roger are falling in love with each other. She has qualms because he is married. He is determined. Daughter Lorna is watching carefully, eager to make trouble for everybody in sight. Meanwhile, son Jack is falling for delicate Lily, daughter of the abominable Garth. Finding her alone in the garden, Jack says, ''Hello, there.'' Smiling shyly, she responds, ''Hello.'' This pregnant exchange was followed by a commercial break. Returning to the story, Lily reveals, ''I want to be a concert pianist some day.'' Still waiting in the wings to be introduced are Merrill's brother, a priest, and Douglas's sister, a star college athelete. In case anybody missed the point, an announcer at the end of the first episode boomed on rhapsodically about ''the warmth of the Donovan family, the mystery of the Slater family, the conflicts of the Forbes family - the passion, the power, the drama of 'Loving.' '' What the world needs now, especially the world of soap opera, is a good, unvarnished sense of shame. The one note of interest in this entire enterprise is struck, against formidable odds, in the solid performance, at times suggesting a wicked parody of Jessica Savitch, of Patricia Kalember as Merrill. Joe Stuart is the producer of ''Loving.''

New York Times July 2 1983 A PRIME TIME SOAP OPERA SPENDS THE SUMMER IN THE HAMPTONS By ANDREW L. YARROW Two wealthy, socially prominent families are locked in a head-on struggle for the fortune they jointly control. A manipulative financier, driven by mysterious motives, wants to topple them both. All inhabit a world of spectacular affluence, vicious power plays and enough illicit liaisons to ruffle all but the most jaded sensibility. Sound like ''Dallas'' or ''Dynasty''? It is not. It is ''The Hamptons,'' a new five-part dramatic series that will have its premiere on ABC this Wednesday at 9 P.M. Just two months ago, a television crew descended on the fashionable oceanfront resort area to record the intricacies of this new primetime soap opera, wherein life is rarely peaceful or uncomplicated. The plot of ''The Hamptons'' focuses on two old-line New York families who, together, own a venerable department store chain and commute between spacious Manhattan apartments and opulent East Hampton retreats. Woven in are enough sexual and family intrigues to entice any soap-opera aficionado. What really distinguishes ''The Hamptons'' from other prime-time serials has as much to do with network fortunes as with any attempt to depict life in that affluent Eastern playground.First, the show is one of nine new prime-time series to be introduced this summer (five are on ABC alone). Instead of the usual off-season glut of rebroadcasts, all three of the networks, for the first time, are offering a remarkable amount of original programming. This is part of a concerted effort to stay the ever-mounting erosion of their share of the evening television audience - lost largely to more engaging or newer fare on cable and independent stations. Network executives also see the summer - a time of lessened ratings pressure - as an opportunity to nurture shows that might serve as midseason replacements next year. Thus, ''The Hamptons'' is a rather unusual hybrid - part summer series and part extended pilot. ABC is cushioning this videotaped project in a secure niche between two series with established followings - ''The Fall Guy'' and ''Dynasty.'' ''The Hamptons have a protected mystique that only certain people know about,'' said Leigh Taylor-Young last month during a break in the shooting. Miss Taylor-Young was one of the cast members who came East on very short notice after ABC gave the go-ahead to begin taping the series. As the cameras whirred behind the gazebo of the sprawling, wood-shingled mansion being used as the Chadways' home, the actress predicted that the series will ''take the veneer off the Hamptons and offer a look in on the very wealthy.'' In ''The Hamptons,'' above the dunes, along Further and Lily Pond Lanes, saltwater ponds bordered by lush, carefully groomed shrubbery separate the stately homes of the Chadways, Mortimers and Nick Atwater. The saga pits the easy-going and relatively unpretentious Peter and Lee Chadway (Michael Goodwin and Miss Taylor-Young) against Jay Mortimer (John Reilly), the younger second husband of Adrienne Duncan-Mortimer (Bibi Besch), who is scheming to take control of the Duncan family fortune into which he has married. Inadvertently bringing the two clans together is the developing summer romance between young Tracy Mortimer (Holly Roberts) and Brian Chadway (Craig Sheffer). Looming over both families is the Gatsbylike Nick Atwater (Daniel Pilon), chairman of a huge, somewhat shady export business, who gets to and from the city by private helicopter. Like ''Dallas'' and ''Dynasty,'' ''The Hamptons'' proceeds from the premise that the seemingly charmed lives of the very rich hide a lurid underside. According to Burt Brinckerhof, the series' director, who has summered in the Hamptons since childhood, the story is about ''people who make mistakes, recognize them, and have to deal with them - but, since they're powerful, they try to take shortcuts.'' Nonetheless, he adds, viewers will see ''the wealthy and the powerful having the same problems we all have, with the difference being that they are trying to escape them through a fantasy life.'' Yet, most viewers would be hard pressed to remember when they last had to worry about getting the helicopter out to get away from town for the weekend. ''The Hamptons'' is a Gloria Monty Production in association with Comworld Productions. Charles Pratt is the producer and the series was created by veteran television writers William Bast and Paul Huson, whose numerous credits include last year's ''Tucker's Witch.'' Many of the participants have worked before on soap operas: Miss Monty as producer of ''General Hospital,'' for five years the top-rated daytime serial on television, as well as ''Secret Storm'' and ''Bright Promise''; Miss Taylor-Young was a principal in the original night-time melodrama ''Peyton Place''; Miss Besch has been a regular on a number of daytime serials. According to Miss Monty, executive producer of ''The Hamptons,'' it was Ann Daniel, ABC's vice president of dramatic series development on the West Coast, who last fall approached her to do a videotaped summer series in New York. However, the network decided to set the show in the Hamptons only a few months before shooting began. The series was shot entirely on location at two East Hampton homes and at a variety of settings around New York City, including the DuPont mansion in Westbury, L.I. (Nick Atwater's house) and the Apthorp apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side (Peter Chadway's in-town home). Despite the cloudy weather this spring, which made it ''pretty chilly for the actresses on the beach in bikinis,'' Mr. Brinckerhof says, ''it was always sunny in the Hamptons for our purposes.'' Yet, while efforts have been made to evoke the cultivated, well-todo world of the resort area, neither Dean & DeLuca, the gourmet-food shop, nor Guild Hall, the famed artists' workshop/gallery, appear in ''The Hamptons''; these two bastions of status, in Mr. Brinckerhof's words, ''didn't have quite the right flavor'' for the purposes of the televised ''Hamptons.'' And that highly exclusive outpost, the Maidstone Club, does not figure in the series either, because the management would not permit its premises to be seen on the home screen. Consequently, a fictionalized country club, the Canterbury, was concocted for ''The Hamptons'' by filming at a Westchester club. The Hamptons' calendar being what it is, the social whirl on which the area's reputation rests all but comes to an end right after Labor Day. If the series proves successful in the ratings and ABC decides to put it into its 1984 schedule, this could pose something of a dilemma for the show's story line. Nonetheless, Miss Monty insists that there will be ''a lot of different twists'' to keep the contenders for Duncan-Chadway traveling between Manhattan and Long Island even during the winter. Indeed, the timeless social and dramatic geography of the series is perhaps best expressed by one brief exchange between David Landau (Phil Casnoff) and his girl, Cheryl Ashcroft (Kate Dezina). When he says to her on the telephone that whatever she has to tell him (she's pregnant, of course) will have to wait for the weekend in the Hamptons, she replies archly, ''Doesn't everything?''