Paul Raven

I think the decision to drop Sara was from P&G as another cost cutting/younger push.

Doug Marland kept the Bauers going during his stint and introduced the Reardons as the newer core family to provide a counter balance and fresh story possibilities for the 80s. Once he left both families were lost in the shuffle.By 85 Tony,Nola,Jim etc had already gone and Im sure Chelsea was not a Marland creation in his original family outline. Pam Longs initial revamp brought ratings and interest but the problem was there was little story to sustain the characters long term.Things like Susan Piper and Dreaming Death could have happened to any characters on the canvas.

When Althea returned,the writers at the time decided to kill off Penny. A bizarre decision...Althea had already lost one child,it cut off a whole area of story for her and got rid of a young female character with heaps of story potential that was tied to a legacy character..

I don't know why they didn't just recast Penny,if she was so important to the story. I remember Afternoon TV reviewing Marland's stint and saying that as interesting as the stories were,they were not connected to the hospital and the show was not living up to its title.

Fritz Weaver, who played Hugo Marick, has died at the age of 90. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fritz-weaver-dead-tony-winning-actor-was-90-950718

Geraldine Court debuts Feb 73. That was not long after she was dropped from ATWT in favor of Gillian Spencer as Jennifer Ryan.

Dorothy Lyman played Sarah Jessica Parker's mom in a recent episode of HBOs 'Divorce'.

Thanks so much for posting those ratings.Some very interesting stuff there.Hope you have more to post. So Y&R did hit #1 at that time.Now, I wonder if that was the first time? GH climbing to #2 EON in the top 10. And SFT doing so well, while ATWT was sinking.

Beautiful location and great architectural details,but those fussy, cluttered interiors...

Good question. I never knew GL hit #1 in the late 70s until it was shown in this thread. I wonder when Y&R first hit #1 in the weekly ratings? Was it not until the late 80's when it became #1 overall, or were there isolated weeks before that?

Snapshot of daytime ratings early September 74 10-11.30 CBS wins each slot against NBC (ABC doesn't program this time period) 11.30 - 12.30 NBC wins with Hollywood Squares and Jeopardy 12.30 - 1.00 CBS wins with Search for Tommorow 1.00 - 1.30 ABC All My Children (No network competition) 1.30 - 2.00 CBS As The World Turns 2.00 - 3.30 NBC wins DOOL.,DRS,.AW 3.30 - 4.30 CBS wins with Match Game and Tattletales

My take on this 1. Once Mac died,that whole side of the Cory family lost importance. What explanation was given as to why S&B didn't come to Mac's funeral? Bringing in Maggie,only highlighted that the 'real' Sandy and Blaine weren't available.Maybe if Laura Malone could have been persuaded to make a few appearances? 2. Agree that Jacquie C should have been kept and written for. A relationship with Mac or Mitch (both of which would have respected history) could have kept Rachel and Alice in conflict. 3. Killing Sally.Well, Taylor Miller was leaving and had not been accepted as Sally.Maybe she should have been Marianne Randolph instead? Perhaps Sally has some kind of breakdown and decides to leave Bay City with Kevin.Although that would leave Catlin in limbo. 4. Writing off Liz.This was a mistake. This was the very time that the Matthews needed strengthening.Why not bring in Ricky Matthew,Liz's grandson'.They could have referenced his paternity as part of his character.He could seek out some relatives and mistakenly bond with them,much to Liz's dismay.Mike and Marianne,Russ and a long lost daughter would have been good choices at this time. 5. Cass and Kathleen. Killing off Kathleen was a mistake.I would have Cass return solo as he and Kathleen were having issues.He could sleep with someone who get's pregnant and then Kathleen returns (a recast) and they set about trying to reconcile.The whole pregnancy thing comes out etc 6.Philece should have been Nicole. Sofia Landon as Donna? 7. agree Nancy was tossed away.I'm sure Jane Cameron would have returned.Judi Evans as Nancy is interesting too. Never liked the concept of the Paulina character. 8. Cecile should have been major upon her return. Both character and actress were gold. 9. Re Jamie and Iris. Jamie had been recast so many times and been through a lot of story.I'd rather have him out of town and making appearances when necessary.I wonder if Richard Bekins would have been happy to pop in. from time to time? Same with Iris. 10.Agree re Ryan. Pam and Gerald Davis definitely should have returned. How about Gail Brown/Clarice drops in with teen Cory to spend some time with Ada?

Remember that GL was still 15 mins up till 1967 (along with SFT) so the cast would have been very small with one or two storylines. There wasn't room for much else apart from characters who interacted with the Bauers. Often those characters stayed as long as they were useful and then dropped to make way for new characters who could provide new story for the core people. Unlike recent times when characters stayed on way beyond their use by date,either as window dressing or in totally improbable stories. The expansion to 30 mins allowed for more characters eg Sara,Joe and later the Norris family.

Robert Vaughn, who played Rick Hamlin has died aged 83.

I would imagine he was referring to his earlier stint as Scott Adams and the producer was John Conboy. I think the latter role was a couple of day thing at most.

Variety reported in March 67 that 'Let's Make a Deal' was making some inroads on ATWT. ATWT had a 41 share,lowest since 1960.

Tenous link to OLTL. Broadway actress Tammy Grimes died October 30.She was at one time married to Jeremy Slate who played Chuck.

Between The Doctora and Guiding Light, Allen Potter was EP of How To Survive a Marriage.Not sure if he was there for the entire run of that show?

Don't have the time to watch daily,but did watch the Meg Mundy/Mona episode this week. Good writing here with Mona and Carolee being contrasted and neither going with the cliche villian/victim roles. I think this was Meg Mundy's first soap,although she was doing NY TV as far back as early 50's. Apparently, at one time she co owned a boutique with Lori March.

Re Andy.To say a recast wouldn't be accepted,its not like TPTB really cared about that.They recast Chris so many times,Craig,Dusty,Meg etc They could have least tried with Andy.Maybe it would have worked.It would give Kim and John more to play against...

At one point Jill fantasized that Ryan was in her office in his boxer briefs only! So they were definitely toying with Jill making the moves on Ryan...

I have read many times that Eileen asked for that clause when her son Tom was aged in the late 60's.She saw what happened to Pat Bruder when Dan was Sorased (bumped up a generation and made up and dressed much older).She did indeed originate that clause as far as I'm aware. I can't think of another character in that situation. Maybe Susan Seaforth Hayes should have followed her lead. Mark Galloway was involved with Susan Stewart I believe.

In the bio for actress Lea Floden for the 1990 movie'How to be Louise',it is stated she appeared on SFT and ATWT

Maggie Burke played Audrey Samuels.

Agnes and her OLTL gals in 69