Paul Raven

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.

@Paul Raven, I posted this to Janice Lynde's timeline on FB. Many people talking about it, including Janice. 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 79-86That 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.

How did they write Ellen out? Was it like mentioned and living in town but never seen like when Wagner left, or did she go visit Penny? Why did they write her out? How did they write the Judge out, did he die. I remember in an episode with the Greg Marx Tom, during one of Fulton's times off, they talk about Alma like she is alive..did she just disappear one day? 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.

I noticed this, too. Funny, because he also has top billing in the 1978 episode that has been around for a few years. I wonder when that was became standard. The next-earliest credits we have are from '66 (the ONLY black-and-white roll I've seen), and he comes after Don MacLaughlin, Helen Wagner, Nat Polen, and Rosemary Prinz. Polen and Prinz were gone by 1968, so maybe then? Assuming he received top billing at the same time EF received the "and" distinction. 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.

Sorry but Danfling is confusing the Pollocks with Jerome and Bridget Dobson. The Pollocks wrote Brighter Day,Love of Life The Doctors,General Hospital and Dynasty.

Variety Dec 1960 Gwen Van Dam into running role on FTR. This actress is still working today with roles on Angie Tribeca and Hidden America. March 1959 Florence Freeman,for years radio's Young Widder Brown,making her debut on FTR as Dorothy Vail June 61 Barbara Dana into FTR

Variety April 19 1961 Gene Burr is now producer of FTR a few weeks after exiting as program development vp at NBC.

TV Radio Mirror reported in 1959 that Ann Scott,who was playing Miss April on Love of Life,came over from England about a year ago.

Christian Marlowe,real life son of KT Stevens (Vanessa Y&R) auditioned for the role of Lucas,her onscreen son.He did land the role of Andrew Marriott on Love of Life. Hugh Marlowe (Jim AW) was his father. KT was the daughter of movie director Sam Wood.

Re The Egg and I Nancy Carroll, who played Pat Kirkland's mother on the show was in fact her real life mother.Nancy Carroll had been a very popular actress in the early 30's under contract to Paramount. she retired from movies in the late 30's.