Paul Raven

I'm sure there are many more episodes retained by producers,directors,actors etc.

For example Ann Williams children had Search episodes never seen before from 76.

Robin Eisenman was the first Jennifer. She later played Nurse Stacey on GH and subbed as Nikki on Y&R.

I can't imagine George Gaynes as Sam.Was this intentional to make Sam less appealing and strengthen Jo/Tony?

I agree with Carl about Sayno's posts. It is great to read his perspective on the soaps of that time. Please keep posting,it is much appreciated.

Carl,unfortunately i cannot tell you which issue the synopsis is from as I have the synopsis only,not the complete issues.

I believe that Bunim started her soap career on search as a production assistant or similar and worked her way up.It's sad to think that she wanted to get rid of Jo,the only constant (apart from Stu)from the beginning.One factor may have been that Mary Stuart was very vocal and protective of her character and the show and perhaps Bunim saw this as some sort of threat.

Carl,thanks for posting the article.Do have any others in the series?

It's interesting to see an opinion piece from that time rather than just a synopsis.As regards the treatment of 'feminist' characters,perhaps it's indicative of the the attitudes of the time. The viewers were homemakers and so career women were presented as less than sympathetic to make women at home feel good about themselves.Kathy had an abortion and was presented as selfish for not wanting a child.

I read that Tony Vincente was killed off because Anthony George wanted to leave.I think Jo and Tony were popular,especially considering that Tony came along after Sam,who was very popular as partner to Jo.I can imagine that with Jo and Tony happy,there wasn't much for them to do and Anthony George may have been bored in the role. Tony and Jo were married in 72 and he died in 75.

Jo had a tough year in 76,being shot in May and then having her sister shot in November!

Courtesy of French Fan July 74

Search For Tomorrow

Written by : Gabrielle Upton

Produced by : Woody Klose

Paula Markham insisted the arrival of her former fiance, Mitch Farmer meant nothing and insisted she and Stu went on with their wedding plans. However, Stu forced her to admit she had feelings for Mitch. He cancelled the wedding and left Paula and Mitch plan their life together. Eunice was upset that upon returning from their honeymoon, John would rather attend a charity ball than rush to bring home her daughter Suzie who was having trouble adjsting to John.

Len, after leaving Seattle to be with Patti, began drinking heavily when he learned the doctor who replaced him was taking credit for his work. Jennifer was furious to learn her mother suffered a heart attack and her father did not tell her. She asked Scott to accompany her home to Wahsington where her mother died. She sought comfort from Scott. Mr. Pace told Jennifer he liked Scott but opposed the fact Scott was married. In Washington, Scott saw Doug and learned he was walking again. He explained his situation with Kathy. When Kathy called to tell Scott she had finished in California, Jennifer answered and Scott told Kathy that he and Jennifer were having an affair. Shocked, she asked Doug’s help and told him Scott had to be back to Henderson or she’d go to Europe. Doug took his car to find his son. Meanwhile, Len, drunk, drove into Doug’s car. He reported the accident anonymously and left without noticing Doug was the passenger. Tony operated on Doug but injuries raised the possibility he might not work again. Len was upset to overhear a policeman saying the hit and run car would be tracked down by paint smears on Doug’s car. Scott felt great guilt. Jennifer supported him but Scott realized Kathy must have thought he would not want to save their marriage and had already left.

Stephanie confronted Tony on his feelings. He admitted being physically attracted to her but he loved Jo. Upset, Stephanie took time foff to visit her step-mother, Rainey who cared for Stephanie’s nine year old daughter, Wendy. She decided to bring them to Henderson. Patty learned Stephanie had a child and Stephanie said she divorced Wendy’s father after two years of marriage.

Jump forward to June 76

Jennifer snuggles close to John. She loves these early morning hours when she can bathe in his manly scent, while he sips his cup of coffee. She feels so warm, protected and safe in his arms. (the arms that she lied to get!) It's a perfectly beautiful way to start the day.

Happiness (sometimes) is a fleeting thing. Jennifer's morning happiness is interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell. This blond (lying) lovely is quite surprised to see a police officer standing in her doorway. He comes bearing (he feels) good news. The officer tells Jennifer they have picked up the man who attacked her, and they would like Jennifer to come down to the station and identify him. The color drains from Jennifer's face, turning her cream white complexion even whiter. She tries to get out of going downtown (she feigns fright) but John convinces her identifying the man is the only right thing to do. Jennifer's caught; there's no way out, she agrees to look at the line up.

After the policeman leaves, John tells Jennifer she need have no fear that he will pack up and go as soon as she identifies the man. "I can't leave," John confesses, "it suddenly dawned on me that I don't want Eunice anymore."

Liza's beauty and Steve's songwriting ability may end up enriching (financially, anyway) their lives. Liza is offered a job as a model and Steve has composes a catchy folk tune, which he has sent out to recording companies. The coming days may hold a few surprises for the Kaslos

In answer to an earlier question,Kathryn Harrold left at the end of 77 after Jason and Nola married. When they returned from their honeymoon,Kathleen Turner was playing Nola.

Three more in 1977

AW

John Aprea,who would later appear as Lucas,replaced David Ackroyd as Dave Gilchrist while Ackroyd filmed a pilot called 'Exo-Man'

AMC

Humphrey Davies subbed for Hugh Franklin as Charles Tyler when Franklin had a gall bladder attack and was hospitalized.

OLTL Susan McArthur replaced Kathy Glass as Jenny

Would love to read the L&F write up.

As for the performance of the show,both CBS and ABC had quite an advantage in that SFT had been running in that slot for over 25 years and RH had made quite an impression also,both critically and ratings wise.

SFT was in 5th place and RH in 8th (after only 2 years,ahead of OLTL and GH and doing well in young demos)

NBC had never run a soap in that timeslot and their soaps were tumbling. AW was still #2 but Days was #7 and TD #11 Add to that the negative reaction to the show itself and you have a recipe for disaster.

Yanking it off air seems quite drastic.Other new soaps have retooled while on air and the changes made after all those months were minimal anyhow.

Then to come back as FRFP and be slotted at 1.00 was insane. NBC hadn't run a network show in that slot since the 50's. And to go up against AMC which was peaking was madness. And the lead in was the flop talkshow America Alive. Maybe if they had been slotted at 4.00 after AW or at 2.30 following Days and moving The Doctors.

I would love to know more behind the scenes stuff about daytime at that time. Who was NBC daytime boss?

Looking at the cast of FRFP it's interesting to see that several performers quickly moved to other shows,while some vanished off the face of the earth.

Rod Arrants and Stephen Burleigh went to SFT

Stephen Joyce,Christine Jones and Richard Backus went to AW

Cynthia Bostick and Dennis Romer to ATWT

Robert Burton to TD

Breon Gorman to OLTL

Whatever happened to Flora Plumb,David Abbott, Julia MacKenzie etc?

Thought I'd start an official thread for these two.

SOD synopsis Jan 78

Connie still hasn't gotten Bill to marry her... but she isn't given up yet. Plan A (pretending to give their soon-to-be-born baby up for adoption) failed miserably, but plan B (faking suicide) should work well.

Plan A should have resulted in wedding bells; but what Connie heard instead was the sound of the judge's gavel. Bill took her to court. Wanting desperately to block the adoption, he sued for custody of their child. He didn't win the suit, but he did get the court to recognize his rights as the baby's father. Connie could no longer place the child up for adoption without his consent.

Connie leaves the courtroom with dreams of plan B floating through her head. She'll fake this suicide by pretending to OD on sleeping pills. She'll take only a few pills... but an empty bottle will be found at her side. Only she and Lee will know that the rest of the pills were flushed down the toilet. Bill will learn of this act and then assume the suicide was for real. He'll then marry her... she knows it.

Lester's self-esteem is eroding more and more by the day... and the situation isn't helped when he learns his son Bentley is dropping out of college to get a job to support the family. Supporting the family is the job of the father, not the son, but obviously this father isn't man enough to do his duty. He can't find work... of any kind.

These thoughts build and build in Lester's mind until he can no longer take the pressure. He needs something for the pain. He runs from the house and heads for a bar. He takes his first drink in a long... long... while.

I think under earlier incarnations, Billy was presented as a little immature and irresponsible-unable to deal with being a teen father.when he returned as played by Alec Baldwin,he had turned into a more scheming character.

It's interesting to see how the stories played out at that time and how the vet characters were front and center reacting to their childrens' lives. Nowadays, that would be reduced to a few scenes played out once every one or two weeks.

saynotyoursoap,thank you for those corrections.

I was not sure of some of those dates as I typed them and was going to cross check,but ran out of time....

Here's a summary of SOD synopsis from late 1980

Greta brings Lee Ann home from hospital. Matt and Maggie notice a change in her -she puts off calling Brad. greta admits that she grew closer to Billy during this trying time, which infuriates Matt,who has little time for Billy.

Matt summons Billy and tells him to stay away. Billy says he has fallen in love with Greta and knows the same thing is happening to her.

Matt talks to Steve,who wants to believe Billy but admits that Matt's doubts are valid. Billy spins Steve the same line.

Greta tells Brad she can't marry him right now-and he knows Billy is behind this. Darcy offers Brad solace. speaking from experience, she says old loves can spoil new loves.

Greta does confide in MJ that she doesn't feel good enough for Brad. MJ says Brad can decide that for himself.

Billy is persistently wearing down Greta's defences.

Ashley confusion over Jack and John deepens when Jack says they have to face up to the fact that they love each other.John declaring that Jack stay away is an indication that he won't let Ashley make her own choices. Ashley tells John she has to realize that she is growing and changing.

John's actions may be driving Ashley towards Jack.

Leroy hassles Bobbie and Calvin tells Terry he thinks she may not be able to escape her ast.

Steve and Carolee are at odds.She sides with Matt,which angers Steve as he has decided to trust Billy.He says they should be united on such matters.Vivica witnesses an argument and is pleased to offer Steve her support.

at the custody hearing,Nola and Jason make statements, but despite her impassioned pleas, Jason wins custody.Mona is thrilled but puzzled that Nola doesn't react as expected. Nola is tempted to drink,rant and rave but will not give Mona the satisfaction.Even Jason is impressed.When Nola comes to visit Jessica,Mona demands to know what game she's playing. Nola merely replies that she has accepted the situation.

She tells Jason she has reflected on her mistakes and wants to learn and change.Later,Jason tells Steve he is impressed with Nola and tells Mona not to hassle her.

Carolee realizes the children are aware of her and Steve's arguments and tries to negotiate with Steve, but it turns into another argument.

Jack is surprised when Ashley tells him she won't be seeing him.He won't let them be friends and allow her to work on her marriage,so they must part. Will jack accept this?

Bobbie is thrilled that Calvin and Terry have prepared a nursery for herself and her daughter .Terri lays out education options to help Bobbie turn her life around,but then Bobbie remembers Leroy's threats and feels trapped. Terry decides to seek out Bobbie's family.

Billy's mysterious phone friend from California arrives in the form of one Natalie Bell.Natalie worked for Greta's aunt,whois now dying and wants to make Greta her sole heir.Billy and Natalie want that money, so Billy will marry Greta and then...?

Natalie suggests to get things moving he tries romancing Greta rather than using passion-appeal to her mind,not her body.

Billy tells Greta that he was carried away when they made love and apologizes,convincing Greta of his honesty and kindness.

Maggie tells Greta she has to be honest with Brad and trust him. Maggie fears Greta is falling in love with Billy.Brad is bewildered by Greta's new attitude and Darcy suspects Billy may be the root cause and Greta has feelings for him.Darcy has decided that if Greta doesn't want Brad,she may step in.

The Doctors - The 60's (from LaGuardia's book)

1963

When it premiered, The Doctors was not the continuing drama it is today, but a half hour anthology series centred around life at Hope Memorial Hospital.Each episode featured only one of the show's four leading players: Fred J Scollay as hospital chaplain Sam Shafer, Jock Gaynor as Dr Willia Scott, Margot Moser as Dr Elizabeth Hayes and Richard Roat as Dr Jerry Chandler. After a few months, the daily stories became weekly.

1964

Early in the year,the show became a continuing serial. The stars were now Jim Pritchett as Dr Matt Powers,Ann Williams as Dr Maggie Fielding,and Richard Roat and Fred Scollay from the original cast. Jim Pritchett is still on the show today.

The early story emphasized the attraction between Matt and Maggie. She was originally married to Alec Fielding (Charles Braswell.Joseph Campanella). After the death of Alec,memories of his late wife Grace kept Matt from marrying Maggie. Distraught,she married Kurt Van Allen(Byron Saunders) on the rebound.

1965

Major cast members included; Adam Kennedy as wealthy cattle baron Brock Hayden,who wanted to marry Maggie but was murdered,Ellen McCrae as Dr Kate Bartok (now known as Ellen Burstyn,Academy award winner), Elizabeth Hubbard as Dr Althea Davis, and Gerald S O'Loughlin as hospital custodian Pete Banas.

After Ann Willias became pregnant and quit, Bethel Leslie was cast as Maggie Fielding. Bethel played out the complicated Kurt Van Allen story. The marriage was bad and Kurt finally ran off-he was later reported killed on a South Sea island.

1966

Dr Althea Davis, head of the Outpatients Clinic, became engaged to Matt even though he still loved Maggie. Althe was divorced fro Dave Davis (Karl Light) and had two children Penny and Buddy.

Morgan Sterne and Meg Myles came on for a year as troubled married couple, Keith and Harriet Wilson. Their teenage daughter Liz, tried to rebel against her archly conservative mother, who later suffered a breakdown. Her husband took her away,but Liz stayed on.

1967

Matt's teenaged son Mike(Harry Packwood) and the popular Liz Wilson (Pamela Toll) provided a story of Young Love. Liz almost fell to her death from a hospital ledge after taking a psychodalic drug that Mike had made as an experiment.

Terry Kiser was Dr John Rice, a nice young man who wanted to help Liz. He stayed on till 1969.

1968

Pamela Toll was given a going away party when she left the show to do a Walt Disney movie.The same year, Bethel Leslie also departed for Hollywood, shortly after Matt and Maggie were finally wed. Gerald Gordon had just joined as brain surgeon Nick Bellini.

Lydia Bruce replaced Bethel Leslie and has been in the part ever since.

Nancy Donohue played Nancy Bennett. As a nurse in charge of rehabilitation of disabled patients, she helped newspaper woman Anna Ford(Zeida Coles). Anna had a romance with black doctor, Dr Simon Harris (Conrad Roberts).

The Doctors greatest love story was between Althea and Nick. Viewers loved the idea of an involvement between a brilliant though brash rough neck surgeon from Chicago and a sophisticated lady physician brought up in the finest New England schools.

Gerald Gordon,as Nick, has performed numerous brain operations on the show, and is considered so gifted a neurosurgeon that any viewers write to hi asking for medical advice. He always politely replies that they should consult their own physicians.

Nick and Althea were wed in late 1968. Because of the difference in their backgrounds and temperements, they had a stormy and short lived marriage,. But they have always loved each other and even to this day,viewers are tempted to believe they will remarry.Gordon and Hubbard,who each won Daytime Emmys in 1976, are still with the show.

1969

Peter Burnell took over the role of Mike, who fell in love with Nancy Bennett, after Liz was out of his life.Nancy though her husband Paul (James Shannon) was dead, but when he re-appeared quite alive, Nancy left town with him.

Liz Hubbard left in 1969 and Virginia Vestoff took over as Althea. a year later, Liz returned.

Eileen Kearney played Greta, Maggie's daughter by the late Kurt Van Allen. For a while everyone thought she was a 'bad seed' child , until it was discovered her hostile behavior was caused by a bite fro an infected rabbit.

Julie Forrest (Ginger Gerlach) became Mike Power's new romance. Julie, a distant cousin of Maggie's, moved into the Powers home and caused a lot of trouble. During a struggle with Greta,Julie fell down the stairs to her death.Not long after Ginger died from an overdose of sleeping pills.

David O'Brien came on in 1969 as Dr Steve Aldrich, a complete heel with the ladies. He had an affair with Dr Karen Werner (Laryssa Lauret) and made her pregnant. Then he saw the folly of his ways and married her. But she was a complete neurotic and made him miserable.

Carolee Canpbell as introduced as gentle and shy nurse Carolee Simpson only a few months after David O'brien. (The actresses first name was considered so interesting that it was also used for the character).Carolee was afraid to let the philandering Steve know that she was in love with him, but after his divorce from Karen, Steve professed his love and they had an affair. Carolee became pregnant.

More to come...

Bruce was first played by Biff McGuire in 1955.

Ed Bryce took over as Bill Bauer in 1959 from Lyle Sudrow.

Jane Edwards was also played by Marilyn Monk and Barbara Joyce.

Susan was also played by Norma Moore in 1958 and Dick Trask also played Jerry in 1954.Ken Gerard and Wayne Tippit were later in the role.

June Graham became the second Myra in 1959.

Wendell Phillips (1958) and Don McHenry (1958-63) played Ezra Lake,Myra's father.

Jane Edwards had a son,David and Bruce's mother also appeared.

In 1957, Pauline was temporarily blinded.

Judge Tyrell is listed only as appaering in 1954,so I assume he died also,which would have further upset the Ames.

The first headwriter was William Kendall Clarke.

Secret Storm The 50's from 'Illustrated History of Soap Operas" by Robert LaGuardia

Feb 1st 1954

Tragedy struck the Ames family of Woodbridge on the first day of the show. Beautiful wife and other Ellen Ames was critically injured in an auto accident. Susan Ames (Jean Mowry)comforted her father Peter Ames (Peter Hobbs). On Friday,five days after the premiere,Ellen died. The Secret Storm was a daring experiment, the first television serial ever to open with such tragedy.

Ellen's father, Judge JT Tyrell (Russell Hicks), went into shock,while his wife, Grace (Majorie Gateson) stood by. Haila Stoddard played Ellen's sister Pauline, a catalytic character in the story for many years.

For months viewers felt the enormous impact of the Ameses' grief over Ellen's sudden death. Peter's children included, besides the adult Susan, teenager Jerry (Robert Morse) and nine year old Amy (Jada Rowland).

Warren Berlinger replaced Robert Morse in the role of Jerry and remained in the part for several years.

Aunt Pauline, who had always loved Peter, began to take advantage of his vulnerable situation. Peter was showing signs of mental breakdown and could not see through Pauline's designs on him and the children.

Jerry brooded a great deal over his mother's death and, after attempting to kill the negligent driver who caused the accident, was sent to reform school. When Secret Storm was cancelled twenty years later, Jada Rowland was the only remaining member of the original cast.

1955

Peter fell in love with his new housekeeper, Jane Edwards (Virginia Dwyer), and wanted to marry her. Pauline, still in love with Peter, broke up their marriage plans by bringing to Woodbridge Jane's husband, Bruce Edwards, who was thought dead.

Bruce Edwards (Ed Bryce)-who had been living on a desert island before coming to town-was killed in a gangland shootout, and Jane finally left town.

1956

Susan, trying to take her mother's place, became possesive. Everyone worried about frail looking Amy, who was hurt and troubled by all the family confusion. Years later, Amy would become the troubled heroine of the story.

1957

Rachel Taylor replaced Jean Mowry as Susan, who fell in love with golf pro Alan Dunbar (James Vickery) . Initially a shady character with gangland connections, Alan turned sympathetic and married Susan. After giving up golf, Alan became an investment banker, and then when Peter sold his derartment store and bought a newspaper, Alan finally became a reporter. Because of Peter's paper,the Herald, a number of characters were reporters.

1958

Mary Foskett was the new Susan and stayed until 1963. Joan Hotchkiss came on as Myra, Amy's teacher ,with whom Peter fell in love.

For a few years Beverly Lunsford replaced Jada Rowland as Amy Ames. But Jada would return and play Amy for a total of fifteen tears.

Aunt Pauline was a colorful character who became involved with all sorts of criminal types. Carl King played one of her boyfriends, Bryan Fuller, an industrial engineer who was involved with the Mafia.Pauline eventually married and divorced him.

1959

Les Damon joined the cast briefly as a member of the Mafia. Criminals and their victims abounded in the storylines.

In mid 1959,Peter married Myra. From the first, their marriage was troubled because of conflicts between their families.

More to come...

The John/Jennifer story is rightly one of SFT's most highly regarded stories. Would have loved to see La Fairchild earning her bitch stripes in that one.

Yes, all three....watch this space!

Yes,it is. The book only goes up to the mid 70's.

I will add some summaries for other shows soon.

Any in particular you would like to see?

Love of Lifethe 70's

1970 - In May,John Randolph(Byron Sanders) who had married Tess, was murdered, and both Tess and Bill were put on trial. Richard Rollins (Lawrence Weber)the lover of Clair Bridgeman, was revealed to be the murderer.

*Just noting that Sanders and Weber are two actors who probably hold the record for most soap roles.

Sally Stark replaced Leonie Norton as Kate Swanson, a nightclub singer at Rick Latimer's Club Victoria. Both Rick(Jerry Lacy) and Dr Dan Phillips (Drew Snyder) fell in love with her. She wed Dan but believed herself pregnant by Rick, who had raped her one night at the club. The child was really Dan's, but a falsified blood test convinced him otherwise, and he divorced Sally. The couple eventually remarried, and were happy until Dan and little Rebecca were killed in an auto accident.

1971 - Robert Burr joined the show as 'Matt Corby' who was really Paul Raven. Paul had developed amnesia following the plane crash in which he was presumed dead and had reappeared in Rosehill with a new identity. Van was now torn between two husbands and finally divorced Bruce to marry Paul. But when Stacy Corby,Paul's daughter by a new wife turned up and Van found out that Matt's wife Eleanor had been murdered,Van called off the wedding. In 1972, Paul was tried and convicted of murdering Eleanor and died later in a prison riot. Stacy became Van's ward. Since Van discovered Bruce had cheated on her,she didn't marry him either.

Ray Wise replaced Don Warfield as Jamie Rollins and Cathy Bacon had been playing Sally Bridgeman since 1969. Jamie and Sally both became involved in the campus drug scene. After Sally became pregnant with his child, Jamie married her reluctantly-since he thought the marriage would interfere with his studies. After a troubled marriage, Sally ran off with baby Debbie in 1973 and later wrote to say the child had been drowned in a pond.

1972 - in a solemn ceremony, Van and Bruce finally remarried.Pictured in addition to the bride and groom are Jack Stamberger (Henry)Jon Moore (Charles) Ray Wise (Jamie) Joanna Roos (Sarah) Cindy Grover (Stacey) and Josef Summer as the minister. Joanna now played Van's mother who had moved to Rosehill from Barrowsville.

After the tragic death of her husband Dan and daughter Rebeccah, Kate Swanson Phillips wed Dr Ted Chandler (Keith Charles), who headed the Clinic for Sexual Dysfunction and was trying to help Charles overcome his impotency with Diana. Despite his villiany in trying to break up Kate and Dan, Rick became a loyal friend of Kate's. Kate and Ted left the story in late 1974.

1973 - New producer Jean Arley and new writers Claire Labine and Paul Avila Meyer teamed up to revamp Love of Life. They were bringing exciting young actors to the show as well as restoring important elements from the early story. Cal Aleata (Deborah Courtney), Meg's daughter, arrived in Rosehill to seek the love of her aunt Van,because she was neglected by her mother. Then Meg herself (now Tudi Wiggins) who had left seventeen years earlier with her son Benno(Christopher Reeve) returned to town. Because of his poor home life when he was a boy,he had become a devil-may-care scoundrel, interested only in obtaining Meg's wealth. Meg agreed to give him half a million dollars, provided he marry Betsy Crawford(Elizabeth Kemp), a trusting young friend of Cal's.

Even after seventeen years, Meg was still getting mixed up with exciting crooks. She married Rosehill's corrupt mayor, Jeff Hart (Charles Baxter), who was only interested in the additional power her money could give him.

1974 - One of Love of Life's staunchest fans Sammy Davis Jnr visited the set and sang on the show.

To get his mother's money, Ben married Betsy,but, unbeknownst to anyone, he was already the husband of Arlene Lovett (Birgitta Tolksdorf) Arlene's mother Carrie (Peg Murray) was a friend of Betsy's but dared not tell Betsy for her daughter's sake.

David Hart (Brian Farrell) fell in love with cal, then killed his father when he caught Jeff trying to rape Cal. This act caused David to have a breakdown and ended his romance with Cal,who later fell for rick.

1975 - Cal's stepfather Edouard Aleata (John Aniston) came to comfort Cal when he learned she was in trouble. After Felicia Fleming (Paela Lincoln) wed Charles Lamont (who divorced Diana so she could marry Jamie) and Charles became confined to a wheelchair, Felicia and Edouard fell in love.

Jeff Allin played Kevin.

Your mention of Kevin and Catherine brought to mind this story,another ill fated plot.

I agree that despite the killing off of many characters,the show still had a good base to work from.

They never found the right Mike Powers,one of the most recast roles in soap history.

Thanks for the reply.

As regards the Langleys,how was the twist explained? Did James only find out his parentage after Mona's death? Or had he known previously?

Bringing in this new family seemed a good idea as it would give Steve & Carolee something new to react to.Killing off Mona,however,meant that whole angle could not be explored.

SOD reported at the time that John Rixey Moore was playing James.Did both actors play the role?

Who played Marilyn and Gail?

Thanks for all those posts.Some great stuff there.

What happened to Ricky.MJ's nephew? Was he sent off to one of her siblings?

So,Karen was alive...had the show continued that connection could have been played again.Also,Steve's child with Ann Larimer.Just before the show was cancelled Erich was aged and so was Stephie. Despite all the changes,the show still had a solid core.

It was a mistake to kill off Billy.

I have asked before but does anyone know anything about James Langley,Mona's other son who turned up after her death?

I remember John Kelly Genovese's review of The Doctors in Afternoon TV.He gave high marks to Marland's work,but his observation was that very little of the story was taking place at the hospital and that The Doctors was no longer living up to it's title. YThis may have been intentional as perhaps TPTB felt the hospital setting had been played out.

Thanks Carl,i do not have that summary.

This Marland's work,right?

He really set out to expand the Dancys.Odd to bring in Barney so soon.How and when did Virginia die?

Carl,Steve's sister Amy did not die-the choice she has was to endanger her pregnancy by donating bone marrow to Steve,or have a safe pregnancy and jeopardize Steve's chances.

Ellie pined after Stu for years and yes ,it was completely ridiculous that Ellie would run off like that. They might as well just let Ellie die.

Here's what was happening in Henderson in April 76

From Amy Kaslow's body has come life itself (her beautiful baby girl) and a hoped-for source of life (her bone marrow) for her brother, Steve.

Liza, Mike and Bruce are relieved to learn that Amy came through both operations with flying colors. They inquire about Steve but Gary says it's too soon to know whether Steve's body has accepted Amy's bone marrow.

The letter from the Mountain View Hotel has arrived at the Wyatt house. Eunice is quite perplexed by its contents; it's a little strange for the hotel to be writing to her about a missing earring when she knows she wasn't with John during his stay in California. But does this mean that her husband was there with another woman? She confronts John directly with her fear and John vehemently denies it. He says it's probably a clerical error, maybe there were two John Wyatts staying at this hotel. Eunice still looks doubtful. John panics. He tries to put a stop to Eunice's thinking by installing guilt. He tells his wife that if she trusts him that little, she can call the hotel. John leaves the house under the impress that his guilt installing tactic worked. But he's wrong. Eunice does place the call and learns from an anonymous desk clerk that Mr. Wyatt was indeed accompanied by his wife during his stay at their hotel. Choking back her tears, Eunice thanks the clerk for his help.

While Eunice is placing the call, John is trying to place the blame of this letter on Jennifer's shoulders. Jennifer looks at John with sweet innocence and denies his accusation. This scheming sweetie even counter-attacks saying: "John, I'm very hurt that you could suspect me of such a deed. I would never do anything like that." John looks Jennifer straight in the eye, but Jennifer's eyes are very practiced at lying and they don't give her away. John apologizes for thinking so little of her.

That evening when John arrives home, Eunice tells him that he lied to her; he was at the hotel with another woman. John, eager to get this weight off his shoulders, admits it. He begs his wife to forgive him saying it was a mistake and the affair is now over. He says she's all that matters to him. Eunice is too hurt to buy any of this.

David has put an end to the afternoons of lust he and Stephanie have been sharing. He tells this "hungry" woman it's over. She's been getting a bit too inquisitive. Stephanie doesn't take the breakup lightly.

Bruce tells Jo he suspects there's a connection between Chris and David. He's going to check further. He advises Jo to be on her guard with Chris.

When Nancy Lee Grahn was in contract negotiations with SB and things weren't looking good,Judith Chapman was approached to take over the role of Julia.

John Aniston was on SFT as Martin by this stage. He left LOL in 78.

The asian characters were part of the Bambi/Paul story and I don't think they were planned as long term.

I think the final scene was Betsy fainting.I remember reading that they were only given a few weeks notice on cancellation and didn't have enough time to rewrite. There was the feint hope that the show might get picked up for syndication (as discussed previously)

From that final cast Margo McKenna (Betsy) was the first to move to another soap as Emily on EON.

Birgitta Tolksdorf was offered a role on Y&R but turned it down.

Ted LePlat went to GL as Andy

Chandler Hill Harben was the first Max on Texas.

Veleka Gray went to ATWT as Lyla