Paul Raven

My Sister Sam debuts Mon 8.30 behind Kate & Allie

Kate finishes #19 Sam is #21.

The following season CBS moves it to a Saturday hellhole to make way for critical darling Frank's Place which was originally scheduled for Sat. Sam is off the air within weeks.

Riptide on NBC was scheduled as mid season replacement after The A Team as Bare Essence and Remington Steele didn't hold enough of A Teams audience.

83-84 A Team # 4 Riptide #18

84-85 A team # 6 Riptide #14

For the 85/86 season ABC programmed Who's The Boss/Growing Pains up against A Team which fell to #30 Riptide was out of the Top 30. NBC moved Hunter into Riptides 9pm slot and moved Riptide to 8pm Friday where it flopped and was cancelled.

The 1986/87 fall schedule was announced with several shows having titles changed before they aired

My Sister Sam - Taking the Town

Jack& Mike - Our Kind of Town

The Wizard - The Wizard of Elm St.

Matlock - Ben Matlock

Sidekicks - The Last Electric Knight

Heart of the City - Cold Steel and Neon

Watching(skimming) through todays ep I am puzzled by some of the staging.

Billy is in the park and Chelsea appears. Then they are chatting at CL. 

Why not have Chelsea simply appear at CL while Billy is there?

Nick/Victoria confront Victor at his office. He then leaves with Nate. Nate and Victor then chat in the park. Seems an odd choice. Why not have Victor stay in the office-seems more appropriate. Nick/Victoria could go to the park or appear at CL -Billy/Chelsea have already adjourned to bed.

Nick/Victoria talk to Adam at the GCAC lobby area and then chat at GCAC.

Meanwhile Mariah and Cole chat at Society. Their convo goes on throughout the ep while other characters have moved on to new locales. Must have been a very long catchup for Mariah/Kyle. Billy appears -he's already had chats with Chelsea at the park/at CL and a sex romp upstairs.

It seems like a lot of these scenes may be taped on different days. The scene is written and then takes place at whatever set is available that day.

Otherwise the choice of sets seems weird.

Guiding Light

Dick Cavett     Dick Cavett March 10   1986  Judge of The Sampson girl contest

By 1980 there had been I think 3 Franks, 2 Delias, 3 Pats, 3 Marys and 3 Faiths. In just 5 years. They were stretching viewers' patience by that stage.

Maybe it would have been better to write some of those characters out for a while than just keep recasting. 

Search for Tomorrow

William Lang...Tom Ewell... May 26 72 - ?72...DA or Sheriff investigating the death of Sam Reynolds

Dave Wilkins...Dale Robinette...74-Dec 74 father, Wendy

Stephanie ____Wilkins Collins Pace Wyatt ...Maree Cheatham...Jan 74-84 

Eunice Gardner Twining Martin Wyatt...Marion Brash...57-61 sister Jo mother of Suzi (by Doug Martin) Murdered by Jennifer Pace.

...((temp)...Joan Anderson...

...Anne Williams...66-November 76..

Dr. Wade Collins...John Cunningham...71- Aug 77 husband Janet murdered 

Doug Phillips,,,born Feb 78 Jamie Zigarelli...81...son, Kathy + David

Scott Phillips...Peter Simon...69-77... 

...Peter Rattray... 77- Dec 78

Erik Leshinsky Phillips...Chris Lowe...69- Dec 78 adopted by Scott, son Lauri+Ralph

Liza Walton Kaslo Sentell Kendall...

Denise Nickerson...71... 

...Kathleen Beller...July 1972-74

...Hope Busby......Nov 77- July 78

...Meg Bennett...74- Sept 77 

...Sherry Mathis...Aug 78-85

...Louann Gideon...85- Dec 86

Annie___McKay...Mimi Cozzens...June 80 - ? 80...wife, Don 

Sgt. Don McKay...Biff McGuire...June 80 -? 80 dirty cop 

Tim McKay...Ken Powers..June 80 - ? 80...son

General Hospital

Dr. Phil Brewer..            .Roy Thinnes April 1 63-64

                                   ..Rick Falk Jan 66 actor was in an accident so role had to be recast

                                      ...Robert Hogan Feb 66- June 67

                                              ..Craig Huebing 67

                                     ...Ron Hayes 67

                                     ...Martin West March 68 -Dec 6 74 (may have appeared later in flashbacks)

So who was playing Brian when he and Spence turned up in town? Was it just a couple of days thing?

Dropping Spence seemed a mistake as Tim Patrick Murphy was appealing.

Having Jo marry Martin was a dead end, especially when all the Tourneur/Sentells apart from Travis were dropped.

34 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

It would have made sense for Mary to have left Jack and taken Ryan with her instead of killing her off.  The show had been setting up marital issues between Mary/Jack for months and he was basically having an emotional affair with Siobhan already.

And later on, the show could have either recast Mary.. or just had Kate Mulgrew come back as Mary for visits (she did come back twice in the 80s).

 

Yes if they had built up the marital problems as well as Mary's criminal investigations(which got her killed). Instead she would have survived but scared and confused decide to flee NY (her family could have been threatened). That would have given the show some time to decide what to do with the character.

TV Guide April 22 1995

ATWT's Vaughn: Love and Bloom

What prompted Robert Vaughn—Oscar nominee and prime-time giant—to join As the World Turns? “The schedule, the money, and Claire Bloom," reports the former Man from U.N.C.L.E. “The show agreed to shoot around my other projects [like ABC's remake of "Escape to Witch Mountain" on April 29]. The pay just about covers my children's private-school education. And they plan a romance for me and Claire—and I love Claire." The pair played Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson in the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House, but their suds characters  aren't quite so lofty: Vaughn plays an egomaniacal lawyer, and Bloom a Lady Macbeth like murderess. We can’t wait for this wicked pairing to kick in, but Vaughn has no immediate plans to watch. “Frankly,” he says, “I haven't seen [ATWT] yet and probably won't anytime soon—it's on at the same time as O.J."

The Doctors

Dr. Dave Davis...Karl Light... Feb 9 1965 -?

...Josef Sommer...72-73        

...Richard Clarke...    73-74; 75-76

Jessie Bartok...Jocelyn Somers...  sister, Kate     +Brad M.  ...? 65- Sept 1965        

4 hours ago, 1974mdp said:

As much as I loved AW, I wonder if SB would have had a better chance if it had followed DAYS. It feels that those two shows would have been a better back-to-back fit.

I guess that would have meant moving AW to 3pm and I don't think the affiliates would have been happy. They wanted a good lead in to their local time. Although AW rated higher at 2 it probably would have done worse at 3 and didn't have the hype that SB had.

NBC kept promising that SB would build in the ratings and for the first couple of years that seemed likely and kept the affiliates on board, whereas AW was seen more as a failed soap. 

6 hours ago, safe said:

Helen Gallagher never auditioned with Bernard Barrow ---and she didn't like him a first.

Another actress had been cast I believe, she later played Maeve's sister.

With all the casting issues with Mary, I wonder why they didn't just send Jack and Mary out of town. Was Michael Levin that popular? esp w/o Kate M?

Then later they could return. If Levin wouldn't come back they could recast or have a new Mary return a widow.

Is there any actress around in the early 80's that posters think could have played Mary?

Always appreciate your comments DC - very thought provoking.

I just felt that Maree was hard to replace and they were better off letting the character go rather than diminishing Stephanie.

Kinda contradicting myself here as the show also needed stability at least with characters if not actors.

Reading that 1981 summary is sad and frustrating. The awful Jade story, then the boxing backdrop-really was the target audience interested?

Giving Stephanie a son-I get that it was a way to bring new life to the character and connect her to a new younger male, but it always annoys me when characters we've seen for years suddenly remember a long lost child. Stephanie, with all that she had been through never thought of, or mentioned a son?

And what is with 'Trip' Bergman-seriously??

They never seemed to get the casting right for Tom after John James and ended up forgetting about him. Same with Gary Walton. Two important characters that were neglected.

My idea to shake things up would have been for Jo's son Duncan to be revealed as alive! A hospital mix up. So many possibilities would stem from that and give Mary Stuart a spotlight.

Just came across a pilot/proposal starring Jerry Hall (most recently Mrs Rupert Murdoch) from 1986 titled 'She's With Me' co starring Dinah Manoff. Jerry plays a super model who befriends a working woman from a totally different social sphere.,

From the Ryan's Hope thread

Louise Shaffer was fired, her Emmy hadn't even been engraved yet! Louise didn't get an exit scene like Karen. Joe didn't like Louise as much---someone thought Louise asked too many questions and Joe didn't like being questioned. Joe wanted to put his own stamp on the show. Ellen Barrett was now working at Search For Tomorrow and knew Louise needed a job and hired her to replace Marie Cheatman. Louise was very grateful to Ellen.

This to me is an example of personal overriding professional.

When Maree Cheatham left after 10 years,Stephanie should have been written out. She didn't really have any ties to the canvas. Sure Wendy was still around, but she could function w/o her mother in town.

From what I have read Louise played Stephanie as Rae 2.0 and was killed off anyway.

Maybe Louise could have worked as a  new character.

Lots of Danny and one glimpse of Paul. Looks like they might be pushing Phyllis/Danny/Christine.

But is it really going anywhere? Unless Lauralee commits to regular appearances...

Variety Jan 86 reports that Paul Mayer and Stephanie Braxton were fined $5000 and suspended from active membership for 6 months by Writers Guild for head writing Search for Tomorrow during a guild strike March 85.

This must have been a short lived east Coast strike as I don't recall hearing about it before.

Days drop points to a weakness in the storytelling. The supercouple formula saw Days hit #1 with Patch/Kayla wedding hype then drop off because there was little of interest outside of that. 

Whereas Y&R went to #1 with a variety of stories and ongoing plotlines.

It takes about 10 minutes to flick through an issue. Most of the info is old news by the time the issue comes out.

The occasional interview can be of interest but otherwise...

I'm surprised they didn't lean in more to the archives and republish old articles/interviews. Maybe have a wrap section each issue eg Lucci through the years with old photos/interviews or Days in the 80's etc

And when The Doctors turned up on Retro publish the synopses once the show got to 1975.

They needed to provide some point of difference.

And some of those photo shopped covers...

RICHARD NILES   

Love of Life

As The World Turns

Tony Bennett     Tony Bennett   October 25th and 28th    1985

Search for Tomorrow

Steve Kendall...Phillip Brown...82-83 model, +Steph,+Helena Martin T-s son

...Steve Lundquist...... Nov 4 85 - ?

3 KCRA (NBC) Sacramento Friday, January 28, 1977

7:00 Today
9:00 Tattletales (pre-empted by KXTV)
9:30 Hollywood Squares - Panel: John Byner, Joan Rivers, Earl Holliman, Karen Valentine, Paul Lynde, Michael Constantine, George Gobel, Isabel Sanford, Paul Williams
10:00 Wheel of Fortune
10:30 Shoot for the Stars - Guests: Debralee Scott, Rick Hurst
11:00 Name That Tune
11:30 Lovers and Friends
11:55 NBC News Update
NOON Channel 3 Reports
12:30 Donahue (info unavailable)
1:30 Mary Hartman
2:00 Antoher World
3:00 Days of Our Lives
4:00 Sanford and Son

Doctors not shownat 1.30  Days moved to 3pm instead of 12.30 Sanford and Son at 4 not 10am and Gong Show not shown at 3pm.

13 KOVR (ABC) Sacramento Friday, January 28, 1977
6:30 Guten Tag
7:00 Good Morning America
9:00 Morning Scene
10:00 I Dream of Jeannie
10:30 Happy Days
11:00 Don Ho
11:30 Family Feud
NOON $20,000 Pyramid
12:30 To Tell the Truth
1:00 Ryan's Hope
1:30 One Life to Live
2:15 General Hospital
3:00 Edge of Night
3:30 All My Children
4:00 My Three Sons

AMC at 3.30!

CBS Saturday night schedule had been a disaster for several years after they failed to find sitcoms to replace Mary Tyler Moore/Bob Newhart and ABC swooped in with Love Boat/Fantasy Island and dominated the night.

Flops like American Girls,Big Shamus/Little Shamus and fading sitcoms (Rhoda/Good Times) didn't help. Dallas was rescued by being moved to Sundays.

Secrets had Freebie and the Bean as a lead in so it was 2 new shows up against Love Boat/Fantasy on ABC and an NBC movie.

SOMH ratings history

Ep 1 Dec 6 Founders Day 11.8/21 # 57th  of 65 shows

Ep 2 Dec 13 The Searchers 15.1/27 53rd of 66

Ep 3 Dec 20 Decisions 9.1/18 70th of 71

Ep 4 Dec 26 Hooverville  Special Friday episode after Dukes of Hazzard, pre empting Dallas  22.2/41 6th of 63

Ep 5 Jan 3 Letting Go 11.2/18 62nd of 66

Ep 6 Jan 10 The Race 10.4/18 67th of 68

Ep 7 Jan 17 The Birthday Party 9.7/17 65th of 67

Ep 8  Jan 24 Facing Facts 10.7/19 66th of 67

I don't know why CBS didn't put the first episode on after Dukes of Hazzard in the Dallas timeslot. It would have got a great sampling which could only have helped its chances on Sat night. Maybe they didn't want to interrupt Dallas at that point (it was up to its 5th episode of the season).

And when they did show it on Frday and got great numbers they didn't show it the next night to capitalize on that, instead making viewers wait a week by which time interest would have wained.