Paul Raven

Finland seemed such an odd choice for a location shoot. ATWT went to Greece and later Spain while GL had Tenerife and there were others in that timeframe. But Finland not being a known tourist destination or offering the tropical/sunny atmosphere usually associated with location shoots seems off brand. Maybe they were negotiating a deal with a tourist association and it fell through.

Just thinking how the Ruth/Leticia guest spot really cemented how Days had changed. Stunt casting with a campy/comedy character in a 'wacky' storyline was something that a few years previously would have been completely out of place on Days (and most other soaps for that matter).

I am interested to see how they handle Leslie/Dana down the road. If she continues in this path, it would be unrealistic to have her around. Like other shows have done this with a 'villian' character and ended up with people looking stupid putting up with someone they detest. Another thought-could they be building up to a murder story? Maybe Les/Dan will be left in a coma and we will have a whodunit with several characters as suspect. It would also be a chance to redeem her I wonder how long the show will go w/o resorting to soap cliche stories-twins,switched at birth, murder mystery, long lost child etc

Daytime belonged to CBS. They would have been making a lot of $$$ with that lineup. For context, this is the lineup at that time. Only one soap on ABC (GH) and NBC (TD) which was still an anthology at that point. So it wasn't until the opposition added more soaps that they became competitive. NBC CBS ABC 10:00am Say When! CBS Morning News LOCAL 10:25am NBC News 10:30am Word for Word I Love Lucy (R) 11:00am Concentration The McCoys (R) The Price is Right 11:30am Missing Links Pete and Gladys (R) The Object Is... 12:00 Noon Your First Impression Love of Life Seven Keys 12:25pm CBS News 12:30pm Truth or Consequences Search for Tomorrow Father Knows Best (R) 12:45pm The Guiding Light 12:55pm NBC News 1:00pm LOCAL LOCAL The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show 1:25pm 1:30pm As the World Turns LOCAL 2:00pm Let's Make a Deal Password 2:25pm NBC News 2:30pm The Doctors Art Linkletter's House Party Day in Court 2:55pm ABC News 3:00pm Loretta Young Theatre (R) To Tell the Truth General Hospital 3:25pm CBS News 3:30pm You Don't Say! The Edge of Night Queen for a Day 4:00pm The Match Game The Secret Storm Major Adams-Trailmaster (R) 4:25pm NBC News 4:30pm Make Room for Daddy (R) LOCAL

Has BTG been using flashbacks much? Of course, as a new show there aren't many f/b worthy moments but I think they can get by w/o having to use/recreate the Leslie reveal scene. What other 'soap' tropes have they employed or ignored so far? We've talked about the lack of traditional cliffhangers with lingering camera shots. They have done a couple of fantasy scenes. Has anyone apart from Dana had talk to themselves scenes? Montages?

French fan summary Rusty took over Simon's job at Lewis Trucking after Simon transferred to Lewis Oil's North Carolina office to live near Jessie and Calla. I doubt they would bother following up a story for offscreen characters eg marriage and a baby.

Those Soap Central profiles have a lot of incorrect info. According to SOD summaries and the Daytime Newsletter of the time,Tim left town for a new job and Pam reunited with the father of her baby and also departed Springfield.They did not marry.

Do we believe that Jabot is at the level of Estee Lauder?? I am on board with Jabot deciding to expand but the way it was handled was ridiculous. Jabot just decided and bingo, that was that. Not months of negotiations and decisions about how it would fit into the Jabot portfolio. And then no follow through. Josh thinks he's serving business stories by characters sitting around and discussing mergers, takeovers and job switching. Now we have Audra setting up her own company -Vibrator or something. Well, why not? You don't need staff, office space or even products.

No, but that wouldn't stop Josh.

I wonder if Ruth ever saw this fake ad.

Which could make sense , except that we have seen Mariah function for years w/o any real residue pain from her upbringing. Josh decides to randomly make it a thing, when a good writer might foreshadow that for months. It's not like he's just arrived at the show. He's been there for years . Everything seems to be thought out only a few weeks ahead. It's like Phyllis all freaky from being kidnapped when she has done a million other things that didn't seem to bother her at all.

Yes, Billy was all nostalgic about the Abbott home and didn't like the changes,yet he had no second thoughts or respect when completely renovating Chancellor. He could have actually mentioned that misguided step as evidence to Diane that these type of changes can backfire.

Vernon actually had a cravat not a turtleneck. I didn't like Nicole's dress with her breastes prominent.

Yes, and we never see them at work. Cassidy First-yet another company that served no purpose except an Oprah like 'you get a company and you get a company...'

And of course none of this is seen on the show,just told second hand. Can I ask who Mariah works for these days?

I never understood the point of Marchetti. Summer left the show for a job there in Italy. OK. When she returned they had Jack buy the company. Why couldn't Summer have returned and simply stated it was not a good fit, she missed her home , family/friends etc It was absurd that this internationally successful fashion empire could just be bought by a US cosmetics firm at the drop of a hat. What was the point when they never did anything with it at all? Summer simply could have gone to work at Jabot. And wasn't there some nonsense about an offshhoot called Marchetti Home? Was Phyllis attached to that at some point? This show...

Haven't seen today's ep yet but so will be interested to see the clothes. So far I think they have been very character specific (even if I don't like some of them eg Kat's cutsie style) Anita is very showy/glittery, Nicole classic elegance, Dani sexy/bold colors etc. Unlike Y&R which seems much more generic. Also BTG pays attention to the men's wardrobe and has developed a style for the boyz-which is harder to do with male fashion. The absence of any of Derek/Ashley at any of these big events again demonstrates how they are in a different universe to the rest of the show. Not that a nurse and a fireman would be there but still they seem destined at this point to stay in their own lane and have little interaction with the core of the show.

Agnes had written for Bernard Grant for many years on TGL as well as Ernest Graves and Joe Gallison,Doris Belack,Robert Milli,and Antony Ponzini at AW. So she would probably gravitate to writing a role with an actor in mind or choosing someone she had written for before who she knew could deliver.

It's quite unusual for this type of announcement to come out the day before a last appearance. We usually hear weeks before. eg Billy Flynn's impending arrival was announced weeks ago and he's yet to air. Will Nick get to farewell Summer.? Are he and Sharon still off air visiting Noah?

Article discussing the state of daytime in 1971. The 3 networks were competitive for the first time thus leading to the 'daytime wars' of the 70's, with shows cancelled, soaps expanding etc. The high drama of network daytime CBS, reigning champion of the dollar -profitable weekday schedule, faces toughest challenge in 13 years. Although CBS is virtually unchallenged as the ratings leader in nighttime, the picture in daytime, where CBS also leads, is as different as day from night. To begin with, costs of programing are much lower in daytime than in nighttime TV, and the profitability thus potentially higher. For this reason alone, network rivalry in this area is traditionally intense, although not so frequently subject to public view. This year, particularly, the developments in daytime programing are dramatic. It is the first time in 13 years that CBS has been threatened seriously. It continues in the leadership position, but both NBC and ABC are nipping at its heels; in the season to date, CBS is but three tenths of a percentage point ahead of NBC, and but two-thirds of a percentage point in front of ABC. Average ratings for network programing in the daytime periods (Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. -4:30 p.m. EST) this season stand at CBS 7.6, NBC 7.3 and ABC 7.0, giving CBS an edge of 4% above NBC and 9% over ABC. In the similar period of 1970, CBS's lead was more impressive: 8.4 vs. NBC's 6.9 and ABC's 5.9. It is necessary to go back 13 years to find an NBC daytime performance comparable to this year's -and only twice within that period has NBC showed up as well. In the 1958 -59 sea- son, CBS and NBC were in a tie-a 7.7 rating for each -while ABC was a poor third, just starting on its historic "Operation Daybreak" (in which ABC began the so- called scatter plan in daytime, with advertisers buying participations). ABC's rating then: 3.6. NBC again broke through in daytime in the 1961 -62 season: CBS 7.6, NBC 7.1 and ABC 4.1. In the intervening years, daytime television on the weekdays belonged to CBS. It was at perhaps the crest of its leadership in the 1965 -66 season. CBS then had a 4.5 percentage -point advantage over NBC (CBS 10.6, NBC 6.1 and ABC 4.7). CBS officials place the "big turn" in daytime in the 1962 -63 season with the catchy power of the Password game in the lineup. In that season, CBS came up with a three -percentage -point lead over NBC -CBS 9.2, NBC 6.2 and ABC 3.9. From then on it was CBS by a comfortable margin, season after season. ABC's daytime performance has followed the upward curve. While -as CBS officials readily concede -CBS had perhaps nowhere to go but down, ABC could experiment in its scheduling, and hopefully only go up. It did, but not immediately. After a steady climb, ABC's breakthrough occurred in the 1969 -70 season (CBS 9.2, NBC 7.1 and ABC 7.0) with the network gaining ground with its game show scheduling of such vehicles as Let's Make a Deal. Although ABC failed to hold that showing in the 1970 -71 season (CBS 8.9, NBC 7.6 and ABC 6.4), it is now performing at its best daytime level in history. ABC authorities say that network has been building for what might appear to be at least near parity in weekday programing. They cite Let's Make a Deal as having "started things up" with General Hospital and One Life to Live giving additional impetus to the movement. From ABC's point of view, the crucial change in daytime audiences occurred in 1969 when audience shares foretold a "big difference." The real improvement and change in daytime, they say, started in the third quarter of 1971. That followed a repositioning of two daytime staples -ironically Password, CBS's 1962 -63 vintage powerhouse, and Love, American Style. The former series was punched into a new spot in the schedule last spring: Love followed in the summer (the series is still strong in ABC's nighttime lineup). Although ABC executives speak guardedly of daytime audiences more on a level with those of CBS and NBC, the two challenged networks demur. ABC, they note, is nowhere near parity in daytime, although the improvement is admittedly impressive. For one thing, they contend, ABC does not program during the same hours as do NBC and CBS, and ABC carries one hour less than the other two networks in the daytime period. Moreover, they claim the hours that ABC does not program are those with least audience potential. (CBS and NBC start the schedule - excluding Today on NBC and Captain Kangaroo on CBS-at 10 a.m., take a hiatus for a half -hour at 1 p.m., return at 1:30 and program through to 4:30 p.m. ABC starts at 11:30 a.m., does not pause at 1 p.m. but continues through to 4:30.) ABC counters that not only are daytime clearances holding this season, they are actually showing improvement. In numbers, ABC is clearing an average 153 stations live (88.2% coverage) and an average 26 outlets delayed basis (4.4% coverage) for a total 179 stations representing a 92.6% coverage. Last season, clearances were 149 stations live (87.7% coverage), 27 on delays (4.4% ) for a total 176 stations representing a 92.1% coverage. NBC authorities state flatly that their network is in its "strongest daytime position in 10 years -since late 1961." They note how the margin has narrowed between NBC and CBS since last fall; assert NBC has invested money and time in daytime serials, while CBS's "are wearing thin" (the researchers at NBC point to a general lowering of share levels of CBS drama serials in 1971 vs. 1970). ABC's assessment agrees, and also emphasizes the drop in appeal of CBS's soaps, intimating a possible loss in "quality control." CBS, while not denying the declines in its soaps, refuses to accept the implication that the drama serial may be curtailed. (CBS has eight soaps compared with NBC's five and ABC's three). Four of CBS's shows are Procter & Gamble vehicles: As the World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light and Edge of Night. CBS authorities say you can be sure P &G as well as CBS programers are working on plans to strengthen their respective properties. CBS officials contend the drama serial not only is still well up in share (although off from prior years) at the network but continues as the most "flexible" among daytime entries. If a game show starts to plummet, they say, there's not much that can be done to "change" the format. With soaps, a fall -off in viewer interest can be countered by extensive changes in storyline and /or characters; a role can be written in or out of a script almost at will. CBS cites just such a turnaround accomplished with Love is a Many Splendored Thing. Fred Silverman, then in charge of daytime programing at CBS (and now in charge of the whole ball game), effected a series of changes until "only the title and the music were recognizable." The surgery worked. For years, CBS has been conscious of the adage that change for the sake of change, when the network is on top, entails needless risk. But the numbers have changed now and CBS must contend with the altered picture. "Everybody is ashamed of daytime," one CBS executive admits. Changes will be made. The first quick snip comes Dec. 20 when My Three Sons replaces The Beverly Hillbillies in the 10:30 -11 a.m. period. Hillbillies is one of three shows rated lowest on the CBS daytime schedule -the others are the seemingly tireless Lucy and Gomer Pyle (the latter, at least, considered by CBS officials as a candidate for cancellation.) Snips two, three and onward may be expected to follow in rapid succession.

Glad in a way that Alison forced their hand to write Summer off. It opens up the canvas for other characters/stories and prevents Summer from going on the musical partners roundabout that Josh likes to do, although apart from Kyle and Chance, who else could Summer get involved with? And bonus, it gives Phyllis one less character to be involved with.

Drinking game - take a swig everytime someone says Abbott Communications. Billy firing Phyllis is perfectly understandable on a number of levels,and her pitiful pleas only reinforce the common sense of that decision. Her 'I need this job'pleas are pathetic. This is the woman who operated a major hotel, which she sold on a whim, but must have pocketed some $$$ and is apparently a computer whiz but is being written as Suzie Sadsack... And we are supposed to buy that she has been affected by the kidnap saga, when she has survived and initiated similar stuff in the past and emerged unscathed. Back to the set situation-Josh is informed they are cutting back on sets to a few homes and eateries so he decides to keep writing stories about businesses, takeovers and corporate intrigue without an office or staff in sight. Smart thinking Josh.

I don't believe the soccer leagues are interested in rearranging their timetable to accommodate Beyond the Gates.

I'm sure Josh is already planning for the next psycho to arrive. Michelle Stafford's 'acting' in the past few episodes has been intolerable.

And Gary and Val had not been regular characters on Dallas. It would be different if Bobby and Pam moved to LA and Knots. Whereas Jeff and Fallon had been a part of Dynasty from the start so there was a stronger connection to the mothership.