Paul Raven

Some info on First Hundred Years. This show has historical significance as it was the first P&G sponsored show and the first daytime soap. It was more lighthearted than the 'traditional' shows. cast members who appeared on later soaps were Charles Baxter ,who later appeared on TGL,AW,LIAMST and LOL Valerie Cossart-Kitty Foyle & LOL(as Meg& van's mother) Larry Haines,who went on to SFT for 35 years Nancy Malone on TBD and TGL(also countless primetime shows in 60's thru 80's) Katherine Meskill -SFT,TD,WTHI,GL,LOL,TEON Nat Polen-ATWT,EON,TN,HF,OLTL Jean Holloway wrote many primetime shows b/w FHY and LOL Gloria Monty was also director. The show began as a radio show in 1948 then became one off nightime drama,with the same title as part of an anthology series'The Silver Theatre' in 1950. Jimmy Lydon continued his role on the daytime show and William Frawley was announced as also continuing.However,he did not and went onto nightime fame on 'I Love Lucy' and 'My Three Sons'. The cast had 4 hours rehearsal each day at NY's Leiderkranz Hall,which several other later CBS soaps used.Apparently,it was quite basic. Background film of Long Island and Westchester County was used and it was the first use of a teleprompter. It stayed on the air for 2 and1/2 years and was doing well in the ratings but P&G wasn't happy and replaced it with a TV version of The Guding Light.

In honor of AW's 45th anniversary,I thought I'd start this thread and perhaps all future posts concerning this show could be in one place.at present there are several threads. Here's a description from Irna Phillips at the time of debut. "What I want to say is that none of us can face reality 24 hours a day. We must have private 'worlds', made up of our down dreams and pleasures and emotions, into which to retreat. Otherwise, it would be simply too much!" The story follows the lives of the families of two brothers, William and James Matthews, in a suburban university town. It opens with the death of William, then shows how the sad events affects the widow and their children and the other brother and his family. Grandma Matthews gets into the action, to. The writer promises to relate to contemporary problems; two of them she mentioned are school dropouts and illegitimacy.

1989 Summary Cruz was on the trail of the man who raped Eden. C.C. threw a costume party at the country club in hopes of flushing out the rapist, and Cain's girlfriend, Andrea, was killed. Cain was charged with murder, but later released. He left town, as did Major Phillip Hamilton. Eden was relieved to learn the rapist was not the father of the child she was expecting. She gave birth to a baby girl, Adriana, in a cave after the helicopter taking her to a hospital made an emergency landing. The newborn had an unusual birthmark on her arm. The poor infant was kidnapped — by Dr. Zack Kelton, Eden's rapist. Cruz chased Zack into the mountains. During a scuffle on the edge of a cliff, Zack fell to his death. Eden didn't believe Zack's dying declaration that Adriana was dead. In fact, the baby had been sold on the black market to a couple in Paris, Ric and Hollis Castillo. Ric was Cruz's troublemaking younger brother. While Cruz pursued Kirk Cranston, Eden's deranged ex-husband, who was also after Adriana, recurring dreams about her child drove Eden to Ric's place in Paris. Sandra, a psychic, helped Cruz with his investigation, and became obsessed with him. Cruz rebuffed Sandra's advances and joined his wife in France, where he located the doctor who had removed Adriana's birthmark. Confronted about the baby's origin, Hollis admitted that she bought the baby on the black market because her inheritance depended on her having a healthy child. She handed Adriana to Eden, then slipped into the Seine and drowned. The Castillos — widower Ric included — returned to Santa Barbara. Another Castillo relative, Cruz's father Rafael, entered the picture, at an Acapulco hotel where he performed a magic act. A competing magician, Mephisto, kidnapped Rafael and in exchange for his freedom, Rafael gave him his greatest illusion. Eden convinced the elder Castillo to reconcile with his sons and move to Santa Barbara. Robert Barr, the right-hand man of a Las Vegas mobster named Tonell, arrived in town to engineer a takeover of Capwell Enterprises. His real objective was a reunion with Eden. They'd been in love as teenagers, and Barr couldn't forget her. A case of amnesia had blocked out Eden's memories of Barr and their summer on the island of Sirenas. Eden had also repressed the memory of the murder of a man named Raoul. Robert had served five years in prison for the crime, believing he was taking the rap for Eden. Santa Barbara mayoral candidate Jerry Calhoun, a childhood friend of Mason's, was found to be the culprit after a re-creation of the night of Raoul's murder on the Capwell yacht. Jerry jumped overboard and drowned. The crime solved, Cruz fretted that Eden still loved Robert. Castillo lost his job, thanks to Tonell. Mason's split-personality, Sonny Sprocket!, tried to sabotage Mason's wedding to Julia by having her catch him and Gina making love. A humiliated Julia left Mason at the altar and turned to Father Michael for comfort. Mason emerged and went to talk to Julia. When he saw her making love to Michael, he was devastated. Julia and Michael agreed that what happened was a mistake. Still, the padre left the Church. Bunny stopped cross-dressing in order to win Gina's heart, to no avail. Gina and Sonny successfully bilked C.C. out of ten million dollars. As revenge, C.C. sought permanent custody of Brandon. During the battle, Brandon learned that Santana was his natural mother, not Gina. Sonny offered to marry Gina to provide a more stable home, which would look good in court. At the wedding, Bunny's Uncle Mario hired a hit man to shoot Mason (for his nephew's sake). After an out-of-body experience, Sonny disappeared and Mason reunited with Julia. Ethan Asher, the new DA (and Zack Kelton lookalike), arrived in town with his wife, Laura. Years earlier, when Michael was a Boston cop, he had romanced Laura. In a shootout with criminal Leo Mitchell, Laura's son, Jamie, was caught in the cross fire and killed. Anxious for revenge on Michael — who had also fatally shot Leo's brother — Leo escaped from jail and turned up in Santa Barbara. In a showdown at the Beach Bar, Leo was killed. His body disappeared. Michael was thrown in jail, although Laura had really killed Leo, ostensibly to save Michael's life. Once Leo's body was recovered, the bullet in his body didn't match Michael's gun, and he was released. When a betrayed Michael learned that he had taken the rap for a murder that Laura committed, he ended their affair. Scott and Heather's romance hit a snag when Celeste DiNapoli, Scott's high school sweetheart, got a job at the clinic. Scott broke up with Heather and proposed to Celeste — then Heather discovered she was pregnant. Scott's engagement to Celeste went bust when he found out about his intended's past as a hooker. He hoped for another chance with Heather, but she didn't want anything to do with him. Heather gave birth to a boy and named him Mike. She did agree that Scott could be a part of their son's life. Heather, Mike, Scott and Celeste all left town. C.C. learned that a one-night stand eighteen years earlier, with Megan, the author of his autobiography, resulted in the conception of their son, Greg. Greg fell in love with Emily DiNapoli — sister of Celeste. Megan, who was dying of leukemia, left town. TJ sold the Lair to Bunny and headed for Palm Springs; Bunny's family pressured him to marry a woman named Vanessa but he refused; Ted went to find Mason in Europe and didn't return; Jeffrey and Kelly divorced and he left town; Kelly had a brief flirtation with Ric; Mason and Julia finally got married.

Here's what was happening on Love of Life around April 76. On this day in Rosehill, two doors slam: Ben slams Arlene's car door saying he can't run away with her, he loves his wife; Arlene slams the Hart's front door lashing out at Betsy: "Ben is my husband, not yours. We've been married for three years; you never were his wife." Betsy looks at Arlene in amazement and shouts: "You're lying. You're crazy, that can't be true." "It's true, sweetie," Arlene continues bitterly, "And it's about time you knew." Betsy's searching and pained eyes are still trying to discern whether what Arlene says is the truth when Ben walks in the door. Betsy runs into his arms and cries: "Arlene has been saying terrible things about you; tell me they're not true." Ben observes his wife's shaken state and realizes he owes her the truth. He takes Betsy aside and tells her the whole sorry tale. Ben couldn't have hurt her more if he had taken a butcher's knife and plunged it into her chest. Betsy runs to her room, crying in pain. Ben's guts are twisted into a knot, his eyes fight to hold back the tears; he realizes he may have lost the best thing that has ever happened in his life. He runs after Betsy and corners her in the bedroom. Ben tries to touch her, but she recoils in disgust. Her tear-streaked face speaks of the pain he has just caused her. Betsy tells Ben that as soon as her brother Tom arrives, she's going to leave this house. She never wants to see him again. Ben declares his love for her and begs her to stay, but in Betsy's eyes Ben has already showed his true colors and these declarations of love fall on deaf ears. Felicia's new life with her husband brings back memories of a childhood spend caring for her invalid father. She's trying to remain strong for Charles, but the strain is beginning to show. Charles observes these cracks in her facade and worries that he may be placing too big a load on her shoulders. This is a frustrating realization, for he already knows he'll always have to rely on her for some things. Cal is still getting flak about Rick from Eddie and Van. Both of them feels he's not the right sort of man for her. He's been involved with a lot of women and Cal is just too innocent to handle him. Cal tells them, in no uncertain terms, that it's her life -- and her love -- and to please stay out of it. Betsy's World Crumbles Betsy's whole world has gone into a tailspin. Her romanticized vision of the perfect love and marriage has been shattered like priceless stained glass. She sits in Cal's apartment trying -- unsuccessfully -- to put the pieces back together. Her friends and family rally around, attempting to nursemaid her back to emotional health; but it does very little good. Betsy is too wrapped up in her cocoon of grief to respond to their kindness. The crude and callow cad (?) who did this to Rosehill's Pollyana is also suffering greatly for his sins. Ben desperately wants his wife and baby back. He's using every emotional ploy in the book to try to convince Betsy that he loves her; but it's all in vain. It's like the iceberg meeting the Titanic. Betsy's icy demeanor sinks all chances of Ben's ploys succeeding -- even when he shows Betsy some real divorce papers (Ben flew down to Haiti and got a divorce from Arlene), it does little to crack the ice. Wallowing in his grief and agony, Ben's now a man to be pitied. Ben's Troubles Increase Ben may be in for more than emotional grief if Jamie has his way. Jamie tells Meg he wants to prosecute Ben to the full extent of the law. He wants her darling son to pay for his actions. Jamie goes to see Betsy and asks her to sign a statement of the facts of the case. Betsy declines, saying she's not interested in vengeance; she doesn't want anything to do with Ben. Jamie's not about to take no for an answer. He leaves the statement with he saying: "Think about it Betsy. This isn't vengeance; it's justice. Don't you want Ben to pay for what he's done?" Ray walks into the bar at Beaver Ridge. He spies Arlene sitting alone and in his usual gentlemanly manner, plops right down in the seat next to hers. Arlene tells him to get lost. Ray develops an immediate case of deafness and the words don't penetrate. He sees the distraught state Arlene's in and seizes upon the opportunity to make his move. Despite the repugnance she feels when she looks at this oily gent, Arlene responds a bit. Her need to talk -- or spew venom -- wins over any disgust she may be feeling. Stretched to Her Breaking Point Betsy is being pressured by Jamie to sign a complaint against Ben -- an action which could result in Ben's imprisonment. In her pain and confusion, she cannot feel joy at the first movements of her baby. In anguish, she goes to see Dr. Albertson, telling her she does not want the baby. The doctor manages to calm her down, reminding her that no matter what the state of things with the baby's father, Betsy's love for the baby is just as real as the baby itself. Don't, pleads Dr. Albertson, make the baby pay for the pain his father has caused. Calmer now, Betsy goes home feeling able to cope somehow with the things she must face. Van rushes to smooth the waters until Betsy is calmer. Although she agrees with Bruce, that Ben probably deserves it, what purpose would it serve to have him put in prison? And how would Meg react? Van is further distressed by this situation when she learns that Rick knew all along about Ben's deception; with Rick and Cal so deeply involved, Van is concerned about the kind of man Rick is -- how can he help but, eventually hurt Cal? Ben, busy packing a bag to leave Rosehill, will not be stopped, even by Meg. He almost wishes, he tells her, that Betsy would sign the complaint. Ignoring Meg's pleas that she will, somehow, get Betsy back for him, Ben replies that this time she can't buy an out for him. It is time he grew up and became a man, and maybe then Betsy would return to him. Desperate, Meg goes to Betsy to beg her not to sign the paper and to offer a substantial trust fund for the baby. Once again she is coldly rebuffed. Betsy will not allow Meg's money to destroy her baby the way it destroyed Ben. Feeling Utterly Deserted Meg tells Rick that she wants out of the new project because she doesn't want Rick destroyed too, with her money. He is frantic, because this project is, to him, the answer to all his dreams, but philosophically he suggests they forget it for now and have a drink. Van's, as well as Eddie's, fears for Cal's happiness seem very well founded when, well into their cups, Rick and Meg embrace quite passionately. He seems to have forgotten that he is secretly engaged to Cal and that he has given his word to Van that he would never, intentionally, hurt Cal. Rick may be getting more than he bargains for when he says "go" to the Schuyler Mountain project. Meg will provide the financial backing -- without, she says, strings. He hopes she means it when she assures him that it is not a trade-off for their night together. Cal Losing Out? He asks himself what he has done, and when Cal arrives at the club, he is so preoccupied that he calls it short. Meg, standing unseen in the background, smiles when she hears Rick tell Cal not to mention their secret engagement to anyone. Jamie tells the District Attorney about Ben's bigamy. The D.A. begins an investigation into the matter. Compelled by honor, Bruce hands over a letter he secured from Betsy. In the letter, Ben admitted to Betsy that he was already married to Arlene. Bruce is fearful that his action will destroy the new family feeling -- the only good thing arising from this mess. He is right, at least as far as Meg is concerned. She will never forgive him. Her first move is to attempt to get Ben to leave the country. He says no. Her second is to get him a lawyer. At a meeting called at the D.A.'s office, Arlene, under subpoena, tries to stonewall the D.A. when he asks her about the bigamy; she is forestalled by her mother, who begs Arlene to be truthful. Horrified when she sees the damning letter, Arlene cannot understand how Betsy could supply the evidence against the father of her unborn child. After talking to his grandmother and Eddie Aleata, Ben takes heed of their heartfelt advice not to run away this time, to face up to the consequences of his actions and prepare the way for a kind of rebirth: to become a man. Ben Faces the Music To the surprise of everyone present in the D.A.'s office, especially the three important women in his life -- Betsy, Arlene, and Meg -- Ben walks into the meeting. He admits writing the letter and states that what it says is true. When formally charged, Ben calmly says that he has got a long way to go to make up for what he has done, but he regards this as a good start. Felicia, overwrought by her intense caring to Charles, finally has the beginning of a breakdown. Joe firmly tells her she must have some rest and orders to hire a nurse. Felicia looks worried at the announcement, and Charles's face mirrors displeasure.

By series end Lori Laughlin had departed and Karrie Emerson had taken over.She never clicked in the role as she lacked Lori's charisma.

From SOD New Kids On The Block LOVING’s Boys And Girls Of Summer Are Pumping The Show Full Of Young Blood By Jennifer Woodhouse You've read in these pages about LOVING's nationwide search to find new young talent. The hunt is over — now's your chance to judge the results. These fresh faces will be on LOVING's front burner all summer in stories that take the show, according to Executive Producer Fran Sears, "back to basics. We're going back to Alden University, which was so much a part of the show's beginnings." Not that the kids are flying solo, without benefit of family ties. According to Head Writer Addie Walsh, "We're connecting them strongly to their families; we're not just isolating them." Cooper is an Alden, Casey is Gift's son and Hannah is Dinah Lee's little sister. The writers are using these relationships, as well as the fraternity/sorority setting, as springboards for the new characters. The summer storylines revolve around Cooper Alden, their "wild card," according to Walsh. A traumatic incident lurks in rebellious Cooper's background. "We're building a classic quadrangle around him," reveals Walsh. Watch for action between Cooper, Hannah, Ally and Staige, with Kent acting as spoiler. Ally Rescott, an outsider to Corinth society, will learn the hard way that social climbing rarely pays. She is the first to attract Cooper. But Cooper is drawn to the sweet, innocent Hannah Mayberry, to whom he will open up like never before. "Hannah is the person who perceives the troubled soul in Cooper," says Walsh. "And that will be a major plot point." Meanwhile, Kent and Staige, AU's "face man" and "star girl" (terms the writers discovered when interviewing students about the Greek system), are out to cause nothing but trouble for Cooper. Nasty, nouveauriche Kent loathes the young Alden, and superficial Staige, Kent's girlfriend, wants Cooper — but only because he's an Alden. "Kent feels very threatened by Cooper coming onto his turf, which will result in physical and emotional injury for the young men," says Walsh. Casey Bowman, Giff Bowman's son, will act as a sobering force on the scene. "He finds himself in the position of a child raising a parent, which has matured him faster in some ways, but he lost some of his childhood. He is the wiser one of our kids. He's going to have a very strong effect on Ally, and there will be a chemistry between him and Ally that both of them will deny. They're like oil and water, but the oil and water might do a little mixing," Walsh hints.

A critique from Soap Opera Digest 1989 by John Kelly Genovese SANTA BARBARA is unquestionably the biggest cult soap since DARK SHADOWS. Its ratings never make headlines, but one would never know that by the way the show's followers talk about it. This is a loyal, vocal group that literally salivates over all the day-to-day action. Oddly enough, many of these viewers are he same folks who have watched ALL MY CHILDREN or AS THE WORLD TURNS for years, but they discuss the happenings on these shows in more reserved tones. Of course, there is a fundamental difference between DARK SHADOWS and SANTA BARBARA. While DARK SHADOWS was obvious camp (a Gothic horror poof with werewolves, vampires and time warps), SB doesn't fit neatly into any one category. Through most of its five years on the air, it has been an unlikely blend of Hamlet, MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTAN, SOAP, WHEEL OF FORTUNE and Waiting for Mr. Goodbar. Sure there have been serious moments. Cruz and Eden Castillo (A Martinez and Marcy Walker) dealt with Eden's rape with new level of dignity and maturity for daytime television — no soapy histrionics here. either Michael (Frank Runyeon) struggled convincingly as he questioned his commitment to the cloth (this was not a "guilt" storyline). Nonetheless, SANTA BARBARA became known mostly for its raunchier, funnier elements. Gina (Robin Mattson) wasn't just a vamp, she was an exhibitionist. Mason Capwell (Lane Davies) put away an average of a fifth of scotch per episode, yet was never too tongue-tied to deliver an erudite dig. And who could forget the much missed Lionel and Augusta Lockridge (Nicolas Coster and Louise Sorel), who proved that sex was not only alive after forty, but could be more fun than ever? In the past year, the show got even nuttier. Gina became entangled with a crossdresser named Bunny (Joe Marinelli). Mason was felled with amnesia and took on the alter-ego of redneck Sonny Sprocket. It was a hoot, but one began to wonder how much farther SB would go just to get laughs. We half expected Gina to become a nun, or Redd Foxx to show up as a long lost brother to millionaire C.C. Capwell (Jed Allan). Also, for far too long, the Capwells were the only family in town, and the writers seemed capable of writing for only one couple — Cruz and Eden. But then, SB shifted gear and turned into a good old-fashioned romance, reinstating a classic soap ingredient — the love triangle. In their search for infant daughter Adriana, Cruz and Eden crossed paths with psychic Sandra Mills (Miranda Wilson), who is obsessed with Cruz. Feisty Sophia (Judith McConnell) is rethinking her independence from C.C. with the advent of romance novelist Megan Richardson (Meg Bennett). Mason, recently married to Julia (Nancy Grahn), has been facing his drinking problem with the very interested support of Lisa DiNapoli (Tawny Kitaen). Dr. Scott dark (Vincent Irizarry) is caught between Heather (Jane Rogers), who is pregnant with his child, and a rekindled high school romance with Lisa's ex-hooker sis, Celeste (Signy Coleman). Michael — minus the collar — is reminded of his past with Laura Asher (Christopher Norris), wife of suspender-clad DA Ethan Asher (Leigh McCloskey). For SANTA BARBARA, this is pretty conservative stuff. Now that affairs of the heart have taken over, characters once again are allowed to sit and philosophize occasionally to examine their relationships without flippancy or risk of interruption. At the same time, the show never gets dreary. Mason and Julia enjoy sexual romps at the office; Gina still hurls her barbs; it is still great fun, but no longer absurd. This turn of events is largely due to the show's head writer, the underrated Charles Pratt, Jr., who has brought back the values that Bridget and Jerome Dobson (SB's creators) instituted at the beginning. The relationship between C.C. and Mason has always been tragic. It is a classic representation of millions of fathers and sons who never really accepted one another; whose attempts to connect were marred by mutual disapproval and distrust. As C.C. bares his soul to Megan for biographical purposes, and Mason looks at his life through out-of-body experience in Heaven (followed by AA), this relationship shows signs of a new beginning. And thank goodness for the humanizing of Gina. She's still one sexy wench, but she is once again being portrayed as a survivor whose one constant in life is her love for her son, Brandon (Justin Gocke). She, too, is looking at her circumstances through a new set of glasses; envying the simplicity and innocence of the people around her. When she and Brandon were held hostage by the psychotic Kirk Cranston (played chillingly by Joseph Bottoms), Gina showed fortitude and savvy in setting Kirk up for Cruz's trap. The woman may like sex and money, but she's not a total dingbat. These are examples of the wonderful "gray areas" that have made SB's characters so fascinating. Also better than ever is the overall caliber of the acting ensemble. Until recently, the cast was a combination of hits and misses. No more. The newcomers appear to be as strong as the veterans. Signy Coleman is absolutely endearing. Tawny Kitaen is one smashing lady — commanding in a self-assuredly feminine (never brash) way. Marcy Walker, Nancy Grahn and Judith McConnell also make for this brand of heroine. SB's male actors are equally strong. A Martinez proves that TV cops can be vulnerable and believable. Todd McKee (Ted Capwell) is an appealing young actor who deserves more challenging material than the cutesy stuff he is often given. Frank Runyeon and Vincent Irizarry seem far more focused and comfortable with their characters than they were on their previous soaps (ex-Steve, ATWT; ex-Lujack, GL, respectively), and they have proven they can be super male leads. Lane Davies? This is a master. He is the pathetic clown, the sardonic Greek chorus, the idealistic lawyer, the mischievous lover. Give this guy an Emmy. SANTA BARBARA has given its audience many moments of fun in what some consider to be a dour medium. And it's still fun. The show is simply growing

Elizabeth Savage played Lynx(!)on GH after her Loving stint.Then pretty much disappeared from view.

I am unclear as to the fate of Nola and her baby.I will dig out SODs from that time and let you know. By the way We Love Soaps is reporting that The Doctors will air on The Hallmark channel this year! No further news at this stage.

From SOD January 20 1981 Billy's mysterious calls to California are explained when Natalie Bell arrives in Madison. She had to be with him,but he's afraid thar her presence will ruin their plans. Natalie tells him not to worry. Billy and Natalie met when they both worked for Miss Van Allen,a wealthy woman in California. Miss Van Allen unwittingly planted the idea in Billy's brain for a scheme to gain a fortune. It seems Miss Van Allen inherited her brother's money.She also wanted custody of Van Allen's daughter ,who is none other than Greta Powers!(Greta's natural father was Maggie's first husband Kurt Van Allen.) Miss Van Allen lost the custody battle to Kurt's widow Maggie! Now that she is facing death,she wants Greta,her niece ,and only surviving relative,to be her sole heir. Billy and Natalie soon concocted a plan to get that money for themselves.He will marry Greta and...and what?What did Natalie mean when she said that Greta would not "be around much longer". Natalie tells Billy he must work very quickly,because Miss Van Allen's health is much worse..to speed things up,Natalie suggests that he try to "romance" Greta instead of hot passion."Appeal to her mind ,not just her body". Billy's new approach may just be successful.After convincing Greta to have lunch with him at The Medicine Man,he gets down to work.He smoothly apologizes for making love to her.It was because he was so relieved about Lee Ann that he got carried away.But it was all his fault and he feels terrible that she feels so guilty.Billy soon convinces Greta that he is kind,considerate ,and very loving.

Yes I have received your email. Thank you so much. New Years is a busy time and I am saving up those summaries for when I can relax and enjoy. Happy New Year to you and all soap history fans!

The Doctors was cancelled 26 years ago Dec 31st 1982. Jane Badler was the second actress to play Natalie.Laurie Klatscher originated the role in 1980.Badler took over in 81. Incidentally,Jane Badler now lives in Melbourne Australia where she occasionally acts on stage and tv.She also is a singer and plays various clubs.She is still looking good! Natalie was mostly involved with Luke Dancy and later with Paul Reed.In the last episode,she discovered that Paul was a murderer. Over the next few days.I'll try and find more details of Natalie's storyline.

Dec 28th 1984 Edge of Night is cancelled!

michael.thanks for reviving the thread.I think there is plenty left to discuss about The Doctors. Buddy,Althea's son by Dave Davis,died from meningitis.I don't think Dave's fate was ever dealt with after he left town. Althea was head of the outpatient clinic at Hope Memorial.She was engaged to Matt Powers before he married Maggie. Matt and Maggie married in 68 as did Nick and Althea.I would guess that Buddy died around 66 or 67. Penny went to live with her father in California. Christopher Norris and Jami Fields played Penny until this time.When she was brought back around 73/74 Julia Duffy took over.Penny married Jerry Dancy and they were written out in 77. Elizabeth Hubbard left around 78 and when she returned Penny's death was written in.I think it was a plane crash.Jerry returned to the show. I think it was one of the many mistakes of the show to kill off Penny.it left althea with less to do.Penny could have been a viable character in her twenties,definitely a viable character.

I am pretty certain the Capitol premiere was on tape. The show did well in the ratings ,as the Dallas lead in had huge ratings at the time.I remember Capitol had a 32 share,which while good,was well below what Falcon Crest did in that timeslot.

From SOD Jan 95 CRISIS IN CORINTH Loving - which is daytime's perpetually lowest rated soap seems to weather a major upheaval once a year - is in the midst of further serious changes. First up - head writers Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh have been fired. "We opted not to pick them up",an ABC rep comments,referring to their contracts. Rumor has it that former GL writers nancy Curlee,Stephen Demorest and Patrick Mulcahy,And former AW head writer Donna Swajeski,are potential replacements. An ABC rep declined comment. Additionally,Loving will lose young heartthrob Robert Tyler(Trucker)in Jan,and numerous set sources report that the show's two other younger leading men are thinking of leaving when their cxontracts are up next year."We never discuss contracts",a spokesperson for the shows says. Good news:Catherine Hickland(Tess) will remain onscreen,even though she will star in the Broadway musical Les Miserables beginning Jan 17. Throughout the upheaval,Supervising Producer Jean Dadario Burke is helming the show while Exec Producer Jo Ann Emmerich recuperates from a seroius illness."We're rudderless",laments a Loving actor. The truth is that Loving's talented cast and crew have been the soap's saving grace this year.Reportedly,the actors often rewrite their own lines and work behind the scenes to ensure that their performances are the best they can be.Loving staffers frequently work until 9 or 10 at night,which is very unusual for a half hour show.Yet,despite their committment,Loving remains the lowest rating soap. The logicalquestion is Will Loving be cancelled? "ABC is committed to Loving",an ABC rep maintains. Stay tuned.

New Kids On The Block LOVING’s Boys And Girls Of Summer Are Pumping The Show Full Of Young Blood By Jennifer Woodhouse You've read in these pages about LOVING's nationwide search to find new young talent. The hunt is over — now's your chance to judge the results. These fresh faces will be on LOVING's front burner all summer in stories that take the show, according to Executive Producer Fran Sears, "back to basics. We're going back to Alden University, which was so much a part of the show's beginnings." Not that the kids are flying solo, without benefit of family ties. According to Head Writer Addie Walsh, "We're connecting them strongly to their families; we're not just isolating them." Cooper is an Alden, Casey is Gift's son and Hannah is Dinah Lee's little sister. The writers are using these relationships, as well as the fraternity/sorority setting, as springboards for the new characters. The summer storylines revolve around Cooper Alden, their "wild card," according to Walsh. A traumatic incident lurks in rebellious Cooper's background. "We're building a classic quadrangle around him," reveals Walsh. Watch for action between Cooper, Hannah, Ally and Staige, with Kent acting as spoiler. Ally Rescott, an outsider to Corinth society, will learn the hard way that social climbing rarely pays. She is the first to attract Cooper. But Cooper is drawn to the sweet, innocent Hannah Mayberry, to whom he will open up like never before. "Hannah is the person who perceives the troubled soul in Cooper," says Walsh. "And that will be a major plot point." Meanwhile, Kent and Staige, AU's "face man" and "star girl" (terms the writers discovered when interviewing students about the Greek system), are out to cause nothing but trouble for Cooper. Nasty, nouveauriche Kent loathes the young Alden, and superficial Staige, Kent's girlfriend, wants Cooper — but only because he's an Alden. "Kent feels very threatened by Cooper coming onto his turf, which will result in physical and emotional injury for the young men," says Walsh. Casey Bowman, Giff Bowman's son, will act as a sobering force on the scene. "He finds himself in the position of a child raising a parent, which has matured him faster in some ways, but he lost some of his childhood. He is the wiser one of our kids. He's going to have a very strong effect on Ally, and there will be a chemistry between him and Ally that both of them will deny. They're like oil and water, but the oil and water might do a little mixing," Walsh hints.

From SOD Nov 89 LOVING Every Minute of It :Head writers Millee Taggart and Tom King Have a Most Unusual Relationship. Taggart and King have been Loving's head writers since the end of the 88 writers' strike. The remarkable aspect of their professional relationship is that they work in separate locations. Millee lives in Westchester County,NY,while Tom lives in Manhattan. "Tom and I have been a team since the early 80's. We're not married and we each have separate lives", Millee explains. "We're on the phone all the time and meet every Monday at the studio to lay out what we're going to do for the week". The achieved result is not homogenized. Rather, it's two distinct points of view being presented, which suits them in a lot of ways. Taggart asserts, "We find that if we talk everything to death, we won't get the maximum creativity out of what we're trying to do. To me, it's the most natural way of working." King maintains, "it wouldn't add anything to work together. If you're writing, you're still working alone." Not that they haven't tried the togetherness approach. As head writers for ATWT and RH, Taggart and King spent several years working out of the same office. In california, they also wrote two mid-season replacements sitcoms, The Thorns and Nothing in Common. Though the shows were shortlived, they gave the team the opportunity to write comedy, which they both really enjoy. King insists, "We both like to inject comedy wherever we can. I think Ava on Loving is a hoot." Taggart adds, "I like writing daytime a lot.It's rather exciting because it's very immediate. It doesn't get over polished because there isn't enough time." Often,the two writers will spend a weekend with Loving's exec producer Joseph Hardy, to discuss potential story lines. Then they'll go home,write, and, later exchange results. Taggart notes, "Tom has total freedom to change whatever I've written. We allow each other to be as creative as possible in the framework of a collaboration." Taggart and King have found a way for two very different people to do the best they can.

Re Flamingo Road,the movie. I wonder why,out of all the suitable 40's/50's movies,this was chosen as the basis for a primetime soap? The cast Lane Bellamy Joan Crawford Titus Semple Sydney Greenstreet Fielding Carlisle Zachary Scott Annabelle Weldon Virginia Huston Lute Mae Sanders Gladys George Dan Reynolds David Brian The Dan Reynolds character was Sam Curtis,Lane's surname was changed to Ballou! and Annabelle became Constance. The plot Lane is a carnival dancer who gets stranded in a small town ruled bt Sheriff Titus.Field is attracted to her and gets her a waitress job.Titus,who has ambitions for Field,considers Lane inappropriate and gets her fired.She confronts him and he frames her on a prostitution rap. He then pushes field into a marriage to Annabelle. After a few months,Lane returns and gets a job in Lute-Mae's roadhouse.She meets Dan and they begin dating.Dan is locked in a power struggle with Titus. Lane loves Field still,but marries Dan.Together they climb to the top and Lane realises she does love her husband. Field ,after being fired by Titus, kills himself at Lane's house and scandal ensues. Lane confronts Titus and accidentally kills him.The film ends with Lane awaiting a courts ruling and Dan indicating he will wait for her. Like some other Crawford movies of the time,she was too old for the part.

Yes,Lin Bolen made a lot of changes to the gameshow schedule and format after she arrived in 73. From the net: When Lin Bolen took over as NBC’s head of daytime programming in 1973, she wanted to change the look of the network’s games, most of which had an elderly feel. After dropping the long-running Concentration and The Who, What or Where Game, Bolen’s biggest shocker was moving Jeopardy! from 12 noon (where it had been for over eight years) to 10:30 a.m. to make room for Jackpot! Her explanation was that its ratings were slipping (slightly), while producer Rudin claimed she needed the slot for her own project and that Jeopardy! challenged its viewers too much to air at that early hour. That aside, it did manage to compete with CBS’s The $10,000 Pyramid and Now You See It, until Bolen moved it again – to 1:30 p.m., against As The World Turns and Let’s Make a Deal, both very highly rated. That did it – Jeopardy’s ratings slid into the basement. The show, which had a year to go on its contract, was canceled by NBC in a deal with Merv Griffin, with Griffin placing a new game on NBC’s daytime schedule in its place. (That game, of course, was Wheel of Fortune, so Merv made out pretty good on the deal.) The last NBC episode of Jeopardy! aired January 3, 1975, with an emotional farewell from Fleming and tons of clips. In giving Jackpot! the noon slot, Jeopardy! was shoved to 10:30 a.m. in the process. Jackpot! has been reviled for this reason, but the decision was Lin Bolen’s, head of NBC daytime, who considered 12 noon a primo spot. (History has determined otherwise: affiliates generally bump a network program at 12 noon in favor of local news.) Up against CBS’s The Young and The Restless and ABC’s Password, Jackpot! actually held its own – it didn’t dominate the time period like Jeopardy! had, but it at least was competitive with Y&R, and usually beat Password. As for HTSAM,I think the problems began with that clunky title.I guess they were going with a 70's self help vibe but the working title From This Moment sounded better to me.(I have also seen it as From This Day Forth)I think the show was already dead and buried when it was moved to 1.30 as NBC announced the plan to expand had DOOL in Feb 75.They had already aired a 60 min DOOL in Nov 74.Was it tied into a special event? eg a wedding? I have also read that The Doctors and Marriage aired 1 hr eps as trials.Does anyone know if this is true and when they aired? After cancellation Armand Assante(Johnny)and Lauren White(Martha) went to The Doctors,Cathy Greene(Lori)went to AW,Elissa Leeds went AMC and Veleka Gray to Somerset. NBC aired a primetime show called WEB,losely based on Network with Pamela Bellwood(Claudia, Dynasty) as a female network chief.It was one of the first shows cancelled in the 78 TV season and was produced by ...Lin Bolen!

The show was one of CBS attempts to get the young folks watching. At the time,it had one of the highest awareness ratings,due to CBS ' massive publicity drive.Ironically,most people said they wouldn't be watching - which explains the lackluster ratings. The competition was Grace Under Fire/Naked Truth on ABC and Dateline on NBC.Grace was in the Top 20 and Naked and Dateline Top 30. Nine episodes aired before the show was yanked during November sweeps.It came back as CPW the following summer.CBS had obviously lost interest.

Although Henry Slesar was primarily a mystery writer,he was also able to play up the emotional'soapy'aspect of the plots. I remember reading that Gloria Monty simply took the Edge formula of ongoing mystery/action stories and ran with it,creating much publicity,while Edge died in the ratings and was cancelled - never really acknowledged for originating it and doing it better.

The other actor playing Kyle was Gene Lindsey,although I'm not sure who played the role first. I have a feeling it was Wayne Tippit.I recall an interview with him,where he said that he was called back to resume playing Kyle but wasn't interested/available. As regards Tom Carroll,I have seen James Rebhorn listed as playing Tom.Was this before Jonathon Frakes or a temp replacement? Lauren White originated the role of MJ and played her for 3 years till 78.Carla Dragoni was her replacement,but she was quickly dropped when Kathy Glass became available.When Glass left,they recast again with Amy Ingersoll.I don't know why they bothered as the show was making a lot of changes and didn't seem interested in continuity.MJ ,by this stage ,was expendable. Lauren White had been on How to Survive a Marriage,but after The Doctors disappeared from view.

Kyle was played by Wayne Tippit,who had previously played one of the Jerry Ames on Secret Storm and who would join Search for Tomorrow in 78 as Ted Adamson. As for Eleanor's departure,French Fan's upcoming summaries will hopefully clear that up. Do we know who played Evan,Doreen's father? Still not clear on Stacy Well's as Jason's stepdaughter.Who was her mother?

It's interesting you praise Margo McKenna because at the time,a respected soap journalist(was it John Kelly Genovese?)slammed her as the worst actress on the show! She previously played Betsy on Love of Life and was one of the first performers to move to another show when LOL was cancelled. I think she later had a small role on ATWT.