Paul Raven

Santa Cruz Sentinel, 5 November 1981 What is Mel Ferrer doing in a late-night soap opera? Having fun, he insists. If Elizabeth Taylor can make a guest appearance on "General Hospital," why can't Ferrer star in "Behind the Screen"? He's doing just that each Friday on CBS's answer to Johnny Carson. "Behind the Screen" may be the ultimate in the peculiar art that has spread from the daylight hours into prime time ("Dallas," "Flamingo Road") and now into the insomnia period. The new once-a-week half-hour is a soap opera about a soap opera. The cast: Ferrer, a powerful Hollywood promoter; Janine Turner, star of the serial "Generations" and victim of Ferrer's manipulation; Joanne Linville, her crippled, ambitious mother; Michael Sabatino, a serious actor slumming in "Generations;" Joshua Bryant, his father and producer of the series; and more. "When they sent me the script," said Ferrer, "I was immediately interested because David Jacobs' name was on it. David created 'Dallas,' and I am a mad 'Dallas' fan. I think Larry Hagman has made a creative and inventive character out of J R. and I have an eye for Sue Ellen (Linda Evans)." Ferrer discovered that taping a halfhour weekly show is no easy chore. The "Behind the Screen" cast rehearses at CBS Television center on Friday, tapes on Saturday and Sunday. Reason for the weekend taping: "Behind the Screen" uses the stage occupied by "Archie Bunker's Place" during the week. The series came along at just the right time for him, Ferrer said. "I had been living in Switzerland and making three pictures a year Italian, Spanish, French, German, English," he explained. "Production in Europe has become very tight, except in Germany. In Italy there is very little money to finance films. "So it seemed like a good time to resurface here. I have an avocado and lemon ranch in Carpinteria (80 miles northwest) that I wanted to look after. And I'm developing 'Peter Pan' at Paramount." Ferrer has long held the film rights to the James Barrie classic, once planned it for his then-wife Audrey Hepburn. For a time Mia Farrow was to star. Now producer Ferrer has a revolutionary idea: Peter Pan will be played by a boy. "But not Ricky Schroeder," he added. "I have already talked to Ricky, but he is already too old to play Peter. "I have seen all the Peters in recent times Jean Arthur, Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan. While they are wonderful, they are not what Barrie intended. Our film will be done from the original play, not as a musical comedy."

OK thanks for clarifying. so that theory is out the window. So I'll return to previous speculation that Martin was with a closeted lover and the whole thing was hushed up. That man and relatives of the victims could still be revealed.

Yes we have seen Dani/Andre, Doug/Vanessa, Ashley/Derek and Naomi/Jacob in bed but no Martin/Smitty. And Chelsea's 3 way involvement has consisted of about 3 scenes at the Hideout before it was over.

Thanks so much @JAS0N47To give more context here's the schedule for Jan/Feb 73. NBC CBS ABC 10:00am Dinah's Place The Joker's Wild LOCAL 10:30am Concentration The New Price is Right 11:00am Sale of the Century Gambit 11:30am Hollywood Squares Love of Life Bewitched (R) 12:00 Noon Jeopardy! Where the Heart Is Password 12:25pm CBS News 12:30pm The Who, What or Where Game Search for Tomorrow Split Second 12:55pm NBC News 1:00pm LOCAL LOCAL All My Children 1:30pm Three on a Match As the World Turns Let's Make a Deal 2:00pm Days of our Lives The Guiding Light The Newlywed Game 2:30pm The Doctors The Edge of Night The Dating Game 3:00pm Another World Love is a Many Splendored Thing General Hospital 3:30pm Return to Peyton Place The Secret Storm One Life to Live 4:00pm Somerset The Vin Scully Show Love, American Style (R)

Desert Sun, 13 April 1985 ABC’s 'Dark Mansions’ Loretta Young quits movie LOS ANGELES (AP) - Loretta Young, citing “creative differences,” has withdrawn from her role as the family matriarch in “Dark Mansions,” an ABC movie and projected series, a spokesman for the actress said. The Academy Award-winning actress had been due to come out of retirement to begin work on the two-hour movie on April 22. The movie goes into production on Monday. “Loretta Young will not be rendering services because of creative differences over the story,” her agent, Norman Brokaw of the William Morris Agency said in a statement. “The parting between Miss Young and Aaron Spelling was amiable despite the story differences,” the statement said. Miss Young had been scheduled to play the role of Margaret Drake, the matriarch of a Seattle shipping family in “Dark Mansions,” a contemporary Gothic drama. There was no immediate word from either Aaron Spelling Productions or ABC who would replace Miss Young in the role. “It’s true that we had creative differences over the way her character was developing,” Spelling said in a statement released by a spokesman, David Horowitz. “She's a great star and a great friend and I hope she always remains both.” Miss Young won an Academy Award as best actress in 1948 for “The Farmer’s Daughter.” She was the star of 94 motion pictures and was the creator, producer and star of “The Loretta Young Show” during television’s so-called Golden Age Miss Young had been scheduled to work eight days out of the four week shooting schedule. The movie, a pilot for an ABC prime-time soap opera, also stars Michael York, who would make his series debut, Linda Purl, Paul Shenar, Melissa Sue Anderson, Raymond St. Jacques and Dan O’Herlihy. Miss Young s last film was “It Happens Every Thursday” in 1953. She then took the unprecedented step of retiring from films to produce and star in "The Loretta Young Show" on television. She won three Emmy awards as best dramatic actress in 1954, 1956 and 1958. She was also nominated five other times. The anthology show ran on NBC from 1953 to 1961. In the 1962-63 season she starred on NBC in a dramatic show called “The New Loretta Young Show.” As we know Joan Fontaine took on the role

Martin was responsible for Andre's parents death? As soon as we saw the nightmare scenes and it was established Andre's parents had died in a car accident...

Thanks as always @janea4old Looking at the GCAC set I wonder why they didn't include an elevator near the stairs. Are guest supposed to haul their luggage up the stairs? And how does it work as ahotel? Where is reception? Maybe the hotel lobby/elevator is on the first floor?

Contra Costa Times, 2 January 1977 The three major TV networks are revving up for a daytime programming race. It promises to be an especially exciting one to watch,and an absolutely frustrating one as well for serial soap opera viewers. Eyebrows were raised when NBC announced that Its new serial starting Monday “Lovers and Friends" would be berthed in the 11:30 am time dot on Channels 3 and 4 against Nielsen ratings lion “Search For Tomorrow" on CBS Channels 5 and 10. NBC - TV has not had a late morning serial in its daytime line-up since the early 1960s. And to pit a new aerial against established shows is in the words of NBC vice - president of daytime programs Madeline David “a very courageous aggressive daring and I hope long term creative move" It's also audaciously calculating because the men who developed the new show are writer/ creator Harding Lemay and producer Paul Rauch. This team forged “Another World" into NBC's top rated and artistically successful daytime program. David states that "Nobody expects this or any other serial to do well overnight. A serial takes a year and a half before it begins to make any headway before it can develop a loyal following. But she is so enthusiastically positive about “Lovers and Friends" that it doesn't appear to faze her a bit that ABC programmers pulled a last minute surprise by shuffling the time slots of “AIl My Children" and "Ryan’s Hope" recently before NBC debuts its new product. On paper “RH” and “LAF" have similar formats - the interactions between a wealthy family and its less - well off neighbors. Identlfiable locales — New York and Chicago respectively. extensive locations shootings and an emphasis on exciting attractive young talent. The ABC move may put the double whammy on the soap simply because of "RH's” already tested and hopefully assured audience loyalty. On the other hand Lemay and Rauch's skilled efforts could very well steal the audience in this time period. ABC's move is also geared for the expected expansion of "All My Children" to an hour format in the spring

Contra Costa Times, 2 January 1977 Meanwhile CBS and "Search For Tomorrow" have not been idly twiddlng their creative thumbs This week and next pop singer Melissa Manchester will be making guest appearances on the show. Miss Manchester's stint was one of those feckless larks that came about at what turns out to be a most propitious time While filming the CBS musical special "With Love” last month in Hollywood Michael Nouri (Steve Kaslo on "Search") and his wife photographer Lynn Goldsmith passed a dressing room where Melissa was preparing for a nighttime TV guest shot. Lynn and Melissa are chums from way back when but as they were having a reunion Melissa whispered Into Lynn’s ear "You won’t believe who's standing right behind you in the doorway. It's Steve Kaslo I watch him every day". Lynn nonchalantly answered “I know he's my husband". The singer Immediately pumped Michael about future plot developments on the serial while he quizzed her on her music. They joked "Wouldn't It be a goof for Melissa to appear on ‘Search’ since Michael's character la an aspiring musician - composer? She could play herself an artist interested In the career of a fellow singer" Search" producer Mary-ElIs Bunim took the suggestion seriously and voila Melisa Manchester comes to Henderson USA and convinces Steve Kaslo to go on a concert lour with her. During her appearances Manchester will sing a number of songs written by Michael plus material from her latest album "Help Is On The Way”.

The very first post of this topic dealing with ATWT being dethroned as weekly winner.

Thanks @kalbir Looks like once the Corringtons left, Search struggled. National City Star-News, Volume 104, Number 18, 2 March 1986 Domini Blythe finds soap acting quite challenging By Nancy M. Reichardt English-born actress Domini Blythe Is a veteran of the finest classical theater companies In England, Canada and the United States, but her American television debut came only five short months ago when she accepted the role of Estelle Kendall on the NBC soap "Search for Tomorrow." Miss Blythe Joined the Royal Shakespeare Company In England when she was 18 years old. She did several films. Including "Tutankamun,” which was filmed In Egypt, then moved to Canada, where she eventually became a member of Canada’s Stratford Festival Company. Miss Blythe decided to seek work In the United States after she embarked upon an American teaching tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company. "After working between England and Canada for several years and expanding a lot of energy trying to keep a career going in both countries, it suddenly seemed to make much more sense to work li North America,” says Miss Blythe. "I landed a one-day role on 'Search for Tomorrow,”' she remembers “The feedback on that role was very good, and the producers said that they’d find a role for me, and the did with the role of Estelle. Asked why she agree to do a sopa opera role after her extensive credits I classical theater, she replied, "It seemed to me that this was the very best thing one could do upon coming here. Doing a soap provides a relatively stable Income with terrific exposure. "There's a challenge I playing a part that has no beginning and no end. It's so unlike anything else I’v ever done. I love the idea that a soap is a collaborative effort between you as an actor and the writer: which Is completely unlike performing the works of Shakespeare or any other playwright who's dead." Miss Blythe describe Estelle as a “survivor'' an adds that she’s please that Estelle Is "a strong woman who can deal easily In a man’s world while she also has a very vulnerable side. "I like the fact that Estelle Is neither all good nor all bad like all hums beings,” Miss Blythe say "I find the Intricacies of the character interesting. Rather than dealing with murders, I'd prefer to deal with a corporate struggle. That’s something that can relate to more easily.

Desert Sun, Volume 43, Number 248, 23 May 1970 Soap Opera Queen A Real Homebody HOLLYWOOD (UP!)—Denise Alexander is unknown to nighttime-only television viewers but she is one of the queens of soap opera in her role of Susan Martin on the daily “Days of Our Lives’’ strip. The auburn haired beauty moved here from New York 12 years ago and into a Beverly Hills apartment she has furnished with antiques from a shop she opened and later closed. Her potpourri antique store was a modified success. Modified because Denise “tried to find good homes’’ for her merchandise. As a result many an ancient chair or table rests in her home, some with price tags still on them. A regular with “Days of Our Lives” for four years, Denise leaves her four-room diggings—bedroom, kitchen, dining room and living room—at 6: .10 a.m. every day for morning rehearsals at NBC. At noon the show is taped and by 1 p.m. the cast runs through the next day’s episode of the soap opera. “We can’t ad lib because the camera shots depend on word cues,” Denise says. “So we’ve learned to memorize our lines quickly.” Denise’s boy friend is actor David Hartman who stars in “The Bold Ones” for television. They are together almost every evening. Most often David takes Denise to dinner, and then perhaps a movie. Other evenings Denise broils steaks in her apartment for her “fella,” as she calls him. At the moment they haven’t any marriage plans. The actress prefers gourmet dishes and few chefs prepare veal cordon bleu better than she. Her swiss steak with wine sauce is also a treat which Hartman relishes. No Discotheques Their social life revolves around small dinner parties with friends and dancing at secluded, romantic places. They abhore discotheques. Weekends for the couple are devoted to tennis, sailing and restful days at the beach sunning and surfing. Then again, Hartman may stop by ,and the two will spend the day reading, with a little background music. Denise opened her door one day and an enormous white cat walked in, hopped onto a chair and staked a claim. She named the intruder “Cat." and he has been a member of her household ever since. Unlike the Sue Martin she portrays on the show, Denise is very much with it. Sue wears a conservative wardrobe. Denis prefers sophisticated, chic outfits from boutiques. She dislikes shopping but loves clothes. The problem is solved by periodic shopping sprees during which she purchases enough outfits to see her through for six months or more. When she feels out of style, back she goes to the smart shops.

Could it be a way to get the schedule back on track? The preemptions meant Fri cliffhangers were airing on other days, right? Or has that already been adjusted?

ONE LIFE TO LIVE Richard Abbott Luke Reilly 1977-79 Keith Langsdale July 1977-May 1980 Robert Gribbon May 1980-81 Jeffrey Byron 1986-87 Steve Burke Bernard Grant Dec 1970- 1975

Again, I think the budget is playing a big part in how the show is constructed. A lot of the actors are on low guarantees so they can't be on too much,there no extra sets available etc.That's why stories like Mariah/Tessa are on for a few days and basically a retelling of offscreen events. Also, having characters sitting at a table for most of the episode means less need for rehearsal, thus saving time and money.

GH 1976 Pt 5 Cam portrays the betrayed-and-long-suffering husband magnificently, telling Diana that emotional infidelity is as bad as the other kind. He then broodingly tells Diana that if he’s found gone over the balcony of the penthouse, it won’t have been suicide—Leslie will have pushed him. Or, more likely, she would find a less obvious method. But he can handle both their problems, he assures Diana. He reaches for the phone and in moments arranges for a plum job offer for Peter as a psychiatric consultant at one of Cam’s West Coast companies, with a lucrative salary to go with it. When Diana assures him that Peter won’t accept the position, Cam insists that it’s up to Diana to see that he does, for the sake of her marriage. After a harrowing night with their patient, whose suicide attempt followed the loss of a baby, Leslie breaks down from both her patient’s agony and her own. But, as she tells Peter, she has to see Cam and end it now. She confronts him in the apartment and tells him that his actions were designed to take Laura from her and his complete disregard for her feelings have ended their marriage. Cam insists that he found Waverly out of love for her, which she doubts. But he manages to convince her that he’ll sleep in the den, |so she won’t have to move to a hotel. He hopes this minor concession will give him time to make her realize what she’s about to give up. But in the morning he sees that she’s still adamant as she tells him things have to be his way or no way. Ironically, this is the day Men and Women Magazine hits the stands with their cover feature story “A Unique Medical Team,” with Leslie and Peter on the cover. Diana, badly upset at Peter’s overwhelming concentration on Leslie’s problems, commiserates with Cam, who points out that the article “makes them sound like they’re married!” To Terri’s relief, Jeff is finally able to overcome his resentment of his brother and makes up with Rick. He reminds Rick that it is he, Jeff, who is the winner he has Monica, and she loves him. With Rick back on surgical service, Monica decides to specialize in surgery. Jeff is hurt when he learns that Steve has approved her transfer to surgical service, as he feels that Rick’s surgical success magnifies his own failure as a surgical candidate. To compensate, Jeff deliberately fondles Monica whenever Rick is around, as if to remind him that he won in the long run. But Rick can only suppress so much, and when Monica loses a young patient and cries in his arms, Rick kisses her with great passion and confesses he never stopped loving her and wanting her. Monica, in turn, explains that she fell in love with Jeff only out of her grief over Rick, and has never stopped loving him. Monica is frantic when Rick tells her they can’t hurt Jeff and he’s moving out of their apartment because he can’t sleep twenty feet from her and his brother without someday having the situation explode and destroying Jeff. Heather Grant, a young girl who followed a General Hospital intern to Port Charles after he told her he was a doctor on a singles’ cruise, sees the answer to her determination to “better herself” when she recognizes Peter from the magazine cover and learns that his wife has just lost her baby-sitter. With references her mother helped forge, Heather gets the job, and immediately she promotes a live-in position by claiming her mother will insist she go home otherwise. Peter, initially reluctant, comes to see the advantages and agrees. With her emotional problems solved, Audrey decides to accept her friends’ advice and look to the future. She goes to Steve’s office and tells him she loves him. To her joy, he replies, “I’ve always loved you, and never more than at this moment. And this time we’re going to live happily ever after.” But their happiness is shattered when, moments later, Steve falls down a flight of stairs and suffers an occipital skull fracture and internal injuries. Audrey,constantly at his bedside, knows she never stopped loving him but just didn’t realize it. Steve comes to after twenty-four hours, but finds he has no feeling in his legs and can’t move them. Dr. Marriner, chief of neurosurgery, finds that Steve has a fracture of the seventh thoracic vertebra and surgery is almost impossible due to the risk to the spinal cord. Explaining that these things sometimes heal themselves, he suggests that Steve accept confinement to a wheelchair for a year, to see what happens. Audrey optimistically insists that their wedding will go off as planned, but Steve informs her that he won’t marry her unless his full functions are restored, including his ability to perform sexually. Since Steve was a good friend of their father’s, Rick and Jeff’s relationship is totally restored in this crisis, leaving Monica to feel that their closeness shuts her out. To keep them both close to her, Monica begs Rick to change his mind and not move out, but he assures her he’s not a masochist and won’t subject himself to more of this for anything. When none of her machinations can prevent Rick from leaving, Monica decides she’ll find him an apartment and set it up as a love nest for the two of them. Cam has to fly to New York, as embezzlement has been discovered in his corporate books, and Cam is shocked to learn that his right-hand man, Mac, is the culprit. When Cam fires him without severance or recommendation, Mac warns Cam that he will someday get his just reward. Cam, angry and bitter, arrives home to find Leslie packing to leave him for good. When he accuses her of never having been a real wife to him, Leslie retorts that he too is admitting there is no marriage. Furious, Cam informs her that she doesn’t respond to patience and gentleness, and then he rapes her. Afterward, he forces her down to the car and shoves her in, driving off toward their mountain retreat. When Leslie begs him to let her go, he tells her he never relinquishes what he owns.He explains he’s going to make her ‘into the kind of wife he wants and she will respond —in ways she never dreamed existed. When she asks if rape is part of his instruction plans, he savagely replies, “If necessary.” In terror, Leslie grabs for the wheel, and they struggle as the car, out of control, crashes. Leslie is later found dazed and in shock, wandering in the woods. At the hospital she is able to remember enough coherently to send the police to the area. They find Cam dead in the wreckage at the bridge. When Peter tells her Cam is dead, Leslie immediately blames herself, claiming that she killed him. Peter reminds her that she was in the hands of an evil and dangerous man.

At the time SFT was changing writers regularly (yet maintaining good ratings) all the other CBS shows were steady. Beginning in 75 All My Children was moved to 12.30-the first time there was soap competition.And then later Ryan's Hope was moved opposite Search. Did that impact the ratings? ATWT-Soderbergs, TGL-the Dobsons,Y&R-Bill Bell, EON-Slesar. Only LOL was swapping out writers ,and it's ratings were low.

It hardly touches on EON. It's all about her spiritual journey where she tries just about everything on offer-past life experiences, spirit guides, various therapies-you name it-she's up for it. Everything except just using some common sense to deal with her issues(which aren't that different to most of us). She comes across to me as sweet, but nutty.

Maybe JFP is back to help sort out production issues and a way of managing budget/taping that makes better use of the set situation. Because something needs to be done. When an episode begins and we see a character walk into empty Crimson Lights a feeling of dread creeps in , only increased by the next scene set at Society... Compounding the issue is the fact that the conversations taking place are hardly compelling.

God knows why...all 3 characters have been trashed. Chelsea should go and Sharon and Adam should not be involved again. That ship has sailed.

BTG beating GH in households and demos. Onward and upward!

The term 'funeral home' has been mentioned. And someone should tell Traci that larger older women are no longer are limited to wearing ugly floral long line tops and sporting sensible matronly hair-dos.

Why was there such a turnover of writers/producers in that era? You would think they would be looking for stability but each new team that came in changed direction , seemingly for no good reason instead of tweaking what was there. A lot of the new characters had little chance to get established before they were gone. Surely some of them had potential to be used by subsequent regimes? And what about bringing back writers familiar with the show ? Would Ann Marcus, the Corringtons, Henry Slesar or Peggy O'Shea been approached or interested?

So another week goes by w/o Dumas appearing. I'm pretty sure it's Billy Flynn. Dumas was said to be a fake name so will he be someone from the past? Having reactions to the Abbott redo is not a storyline or worthy of being in the previews-just proves how lackluster the stories are. At this rate, they can have anyone who has ever visited the Abbott house pop in and give their verdict to Diane.

Wouldn't the plan have been to pair Denny and Steve for a Steve/Denny/Carrie triangle and try to recreate the Tess/Bill dynamic from their time at Love of Life? Or was it just a short term thing like her role on ATWT? Maybe Toni wasn't interested in contract gigs?