Paul Raven

I guess they wanted Linda for the Rachel trial so gave her a short term contract to ensure she would be available? I know Y&R did that with certain recurring characters when they were required for more regular appearances.

Is Susan telling TPM to find the Lord?

Does anyone know more about the casting of Dr Mark Dante? James Yorke was cast in August 76 but it seems he only lasted a few episodes before Michael Delano took over, Then Gerald Gordon assumed the role in late September. Was GG always intended to play Mark and for whatever reason unavailable when the character debuted? Or was James Yorke deemed unsuitable and Delano took over, then also quickly replaced when Gerald Gordon became available?

Bare Essence was 58th 11.9/18, Huge drop from A Team which was 14th. NBC dropped it from that timeslot moving Remington Steele to Tues @9, which did much better than BE. It returned Fri March 25th Fri @10. It did even worse ranking 61st 10.7/19. Guess they were hoping to lure some Falcon Crest viewers now that FC had concluded its season. 5 episodes played there until it was dropped again. The final two episodes played as a Monday movie in June. Poor Genie Francis saw her hyped up primetime career go down in flames before it had started.

So the airport terminal cafeteria has a name -Caffeine Fix.

GENERAL HOSPITAL Dr. Mark Dante.. .Jim Yorke Aug 6 -? 76

Alice was the lead-in to the blockbuster MASH finale. American Gigolo/Night Bridge Fell Down was the competition. CBS Thurs was the only night where all shows made the Top 20 Magnum/Simon/Knots. The A Team had disrupted ABC Tues taking the 8pm slot. Wed ABC Fall Guy/Dynasty 9-11 but weak at 8. Fri CBS Dallas/Falcon Crest but Dukes not making Top 20 Sat ABC Love Boat/Fantasy but TJ Hooker not Top 20 Sun CBS 60 Minutes and later Jeffersons/One Day But Bunker/Gloria and Trapper John not Top 20 that week.

I don't believe Midland Heights was ever meant for daytime -Lorimar wasn't involved with daytime at that point. SOMH initially was developed as something called Heartland and aimed at 8pm for CBS.

Sisters had the benefit of a strong lead in -Golden Girls/Empty Nest which were both Top 10 shows at the time, something Midland Heights/Yellow Rose, Berrengers/Twin Peaks/Dallas/Hotel did not have.

Howard McGillan might have worked as Greg if given the chance, but as we said Bill was losing interest . Greg could have shown an interest in Ashley. That would have been interesting as Jack would be against his sis involved with Jill's brother. Or Greg could have been involved with Traci in a more friendly type mentor relationship a la Brock and Nikki. Again Jack would have been wary. And Greg might have still been apart of Nikki's life in some way. There was mileage there and Liz of course should have stayed on. Her being a friend of Mary would have been viable.

I was incorrect re AITF/Maude as lead ins for Executive Suite. The Monday 9-10 shows were Maude and All's Fair with Richard Crenna and Bernadette Peters. AITF was moved to Wed @9 that season and teamed with newbie Alice. Executive Suite was moved to Fri in late January with Sonny & Cher as the lead in. These 2 replaced the Friday Movie. CBS introduced a raft of changes mid season as ABC asserted itself. Sonny& Cher/ES faced ABC TV movies and Rockford Files/Quincy and came in 3rd. After a few episodes ES was off and the James Franciscus/Linda Evans series 'Hunter' took over at 10.

The Hogan Family was one of a select group of shows that never changed timeslots in it's run. Always Mon @8.30. Only when it moved to CBS did it move to [email protected].

Thanks @DRW50 Sat @10 was a no go for soaps Secrets, Yellow Rose and Berrengers all flopped there.

I believe Don Chastain wrote the show during the strike and like others before and after was kept on. Wasn't his character of Max Taper written off so he could concentrate on writing? But I assume his inexperience at structuring a soap came into play and Ralph Ellis/Eugenie Hunt replaced him in Dec 81.

According to the AWHP her exit line was "Dr. Matthews, Sandy would like to see you."

Good for him!

Winter Olympics took up all of ABC primetime. CBS and NBC (Noble House) had to counterprogram or let regular series have an off week.

Hartford House was an old mansion that they turned into a country inn for short and long term stays. There was a dining room. It was the perfect meeting place to connect characters who lived there/ stayed short term or just visited. And as @Tisy-Lish said, it kept Jo and Stu in the mix. The Inn was blown up in late 81 in another of those 'adventure' stories they kept foisting on the audience and Stu later started the Riverboat. Maybe it was a budget thing? Did SFT move studios at one point and the Hartford House set was too big? Because it was a foolish move and another plot that disconnected the show from the past.

Larry seemed to run the place as an old boy's club so I think they were wary of any newcomers that might change things. He probably wasn't happy about the creation of the Jack Ewing character (I'm with him on that) and didn't want newcomers to be too popular. That and Dack's personality would have all been in the mix.

That last Greg recast was a dud. Don't know what they were thinking. Greg could have stayed around as Jill's sounding board/conscience and lawyer about town, along with being the go to for light romances with various females eg Gina, Nina etc

Brandon, get a new stylist pronto!

Jeff Eagle acted in porn movies under the name Jeffrey Hurst in the 70's.

In it's first year, Ryan's Hope faced the major challenge of rewriting the main storyline when the network insisted that Frank Ryan not die as originally planned. And they were stuck with an unreliable actor in that role until they bit the bullet and recasted.

Stitch kidnapped pregnant Mariah a few years back.

I don't think Norman Lloyd would have any interest in joining a daytime soap. Trying to think who was around at that time that might have been suitable and available for Edward.