Paul Raven

You probably know that edge of Night was also live until the switch to ABC. Before that I would assume it was Search for Tomorrow/Guiding Light which went to tape when they expanded to 30 mins in 1968??

I guess S&D was CBS' response to the 50's nostalgia craze that spawned Happy Days. Opposition was That's My Mama on ABC and Little House on the Prairie which was the timeslot winner finishing #13 for the season. Cancelled and replaced by Tony Orlando & Dawn variety series which was waiting in the wings after a good Summer season. that did way better than S&D finishing #25.

I recall Afternoon TV magazine speculating that the spinoff would be set in Boston and that Pat Matthews and Kevin Cooke would be involved. I wonder if this was just guesswork on the part of the mag or that was one of the original ideas floated?

The storylines had potential, but the deathly pace, some poor acting and the awful lighting all played a part in getting things off to a rocky start.

Jennifer had been introduced in late 71 shortly before Irna returned in Jan 72. Originally played by Geraldine Court,Gillian Spencer took over. I would imagine that Irna had a different vision for the character and felt a recast was necessary. Not having read any 72 or 73 synopses it's hard to know how the character evolved onscreen, but it seems that she was a more 'liberated' type who wanted a career . Irna tried to reflect the times, but perhaps Jen was seen as somewhat unsympathetic for wanting more than marriage and children. @EricMontreal22 Dennis Cooney was Jay-he had been on Love of Life and Secret Storm. He was introduced as a brooding mysterious type and was first paired with Lisa. But he calmed down and married the beloved Carol. However, traces of the original Jay remained and he caused poor Carol much heartache by having an affair with Natalie and impregnating her . Carol always stuck by him. Cooney was written off by the Dobsons in 1980. He stopped appearing for a few months and then was killed off. Dennis was a confirmed bachelor and the Daytime mags of the 70's did stories on his love of antiques...

They really need to get over this mindset that viewers have short attention spans and unless things are constantly changing, they'll switch off. How about a longer scene that is so intriguing and well written that you will want to stick with it?

Respect your viewpoint but to me that has made it unwatchable as the same stories seem to be told over and over and those characters face one ridiculous scenario over and over. Happy to see the vets frontburner when the story calls for it but centering the show on Victor and having his misdeeds be ignored or even praised is too annoying for me.

Interesting that another Black male has been added, in light of BTG. Unfortunately, knowing Josh, this story will go nowhere. Is Bryton being backburnered in all of this?

GH 66/67/68 And a 2 min Somerset clip

Teasers not spoilers please! eg Anita faces danger v Anita is pushed down the stairs. Not a great example but you get the gist.

I think Joe Stuart may have played hardball on contract renewals - I'm pretty sure that was the case with Doris Belack.

Welcome back Eric ! Missed ya. Hopefully you'll hang around.

And the gifts keep coming: ATWT 1973 TGL 1973 and a clip from How To Survive A Marriage.

Love La Lucci dearly, but I think she was/is in her own Erica bubble and isn't an authoritative source on AMC or soaps in general. Those random statements above as evidence.

The YouTube poster who has been gifting us with classic episodes the past few days has added a 10 min clip of HTSAM with Miss Rosemary Prinz!

TGL episode was around late August/early Sept 73. 3 voiceovers in the early part of the episode was a bit of overkill. Also surprised at Anthony call's grey locks. And Millette looks pretty and youthful. She was 40 at that time. By 1980 she had a much older and dowdy look. Wouldn't happen these days with 50 plus actresses presenting years younger. And we get to see the change from Barbara Rodell back to Lynne Adams as Leslie. Barbara got the short end of the stick here with the producers decide to recast with Lynne, the original Leslie. Don Stewart was looking very hunky here with the tan and filling out the yellow seersucker shirt nicely. Nancy Addison looked great. Maybe Victoria should have had another child, with the old pregnant when she left town trope. It could have given Leslie/Mike more to do.

I checked synopses and this episode is late August or early Sept 73. Jen was unhappy because Bob was clashing with her son Rick, and she felt Bob was at fault. In addition Jen was unhappy about her pregnancy and had only reconciled with Bob because of it. An argument ensues one night which results in Bob getting hit by a car, trying to save Jen. When Rick shows little sympathy for Bob, Jen realizes she has been blind to Rick's true nature. Then Bob in a drugged state reveals to Jen his one night stand with Kim and the fact he is the father of her child also. Jen decides to keep the secret. At the same time John and Kim elope.

Just finished watching. I think this later in 73 than indicated. The Soderbergs are writing. I think the started after the writers strike. Irna gets the 'created' by tag. Wonder how much longer that lasted. Grant was Konrad Matthei who had played Penny's last husband (and Sandy's ex) Roy and it always surprised me that they brought that actor back. Most viewers would have been around 6 years earlier and recognized him. Anyway he was son replaced by James Douglas. Annie was still being referred to as Carol Ann and had been drastically SORASED in true ATWT tradition. With Dan and Paul both gone I guess they needed something for David and Ellen to do plus needing new young people. The inference was that Ellen was afraid her daughter would fall into the clutches of an unsuitable man, as she did. I don't think anything came of the Jay/Ellen connection. Patricia Bruder was dropped later on. Santos Ortega had lost a lot of weight due to illness.

That excerpt stated that upon leaving Edge, Slesar went to work on Somerset, a blatant mistake. Henry worked on SOM and EON concurrently. That sort of falsehood permeates a lot of texts about soaps and allows for these sort of errors to be accepted as facts.

And Secret Storm 1972 and several 70's OLTL. Let's see what February will bring.

Delano and Jim Yorke played Mark briefly before Gordon took over. I read years ago in SOD from that time,that they were just placeholders until Gordon could assume the role, but that might be the whole story. Does anyone have more info??

Let me just say if I had to work with someone who presents as MB does in that episode I would be gritting my teeth so hard there would be blood. Such a contrast with the polite, articulate young man he is 'interviewing'.

Matt/Vance came back around 79 but nothing came of it. OLTL went through quite a few cast changes in 77/78 with Joe Stuart replacing Doris Quinlan as EP and the expansion to an hour. Nancy Pinkerton, Doris Belack, Kathy Glass, Jordan Charney, Kathryn Breech,George Reinholt all left or were fired. Jeff Pomerantz had been on Secret Storm and search for tomorrow before landing at OLTL.

Dec 79 Schreveport Journal Former Shreveporter Moves From Academe to the Soaps By DAVID CONNELLY When John William Corrington and his wife Joyce began their careers in academe they never thought they would end up as writers for a daytime drama. Now they dream up the daily trials and tribulations of the characters in “Search for Tomorrow” which airs every weekday at 11:30 am on KSLA Channel 12 (CBS). Mr Corrington, a 1951 graduate of Byrd High School and a 1956 graduate of Centenary College taught English on the college level for many years and became chairman of the English Department at Loyola University in New Orleans. He later became an attorney and practiced law in the Crescent City. Mrs Corrington, his wife of 20 years, worked as a chemical engineer for many years and also served as a professor of chemistry at Xavier University in New Orleans. She later collaborated with her husband on their many screenplays in addition to now co-writing the scripts of “Search for Tomorrow” . The Corringtons who now live In New Orleans have included characters from that city and Shreveport in the drama and report that they have have met with much success “The producers of the show were very receptive to these characters because they had never had anything like them” Mr Corrington said “It adds another unique dimension to our drama” Though the network daytime dramas are taped In New York City Mrs Corrington noted that many of the writers live In other parts of the country. “They like to keep the shows reflective of middle America and most daytime dramas are set in smaller cities often in the Midwest” she said. Writing for a daytime drama is lucrative but it’s also extremely demanding “It consumes your life” Mrs Corrington said, “If you weren’t married to the person you’re writing with you’d never see your husband”. “It’s like working for a newspaper”, Mr Corrington added. “You have a new deadline every day and you have to come up with another script. You rarely get a day off”. There are three levels to writing for a daytime drama according to Mrs Corrington. First they have to decide on a long-term plot — what’s going to happen In the next two or three months. Then they have to develop the synopsis for a week and further break that down into separate acts. Finally there’s the actual writing of dialogue. For the most part Mrs Corrington handles the long-term projections and her husband writes the dialogue though they work together on all aspects of the drama. “We have discussed many scripts over dinner" Mrs Corrington said. The actual time involved in writing an individual script varies “If you have a script you’re really excited about it comes fast” Mr Corrington said. “Sometimes you really have to struggle with it. Usually it takes about 6-10 hours to write one half-hour show and that doesn’t include conferences and planning" The husband-and-wife team regularly talks with the producers and directors o( the show on the phone. As writers the Corringtons appreciate the emphasis on the script in soap operas. “Daytime drama is literate” Mrs Corrington said “Because you can’t go out and do all the visuals you have to rely on words". While working on feature films the Corringtons found that the movie industry put a low premium on words. “In Hollywood a writer has little impact" Mrs Corrington said. "The director is the motivating force - You give him a script which he uses as a blueprint and often you recognize only a small part of your work in the final product”. Writing for daytime has a different kind of frustration ‘The greatest frustration is that it’s so ephemeral there are no repeats”, she added. “You can see movies over and over again and good novels hang around for a long time I’d like to produce something that hangs around for a while”. Any daytime drama has to attract a female audience, but Mrs Corrington is quick to point out that “Search for Tomorrow” has a male following too. “According to the Nielsen ratings men make up about 20 percent of our audience. “The main consideration is that we always try to involve women in the stories”, she added. “We don’t have many male-male conflicts independent of women”. Much criticism has been levied against daytime dramas for their treatment of women and for what some see as their negative effect on the female viewer. Soap operas according to some critics encourage women to ignore their own problems while fantasizing about the more exciting lives of the female characters on the screen. Caught up in their daytime fantasies they don’t take active steps to change their lives. The Corringtons reject this view “If you're sitting in front of a TV set you’re watching dreams being created. Psychologists say we can’t live without dreams”, Mrs Corrington said. “You get to know your soap opera friends better than most of your real friends” she added. "When was the last time you stood by listening to a couple argue or when was the last time you shared an extremely personal problem with a friend? I think we’re a little remote in our daily lives”. In the future Mr Corrington who has written novels, poems and short stories would like to devote more time to essays. “There’s a point when I think I’ll want to leave these more concrete investigations and concentrate on pure theory” he said. But Mrs Corrington quickly added that they haven’t tired of their work on “Search for Tomorrow ” “We’ve been doing it now for over a year and it’s still a kick”.

@Reverend Ruthledge Belated thanks for TGL update. Interesting that Irna was prepared to make sweeping changes in the radio format but then kept the Bauers for years. I think her approach to TV soaps differed from radio. Maybe she felt TV viewers were more attached to the characters.