Paul Raven

And Irna used the death of Will Matthews at the debut of Another World, can't think of any other examples of the top of my head.

It's a pity that Days ignored so much history for decades and that entire generations have been ignored/killed off. Sandy's family, Steve Olsen and family,another child for Tom Jr,Melissa's other child and so on. With attention and respect to the Hortons, there would have been a steady flow of new characters to bolster that family.

My Sister Sam was doing OK at Mon @8.30 but CBS threw it away next season on Sat night. With their shortage of sitcoms, it seemed a foolish move. Of course real life tragedy would have probably halted production anyway. And seeing Jack & Mike Tues @10 on ABC reminded me of how many attempts ABC made to find a viable show for that timeslot to follow Moonlighting. Spenser, Our Family Honor, Max Headroom before Thirtysomething established itself there.

Of course-like Leslie I had a memory lapse. The selfless sacrifice story always strikes me as an easy writer cop out eg Brad not telling Les he is going blind, Lorie telling Lance she no longer loves him to give him back Prentiss etc. With a little more thought and imagination the story could have progressed without characters looking like idiots. As for Leslie/Pris that story was a bomb from the get go. There was enough intrigue with the 4L's without sending Leslie off on this tangent.

Yes that is Suzanne, Trish? do you mean Chris? And the blonde is Gloria,Jonas' lady friend.

Interesting that Days never staged another variety show. I'm sure there were hopes from some it would become an annual event.

I think with the Newman Ranch reveal, the wedding and the car accident there was lot to see in that week, but now that things have settled down...

TRISTAN ROGERS Bellbird unknown role (Australian serial) Crossroads unknown role (UK serial)

The Abbott dining room-when was the last time that was seen? And yes, the ugly flowers at both the Abbotts and Newmans were distracting. Cole is looking way better-that weird beardline he had at first has gone. Don't mind CLB with the grey, but I am never a fan of the bouffant aspect. Can't say I'm noticing a dramatic improvement in women's clothing as yet. Why is Alan still around? Just arm candy for Traci? Nate fill out the pink top very nicely...

Re Monica. should the role be recast? How should they deal with Leslie Charleson's absence?

ABC failing to land a single show in the Top 20. They were so far behind the eight ball in those years with only Bewitched, FBI and a few other shows making any impression. Smothers Brothers was the first show to make any impact on Bonanza but controversy over their content and clashes with CBs saw them cancelled. NBC's Wednesday and Thursday lineups were the only nights all the shows made the Top 20. arland

This has been discussed before but Marland's 13 week stint at ATWT seemed very much a 'caretaker' position. He did not make any major changes, merely continued the stories in place. No formal announcement was made at the time oh is appointment as headwriter. However, when the Dobsons moved to ATWT and Marland took over GL there were announcements and in both cases a shift in storylines and character was apparent from the get go. So it seems like for whatever reason ATWT needed someone to fill in. Maybe Marland had already been signed for GL and there was some backstage stuff that had to be worked out, so took the temp ATWT stint.It has never really been resolved. The Dobsons had left GL in far better shape than what they inherited at ATWT.

Are they some of the oldest skewing network shows? I know that has been an ongoing issue for years, as the shows tried to attract the next generation of viewers. Even as far back as the 80's when Days decided to move the focus from the aging characters eg Doug/Julie, Mickey/Maggie to Bo/Hope,Roman/Marlena and change the storytelling approach. i guess that's why they now focus on the same characters for years and are very hesitant about dropping them, for fear the remaining viewers will be turned off.

You might not be far off the mark. I'm pretty sure in an interview Higley complained about execs asking 'and then what happens?'after she had pitched a story thinking she was pointing out their shortcomings rather than her own.

Jon Michael Reed discusses the killing off of John Wyatt and I am inclined to disagree on his take. John may have been popular but he had been on 6 years and been through 3 marriages. He had no family connections and there were other lawyers on the show to fill that role. I'm sure Val Dufour would have been expensive and they would have to come up with another 3 years of story. Despite what Reed claims there were still plenty of vets on the show-Jo, Stu, Ellie, Stephanie, Janet, and they were getting story. Ted and Martin had been added so there were still older characters in the mix. As for killing him off mid week, I guess they didn't want to make too much of it for fear of negative feedback. Search was only a 30 min show and room had to be made for new characters. Sometimes cuts have to be made. Courier Express, 11 November 1979 The Soap Report John Wyatt a Strange Demise by Jon Michael Reed There's something awfully fishy about the death of John Wyatt, which occurred recently on "Search For Tomorrow. It's no secret around the years studio that headwriters Bill and Joyce Corrington don't have much fondness for most of the longer running characters on the show. It's true that the Corringtons have done wonders by upgradiig the show in the past year, but they've accomplished this by concentrating on new and younger characters. THEY HAVE said publicly that they would like nothing better than to move the show out of the fictional town of Henderson, where they'd line to leave all the old-time residents in mothballs. The Corringtons simply haven't written dynamic stories for most of the veterans of the show and there have been backstage rumbles of malcontent from performers who have been with the show for many years. Val Dufour who has played lawyer John Wyatt since 1972 won't confirm or deny rumours of his own dissatisfaction with the way his character was developing, or rather not developing. "I simply thought it was time to call it a day" says Emmy award winning Val of his decision not to renew his contract. "I'm very sad about leaving, but the show has gone in different directions recently and I felt there wasn't much reason for me to stick around. At this point I can only say that the shows sponsor Proctor & Gamble has been very good to me throughout the years, and I hope our relationship continues in another soap opera. But not I really want to vacation." Val has reason to be grateful to P&G. The actor began his soap career in the 1950's in one of the earliest serial efforts 'First Love'. In 1965 he portrayed an elegant villian, Andre Lazar on 'Edge of Night',a P&G show. Then he won wide acclaim on another P&G vehicle 'Another world' playing the charming but nefarious Walter Curtin. "INTERESTINGLY," "fans see more readily as Walter than they do as John." Which isn't surprising as John has been out of the "Search" story limelight for many of Val's years on the show. The really 'fishy'aspect of John's demise however, lies in the fact that the writers chose to get rid of the character midweek. Usually the death of a major character occurs on a cliff-hanging Friday after a long stretch of suspense. Although John Wyatt went out with "a bang" from a gun, he really went out with a whimper a long, long time ago Poor Val, he suffered the same fat twice, Harding Lemay came on AW and wrote Walter off and the Corringtons did the same at SFT. He got to save face by saying he chose to leave, but I doubt it. And his sucking up to P&G didn't help. He never worked on soaps again. They probably didn't realize at the time, but he was one of many 60's and 70's soaphoppers that found themselves no longer in demand in the 80's.

Exactly! Y&R focusing on the same characters for years and trapping them in these romantic merry go rounds does the show no favors.

Daren Kelly tested for Pat on Ryan's Hope and Jeff on AMC before landing the role of Dan Kennicott on AMC.

AfterMash couldn't sustain its early promise and CBS must have been disappointed by its failure to compete with the TV movies in the second half of the season. So when Kate & Allie came along and did just that CBS washed its hands of AfterMash, tossing it into an impossible timeslot in Season 2. Wk 1 #1 Wk 2 #1 Wk 3 #4 Wk 4 #17 Wk 5 #8 Wk 6 #15 Wk 7 #13 Wk 8 #13 Wk 9 # 13 Wk 10 prempted by The Gambler Pt 2 #1 Wk 11 # 18 Wk 12 ? Wk 13 ? Wk 14 ? Wk 15 # 9 Wk 16 #39 up against Something About Amelia #1 Wk 16 # 28 up against American Music Awards Wk 17 #16 Wk 18 # 20 Wk 19 # 33 Wk 20 #36 Wk 21 # prempted by Master of The Game Wk 22 # 49 up against Lace #1 Wk 23 # 17 Wk 24 # 40 Wk 25 Kate & Allie takes over timeslot #4

I know it's apart of soaps for couples to split and move on but Y&R keeps it so confined. And each relationship lasts less than a year of 'true love' before they're ready to move on. Adam/Sharon/Chelsea/Sally. Nick/Sharon/Phyllis/Chelsea/Sally Billy/Chelsea/Phyllis/Lily/Sally

ONE LIFE TO LIVE I think these are all new Astrid....Missi Pyle Jan 6 99-?? the beautiful decoy in Blair's plot against Téa. Mrs. Linda Kasarijian - Jenna Stern Jan 11 99 - ?? the director of the adoption agency who meets with Jessica and Viki. Dr Posner ...Tom Stechschulte Jan 11 99 - ?? Cassie's caretaker at Llanview Hospital Dr Redman.... Ned Van Zandt Jan 13 99 - ?? Cassie's doctor and more info on Okie ..Jamie Gustis Jan 8 99-?? a classmate of Will’s. Okie tries to get Will to hang out and drink at the Student Union.

M Mmmm.....that got me thinking that instead of Kevin, Nikki had slept with Lucas. Maybe Lucas, not getting any action from Leslie or Casey had availed himself of Nikki's womanly wiles and got her pregnant(supposedly) Wanting a child of his own this time he could have fought to marry Nikki. That would have kept Lucas in the story and caused problems for Nikki/Casey. Instead of killing off Vanessa, she could have hung around to been a thorn in Nikki's side and clash with Katherine. Then Lucas is devastated when he discovers Victoria is not his and decides Victor and Nikki must pay. Interesting possibilities.

Yes, I don't think Mary Lynn Blanks or Gwyn Gillis were fan favorites but Agnes also killed off Phil (Nick Benedict) and wrote off Linc (Peter White) and Kelly (Francesca James) who were quite popular I think.

Bill Bell gets a lot of attention for phasing out the original families on Y&R and changing the focus but Agnes did a similar thing in the late 70's/early 80's with most of the Tylers and Martins being dropped. The Soap Report Jon-Michael Reed BUFFALO COURIER-EXPRESS, Sunday, February 8, 1980 Exodus at 'AMC' Touches Off Cast Shake-Up The casting wheels of change are afoot at all of the ABC soaps. The first soap to be struck by the Russian roulette casting game is "All My Children".Mary Lynn Blanks (Tara) was the first "AMCer to receive her walking papers. For Mary Lynn, it was an especially crushing blow, since she had been led to believe the show was gearing up terrific triangle involving Tara, Chuck and Jim. Add to that her father's holiday advice that ~ she's "wasting her time with acting business," and you can imagine how down in the dumps she is these days. Paul Falzone, who joined "AMC" as Jim Jefferson three months ago, is now hustling to find work elsewhere to support a new addition to his family. Paul's wife is expecting a child in July: Several weeks ago, Paul's agent complained that he wished Paul had more time to be sent out on lucrative commercial auditions. Now, he has the chance. ALSO SLATED to exit within the next month is Gwyn Gilliss and her "AMC" character of Anne Martin. Gwyn's screen husband, Paul (played by William Mooney) will probably be shipped off with a handful of other actors. It's a sad day, indeed, in seap heaven when such stalwarts as Tara, Anne and Paul, who've been mainstays since "AMC debuted, are relegated to the junk heap. On the other side of the casting coin, Tudi Wiggins joins "AMC" as Sara Kingsley; Brandon'd wife. Erica, who's been sleeping in Brandon's bed, should really love that bit or news,as she had no idea her lover has a Mrs. Add the fact that Wiggins is one of the best "scene-chewers" in the soap business and "AMC" might have at least a temporary remedy for viewers who will bellyache about the dismissal of familiar Pine Valley folks. One guy. who won't be missed, however, is wife beater Kurt Saunders.Judging from fan mail, the actor who played this character was as loathed for his overplaying theatrics as for the character's vile story behavior. We respectfully refrain from mentioning the actor's name. He's probably a niceguy who deserves an acting job else where, like Siberia.

I don't believe any TV movie following bested the numbers of 'The Day After'. And look at AfterMash at #13. Those early ratings were fine but somewhere along the line it lost it's luster and CBS gave up. Putting it up against the A Team was crazy. They had very few sitcoms. Surely a better slot could have been found.

Only for camp value. A little of the Maestro's shtick went along way for me.