Paul Raven

@SoapDope Thanks so much. Such a treat to see Deborah Adair as Jill. Not much around of her. She was a terrific Jill, made her so believable. Played all the original stuff with John/Jack and the Abbotts.

Well, he we are just beginning the year and an episode of Doug Marland's cable soap A New Day in Eden has been posted, (in the cancelled soaps thread) The first time it has been see online,I believe. Bodes well for 2025!

As for using GL history, as PJ stated there was not much that could be exploited. All of Mike wives - Robin, Julie, Charlotte, Leslie were dead so there wasn't anything there. Ed's ex Janet could have returned. He did bring back Andy but Ken was also out there. But that was pretty much it. That's why bringing on Billy Fletcher and have Peggy appear might have helped. As for Holly, Maureen Garrett felt that after her marital rape and prison experience, Holly should have been stronger but Marland didn't write to that, so she was ready to move on and he probably didn't fight to keep her. Not sure which pairings Don Stewart objected to. By the end he was seeing Lillian and Alex, right? How heavily were those romances played? I recall scenes of Mike taking Alex flying. But was it backburner stuff? Did Don leave b/c he wasn't happy with Mike taking a lesser role or did Gail Kobe decide he was too expensive and not worth it? Things would have been different had Mike stayed on. At least in terms of continuity.

Does anyone know what Tom Eplin has been doing for the last 20 years or so since leaving ATWT?

Marland was lucky to inherit a strong show and smart enough not to make too many changes too quickly. First up he had to dispose of Roger as Michael Zaslow was leaving. He felt that there needed to be a teen love story so Morgan/Kelly arrived. He cleverly tied Morgan and her mother Jennifer into the Spaulding story with Jennifer being Amanda's mother. That was continuation of a story the Dobson's had already hinted at. Still think Kelly should have been Billy Fletcher as that would have tied him into 60's/70's GL. Sorased Tim as a new teen. Began the Reardon clan with Bea and Nola. Brought in Vanessa and Henry,Derk Colby,Andy Norris(a returning character) and Derek Colby. To make room for new characters he killed off Lucille for a murder mystery and got rid of B characters like Peter, Ann,Mark, Greg and Renee, Holly was written out but I think Maureen Garrett wanted to go as she wasn't thrilled with Marland's stories. I don't think Holly was as front burner as she's been with the Dobsons. I may have missed one or two characters but as you can see Marland did a good job in his first year of integrating new characters and keeping everyone else around. I don't think viewers would feel like the shw had changed too much, unlike the changes at Days or ATWT.

Lanna saunders always delivered as did Gloria Loring. Their talents were the only thing that made Marie/Neil/Liz watchable because Marie's involvement with Neil never rang true to me. She'd just come out of a disaster with alex and you'd think she's steer clear of Neil, knowing his reputation. I get that she might be vulnerable but still. To me it was another case of putting some vets in a triangle to keep them on air rather than a real investment in their characters. See Don/Maggie/Mickey. I think Lanna would have been out the door in 85, illness or not. Mickey, Neil and Marlena were the only survivors of 70's Days. Marlena was re-invented. I guess Neil and Mickey were useful as a doctor and lawyer and John was an original cast member like Frances and Mac so somewhat untouchable. I think Suzanne returning was an admission on Days part that too many vets had been cut.

100%

Meanwhile How To Survive A Marriage was stalling at the bottom of the list. When did Anne Howard Bailey get the axe? Were there any other changes made to address the dire ratings situation?

Slightly different, but I'd like to see some actors/writers/producers from past shows actually spill some tea about what went down. We have BTS gossip, mostly unsubstantiated. And most soap actors books have been puff pieces. Let's hear about the BTS drama from those that were there.

No Y&R was after Hollywood Heights. She brought Melissa Ordway and Robert Adamson onto Y&R from HH.

I wonder if any of these incoming producers ,upon arrival, asked cast and crew for feedback on what had or had not been working. Surely a useful tool when trying to settle in to a new environment. Obviously there would be varying opinions but there might be common concerns that could be acted upon. The only time I have ever read of something like this was Pat Falken Smith, upon returning to Days after 5 or so years asked Bill Hayes (and possibly others) for feedback on what they thought of the show in her absence.

Not sure how much you know about that strike.It was AFTRA which affected taped shows only so soaps,game shows, variety shows. But some continued on air-I guess like Days, they had enough episodes in the can. As it turned out,it seems the strike only affected the week of April 3-7 amd the following Mon April 10. The shows prempted were NBC Reach for The Stars 10 am replaced by NBC Morning Playhouse (rpts of Loretta Young Show w/o Loretta) The Doctors 2.30 replaced by rpts from the early anthology episodes Another World 3.00 replaced by rpts of Loretta Young show. CBS Love of Life 12pm replaced by rpts of I Love Lucy Search for Tomorrow/Guiding Light 12.30 -1.00 replaced by rpts of Jack Benny As The World Turns 1.30 replaced by rpts of Candid Camera Edge of Night/Secret Storm 3.30 - 4.30 replaced by Afternoon Playhouse (rpts of drama anthology episodes) ABC Supermarket Sweep 10.30 rpt episodes The Dating Game/Everybody's Talking 11.00- 12.00 replaced by rpts of Trailmaster General Hospital 3pm replaced by rpts of Father Knows Best Of the soaps only Days and Dark Shadows continued.

As well as new episodes surfacing, I hope we get more scripts/summaries and articles from the 60's and 70's. French Fan's CBS summaries and Jason47's ratings info have been fantastic.

I'm not sure how the rerun rights worked for primetime shows. Perhaps MTM had it in their contracts that their shows would not be rerun in the daytime,for whatever reasons. I thought Petticoat Junction would be ideal for daytime. Only ABC reran hour shows-Ben Casey,The Fugitive and Wagon Train (under the Trailmaster title). One reason for that might have been a lack of product and also their 'alternative' status they had in the 60's of doing things differently eg Peyton Place,Batman etc

Ed's marriage to Maureen was his 4th. It was time he settled with into married life and have Ed and Maureen function as the matriach/patriach to family and friends. There could still be stories for them and plenty of airtime. Killing off Maureen left him in limbo. Better that Bea be killed off and Maureen move into the senior role for the Reardons. Bring back Nola,Tony etc and restore the Reardons as a core family as Marland intended.

Well S17 is underway... The Squid game ripoff opening seemed like a lot of time and effort put into something that didn't really land. The brief glimpses of past queens was a waste. I didn't recognize a lot of them and didn't realize Bianca, for example, was even there. Hard to judge by the first ep but Joella fan girling over Katy Perry to the point of a crying fit was hard to take. And then her talent performance was sub par. Yet she wasn't in the bottom. Is it just me or is Michelle getting harder to take each season? Something off with her bitch with a heart persona. She seems to be taking herself too seriously. And Ru's wig was awful.

When AW expanded it practically doubled what HTSAM had been doing @3.30. And I believe it was cheaper than running two 1/2hour shows. I'm sure champagne corks were popping and everyone was pondering the next expansion.

Through 1972 CBS regularly scheduled sitcom reruns in the daytime schedule. Lucy, Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies,Gomer Pyle, Family affair were some of the shows chosen for daytime play. But My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes never made it. Then in 72 they revamped, introducing gameshows and dropping sitcoms until 75 when All in the Family was scheduled. In 77 Here's Lucy was used, a few years after it left the nighttime schedule. That was the first time that a daytime rerun was not airing at night. Had Here's Lucy not gone into syndication when it was cancelled? Mash began in 78 and One day at A Time replaced it in 79, Jeffersons and Alice arrived in 80. I wonder why Maude was not used? Mary Tyler Moore,Rhoda and Bob Newhart would seem suitable for daytime but never made it. Finally in 82, sitcoms were again no longer seen on CBS daytime. Designing Women was scheduled a few years later but Newhart was not used. Any thoughts on when those other shows might have been used?

Lucy marrying a business man, either an ally or enemy to JR would have kept Lucy more involved.' Instead, we had some islanded scenes of her and Mitch's domestic dramas.

OK ..Nikki's outfit is a choice.

https://deadline.com/2025/01/gwen-van-dam-dead-veteran-character-actress-1236246914/ Lived to 96!

When Y&R and B&B began, with inexperienced newbies in the cast, they received a lot of criticism for their acting, but they stuck with them despite the negative reviews. Of course, that was pre internet. I'm sure the knives will be out for any actor perceived to be weak.

4pm was a problem for all networks. ABC stuck it out with EON even with low clearances. It went from 99% on CBS to 81 % on ABC when it switched and struggled on for years. As you say NBC dropped 4pm on Dec 77 because of low ratings. So at least CBS persevered.

@JAS0N47 Thanks for those Y&R numbers. Shows how crucial it was having those extra stations. Lower rated shows inevitably had poor clearance and would improve numbers if shown in more markets but getting affiliates on board was difficult.