Paul Raven

Could you cite those texts so I can refer? Thanks in advance.

Wonder why the opening kept changing? it wasn't like a drastic thing-just a font/design tweak. Someone had time on their hands. Linc, Ann and Kate were all recast. Ann twice before they settled on Judith Barcroft. Judith was popular on AW. Did Agnes lure her over. Or had Judith left AW and was then approached by Agnes, who had created her character on AW? There were 3 Lincs before the character was dropped in 71 for a couple of years and Peter White took on the role. And 2 Kates in the first year until Kay campbell agreed to play the role -again an actress Agnes had written for on TGL. Jeff was also recast and Bobby dropped. A lot of changes in the early days.

I agree that supercouples were a phenomena of the 80's and tied to the action/adventure trend. As well as the obstacles of a villianous rival eg Larry Welch, there had to be some larger than life factor ,usually involving criminals/spies etc. Days and GH did the most. I think there had to be some longevity also. I would include Travis/Liza, Steve/Betsy at some point but the Betsy recast and Doug Marland's writing for them moved them in a different direction. Other popular couples, who faced more mundane,traditional obstacles do not earn supercouple status. As for Bill Bell not wanting Doug and Julie married ever, I don't buy it. I think he believed that they could have got another year or two out of the story before the wedding.

This article mentions marland being a consultant to P&G Summer of 79.

Ed also returned as Bill in 1980 for Hope's wedding. I don't think there was much interest in him coming back, after the poor reception to the Dobson's BFTD story in 77. GL was more interested in dumping established vets than bringing one back. Bill could have been used in family scenes and business stories and his stepson Paul could have come on also.

Thanks for this detailed and fascinating information. I'm particularly interested in Bill Bell's tenure. He took over in July 66. I wonder how quickly that all went down? Ted Corday was dying at this point, so I imagine there would have been a lot of backstage turmoil. Your list shows Carolyn Weston writing all of July, so maybe Bill was still finding his feet and Weston was writing with input from Bill. I imagine the first month would have been tying up storylines from the previous regimes, making adjustments and laying groundwork for new characters/stories. I believe Weston had been writing Morning Star which was cancelled July 1, so she would have moved straight to Days. I wonder if she was in the running to take over at Days? She went on to become an author whose books became the basis for The Streets of San Francisco tv series in the 70's. Bill Bell's first script is Aug 5 66. He writes most of August but most of September James Gentile is scriptwriter. He had been working on Edge of Night. Wonder why Bill handed over the reigns so quickly? Then Bill is back writing daily scripts for Oct and Nov. In Dec another experienced soap writer John M Young writes several scripts. Was it a case of Bill looking for a scriptwriter he liked to share the duties? Maybe Betty Corday felt the need for this? Young continued into 67 writing Jan episodes . By Feb 67 Bill is again writing every episode until late May- Oct when Sherman Magidson writes many scripts. He was a Chicago lawyer that Bill would have met through Irna Phillips as he was legal consultant for her. He turned his hand to scriptwriting and was associated with Bill Bell for many years following at Y&R and B&B. Nov and Dec 67 are all Bell. Moving onto 68 Pat Falken Smith enters the picture. She shares scriptwriting duties from Feb till May when Ted and Mathilde Ferro take over. They were veteran writers who had recently departed Guiding Light. By Oct the Ferros were writing one script a week, replaced by John Boruff, actor turned scriptwriter who worked with Agnes Nixon on Guiding Light. He only contributed a few scripts that month. Pat Falken Smith was also back. So Nov/Dec it was Bell/Smith/Ferro. 1969 was Bell/Smith and the Ferros sharing the scripts with Boruff popping up in July and taking over from the Ferros in September . They were back in Oct and Boruff was out. Maybe just filling in whjle they took a break. 1970 The Ferros were gone by Feb and Bill Rega took over. For the rest of 1970 Bell, Smith and Rega were the team, Seems they finally had a stable group. 1971 Rega was out and David Lesan wrote 2 scripts. He was a co writer for Irna Phillips . But until May 71, Bell and Smith were the only writers. Rega returned in July and Smith was out Was this when she became headwriter at Where The Heart Is? Carolyne Lacy began in July and Norman Jacob in August. Lacy only contributed a few scripts but Jacob continued for the rest of 71 Pat Falken Smith returns Feb 72 and Jacob is out. 'Wilber and Stewart' are added in April 72 so the rest of the year Bell, Rega, Smith and W&S are scripting. Although Bell is writing the scripts occasionally and nothing after Aug 72. Probably preparing for Y&R, which is given the official go ahead in Nov 72. In Jan 72 Don Sanford is added. He was an experienced primetime writer. Bill Bell writes one last script in Feb 73 and Kay Lenard arrives. The Bill Bell era is officially over.

Doug Marland's first stint at ATWT was 13 weeks in 79. I still maintain that it was a 'caretaking' position based on the facts that there was no publicity surrounding it. He was the writer that had helped GH turn around, so you think there would have been some hype about that, but nothing. And during that time he made no major changes to story, merely playing out stories already in motion. I'm sure he was paid handsomely but he had no real investment. In later interviews he never referred to it.

Hope Busby as Liza? I think Liza worked at Hartford House at some point.

@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.