Paul Raven

I'd have to agree. Newhart leading off Monday night, with Almost Grown as the 10pm show. TV 101 the umpteenth flop 8pm show trying to grab the youth. And on Wednesday going with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. Dirty Dancing / Raising Miranda on SAT. It just seemed like hodgepodge of middling shows.

In the 60's I believe Bill worked in advertising. By the 70's Bert was working as a hospital volunteer - patient advocate etc

Yul Bynner took his most famous role to TV but 'Anna and the King' CBS 1972 failed to replicate the success of 'The King and I'. Robert Mitchum somehow found himself in the NBC sitcom 'A Family for Joe.' A sad swansong to his career.

Guess they thought that Roseanne had shown that conventional sitcom types were on the way out and it was time for the unpretties. Throughout the 80's what do you guys think was the worst fall schedule that each network presented? Not so much in hindsight when we know how the shows performed but more on how the schedule presented at the time. For NBC I'd say 81-82 SUN Matthew Star (never aired that season) Chips (fading) Movie (NBC had no big movie titles) MON Little House Movie (again few potential big titles) TUES Father Murphy Bret Maverick (did anyone want to watch a Western, even with James Gardner) Flamingo Road (struggling, needed a big lead in to succeed) WED Real People Facts of Life Love Sydney (mediocre) Quincy (fading) THURS Harper Valley ( a mild success in a different timeslot) Lewis & Clark ( flop written all over it) Different Strokes Gimme a Break ( middling sitcom at this point) Hill St Blues FRI NBC Magazine (unsuitable for this timeslot) McLains Law (formula cop show) Devlin Connection (Rock Hudson show that never aired that season) SAT Barbara Mandrell Nashville Palace (a second hour of country music and corny comedy,no thanks) Fitz & Bones (Smothers Brothers show left over from last season I think,a fill in when Cassie & Co was delayed by the strike) So there you have it- pretty threadbare line up featuring a bunch of old stars James Arness, James Garner, Tony Randall, Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson etc in hastily put together shows. When the schedule was announced there were no details or even titles ready for James Arness or Rock Hudson. In addition to the writers strike NBC had bad breaks - injuries on set of Matthew Star, Rock Hudson's heart attack, producer changes at Harper Valley, Gary Coleman absent from early episodes etc. It was a disaster season from go to whoa.

To give Stu and Jo more presence simply focus on Patti who should have been older, age up Chris and Tracey to teens. Bring back Bruce, Jo's ward. Gary, Liza Danny Walton Stu's grandkids. Or as I mentioned before the mysterious man who turns out to be Jo's son Duncan,switched at birth.

Isn't dealing with politics a little tricky? Go in too deep and you have to identify characters political leanings which is inevitably going to alienate viewers on either side. Keep it vague and it comes off as unbelievable and wishy-washy.

I would challenge that Agnes Nixon was responsible for the hiring of Gloria Monty. Fred Silverman had been head of daytime at CBS in the 60's when Gloria directed Secret Storm. I believe he worked in tandem with Jackie Smith whom her hired to head ABC daytime after working with her at CBS. The decision would have been theirs. Agnes may have been consulted along the way. As for Doug Marland the story I have always read is that Jackie Smith's daughter like the young characters on The Doctors so Jackie was lead to Marland.

Not to the same extent but Days sent Bill Horton out of town for months when he encountered Tom Jr and also when Mickey left Salem and lived on the farm with Maggie and later the copycat story on Y&R when Victor lived with Hope. But they really only concerned one story and location.

Thanks @DRW50 for the share. I remember taping off TV in the 70's. I got into Mission Impossible reruns of all things!

Let's not get started on the costuming choices on this show.

Surely at this point, everyday would be special. Casting actors, finishing scripts, designing sets etc

I think it would be nice to see Traci happy with her life and having Alan as friend with benefit that she catches up with from time to time. And give Traci something more in her life than gushy maiden aunt. At least have her involved in writing a novel and reference the process rather than her popping out a book out of nowhere. Maybe acknowledge that at her age there's not much interest in her work and she has to self publish.

Looking at KMs bio on the Soap Hoppers thread I'm not seeing a resume that says serious actress. She pretty much went straight into soaps and stayed there. Good luck to her and hopefully she invested wisely as there doesn't seem much out there for her. Maybe Return to Playboy - A New Beginning.

Thanks for that. I could see that the 1hr format and new shooting schedule could be a factor in him leaving. We all know Gloria was a hard taskmaster and they worked long hours.

Maggie should have had a younger brother she was supporting. Wes Eure should have played Wes Simmons and played the Mike Horton stories instead of the drastic Sorasing of Mike. Of course as they did with Maggie young Wes would become an honorary member of the Horton clan.

In the case of Chris Robinson it was early in Monty's tenure and Rick was important to the story plans. Maybe she didn't like Gregory in the role. Was he fired or chose to leave? She had the advantage of helming the #1 show so actors were less likely to leave but she lost Jeff, Tracy, Scotty, Bobbie, Anne etc And the way the show was written they didn't kill them off and then have to do multiple back from the dead later on.

TV originally came out of NY in the 50's. Look at the casts of those live anthology shows and you will see many familiar soap names there. So actors participated in the theatre and TV . If you were in a Broadway show you might pick up a soap gig. Or do a soap and some mightime stuff. So I think there was less stigma involved.Unless, of course, you were a big TV or theatre name and wouldn't dream of doing a soap. Then when TV migrated to the West Coast that just left soaps and theatre as options in NY.

Agnes Nixon when casting AMC used some performers she had written for before. Judith Barcroft Lenore AW Anne AMC Kay Campbell Helene TGL Kate AMC And when Bernard Grant left TGL he was cast on OLTL. Bill Bell used Susan Seafort Hayes heavily on Days as the definitive Julie after a few casting attempts and then cast her On Y&R and considered her for Stephanie on B&B.

That character was Mary Lou Clay. Mary Lou was Peggy Scott's friend at boarding school.

I have a feeling that Kathryn Hays was a replacement for Lynne Adams but it didn't work out for some reason and she was dropped. I say this because Kathryn had done primetime and it seems unlikely she would just temp. Barbara Rodell went straight from Secret Storm to GL. Maybe once Barbara became available they thought she would be a better fit. Maybe some of our posters have more knowledge/info. Kathryn never spoke of GL in interviews and I've never seen reports from that time.

Another way to get connection b/w characters would be for some familial connection eg 2 sisters and their families living next door to each other-maybe a back story that their parents developed the block and they inherited or simply chose to live next door. Or an older couple owning the next door property and letting children live their to help them out financially. Something along those lines that would keep them in contact and connected.

Was he dropped along with Barbara and Adam in 81? The trouble with those characters is they only had past ties to the canvas. Leslie had died 5 years earlier but it seemed longer. They really should have let her and Mike have a son before she died to keep the Bauer name and legacy. That would have bonded Steve and Bert-maybe leading to marriage? Or at least a close courtship. All of Barbara's kids were gone and Adam's only link was 'dead' Roger. So I can understand from that viewpoint why they were dropped.

Wk 2 of the 89/90 season Fri 8pm ABC Full House #30 15.0/29 Family Matters #41 13.8/23 CBS Snoops # 67 9.1/17 NBC Baywatch #57 10.7/20 9pm ABC Perfect Strangers #41 12.8/23 Just the Ten of Us #47 12.5/22 CBS Dallas #49 12.3/22 NBC Friday Movie#45 12.6/23 10pm ABC 20/20 #38 13.3/25 CBS Falcon Crest #57 12.7/20 NBC Movie as above So by this season Friday nights had become like Saturdays with a bunch of low rated shows. But CBS letting Dallas/Falcon Crest wither away like that was sad. ABC must have got all the kids/young adult demos, while the more expensive CBS soaps were lagging. CBS' failure to regenerate Fridays is a textbook programming mistake. Falcon Crest should have been moved at some point while Dallas was still strong enough to boost a new 10pm show. They should have found a strong 8pm show to boost he night. At some point Dallas would have moved back to 10 with fresh shows providing stronger lead ins. All theory of course. CBS has other woes to deal with at that time.

re Anne, Gloria Monty didn't recast. I think Heather was the only exception, probably down to Monty disliking Mary O'Brien's performance.

I'm going to include Taxi as a timeslot hit. Not commenting on the quality of the show but purely on a ratings basis. After debuting in the 78/79 season it finished 9th following 3's Company 2nd. On 79/80 Taxi was 13th and 3's Company was 2nd. So after two successful seasons Taxi was given the chance to stand on it's own. For 80/91 ABC moved it to Wed @9 inheriting the Charlies Angels slot (which was fading). It was paired with Soap but that combo didn't fire. By mid season Taxi was shifted to Thurs @ 9.30 following Barney Miller. Taxi finished outside the Top 30. It was kept in that slot the following season but as Barney Miller faded, so did Taxi. ABC cancelled it after 4 seasons. Timeslot Hit!