Paul Raven

Thanks @JAS0N47 for the non soap ratings. interesting to get a complete picture of daytime and shows that outrated the soaps. Happy Days going through the roof in August due to kids on vacation. Sitcom reruns always did better over Summer.

@Khan Bill Quinn yes! thanks for that.

Big mistakes to kill off both Lee and Bill.

Don't think it's Mary but recognize the man-can't think of his name. I thought John McGovern but no...

I think the Fri sitcoms had much younger demos- so were winners from that point of view, even if the household numbers weren't as strong. Fri CBS was a classic example of a network not replenishing the night and letting it ultimately wither.' At some point Falcon Crest should have moved elsewhere and a new 10pm show inserted and of course a new 8pm hit. Easier said than done of course.

How about Erica and Charlie Brent? What was her motivation/interest there?

Fred Silverman lucked out with Real People Wed @8 on NBC. After a slow start it began outrating Eight Is Enough. Fred tried more reality with Games People Play and Speak Up America but they bombed. AbC debuted That's Incredible which was an immediate hit and gave them a viable Monday lead in after years of trying. ABC tried again with Those Amazing Animals. CBB' only attempt was That's My Line.

A question regarding the Randolph set. Was this John's original house from when Lee was alive? Did Pat move in? When was that set last seen?

The closest Meryl got to a soap was her brother in law's wife, Maeve Kincaid. I wonder how close they were and ever discussed their careers?

So really, it took another few seasons for Dallas to be beaten-not a bad acheivement. Another factor was the demise of Dukes of Hazzard. That Dukes/Dallas combo was a strong 1-2 punch for CBS, who failed to come up with a viable replacement. So Dallas lost that stronger lead in which would have accounted for a certain percentage of viewers. Had CBS had a better lineup, Dallas could have been moved to 10pm earlier.

So Dallas fell out of the Top 10 in the latter half of 86. But it was still a clear timeslot winner. What was the first show to beat it in the ratings? There was possibly a mini series episode that might have? But was the first regular series to send a new episode Dallas to #2 Fri @9? Or did that never happen? @kalbir ?

@mikeaw1978 I'll add my thanks and appreciation for all you do. It is an amazing site. Fitzpatrick looks like he could be Steve's brother. What was Willis' backstory? How was he able to turn up and take over Steve's company? Why did Fitzpatrick leave? He never seemed to do anything of note again.

So great Arianne is doing this. Just when we think there is no more to be seen. I'm sure there are many actors and BTS people who have episodes and clips. Hopefully they will see the light of day. Such a shame that AW decimated the core. John and Pat could have been the new tentpole couple. Mike and Marianne had years of story to tell. Or a widowed Pat marries into new family etc If they had have kept that core, other new characters could be brought in to connect with them

Sara was Amanda's bio mother .But they both were in love with Don Hughes.But Don got engaged to Sara. Amanda discovered the truth and spitefully threatened to tell Don that (gasp) Sara had an illegitimate child. There was an argument and Sara took a tumble and died Amanda was put on trial but was found innocent.

@Maxim Kim Hunter article from TV Guide TV GUIDE FEBRUARY 23. 1980 Though she’s enjoyed her limited time in soap opera, celebrated actress Kim Hunter insists.. 'Once around is quite enough' In case you missed it, here is a recap of what has happened lately to the real-life men and women who labor on ABC’s soap opera The Edge of Night... Henry, the soap-opera writer who' secretly wants to do mysteries, dreamed up a new character named Nola, an aging movie star who drinks too much and has a messed-up love life. Nick, Henry’s boss, loved the idea but couldn’t find the right actress for the part. Meanwhile, Ruth, the casting director— unaware of the new character Henry had created—went to a cocktail party where she met Kim, a famous actress with some 40 years’ experience onstage, screen and television. The next day, when Nick told Ruth that Henry needed someone to play Nola, Ruth immediately thought of Kim! At first Kim said no, but eventually she agreed to play not one but three parts: Nola, the aging actress; Hester, a witch; and Mrs. Cory, a woman who drugs her neighbors! But why is Kim, an Oscar-winning actress, willing to appear in a low-brow soap opera? Can a performer of her stature ever find happiness in the assembly-line world of soap opera pro duction? And will Henry concoct some incredible new plot to keep Kim on the show after her contract runs out??? Such is the stuff that has kept Edge of Night going for nearly 24 years. And that’s just the real-life part! Henry is Henry Slesar, author of more than 50 TV scripts for Alfred Hitchcock programs and for the past 13 years head writer on Edge of Night. Nick is Erwin (Nick) Nicholson, known in soap circles as daytime’s most affable producer, which helps explain why his program has lasted so long. Ruth is Ruth Levine, the casting director who quite accidentally met Kim at that cocktail party last spring. And Kim, believe it or not, is Kim Hunter, who won an Academy Award in 1952 as Stella Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and went on to a long and illustrious acting career without ever watching a soap opera, let alone appearing in one. But since last June, Hunter has been a regular member of the cast of Edge of Night. Shortly after that chance meeting over cocktails, she signed a six month contract to play the part of Nola Madison, a washed-up and juiced-up actress, with the understanding that Nola would be written out of the script by December. Then, last fall, Henry Slesar cooked up a new storyline that had Nola returning to films in a movie within-a-TV-show as Hester Atherton, a witch. And just for good measure, Slesar also conjured up a secondary plot in which Nola disguises herself as Martha Cory, an old bat who slips drugs into her neighbors’ food. On the strength of Slesar’s wild new ideas, Hunter agreed to stay for three more months. Most performers with Kim Hunter’s credentials would sooner hock their Oscars than join the cast of a daytime soap opera. Occasionally a big name— such as Sammy Davis Jr.—pops up on a soap for a few days, but never for nine months. The schedule is grueling, the work is rarely satisfying and the programs themselves—despite their appeal to millions of viewers—can hardly be classified as art. Yet Kim Hunter, at 57, is an energetic and gracious performer who seems willing to put up with just about anything for a chance to practice her craft. Having burst onto Broadway in “Streetcar” at age 25, and having won an Oscar for the film version four years later, Hunter watched helplessly as her career was practically ruined by the blacklisting policy that so sharply divided the entertainment industry during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. Virtually unable to land a part in Hollywood or New York for nearly five years, Hunter was finally rescued from the blacklisters’ clutches by producers of the TV series Omnibus, who hired her to play a few scenes from “Saint Joan.” Since then Hunter has had hundreds of parts, but not always easy ones. For instance, she played Zira in three of the highly successful “Planet of the Apes” movies and spent four hours prior to each day’s filming letting makeup experts make a monkey out of her. In 1977 she received an Emmy nomination for an episode of Baretta in which she played an unkempt character called Crazy Annie. And when producers weren’t exactly beating down her door with offers, she turned to radio— starring in 16 installments of “CBS Radio Mystery Theater.” Nowadays Kim Hunter devotes nearly every waking moment to Edge of Night. Most weekdays she can be found answering an 8 A.M. call at the cramped and unglamorous Screen Gems studio in Manhattan. Bouncing around the set, rehearsing for the afternoon taping, she is wearing a flannel work shirt, rumpled corduroy pants and blue tennis shoes. Unlike the other, mostly younger, members of the cast, she has carefully tucked tissues around her collar to prevent her makeup from smudging. And, unlike the others, she knows all of her lines. “Scared?” she says in answer to a question about her venture into soap operas. “I was positively petrified. I had never done a soap opera before; it was a totally unfamiliar world to me. The first thing I discovered was that they work backwards in soaps. Usually you rehearse for a while, reading the lines, then memorize. It’s easier to remember the lines that way because you know what they mean . But there’s no time for that here. In fact there’s so little time for rehearsal that you’re always tense. You’re never completely sure of what you’re doing.” Many of the other actors on Edge of Night are quick to call Hunter a real pro for diligently memorizing her lines at night. But the pro confides, “I have to memorize the lines. At my age, I can’t see the darn teleprompter.” It was that kind of selflessness that made it possible for Hunter to fit in with the rather closely knit Edge of Night family. For example, she flatly denies ever trying to coach or counsel any of the less experienced actors on the show. But according to producer Nick Nicholson, “She’s too modest. Many of our people are very young and they consider it a great honor not only to work with Kim Hunter but to learn from her. Kim’s got a name, a reputation, she’s done loads of stuff— big stuff—so it’s a challenge for us to work with her.” Director John Sedwick agrees. “We were all a little nervous when Kim first joined the show,” he recalls. “We do things on a very tight schedule, from run-through to dress rehearsal to taping in less than six hours. I imagine many veteran actors would want nothing to do with us or our methods. But Kim’s been delightful.” A few months ago, Hunter’s graciousness was put to the ultimate test by the twists in Henry Slesar’s bizarre scripts. “Honestly, I don’t know why I ever agreed to do that again,” she says, referring to the makeup necessary for the part of Hester Atherton, the ugly old witch, it was unpleasantly reminiscent of her “Planet of the Apes” days. But members of the cast and crew never caught a hint of Hunter’s feelings about the witch routine. Her response when the scenes were completed last December was to surprise the more than 100 people who work on the show with individually wrapped Christmas gifts for each of them. Now, after some eight months on daytime TV, Kim Hunter is in a unique position to weigh the pluses and minuses of the soap-opera genre. On the plus side: “The characters are fascinating. And these characters are allowed to grow and progress, which doesn’t happen very often on nighttime TV. I was also surprised by the subject matter in daytime scripts. It seems the characters can do anything here. It’s incredible—they’re popping in and out of bed ail the time!” On the negative side: “I work best with more rehearsal. Although the characters progress in the story, they are never properly developed from day to day. And the actors never have time to interact properly, so they are each groping for the way they think a particular scene should be played. “I plan to leave the show in March and if the producer of some other soap were to come to me and say, ‘We’ve got a terrific part,’ I’d tell him no thanks. I’ve learned what soaps are about. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but once around is quite enough.” But Kim Hunter has no notions about retiring. Indeed, she is more eager than ever to return to the theater. And as has been the case throughout her career—including her run on Edge of Night —she seems willing to go to any lengths for an opportunity to act. This spring, she is interested in starring in “The Belle of Amherst.” Who cares if this particular version of the play is being staged ... in Australia

Those intros with gauzy curtains, champagne bottles etc don't seem to fit the show. They give of an 80's miniseries vibe or 'erotic' romance novel cover and that's not what Loving delivered. Like the title, they were too generic. They stayed away from cast photos, but unless you can come up with an identifiable icon like the hourglass (DOOL) the bible (AMC) the globe (ATWT) cast pics are probably the way to go,don't you think?

I thought (wrongly) Hunt/Ellis had taken over by Sept 78 and were responsible for the arrival of Barbara and others especially this Ginny character who for some reason got a lot of attention for a short time and then disappeared. I think having a lot of long time characters was an issue. They were all older now Bob, Don, Kim,Dan, Susan, Lisa etc and it was harder to come up with new stories. But loyal viewers were accustomed to seeing them so it was a struggle to write for them and try to bring in newbies. And then there was Sandy, Valerie, Mary,Joyce -just way too many'older' characters who floated around. The younger characters Dee,Annie and Melinda were kind of extensions of their families and didn't provide much interest for new younger viewers.

Whatever the case, it seems odd that Valente would go to ATWT. That was the top rated soap of the three and he didn't have much of a track record. Maybe Caso didn't want to take on another struggling show at that point and decided to move on?

I guess one aspect is that Leo is the only long running gay character on the show and to many not a great representation.

Re The Dobsons and SB. It's not like w the show had been running for decades and the original theme was lost. They had created the show only a few years before but chose to jettison a lot they had established. I get that once the show gets underway certain things don't work as well as anticipated but to write out entire families seems a bit drastic. It feels like at times, they were more interested in showing how out there they could be instead of relying on good solid storytelling.

Guess I was a little harsh on Mr Braeden. Did the actors involved respond?

Did Josh have any acting experience before Y&R? It must be pretty daunting to be plunged head first into that environment. Hopefully his co actors were supportive. He says he auditioned at 19. His birthday is Feb 4 1974. So were they auditioning in Jan/Feb for a June debut?

Can't see anything developing b/w Traci and Alan. Remember Cane/Traci and the one scene she had with the Rosales dad. I guess Eileen is done for now so they decided there was not much need for Tucker.

Seriously Eric that kind of posturing isn't helpful- what's he going to do ? Lock her in a cage in his basement? Why those awful comments are given attention-it only achieves what the poster set out do.

Christine Ebersole...Mrs Peter Bergman #1. On wiki it says she suspected 9/11 was a government conspiracy... Semi Tough ABC aired Jan 6 1980' Cast Josh Taylor,Mary Louise Weller, Doug Barr Sitcom spin off of the Burt Reynolds movie.