danfling

NBC also had trouble establishing a prime-time news magazine show and a successful prime-time dramatic serial.

CBS had a very hard time having a hit in latenight programming as well as early morning programming.

All three networks tried to emulate the National Lampoon's Animal House movie by having a situation comedy in that vein.   All three networks failed in that area.

More on Erica and her name:

I am thinking that when Erica was married to Tom, she was contacted by Brandon Kingsley.  Brandon said that he had bee trying to locate her for a long time after viewing some older pictures of when she was modeling for Jason Maxwell nearly ten years earlier.    I could imagine part of that problem is that she was currently Erica Cuddahy.  When she was in New York earlier and living with Margo, she was known either as Erica Martin or Erica Kane.    (although, I think that she was known as Erica Martin)

Maggie also became a lot more like Victoria after the departure of Alexandra Moltke and the hiring of Maggie as the new governess.  This also lessened much of the personality of the old Maggie.

I do not know the year, but, as I remember, it was when Todd left the show for the first time.  He went to Ireland.    Eli had not been dropped from the cast yet, and Carlotta was asked by Todd to care for him in her home.

Just as Tina and Todd were taken care of by others, Todd also had a sense of taking care of a less fortunate when he began caring for Eil and later (when he was leaving Llanview) asked Carlotta to care for Eli in his absence.

The late actor Paul Sparer was a marvelous actor, as was his wife (Nancy Marchand).    Their daughter, by the way, played Katie the waitress on All My Children for a few years or so.

He could have easily played the role of Chris Hughes on As the World Turns.  He also probably would have been good as Julian Hathaway on Where the Heart Is.

Does anyone know anything about actor Derick Evans (Marty Stillwater on The Edge of Night)?   I have not seen or heard about him since that show was cancelled.    (He departed prior to the cancellation.)  I am curious what profession he chose after acting (assuming that he is no longer an actor).

Robby Benson was also on The Edge of Night as either Tommy Hatcher #1 or Tommy Hatcher #2.   He was in the storyline with Geri McGrath (Millee Taggart) and Vera (Elizabeth Lawrence).

The other Tommy Hatcher was Michael Maitland (Dark Shadows, Search for Tomorrow).

I recall that she was referred to as Erica Martin and Erica Brent many times.   Erica Kane was her maiden name and also her professional name after she became a SUCCESSFUL model (working for Brandon Kingsley - not Jason Maxwell).  Her roommate, Margo, used her married name "Flax" professionally before she left New York and married Paul Martin.   (Margo's maiden name was never given, but she had married and divorced Harry Flax.)

I thought that the company had become "Lord Manning" following the awarding of Todd's fortune to him.

I am so sorry to learn of this death.  He played Jack so well, although I suspected that the actor was older than the character was.

Why is so little posted about Lee Beery?

I seem to recall that Althea was referred to as "Adam's first wife."    My memory could be wrong.

I do not remember any African-American singers being on the show around 1968.

I do know that actress Frances Foster appeared on the show.

The only African-American character that I can remember from the show is Issac.   Issac (cannot remember if he had a last name) worked with Robert Lamders at his garage.   I suspect that Frances Foster may have played his mother.

As a matter of fact, I remember no African-American performers on the two other CBS-owned soap  operas that I watched.    Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (which, it seems, should have had many more Asian performers that it did) did hire Avis McArter (and she went on to briefly replace Lisa Wilkinson as Nancy on All My Children).  I do not remember any from Where the Heart Is, although I did not watch the show all the time.

I do seem to remember that there were African-American performers on Love of Life.   I did not ever watch that show.    I think that Irene Cara, Damon Evans, maybe Adam Wade, Ja'net Dubois, and others appeared at one time or another on Love of Life.

I do know that actor Michael Landrum was in the original cast of How to Survive a Marriage as one of the show's main characters, Larry Kirby.    The show replaced him with Michael Hawkins.   I was not watching The Doctors at the time, but I can imagine that the network (which, as owners of How to Survive a Marriage) may have had a contract with Mr. Landrum.    He was encouraged to play this role on The Doctors.

I learned last week that an actress with soap opera connections was one of the writers of the CBS serial Capitol.

The late K. C. Ligon was born into a family of the theatre.  Her biography from IMDb reads: "Born into a theatrical family (her mother was actress and dialect coach Nora Dunfee and her father was veteran Broadway and film actor David Clarke), she made her Broadway debut in "Under Milk Wood" at the age of eight, and subsequently appeared with her parents in the National Tour of "The Visit" with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. She attended the Professional Children's School from the first grade through high school, and was a member of the first graduating class of what is now the Graduate Acting Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her stage credits include "Subject to Fits" at the New York Public Theater; "Hamlet", "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Travesties" at the Mark Taper Forum; "Merton of the Movies" at the Ahmanson, and "Crowbar" at the Victory Theater in New York. K.C. Ligon is a dialect coach on Broadway and does extensive private coaching of prominent performers for theatre and film."

She is the daughter of actor David Clarke (Tiso Novotny on Ryan's Hope).

Her husband, Tom Ligon, has appeared on a number of soap operas (The Best Everything of Everything, All My Children, Another World, Loving).

I had never watched Capitol, although I had known that Lois Kibbee (The Edge of Night, Somerset, One Life to Live) was one of its writers.

Other performers who were writers on that show include:

James Lipton (The Guiding Light)

Nancy Franklin (A Flame in the Wind, Where the Heart Is, The Doctors and One Life to Live)

Ellen Weston (The Guiding Light, Another World)

Elizabeth Levin, wife of actor Michael Levin (Ryan's Hope, All My Children, As the World Turns) was also one of the writers.

As the World Turns probably made the decision to dismiss Jill Andre (much as they had Pamela Miller as Lisa #2) and to send the character into an institution until a firm decision could be made about the character (to leave her there or to have her return).   The successful persuasion to get Dagne Crane to return to the show, of course, made the decision much easier.

And Paul Raven was wondering what the early Dr. John Dixon did on the show.   He was brought into Oakdale and Memorial Hospital by the villainous Dr. Michael Shea as a medical partner.  I do not think that Mr. Bryygman was a regular contract role at that time.  

After the death of Dr. Shea, Dr. Dixon seemed to take over in Dr. Shea's role in the hospital - as a main antagonist, especially to Dr. Bob Hughes.  He was responsible (I do not think intentionally) of doing some slack pre-surgery preparation which was responsible for an explosion in the operating room resulting in the blindness of Dr. Hughes and Bob's need for a cornea transplant.

I have been watching the Television Academy Interview with Don Hastings (Bob #3), and he said that Bob's blindness was one of the actor's favorite storylines.

I am unable to remember who it was who revealed to Dr. Dan Stewart about his true past and parentage - was it Dr. Dixon or (probably) Dr. Shea.   I can remember the words told to Dan/Jimmy, but I cannot remember with certainty which of the two characters spoke the lines.   I am nearly sure that it was Dr. Shea, but I would appreciate another person confirming this.

I remember when John Tripp replaced Jeffrey Byron as Dr. Jeff Martin.   Tad and Hillary were not seeing each other, and Jeff asked Tad (over a meal in a restaurant) if Tad would mind if he (Jeff) were to ask Hillary for a date.

I think that the show was obviously headed toward a Tad-Hillary-Jeff triangle, but the character of Dr. Jeff Martin was dropped.   It was said that he had moved to California (where Tara was also residing with Jim and Katie/Kelsey).

As I recall from that time, Mr. Frank (Dr. Jeff Martin) and his wife Ms. Blanchard (Mary Kinnecott Martin, R. N.) made the mutual decision to move to California and to leave their show All My Children at the end of their contracts to appear.

Jeff and Mary had been slated to adopt Tad Garner (Matthew Anton), but, upon hearing these plans, the show changed the storyline to have Dr. and Mrs. Joe Martin adopt him.   (This was, of course, after Ruth and Joe had married.)  

I don't know if Ms. Blanchard's contract ended before Mr. Frank's did or if they expired at the same time, but the show killed off Mary and kept Dr. Jeff for several more months.  Mary was shown after her death several times as her character's ghost, so, either her contract was still valid or she returned to the show after her contract had expired.

The pair did leave the show, and Susan Blanchard was cast in the primetime ABC comedy series Mr. T and Tina.   I think that people predicted that the show would be a hit, but it was not and was off the air by January of the next year.   Ms. Blanchard later became the spokewoman for Leggs Pantyhose.

I don't remember any regular roles on any television series for Mr. Frank.  As far as I know, his first primetime series was Filthy Rich.    He later appeared for one season on the CBS primetime serial Emerald Point, N. A. S., which was created by Esther and Richard Shapiro.

The producers of Filthy Rich later produced Designing Women (all three of these shows aired on CBS), and Charles Frank became one of that show's directors.   (Jack Stauffer, the original Chuck Tyler, appeared on an episode that Mr. Frank directed.)

After Dr. Jeff Martin left the show, Mary's sister Betsy (Carla Dragonetti) came to Pine Valley.   Dr. Jeff Martin later returned (The role had been recast with Robert Perault as Dr. Martin #3.)  James O'Sullivan became the fourth actor to play the role, and Jeff married Dr. Christina Karras (Robin Strasser), and they left town.

When Dr. Jeff Martin later returned to town (played by Jeffrey Byron - who had just been written off One Life to Live as Richard #3), it was said that he and Christina had divorced.

Prior to 1968, Jill Andre began playing Dr. Sara McIntyre on The Guiding Light when Patricia Roe departed the role.    (I am not sure why Ms. Roe left the show, but I do know that she was later on One Life to Live - maybe at the very beginning.)

Then Dagne Crane left As the World Turns, and her replacement (not a temporary replacement) was Jill Andre.   Dr. McIntyre on The Guiding Light was assumed by actress/pianist Millette Alexander.

I am not absolutely certain about this, but Sandy had been a model.   She was in a fire, and, I am thinking that this was one of those plastic surgery storylines.   Sandy was Jill Andre after her bandages were removed, I am thinking.

There was a great difference between Ms. Crane and Ms. Andre.   Dagne Crane was persuaded to return to the show.   I think that the purpose of her return was to wrap up Sandy's storyline.   Sandy left Oakdale, and returned only after the show had been expanded to a full hour.

Now, I have had this question for several weeks.   Sandy became engaged to Dr. John Dixon.   However, the wedding was called off.   (That after she wore her wedding gown for him on the morning of the wedding - prior to going to the church to get married.   Viewers were tipped that the marriage would have been doomed.)

My question is what actress was playing Sandy at that time - Dagne Crane (before her departure), Jill Andre, and Dagne Crane (after she had returned)?

Ms. McLaughlin's first soap opera was The Secret Storm.  I was cast as Wendy Porter.   It was later felt that the actress had too innocent of a quality.    I think that this character was to have an affair or contemplate an affair with Peter Ames.   So, the show replaced her.   She later was on As the World Turns as Carol Demming.

Unfortunately, actress Rita McLaughlin (Wendy Porter #1 on The Secret Storm) passed away on Monday, the 26th.

How sad to learn of the death of actress Rita McLaughlin Walter (Carol Deming Hughes Stalling

).

There is another death from The Edge of Night to report:   actress Elizabeth Parrish has passed away.

She played two roles on the show.   The more memorable one was that of Buffy Revere.   She shared many scenes with both I. M. Hopson and Criag Augustine on the show.

This post was shared on Facebook by actor Thom Christopher (Noel Douglas #1 on The Edge of Night):

She (Martha) was placed on trial for murder on two different occasions:  for the death of Rick Oliver and for the death of Taffy Sims.