This is 100% correct. It was even on the nightly news where the US Government would not let the cast and crew travel to Egypt because it was deemed not safe. The Achille Lauro hijacking took place on October 7, 1985, when the Italian ocean liner MS Achille Lauro was hijacked by four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front off the coast of Egypt, as she was sailing from Alexandria to Ashdod, Israel.
The location shoot was probably scheduled to be filmed in mid-October to air throughout November with a two week tape to air date. Remember on the show they did some in studio scenes doubling for Egypt before shifting the action to Arizona. It was an awkward end to a truly bizarre storyline.
Coronation Street had a very good story where one of the characters befriended a man who she later learned had been involved in her husband's death - when told right it can be very powerful (not like AMC trying to make it a romance).
ATWT almost had a big fire in mid-1994, so this seemed to be a "thing" with P&G at the time. I guess it fits the disaster backstage atmosphere.
@jmgaw did not refer to Luke and Laura. Throughout 78 GH's ratings continued to rise as AW's fell. That turnaround was getting a lot of attention in the soap press with Scotty/Laura, Rick/Leslie/Monica etc .
So the 90 min decision was a reaction to that. I guess the thinking was that 60 min expansion had worked so starting AW a half hour before might keep viewers from switching to GH at 3pm. I don't think anybody really thought it would work.
The most sensible solution would have been to expand The Doctors and hope for a GH like turnaround, but for reasons unknown TD never went to an hour.
Hotel no doubt benefited from the Dynasty lead in and didn't move until it was jettisoned to Sat night wasteland to play out a final season.
Maybe it should have been moved earlier to perhaps bolster another night and allow ABC to nurture another show in the post Dynasty timeslot when the former was still a ratings winner.
Who is going to say, "I'm headed home to watch The Chew?!?!" One of the most ridiculous names ever. I didn't watch AMC or keep up with it towards the end, but OLTL still had life in it and could have gone on. OLTL 2.0 was entertaining and worked because RC was not involved. A real shame that did not work because I think the show could have gone in good directions.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.