Jump to content

Daytime and Primetime


Recommended Posts

  • Members

A lot has been made about Daytime's youth obsession (perhaps rightly) being cited as a decline in the popularity and quality of the genre. And a lot too about the fact that Primetime viewership has also declined down the years, but we can ask this: is Primetime television in anywhere near as bad a state as Daytime? I think not, and I'll explain it in these terms.

Look at all the successful, enduring Primetime serials. All of them feature middle-aged and often less-than-glamourous characters front and centre. And many shows have a far better mix of youth and veterans than a lot of soaps do these days. (Even though I never really cared for it, even the OC gave storylines to the parents as well as kids) It goes to show that Daytime PTB's ideas of what viewers want, and especially of what younger viewers want, are seriously misguided. The idea that to appeal to the younger demos, you need talentless models playing out stupid storylines- which has clearly been proven not to work.

Daytime might need to look at what drives successful Primetime shows, in order to save itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 23
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Great thread.

Perhaps the problem is that in the end the younger audience in just never going to get as interested in soaps as TPTB want them to be. I mean I really don't know that many young people who watch soaps. And I get the feeling that most Daytime viewers are either oldtimers or children of the oldtimers.

As for the new hires I agree that good looks are not going to cut it. I want drama. I want to see close relationships that have deeper signifcance other than "sex and hooking up". Although that is a part of teen and young adult culture. But thats not all that we're about. Or at least I'm not. I'm more of a romantic and thats why I love ATWT. Because the romantic relationships have always moved me.

Bottom line though is that Daytime needs to decide if they can actually get new younger viewers to watch soaps or if they're just wasting time and money while driving away oldtime viewers at the same time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

ICAM! Daytime producers and network executives need to realize that teens aren't going to tune in just because teen characters get more airtime. The intergenerational storytelling of the genre's best writers (Phillips, Nixon, Bell) attracted plenty of teen viewers back in the day (myself included). The thrill of the wait was once part of the allure, tuning in each day to see if a couple would finally say "I love you." Now, they just have sex within a week and we're supposed to root for them?

I think TPTB need to focus instead on luring back lapsed viewers by bringing back the vets they let go (for example AMC's Julia Barr), writing romance instead of hookups, and telling frontburner stories that involve characters of all ages. I can think of at least 5 people off the top of my head (two exes, my mom, and two friends) who have quit watching AMC in the past 2 years. IMO, if the genre is going to survive, they need to keep the current audience and get back the former one. Maybe teens will even tune in occasionally with their moms like in the old days and get hooked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Ugh, that annoys the crap out of me, I swear. Part of the reason why I originally loved Gwen and Will was because you *knew* they would end up together, but you just had to tune in every day to see if and when they would finally admit their feelings toward one another.

I think a lotta things have to do with daytime being in such a sucky, sucky state right now. I think a lot of it has to do with TPTB wanting lightning-fast responses to things. If they do a story where it gradually builds and slowly gains momentum and then finally comes to a climax after a month or two, it'll take a while for the ratings to grow. But if they do a two-week story where a building has been blown up or a serial killer has taken folks hostage or something like that, the ratings jump up so quickly. So the result if an endless stream of explosions, murders, hostage situations, natural disasters, etc.

It's like taking a diet pill, really. If you want to lose weight the easy way, you take a diet pill, and the weight comes off, but you just gain it back again, so you have to take the diet pill over and over again. They're getting high ratings the easy way by doing these outrageous and ridiculous stunts, and the ratings do rise, but they just fall back down again...so the outrageous stunts just keep on coming.

If you exercise and change your eating habits (if they start to tell *real* soap opera stories again and start treating the show and its characters with respect), you will lose weight (the ratings will go up), and if you learn to maintain what you've been doing (if they can continue to write great stories), you'll keep the weight off (the show's ratings will stay up and possibly grow even more).

Damn, that's a good analogy, I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I agree with you Professor All My Shadows!

And the Network Executives should stop focusing so much on teens. Daytime will become more profitable and gain higher ratings if the soaps would go back to attract a wider audience. And besides, most teen viewers doesnt watch for the teen characters anyway. Letting the shows be driven by teens in order to attract teens is just a stupid business idea that has never worked well before, and it never will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In the past at least they understood that kids go to school during the day. The teens would come out for the summer and then disappear. It was bad, really bad, since most of them couldn't act at all and were horribly annoying (though not, as I recall, as annoying as this Stephanie on Days.)

Now they can't seem to grasp that the kids aren't there when the shows run so the shows are chock-a-block full of non-stop and often deadly dull kids.

The falling into bed immediately thing is another huge problem. It isn't simply that they want to rush things. It's that they've completely forgotten how to tell stories. The writers truly don't know how to build & construct. They're also being ordered to have nothing but shock & big bang foolishness, stunts for the sake of stunts & shocks instead of for any real REASON, and sex sex sex violence violence violence violence (and yes, ABC is by far the worst about this stuff.)

The writing these days so often stinks. It's not always the shows people complain about. Some of the complaints such as about Y&R don't even make sense to me because of the writing being on target with that show. It's working on all levels, I'm watching & enjoying it, I really like it and often love it.

Far too often, in order to try to fix things executives on all networks have stepped in and made things worse. That's the case with the nightmarish messes all over ABC daytime.

It's what's caused Days to suffer considerably and often for many years now. To some extent you can say it's been ongoing almost non-stop ever since Sheri Anderson left. Days has never really recovered even though it has had some lucid periods here & there.

It's also off and on caused lots of trouble for GL & ATWT in different ways.

The lack of competent good writers has been a major problem. Simply promoting from within hasn't worked in many cases. Just because someone can turn out a good script or breakdown doesn't follow that they know how to keep the shows plotted & flowing in an interesting & smooth manner for any length of time. But trying to hire from without has also ended up in some nightmares such as the Stern-Black ATWT & some of the Hogan Sheffer stuff. Calling for new blood has caused damage sometimes. Calling for young blood has ended up in such things as the dull GL.

But possibly worse than any of these has been the fanbase problem. Yelling about hacks when the writers are actually doing a damn good job is a particular problem and has cause irreparable harm on some shows such as for example the never-ending GH problem. It was in response to fans yelling when they shouldn't have been that Angela Shapiro brought back Guza & Pratt. That should NEVER have happened.

Various other fanbase agendas have done damage to ATWT, GL, Days and others. Fanbases seem to be currently trying to mess with at least 2 CBS shows by yelling "get rid of the hack" as far as I can see things. I can't interpret things any other way. I see competent good writing on one show and mixed but not poor writing on another. Then I see all this screaming & yelling on message boards. There simply isn't the fire to back up the smoke of many of the complaints from what I'm seeing. Just because you don't like a particular story direction or a particular actor getting more screen time than another (or even groups of actors than others) doesn't mean a writer is a hack. There are enough real hacks out there not to cloud issues by saying it about ones that clearly aren't.

But ultimately it's a business. The business people behind things are going to continue to do whatever they want and the shows will be messed with however those execs see fit. Even if it runs the shows into the ground and off the air. Then they can replace them all with cheap talk shows and tacky reality garbage. It's probably what some of those executives want to happen anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thats the truth if I ever heard it. And while its not right I sometimes feel like no matter how hard any of the shows try they are NEVER going to please their viewers or reach the level of popularity they use to. And thats only because as the genre changes and new faces are added to the mix, the vetran viewers refuses to tune in. Claming that the show is beyond all redemption, horrible, etc. I don't want to say soaps are perfect right now cuz thats far from reality. But I do think that some of them are really trying and doing pretty good. So in essence I blame both viewers and the execs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

2 more comments

Primetime isn't always all that. Some considerable amount of junk winds up airing in prime time as well as in daytime.

I strongly suspect that in order to try to survive, daytime show producers are going to try more attempts to branch out in ways like the most recent Amber/Allison crossover & internet show business. That sort of thing & reaching out through other different technologies to try to catch more interest & viewers will probably step up a lot in the coming times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

As we're already into this...

Primetime can be flashy at times. They have 22 nights a year to fill. Some with good stories others with lots of guest stars, musical montages and huff & puff.

Daytime HAS to be consistent. There is no season finale. That's why ALL depends on the dialogue and the actors eventually. You can have one good story but what happens if everything falls flat afterwards? Viewers go buh-bye (see DAYS after the serial killer)

You can't hide that with ludicrous events, guests and music - day after day. Yet, it is impossible to consistently have THE most exciting and fresh story. Period. You need to cache that with dialogue and your talented roast of actors. If this however fails you got one big mess...

That's just one of the reasons why that hag LML is failing so miserably at Y&R - more so since she turned the show into sth. it totally is not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Interesting topic. I agree with so much that's been said, especially Sheila and Heather. One thing I've noticed is how many elements of soaps primetime uses these days. It used to be that most episodes of primetime shows could stand alone. There was no need for the "Previously on..." that they all have now unless it was a "to be continued" episode. Now a lot of pt shows - if not all of them - are serials. The storylines on pt have also become very soapy - Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives are pure soap, and they are extremely popular. I have no idea why so many people who praise those two shows are so snobbish about daytime. I think one of the biggest problems with daytime is that tptb don't use the biggest advantage of the genre - time. They have 5 days a week to build characters and stories, to let the audience see everything develop gradually, to let them get to know and love the characters. They tried too hard to copy certain flashy elements of pt shows, which could have worked, but they focussed too much on the plots and not enough on the characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I so totally agree. They just took and took and took from primetime and completely forgot the elements of daytime that made it daytime. There are some things that should be taken from primetime (the best thing soaps can get from primetime is storyline possibilities - there are so many things that are explored in primetime that daytime has barely touched), but some things, IMO should just stay in primetime. Words cannot express how absolutely pissed I am everyday at around 12:01 PM, when I have to remember that AMC is being taped in a style resembling "That's So Raven!" and "Hannah Montana."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

And did AMC not just win an Emmy for its camerawork? That'll tell them it's working and people like it. Why not just FILM THE SHOW? Why do they have to be like NYPD Blue or whatever?

I'm a Y&R fan, and the teen crap is NOT why I'm watching these days. Certainly not for Amber that's for sure. I'm so glad her "cousin" won't be a problem anymore. But why the hell was Daniel SO ADAMANT that Kev not call the police? Just ridiculous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Usually teen or young adult stories don't bother me...BUT that is one thing that Y&R has been failing at miserably lately. Amber has got to go and and I think that LML realize that she or her storyline isn't working. I don't think Plum was supposed to die but they killed him off rather quickly and I think Amber is out of the door next. As far as the other two soaps I watch..I don't have a problem with ATWT teen storylines...to be honest they have been better than the adult storylines. I'm sick of the Craig, Lucinda, and Meg mess..it's idiotic and stupid. As for B&B, they never really focus a lot on teens and I don't see Phoebe being on the show much longer since their teens are usually in and out until they get adults like Bridget and Rick (who I could see staying). B&B has bigger problems than it's teen set, they can barely write for their adults.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • GH 1976 Pt 2 Medical student Bobby Chandler’s bone-marrow test results are in, and Steve Hardy has the difficult task of telling him he has Malenkov’s Disease, a rare and fatal blood disease. Bobby, newly married Samantha, hears his one-year-maximum prognosis and insists that Steve not tell anyone, as he has to have time to work out his own feelings. To cover up the treatments he’ll be starting immediately, Bobby, with Steve, decides to tell his family he has mononucleosis. His wife and his mother, Caroline, accept this story, but attorney Lee Baldwin senses it’s much more and presses Bobby for the truth, then promising to keep Bobby’s secret. Even though Bobby moves into a state of remission, Lee realizes the gravity of the problem and moves his wedding to Caroline forward, assuring Bobby that he will always be there for both Caroline and Sammi. But Bobby’s remission is short-lived, and his symptoms are now more severe, requiring frequent whole-blood transfusions. And a new experimental drug he is taking holds the threat of serious side effects. Sammi learns that Bobby’s attempt to buy life insurance was turned down and, herself a nurse, realizes that his symptoms are more severe than mono. She tries to press Leslie for the truth, but Leslie can’t violate a patient’s confidence. She does, however, pressure Bobby to let Sammi share is with him. Bobby insists that he can’t; he won’t send her into mourning while he’s still there to watch. But Sammi, angry at being treated like a child, presses the issue and manages to find out the truth. She then asks Lee to convince Bobby that his mother must be told so they can all show him the love they have for him before it’s too late and they have only  regrets for what went unsaid. Lee agrees, and after the wedding he protectively tells Caroline the truth. Sammi then tells Bobby that she is pregnant, news that he receives with very mixed emotions. Steve hits an optimistic note when he tells Bobby that a new breakthrough in leukemia chemotherapy may help him in his fight for life. This new treatment calls for more extensive testing, and Steve is overjoyed to find that there has been a variation in Bobby’s condition which indicates that he -doesn’t have Malenkov’s Disease after all. His condition, while serious, can be successfully treated  extensive drug therapy in New York, and Lee quickly arranges for all of them to move there so they can support Bobby during the extensive treatment and long recovery.  Dr. Jim Hobart and his wife, Audrey, are continuing their therapy sessions, trying to decide if they have a future together. Audrey admits she has stayed with Jim only because he needed her while he was drinking, and he in turn admits that he knows Audrey married him not out of love but out of gratitude for saving her son Tommy’s life in surgery. When Jim finally tells Audrey that he created his own alcoholic abyss and blamed her only because she was conveniently close, she wonders what will happen to: her when he recovers. If he doesn’t need her, can she go on? Does she need so much to be needed? When Jim, improving, starts teaching at the local college, he finds his self-image improving. But Audrey, worn out from therapy, suggests that she take a short vacation alone. Jim sees this as a way of undermining his recent strides and is angry. He relates this situation to his recent impotence, caused by his emotional problems. Jim reacts to his own feelings of inadequacy by withdrawing from Audrey, treating her impersonally and coldly. She takes this as an indication of her own failure. But when Jim reacts enthusiastically to one of his students, lovely young Sally Grimes, Audrey questions her own responsibility for the situation and accepts a dinner invitation with Steve Hardy, her first husband. Steve’s reassurance that she’s been a paragon of tolerance is negated when Jim walks in late and showing signs of drinking. When she asks how he could do it, he bitterly replies, “It’s a way to help me escape from you,” and turns and leaves. He goes to Sally’s, where they make love. When Sally later expresses regret at interfering in his marriage, Jim assures her there was nothing left to spoil—his wife is frigid but has blamed their sexual failure on him; thanks to Sally, he now knows he’s not inadequate. Since Sally won’t have an affair with a married man, Jim decides to make the break with Audrey. He bit- _ terly tells her Sally proved to him that he never had a problem—all he needed was a real woman, not one who was all burned out. He scathingly says that she takes men and castrates them; cases in point, her three husbands: Steve Hardy, Tom Baldwin, and himself. Shocked and horribly hurt by his accusations, Audrey swallows sleeping pills but immediately realizes the folly of her actions and tries to get help. Steve, meanwhile, senses something wrong and on a hunch goes to her apartment, where he finds her unconscious. He rushes her to the hospital for treatment, and after sixteen hours she begins to come around. She tearfully repeats Jim’s accusations while still groggy, and Steve reassures her that nothing Jim said was in any way true. As she dozes in the security of his presence, he whispers to her, “There’s a lot of woman in you, there was and there is, my sweet, lovely Audrey.”  Nurse Beth Maynard, despite her frequent pronouncements that she’s immune to emotional involvement, has fallen in love with resident Kyle Bradley. Beth’s sister, Nurse Diana Taylor, feels that Kyle treats Beth as if she were a casual conquest, however, rather than a woman he loves. Kyle’s life is now complicated by the arrival of Nurse Kate Marshall in town. She is staying with her godmother, Jessie Brewer, R.N., while. she recovers from a painful divorce. She and Kyle had an affair a few years ago, and she knows he’s married but keeps his wife “under wraps.” Kyle, in turn, knows that the discovery of Kate’s affair with Dr. John McAllister drove his wife to suicide. Kyle and Kate resume their affair. Despite the fact that Kyle is now living with Beth, Diana has seen enough to convince her that Kyle is deceiving her sister. But Beth won’t believe this, until she sees them embracing herself. When she confronts Kate, Kate bitterly tells Beth everything past and present about herself and Kyle, including the interesting fact that he’s married. Beth, shocked and hurt, throws Kyle out, and Jessie, who overheard Kate’s vindictive diatribe to Beth, arranges her transfer to another hospital.     
    • This is so true - the instant love is annoying. Adam/Sally/Billy/Chelsea are the best evidence of why this rings hollow. While I can see Adam/Chelsea reuniting based on a long history and Connor, there's no way Sally would instantly declare love. While Billy is just a desperate soul, Sally would be far more cautious after what happened with Adam. The *real* Sally would not only scheme to get Adam back, but make Chelsea's life difficult. She just got over it and gave up. Please. Instead of insta-love why can't some of these characters more casual? I hope Claire flings with Holden after Kyle falls into Audra's trap. Abby turns to Nate when Devon obsesses over Amanda - even if she's not in town. Lauren turns to Jack during this Michael stress, who in turn lands in Diane's web. We need messy triangles/quads and more.
    • Literally looks like a damn VFA or bingo hall. But we’re supposed to believe high rollers go there.
    • More 1976 LOL Carrie is very afraid that Ian’s paying her bills will force Arlene into a relationship with him she doesn’t want. She asks Joe if there’s some way to give Ian  back the money. Joe tells Arlene that her mother’s afraid of the situation, but Arlene assures him that the only thing she fears is that Tom will find out and think she’s more than a friend to Ian. Betsy, understandably resentful of Arlene, can’t see what her brother sees in her and is upset to see Arlene with Ian, as she’s sure Tom will be hurt. Tom is initially quite angry when he happens to learn that Ian paid Carrie’s hospital bills in full but believes Arlene when she assures him Ian’s just a friend. Ian, meanwhile, after Arlene admits she has strong feelings for a young doctor and can therefore regard Ian only as a friend, puts the pieces together and makes an appointment to see Tom for a cardiac examination. Tom realizes why Ian has chosen him and refuses a considerable fee to become Ian’s personal physician. . Betsy has suggested that Tom not ask Arlene to Meg’s formal New Year’s Eve party for the sake of all concerned. Meg, while having Carrie alter her party dress, mentions she’s being escorted by a wealthy man but doesn’t mention Ian by name. Ian had asked  Arlene to fly to Mexico with him for the New Year, but she declined, explaining she had another date. Tom, seeing how left out she feels, tells Arlene they are going to Meg’s party after all, and she begins looking for a dress, unable to afford the type of smashing creation she really wants. Ian, learning that Arlene’s  looking for a dress suitable for Meg’s party, arranges to have a designer creation sent in place of the off the rack dress she selected. When it arrives, Arlene and Carrie immediately plan to return it, but, on second thought, Arlene decides it wouldn’t hurt if she wore it just this once.  Ben Harper is released from prison, and Betsy tries - to show him they have nothing left between them by dating Jamie. However, her feelings for Ben get in the way of her enjoying Jamie’s company. Jamie has decided to accept an out-of-town law firm’s offer and, before leaving, helps Diana arrange the passport requirements for her newly arranged missionary trainee post in Peru. Diana tells Jamie she’s finally found peace except for her sadness at having to leave Johnny  behind. Beaver Ridge has continued to deteriorate since Rick left Meg in control, and Jamie warns Rick that since he owns fifty-one percent of the club, he’ll have to come up with fifty-one percent of the money needed to put the place back on its feet. Cal has mentioned to Rick that she would rather have a smaller, more informal home than his imposing house, and when she learns he’s put the house on the market she assumes he’s considering her desire for an easier home to run. Rick is determined that Cal not know the full extent of his financial problems. Since she wants it so badly, Rick promises Cal he’ll buy the mill house as their home, but he refuses adamantly to accept money from her trust fund toward the purchase, recalling the trouble resulting from the last time he borrowed  money from a woman—her mother, Meg.  Ian informs Ray that he'll get his cut of Beaver Ridge only when he, Ian, has the controlling interest.  When Rick can’t raise his share of the Beaver Ridge capital, he approaches Ray for help. Ray sends him to Ian, who refusés to make a loan, explaining it’s his firm policy, but suggests he pay one hundred thousand ~ dollars for two percent of Rick’s holdings in Beaver Ridge, thus transferring majority ownership to himself. Rick thinks it over and realizes he has no choice but to accept. He hates losing control of Beaver Ridge but  feels his first responsibility is Cal and he must protect her from his financial worries. Ben has moved in with Van and Bruce, explaining to Meg that he wants no help and no coddling, he has to make it on his own. He manages to find a job as a salesman in a sporting-goods shop, despite his parole. Betsy hires Carrie as Suzanne’s baby sitter in order to be absent when Ben visits his daughter. Ben finally tells Betsy he’d hoped there was still a chance for them despite everything but her dating Jamie and avoiding him seems to mean he was mistaken. Betsy admits she’s no longer seeing Jamie and agrees to be home when Ben visits. They then call a truce and decide to attend Meg’s party together.  
    • A few years after my grandfather and great aunt passed away, my grandmother married her widowed brother-in-law. You could have knocked us all over with a feather when they told us. My point is: it happens in RL, a lot more often than people think. In the Jack/Siobhan case, it would have been super messy, which is exactly what you want on a soap. Putting Siobhan with Joe forced them to write her as very naive and gullible, which seemed totally wrong for the character they initially introduced. I liked Rose, too, but that story also got derailed by the stupid mob stuff.
    • Dani's past is worth examining. OK she was an international model, but settled for an up and coming lawyer and quit modelling on his say? Doesn't hold together for me. They need a better reason for her giving that up. Maybe due to some incident, her star was falling and Bill helped her? She must have been in awe of him to put up with the infidelities and it seems she didn't stray herself. Though we have seen flashbacks of them in happier times, so maybe Bill was charming enough to convince her that he really loved her. Did her parents apply pressure? Maybe they disliked Bill and she married out of rebellion and then refused to leave to avoid the "I told you so's" And what was it about Hayley that caused Bill to finally divorce Dani? Lot's of motivations that need to be explored.
    • That set looks like the backroom at a fire hall. No way would a casino design a special rollers room to look like that. I don't get it. If they really want this casino/mob boss story to work, they have to try harder. That set is atrocious and a joke, and they can't have it patronized by someone like Eva. They also needed to create a Joey who is feared. Who has he ruined? Bankrupted? Killed? Is his only hope for money laundering a doctor who gambles too much? Where's the news that Lindstrom is wrapping up his run? I wouldn't call that set not oft-used, either. We've seen a lot of it, which is why we're complaining about it.  
    • I doubt it's sticking around for much longer; it's not a oft-used set like Orphey Gene's or Uptown, so it's fine as is. Once Lindstrom likely wraps up his run, I'm sure it'll be dismantled and never seen again.
    • Yes, Nicole's work would be seen as important, but she's wouldn't be (arguably) a national figure.
    • Y&R 1976 Pt 4 Lance finally gets the opportunity to meet Leslié’s  husband. Laurie has told Brad she believes Lance is in love with Leslie, and Lance himself tells Brad he’s in love with Leslie’s talent. Laurie is beginning to feel  that Lance is using her to get close to her sister. ‘When Leslie has a concert scheduled in Mexico City, Brad makes plans to accompany her. But his violent headaches unexpectedly return, and he’s forced  to cancel. Brad doesn’t give her a reason, saying only that she must trust him. But Leslie recalls that he missed her last concert without a reason and presses for an explanation. Brad tells her his mother is ill, but Leslie phones Mrs. Elliot and finds her mother-in- law quite well. Lance has a business trip to Rome in the works,and Laurie again agrees to accompany him. She has told Brad that the best way to handle Lance, who is used to having females swooning at his feet, is to play hard to get, while Lance has confided to Leslie that — since Laurie is used to adoration by the male species, he will ignore her. As a result, their Rome trip turns out to be a supreme battle of wits, but, as Lance notes to Laurie, being predictable is boring. Jack, trying desperately to help Joanne become independent and self-reliant, has encouraged her to  go back to college. Brock concurs, and even arranges for Kay to lend Joanne the tuition money. But on her first day at the university she overhears Jack telling Peggy that after he gets Joanne back on her own feet, he can divorce her and marry Peg. Brokenhearted, Joanne goes home and starts eating, but she’s thwarted by having only diet foods in the apartment. So she decides to give up once and for all, and swallows a bottle of medication. Brock finds her unconscious and rushes her to the hospital. When she comes to, she tells Brock she’s going to give Johnny his divorce. Seeing the report at his newspaper, Stuart Brooks kills the story, then goes to see Joanne. She insists she doesn’t want Johnny to know what she tried to do. Stuart does, however, tell Peggy, who goes to see Joanne. Peg is overcome with guilt, but Joanne tells her she’s now decided that Johnny still cares for her because,  with Brock’s help, she realized Johnny has still never  actually mentioned a divorce to her. She declares her  intention to fight for what’s hers. Joanne is surprised when Peggy insists on taking her under her wing to select new dresses which minimize - her weight and a new hairstyle that’s more flattering  and up to date But Peggy explains. she has to help Joanne to be the best she can so she, Peggy, won’t — win Jack by default. Bill Foster is deeply in love with his wife, but. she has refused to allow him to share her bedroom since his return. When Chris explains that Liz had him  legally declared dead nine years after he deserted his family and that, to Liz, their marriage ended, Bill asks Liz to marry him again. Ironically, Sam Powers, the man Liz would have married had Bill not returned, visits Genoa City to try one last time for Liz’s hand. Bill makes it clear to Liz that he will step aside immediately if it means her happiness, but Liz quickly reveals that Bill is now a changed man and she has fallen in love with him all over again. They are remarried in their own living room and are unbelievingly surprised when, just following the ceremony, their children hand them their own luggage, packed and full, and they are presented with tickets for a dream cometrue honeymoon in Hawaii, a gift from Stuart and Jennifer Brooks, their son Snapper’s in-laws. Brad has taken advantage of Leslie’s concert tour to have extensive tests made in Chicago. Brad was, for many years, a successful neurosurgeon there, but he  gave up his practice when a patient, a little boy, died on his operating table and he then found out the ‘child was his son. The boy’s mother, Barbara, had become pregnant shortly before her relationship with Brad ended and never told him about the child, as she couldn’t use the baby to force Brad to come back to her. Now Barbara, a nurse in the hospital ‘where Brad is being tested, pleads with him to tell his wife what’s happening to him, but he insists he cannot. The specialists find all test results negative; there is no apparent cause of his blindness. He refuses Barbara’s  offer of help and returns to Genoa City alone. Leslie’s mentor, the Maestro, arrives home before Leslie and hurries to tell Brad that Leslie knows his  mother wasn’t ill but feels it would degrade their marriage if she asked him where he had been. The Maestro adds that it’s all up to Brad now. But upon Leslie’s return Brad continues his pretense and offers no information. He can'f bring himself to let her her see what’s happening to him. Chris is on duty at Legal Aid when a Mrs. Nancy Becker and her daughter, Karen, arrive, asking for help. Nancy’s husband, Ron, has been arrested, and they have no money for food or for bail. She explains that Ron was arrested for rape, but she insists he’s innocent before collapsing and passing out. At the hospital Snapper runs tests and finds that Nancy is in a diabetic coma and may be hospitalized for several weeks. Chris, sympathetic to the woman and her child, takes Karen to her mother’s, and Jen quickly offers to  care for the child. Hoping to locate relatives who can help his family out, Chris visits Ron in jail. He tells her he has no family-and Nancy is estranged from hers because of their marriage. He asks her for legal help, but Chris replies he’s talking to the wrong person - she |was once a rape victim herself. Ron is soon released, when witnesses verify seeing him elsewhere at the time of the attack. But Chris is uneasy; her intuition as a rape victim tells her he’s guilty. Ron has lost his job because of being arrested, and Chris and Stuart offer to help him find another. Jen offers to continue caring for Karen.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy