Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Pieces are still there to make a revival work but I agree 10-15 years ago would have made the most sense.

[Ryan Mason]

Ron Hale has passed away.

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 It looks like it happened in late August but is just being made public now.

https://people.com/ron-hale-general-hospital-star-dies-at-78-8722466

 

Edited October 3, 2024 by Ryan Mason
More info and better source

[Sapounopera]

One of the most charming and charismatic actors on the show. RIP.

[anthonymolchan]

Whoever wrote this (the magazine is at your grocery checkout now)…never watched the show. 
 

Mary was killed off, but not Kate Mulgrew’s Mary. 
 

And Carolyn Hinsey “edited” this?

 

Another section states that Lily and Holden reconciled at the end of ATWT. They did not. 
 

But 20 years from now, someone will pull this out and proclaim these as “facts.”

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[Ryan Mason]

I mean, there's a kernel of truth in that in that Claire did WANT to kill her off when Kate left, but it took 3 recasts for ABC to let her!  

[DRW50]

You had me at Carolyn Hinsey...

The only reason [!@#$%^&*]-ass Hayley and Mateo are on that list is their TV show. 

[anthonymolchan]

There are at least ten “supercouples” on the list who are undeserving. 
 

I was surprised any cancelled soaps were included, and I mourn only the exclusion of Sky and Raven of EON; Liza and Travis of SFT; and Kimberly and Shane of DAYS. 

I don’t understand why two-year couplings like Robert/Holly and Duke/Anna linger to this day.  They were very short-lived  

And no Joe and Siobhan???

 

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

And no Joe and Siobhan??? - speaking of about them - over 25 promos featuring Roscoe Born & Marg Helgenberger chronicling the Joe & Siobhan romance

 

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[safe]

Nice that Daniel worked on another Stephen J. Cannell show. I wonder if Mr. Cannell created the role of Barry Tarberry with DHK in mind--- someone said Barry had Mark McCormick's comic quips.

Most of the time the Jack and Mary recaps leave out the friction in the marriage because of Mary's rising career and not a mention of Jack's feeling for sister-in-law Siobhan ---goes straight from being locked in the basement and the honeymoon to Mary's demise.

Watching an episode at at a time, you don't notice it as much --- but seeing it in all those clips ---you realize how repetitive it could be...

 

Sad to hear of Ron Hale's passing. A few days before the news came out, I had been looking at some old magazine articles ---and in 1979, Ron said he was probably going to leave in 1980. He said something about how 5 years was enough time and he would have done all he could do with the character by then. We were lucky to have him on the show for the entire run.

Edited October 7, 2024 by safe

[Mitch64]

L OL....seeing those two on the cover was obviously a ploy to get some sales from the fraus who watch that crappy show and WUV that couple, and I feel nauseous when I see one, much less two together. 

[safe]

Lisa Sutton (Nancy Feldman #1) is seen on The Steve Landesberg Television Show --- this was a  NBC TV sketch comedy special in April? 1983. Lisa had already been recurring on NBC's  Hill Street Blues since the fall of 1982.

 

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Edited October 15, 2024 by safe

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'd never even heard of this.

Nancy Feldman must be one of the soap roles that is most overpowered in terms of impact on the show compared to the careers of the ladies who played her.

[DRW50]

Sherry Coben Dies: Creator Of 'Kate & Allie' Was 71 (deadline.com)

I never knew she wrote for Ryan's Hope.

[Paul Raven]

The Phoenix 15 January 1976

Writers, Producers and Actors in The Slope Soap Box Make ‘Ryan’s Hope’ Bubble

BY MARCIA REISS

A new soap opera bubbling up across nationwide TV screens is bringing afternoon addicts a view of New York life which includes an undercover peek at brownstone Brooklyn. Monday through Friday at 1 p.m., the daily drama of “ Ryan’s Hope” unfolds, spotlighting the Irish Catholic Ryan family who live in an upper West Side rowhouse above the family-run bar. But their fictional Manhattan neighborhood, called “ Riverside,” carries a strong flavor of Park Slope through the influence of local residents from producers through typists.

THE SHOW IS THE BRAINCHILD OF BERKELEY PLACE BROWNSTONER CLAIRE LABINE AND COPRODUCER AND WRITER PAUL AVILA-MAYER. The serial was to be called “ City Hospital” as originally offered to Labine and Mayer. But the writers, both of Irish background, developed it with an ethnic realism unique to soap operas. “ We had to do a lot of convincing,” Labine explained, “ even to get the title accepted, which the network at first considered too ethnic. We thought of calling it “ Harkins Hope,” she joked, referring to the well-known 7th Avenue Harkins Bar.

The choice of the family name was inspired by another Slope resident, Mary Munisteri, who is a dialogue writer for the show. Ryan is Munisteri’s maiden name and ‘Mary Ryan’ became the name of the leading lady. One of five Ryan children, Mary takes a job with a West Side closed circuit TV station in the plot, similar to the former real-life role of Slope resident Joan O’Neill, who served as consultant to the writing of that segment of the show. Dialogue writer Allan Leicht, a Brooklyn Heights resident, is another local talent employed in the serial which also includes the acting ability of one-year old Berkeley Place resident Jadrien Steele, who plays “ baby Johnny Ryan.” The writers work out of their homes, but before their scripts reach the Manhattan studio, they make another stop in Brooklyn, to the Garfield Place home of Rosemarie Kazeroid, who “ sometimes types until 3 a.m .” to meet the endless deadlines for daily production.

BUT NEIGHBORHOOD INPUT DOESN’T STOP THERE. WELLKNOWN SLOPE RESIDENT JOHN SCANLON, BIG MAC PRESS DIRECTOR, played the part of a bartender in the Ryan bar during an election night episode which made son Frank Ryan a City Councilman. “ John is our political and Irish consultant," Labine noted. The political world of “ Ryan’s Hope” also includes a district leader called ‘Charlie Ferris,’ whose name Labine explained as a “combination of former Central Brooklyn Independent democrat District Leader Charles Monaghan and Assemblyman Joseph Ferris. “ When Joe heard about that,” she said, “ his deadpan response was, ‘Is he a regular or a reformer?” ’

he show is not only a neighborhood creation, but a family affair in the Labine home. Mayer arrives from his Manhattan home at 8:15 a.m. to the writers’ studio set up on the parlor floor. Claire’s husband, Clem Labine, puts out “ The Old House Journal,” a renovators’ guide, on the ground floor, but “ at 1 pm . ” Mrs. Labine reported. “ Mary Munisteri usually comes over and we all go up to my mother’s top floor apartment to watch the show on her color TV.” The three Labine children, St. Ann’s students, are also involved. “ My 14-year old daughter reads the scripts avidly and gets furious at some of the characters.”

BUT IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, WRITING A SOAP OPERA IS “ THE HARDEST WORK IN THE WORLD,” LABINE MAINTAINED. Mayer, an Obie award winner for an off Broadway adaptation of “ Six Characters in Search of an Author,” dismissed “ The assumption that anyone can write soap. It’s easy to make fun of, but we’re desperately serious about our work.” His work schedule continues at his home “four to five nights a week and full weekends." Since Labine’s children fill her evening hours, she “ frequently gets up at 4 a.m. ‘‘to continue the story outlines and dialogue for the show’s 18 member cast. "We create two and a half hours of air time a week,” she explained, “ which is the equivalent of 75 feature films a year.” “ It’s a joy for storytellers like ourselves,” Labine said.

But that story, or “ Bible,” as it’s called in the trade, which they have outlined through the next one and a half years, can become a “ monster” and has to be restrained by other factors shaping a soap opera script, such as the minimum number of appearances each member of the cast is guaranteed each week. Restricted budgets also make the writers’ job an on-going strategy of careful moves.

Rvan’s Hope” is the first production experience for the team, who met while working as dialogue writers for “Where the Heart Is’’ and “ Love of Life.’’ “ W e damned near killed ourselves at first,” Mayer said, “ getting involved in every aspect, from the selection of the perfect, old-fashioned rose linoleum in the Ryan kitchen to making sure that the actresses’ make-up looked natural rather than plastic.” But taking care of production details now means “only one hour instead of three on the phone each night,” he added.

HARD WORK HAS PAID OFF IN THE FORM OF GOOD RATINGS. [“ I CAN AFFORD NEW PLUMBING FOR MY BROWNSTONE NOW ,” LABINE ADDED.] While new soap operas usually have a difficult time winning new fans—some of the old favorites have lasted for 25 years and are still going strong— “ Ryan’s Hope," only six months old, has risen steadily to a consistent rating of 24% of the daytime audience. “ Anything over 20 is considered very good Labine explained. “Time” Magazine recently gave the show a rating of “three teardrops” and ranked it fifth out of the 14 network soaps. “ But we’re not in the misery business,” Mayer said, referring to the suffering and melodrama image generally ascribed to the field. “ We deal with big emotions— birth.love, death— but positive state of  mind ’’ the writers maintained.

'Our characters are optimists for the most part, involved in a celebration of life.” The “ low-key” musical score also consciously avoids the usual “ heavy violins.” They try to “ work in some comedy wherever possible,” but said that it’s difficult to change the “ deadly solemn attitude of the networks” toward their large money investment in soaps. The success of daytime programs, relatively inexpensive, is essential to the more lavish evening productions. The new soap opera parody, “ Mary Hartman,” was recently turned down by every major network, including ABC which by-passed it for “ Ryan’s H ope." “ Making fun of soaps means biting the hand that feeds you,” Mayer explained.

IT'S IMPOSSiBLE NOT TO BE PARANOID IN THIS BUSINESS,” Labine said. “ But we don’t sweat the ratings the way we did at first. Where else can you create your own universe and control all the people in it? It’s our very own sandbox. We’re only afraid that the network will discover how much fun we’re having and take it away.

[DRW50]

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