July 1983 Digest article.

By NERISSA RADEL

In 1974, while they were still writing for Love of Life, Paul Avila Mayer and Claire Labine began work on another soap opera. Ryan's Hope, as it was called, was different right from the very start. In 1975, when the show premiered on ABC, most soap operas were situated in fictional American cities. Ryan's Hope, however, was one of a kind. The Irish Catholic Ryan family, headed by Maeve and Johnny Ryan (expertly played by Helen Gallagher and Bernard Barrow) ran a neighborhood bar - not in everyone's town - but in New York City! Maeve and Johnny didn't own a house or have a luxurious apartment. They lived right upstairs from their bar with their four children, whom they unabashedly loved. In fact, Ryan's Hope was all about that love and the various forms it took within that close family. Sound simple? Well, it was...

From 1975 to 1980, Paul and Claire produced, packaged and wrote their show very successfully for ABC. But in 1980, for financial reasons, Claire and Paul sold Ryan's Hope to the network. During that time, the series had won 11 Daytime Emmys, including two awards for Best Show and four awards for Best Writing. "We were probably the lowest paid writers in daytime when we were winning all those awards" Paul smiles. "In fact, I know we were. We paid ourselves the absolute minimum so all the money could go back into the show. As soon as there was extra money, the actors got it. We were constantly overbudget."

Once ABC owned the show, "Ryan's Hope" began to change. "There was a difference in opinion as to which direction the show should take," Paul reflects. "The network wanted a new family on the show," Claire says. "And I have to say this in all justice - philosophically, it was a viable decision. We had worked the veins of the Ryans at that point! ABC had breathed new life into 'One Life to Live' by bringing a new family in. But the problem here was that Paul and I had been doing this show for seven years and we were making up a new family on demand. We didn't feel the need for it."

Nevertheless, because they had relinquished creative control by selling the show, Paul and Claire created the Kirklands, a wealthy, power-monger family. Hollis Kirkland was played by veteran star Peter Haskell. Hollis fairly burst onto the Ryan's Hopestage and his plotline, which linked him to the show's other reigning power-monger, Rae Woodard, soon consumed the entire serial. It was the end of "Ryanness," as a new emphasis on glitz, intrigue and heavy plotting took over. Viewers who had known and loved Ryan's Hope for its down-to-earth storylines didn't know what to make of it, and the ratings dropped to an all-time low.

"We got a little off the track," says Michael Levin who, as Jack Fenelli, has intrigued fans for eight years with his role as a crusading newspaper columnist. "When we were good, we really did good work and it wasn't about millionaires and gangsters and mystery and adventure." (Once ABC owned the show, the plots began to focus on way-out storylines a l a General Hospital.) "The good work was just about human beings trying to love one another or not to love one another. The whole idea of 'Ryan's Hope' is that it's a hope for love and for trust...and that's not easy," he adds.

Yet, despite their commitment to "Ryan's Hope," Paul and Claire left the show fifteen months after they sold it to ABC."We were fired," Claire says matter-of-factly. "I went back to work in February of 1982 without Paul to find that there were various changes in personnel."

"We'd gotten into trouble when the scenes the network wanted written weren't the kind of scenes Claire wanted to write or were written for performers who couldn't fill them," adds Paul. "The result was, the scenes didn't work. When we wrote for the Ryans, the scenes worked."

So several months later, Claire left the show again. But in January of 1983, ABC approached both Paul and Claire about returning. Needless to say, there was some major overhauling to be done. Some of these "steps" included rather drastic moves, such as the releasing of nine characters from the show (including the entire Kirkland family). Plots were dropped right in the middle of their actionlines. Several primary roles were recast. Says Paul, "It wasn't the performers' fault, but if you look at those other characters, they were all nasty people grubbing for money. We write a very sentimental show, about love and sex, things we're interested in. We wanted to go back and build the stories around the family which meant we had to lose some of the Kirklands."

There were other compromises both the writers and the network reached. "We came back to the show with the understanding that we could get our original casting director, Shirley Rich, back," Claire explains. "Shirley had found all our other wonderful original cast members, and we wanted another Frank Ryan for the show. (Daniel Hugh-Kelly, who was the last actor to play the part, left in 1981.) We also wanted to have Malcolm Groome, the original Pat Ryan, come back because he's great and because his presence on the set brings such joy to everyone who works with him. There was a perfectly lovely actor, James Clark, who was playing the role," Claire admits,";but he wasn't Malcolm. In order for us to come back, we wanted Malcolm back, too."

Malcolm Groome, who'd left the serial in 1978, is thrilled to be back in New York and on the show. ";'Ryan's Hope' is a great working situation," he exclaims. "The fact that I'm back and that the whole show is going back to its original thrust should make a difference. The Ryans and the Coleridges were getting to be strangers on their own show...Paul and Claire's return will make a big difference, and we're already starting to see that. We're all very excited."

For Malcolm, the reclaiming of his role as Pat Ryan was a natural process."As an actor, you bring part of yourself to a part. When I decided to come back, I thought through Pat as I had felt him, how he would have grown since then, etc. Actually, I came right in at the peak of Jimmy Clark's storyline. I literally jumped in and brought my understanding of Pat as I had always known him to that situation."

Ilene Kristen, another Ryan's Hope original, had left her role as Delia Reed Ryan Coleridge after three and a half ears of creating a character who alternatively amused and infuriated audiences. As Delia, Ilene stopped at nothing, including a fake bout of blindness, to get what she wanted - usually attention from a man. When Randall Edwards - who'd been playing the role of Delia - decided to leave the show, ABC approached Ilene about coming back.

Although Claire and Paul have established their interest in keeping as much of the original cast as possible, Randall Edwards' Delia was someone they could write for. "When Ilene left the show in 1979, it was hard to replace her," Claire sums up. "But what Randall did was astonishing. She managed to continue the line of the character, to be her own Delia, and still be a Delia Paul and I enjoyed writing for."

Unlike Groome, Ilene had a harder time resuming her role after another actress had played the part. "It was totally different," Ilene says of Randall's characterization. "As Dee, I suddenly had this restaurant with which I didn't know what to do. I had to dress up in elegant clothes. Dee is a real streetfighter in a way, and the story had become very opulent - so had the show. I kept wondering what happened to those simple souls. I mean, they'd gone Hollywood!"

Nancy Addison, another original cast member, had several problems with her character during the Kirkland reign. "I like Jill," Nancy says of her character, Jill Coleridge, one of daytime's first liberated women. "The year and a half while we were waiting to find another Frank Ryan for me was excruciating! The focus went to an entirely different thing and none of the old people were being used. Viewers were used to these good family people who owned a bar and their good friends, the Coleridges, who had money. They were used to the love, the conflict, the children. All of a sudden we were trying to be something we weren't, and we couldn't make it there. I was feeling down about the show for a while," Nancy admits.

Now that Paul and Claire have returned to Ryan's Hope, the show seems to be headed right back where it belongs. Needless to say, there will be various problems to overcome - not the least of which is a heavy, rich past to contend with. "One of the problems with re-focusing on the Ryan family is that there have been so many inter-relationships," Claire comments."We have to avoid playing what we've already done."

For example, one of the hottest stories in the late 70's was the love triangle between Jill-Frank-Dee. For a while, it seemed as though this same situation was brewing. Comments Paul, "The outlines were ten days ahead of taping, and we really thought that in all honesty Dee, who'd had everything taken away from her, would go after Frank when he came home again. Having written this for eight years, we used up a lot of our fantasies. It's sometimes hard to find things that are fresh."

Of particular interest over the years have been the romances between the Coleridge sisters (Jill and Faith), and the Ryan brothers, Frank and Pat. ";I'd like to see Jill and Frank get married," says Claire - no doubt speaking for the hundreds of viewers who agree with her -"and have the most loving, the most trying relationship in the world of soap opera marriages. That's what we've promised the audience." As for the Pat and Faith romance, which seems to be headed for a triangle-type twist not unlike the Dee-Pat-Faith story of the late 70's: "This is where we're in danger of being on worn ground," Claire admits. "But there's a difference between Amanda (the third part of the triangle) and Dee. Pat's response to both of them will be clearly drawn - Amanda is mad, curably mad. What is fun to play is Pat and Faith trying to be responsible to one another and then to this person, Amanda, who's in this emotional mess."

Another compelling storyline will be the tempestuous romance between Jack Fenelli and Leigh Kirkland (played by Felicity LaFortune). Viewers who remember the emotional relationship between Jack Fenelli and his first wife, Mary Ryan (originally played by the incomparable Kate Mulgrew), will watch as Jack once again puts aside his fear of being love and once again makes himself vulnerable to a woman. "We're going to do this in a very challenging way," smiles Michael Levin. "I hope the audience is ready for Jack to fall in love again."

Yes, Ryan's Hope is back where it belongs. "I hated to see it battered and and bloodied," Claire says. "We have the best dialogue writers in daytime: Nancy Ford, Judith Pinsker and Mary Munisteri. One of the most touching things anyone's ever said about the show is something Mary said once - 'I would rather be a part of a contributing popular myth than Proust," Paul adds. "Contributing is the operative word here. In order to do this, we have to invest a certain passion and caring. We know 'Ryan's Hope' is going to work again."

This is a very interesting article. Although I can't speak for 1982 (since I've never seen any of the episodes from that year), it's funny that this article came out a few short months before ABC fired Labine/Mayer AGAIN!! 1983 was almost like a chameleon year for RH. It began with the Kirklands, rode the wave for most of the year with the Ryans, and then ended with the Dubujaks and Shelbys. I got a chuckle with the reference to GH--former GH writer Pat Falken Smith replaced Labine/Mayer in the fall of 1983. If one watches RH for about three-quarters of 1984, all of the conventional criticism about how RH strayed from its roots in 1982 seems completely moot. RH became even more elegant and opulent under Smith's pen. Ironically, Ilene Kristen (Delia) was backburnered for most of 1983 (apparently due to health reasons), as was John Gabriel (Seneca). Two promising storylines--the romance of Jack and Leigh, and Bill and Siobhan--were deep-sixed by the fall of 1983. Siobhan found herself wanting a back-from-oblivion Joe Novak while leaving dependable Bill Hyde in the dark. Felicity LaFortune, who was so superlative as feisty and witty Leigh Kirkland, was reduced to bickering against the diva-ish histrionics of Jack and then was more or less a recurring character until 1985. As much as I loved RH under Smith's regime, this was one horrible move on the show's part. Ah, c'est la vie.... still, a nice write up of RH circa mid '83. Before I forget--Malcolm Groome probably should've declined returning to RH when Labine/Mayer returned in early '83...after his romance with Amanda fizzled (she left town), so did Pat....backburner city baby! Unless he was there for decoration whenever a hospital scene occured.....

I know from what's been said that ABC felt the ratings weren't going up fast enough with Labine/Mayer, and that the ratings did initially rise with Falken-Smith. What did you enjoy of her time as writer?

Sometimes I wonder why ABC didn't just cancel RH outright, since they wanted to make it into a mostly brand new show.

I know from what's been said that ABC felt the ratings weren't going up fast enough with Labine/Mayer, and that the ratings did initially rise with Falken-Smith. What did you enjoy of her time as writer?

Sometimes I wonder why ABC didn't just cancel RH outright, since they wanted to make it into a mostly brand new show.

I strongly doubt ABC wanted to cancel any of its soaps at a time when it was the #1 network in daytime.... In the summer of 1983, they had SIX!! (RH, LOVING, AMC, OLTL, GH, EDGE). Any concrete point in time where ABC did feel that RH was something of a redheaded stepchild probably happened in October 1984, when LOVING was moved into RH's old spot (and RH moved to 12 noon), which of course was done simply to appease Agnes Nixon.

There was not one storyline I disliked under Smith's tutelage. That says a lot. Probably my favorite of all had to be any storyline that involved Max Dubujak (his time in Nice with Jill, Operation Eagle, when Maggie pretended to be his mistress, getting back at Sydney Price). Ah....Max....qu'un bel homme!! Then there were the tongue fights between Maggie and Jill. I strongly suggest watching Freeflyur's RH clips from 1983-84 on You Tube, which will give you an idea of what RH was like at the time. Even the aftermath of the bombing of Ryan's Bar had some pretty intense moments, especially one scene between Maeve and Lazlo Novotny (Joe's cousin). Granted, some storylines came and went, with no real meat to it (Katie #1's dance career, Traci the probation officer, etc.) but the pluses outweigh the minuses!

Did you enjoy Daniel Pilon? I thought he was kind of bland on GL.

Regarding Pat, sometimes I wonder if they should have always had him as a supporting character - I guess Malcolm Groome would have left even sooner, but he had a lot more personality when he wasn't in the spotlight.

Did you enjoy Daniel Pilon? I thought he was kind of bland on GL.

Regarding Pat, sometimes I wonder if they should have always had him as a supporting character - I guess Malcolm Groome would have left even sooner, but he had a lot more personality when he wasn't in the spotlight.

I loved Daniel Pilon very much as the suave, debonair Max Dubujak! Clever, smart, cool and collected--and handsome too!! I also loved Gerit Quealy as his daughter, Jacqueline. Her bitchiness was the shiznit--one major plus of having Pat Falken Smith as headwriter at that time was that she knew how to write characters with an axe to grind--verbally!! Back to Daniel--I did see some eps of him on GL. I thought he was very good as Alan Spaulding.

Malcolm Groome didn't really go anywhere on RH post-Amanda K until his character met Melinda Weaver and Concetta D'Angelo. For a while he actually had a storyline, then Malcolm left again in early 1988....

What did you think of Susan Scannell?

If one watches RH for about three-quarters of 1984, all of the conventional criticism about how RH strayed from its roots in 1982 seems completely moot. RH became even more elegant and opulent under [Pat Falken] Smith's pen. Ironically, Ilene Kristen (Delia) was backburnered for most of 1983 (apparently due to health reasons), as was John Gabriel (Seneca). Two promising storylines--the romance of Jack and Leigh, and Bill and Siobhan--were deep-sixed by the fall of 1983. Siobhan found herself wanting a back-from-oblivion Joe Novak while leaving dependable Bill Hyde in the dark. Felicity LaFortune, who was so superlative as feisty and witty Leigh Kirkland, was reduced to bickering against the diva-ish histrionics of Jack and then was more or less a recurring character until 1985. As much as I loved RH under Smith's regime, this was one horrible move on the show's part.

I loved RYAN'S HOPE during that period as well. Granted, thanks to SoapNet, I've had multiple opportunities to watch the show's first 5-6 years and then compare it to the years I remember (1982 onward); and, having done so, I can understand why most would look upon the last 9-or-so years of its life unfavorably. Those who dismiss RH in the '80's, however, do so at their own peril. Some of it was atrocious, but some of it was good, too. And I think the one constant in all that, aside from the core actors, was EP Joe Hardy, a fine director who, IMO, gets a somewhat harsh rep for working with HW's who weren't as brilliant as Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer had been.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op8elfnLkko&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

From a late July 1979 Digest.

Unless Delia was at that phase in her life where she had money and wanted to rub it in the Ryans' faces, I don't know whether she would have hesitated showing up at the bar in jeans. Granted, I always recall her wearing the dowdiest of dresses, but I feel as if Delia would've worn whatever the others were wearing in order to fit in with them and be like one of them.

Edited September 2, 201114 yr by Khan

Unless Delia was at that phase in her life where she had money and wanted to rub it in the Ryans' faces, I don't know whether she would have hesitated showing up at the bar in jeans. Granted, I always recall her wearing the dowdiest of dresses, but I feel as if Delia would've worn whatever the others were wearing in order to fit in with them and be like one of them.

By this time Delia was supposed to have money and only wanted to wear the best (although, with budget considerations, she usually just wore simple dresses).

Early on Ilene's Delia occasionally wore jeans, but that ended when her backstory became more about how she always had to be the pretty girl who couldn't be natural and down-to-earth like Mary.

Just discovered that John Gabriel (Seneca) was in the original pilot of Gilligan's Island in the professor role -except he was high school teacher.

You can see him on the DVD for the first season.

September 1977 Soaps and Serials

These articles are both from the July 1976 TV Radio Mirror