Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[danfling]

ABC, at the time of the network switch, wanted to run both The Edge of Night and the serial General Hospital during the late night hours.  However, Donald May (Adam) insisted that a new contracts be drawn with additional pay.  ABC was not in favor of that, and the plans were dropped.

 

[Paul Raven]

There was also talk many years earlier of Edge of Night going to primetime. I think this was around the time that Peyton Place had it's initial success. CBS went with Our Private World instead.

[Broderick]

 

I saw an interview one time with Sharon Gabet, where she talked about her relationship with Henry Slesar.   She said that Slesar watched  the show every afternoon, and he tailored his writing to the strengths and weaknesses of the performers.   If he observed a quirk or a trait in an actor that appealed to him, he worked it into the character.   He obviously studied her very closely and worked her best traits into the Raven character.  It also helped that he wrote Raven's "adversaries" with certain strengths, so that they often just appeared fed-up with Raven, instead of cowering in terror when she tormented them.   It made her interactions with each of them more riveting and interesting than just a run-of-the-mill "vixen versus hero/heroine" scenario. 

[Soaplovers]

Personally tailoring the show to Sky/Raven is one of the reasons the show declined... and making them appear smart.. while the cops appeared stupider.  

[victoria foxton]

That was Lee Sheldon that did that. Slesar was gone by the time Sheldon made the Whitney's private investigators. 

Edited December 21, 2019 by victoria foxton

[EONGLOLTL]

I wish Terry Davis had stayed longer.   I was hoping that April and Raven could have been like Viki and Dorian on OLTL or Jill and Katherine on Y&R.  The loss of Terry Davis, Tony Craig, Denny Albee and Frances Fisher weakened Edge in my opinion.  I was thrilled that it pushed Sharon Gabet and Larkin Malloy front and center but with the loss of Henry Slesar as head writer the show lost it's backbone.  Given time and shoring up affiliates I think Edge would have survived.... but we will never know. 

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[danfling]

"Here's a thought: what if NBC, rather than ABC, had picked up EON?"

 

NBC did give serious thoughts about broadcasting The Secret Storm.   Had the network not decided to air its own How to Survive a Marriage, The Secret Storm was under consideration for that network.

 

NBC purchased the rights to both The Secret Storm and Love of Life from American Home Products (although it was at different times).

Edited December 27, 2019 by danfling

[Franko]

One more for the what-if pile: Edge premiering at 3:30 on ABC. The OLTL/GH order flip-flop happens sooner, and really, if you wanted to keep the game show The Neighbors, plug it in at 4.

 

I'm just trying to figure out the ripple effect if/when everybody extended to an hour. (In this scenario, the 45-minute experiment never happened).

 

1-2 p.m.: AMC

2-2:30: Either OLTL or GH

2:30-3:30: Either OLTL or GH

3:30-4: EON

 

Of course, both OLTL and GH could expand (which did happen), either pushing AMC to 12:30 and making RH vulnerable much earlier, or EON eventually ending up at 4.

[j swift]

Twas the time slot that killed EON, more so than any creative issues.  Although here in LA it came on at 3:00 (Los Angeles soaps are on an hour earlier) in most of the country a move toward expansion of local news into the 4:00 hour pushed it off the air in key markets.  Network consolidation, the reduction of independent station ownership, and increased profits from local new programming meant that station owners made more money from running a low coast new program, or an afternoon movie, than continuing a soap. 

[Chris B]

 

I feel NBC would've been the absolute worst place for it. They seemed very trigger happy and didn't give shows enough time. I feel Return to Peyton Place should've remained and they never should've done How to Survive a Marriage. EON was perfect for the ABC lineup, but they allowed that and RH to be killed with affiliates and timeslots. In this case I feel Loving did ABC more harm than it did good. That show wasn't needed and from all I've read wasn't great. That show definitely killed RH.

[danfling]

I think that the perfect time slots for the afternoon (at, perfect for me, a fan of The Edge of Night) would have been to move General Hospital to 1:00 (Central Time), air One Life to Live for 45 minutes (1:30-2:15), and expanded-to-forty-five-minutes The Edge of Night from 2:15 until 3:00.   3:00 to 3;30   a game show.   (possibly Concentration, Password Plus, or Jeopardy).

[edgeofnik]

EON late-afternoon slot made it very popular with men and I could've sworn I read at one point close to 50% of audience was men! I still don't get why CBS didn't move it back after the early slot was a clear killer. 

 

And a definite hard no on NBC at the time of the switch. 

[danfling]

Procter and Gamble had this policy of not allowing two of its shows in the same time slot.  (up until 1975 when The Edge of Night and Somerset both aired at 3:00 CT).  Expanding both Search for Tomorrow and As the World Turns to 45 minutes was considered, but the decision was made to keep the local time slot for local programming (also, Somerset was aired by NBC during the noon CT slot) and to expand As the World Turns to a full hour.  With Another World airing at 2:00 CT and Somerset being offered for the second time of the day at 3:00 CT, there was no where to put The Edge of Night when Guiding Light was expanded to a full hour. 

 

I am not sure why Procter and Gamble decided to end that policy when The Edge of Night was moved to ABC (which did mean that two of its shows were airing against each other).  Also, when Texas premiered, it also meant that Another World (moved a half hour earlier to 1:30 CT and reduced from 90 minutes to the former length of 60 minutes)), the first thirty minutes of Another World was airing during the final 30 minutes of Guiding Light.

[Franko]

Over the course of nearly 24 years, P&G soaps were allowed to air opposite each other. I wonder if the company considered the long-term ramifications of this. I forget if we've determined this, but networks were the ones preferring expanding soaps, not so much the creative types, right?

 

December 1975-December 1976: The Edge of Night airs opposite Somerset

January-May 1977: Search for Tomorrow airs opposite Lovers and Friends

 

November 1977-March 1979: Overlap of Guiding Light's conclusion and Another World's start

March 1979-February 1980: GL airs opposite AW's first two-thirds

February-August 1980: Overlap of As the World Turns' end and AW's start; GL airs opposite AW's last two-thirds

August 1980-June 1981: ATWT airs opposite AW, GL airs opposite Texas

June 1981-March 1982: Overlap of ATWT's end and AW's start; SFT opposite AW's conclusion; GL opposite TX

March-April 1982: Overlap of ATWT's conclusion and AW start; GL opposite TX

April 1982-March 1987: Overlap of ATWT's conclusion and AW's start

March 1987-June 1999: ATWT airs opposite AW

 

(Until right now, I'd never written out the course of events.)

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Franko

[Paul Raven]

CBS could have moved EON back to 4pm in 75, rather than letting it go to ABC.

Viewers would have been more likely to watch it later in the day on the same station than have to find it and follow it on another network.