Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[Vee]

I've been deep in a '79-'80 binge of EON along with other soaps since COVID began. It's very interesting how much they played with stuff with the longer-running characters (so many Edge characters were transitory). Miles and Nicole are now cemented as a tentpole couple or seem to be after the brutal slaughter of Donald May's Adam (and preceding Nicole's own harsh demise in a few years), but they definitely play a new angle when Derek Mallory comes on. Dennis Parker plays Mallory as an absolute militaristic shitheel and chauvinist for much of the early months, but his clear infatuation with Jayne Bentzen's Nicole humanizes him and allows for some layering. Meanwhile they seem to be teasing something with April and Logan while she's cemented with Draper.

More and more I think EON nailed what Dark Shadows could've done had it adjusted to the '70s - it also had an often transitory, sometimes rotating repertory cast of people who would come in, interact with the foundational cast and then leave from genre story to genre story. The Madison clan including Margaret Colin has fulfilled several story purposes and is almost entirely gone, leaving only Nola to wreak havoc; Eliot Dorn is still around following his cult story a couple years ago making mischief. This sort of modular formula is one EON perfected.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Vee

[Soaplovers]

The bible for Dark Shadows seemed to indicate it would be a cross between Peyton Place and Edge of Night...with a Nancy Drew esque character at the center.  

People didn't bite sadly...but I do agree Dark Shadows could have lasted had they ventured more into a Gothic mystery show and adjusted to color like Edge of Night did.

[robbwolff]

I completely forgot about Derek's infatuation with Nicole. I guess Slesar was gearing up for a quadrangle with Nicole, Miles, Derek, and Derek's ex-wife Ivy. I remember mentions of Ivy in the fall of 1979 and it sounded like she was going to stir up trouble in Monticello. I've always assumed that Slesar dropped plans for Ivy when Sharon Gabet decided to return as Raven.

[Vee]

Yeah, the whole Ivy thing is odd since I know she never showed up. I was under the impression Sharon Gabet was only on a temporary break, my mistake.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Vee

[DRW50]

I wonder if fans considered Jayne's Nicole to basically be a brand new character. You don't get much on fan opinion (outside of letters to the editor) in soap magazines of that era. (Daily TV Serials from a few years earlier probably would have had a mouthful to say on this subject).

[vetsoapfan]

I think it was Rona Barrett's Daytimers which published  a blurb about Jayne, saying that while she was generally liked by the cast, most acknowledged that she should have remained a model and not tried to be an "actress."

She was so awful and miscast as Nicole. How she actually landed the role, I'll never understand. Shades of Wesley Pfenning and Linda Borgenson on AW. YIKES!

[Soaplovers]

I actually liked the 3rd Nicole (Lisa Sloan) better than the 2nd Nicole.. she had a more mature look and seemed to carry herself as though she came from an upper crust family.

 

[DRW50]

I find her work acceptable enough, but I can also see that they had to generally write the character in a very limited way in order to help her. They may have already been going that route with Nicole even when Maeve was in the part, I have no idea, but Maeve was so chic and brought a chilly vibe to the part which helped her stand out.

[Paul Raven]

A Variety report from August 78 on the LA market shows Edge winning its 3 pm timeslot in a tie with Flinstones & Friends on indie KTTV. That was during Summer so a lot of kids would be in front of the TV watching Flinstones, which leads me to believe Edge would be stronger in the fall when kids were back at school.

Just confirms reports the EON did well in big cities when it was shown in the post GH timeslot.

[dragonflies]

 

[Vee]

Someone should tell him a ton is on YT.

[Joseph]

I guess he was Hoping for The organization a Streaming Plataform has!!! Like Realgoodtv with The Doctors 

[danfling]

I just learned that actor Barry Newman (John Barnes on The Edge of Night) died on May 11.

 

 

 

 

Barry Newman, Star of ‘Vanishing Point’ and ‘The Limey,' Dead at 92

Newman — who died on May 11 — "was a rock for so many people," his wife, Angela, said

By 

Marisa Sullivan

 

 

Published on June 5, 2023 08:07 AM

SKIP ADS

Barry Newman, known for his role in the cult action thriller The Vanishing Point, died on May 11 in a New York City hospital, according to multiple reports.

 

The Emmy-nominated star was 92 years old. No further details have been released on his death.

 

Newman is survived by his wife, Angela, who confirmed her husband's death on Sunday to The Hollywood Reporter. His friends also confirmed the news on social media, per Deadline.

 

In a tribute shared with THR, Angela expressed that Newman “was a rock for so many people, whose spirit he lifted and allowed to be free,” she said. “He was truly a light for so many, with an incredible, hilarious sense of humor that lit everything and everyone up.”

 

AMANDA EDWARDS/WIREIMAGE

The stage, screen and TV actor, who is also known for his starring role in the 1974 legal drama, Petrocelli, grew up in Boston. While studying at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, he met Lee Strasberg and decided he wanted to be an actor. After graduating, he studied with the influential acting teacher in the Big Apple.

 

 

Newman went on to star in feature films such as Daylight in 1996 with Sylvester Stallone, Bowfinger with Steve Martin in 1999 and with the late Peter Fonda in Stephen Soderbergh's The Limey that same year.

[EONGLOLTL]

I see there is a new book on Ryan's Hope coming out in October 2023.   I will buy this book which is an oral history of the show.  I miss the soaps (especially Edge!)!  I bought the oral history of One Life to Live as well.  It was a very interesting read.   I wish there could be such a book on The Edge of Night.  We've already lost so many cast members.   I am afraid that this history will be lost.  Thank God for Sharon Gabet!  She is a wonderful cheerleader for Edge.  Mariann Alda too.   

 

 

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[danfling]

There was a book of trivia on The Edge of Night that was written, but I do not think that it was ever published.   The writer (whose name I cannot remember at this moment) had written other trivia books - I remember that there was a MASH book from the same author.    I suppose that the publisher thought that there was a much smaller amount of interest in The Edge of Night.

I was really hoping that Lois Kibbe (who was a very published author) and Ann Flood would collaborate on a book about the show.   After the death of Ms. Kibbee, I was hoping that Ann Flood would have written a book about it. 

Now, I don't know who would know that most about the show.   Maybe Millette Alexander?   Is director/writer Don Wallace (the original director of The Edge of Night and a producer/director/writer of numerous shows) still living?